HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY GOODGYM!

17 runners got a fantastic leg work out during the 6.3 k run to help Wonford Planters with various gardening task. What a fantastic way to celebrate the GoodGym’s 10th anniversary! We had Dean, Andrew, Lawrence and Tom joining us for the first time. It was great to meet you and we hope you will come back soon to get fit by doing good with us again!

The Sky’s the Limit

As part of the GoodGym birthday celebrations we had a big GoodGym flag with us on the run this evening. Our challenge was to take the best photo we could in front of a local landmark and we choose Exeter Cathedral for this. As we all think the sky's the limit for the GoodGym we made sure our flag was flying pretty high! Check it out!! (Disclaimer: No-one took part in any dangerous climbing activity to place the flags on the cathedral...) We also had some great fun with our flag in other parts of Exeter, including our task location in Wonford, Princess Hay square and outside the Phoenix Art Center.

Party Game

In order to really get that birthday feeling we just had to incorporate a party game to our warm up session! After the usual high knees, heel flicks and skips we played a few rounds of “Squat, Squat, Goose”. It was great fun and certainly got us ready for running.

Working those celebrating legs

As always we stopped at regular intervals to re-group during our run so that no-one got lost or left behind. The re-grouping gave us time to do some great leg exercises. We did wall squats, jumping squats, lunges, jumping jacks and sumo squats. All these exercises will make you stronger as runners and reduce the risk of injury.

A lot of our Exeter runners have listed that their personal goal is to improve their running speed. To help with this we did some speed intervals. Great to see some red faces matching the red t-shirts again, it showed you gave it all you had! GREAT WORK everyone! A big thank you to Lucy who back marked this evening.

Doing good

At the task we met Jenny and a few other members of Wonford Planters, a small volunteer gardening group. The group was created in 2016 when cuts to local authority funding led to green spaces in the area becoming overgrown and unkept. Wonford Planters have since then been working hard to improve the area by preparing flower beds, cutting back hedges and keeping the area nice and tidy, so that it can be enjoyed by local residents. A fantastic initiative and great for the GoodGym to get involved with!

Our task involved gardening in a roundabout. We worked hard for 35 minutes with the following:

• cutting back shrubs
• weeding
• planting spring bulbs
• sweeping the ground

It was amazing how much we got done by working together! Great effort! One member of Wonford Planters said:

You have achieved as much as we usually do in a month! And that shrub over there has not been seen in years, now it is completely visible!

Birthday drinks

At the end of the group run we carried out some important stretches. A few runners then gathered for some birthday drinks in the Phoenix where we had a look at the amazing GoodGym book that we have been sent as part of the 10 year anniversary celebration. It is full of personal messages about the GoodGym and really lovely read. We even managed to find an Exeter quote in it! I will bring the book to the group run next week again if anyone else wants to check it out.

Party isn’t over yet...

Don’t forget we have our first community mission coming up on Saturday 21st at the Westbank in Exminster. This is an amazing opportunity for you to plan your own run and still get that feel-good-feeling from having carried out a good deed. The Westbank provides amazing services in Devon and beyond and it will be great for us to help them out with their allotment and garden area. You don’t have to run the whole way there if it feels a bit too far. There are lots of places along the canal path where you can leave your bike and run the rest, or you can run one way and catch the bus the other way. We really can’t wait to see you there and as this is part of the GoodGym 10 year birthday celebrations we will obviously have some birthday cake too! Sign up here, it will be fab!

Next week

Next week we will return to the Wonford planters for a second session of gardening tasks. By spending two weeks in a row with them we can really make a difference! Sign up here to come along! Your help will be very appreciated and we will have lots of fun!

To finish with- it is truly amazing that people have been getting fit by doing good with the GoodGym for 10years! It is also amazing that YOU now are part of that! By running and working on different tasks together every Tuesday evening you are making such a difference. Let's keep up the good work! A big thank you to the Westbank for funding us in the area and to the Phoenix for being our starting point.

15 runners ran 7 k, including some impressive hills, to help maintain a footpath in the Sylvania estate.

After a scorching bank holiday weekend we surprisingly had some rain this evening. Who cares about rain though? It was brilliant to see so many runners returning from last week and fantastic to see some new runners joining us as well! Welcome Jo and Philippa to the GoodGym Exeter crew! Also lovely to have the very experienced GoodGym runner Sally joining from GoodGym Camden.

We locked up our bags and signed in at our usual starting point, the lovely Phoenix, and then headed over to the Northernhay Gardens for a dynamic warm up session. As the run this week involved some steep hills we also took a moment to discuss hill running technique. Remember the following points for your hill runs:

• Run tall, chest up, no hunching
• Drive hips forward
• Run with high knees
• Keep high cadence, with light and quick steps
• Arms moving back and forth (not sideways), rotating at the shoulders

Also remember hills are our friends, they make us so much stronger!

Everyone worked hard on the outward run and did brilliantly! The hill at (what we thought was) the end was a long one but we stopped to re-group at regular intervals so we didn’t get too spread out and so that everyone could make it. We also managed some wall squats, press-ups and lunges along the way.

Then our little adventure began… finding the task! After running along a footpath, looking out for our task owner in all directions, we realized we were on the wrong path. We had to hit yet another hill to get to the right one! A massive shout out to all runners for being so positive and for keeping the spirits so high during this little adventure! Fantastic attitude! Also a big thank you to Sally who back marked the whole way so no-one got left behind.

