A new location, a new task and a huge turnout!

Maybe it’s the back-to-school vibes around, or maybe everyone just wanted a good look at the meat and fish bazar over the road, but FOURTEEN of us turned out on Wednesday and ran 3.5 km to St Luke’s Church in Moulsham Lodge.

We welcomed a couple of new faces at the gym and they’ve already proven to be good ones. Robert outdressed us all – despite not even having a GoodGym top yet – with his snazzy matching socks and shorts in unloseable multicolour.

It was also Heidi’s first time joining us and she lay down the marker immediately in a Parkrun 50 top. She didn’t mention a post-Parkrun fry-up once, and she’s also doing the Great North Run this weekend with Robert. Folks, we’ve found ourselves a runner.

David was run leading and had represented us with Laurie at a garden party earlier that day. We’d been invited in thanks for some of the gardening work we’d done, so thanks to the organisers, and apparently the shortbread was “excellent.” They also met Rich’s dad, who is absolutely lovely and wasn’t surprised at all that Rich spends most of his time with us just having a chat. In fact, he was so lovely that it could steer a big decision: there’s still time to put money on baby Chatterjee being called Keith…

Walkers were out in force as we also welcomed Jane back to GoodGym. She definitely helps to keep her husband in line, and also managed to stop him getting lost somewhere behind Lidl.

With 14 people, weeding the paths at the front of the church (or the top of the church…?) didn’t take long, despite stopping for a photo break. They were cleaner than celebrity skin in a razor advert by the time we were done.

Neither newbie seemed scared by Joe brandishing a screwdriver and asking if anyone needed their cracks seen to – it’s like they’ve been here for years. Jess even suggested that be tonight’s headline. St Luke’s have already shared the photo and other churches in the area are already interested! Send us an email to request us, just put “GodGym” in the subject line please. And while we’re talking support, if you’re a Marksies Spender then you can link your Sparks card to us and we get some funding every time you shop there. Win-win!

Thanks for a great task, good luck up north to Heidi and Robert, and see you all next week!

Great turnout. Great group. Rogue task.

We arrived at the Old Factory excited for a long weekend upcoming and even more so for the return of Joel after a hiatus to welcome a new baby into the world. Andy actually made a great quip about Joel not coming since his first child, funny but harsh on the GG stalwart. We welcomed Elliot back from Portugal for his third run, Tina from a work crisis for her second run, and Nicole from a restaurant in Norwich which had a conveyor belt of cheese for her first run!

We jogged up to Broomfield allotment, with Joe taking immaculate photos of leaping goodgymers on route, eager to begin. We met Sallyann fresh off her starring social media role (see below) and Fay. However! Alas! Donna was no where to be found. (A case of crossed wires). So we got the four shortest GG'ers to pose by the tallest sunflowers we could find. Laurie was ecstatic to find out she towers over the national average by a solid half inch.

Fortunately the wonderful Pam stepped in to save the day and got us watering the plots for the older people at the allotments. I attempted my best Sir David Attenborough impression for Fay leading the watering can refilling in her usual role as head honcho. Pam not only saved the day but shared with us some of her tomatoes, showcased beautifully by Ben. Hopefully all the watering cans made it back to their various homes!

After we headed back to base we discussed the forgotten merits and benefits of the hovercraft, which Russell is trying to buy two of for Essex because....bants and such. Erin is abiding by the results of the GG poll and changing her DJ name to EK47 in tribute to Pistol Pete.

Next week we are off to Moulsham Mill to tidy their garden ahead of the garden party launch and this will be led by Angela, whose superb artistic photos can be spied in tonight's run report.

We met at the usual spot and were surprised to see the gym and the car park were closed. Fortunately Tina still managed to find us and somewhere to park. Great to meet you and hopefully Goodgym was everything Joe had told you it was!

We headed off to Beeches Road to drop leaflets for a variety of charities and did a decent pace to get there. Andy spat at the old Heart radio building as we went past, commercial radio better watch out for the 2023 bronze medal DJ of the year. Although you'll have a rival now in Erin Ketamine, but by the sounds of it she might be a different type of DJ... Anyway, we split into two teams on each side of the road to drop the leaflets that Fay had lovingly prepared.

As I was bragging about my marathon exploits (the real one, Rich) Elliott casually mentioned he'd done it twice... Sallyann took a ride on a scooter and clearly absolutely loved it.

I was incredibly jealous of Joe, Erin and Rich who were going to go to Wendy's for dinner but ended up going to Popeye's!

Hope everyone stayed safe on the way home.

This Saturday is Parkrun volunteer (thanks for arranging Laurie!) and breakfast after, Queenies was suggested but let's be honest, it is just because Fay hates beans.

We all welcomed Elliott for his first GoodGym session, and also had the exciting news of Richard E getting a ballot place for the 2025 London Marathon, and Andy's perfect parkrun heel click at the weekend.

Thankfully on such a warm evening our task was only around a mile away, so we took the most direct route and were shown to our task of clearing a couple of large beds ready for some new plants.

I did mention in the briefing at the start that everyone should try to avoid hitting each other with tools and vegetation, but Andy clearly took no notice and channeled his inner David, throwing plants at the waste bags with such force that he nearly took Sallyann out. Angela also made a cameo appearance on her way elsewhere, clearing a few plants and posing for a photo.

In usual GoodGym style, the group made light work of the task, turning the beds from overgrown to completely bare, and filling three big bags with plants.

We'll be back at Meadow View Cottage in August, helping to get everything ready for their open day.

See you all soon!

Laurie