It feels good to be back in the swing of things, with an amazing 23 runners braving the cold and windy conditions to join our run to help out Growing Better.

We welcomed Callum on his first ever group run, so he definitely deserves a massive cheer. Monika and George were completing their 10th Good Deeds so they deserve a big cheer too! We also celebrated reaching 150 members which is unbelievable in such a short space of time! That's a whole lot of people ready to get out there and do good in Leeds!

We warmed up with a quick round of 'Aron says' before heading out on the run. Liz took up backmarking duties, with Katie leading the way, and Aron and Adam looking after the middle of the group.

After enjoying our first ever dry run to Growing Better, we got straight on with the tasks at hand. They were:

• Sawing some pallets in half to create a barrier around the allotment
• Digging a trench and fixing pallets into position
• Planting saplings on the bank

Everyone grabbed their tools, and while the sawing crew got on with cutting up pallets, everyone else made their way across the soggy field, which luckily didn't claim any fallers this time! Aron was busy showing off the new lights which hopefully you all agree make a massive difference.

We had a super friendly little helper tonight by the name of Flavia who helped point the floodlight where it was needed, and handed out saplings.

" She really wanted to see you guys in action, she didn't believe it was true!" Dorota, task owner

Some of the group were having trouble working out exactly what we needed to do, and there was some discussion about how carefully the saplings needed to be planted:

"Do we put them in perpendicular to the bank or do they need to be upright?" " I think the trees just work it out for themselves..."

I guess we'll have to wait and see if the trees do indeed work it out for themselves, but it's really great to be planting a whole load of new trees, even if it felt like we barely made a dent in their stock of over a thousand! The trees should really help to take up some of the water from the area, which in time will make the field less boggy, and help the allotment too.

Over at the allotment, the gang were discovering that all that digging and fixing the pallets into place can be pretty hard work!

"This is like a proper core workout!" Julie, Leeds GoodGymer

We've had several attempts at fencing off the allotment, and each time we go back it's amazing to see that it's all still in place, and looking pretty secure! Even this awful weather we've been having hasn't made a dent in the fencing. Dorota is convinced this is going to be really important for helping to keep the weeds out of the allotment, and to stop brambles from encroaching on the space.

With a big pile of pallets cut in half and moved, some more fencing fixed in place, and a huge number of tree planted, our time was up, and we made our way back up the hill, and finished back at the Book Club with a quick stretch.

You'll all be happy to know that we're not heading down to Kirkstall next week, which means we don't have to run back up THAT big hill. Unfortunately this is Leeds, so heading the other way means we will have another big hill to contend with! It's all part of learning to love the hills!

Thanks again for another wonderful evening, you're all great. See you at parkrun for volunteering on Saturday, if not see you next week!

GoodGym Leeds is really starting to feel Christmassy! The temperatures have dropped again, but that just meant it was a great excuse for a few goodgymers to get out their Christmas jumpers and festive hats!

There was plenty of news to share as Karly ran with GoodGym for the first time, and GG York superstar Leanne joined us for a spot of tourism. Go and give them a cheer!

I also unbelievably forgot to tell everyone that Helen has reached ten good deeds! Well done Helen. She definitely deserves some extra cheers!

With a few quick partner drills, including knee tag and high fives, working on our balance, strength and just getting our bodies moving. There were a few mismatches but that's all part of the fun!

We then headed off down the now-familiar route, up towards headingley and then all the way down to Kirkstall. There had been a slight change of plan, as the wind had blown over one of the marquees, and so we were back at Unit 11, meaning a slightly shorter run.

We stayed as a fairly tight group on the run down, and arrived to find a spread of decorations for us to put up. There were strings of fairy lights, tinsel, a few nets of wall lights and a huge bag of holly and ivy. The fairy lights and tinsel needed to go up on the lengths of washing line which had been spread across the room, the wall lights needed fixing to the walls, and holly and ivy needed cutting up before slotting it in amongst the strings of lights.

Adam and Alex went straight for the big task of hammering hooks into the wall to fix the huge net of lights up. As if the pressure of such an integral feature wasn't enough, some people thought they should pile on a little more...

"It's like a real test of character whether you manage to complete it or not" Riobhne

Everyone else spread out around the room, looking for spots they could start tackling. There were different techniques, with some all action, and others putting a little more thought into it. Looking around the room there were were plenty of confused faces, but one looked particularly perplexed.

"I'm just trying to work out how to do it in an effective and efficient way" Sarah, taking her responsibility very seriously!

