So tonight we were greeted by the wonderful Jim and his lovely dog Roxy, it was as ever great of them to pop and say hi! and lovely to hear his running adventures, at the minute he is training a blind lady so that she can run the Manchester half marathon! awesome work Jim, cant wait to hear more about it.

We met at Produce Hall, this weeks task was to deliver 350 community newspapers, called Heatons post, this a community newspaper that is jam packed with wonderful things happening in the area, as well as great community projects and things going on. Having a quick flick through, this issue has Parkrun, and Heatons conservation collective, as well as food banks, and local events, a really good informative read, and in the next issue we will be featuring us!! yay, fame at last for Goodgym Stockport......woooo.

The task location was over in Heaton Mersey, we had a nice relaxing run over then took it nice and easy delivering the newspapers, in total we ran 6km.
The evening was a nice chilled one, until there were only 15 papers per person left, then it got competitive.......

Each runner had 15 papers, and they had to post them as fast they could, the winner was Rob, posting all papers in 4mins 39 second, well done dude, one day I will get you fish and chips for a prize?!

Other news, we need to arrange a social soon!

Have a wonderful week folks, thanks and well done for this evening,

7 of us met last night to go see the wonderful Pam at St Matthews, this is probably our most visited task, shes a busy lady that helps the community in so many ways that its always great to give something back. Last night task was to help Pam paint her office! in Melon punch!! wooooo. Which was extra special as it was something personal and special for her.

We met at the Produce Hall, usual time of 6.30pm on the market Place, and after a lil warm up we set off to St Matthews based in Edgeley. The task was 2km away from our meeting point and it was freeeeezin, but we soon warmed up with our run, this week there was lots of chat about inspiration and future running plans, between us we have goals of trail runs,5km, 10km, half marathon and marathons! brilliant to have such a diverse group of challenges ahead, now all we need to do is book them in and get the training in. Between us we have had a fab week of running and running inspiration, ranging from watching running films to running half marathons up massive hills. I love our little community, i love the friendships we have made, the chat between us all, our own little community. Thanks for being part of it, see you all for the next one!!

***Also little add, super sorry for such a late run report, the tinternet hasnt been working reet today!

It was a short run for Stockport Goodgym last night, so we could have walked, once session per month is aimed at being able to walk so that more people can get involved with us, at Goodgym we like to include all abilities, and can accommodate any fitness level, if you want to run further or faster we can adapt, if your new to running then do not worry, we have back markers, everyone is friendly and theres always the options of a walk session.

So back to last night, the task was to prep for painting next week, we were back at the lovely St Matthews church to meet the fabulous Pam Robinson who does so much wonderful stuff for the local community that it always feels so good going to help out, that and she makes a good brew and always provides biscuits too!

The task was to sand/ wire brush the fences that surround the church house so we can paint next week ready for the opening of the house. The church itself is already used for various activities and events for the community, and the house is aiming to be a great extention of this. There are many seperate rooms that will be used for training courses, small group classes, therapy rooms and much more, Pam is very excited about the potential of these rooms and the positive impact it will have on the community. She has already set up a Facebook page for St Matthews house, and the church has its own website: www.edgeleyandcheadleheath.org.uk

Pam is a wonderful part of the community, and if you have any ideas or projects in which you could help or would like to hire one of the rooms then I would recommend getting in touch.

We were there a while sanding down and prepping the fences and so this week there was no time for a fitness session, we also had tummys full of tea and biscuits too so it was best all round!

Next week we are back at St Matthews to paint the fences, so make sure you remember your head torches and cover up if you dont want to get covered in paint!

Thanks everyone for coming along to help out, have a fab week running, be careful on the pavements as the slippy leaves are begining to fall..........

Where do I begin??? What a night, what a year, its been a amazing adventure, I am so proud to be the run leader for Stockport, every single runner has been a brilliant support, Im so proud and happy to be apart of such a lovely team. Over the past year we have ran in all conditions, heatwaves, hail, snow blizards the lot, and each week has been as diverse as the weather. Its been a privilege and a pleasure and Im looking forward to the year ahead, especially not this week, but the week after when we run by the river and get cups of tea! Hahaha.

