Today I returned back to an old haunt of GoodGym Birmingham and completed an afternoon shift at FareShare in Birmingham. It was great to meet up with Dionne who works in the warehouse but is also a GoodGym member and she wasted no time putting me to work! With my high vis and steel toe capped boots on it was time to prepare orders ready for loading on to waiting vans which would then be distributed to charities and community centres around Birmingham and beyond. It’s was amazing to see so many volunteers and in no time I was getting to grips with the job in hand which was very similar to what the GoodGym group had done previously. It was great to work hard for such a great charity and hopefully I can make the shift next week.

It was our chance to join in on the three day food collection for FareShare. I decided not to run after the efforts this morning at parkrun gave my hips reasons to send pain messages. Jonny had some free time so joined the shift at the last minute, again choosing not to run as he has a race in the morning. So fitness’ loss was public transport’s gain, even though there was a train strike on. We joined Maria and her friend on the 3-6 shift, which was a bit busy with lots of shoppers mixed in with quite well lubricated patrons of the German Market outside. Which meant that we were asked if there were any toilets more times than we would like to remember. That being said, there was some wonderful generosity in Birmingham on a soggy, ram packed afternoon. Which kept the spirits lifted even while waiting ages for the bus home.

12 people ran 10k to organise a food order for FareShare

After last weeks ‘heatwave’ it was back to business as usual this week as a rather wet and soggy night greeted us. Not to worry though, we still had a newbie to welcome and a very warm one goes to Aaron’s mate Jeremy!

We set off to FareShare, taking in the canal towpath on our way. David did the back marking duties and Aaron the front. Once arriving at FareShare Dionne greeted us, who not only works at FS, she is also part of the GG clan. We all got a well earned drink, some getting a bit of extra sparkle, with a cup of sparkling water and then it was on with the job of sorting some food orders. Aaron and Richard stood in the vans while the rest of the group passed them all the food. The first van was a order being taken to Stoke were all the food would be distributed to various charities and schools. The group worked like a ‘well oiled machine’ going back and forth, loading food into the van. I even got Aaron picking the boxes up with a perfect deadlift technique, my Personal Training day job getting used just a little bit more.

Once done before we headed back the group were asked if anybody would like some bread and milk which was going out of date today. Richard jumped at the chance, the only down side was he had to run all the way back with it, therefore running over 5k looking like he had robbed a corner shop (hence the pun/picture). After organising us at the task Dionne also got her running shoes on to join us for the trek back to 1000 Trades.

The run back is always hard work as it is all up hill and generally into a headwind and tonight the wind didn’t disappoint again! Once back the whole group were pretty tired. Running just over 10k there was no need for a fitness session tonight!

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

15 people ran 11k to organise a food order for Fareshare

On an even colder night than last week we had fifteen hardy Goodgymers ready to do some good! We welcomed GG first timer Lucy to the ranks, who definitely chose a challenging run to start off with! After the intro’s we were out into the ‘natural walk in freezer’! for the 5.5k run to Fareshare.

Garry and Aaron got the short straw

Once arriving at our destination, running at a fair old clip in the process, the group were ready to get to work. Fareshare is were Dionne works so she did a great job organising everyone. She had a clip board, which always makes you look important 😉 Garry and Aaron stood in the truck getting passed all the items, now why this might be considered as the short straw, was because the back of the van was basically a walk-in freezer! In the summer I think we would have had a queue for their job…but at one degree celcius maybe not tonight! It was that cold that Luke, the only person in just t-shirt and shorts managed to get himself a cup of tea during the task! The group took around 30 minutes, everyone mucked in getting the van fully loaded and Garry and Aaron didn’t get frost bite, so jobs a good un!!

Even colder on the way back?!

Once the task was complete we went back out into the cold and now it really did feel like a walk-in freezer! It certainly had gotten colder, with the arctic type wind, but that didn’t deter us GoodGymer's, well we had to get back somehow, so off we went, once arriving at 1000 Trades we had done 7 miles! Or 11.5k, so excellent work everyone! I hope you are all now relaxing at home, with the heating on!

Next week is GoodGym Brum’s 1st anniversary would you believe?! So, after the run we will be having a celebratory social. Unfortunately, I can’t promise beer garden weather, but I can promise a good time, so it would be great if you could join us sign up here

14 people ran 11k to FareShare to organise a food order

Tonight, it was great to welcome two newcomers to GG Brum, both Evelyn and Rob, it’s great to have you involved. They both chose a top night for their first group run, it was to be the longest one yet. We have been to FareShare before, but with the night’s drawing in we had to take a slightly different route this time, avoiding the canal, making it around an extra 1k in total. After the introductions Aidan, fresh back from his trip across the Atlantic to America kindly offered to back mark and I led from the front

Time to chill

Once arriving at our task destination, everyone was on the hot and sweaty side, the temperatures are quite high for the end of October, been a Yorkshireman this is good though……it saves on heating bills! Anyway, what better way to cool down than a nice big walk-in fridge! Everyone got in and with Chan missing Rob (the original) did the honours of taking the selfie. Once that was done it was on with sorting the order. Everyone mucked in carrying food to the van were Aaron organised it. I took plenty of photos including a few good 'mug shots'!

it’s a bit late

We were a bit late leaving the task as it was a slightly bigger food order this time, but we were keen to get it finished so the group were happy to get back to 1000 Trades a little later than usual. Anyway, we all headed back together, everyone worked well on the run back, as after the run there, then the task the group were likely to be ‘feeling it’ by the end, apart from Aaron who said he felt better on the way back! Sam pushed hard all the way back and Morwenna ran strongly. Abbie also put in some great work for her first run with GG for a few weeks and a special mention must go to Evelyn, who really did get thrown in at the deep end on her first group run, but she did fantastic! So, that was that, 11k in total, officially the longest GG Brum run since we started in January, so well done every single one of the group! Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

15 people ran 10k to help sort food out to be distributed to various food banks by FareShare

Tonight, it was great to welcome Simon for his first time at a GG group run and Katie who was doing some GG tourism having been involved in some of the London groups. They both picked a great night to join us, as it was going to be our longest run yet! Around 10k in total. So, after the introductions we were all on our way to FareShare. It was nice that we could do a large part of the run on the canal avoiding the traffic.

Chilling out

After around 5k we arrived at our destination. It was a very humid night, so we all had a right good sweat on! We were greeted by Hannah at FareShare who gave all the group a welcome bottle of water. Then most of the group took the opportunity to ‘chill out’ in the walking freezer before starting the task! Once the group were ready it involved sorting ready meals, bread, yoghurts and a few other bits and pieces. Hannah was very impressed saying that they had never had the items sorted so quickly! Many hands make light work or so the saying goes me thinks! So now we had completed the task it was time for a quick group photo and then we were on our way back!

The long way back

We went a slightly different way on our way back, taking in more of the canal. After about 1k, we split into two groups, one slightly faster and one slightly slower, but there wasn’t a lot of difference as everyone worked hard all the way back. We even added in a couple of intervals before we reached our base! Everyone was absolutely fantastico! 10k was a great achievement and the whole group worked really well supporting and pushing each other a long, it was great to see! Therefore, after we finished everyone was ready for the GG Brum social, sinking a few well-deserved drinks! Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.