Pun _day Monday

Good evening from sunny Worthing and a very warm welcome to Ross who was a first timer tonight. We hope that this is the first of many sunny Monday visits for you and we also hope that we can assist you with achieving your fitness goal whilst doing good in the community.

It was one of top attendance evenings tonight with 15 GoodGymers turning out on a rather blustery and chilly August evening. It was especially nice to welcome back Tamsin and Emily from their holidays. As Tamsin later mentioned it felt like the first day of term!

In no particular order, kudos to all the following, Barbara, Daisy, Emily, Christina, Belinda, John, Ross, Tamsin, Paul, Lucy, Duncan, Gill, Paula and, steaming in at the last minute our very own super hero cake man ,Jay.

Thank you to you all and especially those who got to the leisure in advance of me and were so 'understanding' after I got stuck in ridiculous post work traffic on my way home from Brighton.

Walk, jalk, run- repeat

With the walking group setting off first, there then followed 3 running groups to accommodate all abilities with no one getting left behind. We were returning to one of our favourite places at May Close allotment to meet our 2 friends from Breathing Spaces, Lisa and Claire.

This evening’s tasks comprised 3 different jobs. Some high level pruning, some heavy digging over of a grassy bed and also digging in some long railway like sleepers to start making a path down the middle of the allotment . This will make it more accessible for visitors to enjoy the beauty of this hidden community garden hideaway.

No sleeping on the job

The team all picked their tasks and immediately got stuck in with energy and obvious talent. Tamsin and Emily optimistically started the quest for a good 'dig in' to get the sleepers 'dug in' Ross, Paul and Duncan did the same. We will revisit this scene later…

Over on the other side of the allotment Paula, Daisy and Christina were in charge of Steve and Jay who opted for some heavy weight digging. Jay famously mentioned that Worthing work harder than GG neighbours Brighton. Ha ha! Yes he really did say it but he forgot to add that we also feed him more cake:)

And in another universe alongside the privet hedge Harry Potter aka Lucy was in her cubby hole doing some pruning being ably ‘supported’ by John (that photo didn’t make the censoring) together with Gill, Barbara and Belinda who were all busily and highly effectively multi tasking with a bit of GG banter together with a lot of ‘fine pruning’

Let the sleeping dogs sleep

Back to the railway sleepers scenario……

Superhero Cakeman had to fly over to rescue Tamsin and Emily from an epic but endearing fail on the digging in of the aforesaid sleepers.

Cakeman didn’t have to be asked twice and, together with Superman Steve rescued two relieved damsels swiftly and efficiently relieving them of this burdensome task that threatened to swallow them up (we could make a comic strip of this!!)

However I digress with all this exaggeration….

Being on a timescale to get back to the Leisure Centre by 7:15pm the team finished up and headed back to the leisure centre in 3 groups. The 4 walkers followed by the girls set off with Paul, Duncan, Jay and Steve putting their finishing touches to the bedding down of the new path before the 5 of ran back to join the rest of the team for the final part of the evening.

Junior parkrun and GG – a perfect synergy

We had been enlisted to test run the exciting up and coming junior parkrun so after a 'clear as mud' briefing from Duncan we all set off to either run or marshal the proposed course.

2k later we declared the course a success and posed for a post task and run for a final photo with our new friends from the core team of JPR.

Congratulations to first timer Ross for this first good deed, run and surviving the run with us. Next step is the What’s app group :) :) :)

In other news

Congratulations to Barbara who has been asked to train to become a run leader for RAW. Belinda has an inspirational story which I’m encouraging her to share publicly. Next step GG run leader?!

Congratulations to Mr R for yet another parkrun PB. You are definitely smashing them out. Truly inspirational. Let’s keep focused on the next goal. You know you can do it!

Next week is bank holiday Monday. Its all about the social afterwards. Meet at Splashpoint LC for pole painting and possibly planting out the flower bed again followed by fun fitness and drinks and cake after.

