17 ran to Ormiston Families at HMP Chelmsford to paint and clear leaves

A slightly chilly but dry evening saw 17 runners meet up at the University to run the short distance to the prison to help the Ormiston families clear leaves from their foot paths and to complete the paintwork.

Ormiston families are a charity who help those visiting people in prison, helping to make their visits less stressful. They have a small play area with a wooden fence around it, which we painted a few weeks ago and we came back to complete the job. This was achieved with great enthusiasm and probably looks great, although it was a little bit dark to tell if there were any missed bits! I am confident the job was immaculate and the fence is now weather proofed and all the same colour!

Whilst the painting was being completed the rest of us cleared leaves. I am not sure how they got this many leaves into the area from the trees around the site, but bag after bag was filled and the ground changed from an autumnal brown back to the intended concrete colour. This will mke access much easier for those with buggys and will make for an all round safer environment.

As the leaf collectors competed their task just before the painters, we collected in the car park and began some running drills to keep warm! Some ankle flexes, high knees and some sprints later we split into two groups for the run back. One group insisting on adding a little extra distance back to base.

Another really good session, great to see some faces return for a run and to see our regulars working their way towards a black tee shirt!

13 of the Goodgym crew were at Chelmsford Parkrun to help celebrate our historic partnership

Goodgym Chelmsford joined 500 other runners at Chelmsford Central Parkrun this week to celebrate last weeks historic announcement from Goodgym Central. The Partnership between Parkrun and Goodgym is alive and well in Chelmsford where several members are regulars at parkrun and Race director Gerry regularly attends.

We were even included in the run report! Read it here

We were introduced at the start and had a good spread throughout the run including Michael who volunteered as a tail walker as he was running a marathon the next day! we also had a couple of runners come over and speak to us after the event about how things work so hopefully more new members!

Apryl sent her apologies for not attending as she was running a marathon but promised to wear her Goodgym tee at the event in support!

Several of us headed back to the ideas hub for some coffee and cake and talked all things goodgym. It was great to chat to the crew and think of new ideas and see if we can get more fun tasks. Looking forward to arranging more social events and getting all our goodgymmers more involved!

See you Wednesday!

15 awesome goodgym athletes went litter picking on the parkrun route.

Yet another hot evening in Chelmsford saw 15 of us, including first timers Catherin, Rachel, and Mark, set off on a task with a difference. As we are heading to Parkrun Chelmsford this week to celebrate our historic partnership sign up here we decided to make sure Chelmsford looked at it's best for the occasion.

After a brief introduction we set off to the start finish area for our warm ups. some running drills and sprints got us all going and ready for the task. We then split the route into sections and in small groups spread across the park to clear the park. After 10 minutes we regrouped for some exercises and a short relay, before setting off to the next section.

Some great arm exercises got us ready for the second relay on the "short ascent" in Admirals park. We put those arms to good use driving them up the hill and the relay did get a little competitive!

More litter picking around admirals park and we set off back to base with a fun sprint through the arches to practice our sprint finish for Saturday.

A quick stretch and a reminder that members can cheer and support each other on the website, and we were done for another group run.

Don't forget if you haven't done a Parkrun before you need to sign up on https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register so you can get your barcode and bring this with you. You can run without it but you won't be recorded. those not up for a run at 9am on a saturday there are plenty of volunteer activities you can do, or just join us for breakfast around 10.

We will be heading back to the ideas hub after parkrun to have some breakfast and chat all things Goodgym! see you next week!

Twelve runners ran 4.1k to clear some compost from the Baddow Scouts site.

Another warm evening saw twelve of us run to the Great Baddow scouts where some compost and weeds had been dumped on their site.

There were 5 shovels so we split into teams, one with a shovel and one with a bag, the others breaking up sticks so that they could be moved too. we worked so fast and efficiently we soon ran out of bags! a short interval followed until more bags were retrieved, then we resumed with vigor and soon filled those too!

A huge amount of compost was bagged up and moved to the other side of the site, ready for collection.

After a short squash break we headed back to the wooden bridge for some three bridge relays! a great effort by all as we swept past dog walkers and pedestrians alike in some close fought encounters.

Back for a quick stretch and we went our separate ways tired and hot but with the satisfaction of a job well done.

special mention to Lewis who managed to move house and still make it to the start of the session, to Paul who attended his first run and best of luck to Apryl who runs her 79th Marathon today!