Tonight we met and started by celebrating all the amazing running that went on over the weekend. We then welcomed new runner Ana to her first group session. To name and number off we all said something we were proud of- lots of interesting facts emerged including singing with S Club 7, sand sculptures and being good at chess!

We then split into two groups for the two tasks:

Amy led one group to the Groves where we were met by Tracy and set to work clearing a raised bed and moving a tree. Both jobs were successfully executed in time to return to base for fitness.

Ed's group report-

We split off into 5 pairs to distribute the call out for events leaflets for York International Women's Week. Amy H and Jenna set off on their bikes to Fulford Road. Max and Mitch opted for the longest route out to Bootham and Burton Stone Lane. Ana and Carl headed to Bishy Road. Abigail and Nikki did the Town Centre, whilst David and Ed headed to Monkgate and Layerthorpe.

Max and Mitch did manage to make it back on time despite taking a detour to the pub, although they did have the most leaflets left over so may have had their priorities a bit skewed despite their protests!

Once we were all back, Ed led a session of every minute on the minute fitness including squats, burpees, lunges, stars and sprints. Despite some stiff legs everyone got stuck in and before we knew it, time was up. Some folk headed to the pub, others home.

Tonight we started the session by talking about the This Girl Can campaign to Lift The Curfew which highlights how exercising in the dark makes women feel and what they can do to make this better. Throughout the evening we added words to our flag which described different negative feelings which have been experienced.

For the task tonight we split into two group including our first group cycle and headed off to Heworth Stray. We were met there by Roger and split into two teams - one group raking up grass and the other planting trees.

We made quick work of both including Helen rescuing a frog and team trees losing a spade. We attempted TWICE to find it but failed both times! Hopefully Roger will have better luck in daylight.

We then posed for the photo and headed back to base, with the cyclists only marginally beating the runners!

This week we welcomed 20 GG Yorkies to our first Group Run of October. And as it was the first session of the month that meant we started off by handing out September's GGer of the month award. This time it was Jenna's turn for completing an amazing 9 Good Deeds and also baking some delicious cakes along the way. Giver her a big cheer 🎉

Nikki was still being sensible following her epic ultra so led a solo walking group whilst the rest of the gang numbered off by naming our favourite animals from popular culture (Beaker from the muppets is definitely not an animal, Mitch!). Then it was off to the task with Ed leading the group and Babs and Laura backmarking.

We arrived at the task to be greeted by Helen who gave us a brief overview of what we'd be doing and then leading us to the allotment plot that needed our attention. She also took us past an area we'd done a lot of work on over the past couple of years which is now a thriving garden area.

We were then given tools to help us clear the allotment, but it could probably be said that a few more forks rather than spades might have coke in handy. Nevertheless we were making excellent progress with Nikki and then Mitch on hand-scything duties whilst Craig was in charge of the wheelbarrow. Unfortunately Ed forgot to take a 'before' photo, which meant taking an 'after' photo would have also been completely pointless but I can promise you we achieved quite a lot and the allotment was looking an awful lot clearer by the time we finished.

After a quick group photo and jog back to the Priory Centre (or a speedy walk in Nikki's case) it was time for the fitness session. Tonight it was a set of 3 exercises completed on the minute mark, every minute, for 5 minutes. Therefore the quicker you got through the exercises, the more time you had to rest before the next set. Clearly Charlotte loves her rest time as she was racing her way through the exercises before anyone else, until Rich clocked on and started to get competitive.

Their was time for a bonus extra round of exercises at the end of the 5mins, and Max had been enjoying himself so much that he decided to double the number of reps in each exercise for a final flurry! Then it was time for a quick cool down stretch and some delicious cake made by who else but Jenna.

It was time for celebrations at tonight's group run with so much awesomeness happening recently. Firstly there was a big round of applause for Jenna who got a new PB at the Great North Run. There were also cheers for Vicky, Neil and Ed who all took part in the Tholthorpe 10k at the weekend, especially for Vicky who achieved a season's best time. We then handed out the GGer of the month award to the wonderful Lucy who is pretty much the ideal GoodGymer, always getting involved, always smiling and leading tasks when she can. Oh and it also happened to be AA Vicky's birthday, but more on that later 🥳 🏅 🏆 👏

After a brief warm up, Ed led out the run to Acomb Primary School where we were met by Amanda who gave us the lowdown on tonight's task. Basically continuing the work we'd done previously in clearing the wooded area in the playing field so that it can be used as a forest school. We were soon getting stuck in, armed with saws, loppers and sheers.

There were brambles, sticks and branches everywhere as the busy GGers made excellent progress clearing a path through the woods. The green bins were soon getting filled up and we weren't short of volunteers for people to climb in and jump on top of them to make more space. Although Steve had a helping hand from Rich in getting back out of the bin!

With the task drawing to a close and the woods getting darker we broke on through to the other side and cleared enough space to see some daylight at the end of path, which meant it was time to down tools and get ready for a bespoke fitness session courtesy of the birthday girl herself.

Now, GGers aren't always the greatest listeners and on this occasion there was certainly a little bit of confusion about what type of animal walk we were supposed to be doing and who was supposed to be doing it. So a bit of a reset was needed, but we were soon back underway demonstrating some perfect bear walks in the correct order. I'm not entirely sure if there was a winner but we certainly enjoyed ourselves.

We then gathered in the cones and sung 'Happy Birthday' for Vicky before making our way back to the Priory Centre where some delicious cookies and cake courtesy of Vicky and Jenna were waiting for us 😋