A fine weathered day led to a great turnout at GG! Leanne saw us all waiting and thought 'nah, those lot look too charming and fun' so went to join the walking crowd taking Laurie and the litter picking equipment with her. Martin arrived with his trombocinos which we all obviously identified on sight, and DJ Andy recreated his favourite 00's popstar moment. I gave the runners the choice of three distances and we settled on the middle one, Rich leading us out with such aplomb that Paul wondered when since his last task that we had started to hit it so hard! We paused our Endeavour at the Endeavour for comedy's sake.

The race was on against the sunset clock and we all worried about Ben when he took a tumble trying to do a heel click! Fortunately he was fine, must be something to do with the socks which Rob would be proud of.

We met up with the others and spied the womblers had already picked six bags! Still we have keen eyesight and a will to do good. As Heidi, Kate and I debated what art was (Banksy doesn't, GoodGym run report photos do) we got to work. As we got closer to the river and the new bridge, which looks lovely, we split into two groups. Drinks on Jess as she found £50 and Sallyann had already had those drinks with a pile of smirnoff bottles. Fay complained about having to take photos of the Hokey Cokey boat, but then leaped at the chance to photo me by a 'Fat earth dave.com' sign....funny that.

As twilight descended, Russell led us back to base for a 7km overall run - 1/3 of a great north run (entries now open!). Next week is painting the town red with our shirts and painting some benches so sign up!

With it (apparently) being summer, tonights task was to help Hearing Help Essex with their garden by filling a skip with as much garden waste as we could.

Fay, Sallyann, Laurie and Angela had arranged to meet us at the task, leaving myself, Andy and Paul to run down from the gym.

As we chatted we were greeted by Saeed who had just signed up for his first task with us. WELCOME SAEED

We made our way down the High Street and to Hearing Help Essex's new digs behind Moulsham Mill only to find Fay had already jumped in the skip to make more space, with the rest filling it up in quick time.

Setting to work on a pile of grass, leaves, twigs and branches we moved onto sacks filled with even more garden waste and finished off by pulling more weeds out of the garden pathway.

A big thank you to all that came and a big shout out to Saeed who brought some much needed strength to the group and on his first task with us got straight into it.

See you all soon

Run Happy

Rich

p.s. We will be back at Hearing Help Essex again this coming Wednesday.

We headed out into the misty morning to do our semi-frequent volunteer at Parkrun. When we arrived, welcoming Chris back, some of us gushed over the incredible northern lights we saw last night, others over the rum and coke/ star wars marathon (Angela). Fay was incredulous that Martin had chosen to keep his legs covered up for once.

We headed out to our assigned tasks, with me being sad that Paul didn't fall off the bike, although not sure I know how to ride one still anyway, and went to cheer on the runners. We all completed our tasks with aplomb - special shoutout to Laura making her Parkrun debut.

Heading to the traditional Spoons for brekky, Andy and Martin leapt at the chance of a second breakfast, with Andy moaning he was forced into ordering toast by....himself.

Good work, have a nice weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

I was surprised to see almost everyone at the Old Factory, ready for a round 9km trip of leafletting.

Sallyann heaved the two bags of leaflets into her car and set off to meet us at our starting point in Great Baddow (thanks for being such a good helper!!) whilst Paul led us out on our way.

Andy and Russell didn't disappoint with their levels of chatting whilst running, and Leanne and Jess came up with some rather interesting new mixed breed dog names.

We spotted Angela in her unmissable yellow shirt at B&M and carried on towards our destination.

Sallyann was raring to go, so we only wasted a small amount of time in handing leaflets out and getting going on both sides of the road.

We somehow lost one group, so I got some extra fitness in for a couple of minutes whilst I chased them and brought the two groups back together.

From what seemed like two heavy bags, we got through the leaflets surprisingly quickly, with Jenny and Russell delivering the final few whilst the rest of us meandered our way back. Excellent work by all!

I entrusted the group to make their way back safely without me, so Joe sent proof of arrival with a very artistic photo, although one shoe was missing...

See you all soon,

Laurie

10 GoodGymers enjoyed a slap up meal as a post-task reward this evening!

Back Inn Time has been in business for around 40 years, so long-time Chelmsford residents Andy, Fay and Jenny reminisced about the many times they have been over the years, whereas it was a first time visit for pretty much everyone else!

In between burgers and cocktails Joe led a discussion about whether squirrels would be edible. Laurie and David debated the acceptable times of day to eat chocolate and we put together a short list for venues for our Christmas do. Time for another poll!

We have another social this weekend with our monthly visit to the Ale House pub quiz. There's still time to sign up.

To start Fay's 6th GoodGym birthday, we welcomed Jess back for her second GoodGym run, followed by somehow posing for Rich's slightly creepy panoramic photo.

The runners set off with litter pickers towards King's Road and were caught up shortly after by Fay and Rich who walked. Russell and Andy were engaging in more chat than litter picking, and dragging Rich down with them, so it was suggested they move to the other side of the road. Ben joined to help, and I joined to supervise. I can't say that the chatting stopped, but we did fill quite a large bag of litter and stop for some ridiculous photos.

The other (much larger) group left us behind, so we got our head torches on and caught them up (still chatting the whole way). We reconvened, got a much more normal group photo, and jogged back through the park to make it a nice round 5-ish km.

Once we got back we were excited to get ready for our trip to Back Inn Time. Andy, Joe, and Paul took extra long to pamper themselves in the gym changing rooms, whilst Erin went with the no changing approach. We all enjoyed our diner experience, and managed to not be brainwashed by Richard's shiny folding phone.

We've got the pub quiz on Sunday and there's some spaces left - sign up here.

We'll also be running polls soon for volunteering at parkrun in November, and the December social. Keep an eye on whatsapp for those.

Next week Rich is leading a litter pick - sign up here.

See you soon,

Laurie