In honour of Tav's new game, two truths and a lie, each paragraph of this report will contain at least two truths and one lie.

A 2022 record of eleven GoodGymmers signed up for tonight's task! We were hoping to potentially finish the painting this evening, we have done a great job so far and made no mess whatsoever.

Ten of us set off from the Old Factory after a very professional introduction from our resident redhead Laurie, ordinarily this would be the highlight of the welcoming but today we had the new area activator in town, Tav! Great to meet you Tav and very excited for you to get stuck in. Rich also revealed he was pregnant.

We meandered down the narrow high street to Mencap where we met Fay for her first GG of the year. We unlocked the building and went inside. The only painting which remains is very high up and there is only one ladder so we split into two groups, one went for a nice 3-4k run up near the college and did some lamppost sprints, while the other yellowed up the hallway. With grace, elegance and poise, Andy and myself developed a marvelous system and managed to complete the area by the door with a very awkwardly positioned cupboard getting in my way. I demonstrated my planking ability with aplomb and even through in some one handed and clap push-ups. We played two truths and a lie with Tav, no one believing he turns 40 later this month, shockingly it turned out he can't run a sub-18 minute parkrun. I guess he is no Joe. We got most of the painting done, there is just some cutting in remaining so we will have to see if we will be back or not.

We headed off back to base for some stretches and to talk about next week's run to Broomfield allotments where Laurie definitely won't get attacked and bitten by insects. We said our goodbyes and Russell agreed to buy me dinner. All in all a successful evening.

Happy running!

Six runners ran 4km to Mencap to paint

After a day of strange yellow skies and sandy rain in Chelmsford, we met up in the drizzle and set off down the high street to Mencap.

We were particularly grateful for the indoor task with the weather conditions, and for our task owner providing two ladders so we could get double the painting in the high areas.

Joe and Joel climbed up the ladders to reach the high areas, whilst Charlie and Andy painted the areas that were reachable, and Becca and me supported with keeping an eye on the ladders and holding paint trays. We painted the walls with as much Vanilla Sundae as we could manage, we jogged back a slightly different way in the ever increasing rain.

We're almost there with this painting; just another one or two more trips up the ladder!

By us doing this work for Mencap, it means that they can focus their resources on their charitable work and keep on making a difference to their clients.

See you all next week!

Laurie

9 runners ran to Mencap to paint and get fit

On the first day of Lent, we were pleasantly surprised to find that everyone remembered to meet at The Old Factory this evening, for only our second time starting at our new location. It turns out that we do all seem to be responsible adults!

Rich led a quick jazzy warm up and we jogged to Mencap on our usual direct route.

With only one ladder available to reach the remaining high areas, we split the group between fitness and painting. Charlie, Jenny, and Joel found all the tools to get ready for the painting with me, whereas Andy, David, James, and Joe stopped for a chat, meaning that they were volunteered to go for a fitness session with Rich first.

Charlie got on with painting a smaller section reachable without the ladder, and Jenny supported Joel on the ladder to reach the higher areas. The other group returned looking quite sweaty, so we handed them the tools and left them to get on with the painting. Rich's fitness session led both groups on 'running tall' which encourages us to improve our posture and form when running.

Next week we're off to Springfield Park to deliver Foodcycle leaflets, and tomorrow we're off to the Golden Fleece to try and win the quiz from 8pm (tables booked from 7pm).

Thanks and see you all soon!

Laurie

7 runners ran 5km to paint at Mencap

Tonight we welcomed James for his first Goodgym, keeping us all on our toes by adding another J name into the mix with Joel and Joe!

After jogging and chatting down the high street, we arrived at Mencap for our task. The boys were immediately drawn to the ladder, and James made his entry as the sandman by sanding down the filler we had put in place last week. Whilst sanding and painting the wall green, David and the three Js talked almost non-stop about beer.

Becca and Charlie went to the hallway to get as much yellow painting done as was reachable without the ladder, and talked much less about beer.

David led the group on a jog around the block whilst I checked that we locked up correctly, and we set off on a route through Moulsham and Central Park back to ARU to make it a round trip. I chatted with Charlie about takeaways, whilst the others apparently decided that we're doing a pub crawl for our next social!

Thanks for helping out at Mencap, and there will be more painting for us to finish there soon!

Laurie

6 runners ran to decorate at Mencap

We were glad to see James back for his first Goodgym of 2022 and after warming up we set off on our run through Chelmsford.

Anthony from Mencap welcomed us and identified the areas that needed some final bits of yellow and green painting and holes to be repaired. Charlie and Joe got down on the floor to carefully paint around the radiators, whilst James got up the ladder to cover the holes with filler and Andy supervised. Rich took the final section on the ladder for the yellow, and I finished a few small other yellow areas.

On our way back to ARU, Rich led us on a fitness session of jog-run-walk back and repeat using lampposts as distance markers along the bunny walks. Joe was speedy as ever, but Charlie was definitely pushing it this week too!

Thanks to all for helping on this task (and keeping safe in masks whilst indoors) - it's always a really worthwhile and welcomed task for Goodgym to help with keeping Mencap fresh and bright for its students, service users, and team.

Laurie

We all cruised to the university in the bracing cold and soon got on with the run. We sped over to Mencap thinking nothing could stop us until andy spotted a glowing bauble he wants for his house and then we spotted the superb CM1STMAS sign. Posing for photos with both we then jaunted on.

We arrived at Mencap and needed to paint the herb green wall so they can put a blind up. We dug in with me eyeing up a swanton bomb from the top of the ladder and rich eyeing up my booty.

We paused only to look at the amazing artwork Mencap have produced - perfect for Christmas, really beautiful and well done. You can support the charity and get some really nice local goods from the Pop-up on Bond Street, the art shop in the Meadows, and the art gallery that used to be TopShop.

We managed to complete about half the wall and cleaned up before running back. Thanks for coming everyone and we may be back at Mencap soon.

stay frosty x