0 Month Streak
Wed 20th Nov 2019 at 6:30pm
Chelmsford Report written by Chelmsford runner
We had 17 runners this week, welcome to Alex for his first group run, hopefully he enjoyed and will sign up to get that coveted red shirt.
After welcoming evceryone to tonights run it was time to congratulate the Chelmsford 10k runners from Sundays race, Laurie, James G, Julie, Russell, Jenny and Catherine & Adam who weren't here tonight. Well done everyone and thanks to Andy & Rich for the support on the day.
This weeks task was back to interact to spread woodchippings around the muddy car park at the entrance to the house.
We set off from the Uni with Russell leading and James G tail running, the usual long pause at the traffic lights on Victoria road ensued!
At the high street with the Christmas lights glowing bright, we performed a caterpillar run all the way down to Stone Bridge across the River Can.
Arriving at Interact in Moulsham Mill we started to look for the woodchippings but they were nowhere to be seen, a phone call to Susie the task owner and it was established they just weren't where they were supposed to be.
However, Susie had a indoor task we could do, given the nippy conditions it was welcomed by everyone. The task was to move around office furniture and the office partitions. After a lot of lifting, pushing and pulling we set the office out as requested...hopefully! As usual at Interact, the biscuits and drinks came out before we departed for our run back.
Before we headed back, a 400m, paired handicapped race was set. Slowest pairs first with each of the others setting off at intervals I determined! :) The idea was to have everyone finish together, not quite achieved but it wasn't too bad a result. With some heavy breathing going on we headed back up the HIgh Street and onto the Uni for our warm down.
Don't forget to sign up for next weeks run!
Wed 18th Sep 2019 at 6:30pm
Chelmsford Report written by Chelmsford runner
This week is** Goodgym's 10th birthday** so we thought we would celebrate in style!
Tonights task was completed by 9 runners with the task being to deliver to residential properties a leaflet promoting Chelmsford Marathon and a 3k run being held on 20th October.
"The J’s Hospice improves the lives of young adults (aged 16-40) with life-limiting conditions and their families across Essex. We provide tailored nursing and emotional care, advice and activities in the comfort of their own homes or in the community."
We discussed the Goodgym 10th birthday book and volunteering at Chelmsford parkrun for #supersaturday this week.
Chelmsford's traffic was grid locked tonight so a message on Whatsapp to let everyone know meant Julie wasn't going to get to us in time and would meet us on the way, as it it happened Julie was waiting by the Police station for us. As always a long wait for the lights to change here.
As we had a Goodgym Flag we stopped at every opportunity for a photo at local landmarks and the sign in the centre of the high street.
As we were lining up for the photo Catherine's antenna was raised spotting a Policeman chasing a suspect down the high street, before we could react Catherine and Andy set off in pursuit to apprehend the individual with the help of the officer!
I have to say that's the fastest I have seen them both run! Must be a lesson in there for our next sprint efforts!
Luckily Catherine is a Police Officer and Andy has a connection as well, so our Goodgym public spirit was in good hands.
After that excitement we headed off to the task delivering the leaflets and a few more flag photos, we soon exhausted our stock of leaflets running the streets of Moulsham.
We did an every second lamp post sprint session on the way back to the Uni for a warm down stretch.
If you want to sign up for the 3k run you can here https://www.havenshospices.org.uk/event-registration?event=chelmsford-3k-fun-run&date=chelmsford-3k-fun-run
Happy running Gerry
Wed 28th Aug 2019 at 6:30pm
Chelmsford Report written by Rich Walker
Hi All,
After a week of scorching heat there was a little shower to cool things off for our weekly Goodgym group run. That was before we set the streets alight, blazing a trail through them.
Tonight’s task was to go to Broomfield allotments and help turn over a plot for an older gentleman who wasn’t able to tend for it at the moment. With Joel leading the way and Catherine back marking we were there in no time to meet Sue who had tools and gloves ready for us.
With everyone getting stuck in we forked, raked and weeded the plot in no time and turn the soil ready for some planting.
A job well done we were about to set off back to our hub and this is when I explained what tonight’s fitness session would be.. Race Planning…
Race planning is essentially a way to take the stress and worries out of race day and help you focus on what you want achieve.
With this in mind I set the course of starting at 5th Ave and snaking our way back to 1st Ave thinking about 2 things. 1st was to think “what do I want to get out of this?” and the 2nd was “how am I going to do it?”. Whether it be that you want to do it as fast as you can or feel strong all the way to the end or even just to finish with a smile, it was your choice. Then to decide how you would do it and what plan would you put in place.
So, we jogged to the top of 5TH Ave and then set off on our “race”. With everyone really putting in a good effort and plenty of hearts pounding by the end it was time to introduce the final part of the exercise, to review it. What worked, what didn’t, what would you change for next time, etc.
Hopefully everyone enjoyed it and feel that it is something that could be helpful for them for any upcoming races they have planned or even just some structured training (this is essentially all that structured training is) With a slow jog back to base we stretched off and chatted about our upcoming weekend.
Have fun I whatever you get up to and see you all soon
And remember, Run Happy
Rich
Wed 12th Jun 2019 at 6:30pm
Chelmsford Report written by Laurie Chatterjee (she/her)
9 runners ran 5km to litter pick on a rainy Wednesday
We firstly congratulated Russell on starting his new job, which he was not particularly excited about. Well done on surviving your first day anyway Russell! We also greeted Doug, who Charlotte had encouraged to come along for his first run.
The plans were outlined; Joseph said that he had both positive and negative emotions about running with the litter picker, and imagined he was going jousting.