Well done to Daisy and Christina who are keeping up with the new routine of Monday night . Its great to see you on the regular team.

If anyone isn’t in the What’s app group but would like to please do let me know. All welcome in this fun crazy thread.

Speaking of crazy …. Have a wonderful week full of energy and good vibes.

Julia xxx

Seas the Day

On a blustery evening we were very grateful that the early heavy rain had cleared and sunshine prevailed.

Michelle, Steve, Christina, Paul, Ros, Belinda, John, Duncan and Gill completed tonight’s line up.

After some GG local updates and banter together with a fair amount of gentle nagging from me about the importance of keeping up to date with weekly GG communications , the team set off on the 2k run to St Botolph’s church garden.

With a warm welcome from Sue and Peter together with church wardens Rick and Val the team were briefed with our jobs for the evening

Firstly there was the challenging task of clearing an area around the old chapel garden which shrouded in a wilderness of brambles, ivy, bindweed and thicket. Secondly we were asked to scrape and sweep moss off the concrete paths around the back of the church.

Font’astic task

Without our very own snowflake this week we had to make our own entertainment but truthfully the whole team just got stuck in with fairly hefty intensive work.

Christina, Gill and Michelle started with the moss clearing whilst Barbara and Duncan, both rocking their black t-shirts disappeared around the corner to attack the brambles and weeds.

Paul and Steve were recruited by Peter for some heavy work to dislodge a metal barrier gate from the remains of the old chapel which were being anchored by weeds and brambles. With a bit of a heave-ho the obstruction was dislodged so that further work could take place to clear the area so that people could walk around the remains. Belinda and John worked in perfect harmony pulling up the overgrown weeds and brambles in what appeared as if it might be a rockery.

Imagine our surprise when John discovered the remains of a font under the tangled weeds. It even had a space for a plug at the bottom. It is most likely that this is the original font from the 13th century remains of the chapel on the east side of the church where we were working. So in reality tonights task was like an archaeological dig!

We all decided that alongside the accompanying large stone slabs of rock we could make a feature of this area similar to our project last week at The Rowans. This may encourage the community to come and rediscover a part of the history that has been hidden for years.

With another fond farewell and promise to return very soon we headed off for a steady, wind assisted, run back along the seafront past our GG flowerbed. The front group doubled back so that we all stayed within the vicinity of each other before a parkrun sprint finish and the start of our fitness session.

Holy HIIT

With the GG Worthing fitness challenge well under way we set about 2 rounds of 8 moves with 15 repetitions of each. The moves were Inchworms, Squat jumps, Mountain climbers, Inchworms with press ups, hover to plank, burpees, press up jacks, cross crawl abs.

SUCCESS all depends on the second letter

After the first round of the exercises the team looked hopefully at me for the cue to head to the pub but despite some puppy eyed looks I kept them going another 10 minutes with one more round of each move.

With commitment this challenge WILL make you stronger and fitter so what have you got to loose by giving it a try? Every day would be amazing but in reality 4 times a week would do it.

On the subject of success, special mention to John who has achieved his goal of running without stopping the parkrun 5 k a whole 4 weeks ahead of schedule! Lets all extend massive kudos and congratulations to you John. U did it! Now to work on the next challenge :)

In other news

Many thanks to John for reshaping our letter 'G' in the seafront flowerbed. If any of you have any time to do some dead heading so that it can be restored to its former glory that would be much appreciated ( but only if you have green fingers please!! )

Lucy and Duncan are training hard for their ultra-run on 7th September. Both are doing it for charity (Help the heroes- Lucy and Turning Tides-Duncan ) Wishing you both lots of luck for the tough training regime.

Pauls Birthday celebrations have been postponed until we can celebrate Tamsin’s too. How about a Wednesday meal at the new Caribbean restaurant in Worthing (next to TK Max) 14th, 21st or 28th August? Let me know ASAP.

