Il pleuvait !

Oh dear ! Worthing is fast beginning to loose its sunny reputation. For the second week in a row we had a rather soggy experience . Our task this evening was painting the fence of the bee hive compound. Unfortunately with the rain,this task just wasn't viable so we had to resort to plan B.

Fresh back from my holiday I was very pleased to see everyone and give a very cheery welcome to our hardy souls that turned out to brave the wind and waves of rain and who also brought lots of humour and good vibes to the evening.

Drum roll on a very special evening for tonights participants. Let's welcome Barbara, Daisy, Sue,Duncan, Lucy,Steve,Belinda, John, Anne and last but not (too) late, a rather damp Jay!

We started with a round up of the weeks news . Belated congratulations to Lucy on her 51st GG task together with John who was tonight completing his September 100 mile running challenge and also to Barbara who was completing her 75 mile September distance challenge too.

We covered all the GG HQ news too with special mention and discussion about national older peoples day tomorrow 1st October . If any of you would like to do a coach run every week lets get those documents checked and get you started.

We are all going on a treasure hunt

With the task cancelled .I explained and handed out instructions for tonights alternative plan . This was a run with a difference . A 5 mile route was interspersed with stopping for some escalating fitness treasure moments labelled 'squat til you drop'

We all started out together with 10 jumping jacks just outside the leisure centre before splitting into groups and heading out in great spirits on our run/ walk adventure.

In total there were 6 stops . Everytime we stopped the team added 10 exercises onto the escalating pyramid culminating in the following

• 10 jumping Jacks
• 10 Squat Jumps
• 10 tuck jumps
• 10 burpees
• 10 squats then up onto tip toes with arms raised
• 10 burpees

The Grand Finale

With walkers and runners convening on the track , some were fairly exhausted after some pacy running and functional moves, whilst others still had some energy left for a few laps .

We all were eagerly awaiting our two September superstars, John and Barbara, to come in for their finale on the track . They had not only achieved their individual challenges, but , thanks to a few bonus miles tonight , both comfortably exceeded their 100 and 75 mile targets. With arms lifted to form finishing arch and much applause it was finished!

Massive kudos to you both and many congratulations:)

The chipping forecast

With so much to celebrate 13 of us headed down to Chipwick for some well deserved fish, chips and, for nearly half of us, delicious halloumi which was all washed down with some very fine beverages .

We also took the opportunity to raise a glass to our very own ultra woman Tracey aka Lucy in recognition of her 50th appearance with GoodGym.

Looking great in her new black t' shirt ( take a look at this weeks photo of her! ) we also presented Lucy with a photo collage of GG memories. This included a spoof, extra touch, that John had created from 'that' photo from last week.

Much laughter, banter and a worried face on my part when 'that' photo fronted the frame instead of the chosen collage, but it was all in very good humour with lots of extremely happy vibes all round.

In other news

• Congratulations to Paul and husband John on his Barnes Green half marathon yesterday.

• Christmas party places at Salsa Viva on 14th December are filling up with only 4 left so please let me or Tamsin know ASAP if you would like to come.

• If any of you have time to give John and Belinda a hand moving the contents of their shop to home this weekend please let them know. All help gratefully received.

• Next week we are at meeeting at Splashpoint LC and then at Heene cemetery.

Lastly The October Fitness Challenge

This month's challenge is a daily strength and core challenge designed to improve both your muscular skeletal and cardio fitness.

Squat and don't stop

• 10 squats
• 10 squat Jumps
• 10 Tuck jumps

• 10 squats pushing up onto your tip toes with arms in the air

  Repeat with 9 of everything then 8 and down to zero.

Core 4 sets of 8 of the following

• Reverse lift
• V sits
• Burpees
• Russian Twist
• Scissor kicks
• Overhead extension

Enjoy :)

Julia x

The Bee-st team

Another Monday evening in sunny Worthing and that can only mean one thing ! Its GG time. It was great to welcome Keith back for his second visit to us together with Birthday Barbara ,Dr Emma , John , Nick , Lucy, Paul , Emily and Tamsin.

We headed to the track for some warm up laps followed by some strength and flexibility exercises before a short walk around the back of the leisure centre to our task.

Welcome to our hive - The best place to bee

This evening we were excited to work with the lovely ladies from the Food Pioneers Fran and Debbie representing a local food social enterprise project.

Debbie explained that there were 3 hives in the compound each with around 40,000 bees in them. Our job for the evening was to make the new bee hive area a little more attractive ready for visitors. Fran outlined the jobs that needed doing and the team all picked a task.

To bee or not to bee

The biggest job was to paint the fence around the bee compound grey. Nick ,John,Lucy, Tamsin and Paul set about this whilst Keith opted for the litter picking .

There were some beautiful and diverse wall canvasses that some talented students at Northbrook college had painted. Barbara and Emma grabbed a brush and set about weather proofing the paintings with a protective layer of clear varnish. Emily set about some gardening and in Gill's absence some 'fine pruning'

Debbie asked if anyone was interested in some bee keeping and outlined how to get more involved with the group. Barbara, Paul and Lucy all seemed keen so watch this space on future progress

Un- bee- lievable progress

30 minutes later amidst loads of chatter and a large number of grey paint splatters I reluctantly called time on the task . Debbie and Fran could not have been more grateful to us plying us with snacks , water and banana's. After a quick group photo and a promise to return soon ,we split into 3 groups for our jalk/run down to the seafront .

400 metre bees- tings

We all regrouped for the 2nd time on the track for 2 x 400 metre extended efforts. I love watching the commitment and improvement of my runners and observing them on the track enables me to review their technique and form.

We all commented on the improvement that John showed this evening . Running daily in June plus taking a few rest days afterwards really seems to have worked for John and he is getting ever nearer to achieving his goal of running parkrun, without stopping, by September.

Lucy and Emma also did their 90 second plank whilst everyone watched !

Happy Bee day to our very own Queen Bee

We finished the evening with stretches and Barbara's delicious homemade vegan peanut butter and banana cakes to celebrate her Birthday. She had even bought some gorgeous red velvet gluten free cakes for Belinda who was out on Parkrun blind runner training. Kudos to both B's ( bees -ha ha )

But where was Cake man tonight ?! It is rare to have cake leftovers!

Next week we are meeting at Splashpoint and back at Lyndhurst Road for a garden tidy up.

Have a good week everyone . I hope you have enjoyed the plethora of bee puns today:)

Julia xx