GoodGym Leeds is back! After a short break that felt like absolutely ages (I missed you guys!) we're back to doing good and having a great time while we're at it.

It was a great crowd tonight for our first run of 2020, with 32 runners! We also welcomed a HUGE 7 newbies which was amazing. Sam, David, Rob, Romina, Shannen, Victoria and Karl all got stuck in and did a great job, so they definitely deserve a massive cheer!

There was loads of news to share tonight, with Jenny and Liz reaching their tenth good deeds! Well done guys! We also welcomed Helen to taskforce after she joined over the Christmas break. Taskforce is now a super strong group of six and they can help out with all sorts to make GoodGym in Leeds even better. As always, if you have any ideas for how we could be doing things better, feel free to drop me an email.

Tonight's task was to head back to the fabulous Unit 11 for Kirkstall Valley Development Trust. We had a quick warm up before heading down the hill. Heather and Katie were marshalling the back to make sure nobody was left behind.

On the run down it was lovely to be back amongst happy smiling faces, and it was even better to see all the new runners getting involved and chatting. One new runner was a little concerned about our route:

"I live in Kirkstall so the run down is fine, but I know that it means we're going to have to come back up again on the way back!" New runner Romina

After a bit of looping around to keep the group together, and some terrible traffic light decisions, we eventually reached Unit 11, where Adele was waiting for us with our task. We had to fill some small holes in the walls where they weren't too big, then one wall was being painted white (leaving the fabulous painted map well alone), while another wall was to be painted a lovely green. There were also some baubles left up from the Christmas decorations which needed to be brought down.

We quickly realised there weren't quite enough rollers and paintbrushes to keep everyone busy, so we split the group into two, and decided that one group would do a fitness session while the others painted, before swapping over halfway through. While the painters got on with their tasks I took the group through a tough but simple routine to work on their strength, balance and flexibility.

• Calf raises
• Single leg hops
• Knee raises
• Single leg touch, hop, reverse lunge, hop
• Jumping Squats
• Meet and retreat run

While the meet and retreat might need a little work (or a better explanation from me!) everyone got stuck in and there were a few complaints of tired legs on the way back so you were definitely working hard!

By the time both groups had done their fitness session, the work inside was done! The walls had been painted, , the edges tidied up, and the baubles all gone. The watching crowd were suitably impressed:

"We've just been sat here watching how amazing you all are!" Adele, task owner.

Our painting and fitness session also attracted the attention of a new recruit who signed up on the spot, so hopefully we'll see her next week!

We set out on the run back with a slight burn in our legs for some of us, but that didn't stop the speedy group, led by Tom, from powering up the hill. Everyone else went at their own pace, with Carol sweeping up the rear, before we all reconvened for a stretch back at base.

Thanks for making our return in 2020 so fabulous, you've all been great! I'd also like to say a special thanks to our Taskforce who are really stepping up to help with the running of the group, it makes my job so much easier!

See you all next week!

The promise of staying around for a drink after tonight's session obviously convinced enough people to run with us this week and we had a bumper turnout. 32 runners were part of our amazing crew, including Leah and Suzie who both joined us for the first time. Go and give them a cheer!

This week's task was in aid of 'The Lost Plot', who use gardening at their allotment to offer an alternative to traditional talking therapies for people in sustainable recovery. We were tasked with collecting as many leaves as possible which the group could then use to turn into leaf mulch. There was no task-owner on site with us, which meant trainer Aron went wild with the power.

The whole group was split into 5 teams with their tasks as follows:

• To collect as many leaves as possible in their teams, and deliver them up the hill to the allotment before the time ran out.
• To come up with an excellent team name - as it's GoodGym, ideally a pun.
• To take a great team photo.
• To come up with an inventive exercise that they could demonstrate to the group.
• Bonus points would be awarded for excellent teamwork, camaraderie and general excellent banter.