When we arrived to our task, a lovely and leafy footpath that runs along the Sylvania estate, we were welcomed by Timothy Payne. He is a member of the Sylvania Environment and Community project, an organisation which works to improve and maintain the open spaces in the area for the local residents. We all got stuck in straight away and worked hard for 30 minutes:

• Cutting back overgrowth
• Scraping moss of the footpath
• Brushing the footpath clean

These tasks gave us a good upper body workout and it was lovely to see everyone chatting and getting along whilst working.

It was amazing to see how much we got done in a short space of time and hopefully our work will be noticed by the many local runners and walkers who use this path. What a brilliant task for the GoodGym to have been involved with!

The return run took us up yet another hill and we actually reached the top of Exeter! We could then enjoy a long downhill with amazing views all over the city. The summer evening was still really warm and the rain had stopped. What a perfect way to end our run together! When we got back to the Phoenix we finished with a stretching session and some runners enjoyed well earned refreshments in the bar.

Fantastic to have two more runners, Florence and Rachel, get their documents checked this evening so that they can take part in mission and coached runs. Taking part in these runs is a great way to get motivation to run and you will also make a huge difference to the lives of elderly and isolated people. Amazing isn’t it!

Next week when we will run a total of 4 k to help Newtown’s Community Preschool get their playground ready for term starting. This will involve making a mud kitchen for the children using the same soil that we dug up from the community building in Belmont Park on the launch evening. Great to see this coming to use! Sign up here to come along, get fit by doing good and have some fun!

We have also discussed meeting once a month at Exeter Riverside Parkrun to run a timed 5 k run together and to have cake and coffee (just as important as running obviously!) afterwards. For anyone who fancies this come along on Saturday 7th September. It will be lots of fun and a great way to start your weekend!

Happy running!

61 runners turned up to the very exciting GoodGym launch in Exeter! We ran 3.5 k to help the Newtown Community Association get their new community building in Belmont park ready for opening in September.

WOW! We had an incredible turn out for our launch run in Exeter! 61 is the highest number of runners ever to come along to a GoodGym launch. Absolutely amazing to see! Most of the runners who came along were totally new to the GoodGym, but we also had some experienced GoodGym runners joining us from Bristol. Great to meet you all!

We started at the Exeter Phoenix Art Centre. This will be our starting point every week which is great as it has toilets, a safe place for us to lock our bags and also a lovely cafe-bar for refreshments and chats for anyone who fancies that before or after our runs.

From the Phoenix we jogged over to the Rougemont Gardens where we were joined by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Exeter, Councillor Mrs Yolonda Henson and Mathew Bryne, the CEO of the Westbank (who we work in partnership with and is funding the GoodGym in our area) who gave some lovely speeches.

We then carried out some dynamic warm-up exercises, getting our bodies ready before we headed over to Belmont Park. During the run we re-grouped at regular intervals, so that we didn’t get too spread out and we managed some press-ups, wall squats and high knees as well on the way. Thank you to Helen Stevens and Ed Field who back marked so that no one got left behind and a big thank you to Dave Guest who led the walking group.

At the task we were welcomed by Rory McNeile, the chair of the Newtown Community Association, who showed us what to do and explained that the community building will be an important place for educational and social events and that it will have a very positive impact on the lives of local residents. The community building will be opening on Saturday the 21st of September, 11 am-3 pm, with fun activities for all age groups and everyone is welcome to join!

We then got stuck in and worked hard for 45 minutes, focusing on the following tasks:

• Shoveling soil onto a trailer and transporting it to the preschool nearby
• Picking up rocks from the ground
• Digging out flower beds
• Raking up grass
• Sweeping the ground
• Cleaning the floors inside the building
• Clearing out gutters

These tasks gave us a full body work-out and it was amazing to see how much we got done!

45 minutes of GoodGym runners getting stuck in made such a difference. Fantastic work everyone!

On our return run we stopped at the Cathedral green where we all enjoyed (I hope!) a fitness session involving 5 types of squats and 4 types of planks. All these exercises strengthen muscle groups that are important to running and by keeping these strong we both improve performance and reduce risk of injury. Hot, sweaty and happy we then returned to the Phoenix where we carried out some stretches. We also took some great photos!

After the group run some runners stayed around for refreshments and chats in the Phoenix which was lovely. Some runners also got their documents checked so that they can start doing coach runs (regularly running to see an isolated elderly person), or so that they can take part in mission runs (running to help isolated elderly people with one-off practical tasks). Fantastic to see that runners are getting involved with the GoodGym in Exeter in this way already and thank you Dom Tooze for helping out with the document checks.

It will be brilliant to see you all again next week when we will run to help the Sylvania Environment and Community project with some gardening tasks along a footpath in the Sylvania Estate. The outward run will take us up a rather steep hill but don’t worry, we will stop to catch our breaths and regroup at regular intervals! Also, what goes up must come down so the return run will be a lot easier! Sign up here to come along.

To finish of with a big shout out to everyone who took part in the launch of the GoodGym in Exeter is very much in order! You all really showed Exeter how to get fit by doing good! It was fantastic to see how everyone chatted to each other and got along during the whole evening as well. Such great GoodGym vibes!

See you next week and happy running until then!