Andy: “Where are we going after Joe’s last run with us then?”

Joe: “It’s wings night at NO FREE PUBLICITY – we could do that?”

And so it was decided. Joe’s last night with GoodGym Chelmsford as a local would end with drinks and wings. Before that though, we just had to reach Upper Bridge Road, delicately pick leaflets with gloved fingers, jam hands through letterboxes and try not to leaflet the same place twice. Game on.

'Twas the first run of Christmas, and all through the streets
The lights were all sparkling, switched on late last week
The stone bridge and roundabout were bathed in a glow
So we stopped (and Rich jumped) to take a photo

The traffic jams parted and Dave – pretty quick
Stood in the middle to take a few pics
Then onwards to the centre for more snaps by the tree
Posing – dare I say it – almost elegantly

Then out on by the underpass there arose such a din,
Ben and Richard racing to see who would win
Past the shopfronts in Moulsham done up for Christmas
Despite our speed and our numbers, blink and you’d miss us
But if missing’s the subject there’s only one name around
Joe will miss you all when he heads out of town

"Bye, Laurie! Bye, Russell! Bye, Sallyann!
Sorry I left my glittery flares in the van!”
To the top of the road! To the top of the hill!
But the actual top of the road, not the one for Joel!"

And then, in a twinkling, a letterbox closes
Jess’ poor glove its metal jaw encloses
As she drew back her hand she exclaimed with a yelp
But Andy was too busy backmarking to help

His leaflets went fast, he was onto a winner
Like a lycra-wrapped Santa, just older and thinner
With leaflets delivered we headed back into town
Our stomach to fill, our sorrows to drown

This was the first time that Kate had seen us at a pub
But she'd heard the stories of crawls and pre-parkrun clubs
Our Wednesday night mad one became more insipid
They’d run out of wings! Fuming. #Livid.

Erin was gutted but the solution was easy
An alcohol-free espresso martini
Fay came to discover what tater tots are
(Basically hash browns, but smaller by far)

With leaflets all leafletted and all the drinks drunk,
We contemplated whether all our waistbands had shrunk
Some emotional hugs and drawn-out goodbyes
Could’ve been warm, but we did them outside

So up the A12 with memories galore,
Joe disappears to go and explore
Chelmsford will miss him, and he’ll miss their fun
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good run!

On a chilly November evening we met at the old factory gym ready for a bit of leafleting.

After regaling others with mine and David's firewalk last week we set off into the night.

We met Sallyann and Leanne in the Lidl carpark with the leaflets expertly folded from last weeks task.

Richard got stuck into the task and was galloping between the houses as Andy started to feel the cold and regretted not wearing the extra layer.

Walking and chatting through the winding streets we came towards the end of pile of leaflets and Kate wasn't sure which way was her home until we turned the corner and realised we were back at Lidl.

Back at the Sallyann's car we talked about what we were having for dinner when Sallyann realised she had missed a dark carrier bag full of even more leaflets. lol

So next week we shall be clearing leaves at St Johns church hall and the following week we will finish the leafleting (with maybe some litterpicking too)

Great to see you all, and hope to see you again next week

remember....

RUN HAPPY

Rich

Jane was first to the gym, keen to escape her desk (even if it is opposite the pub). Richard had sprinted to get his interval training in. Andy arrived, refreshed from his holiday. We detoured a bit on route to the pub to avoid some of the traffic where the bag of leaflets were waiting for us.

Richard very kindly got the first (and only) round in (because we were just too efficient).

Sallyann slid on to the table like a ninja completing her 100th good deed!

Leaflets were bundled and folded so everyone will know about some excellent local schemes - Santa fun runs, panto, carols, Christmas tree collections, and the work by CHESS in the community.

Hello and welcome to another fine report.

Alas, Heidi and Nisar couldn't make it but we had 9 eager GoodGymers for tonight. James joined us for the first time, welcome! Naturally we had to wait for Andy who arrived late and then needed to spend a penny.

We headed off out to Old Moulsham on a nice little jaunt. Well done to Rob for completing the GoodGym women's night safety training which really makes you think and consider things you hadn't before. An important topic to discuss.

We met the group and dived into the leaflets, lovingly folded by dear leader Fay, to help promote Helen Rollason, CHESS and YMCA. Rich was still looking a bleary eyed from his weekend lads trip to Cincinnati and presented me with an excellent bright red babygrow. Might be my GoodGym Halloween run outfit! Thank you Rich.

It was a good job I did my pre-run safety briefing as Leanne BROKE A NAIL!!! After she was consoled she was fully qualified to dive back in. I chatted to Sallyann about her upcoming holiday, it basically sounds like a wine and yoga retreat...

We were going to go a shorter route back up the high street to see the Christmas lights (I know, crazy that they're up now) but after our discussion about the importance of women's safety we decided to run Kate back to her bike. James definitely didn't have a reason for wanting to go through the park but he did go to inspect an interesting bush he saw!

Once we returned back to ARU we outlined next week's task at Beaulieu (about 7km total run) and parted ways. Happy running!

We met at the usual spot and were surprised to see the gym and the car park were closed. Fortunately Tina still managed to find us and somewhere to park. Great to meet you and hopefully Goodgym was everything Joe had told you it was!

We headed off to Beeches Road to drop leaflets for a variety of charities and did a decent pace to get there. Andy spat at the old Heart radio building as we went past, commercial radio better watch out for the 2023 bronze medal DJ of the year. Although you'll have a rival now in Erin Ketamine, but by the sounds of it she might be a different type of DJ... Anyway, we split into two teams on each side of the road to drop the leaflets that Fay had lovingly prepared.

As I was bragging about my marathon exploits (the real one, Rich) Elliott casually mentioned he'd done it twice... Sallyann took a ride on a scooter and clearly absolutely loved it.

I was incredibly jealous of Joe, Erin and Rich who were going to go to Wendy's for dinner but ended up going to Popeye's!

Hope everyone stayed safe on the way home.

This Saturday is Parkrun volunteer (thanks for arranging Laurie!) and breakfast after, Queenies was suggested but let's be honest, it is just because Fay hates beans.

With the Race for Business happening in the park and a few of our usual Wednesday night group helping them with some marshaling, we were a little short handed for our leafleting this evening. With only a few hours before the task was meant to start i was the only one who had signed up.. arrgghhh lol

On mentioning this to my fantastic wife, Jane, she said she could help as she was going for a run anyway but hadn't sorted dinner yet. So once we had finished could I get us some thing to eat in town? Being the superb husband that i am (wink) i agreed (meaning i would get some dinner too) and said i would meet her at an agreed point.

Shortly after this i noticed Nisar had signed up and Fay had said she was relieved from marshaling as they had too many. fantastic

As I arrived at our HQ i noticed Saeed walking towards me and ready to do some good tonight. Helping him sign up to the task just in time before it hit 6:30pm.

We walked over and met Fay and Jane along the way and started posting the bundles of leaflets in what must have been a Guinness World Record, and we were done so fast that Andy didn't have time to join in the fun. Sorry Andy, you should have run faster at the Race for Business lol

So, from being just me, it turned into 5. And was completed in record time... and only cost me a Big Mac and fries ;-P

Thanks all for coming, and hope to see you all again soon

Run Happy

Rich