We ran up to North Avenue, where we met Catherine, who was on her usual top comedic form for the entire run. Jenny encouraged us to run along Eastern Avenue, where we completed the circle of litter.
We managed to collect four big bags of litter, and everyone's spirits remained high throughout. We finished with a couple of Avenue sprints. Shout out to Rachel for her super speeds running down 4th and 2nd Avenues, and to Adam, our own Edward Picker-hands, for carrying back more than his share of the pickers from the Avenues.
Next week we are off to Broomfield Allotments with Rich.
Well done everyone, and see you all soon.
Laurie
Wed 5th Jun 2019 at 6:30pm
Chelmsford Report written by Chelmsford runner
A late cancellation of the booked task meant a quick re-think of what to do on the group run, so a litter pick it was!
This means we could do a longer fitness session!
We welcomed Tim to his first group run and hope that he enjoyed it, even the pyramids I hope!
Birthday wishes were given to Laurie for her recent birthday. I mentioned our recent local race Baddow 10 and announced our next local race will be the Chelmsford 10k in November, on-line booking should be available soon.
Well done to Rich for his 100 mile bike ride at the weekend.
I spoke about the changes to the Goodgym Missions and the process going forward to do these.
Time to head off to the park with a warm up session along the pedestrian zone from the Uni and a jog to the dreaded traffic lights by the Police Station, the advance runners got across straight away but the rest of us had to wait the three changes of lights. Into the park to collect the litter picking equipment which was shared out. We tackled the childrens playground with Julie managing to find a trampoline to bounce on! Then we covered the main pedestrian path to the station and picked up quite a bit of litter there, this is an area we cleared about a month ago.
The fitness session beckoned in the park and an offer of two were voted on, Pyramids or a 2km handicap and the Pyramid got voted in!
Everyone did extremely well on the 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 minutes with a minute break in-between, great effort all around.
After a recovewrey rest we then headed back to the Uni dropping off runners along the way to their various homes.
Wed 29th May 2019 at 6:30pm
Chelmsford Report written by Laurie Chatterjee (she/her)
13 runners ran just under 5km to Interact to prepare the games room for painting
With a very warm welcome to Lauren and Beth, we caught up and set off in the drizzle to Interact. Joel very kindly offered to lead us out, with Rachel and Catherine back marking.
We were greeted by Ali at Interact, who told our newest runners about the amazing work they do, and showed us to the games room we needed to prepare. The room needed to be emptied and then the filled holes sanded, if there was time. Of course the team cleared the room in no time at all, and then spent the rest of the time sanding. There was eventually enough sandpaper for everyone, and very quickly there was a room full of dust to go with it. Some took it in turns to get on the ladder for the ceiling, with Charlotte and Jenny particularly enjoying the height. We all finished with a covering of dust, but managed to complete both parts of the task we were given.
After posing for a photo and eating some well deserved biscuits, we set off on our journey back. The original plan had been to do some fitness on the way back, but the slightly heavier rain and dusty bodies put us off (only a cruel run leader would subject their runners to fitness in the rain).
Tomorrow, we are hading to the Golden Fleece pub quiz, starting from 8pm (or 8.30, we'll see when we get there). We are going to meet at McDonalds for some pre-quiz brain food at 7pm, and then go to the quiz from there. Feel free to join just for drinks, food or quiz, and let me know if you have any questions.
Either way, see you all soon!
Laurie
Wed 22nd May 2019 at 6:30pm
Chelmsford Report written by Rich Walker
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
Wed 15th May 2019 at 6:30pm
Chelmsford Report written by David Chatterjee
15 runners ran 11km to Kids Inspire to paint their new training room
With my return to Goodgym after a 2-week break, I decided to bring some nice weather with me. The task tonight came with one of our longer runs, but the weather and a jolly bunch of Goodgymers would make the time pass quickly. Bumping into Anton after the first 200 metres, we jogged on to meet the McKeown's at one of our usual haunts, InterAct. Tonight, that wasn't even halfway! We headed off up towards Baddow and it was starting to get tough - thankfully Andy knew a sneaky back route that shaved off about half a kilometer. We arrived slightly sweatier than when we left, but we were eager to help.
Louise welcomed us and showed us their new premises! Gigantic! We had helped Kids Inspire prior to Christmas at their old premises and they had only moved in last week. The new offices certainly are an upgrade! We went upstairs to what will become the training room, previously a bright orange colour, but now well on the way to becoming a lovely pebble colour. We all got stuck in painting, with Paul managing to get more on himself than on the walls. Sorry again that we left a bit late - everyone was enjoying themselves and I was having a tour! There is lots for Kids Inspire to do at this new building, and it is a great charity so we are more than happy to come back and help, even if it is a longer run.
With legs slightly heavier than when we set off, we headed back to base. The run back was slightly downhill which helped, however it was a long one, so don't forget to rest up, particularly if you're one of those doing the Baddow 10 mile this weekend. I'll see you there if you are.
Well done to everyone who came this evening, but particularly to Catherine, Andy, Julie and Joseph who undertook their longest ever runs this evening! Absolutely cracking work.
The next social is going to be the pub quiz on Thursday 30th May. The quiz doesn't start until 8/8:30ish so any suggestions for potential dinner venues for a quick bite, let us know! The Golden Fleece does also do food as a back-up.
See you next week!
Wed 24th Apr 2019 at 6:30pm
Chelmsford Report written by Rich Walker
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
Wed 17th Apr 2019 at 6:30pm
Chelmsford Report written by David Chatterjee
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!
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