3 Goodgymers set their alarms for an early start at Coventry Cathedral ruins to support the Coventry Sleepout, organised by Cyrenians/St Basils and YMCA Coventry and Warwickshire & Heart of England and a part of the Coventry 2021 City of Culture ‘HOME’ festival. Sunday 10th October also marks World Homelessness Day.

Our task was to help tidy up a huge pile of cardboard that had been used to make sleeping spaces during the sleepout. We walked over two miles moving the cardboard towards the skip, working alongside lots of other volunteers from the different charities involved. Once we had filled the skip, several bins and plenty of bin bags (all before 8am), it was time to go home for second breakfast- we certainly earned it today!

Tonight 10 runners from GoodGym Coventry (with Alex after a productive day of meetings in Coventry :) ) ran 6km and delivered 250 leaflets for the Cyrenians.

Having caught up on injury news, parkrun and Draycote 10km news, we set off to deliver the bags. We met the friendliest but noisiest Basset Hound in Coventry, cats with sparkly eyes and found the lumpier side of Coventry whilst sharing news of the Cyrenians next bag collection.

As hill sessions had been s feature of most of the recent sessions attended,we changed to a pyramid session using lampposts and some run specific exercises before heading back to the Alison Gingell building.

Thanks Becka for the puns x

Next week we are delivering leaflets for the Festival of running detailing their road closures.

Have a good week all, Liz x

19 GoodGym Coventry runners relocated to the Council House and ran 5km to support the work of the Cyrenians in Coventry.

This evening started off a little differently at the Council House, where it was great to meet Jack, Karen and Pacharo who had come with us for the first time.

We set off to find our start location on The Martyr's close (Historical information here ), some runners opting for a slightly more scenic route , teams were given roads and quickly set off to deliver their bags. And we finished up a big hill, where at the top Meera tried to make friends with a local cat.

In no time at all, 400 bags were delivered on a route that took in a few hills. As this was not enough hills for our intrepid runners we set off to find some more hills on Puma Way (with all the sights and sounds of locals and the wildlife) to support our efforts.

We returned to the Council House, stretched and made plans for the next week. Next week, shoudl see some 50 run celebrations as well as post-run drinks to say farewell to Brogan as she sets off on her travels. Will be great to see you then. Liz x

To celebrate GoodGym's 10th anniversary, 16 runners from Coventry set off with our flag on a mission to complete our delivery of 500 bags as well as get some good photos. We definitely completed the task, great photos I can't promise, although Anne-Marie took some :)

It was great to meet Leticia and Brogan and welcome them to GoodGym Coventry. Before the speech, we enjoyed the GoodGym text which managed to eloquently sum up alot of our GoodGym experiences. We got our first photo by Lady Godiva.

Once at the destination for the start of our bag drop, split into teams to achieve the task and in no time, all the bags were delivered. Awesome teamwork. We headed to the Council House for another photo and the location of our speed work reps. It then meant that we had time to complete 5 x 200m reps and really focus on our speed and maintaining that throughout the reps. We could then head around to the Cathedral to get another photo. We then stretched and celebrated in Drapers our first 6 months- what a 6 month it has been. Well done and thanks GGCoventry. Liz x

On a lovely summer's evening, we didn't have to head too far out of town to complete our task today. 14 GoodGym Coventry runners ran 4km to deliver 500 leaflets and bags for Coventry Cyrenians.

Once at our location, we split in to four teams initially named after left or right of centre and odd and even numbers, however this soon got complicated and traditional names were used. Keen to win, the even teams completed their drops first on round one, as the round progressed competition hotted up but although it was tight the winners were Natalie, Laura P and Meera.

Having completed the task in super speedy time and delivering all of our bags, we headed back in to town exploring some local history on the way-Whitefriars, initially built in 1342! Plus a bit of wildlife.

Our fitness session was 200m reps followed by exercises chosen by the winning team. Nigel gave Damian a run for his money on the reps, pushing right till the very end, Nigel if there were 6 reps, you'd have got him!

The exercises chosen by the winners, were star jumps, step ups, tricep dips and Squate- using the beautiful horse shaped benches :)

Having worked hard and done good, we headed back to Drapers whilst the sun was still shining.

Have a good week and bank holiday weekend all, Liz x

What started off as the perfect temperature and day for a run, soon descended into a torrential downpour as 15 GoodGym superstars delivered information regarding the Cyrenians charity to the houses of Coventry. Although the running covered around 3 miles,over 5 miles were travelled including the paths to houses. It was great to see so many with their red GoodGym tops on too.

It was great to see familiar faces as well as meeting for the first time Katherine and Jo. Thank you Jo for back marking the run.

Competition was rife as the teams raced to be the first to deliver their leaflets and be the first back to the mid point on each of the roads bottom left winning the first road, but the whole right side winning the second :)

As the weather had at this point turned from slightly damp to persevering, we entertained ourselves with a fartlek or speed-play sessions to get back to Drapers. Everyone enjoying the recovery as much as the efforts :)

Back at Drapers, in the warm and dry, we stretched and talked about next week's task at Langar Aid.

This was then the night of the first 'GoodGym Coventry' social. Great food was eaten, new friendships forged and warming drinks devoured. Thanks all. Look forward to seeing you next week, Liz x