The January Challenge might be over but 12 fierce runners said, "February: Game On!" with a 7km run to help at Harthill Youth Club.

Liverpool has some of the highest rates in England of young people who aren't in education, employment or training. As such, at GoodGym Liverpool we enjoy supporting the city's under-resourced but much needed youth centres. We've been to Harthill Youth Club a number of times before and they always welcome us with open arms, juice and tonight - with toast!

Tonight's task involved transforming a powerful purple into a white washed blank canvas, in advance of the room becoming a performance space. There was also some cleaning to be done. Everyone got involved straight away, with some of the team keen to dress up as extras in CSI Liverpool in their white overalls.

As the team painted, they were accompanied by a backing track of band practice in the room next door. Kudos to George who was inspired by said music to come up with this week's title pun.

A big shout out this week to GG Liverpool's Godmother Pauline who was rocking her 50 good deeds black t-shirt for the first time tonight (she's the first of our team to earn one). We are going to miss Pauline enormously while she's away for the next 6 weeks but are looking forward to hearing all about her adventures.

Also kudos to newbie [Dominic])https://www.goodgym.org/runners/dominic-warren) who did great in spite of just returning to running after an injury. We'd be happy to have you run with us any time Dom!

On the way back we were making good time so we stopped in the park to play a little game of knee tag. It was a new one on the team... and received mixed reviews!

Fantastic work as always team and really well done for beating these cold damp evenings by coming out and getting fit with the GoodGym crew.

Next week we have another indoor task and a very short run - so time to bring that friend who has been resisting until now! Find out more and sign-up here.

Nine gnarly runners ran 6km to clean up at Harthill Youth Club

On a damp and chilly evening, a team of ever dependable runners showed up for another night of fun, fitness and do-gooding with GoodGym Liverpool. After last week's festive special, we weren't quite as high on sparkles this time, although it was nice to see Lorna continuing the theme, her Santa hat complementing the GoodGym red worn by the rest of the team!

After a well paced run we arrived at Harthill Youth Club, a project we've visited before but previously helping with the garden. We were thankful for an indoor task at this time of year and so soon got to work cleaning the gym and one of the classrooms. One in nine 16 and 17-year-olds in Liverpool are not in education, employment or training (NEET) meaning Liverpool has the third highest rate of NEETs in England. As such, GoodGym Liverpool is proud to support our much needed and under-resourced youth clubs.

This week's shout out goes to Yan who has become one of our most regular runners and so who will be especially missed when she's in China for the holidays. Also a big hello and welcome to newbie Rachael - hope to see you again soon.

After giving the gym a good sweep, mop and scrub, we had time to add some Christmas wishes to the centre's wishing tree. My wish is for GoodGym Liverpool to continue to grow and help as much of our community as we can. I also wish for our runners to set some goals for 2019 and achieve amazing feats in their running (Pisssttt.... Make my wishes come true and sign-up for the Liverpool Half Marathon here).

On the way back we had a very quick fitness session in the park, thinking about why we shouldn't always run the same routes, the same paces and in the same way, and how by changing things up we'll become better runners. Well done for all your work this week team.

Don't forget that on Sunday it is our Christmas social! Looking forward to seeing you then AND for our final Group Run of 2019. Sign-up to both!

Until next week, happy running, Char <3

Clashing with the first England game of the World Cup, our terrific 12 forewent the footie to do good-deeds in our local community. I know who the real heroes are! And even better than the side in Russia, we had a 11-strong team of talented sports people, plus a coach barking orders from the sidelines! (waves)

After a 3.5km run from our Hope Street Hotel base to Harthill Youth Centre in Wavertree (with a little impromptu hill-training on the way!) the team set to work clearing a long overgrown path. The land around the youth centre has become pretty unruly but there are exciting plans to turn it into a community garden, with a little people power from GoodGym to help them along their way.

We had 4 fab newbies this week. So a big shout out to Adam, Kate, Adam and Rachael for fitting in perfectly with the rest of the team and really getting stuck in to the task.

The team at Harthill Youth Centre showed us their hospitable side once again and the runners were treated to orange slices and cookies before hitting the road. On the return leg we enjoyed a quick fitness session aimed at engaging our glutes and just about beat the rain back to Hope Street. Great effort GoodGym, you are so much more impressive than the England team ;)

Next week we're going back to where it all began, as we help out at Fern Grove community garden, which was also our very first GoodGym Liverpool task back in March. It is a newbie-friendly session with a flat run of about 2.4km (in each direction). So sign-up and bring a friend!

See you next time, Char <3

13 runners ran 7km to dig the foundation of a path at Harthill Youth Centre's new community garden.

Finally, a sunny evening in Liverpool and our fabulous 13 set-off for a run to the Wavertree area of the city. 1km into our run and an uneven road surface unfortunately lead to a runner taking a tumble, [updates suggest that our friend is doing fine and will be back up and running very soon :)] so we took a time-out to deal with this and to ensure that our team mate was okay.

Shout out to John, Lyn and Jan for their support and care in dealing with this incident.

As such, we arrived at the task a little later than we'd planned but this amazing team of runners jumped straight into action. Over 20 minutes they worked solidly to clear weeds and grass to prepare the ground for a path that will lead around Harthill Youth Centre to a planned new community garden.

John and his team at the centre were really impressed with how fast our runners worked, treating us to bottles of water and slices of orange for sustenance. John has agreed to us coming back to finish the job in a few weeks.

The return run was gladly less eventful and I was inspired by how well everyone kept pace, especially up a long incline.

Extra shout outs go to newbies Anne-Marie, Emily and Karen who fitted right in with the team and to Philip, who has moved up the country after being part of GoodGym Birmingham and was a dynamo path-clearer!

Next week is bank holiday Monday, and as it is becoming our tradition, we'll have a longer run that day – around 9km. We'll be leafleting for cancer support charity Sunflowers and since the task isn't as time restricted, if you're an improver runner looking to challenge yourself, I really welcome you to come on this one. For those less keen on the distance, the following week's task is just 2km from our base - so perfect for beginners. Sign-up for both tasks here.

Good luck to everyone taking part in the Liverpool Spring 10km on Sunday. If you’re not running, why not come and give us a cheer? #RedThunder

Until next time, Char <3