The task tonight was to help spread the word about the local Green Gyms Big Community Workouts that take place every Saturday at 10am in the Green Gym’s at Salt hill Park and in Manor Park. With a whopping 26 of our local parks housing these outdoor gyms the good people of Slough really have no excuse for not exercising…its heart work but you aorta know that exercise makes your heartier!

Each park has a variety of fitness equipment from cross trainers, static cycles, to resistance machines, benches and bars (not that type of bar!)

Flying for Fitness

Welcome brief and safety information covered 12 Goodgymer’s were ready to tackle those letterboxes. We didn’t have that many leaflets to drop today so could spend a bit of quality time on a fitness session – we were going to pull out all the quads today!

To make the task of leaflet dropping a tad more exciting, we went with the exciting option of road names scavenger hunt! Each team had to find 3 roads starting with the letter B C W (Big Community Workout), then make it back to Salt Hill Park as quick as they could. And the prize for the winners….WEIGHT for it!.... would be to have a few less reps of each exercise to do in the fitness session! So an extra incentive to flyer round faster, find those B C W roads and get the leaflets out!

So after our Everyone’s IT warm up game…which I think I need to explain in more graphic detail next time (especially to Anthony….we headed to our first cross junction and divided into two teams – Team Sara and Team Darren

Exercise? I thought you said extra fries!

So task complete and team Darren was back to base in record time. Team Sara had more fun anyway…running, chatting, chatting some more…

It was time to do a strength based session targeted for runners! We had 6 exercises in total:

Deadlifts; bent over rows; overhead presses; renegade rows; weighted glute bridges and weighted step ups

10 reps of each and 3 sets completed and a few sweat beads later – we were done. Buns of steels and abs like Tu-Pac’s brother 6Pac! ready to be on show next week!

Hopefully the team enjoyed this sequence of exercises, which can be done in the comfort of your own home with just a set of dumb bells.

Up and coming

• We have a couple of community missions listed this month, so if you can’t do Monday's group runs then take a look at these:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/clothes-sorting

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/improving-something-somewhere-in-slough

• Next week we have our first painting task! And with a new task owner. We will need to be ready to run by 18.30 next week so please arrive a few minutes earlier than usual.

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/communal-area-painting

Have a great week

PS... check out the knitted bear that Jean made for Baby Jones and Baby Connolly ❤❤❤

It was a case of the missing runners today. With just 3 of us at the group run we soon deduced that everyone else were either at the pub, at a BBQ, off with an injury or just enjoying a day off…But fear not, I’ll take the lack of runners on the chin this time and save my epic core conditioning fitness session for them next week rather than today…

So we did something unusual today…we changed our base location meet up point (for one night only) to Colnbrook….Jean, Sara and I met at The Village Hall where I did the safety and task brief. Sara, had just completed the Vitality 1000k earlier today and like a true trooper still came out this evening…congratulations Sara and thank you!

Our task was to do a leaflet drop for Active Slough’s new ladies boxercise and fitness classes that take place every Wednesday and Saturday at the Village Hall.

Saved by the bell

We did a fast feet, agility work and a bare knuckle fight as our warm up….Jean won hands down…she’s got some moves about her has our Jean. Some of her punches were a bit below the belt and she did mutter ‘I’m gonna knock you out’ during the warm up! But we take no offence with Jean as she is a gem of a lady and to be honest I did ‘take a dive’ just to let her win…lucky for her we were saved by the bell

The harder they fall

Task ready we set off as a group to deliver the leaflets. It was a nice warm evening so we just took it easy and chatted and dropped as we went…taking care of our bare knuckles on the letter boxes…which seem to be getting harder and snappier..I’m sure someone’s hand will be out for the count one day

What happens in Fight Club stays in Fight Club

Us Goodgymers are accustomed to leaflet dropping now as we’ve done this task many a times, so the fast feet and swiftness of our moves meant that the task was done in no time at all.

This meant one thing and one thing only on a Bank Holiday Monday…that we could get punch drunk! Or do an extra run...which is exactly what Jean and I did. Sara, with tired legs headed off home for a well earned rest.

I love running with Jean, she has so many stories to tell…some of which cannot be repeated here…but others which amaze me each time I hear them. Did you know she has completed 6 marathons in her lifetime…the last of which was when she was 75 years old. One epic lady.

