Pre run celebrations all round - Kerry's birthday and congratulations to several Goodgymers who ran the Hadleigh 10 mile race on Sunday - lots of PBs and a Suffolk County medal winner - Well done Keith, Nick, Robin, Kerry and Daniela (who was absent tonight but was mentioned due to absolutely smashing a new PB!)

Also a warm welcome on a chilly night to Richard who was a Goodgym debutant tonight.

The task was a little different tonight in that helping the volunteers at the Ipswich Soup Kitchen meant we had time for a pretty lengthy run prior to the task.

We took a long loop incorporating some hill repeats before coming back onto the Waterfront where we split into 3 teams for interval relays in the shadow of a giant replica of Noah's Ark moored alongside the quay. Had I known beforehand the plan could have been splitting the group into twos instead of threes!.

Great teamwork and effort from everyone before we completed the next section of our run to meet up with the Soup Kitchen volunteers and help distribute our own donations alongside the hot drinks, soup and sandwiches.

The final leg of tonight's run back to base brought the distance total to 4.50 miles + the hill repeats & intervals. Top work gang!

A big Goodgym welcome to Noma joining us for her first Group Run

It had been a busy weekend for some with Keith completing the SVP 50k Ultra Marathon and Sally & Nicola volunteering on one of the checkpoints in the middle of Essex!

The dark clouds looked ominous but despite earlier downpours we managed to stay dry throughout the evening.

Carrying bags filled with food donations to contribute to the Soup Kitchen, we set off on a tour of Ipswich parks with the plan that we would end up at our task with Ipswich Soup Kitchen which was starting a little later than our usual timing.

First stop was Holywells park for a little interval relay - sticking to the paths as the grass was soggy and waterlogged. Then a climb up out of the park and the relief of a downhill (before a another testing "flat" incline towards Alexandra park.

Another stop to carry out a core/balance circuit session focussing on run specific muscle groups. The plan was to complete the parks tour with the challenge of some hills in Christchurch park but we just ran out of time to get to the Soup Kitchen meeting point - some did manage to put a foot in Christchurch park as we passed the gate!

So we arrived to meet Jasmine and her Monday evening Soup Kitchen volunteer team and split our contributions between the team to hand out. Thanks to some vouchers kindly donated by the East of England Co-op on a previous task we were able to bring quite a lot..... in fact we had a bit too much for the numbers attending the Soup Kitchen this evening and it will be stored for the them to use on another evening.

Our evening ended with a gentle run back to the Waterfront taking the mileage up to 3.7 miles for the night. So a really good distance and a very worthwhile task.

Apologies for the lack of photos - Unfortunately my photography skills were a bit rubbish tonight and only a few are not blurred and fit to publish!

Next week we are out on the Elmers Art Trail checking in on the elephants for St Elizabeth Hospice Sign up here

A huge welcome to Sophie and Luke who made their Goodgym debut this evening.......just catching us as we set out for the first leg of our run. We hope you enjoyed your first taste if Goodgym.

Our task was to meet the fabulous Ipswich Soup Kitchen volunteers and help them with their nightly outreach programme distributing food and drinks to the homeless and needy within the town.

However our rendezvous time was 7.20pm giving us time to take on a 3 mile Goodgym Tour de Parks (I stole the title from Strava - Thanks for that Lizzie!) A route of around 3 miles taking in 3 of Ipswich's fine parks - Holywells, Alexandra and Christchurch.

In each park I had planned a little challenge.......so on arrival in Holywells park we had 2 sets of long incline efforts with decline recoveries, before heading to Alexandra Park where the challenge was some relay sprint intervals..what fun! We then made tracks towards Christchurch Park where, as everyone knows, there are some steep hills! Unfortunately (or perhaps not!) we were running out of time so only managed a quick loop of the lower end of the park before heading to the task meeting point.

We met up with Jazmin, the volunteer group co-ordinator helped set up a few tables before joining the very efficent system of handing out a variety of food and drinks, some of which we had brought with us to contribute . We also spent time chatting to some of those who use the soup kitchen and the regular volunteers. Quite a humbling experience and felt like one of our more worthwhile tasks even though it didn't involve very much "work".

Thank you to Jazmin and the rest of her Ipswich Soup Kitchen volunteers for inviting us along. I'm sure we will return soon.