We may have run past it countless times but sometimes we just don't actually see what is right in front of us!

This week we challenged the Goodgym Runners to get out and see what is about them whilst on their usual run.

Elizabeth on VE day fittingly looked to find the War Memorial, only to discover she ran past the entrance to it frequently. Ali kept the theme of VE day going with a very pretty display for VE day including Winston. Jane took a pic of a plaque on the museum that she had never noticed before about Poole Flying Boats. Nicola explored the quay and noticed a plaque given by the US Coast Guard. Me - Yep - Esther took to the back of my house with the kids and was helped to spot burrows in the tree roots! Hilary was also given a helping hend by being shown all the bluebells at the back of Pamphill church! Patricia pointed out that a well known plaque in Poole Park was actually a load of pictures put together by locals - Including some Goodgym runners!
Shelley took to a runners favourite place in Happy Bottom (yep!) and rediscovered how beautiful it really is if you just stop and look around you.

Great to see the pics this week - Well done everyone!

Last week had been a quiet one for Goodgym Poole and it all seemed a little dark for even the most regular and cheerful runners in this difficult time.

But when you need good cheer, you can rely on the members of Poole Goodgym to find something to bring a smile to our faces!

This week Sian suggested we pass on good cheer with notes to each other in a safe way. Rather unexpectantly Elizabeth literally appeared to pull out of the bag a mascot for Goodgym - A very fine looking monkey with its own Goodgym Poole sign!

The task was set - This monkey needed to make its way around the local and willing Goodgym runners, to bring good cheer and a smile to our faces - All at a social distance and with a bit of disinfectant (sorry Monkey!)

Elizabeth started the task with a trip from Broadstone to our favourite couple Richard and Hilary for a quick stop over. He was then transported with the speed of um...a local runner...to the dizzy heights of Oakdale and the lovely NHS worker Sian. But he didn't rest at all - Instead he was back packed again before heading to Hamworthy for a meeting with Patricia!

The monkey appear to prefer Oakdale so was trotted back over the lifting bridges to Nicola in Oakdale where he could rest for the night.

THe monkey then had a little tourist stop on the Quay with Ali and her daughter, no idea what happened but he left the building with a facemask. Perhaps he needed more shielding than we realised!

Anther clean up and spray before he was off again to Jane, enjoying the sights of local areas. This time he got to view Poole from a bike as after his nights sleep, took to 2 wheels instead of on route to make it back to Broadstone - Good work on those hills Jane!

His stay with the fabulous Shelley was brief as he made his way back down the hill to me!

What a delight to find not just monkey but a card that was written by each person on route around Poole that shows what lovely people we have and what an integrated team of people Goodgym Poole has become. I also got flowers in the bag and I know many other runners left little gifts for each other to enjoy!

It was still early evening so I got to take the opportunity to let Monkey have a little fun in the Broadstone Golf Course - open for walkers / runners only whilst Covid is on. He loved the trees and the stunning views before reaching Corfe Mullen and Sam. I learnt more about Sam in 10 minutes on the doorstep than at the last task we had done (too busy planting bluebells I think!) which was amazing!

THe monkey took a rest in Corfe Mullen before returning back to Broadstone and one of our regular runners Robert where he is resting!

What a great week for some giggles and friendly faces!

It was a great turn out as 19 of us huddled into Daveena's cafe at 6.30pm tonight.

It was so lovely to see two new faces join us - Sarah and Ella. So fab to have you along ladies!

Sarah is in the process of setting up a new run group that we will fully support here at Goodgym Poole. It is Run, Talk, Run. The concept is that a group meets for a 5km run (or a 2km walk) to have a chance to chat to others to improve their mental health. It will be on a Monday in Creekmoor so spread the word! We hope we can work together with the group in the future. As we all secretly know - our mental health is really improved by feeling part of the community at Goodgym and even more so when we feel we are making a difference in our community as well as looking after our health. We all have our own 'why' for coming to Goodgym and what it offers us! (What's your why?)

Onto tonight's run - A quick warm up on the forecourt before taking on the mound of opportunity that is Fernside Road! Onwards to Ringwood Road and another opportunity! We found the small path that leads to Dorchester Road and it was a chance for a bit of form coaching. Each person had to think of an area of form they need to work on and run the distance (with acceleration / deceleration) working on that form. So perhaps standing tall or using those arms or just working a bit of head up. After 1 repeat, the scores were in. Either we are all terribly British or not trying hard enough as scores of 5/6 were given to themselves! Well practice makes perfect and after 3 of them the scores were more of an 8 so on the right path.