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the holly and ivy was being cut up into smaller pieces and brought into the main room to be slotted in amongst the tinsel and fairy lights. The whole space was really starting to take shape, and with only two ladders, and much of the easier to reach areas now already decorated, teamwork was the order of the day. The taller people were recruited for reaching into the far corners while everyone else busied around filling the gaps.

Just thirty minutes after arriving, we'd put up all the lights, wrapped them with tinsel, filled the gaps with holly and ivy and the whole place looked much much more Christmassy. By now the yoga group had arrived, but it gave them the chance to see what we had got up to!

"You're like an army of Goodness!" Yoga teacher

For the way back we had another shot at the GoodGym Leeds pursuit, with one group leading the way, with some faster runners in a chase group behind. Heather took the lead of the first group, while the chasers prepared themselves with another run through of the partner drills, this time making sure we were all as evenly matched as we could be. The chase group didn't manage to catch the advance party last time, so the pressure was on.

After leaving a long enough gap for a suitable head start, the chase group were off! Only to be stopped at the first set of traffic lights. And almost every subsequent set. This just meant it turned into more of an interval effort. The race was close, but this time the chasers managed to catch up with a few hundred metres to go. We're now at 1-1 so we'll definitely have to carry on the rivalry.

After we'd all regrouped, Sarah led us in a nice round of stretches before we all went our separate ways, dreaming of next week's Christmas social!

After a day of drizzly rain, and longer run planned, and with the cold weather officially upon us, you could have been forgiven for thinking we'd have a bit of a low turnout this week. Not a chance! An amazing 21 of you came to brave the elements for a trip back to Growing Better for more pallet fencing, orchard clearing and whatever else Dorota could find for us to do.

An extra special cheer goes to our 5 new runners tonight who chose one of our worst weather days to get involved. Rachael, Kayley, Joe, Alex and Chris, you're all superheroes! We also welcomed Carol, who joined us for the first time since moving up north after being a GG Lambeth regular. It was also her 10th different GoodGym area, so she's quite the tourist! Hopefully we'll see you all down again soon!

Heather took the lead for our steady run down towards the canal with all the talk on the way down seemingly about how horrible the hill was going to be on the way back! As we arrived at the task, Dorota, the task owner was once again amazed we actually turned up, and blown away by how many of us there were!

With quite a few of the group having been here last time, we knew the drill, and the experienced once cracked straight on with the job. A small group got straight into clearing a pallet of heavy bags and moving them behind the shipping container, while everyone else took the tools across to the allotment. Apparently a chain of bag passing quickly formed and the mini-task was over in no time.

The rest of the crew split into two groups: one got stuck in to building some more fencing around the edge of the allotment; the other were weeding and clearing the orchard. For the Pallet Fencers, there was general amazement at the quality of our work last time we were here:

"I can't believe they're still standing! They're actually quite stable." Heather, GoodGym Leeds

Those who had been here before jumped straight into trench digging to make room to slot in the pallets. I'm not sure if the ground was softer from all this rain, or that knowing what we needed to do helped, but we seemed get moving at quite a pace.

The orchard was a buzz of activity, with a huge pile of grass forming, and weeds being chopped out all over the place. At one point I thought we were going to lose people in the trees but the bobbing headtorches let me know all was ok!

By this point the bag shifters had returned, but had been sent off to find more spades, shovels, shears and whatever else they could lay their hands on.

"Some more tools are on their way" Aron

" That's not very nice!" Group comedian Tom

We were really flying now, and the arrival of some new tools sparked a lot of excitment. We had two never-before-seen-at-GoodGym-Leeds tools tonight with both a Mattock and Pick Axe. Newby Alex was wielding the Mattock like a pro, so much so that people were feeling a little intimidated.

"I'm actually a little scared of it!" Katie, GG Leeds

This also sparked off a conversations about our favourite tools, so in no particular order, my top 5 are:

1. Mattock
2. Pitch fork
3. Scythe
4. Loppers
5. You lot

Now came the (even more) fun part of the evening. The plan was for a steady group to lead the way, and the rest of us to hunt them down. We split up with Heather once again leading one group, while my group cleared away the tools and got a tour of the hydroponic planting.

Once we rounded everyone up, the chase was on. We still stayed as a tight group, but the plan was to run just a little quicker, which was going to be testing up the huge hill! Everyone ran really well, but it seemed the steady group had somehow sabotaged the road crossings and we got a red man on every set of traffic lights. As we turned each corner we hoped to spot the advanced party but to no avail. The steady group won this time, but it's not over!

We finished up with a quick stretch and a chat, leaving everyone* to head home to dry off and warm up, with at least one GoodGymmer (who shall remain nameless) seen sneaking off to the chippy... You made me very jealous!