Next week we have a very exciting first task with Slough Outreach. Check it out here and sign up https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/help-serve-share-with-slough-outreach

This coming Wednesday we will be helping task owner Jamie with a Community Mission litter pick at the Jubilee River. The meet up point is at the Jubilee River Riverside Centre from 11am. See details below https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/litter-pick-the-jubilee

Roll Up Roll Up…Read All About It

• Sut Yee, Darren and Ricky all passed their Leadership in Running Fitness course at the weekend and are now ready to support Goodgym Slough! Well done guys…now let’s get you guys started on doing the warm ups, main session and cool downs so I can go have a rest…

• Not only do we have 3 new Run Leaders…We also have a growing team of task force members – well done to Emily, Sut, Darren, Ruth and Sandy for doing your training…this means we can do even more community tasks for Slough

• We are also getting more coach pairings on the system, so if you wish to become a coach runner then please do your online training

• The new missions system is also live now hoping to get more mission tasks/referrals booked in too

• With it soon being International Women’s Day…we will be looking at doing a ladies only group run/community mission on Saturday 9th March…more details on this soon

This evening we had a double decker task. We were running one of our longer distances to Wexham Park Hospital to help with a litter pick of the site and en-route we were going to set another team off to leaflet drop for Active Slough to promote their Pilates, Yoga and Zumba classes

Our warm up consisted of a body parts game and as many yoga poses as we knew before heading out…suffice to say…we knew very little

Great to have Brendar join us this evening on her first group run…we’ve been bending over backwards to convince her to join us!

We got to the Wexham area in good time and then split into two teams. The A-Team were to jog on with a Spring-steen step in their feet cos baby they were born to run and the B-Team went on a bit of a bender to deliver the Active Slough leaflets

The A-Team

Six of us arrived at Wexham Park Hospital, donned their gloves and went on the hunt for a bit of a pick me up, with our pickers and sweepers.

In total we filled 3 bags of rubbish. The main source of rubbish were those pesky little butts again

A bit of a sweeping statement but those cigarette butts literally take my breath away….we did notice that the hospital had many a ‘No Smoking’ signs up…hmmm I think we’d love you even more lung time if this rule was abided by

Job done, we down tooled and headed back to collect the B Team

The B-Team

Coma se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa, Shakira Shakira

Does that not just make you want to go Zumba! That was the aim of B-Team‘s mission… to promote these classes by Zumbaing down Norway Drive… and hope those who want a bit of Bom Bom Pow, Hips Don’t Lie or even those who have Moves Like Jagger get their groove on and attend these great classes

(I remember when yoga used to be called Twister…)

Great job by Emily, Darrem, Sut Yee and Harry on delivering 100 plus leaflets tonight....

Both tasks done, we headed back to base for a well deserved cake!

What did we learn tonight?

• That Nisha gets hot and steamy (…..when running wearing her glasses)
• Sut Yee can multitask (….I saw a running Sut with phone to the ear ordering chicken and rice)
• Harry likes running, kick boxing and as of today he’s taken up fencing (though not sure it’s your sport)
• Emily likes to get nakd (….bar to eat as a treat after her runs)
• Sandy is all about tutu’s and glitter
• Brendar is a warrior princess
• Pam looks rather lovely in red
• Darren ‘I don’t do yoga’ Jones…is actually quite good at a tree pose
• Meera only comes to the sessions to have her photo taken (and a little bit of running)
• Manjit’s favourite yoga pose is the ‘corpse pose’….minimum input maximum output

Lots going on in March with it being International Women's Day on Friday 8th March and Earth Week w/c 25th March and Earth Hour on Saturday 30th March...keep an eye out for all the runs/community missions to help celebrate these events

Have a great week

This evening’s task was a nice #runlove one! We were supporting our local Council with a leaflet drop for their Active Slough team, highlighting all the great sporting activities on offer in Slough. With over 100 sessions a week, there has to be a perfect match for everyone in there somewhere. From running, pilates, yoga to boxercise, futsal, Zumba and many many more….Check out their website to find which one could be just your type http://www.slough.gov.uk/leisure-parks-and-events/active-slough.aspx

As a double whammy we were also supporting a local running group and their Beat the Boat 10k Race in June with a leaflet drop. A few of our regular runners will be doing this race so would be great to have more Goodgymers on board… https://www.runface.co.uk/beattheboat

Life is Short But Running Makes it Seem Longer

Our target area this evening was in the heart of Langley…so that meant a nice 4km run out from our base at Salt Hill Activity Centre. With a heart-warming brief given with all the love and care possible, we warmed up our souls (and toes with toe tagging fun) and headed out with Darren back marking.

You’re a Bit Fit

With it being the week of romance there is no better way to get your groove on than by activating those romantic endorphins with some exercising. So we turned on our running watches and started to run…In no time at all we had reached Langley and were ready to do the deed …. (of leaflet dropping)

Is That an Energy Bar in Your Pocket….Or!!!

No…they are just leaflets!

We divided into small teams of two and took on a few different streets each. With our love hearts we set off to fulfil the lives of others…with the information in the leaflets

Oh My Quad

In order to get those runners legs nicely toned we did a series of lunges…from walking lunges to courtesy to a straight forward front lunge… Alistair has quite the knack for a courtesy lunge!

You Must Be Tired as You’ve Been Running Through My Mind All-Day

Task complete, we started to head back to Salt Hill Park, but only after doing some fartlek speed work along Quaves Rd…Nothing better than pushing those legs to fatigue….

Well done to everyone who came along this evening. Next week’s task is a bit more closer to home. We will be weeding the tennis courts in Salt Hill Park… so will do some lap work around the park before descending on the task

Have a great week Manjit