So now to last night……… We celebrated turning 1 years old. 11 runners met, put on either a tiara or a party hat and set off to warm up and do some good stuff. Everyone looked marvellous in head wear, especially Sam who doubled his look with both a hat and a tiara! A very strong look for him indeed. After a few warm up laps and leg mobilisation drills we set to clean up number one, the teams were split into 2 groups “HAPPY” and “BIRTHDAY” and had 5 minutes to fill as many bags as possible. It was a close call, however the whole team were winners as we found comedy glasses and 2 games! It was a party night for sure. After clean up session 1 we had a choice of either running or walking up to Stockport market for clean up number 2. I had left the bin bags with our walk leaders Anne and Debs and so we had a bit of time to run up the wonderful?? Fish hill! (sorrrrrrry) There we 3 laps of the market hall, down a small hill and then up the notorious steep hill situated in Stockport marketplace, each runner had to try and beat their time after a short break, and every single runner did!

I was majorly impressed with the times, and so were lots of other people on the market place, well done you speedy lot.

After the fitness fun it was time to compete once again, get into teams and do the second clean up of the town centre. It was a close call on both clean ups to be fair and so it was left at both teams were winners! cant say fairer than that. After our clean ups it was time to celebrate. We headed over to Remedy bar on the market place for taco Tuesday! We had balloons and cake, candles and pass the parcel. Again I want to say a HUGE thank you to you all, your amazing, thank you for turning up weekly/monthly/whenever you can to be a part of Goodgym. Thanks for all the love and support ovet the past year, thank you to Debs for the balloon, Anne for the handmade frmae, for Matt and Pauline for coming over from Liverpool to celebrate and eat Tacos. Just as i said in my speech last night, just THANK YOU, THANK YOU THANNNKKK YOU X X X X X X

7 good gym runners ran the small distance of 3km total to St Matthews church in Edgeley. We have been here a few times before to help out in the garden, to distribute leaflets for a community event and our last visit was for a Christmas clean up.

Last night we went for a general tidy and clean. As ever we were met by the* wonderful Pam Robinson*, who inspires me every time we chat, her enthusiasm and love for the community is amazing, and so in turn the church is used for many great local community projects, the church itself holds baby/ toddler groups, support groups, community projects and much more...... They also hold community open days which last time included various charities, help/care centres, small bussinesses and people from the community coming together, not only was this a great way for the community to get together and find out what was happening locally, it was a great social event and was a great way for the small businesses and local projects to join forces and see what they do together to make Stockport itself a more positive and vibrant place with more opportunities for its residents.

We had a wonderful night, for once the weather was perfect for running. We had a slightly longer warm up this week as we waited for a runner to turn up, with the task being so close we could do this, we then ran 1.5km to St Matthews where we were met by Pam, with a brew and biscuits! She also dished out a list of jobs, a carpet cleaner, feather duster, polish and sweeping brushes!

Everyone teamed together to get the church looking and smelling fresh and clean. Well done runners, you did great.

Once the list was very nearly complete (just the carpet to do!) we set outside for a run/circuit session to work off the biscuits, the fitness fun comprimised of press ups, star jumps, plank holds, static sumo squats and more, the biscuit energy was 100% worked off.

Well done to everyone that came along and worked hard, and thanks again to the wonderful Pam for her brew skills! And also thank you for showing me the new church house which looks fab! A new exciting space enabling St Matthews to host more community projects and events, it looks brilliant, Theres a few rooms that need a lick of paint, so we will need to get out paintbrushes out…….

Have a great week running folks, don’t forget that Trafford Launches next wed 21st, and we celebrate turning 1 the week after Tues 27th.****

Happy running, Lisa x x

Last night 9 wonderful runners ran 6km to help sand the railings and clean the area for the signpost centre, the centre is used by various careers and people being cared for a daily basis, they hold many activities, as well as help and advice.

It was great to be back, after a week in the sunshine it was great to breeze back to Stockport and reunite with the goodgym crew.

Last night I got to take it easy, which is always good after a holiday! As the lovely Kate from Trafford was here to lead the session. Trafford Goodgym is launching on the 21st of this month, the sessions will be held on a Wednesday and so here in the Northwest we can get 2 sessions in per week now if we like! How cool is that. A few of us are going over to the launch, the more the merrier, so come join in, i have heard its great first task they have planned.

