The most important sporting event of the day

Tonight, the world watched as two closely-matched teams went head-to-head.

One has a much smaller population but had a strong set of skills. The other had a bigger population and the endurance required to keep up the pace. Both were prepped for the high expectations upon them. They arrived on the pitch just before 7pm, mesmerised their audience with their enthusiasm and commitment and they did not stop until the hard work was done.

I am, of course, talking about the two task groups who helped at the Reconnect Project and Dame Emily Park.

Team 1: A lot at stake

Not only did Mel excel herself with such a wonderful pun it now graces the title of this report, she also led a group on a stake-erecting expedition to Dame Emily Park. Unfortunately, the council mowed down the beautiful wildflowers that had been planted in the park. The GoodGymers met with Ursula, who had managed to gather posts to put around them to protect them going forward. Following the recent heatwave, this job was a lot harder than it seemed at first, and it took a lot of hardwork, force and willpower to get those stakes firmly in the ground. The group managed to put eight protective stakes in the ground and water 100 lavender plants in between. Their hard-work was rewarded by some much-appreciated biscuits, which went to good use as they fueled them to find six Gromits on their way home!

Team 2: Reconnecting

Meanwhile, the second group headed to Cafe Connect, part of the Reconnect Project in Easton. Although a small space, the cafe are preparing for a reopening in September and so had lots of jobs for us to do to help them. Libby and the team quickly set us to work in different groups, putting up magnetic noticeboards, polyfilla-ing and painting corners inside, sanding the serving table, planting tomato plants, painting the outdoor walls and moving bits to the roof. Everyone was having such a good time using their tools that it was with several disappointed 'awws' that we rested our tools and headed back with a promise to revisit to continue our work soon.

Unlike other, inferior, sporting feats of the night, none of our teams went home disappointed tonight, but proud of a hard effort and good run on a July Tuesday eve. Well done everyone!

Sticking together in heart times

In tonight's humidity, a crowd of Bristol GoodGymers gathered to sweat through it to get to the all important causes that need our help. It was great to have Sophie, Rose and Rosie join us for the first time tonight - we hope to see you again soon!

Keeping it Real

A small group headed for a longer run to raise some leafleting awareness for Real Economy, a food co-operative inspiring people to eat better and more locally. They also continued to leaflet for the Marmalade Trust, as this week is Loneliness Awareness Week. Both are brilliant causes and it is fantastic to see our willing runners make them more well-known in Bristol.

In the heart of the city

The rest of the group returned to the British Heart Foundation store to continue our work helping them get ready for store opening next week. There was some impressive stickering, pricing and re-pricing, as well as most of the group putting dibs on furniture items for them to pick up when the shop opens (sounds like there might be a bit of a GoodGym rammy on opening day. All for a good cause, of course.)

Hard-working highlights included: * Matt has made a full list of items to collect for his second bedroom - a good deed with Matt is never put to waste. * Darren managed to fit in some time watching the World Cup. * Jack succumbed and got in a box - endless hilarity by living out our puns.

Overall, the group were model citizens in moving mannequins, cleaning windows, pricing furniture and rolling rugs - GoodGym is rug n roll after all... The team at BHF were really pleased with our work, and the group's energy gave them a boost on their final push to store opening.

After a few Strava segments to cover on our way out and back, the two groups reconvened and showed a great effort in an exercise ladder followed by some impressive relay sprints and team-carrying techniques around Queen's Square. Brilliant work by everyone!

Big thank you to Tim, Shreena and Jack for their pun contributions for this report!

It was another big old Good Deed filled evening at GoodGym Bristol. A massive 53 runners came along to lend their hands to the good causes of Bristol. 53! You bed-der believe it. That is the Bristol record if you don't include medical students... A massive welcome and thank you to all of the new runners this evening, you were all absolutely brilliant!

Anyway, to the tales of an eve well spent. We got the bodies belonging to those helpful hands warmed up with some good old 'Shona says'. It's just like that fun game of Simon Says, but it involves burpees - so it's even more fun, right? Sofar, so good. The group then split into its three hefty sub-groups...

Got to Mala-go to the maze

Paul led a group out on a 6km run to Malago Maze, where we helped Jackie to do a massive amount of weeding to spruce the maze back into shape. The group did a fantastic job, and worked very hard to get a lot done in the time plus do the run there and back - brilliant work everyone!

It's goat to be perfect

Chris did a fabulous job of taking the second group to Bramble Hill Farm to also get stuck in with the weeds giving it a good prep-up for summer. These lucky do-gooders had an extra treat of getting to meet the goats and the pigs of the farm (and potentially spending more time getting the perfect selfie than weeding? (Not mentioning any names, Matt...)

The tables have turned

Meanwhile, the rest of the group went to help the British Heart Foundation team to set up their new store in the middle of Bristol. The team got stuck in with moving furniture, sorting books and pulling down window stickers (and managed to cajole some innocent bystanders into it too - thanks John the window-cleaner). The time flew by and we are looking forward to coming back for Part 2 in a couple of weeks' time.

After all that, everyone chair-ished a good sit down, and what better way to do it than with our June Monthly Eats at Bambalan. Flat breads and beer later, we'd sure forgotten about the squat pain. Thank you Clo for organising this!

To be honest, I've got to get a load off my chest - this run report may or may not have been written with the aim of including numerous furniture puns. Just in case they aren't quite good enough to notice, I have handily highlighted them so you can really appreciate that I am just sofa-nny.