Onto the school where we have been over the past few months with painting, gardening and even moving a library of books around! Tonights task came with the promise of stickering and in a bizarre way this had been a real draw! We were met again by the dedicated Mrs Armstrong (Head Teacher) and Mr Thomas (Deputy) with a big stack of stickers with labels for books for a new reading programme. Sounds simple enough! However as we all quickly discovered, there was no order on the sheets so each time we had to go through the lists and try and find a book in the entire library with often little idea where it actually was! Well this has got to be our most frustrating task to date - it was a bit of a needle in haystack for some of the books! Elizabeth suggested another way to try it - call out authors on the shelf and like a game of bingo we could match to our sheets. This worked for a few but it was still not moving very fast. In the end we settled for calling out popular authors or books and seeing who could help. Sadly we left the school, with many sheets barely touched as we could not find them! Nicola topped the leader board with 8 books found and stickered! Tim was heard loudly saying he was 'looking for bad girls' which I hope he found before we had to go, whilst in the depths of despair at lack of progress, Richard was looking for a book on euthanasia! Fiona who has hidden knowledge and background - knew a fair bit about how libraries run so was more helpful than many of us wondering aimlessly looking for a random book we had never heard of! Time ticked on and Sarah asked me if we had to stay till they were all done - It would have been a very long night!

We decided to give it a end point and took our lack of satisfaction of not completing out into the fresh air, for a quick run back to base. We left on the promise to return if we can help further! Leaving behind Mrs Armstrong and Mr Thomas scratching their heads at the system that had been created!

What a change from last week!

It was dry, crisp and even a little icy tonight as we all met inside the cafe, those that came last week just a little smug against those that bailed due to pretty horrendous weather! (Tim you had that look!:)

First off - Great to be joined by a fellow runner Marie who is new to Poole but not new to Goodgym! Marie has run some good deeds already up in London so we are really pleased she has looked us up here in Poole. We hope you come again soon to join us all!

We were really pleased to be able to return again to St Mary's School - each time we have had great tasks and we had no real details of this one so it was hotly anticipated!

But first there was 30 mins for a run and some warming up to be done! Onto the back streets of Heckford Park for some running! Having found a nice dark block - we got to go round it a few times. Job Done! All about adding those little bits of speed in! Sarah then took us around the dark back streets of Poole till we appeared at a pitch black alley way she assured us was our way to the school. Thankfully she was the local of these parts and we appeared just outside the school a few minutes past 7 where Andrea was waiting for us having taken a shorter run / walk.

This week we were met by Mr Simon Thomas, acting Deputy Head of the school. We were delighted to hear that we were in fact working in the library tonight to move books. It sounded simple - empty all books off shelves, move cupboards, put books back on shelves! Just with a little rule to follow - the books must go back EXACTLY in the order they were originally in! Two teams were formed and it was clear thatSian had found her calling with her organisational skills! 4 shelves to each bookcase and each bookcase was a triple case. A couple of tables to place books on - stacked high, low and to the sides. It appeared chaos but 5 mins later, shelves were empty and cupboards going back against the wall. 10 minutes later than that and books were back on shelves! There was a few moments o f 'which pile' and 'was this left or right' followed by '...are you sure?' If Mr Thomas was fearing for his next liaison with the librarians he did not show it! Two triple bookcases moved and books back on it. It was a brain teaser as well as a physical task! A final little bookshelf to go (which nearly got jumbled up with the others) and the room looked very different. The plan was to create space for a whole class to come into the library instead of just 10 or so in a small area. Pushing the book cases back against the wall create a huge bit of floor space! It was task complete and ready for the librarians and TA's to make it their own again tomorrow. With 2 ex-teachers in the group, those that sent there kids to this school and those that hope to - it was a great to help a school again, especially one like this!

Quick piccie before a heading towards our infamous Birds Hill. Quick check it wasn't slippy and there was time for a few hill sprints. Richard showing his strength up the hills leaving the rest of us behind him...although Robert as ever giving it his best shot whilst Elizabeth showed us what good form was all about.

Nicola was happy to have achieved her desired mileage as part of her 2020 challenge - and a bit more, it was time for home!

The school have asked us tonight if we can help with stickering! Well, we are quite looking forward to it. We will be back in two weeks to sticker some books!

Great task tonight and made enjoyable as ever with great company!

Happy New Year Everyone!

First one back and its a new location to start off the year with!

The mission tonight was also to talk about our individual plans for 2020 - We all know we don't need to be anyone new or change, as we are fabulous just the way we are - but a new SMART goal is a great way to keep improving!

