WOW, that got hot quick!! Safe to say summer is finally here, I think.

Before I start in want to say a huge congratulations on all that did the Baddow 10mile run on Sunday. A fun day out on a tough course with a lovely medal to remind yourself of a job well done.

Tonight, we went back to Brian’s house to trim the hedge outside his window that had overgrown. For those who don’t know, Brian isn’t able to get out and tend to his garden so with help from us we can cut back the hedge and other plants that had started to overgrow and block his window.

With a quick head count we were off from the ARU gym lead by the ever reliable Laurie heading towards Brains house through the streets of Chelmsford. After about 1km it felt like someone had just turned the temperature up and it was mid-august already.

We arrived at Brian’s to find the wonderful David there waiting for us with the garden equipment and had kindly set up a bleep test course for our fitness activity. Thank you, David.

Splitting into 2 groups half got to work on the hedge while the other half began the bleep test.

I had downloaded an app on my phone that would beep to signal the time it took to complete the 20 metres before turning back. After working out it was not going to be loud enough I just resorted to just shouting BEEP as it beeped. All was going perfectly until the app froze and then I had to just guess when it would beep. My apologies for this, I will be writing a strongly worded email to the developers. After the first group had finished, we switch so the hedge trimmers became the bleepers and the bleepers became the hedge trimmers (only this time the app didn’t freeze).

With everyone feeling like they had pushed themselves and a lot of the hedge being clear to allow the glorious sun into Brian’s house, we packed up and set off on a slightly longer route back to base to enjoy the nice warm weather.

A nice stretch off and a chat about next week social which will be at the Golden Fleece pub quiz on Thursday.

Thanks for coming tonight guys, it maybe only be clearing some vegetation away from a window but imagine the impact it will have on Brian. To have more light coming inside now that days are longer and warmer would definitely make me happier. So on behalf of Brian, THANK YOU and hope I’ll see some of you at Parkrun this Saturday.

Until then

Run Happy

Rich

Ten runners met at ARU and signed the register with the rain pouring down outside! We welcomed Rachel & Joel back to their first group run from their honeymoon in Thailand, clearly they didn't bring the weather back with them! But they seemed to have had a great time.

Welcome back to Jennifer, Hannah and Paul as well.

No major news to report this week but I did get on BBC Essex radio on Sunday to talk about Goodgym, you can listen on this link from 2hrs 10mins in...https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0765sjw

Tonights task was plogging in the rain around the streets of Chelmsford. Braving the rain we headed out towards the city centre, grabbing a few respites under the railway viaduct and in front of the bathroom shop while we waited for the lights to change. Quickly we sped off to the Army & Navy roundabout and into Princes Road to start the litter pick, we seemed to amuse the commuter traffic with us wandering in the rain picking litter up.

Lots of litter was picked up in a short part of the road but as our run was planned for 9k we had to press on towards the park.

A quick stop outside the BBC studios for a group photo, with the rain starting to ease we made good time to get into the park. Great running by Julie, Hannah and Jennifer. Into the park and dropping off the litter pickers and grabbing some cones for our "hill session" on the parkrun hill.

When we got to the hill, a Bootcamp session was going on so we had to show what we were made of by powering shuttle runs up and down the hill! Hill sessions are a great way to increase endurance and speed ready for the Baddow 10 in a few weeks. Don't forget to sign up or come and support? Russell led the way up the hill quickly followed by Andy, Paul and Joel, great effort by the ladies as well. Our last sprint was a handicap one with the girls setting off first and the boys in sequence to speed last, well done.

Time to head back to ARU and our warm down and then heading home before the next downpour.

A warm spring evening saw 13 wonderful people meet in our usual place at the ARU gym ready to do some good and get fit while doing so. Before I start want to say a huge HELLO and WELCOME to Olivia and Katie on coming to their very first Goodgym run. Hopefully it’ll be the first of many. Also welcome back to Hannah. Looks like we didn’t scare you off last week ;-P

At the pre run brief we chatted about last week social where we went to a local all you can eat pizzeria ( Moto pizza ) and how lovely it was… If you speak to anyone that went ask them about PINEAPPLE and what colour Russell will paint his hallway. ( sorry Russell ).

After our customary warm up we set off towards one of our favourite places to visit ,InterAct. Where we would be continuing from where we left off last week. With David leading out and Catherine back marking we ran and chatted our way through Chelmsford high street until we reach InterAct with the wonderful Susie waiting to greet us.

Then it was on to the task….. Tonight we were continuing painting the fence at the front of the cottage but also to start sanding down some poles they want to repaint and then tie a canopy over to make a covered area in the patio.

We all gloved up to protect out beautiful soft fingers from the paint and then spit into small groups and started slapping it on. With Adam and Hannah starting on the panel closest to the edge, Catherine and Joseph next along , with newbies Olivia and Katie absolutely smashing it with the gang of JamesG Anton and Russell finishing it off. With Laurie putting the final touches inside of the fence all was going well.

As the awesome painting was going on David and Gerry had the sandpaper in hand and were making light work of the metal poles. Although David seemed to want to dance more around it ( Laurie you may want to have a conversation with him ) .

Time flew by and before we knew it it was time to leave. So we collected paint brushes , put the lids back on the paint, ate our biscuits ;-) took a group photo and set off. With Gerry taking a group for a longer run and I taking a shorter route back we both arrived at the ARU gym at almost the same time. #winning

We stretched off and discussed our plans for the weekend. GOOD LUCK to Gerry this weekend at the LONDON MARATHON I'm sure you'll have a great time

Thank you for coming and hope to see you all next week

and remember to run happy

Rich

17 runners attempted to paint a fence for InterAct

Hello! With the advent of decent evening light and a heady 17 degree weather today, we coincidentally had 17 runners! We were making our first visit back to InterAct since January and we were raring to go. After we reenacted our favourite exercise poses from last week (look out for the video come May/June!) we met the new Goodgymer Hannah who sadly missed the opportunity to see Laurie's head move wildly from her body (see photos). We ran the usual route down to InterAct and met the wonderful Susie who outlined the great work the charity does. They do offer Mental Health First Aid courses which are beneficial for both personal and professional development, so please do get in touch with her if they would be of interest to you.

We had several jobs to do - painting the raspberry plant beds green, painting the long fence, painting flower beds, building and installing solar torches and grabbing the old BBQ out of the skip as it wasn't allowed to be there! We jumped into it, with Jenny and Julie heading straight for the cabbage patch, Catherine and Joel went for the flowerbed (while trying to convince Joel that a rectangular BBQ was vastly superior, which it is), James C and James G heard the word 'BBQ' and ran off, Rachel went to build and place the torches, while everyone else grabbed brushes and got stuck in. All the areas which needed the green and brown paint got completed and we made a reasonable start on the fence - but with more to do next week!

Then came everyone's highlight I am sure...EGGS! InterAct had had a donation of 80 Easter Eggs earlier today for the children, staff and any volunteers they have. As we definitely count as the latter and obviously burnt lots of calories with running and painting, we were only too happy to oblige. Thanking Susie profusely, we left but not before posing with our prize eggs. Joseph held his aloft like Rafiki holds Simba in the Lion King, while Emily seemed to have acquired a week's worth of various foodstuffs. We split into two groups for the run on the way back, one to run 2.5k and the other 4k. I led the 2.5k posse with Ellie's boundless energy (welcome to you too!) looping back around us all and stretched to stave off injuries. With the others arriving shortly after, we reminded everyone about unlimited pizza on Friday and parted ways.

I hope you all had a cracking time and have an EGG-cellent Easter! See you next week. Don't eat all your egg at once!