Anyway, back to the task we got up to last night! We ran a hilly 3km to our destination, when we got there we split into 2 groups, 1 half litter picking ( a few random items were found as per usual, this week some posh black knickers were found) the other with the ask of sanding and scrubbing the railings, this time with wire brushes. After 5 minutes the teams swapped tasks, and some light weeding and sweeping was added to the list, after the next 5 minutes team 1 had a fitness session, then another 5 minutes later team 2 got to do the same.

It was lovely session to come home too, it was great to meet Bernard and Joanne, well done on running up that hill! And being part of the team that didn’t moan about sanding the rails…..Jo, was the toffee crisp still in the fridge??

A huge WELL DONE to Kate for leading the session and doing a great job of it, very excited at the launch of Trafford.

Also while talking about celebrations, don’t forget its our 1st birthday very soon, ill be sending out messages about what we have planned later this week, how time flys when your having fun!

Its good to be back people, see you next week when we have a much shorter run planned, running to St Matthews church in Edgeley, with the wonderful Pam, which means brews and treats will be involved!

Have a great week running, Lisa

10 runners set off from our usual staring location of Lifeleisure Grandcentral at 6.30pm.

We did a longer than usual warm up as our task location was literally a skip hop and less than a jump away from us!

We warmed up with a mini circuit to prepare ourselves for the gardening task on hand, and then for the circuit planned for after the task.

We ran a very small loop, which was welcomed after last weeks huge run, to get to our location of behind Stockport Town Hall. Here we were greeted by the lovely Eleanor and the fabulous Simon, who is a regular Goodgym crew member and a fantastic human. After introducing themselves they set about the task of handing out gardening equipment to de-weed and arrange the wildflower planters……when you think of planters you think of smallish pots? Nooooo, this was a massive 70s structure! It was a massive task, but once again we set to it.

As the nights are getting darker earlier time was once again us, so picked our tools, put on our gloves and set to it with the pulling up of weeds and picking out litter. As ever the task seemed massive but with 10 of us at hand it gets done quickly and so the transformation began.

The area is pretty big and used by people working in the building close by to stop and have lunch, people also walk around to get a bit of exercise and fresh air, if i’m honest I didn’t know it was there, but its a fabulous place that now looks clean and fresh and ready for more wildflowers to be sewn.

Chatting with some of the Goodgym crew we mentioned as well as getting a good run in, and doing a good deed for our community we are also getting to know various bits of where we live that we never knew about, which is fantastic! Last night I heard about a place called “Happy Valley” I never knew such a place existed in Stockport, and now I look forward to finding it and doing a run around, I mean who wouldn’t want to run around in Happy Valley??

After the task was completed the gloves were off and the tools downed, we had a circuit session, since the run was very small! The fitness circuit comprised of star jumps, squats, lunges, press ups and hill run and of course a bit of loop running…….It was a tough finisher that made lots of red sweaty faces, but a great challenge. Some adaptations were made, as ever, we can mix things up so that the session is inclusive for everyone. The very last part of the session was a 3 minute interval session, where everyone blasted on through and did a fantastic job.

We then all cooled down, stretched off for a while and talked about our celebrity status!!

This week, on Tuesday morning we were talked about on non other than the Chris Evans breakfast show on BBC2!!!! The discussion is at the 1.12 mark if you feel like having a listen, he basically and rightly so says how wonderful we are, how we run to a community hot spot, complete a wonderful deed then run back, he says we move mountains (and if you were at wk 2 and remember the pile of twigs we moved, then he’s not wrong!) It was amazing to hear us get a mention, and whats more wonderful is that it was one of the parents from the primary school last week, so it was completely random. Every week i’m amazed at what we achieve, not only do we do the things mentioned but we are like a little community of our own, if you feel like being part of it we meet every Tuesday at Lifeleisure Grandcentral at 6.30pm, for further information visit the website at www.goodgym.org and any questions just email me at lisa.h@goodgym.org

Till next week guys, keep running,

Lisa H