Goals and targets tonight inc improving parkruns, 'upping' distance(half mara for Robert), running a set mileage (2020km for Nicola or just loosing that bit of extra weight!

It was amazing that finally Sarah managed to join us! She has had Goodgym on the rador for months so finally she was here for a run - great to have you along Sarah!

It was onto the Ashley Road for tonights task and a quick request to avoid North Road - The slow, gentle incline that can be a little um...breathy! Well its the first one back so this was accepted and instead a run through Ashley Cross.

St John's Church has a community choir that practices on a Tuesday evening and they were on their first rehearsal back ready for a performance on 22nd February in Wimborne so we had a little listen - pretty cool songs actually! (Don't forget we can always offer to do Flyers for local groups like this if it helps!)

We met Loeke just inside the door and she showed us where the cleaning items were and even that we could have a cuppa if we wanted! As there was so many of us tonight, it is also New Year so why not have a cuppa - Hilary and Patricia nominated themselves as the vertically challenged to do the brews whilst the others got cleaning to the higher heights!

We are pretty impressed with how clean the church is actually - Elizabeth took a look round for other potential tasks, cleaning wise or even leaves, gardening for future and it is all looking well looked after! We will of course offer our services for anything in future if needed. We did all the entrance windows, found some signs to clean and the outside pains of glass where reachable.

20 mins later, we could all enjoy a quick drink (and typically a couple of our friendly lot found some singers to have a little natter to!) before hitting the road again.

Return leg was just the direct route back for tonight - Don't worry folks, there will be some good chances to work on distance and pace in coming weeks!

So this is Christmas and what have you done?...

Well quite a lot actually!

We have hacked away tress and bushes, pulled weeds, cleaned windows, painted fences, mopped floors, sorted out growth in pathways and pulled away ivy. We have planted 3000 bluebell bulbs and picked litter from public areas. We have amazed so many task owners with what 10 or so people can do in half an hour and always with a smile and a laugh amongst us.

What a fantastic goodgym we have built up here in Poole!

But whilst all that has been happening something else has happened on this side that no of us knew was happening till it did - a group of people were becoming friends, good friends! We started to get the same faces week by week, the same smiles, chatting people, laughs and jokes being told. The result? A bunch of friends who now attend Goodgym Poole. June 25th was our first task so we have completed 26th Good Deeds as of tonight here in Poole - half the year of tasks!

It was just over a year ago that the role of Goodgym Poole Trainer was offered to me whilst 26 pregnant, really unsure if it was a wise decision taking on a project during my Maternity Leave especially one that involved me having to run at least one a week! Never one to to turn down an opportunity, I thought I would give it a go. Well it was absolutely one of my best decision to say Yes!

Tonights task summed up Goodgym so well. We ran to St Mary's School where we had once again the lovely head, Helen Armstrong. She lives in Dorchester and is on the final week before Christmas, but stayed on to give us guidance about what was needed. In her words - this is what she does! No wonder this school is doing so well with a dedicated head like this!

We arrived at school and the caretaker had planned for us two walls to paint, dust sheets down and paint rollers ready! As there was so many of us tonight, it was half on the paint, and the other half of the runners were great at just finding things to do! Helen found us some extra cleaning materials so the windows were cleaned down and chairs and tables wiped down as well - no guidance needed, the team just get on with it!

Expert painter tonight goes to our newbie, Jason, who was great on the old paint brush! (Great to have you along Jason

Back straight to base tonight as we had mince pies ready!

Nikki surprised us by bringing out cups and huge flask of warm mulled wine - amazing! Whilst we huddled under the canopy at the back of Daveena's, a huge sleet shower battered down, it felt quite biblical whilst sipping a mulled wine! We had a great variety of mince pies and even a little homemade flapjack from Sian to add into the mix. Thanks to Robert for the idea of mince pies on the final night!

It was kick out time at 8pm and it was like being in a pub having to move everyone out onto the road so lock up can happen. But that is amazing as everyone was chattering and wishing a Merry Christmas.

I have to say a massive thank you to everyone that has joined in with Goodgym Poole this year.

Biggest surprise was, after the run I was handed a massive bottle of Good Gin! I am really touched by the lovely words and present so thank you to everyone involved. I will say however this is only possible due to you fantastic people, giving up your time to do a good deed or two, making everyone feel welcome and creating such a great atmosphere!

So Goodgymers - go grab Christmas by the Baubles, jingle till you tingle and have an amazing time with family & friends!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!