There was also the promise of a fabulous secret prize for the winning team, which really got everyone's head's in the game. After a quick warm-up demonstrating some potentially inefficient leaf collecting techniques, we were off.

The allotment is in Hyde Park/Woodhouse moor, which roughly 100m away from our start location, so we took a slightly scenic route to the allotment to make sure we were all thoroughly warmed up for our task. We pointed out where the leaves needed to be left and headed down to the edge of the park where there were loads of leaves and a bit more light.

Armed only with gardening gloves and some bags, the teams were free to collect leaves wherever they wanted, and on Aron's shout, each group raced off to claim their own patch. With the 30 minutes of frantic leaf counting underway, it looked like the breakneck pace might prove unsustainable.

"It's like the crystal maze!" Goodgymer whose name was lost in the melee.

Bags were being filled quicker than we could count them, and they were stuffed full to the brim. After realising we definitely weren't going to have enough bags to last us the full 30 minutes, the decision was taken to start running the bags up the hill before emptying them into one gigantic pile, and then refilling them.

After the initial buzz started to fade, thoughts turned to the other tasks the groups had been set. Here's what they all came up with:

• Team 1 - Don't stop beleafing

Exercise - frog squat/leaf collecting

Photo - team frog squat with added leaf throwing

• Team 2 - The Unbeleaveables

Exercise - erratically falling leaves with wide stance fast feet

Photo - Team tree, with a two person trunk, and everyone else as leaves.

• Team 3 - Mulch ado about nothing

Exercise - Tree pose

Photo - group tree hug

• Team 4 - Don't stop beleafing (again)

Exercise - choreagraphed workout (The Monster Mulch) with 3 exercises set to the music of Journey

Photo - Boomerang of leaf throwing with added musical accompaniment

• Team 5 - Mulch ado about nothing (again)

Exercise - Curtsy squats (another gloriously inefficient leaf collecting technique)

Photo - leaf throwing action shot

By now, a huge pile of leaves was forming and with 5 minutes to go, teams started collecting closer to the allotment gate, with everyone congregating around the two trees that were closest. As the final countdown commenced, everyone raced into the finish line to make sure their leaves counted. The final pile was enormous, and even though Team 1 tried to keep their own pile separate, eventually common sense prevailed and all the leaves were piled in together.

We got a quick snap of the whole group before heading down to the corner of the park where the teams demonstrated their exercises. There was wonderful mix of strength, endurance and even flexibility, and so obviously this had to be a group workout. We started with the Monster Mulch's high energy, before running through each of the exercises and finishing with the relative calm of the tree pose. All of the exercises were 'creative' and left people surprisingly tired. Awesome work everyone.

We jogged back to our start location for a stretch and the big reveal of our winners! Despite picking a team name that was shared by another team, the judges were impressed by their commitment to a theme, and with everything either about or set to the music of Journey's Don't Stop Believing, there could only be one winner. Team 4, Don't stop beleafing took home the Curly the Caterpillar cake, and more importantly the glory!

We all then moved inside to the warm of the pub for a drink and a chat to fully debrief the day's evening's events, and the winning team even shared their spoils! What a team.

This was officially our coldest group run yet, with temperatures hovering just above freezing, but that didn't stop an incredible 24 runners from turning up! What has been lovely to see is that each week we're still seeing plenty of new runners, so keep telling your friends, colleagues and everyone you know about how awesome GoodGym is and get them involved!

This week's new intake were Lorraine, Faye, Suzanne, Hannah, Minnie and Karly. Give them all a cheer, they deserve it for coming out to their first group run when it was so chilly!

We also welcomed back Liz and taskforce Rach after their respective injuries.

After a quick warm up, we made our way down the hill towards the farm, with Aron in the lead, and Katie backmarking for us for the first time. She definitely deserves a cheer!

After some looping back to keep the group together, and some bonus squats while we waited for the lights to change, we arrived at the farm where Luke ran us through the tasks we needed to do.

