14 people ran 6k to do some cleaning for SIFA Firesides

Tonight’s pun is brought to you by John Boy Hayes, read on for the explanation! Tonight, we didn’t have any newbie’s, but we welcomed Lee back for the first time in a while, he had been otherwise engaged with watching Reading on Tuesday nights! After their recent results I thought I might need to give him counselling! But instead he took the all-important back marker role! We set on our way to SIFA on the last official ‘dark run’ before the clocks change in time for next week! Hurray! Although of course we did have some light on the outward journey anyway.

bucket army

Once arriving Geoff had organised a load of buckets full of soapy water. The groups task was to scrub blue-tac and cello tape off the walls and give the showers and toilets a good going over. Rob, the two Kate’s and David did the showers and bogs and the remainder of the group did the other stuff. A good 25 minutes was spent doing the task, once all done we had the obligatory group photo before heading off.

Bootcamp

Just after starting the run back we stopped at one of the car parks to do a quick GG BC! It was a tough session, starting with a circuit of high knees running, squat jumps and tuck jumps. Hasnain and Liam put some great work in, really going for it in the high knees. There was some great work by Richard, John and Lee in the tucks, getting that heart pumping hard. After that was done yours truly did a quick ‘theory lesson’ on ankle mobility and easy ways to improve it at home. Improving mobility in this area helps reduces injury and massively improves squat technique, which rather appropriately led to a couple of sets of leg burning squat holds. The two Kate’s held a great squat and Laura, Abi and Steph showed some good form, however the groups form overall seems to have improved a lot so top work top everyone! Once done we had the uphill run back.

It became quite an interesting one for the lead group. We had one (slightly inebriated) gentleman giving us lots of encouragement up one of the hills, even joining in! He really did have some staying power, at one point I was going to ask him if he had remembered to turn his strava on! Further up the road we got some more heckling/encouragement from some guys on the top deck of a bus, telling 'us lads' to run faster! Clearly, they didn’t see Morwenna was also with us! Anyway, that’s when John thought of this week’s pun!

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

12 people ran 9k to get shown around and brainstorm some task ideas at Free@last

It was great to have a dozen runners at tonight’s run, on the coldest GG Brum night yet! After a flurry in the afternoon the white stuff kindly stayed away throughout the run. Once the intros were done we were out into the cold and got on our way rather quickly! Nobody wanted to be standing around tonight! We ran the 4.5k to Free@Last and were happy to get into the warmth on arrival. James welcomed us and showed us around the whole facility. The climbing wall was especially impressive. Richard and Luke especially enjoyed climbing across it! We were shown DJ booths and even recording studios, it really is an impressive facility. Once our tour was done we had a brainstorm on what we could do to help the facility next month, it was decided we would take a fitness session for the facilities’ attendees.

The run back

Once done, we had time for a quick photo, David seemed to enjoy lying in the snow I'm sure he would have been up for building a snowman if there had been a little more of the white stuff knocking about! We ran in a few groups all running slightly different speeds. Everyone worked well supporting each other to get the job done in quick time.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

13 people ran 8k to give out fruit to the homeless

Tonight, it was great to welcome three newbies to GG Brum, we had Elizabeth, Joana and Dave joining us for tonight's run. It was great to have you with us!

After the intro's we were ready to go on what was a virtually tropical night compared to recent standards. Tonight's task was a bit different. Normally we help a specific organisation, however tonight we were running around the city centre giving fruit, mainly bananas, though Karin (who also thought up tonight's 'pun') brought some nectarines along as well, to the homeless. We split up into two groups, I led one group along the canal, before coming out at Brindley Place, while Rob was the 'big boss man' of the other group running more centrally through the city centre. We then arranged to all meet outside the town hall at 6.55pm.

Banana man!

Once we met at the town hall we ran together to give the remainder of the bananas out. Luke the 'banana man' was very keen, running in all directions to give out his copious bunches of bananas he had brought along! By 7.25pm we had given everything out, so on the way back to base we quickly stopped in Cathedral Square or Pigeon park as many know it, due to the amount of feathered friends in the vicinity to do a very quick Bootcamp blast! It was a little mixture of high knees running, jump lunges and tuck jumps. The group put in great effort as usual. Joanna put in some great work on the high knees, Morwenna got nice and low with the jump lunges and David got the knees right up in the tuck jumps!

Once that was all done, it was just the small matter of the 1k run back to 1000 Trades.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

10 people ran 7k to do a litter pick on the canal to help the The Canal and River Trust in Birmingham

Most weeks during the last month or so I have said it has been on the cold side but tonight we actually had snow! Well that didn't deter three GG newbies, as we gave a warm welcome (well it was warm in 1000 Trades before we left, anyway!!) to Richard, Rebecca and Stephanie. They will now be prepared for anything!

Once the intros were done we were on our way to the canal. Not that best night for an outdoor task I know, but the group as always got the litter pick done, all be it a slightly shorter one than usual as we wanted to get moving again before to long! Once done, we had a quick pic and then we got on our way to Millennium point.

Time trial

Once at our fitness sess destination we were all ready for the time trail (or they were and I was to take the pictures!!) It was only the second ever GG Brum time-trial and it followed the same three and a half laps around the gardens to make it one mile (or 1.6k) in distance as the last one we did back in November. David, Richard and John led the way. David eventually being first back with a new course record and breaking the 6-minute barrier with a time of 5.58! I'm sure Aaron will be back next month to try and get his course record back ;-) Everyone worked hard, in rather difficult conditions with the snow blowing in the face on some parts of the course and with the paths being on the slippie side making negotiating the corners rather tricky! Laura and Rebecca pushed each other on as they were sticking together like glue during the whole distance and Stephanie put in a great performance on her first run. Now make sure you record your times somewhere so you can try and beat them next month :-)

Once done, we had time for one last pic, before heading back to 1000 Trades.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us and next week it will be an indoor task! sign up here.