27 fit and fabulous runners met at our new starting location - Vivo Sports & Gym Club, who have very kindly let us use their lockers (and for a small fee test their beer and possibly the odd muffin or two!) on Tuesdays for the foreseeable future.

We were going to head back to BBC Bristol's wildlife garden but there was a rather large problem in the way; Park Street. When we meet at the Folk House we're already halfway up precipitous Park Street but starting from the bottom and heading to the top in one go was a tall order. So we didn't run that way, we run, jogged and walked up the less intimidating but actually longer (yes!) Jacobs Wells Road. It was a hot and sweaty run due to the humidity (again it was a rain free run!) but we made it to the BBC in one piece and met up again with Jules who with effortless organisational finesse got us going on several tasks which would continue to transform a once bland and featureless strip of grass into a wonderful world of wildlife that could be used by local schools to introduce young 'uns to the amazing environment we have.

There were many many bags of woodchip to shift, a hulking great load of top soil to cart from one place to a flower bed in the making, more hedges to plant, watering, tear shape bed making (hence the name of the run!), more watering, and more digging.

The team set to work, Work occurred in swift and typical GoodGym fashion - relentless, fun, messy and full of random chat about all manner of things as well. After about 25 minutes we'd done a lot and it was time to head back - there's still more to do so I'm sure we'll return another time.

We left the wildlife garden and headed down Park Street - oddly a lot easier on the way down than the way up, and then made an unscheduled pit stop to have a group photo with one of the many Shaun the Sheep sculptures that have flocked to Bristol recently. Photos done, we got back to Vivo for a good stretch and cool down and some beer and muffin tasting may have occurred too.

Smashing work everyone, and a big welcome too to all the newer runners. Hopefully see y'all again soon!

35 (yes, 35) runners came to the Folk House on Tuesday for a double task run. Task one was the advertised run to a food bank to help sort cans, packets, bottles and jars for people in need of food aid in the local area. Task two was a last minute addition from the BBC (oooh, fancy!) to help them in their garden. By the way, if you just want to look at all the pictures, please do!

After warming up and introducing ourselves, we split in to two groups. Group one had a long flat run ahead of them. Group two had a short but very steep run up Park Street ahead of them.

Group one ran to the Safestore warehouse in Lawrence Hill and got stuck into what looked like preparations for a zombie apocalypse but was in fact a food bank. The team worked hard to sort, shift, weigh and stack loads of donated food, working really hard right up to the buzzer. One of the best tasks ever!

Group two headed off and shortly but out of breath-ly got to the top of Park Street, then ran past evening shoppers on the Triangle. In no time at all they were in front of the mighty BBC Broadcasting House.

We met up with Jules - a Keith Floyd type bursting with energy and only lacking a glass of fruity red- and were told about the plans between the BBC and the Avon Wildlife Trust to increase places for wildlife to live - a little green oasis in the concrete desert. They hope to make a garden suitable not only for wildlife but also for groups of school children to come and learn more about the natural world - fitting as the BBC Natural History Unit is based in Bristol!

Jules was very organised and quickly split the group in to several teams - waterers, hole diggers, woodchip spreaders, soil turners, topsoil movers, and the gang set to it, but first after trying to find adult sized gloves in a box of teeny tiny child sized mittens. We had to do the following:

Plant a row of beech trees Shift a ton of topsoil Empty as many large bags of chippings as possible out of some large bags and scatter them across new plantings Turn soil over to prepare a bed for planting Water EVERTYTHING!

Did we do it? Of course we did! Whilst there were still a few big white bags of chippings left, the amazing GoodGym runners got stuck right in (literally for the hole diggers who got a bit muddy!) and the garden gradually developed. There's still more to do but in such a short space of time a massive amount was achieved.

On a lovely warm night 33 runners met at the Folk House for another spot of running and doing good!

Our tasks were threefold (or so we thought!) - 1) put up a chair swing for an older person. 2) Weed a bit of Bristol. 3) Weed another part of Bristol. Our numbers were many and our feet were fleet, so we sped off south to do our bit for our fair city.

At a suitable spot we split up in to groups and went our separate ways. Group 1 revisited an older person who had previously needed some help moving some pots. Now she needed help putting up a chair swing. Gary, Nick and Kate did a fantastic job, even though there was a screw missing - just look at the photos to see how great that swing is. Nice work.

Group 2 headed off to return to help the Patchwork Project with a bit of land we've been to several times now. Sadly weeds have reclaimed it so a lot of us set to and started to pull them up with abandon, however there were another 2 tasks for us here - this run suddenly became a 5 task feast! So task 2a was to go and do some flyering, and 2b was to go to yet another patch of Bristol (not far away!) and do some digging.

Group 2a headed off to pass out flyers about a forthcoming garden event, and Group 2b trotted off with trowels and gloves but in not time returned - a drunkard was apparently occupying the space they intended to dig and didn't want to give it up! It was a good job in a way as the weeds were at times taller than our tallest tall person, and we needed all hands on deck to make an impact.

Group 3 was let by Kim who guided them expertly over to close to Victoria Park. She was going to write some stuff and pop it in here but it's not turned up!

With such a large group, it was a good job that we had 4 1/2 different tasks to do - it really shows that many hands do make light work, and when spread over different tasks we can help not just one part of the community but several. A big thank you as always to everyone who came to the run. Keep coming, bring your friends, bring your enemies and become friends whilst digging over an unloved allotment, or just bring yourself and all awesomeness that makes you a member of GoodGym!