Two of the lines of compost that we turned last time out needed to be combined into one, a brand new line of compost needed turning, and some sand bags which were being used to weigh down the covers needed swapping out for gravel bags.

The teams quickly formed, trying to spread out the head torches as best as possible, but the first ones to start making progress were the bag hunters. Adam, Katie, Tom, George and Rach grabbed their wheelbarrows and started the hunt. After the first few bags were found and swapped over, it soon became clear that searching for black bags in the dark, that were placed either on soil or black ground sheets, was quite a tricky task! The search took them everywhere including the vegetable patch:

"I have never been so amongst and within some brussels sprouts" Katie

The rest of the sandbag searchers continued their hunt, but with bags seemingly harder and harder to find, a cry of 'Sand Ahoy!' went up when one was spotted. That is a group getting into the real GoodGym spirit.

The other crew were by now up the hill turning over the soil. We learned that the piles of rotting vegetation could reach temperatures of up to 70 degrees celcius, and have even been used to grow pineapples! GoodGym is not just fun it's educational!

After last week's talk of favourite tools, this week we got to add pitchforks to our arsenal. One newby seems to have perfectly understood GoodGym from the start:

"I went for a pink pitchfork, it clashes with my trainers, but it'll all be brown in the end anyway so it doesn't matter!" Minnie, first timer

The soil turning was heavy work and everyone was working very hard, with steam coming off not just the compost but the runners as well. luckily the compost included the remains of apple pressing so the smell was a little more pleasant than last time were here. One runner still wasn't quite sure about the whole situation:

"It's like skiing in poo!" Abi

A particular shout-out needs to go to Alex who seemed to be doing the work of around 5 people at once! Every time I turned around he'd cleared a whole area by himself which was absolutely amazing!

Having been set the task of making the lines of compost as tall and narrow as possible, we had created some seriously impressive structures , although sometimes we'd been a little too ambitious and the piles collapsed. All in all it looked incredible, and amazing to see what can be done in such a short space of time.

As we brought everything to a close, Luke reiterated how much this work helps the project, because it's a task they basically wouldn't manage to do without us. So you can all bask in that warm glow of a job well done. He's also thinking of other projects we can get involved with, potentially including a crack team of scythers (probably not a word) who can be trained up and go on scything missions around Leeds which sounds ace! Watch this space!

With all the tools tidied away we headed back along the footpath, with a line of head torches bobbing along and a full moon to guide us.

The run home included one big hill (which I could pretty much copy and paste into every run report) so runners were able to take this at their own pace, with some taking it easy, and others racing ahead at the front. We all arrived back for a quick debrief and stretch, before everyone went their separate ways.

Don't forget that next week we have our social, hope to see you all there!

There was lots of news to share this week as we had two new taskforce members, Tom and Rachel and we had runners out this week at the Yorkshire 10 mile and Yorkshire Marathon! Well done everybody!

We also welcomed five new faces this week, Ian, Chris,Riobhne, Amanda, and Harriet. Go and give them all a cheer!

We had a quick warm up with our Big Wave and there was definitely some progress. I reckon we'll have that nailed in no time. The run out was super simple down one big hill, so we kept it nice and steady and looped back (up the hill) to keep everyone together. After crossing Kirkstall road with the lights that took an age, we were there at Seagulls Reuse!

It was amazing seeing you all running through the yard, completely mad, but it's great!" Kate, Task owner, Seagulls

We all piled in to the bright, light and airy space (which certainly makes a change from our recent tasks), and Kate ran though what we needed to do. There were some bright pink pillars that needed to be painted blue, and some shelves and a whole load of walls to be painted white.

Before we'd even finished talking, people had paintbrushes in hand, going straight for the pillars, obviously very excited to get going. Everyone else spread out along the walls with big rollers, small rollers and brushes, and basically started painting wherever they could reach.