GG HQ asked Nick to write an article to help promote walking groups. Here it is Thank you NRG :)

Founder of GG Ivo did a great podcast. Have listen

Next week we are meeting at Splashpoint and heading to Turning Tides Byron Road hostel and also Stepping Stones in Manor Road.

Hope to see you all then,

Julia xxx

Suns out-puns out

On another glorious sunny evening it was great to welcome newbie Daisy to the group. A fellow runner, parkrunner and triathlete Daisy is looking to combine volunteering with some Monday night running. She picked a great night to come along as the the team were on great form tonight.

The first person I saw was Ros . I greeted her with great delight as we had missed her ! It was short lived as poor Ros had just had her keys run over when they fell off her whilst cycling to meet us. This resulted in some buckled sad looking bits of metal. Concerned she wouldn't be able to get back into her flat she headed off to try and resolve the situation ( later we found out that she had managed to get back into her flat and wouldn't need a bed for the night! )

I was also extra pleased to see Christinaarriving in her brand new red t'shirt ! Wow you looked amazing in it and you also posted a great tweet promoting GG Worthing too . Thank you :)

Tonights line up also included Barbara, Michelle, Nick, Jay, Lucy, Duncan, Belinda and John . (Another) special mention to John who totally smashed his parkrun PB by over 90 seconds on Saturday.

With some clear instructions on routes we headed off in 3 running groups . I was hoping that we wouldn't have a repeat of last week when I mislaid 8 runners in the space of 1 mile! Tonight we headed off to see Debbie at The Rowans, a rehabilitation centre for people with brain injuries. This is a regular task venue thats always great to head back to.

Mulch ado about nothing ? Or mulch support ?

We were warmly greeted by Debbie who had organised a great task for us this evening . Within the grounds there was a smallish pond that was completely covered with weeds and bind weed . Our job was to clear the bad stuff and fill it with good stuff including a mulchy combination of potting compost and bark . We also needed to make it look pretty too with some gorgeous lavender, flame plants and bedding plants.

In addition there was 1 tree and a large shrub that needed to be taken down . Finally there was some tree pruning to be done where branches were over hanging paths.

So ... plenty of work to keep the team occupied and out of mischief tonight!

Jay and Nick set about the trees , Duncan , Lucy and Michelle the pruning and the rest of the team set to work on the tangled mass of the pond.

S 'pond taneous

Lots of the above extreme behaviour ( thats my team! ) with Belinda virtually climbing into the pond and Jay digging like a terrier burying his bones ( or in his case, cakes! )

The whole team achieved an incredible ground force makeover and the results were pretty stunning ! Check out my amazing photographic skills ( ha ha)

We took a few moments to stand back and admire, not just tonights work of art, but also the fruits of our labour from our last visit in the pretty courtyard garden.

With a fond farewell to the lovely Debbie we headed back with a marginally shorter and prettier route back to the leisure centre.

Keeping on track

Making use of the track again was a bonus.A great way to work on speed and endurance.

Tonight the team set about doing a pyramid 100 metre sprint / rest then the same with 200 , 300 and 400 . Duncan Jay and possibly Lucy( who wasn't sure what she did ) then worked backwards down the pyramid finishing on 100.

There were some personal records set particularly for Belinda. Check out the great photo of Lucy and Belinda comparing stats!

Stretches and well done to all made a happy finish to the evening with special mention to first timer Daisy. We hope you will come back often! Also kudos to new member Christina rocking the red. A fair amount of heckling accompanied the sensible stuff but thats quite a normal occurence at GG Worthing.

What's that ?

Just a final reminder that we do have a very active and entertaining whats app group so if you aren't already in it and would like to let me know and I will add you ! Theres only one pre requisite for this and that is that you know how to use the mute button!

Next week

Meet at Splashpoint LC

Run / task/ fun fitness session/ swim/ fizz or pub

All welcome !

Have a great week everyone . Run hard, play hard and have fun in the sun :)

Julia xxx