A new task for us this evening with six GoodGymers supporting Abbey People's Swish clothes swap event.

Earlier in the day, Harriet was helping to set up the event, putting up clothes rails, sorting and hanging the clothes and setting up the social space. And of course making time for some dog fuss! The benefit of setting up is seeing all the clothes that had been brought for swapping, and a rather beautiful crochet cardigan caught her eye. It looks very swish!

The late shift (Kate, Sandra, Scott and I) met at Parkside Pools to run to the task. It was our first dark run of the season, and we were all well lit up (and some of us overly reflective). 🔦

It was a longer run than usual as the task was on the other side of town, but it made coming out worthwhile, and gave us plenty of time to catch up on tales of stormy holidays in the Lake District, daredevil dogs, love of zone 2 running, and the joy of hot/cold therapy.

We arrived at the venue to meet Eva, who was already hard at work clearing the clothes and rails. We joined in and helped with clearing more rails, tables (with a very creative storage space), activity boxes, and sofas, and then Sandra gave the floor a good sweep 🧹

With many hands, it was light work, and within 30 minutes we were done! There was just time to enjoy some baked goods before heading back. Will always run for cake 🍰

This session was promoting This Girl Can's Let's Lift The Curfew campaign, which highlights the safety concerns women have exercising at after dark and how this shifts their outdoor activity routines.

Some of us said we hadn't been out in the evenings this week and that the GoodGym task was the reason we got out. We agreed that GoodGym is a great way for women to continue to stay active in a social environment during the darker months.

We continue to create safe spaces to keep active 💛

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✨ GoodGym has designed night safety training for men to support women to feel safe when out exercising at night. You can read more and complete the training here: Women's Night Safety Training for Men

The temperatures may have been cooler this morning at Brook Leys parkrun, but the running and camaraderie were hotter than ever.

GoodGymers had all aspects covered, with Caroline managing set up of funnels and buckets, Eva and I marshalling, and Scott doing his favourite token sorting. Scott and Caroline were also running today and after Scott's success here last month, Caroline was hoping she would see a new PB today too. 💪

I was marshalling at the turn up the far end of the course and it wasn't long before Scott was effortlessly employing a Japanese u-turn to make easy work of the tight bend. Shortly afterwards Caroline was storming up the hill and I asked if we dared to dream, she confirmed it was looking good. 🤞

It was a nervous wait, but on returning to the volunteer area, I heard that not only had she got a new PB, but she'd smashed over a minute off her last one 🥳 Fuelled by Eva's massive round of applause on each lap of the lake, and with Scott's motivational cheers mid course and encouragement on the finish sprint, she pipped a sub-25 finish time. Every second really did count. Congratulations Caroline, truly amazing! 🔔

Feeling the GoodGym love, it was time for celebratory pastries to debrief and catch up ☕ 🥐

Well done to everyone who took part today and extra kudos to GoodGymers for being truly great humans and pulling together to support each other to reach their goals 🙌

We had another great session supporting Strawberry Fair this weekend. This time taking down the fences we'd put up last week!

Welcoming Becky to her first GoodGym task 👋 we met with Eva and headed over to the volunteer area to get kitted out. Still no left hand gloves to be found (where are they??) so we went with one glove each. To compensate, we had brand new shiny high vis jackets, which were so bright you couldn't miss us 🦺

We certainly got our steps in working at 3 different locations across the site. First up was the Big Top where we were moving paint cans, tables and chairs ready for collection. The round tables were particularly tricky to manoeuvre with their wayward legs, but we managed it with some coordinated teamwork. We were then over at the soap box area moving wood planks into a storage compound. Again, not an easy task as they were tricky to balance! Lastly, the site team had already made an impressive start at removing over 4km of fencing, and we helped to take down some of the perimeter fencing. With Eva and Becky on fence panels and me on the bases, we made swift work of it and definitely felt like we'd had a good workout afterwards 💪

As we headed back to the volunteer tent, we noticed it had gone! After an initial panic, all was well and we found Kirsty and our belongings in the marquee. We returned our vests slightly less shiny than they started, a sign of some hard graft. 🦺

See you again next year! 🍓

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It was a busy running weekend too.

👟 On Saturday, Caroline signed up last minute to pace at Coldham's common parkrun, coming in right on time and helping runners reach their goals.

🏅On Sunday, Scott got a PB at the Flaming June half marathon. After coming back from injury, this is a great achievement, well done 🙌

This Thursday, Cambridge GoodGymers helped deliver donations to Cambridge City Foodbank through Greens Organise Cambridge's mutual aid initiative 🍞🥫🍫🧃

Catherine, Caroline, Scott and Christopher met for a bouncy warm-up and a jog along the river, working up a sweat in the evening heat. Eva joined the group to collect the donations and between them, the team loaded 5 crates of items into their backpacks! It was a rather weighted walk to the foodbank but all the donations were happily received, and the team felt very proud of their efforts 🏋

Practically skipping back with their bags now emptied, the group got some more steps in on the 2.5km walk across to Thirsty for this month's social. Nick joined and everyone raised a glass to all the good deeds achieved this month 🍻

Over the next few hours, the team relaxed with plenty of laughter, chats about superconductors and property law, tricky beer decisions, shared pet photos and some impressive multitasking by Eva with a beautiful embroidery piece 🪡

Apparently keen to get even more steps in, some of the gang succumbed to the temptation of Jack's and jogged into town for some late-night gelato. Double (double) tinies all round! 🍦

What a fabulous evening and a fantastic way to bring together members of the GoodGym Cambridge team. We're looking forward to next month's social already, and all the good deeds in between!