What happens in the warm up stays in the warm up.. thankfully!

Last week was all about Youth Homeless North East and tonight was all about the sequel! We decided following a bunch of leftover leaflets and a gap in our Group Runs that tonight was as good a night as any to head out further into Jesmond to get dropping! You can find out what we did last week here.

We didn't have any Community Missions to catch up on so we had our usual parkrun round up and looked ahead at what was coming up. We also gave Task Forcer Richard a big cheer which we are sure he heard in New York, where he ran an amazing 2:58 in the Marathon yesterday. All of that despite trapping his finger in a letterbox last week! We can't wait to hear about it when you're back, Richard.

It was great to welcome Pete who gave me a geography lesson on where Stockport is as he was here tourist-ing for the evening. We also acquired Damien who's moved here from Norfolk where he ran with GG Norfolk a couple of times in the past too. Both were great additions to the group and huge kudos to them for coming along on such a rotten night!

We had a fireworks themed game of tag for the warm up then it was off to Jesmond with our own fireworks display (super flashy head torches, obviously) and Paul back leading the pack after a few weeks away. Conversation topic was around sequels tonight, and whether they are ever a good thing. We decided that in the case of Back To The Future 2, Aliens, Terminator 2 and, er, Paddington 2.. they definitely are.

You'll notice a distinct lack of photos tonight and that's because the weather was absolutely appalling and it was a case of gritting our teeth and cracking on with the job in hand. The group stayed together so well on the run out, moving at a faster pace than we usually do and expertly back-marked by Debbie and Michael. It was amazing to find when we reached our delivery point of Osborne Road that the leaflets weren't complete mush!

Teams of 4 assembled and streets were covered in no time with almost 200 YHNE and GoodGym Newcastle leaflets in a double-good drop. Job done and mission completed in 18 minutes! Creating a part 2 paid off and hopefully will come back in loads of lovely donations for YHNE in the coming days and weeks.

It was too wet and cold to stay still for long so it was off to Exhibition Park for the fitness session. Working in pairs, the challenge was to collect as many points by running short sharp uphill laps (1 point) and longer flat out-and-backs (2 points) on repeat for 8 minutes. What was really cool about this was that you could do either section and entirely at your own pace, taking as many breaks as you liked. Nick and Abi were victorious with a fantastic 38 points- 10 points ahead of second place!

Dream team!

You can join Aimee for a Community Mission for Newcastle Parks at St Lawrence Park on Saturday, or get involved on Sunday with Katy at City Stadium. Remember with Community Missions, you make your own way there and spend as long as you like. Cups of tea guaranteed with all Newcastle Parks tasks!

We're back next Monday with our monthly visit to our friends at Newcastle Eagles for some gardening and good things. There's a walking option on that too, so bring someone along who wants to try us out for the first time.

Have a great week, you deserve it! Anji x

Dark, isn't it?

Our first run since the clocks went back, so it was great to see so many along, wrapped up and glowing ready to take on an outdoors task for Youth Homeless North East which was hooked up for us by terrific Task Forcer, Andrew. YHNE aims to provide a regional focus, resources, and facilities to address youth homelessness strategically through policy and influence, putting young people at the heart of it. They rely on the support of fundraisers and volunteers like us to get the word out, and they are always super-grateful for our support. We decided to target the Jesmond area of the city for this one as YHNE received some great support from the area last time we popped over, and its also the perfect distance for our walking group to get involved too.

We had Amy back tonight for the first time since her move to the big smoke, where she's also run a couple of times with the wonderful GoodGym Newham ... it's good to share! And a few others back after a break so hello Louisa, Katie and Richard too.

"That's the beauty of GoodGym, you just come when you want!" - Rachel

I won't apologise for the cringe-inducing warm up tonight in which we hopped, jumped and skipped while passing compliments around the circle. We heard everything from "I love your leggings" to "You're such an affable man" and by the end of it everyone was smiling and warmed up inside and out.

We had the usual weekend catch up as there was another brilliant community mission completed for our friends at Nunsmoor Park on Saturday from a group of Community Mission regulars. We are back at Nunsmoor every month so keep an eye on the listings and sign up if you want to get involved.

It was then time to head off after Charlotte who had a walking head start for her 99th good deed tonight!

Splitting up into two groups (far and not so far) we scattered off and got going as quickly as we could to keep warm. We got around 200 leaflets out meaning we can continue with a part 2 next week and deliver to a different area. Bonus! We were close to Exhibition Park for the fitness session which was a quad burning triple circuit of hill sprints, step reps and lots of star jumps during which Katy wondered if there was an eye-spy world championship (it's a long story) and everyone impressed by doing the whole circuit twice with minimum grumbling.

No community missions this weekend, so we will see you back at Hotel Indigo next week ready for Lunges and Letterboxes part 2!

Have a great week,

Anji x

Happy Birthday to us!

Our Bank Holiday Birthday Bonanza actually started this morning with a social trip to Tynemouth beach in which frisbee was played, fish and chips were eaten and generally everyone pretended not to freeze on the North East coast for our first birthday celebration. We shared our birthday with our brilliant Task Force head of all things social, Evan aka Evan Eleven.. Happy Birthday Evan!... and he made an amazing*** birthday trifle*** for everyone to share- check out the photo and marvel over the beauty of it. A big thank you to everyone who's been part of GoodGym Newcastle in our first year. You've all played a very important part in making it special, and the best part of everyone's week.

We started the night with a celebration of three great Community Missions over the weekend, with a special nod to Andrew who completed the Treble. Kudos to that! Community Missions are completely managed by the brilliant Task Force now and they always manage to do a fantastic job, so again a huge well done to all who takes part. It was another celebration too in the form of the GEORDIE CLOAK OF GOOD DEEDS which tonight found its way to everyone's favourite Aussie, Rachel. We oohed and ahhhed and applauded her 50th Good Deed which took place on Easter Monday and she took the time to do lots of excellent swishing in black and white.

It was a new task for us for Bank Holiday, organised by Andrew. We were doing a leaflet drop for Youth Homeless North East an organisation based in the city centre that helps young vulnerable people affected by homelessness by giving them a a real voice and a space where they are heard. We were off to Jesmond to drop off some donation envelopes that Andrew had organised brilliantly for us so we could get stuck straight in. There was a walking group as well as runners tonight and as always excellent conversation was had by all on the way there, if you count me just droning on and on about the London Marathon as excellent conversation.

We managed to split off and cover a huge area in pairs and small groups to hopefully generate some new donations for YHNE.

This is the most I have laughed in ages

Job done and it was fitness session time! We started off doing running drills in the bandstand in Exhibition Park which ended up looking like some really bizarre morris dancing but was ideal in warming up our legs ready to smash a Paarlauf session. Paarlauf means doing super fitness things in pairs, those super things being hard running loops followed by tricep dips and step ups on the benches to create a quick full body workout. It finished with much sweating, smiling faces and a special guard of honour for Charlotte after she smashed her final lap.

Don't say time's up, I want to do one more!

We are back to Changing Lives next week where we are going to be joined by some GoodGym running royalty, further details on which will only be revealed on the night. You can sign up for that here

Have a brilliant week, with lots of good running and walking.

Anji x