Within seconds the pillars started to take shape, and our GoodGymmers gave their approval.

"I love this colour! I want it in my house!"

People were being very resourceful, switching places when then could no longer reach, moving stepladders around to where they were most needed, and generally just asking if they could paint everything! It was lovely to see, and it's great to see how the group already just dives into tasks, work together to get it done, but also seemingly have a great time doing it.

With around five minutes left, a few GoodGymmers even started washing the paint brushes, which meant one less job for the Seagulls crew.

With everything packed away we had time for some quick photos and then a a quick 'Tornado' workout in the yard, where we learned: * Lots of runners have medals hung up in their house * Almost nobody is actually from Leeds! * You've pretty much all taken running kit out of the wash to wear it again * You're all definitely going to be back for another GoodGym session!

We then jogged back up the monster hill (with more looping round) until we all made it back to base for a stretch.

Unfortunately Rachel rolled her ankle on the run back and is going to be out of action for 6 weeks, so she definitely needs some love! Go and give her a cheer!

26 runners ran 3km to help Hyde Park Source with a range of tasks at the Rosebank Garden

GoodGym Leeds is really starting to feel like it's coming together nicely. It's so great to see returning faces, lots of happy chatter and first timers just getting stuck in like they've been here since week one. You guys are ace!

We had 5 new runners this week: Elizabeth, Pete, Derya, and Julia who is our first task owner to come along and get involved in the run from the start! They all deserve a massive cheer! Go and give them some love.

After last week's deluge during the task we had a lovely autumn evening tonight. We did a quick "Jump in, Jump out, Jump left, Jump right" warm up to get everyone's heart rate up, and more importantly to get everyone laughing!

Then we took a slightly longer route to the task so we could make the most of the fading light and a beautiful Leeds evening. Heather was on backmarking duty this week, making sure nobody got left behind.

Once we'd made it to the Rosebank, and grabbed our tools, Julia set us four tasks:

• Clearing a big patch of brambles
• Litter picking around the edge of the park
• Leaf collecting for leaf mulch
• Planting bulbs

Everyone got straight to it and within seconds there was a buzz of activity. A pile of brambles formed within minutes, and separate bags of leaves and litter and were filling up nicely. We had a concerned local resident wondering what exactly we were up to, doing all of this in the dark, and while we couldn't quite convince him to join in, once he knew what we were doing he appreciated our efforts.

Over at the bulb planting, Julia was giving a lovely description of how the crocuses and daffodils needed to be planted, but one of our GoodGymmers (who will remain nameless) just wasn't quite taking it in...

"I'm not really sure what I'm doing to be honest!"

Loving the honesty there! We're all learning at GoodGym, so I'm sure you'll be a bulb planting pro in no time! We had a bit of drama when we uncovered what could have been some electrics (which we left well alone) but in the end we got lots of bulbs planted, and it will be great to come back in spring and see them in bloom!

The last things to do were to chop up the brambles and pile them back onto the verge where they could break down, and give the paths a quick sweep.

Julia was very happy with what we managed to achieve:

"We normally only get a chance to sort out the Rosebank once a month with our action day, so it's really great that you could help us with all this!"

Even the fitness session wasn't enough to wipe the smile off everyone's faces! We decided to make use of the Rosebank's cool stone circles and paths and have ourselves a circuits session. We had 5 stations:

• Squats
• Modified press-ups
• Shuttle runs
• Tricep dips
• Step-ups

We had one round of 30 seconds on 30 seconds off, followed by a second round of 40 seconds on 20 seconds off. It was great to see the synchronised step-ups, one team adding their own extra difficulty with jumping squats, and the great teamwork that everyone showed. I particularly loved chief motivator Dave who was keeping the troops working hard when they we finding it tough. He definitely deserves an extra cheer!

With our workout done, we headed back to base, with a bit of student slalom, for a quick stretch and debrief.

Thanks for another awesome session tonight, I can't wait for next week already!