Todays 26.2 had eighteen Goodgymers attend the group run.

The news this week was about two community missions listed on the website, April 5th marshaling for a run for the Stroke association (please sign up as soon as you can) and Broomfield fun day on the 12th July helping to set up the event.

Tonights task was a litter pick on the periphery of Central Park so we set off from the Uni with a warm up of hop, skips and I forgot to do the leap year jumps! Rachel led from the front again and Rich tail ran. Soon arriving in the park and collecting the litter pickers and bin bags we then split into two groups with one group in Meteor Way and the other along Marconi Ponds. Laurie and Rich lead the groups. A thorough litter pick by the two teams meant we had time to do a Pyramid session at 5k pace around Central Park on a 300m loop. It was a 1-2-3-2-1 minutes with 30 seconds rest so we didn't cool down too quick.

Everyone seemed to have put a lot of effort in and it was time to head back to base for the warm down.

(So, the title had no relevance at all for the run apart from it is the 26th February 26.2...get it!)

Happy running until next week.

Todays task was returning to Interact to finish cutting back the outside garden and recovering woodchip so it can be laid on the garden paths.

Sixteen runners attended tonight with a very pleasant surprise visit of our master jedi trainer Ken Hoye.

We did a warm up along the walkway from the Mildmay gym and the marvelous Rachel decided to run lead out the group up to the high street with Coronavirus Catherine tail running. (She is clear of it and it was just precautionary after a holiday in Thailand in case anyone was worried!) Once in the high street we split into two groups and did a controlled caterpillar run all the way down to the River Can bridge, then a jog onto Moulsham Mill for the task.

Collecting tools and wheelbarrows we set to clearing the dead wood and digging out the woodchip and putting it into a separate pile for the gardeners to use.

Like a silent Jedi...Ken appeared from nowhere and surprised us with his visit, some of the new members wouldn't know Ken but he was the original trainer for Chelmsford and set up Goodgym in the city...really good to see you Ken.

Task done and tools packed away, the customary drinks and biscuits consumed we headed back to the uni. A stop on the bridge over the river for a 400m "Meet & Greet" session to get the lungs and legs working hard, everyone put in a great effort. Well done.

Back to the Uni and the warm down stretches.

Don't forget to sign up the the Good Friday 10k, places are running out!

16 runners made a date of it leafletting Chelmer Village and Springfield

Hello everyone! My first GoodGym lead since the famed Halloween run report began with some superb Valentine's themed puns. It was a shame Doug couldn't make it tonight, as I know he is a huge fan. After everyone's laughter died down we took a photo, and definitely did a head count....

Rich warmed us up and we set off running up the bunny walks, past the prison and beyond Chelmer Village retail park. Loading everyone up with lots and lots of love, jelly babies and leaflets we headed off up Beeleigh Link. And then it all went perfectly to plan, with Russel C leading people wildly down Cusack Avenue (I took a photo of the street in case we had to do a missing persons report later) and we shot up the various roads trying to get furniture donations for BHF. After a brief moment of silence to remember those we lost, they turned up! From the top of there we headed to the pub, which our Endeavours deserved but sadly had a task to do so couldn't stop for a pint (that is for next week). We headed from there leafletting through Springfield to Simon's local, The Tulip, and back down to the river. We then did a Gerry special - lamppost sprints!

Everyone got a thorough workout and we headed back to ARU for some Valentine's chocolates and to polish off the jelly babies. Don't forget next Thursday is the February social - Chelmsford beer festival! We will be getting there at about 6pm and drinking it dry!

Thanks to everyone for coming, especially Kirk who was the only one who laughed at all of the jokes in the run briefing! I am just glad we made it back....

This was a starter session for an intro into Goodgym and what we do on a group run each week.

We welcomed Clive, Diane, Julia and Lucy to their first ever Goodgym group event.

I was a bit nippy today but sunny so a 300m warm up to activate those muscles you need for running ensued.

We had a chat about all the elements that Goodgym can offer with Group Runs, Missions and Coach runs, hopefully something there for everyone.

We started to do a litter pick in the park and our long standing regulars Laurie, Rich, Rachel and two of our stalwarts Kirk and Russell were on hand to answer any questions that the newbies may have had. Thanks for coming along and supporting the new faces, hopefully they weren't scared off!

After the litter pick we gave the whistle to Rich! and set off on a 300m loop with Rich blowing at random points to signal a sprint, a loose fartlek session! and we did it twice.

That really raised the heart rates and got us warm. We then gave people the option to have a 300m or 500m warm down and it was split roughly 50/50.

Time to finish and to stretch down and to stress the importance of a good warm up and stretchdown each time you run. I hope you enjoyed the intro session and look forward to seeing you at group run sometime!