15 runners ran 6k to help feed the homeless and sort clothing for Birmingham Mission Care Centre

Tonight on what was a rather balmy night compared to the recent Tuesday runs, we welcomed Rachel along to GoodGym for the first time. Rachel was brought along by Katie, who has been running with us since the new year.

Our task tonight was to run to Birmingham Mission. On arrival, John Boy (the ‘big boss man’ down there), split us up into one large group and one small. The large group did the serving. Lots of soup to be served up first (hence this weeks pun). The smaller group sorted out some clothing upstairs.

Once the task was done, it was hill work time. Tonight was the Kenyan Hills. Six wonderful minutes of constant hard running! Run uphill hard and then relax, but still run hard down! It’s certainly hard graft! Aaron powered up first, with Liam and John not far behind. Rachel showed great form with a ‘Mo Farah style’ arm action. Fiona and Morwenna pushed hard. Frances and Rebecca got high up on their collective toes as they drove themselves up the hill and Laura put in some great work with her quick steps. Again as always the group worked fantastically well together, it was certainly a great sight to see!

Once done the group headed back to 1000 Trades, Running via the Bull ring and through Colmore Row, to take us just over the 6k mark for the evening.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

19 people ran 6k to help feed the homeless and organise clothing for Birmingham Mission Care Centre

Tonight we welcomed a magnificent five newcomers to GG! The Famous five were Lizzie, Katie, Miriam, Angelina and Adriana. It’s great to have you with us and I hope you enjoyed the evening.

We set off to Brum Mission, on arriving we had the usual warm welcome from John, who was very appreciative of our presence as they had a big attendance tonight, so the extra people serving really helped, basically GG came to the rescue, hence this weeks pun! Half the group did the serving and the other half organised clothing upstairs.

Once done it was time for the usual picture, then on to the ‘hill of dome’! Tonight it was eight minutes of running up hard and jogging back down to recover. Aaron shot to the top, Rebecca showed great form with her arms, Fiaz and Fiona pushed really hard. All the Newbies were excellent, Katie showing some great form, Angelina and Adriana worked really hard and Miriam and Lizzie really put in a great shift aswell. It really was a terrific sight seeing a big group pushing each other along, John and George having a great race in the last few seconds of the session, it really was fantastic! Once done, there was time for another picture (there always is!) then it was a steady run back to 1000 Trades taking in a slightly longer jaunt on the way back.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

13 runners ran 7k to do a litter pick on our adopted part of the canal for the Canal and River Trust

GG Brum was back tonight after a two week Xmas/New year break and we had 13 hardy souls ready to brave the rather cold conditions. We welcomed Rebecca, Fran and Helen for the first time. It’s great to have you on board!

After the intro’s and searching for some bin bags, we headed to the canal. Oh and by the way credit goes to Morwenna for this weeks pun! Aaron and Tom did tonight's front marking and George doing the back marker job. Once on the canal the group were split into three groups of four, each litter picking a different area of our adopted towpath. We then all met up at our usual spot of Aston Lock to drop the bags off and of course have the obligatory picture. We then headed towards Millennium Point. The plan wasn’t to do the time-trial as with the wheel and ice rink still supposedly in action I thought it would be too busy, however it was all closed down, therefore too the groups ‘delight’ it was time-trial time.

Here we go then, 1 mile of your best effort! Tom and John led the way, with Tom recording the first ever GG Brum time-trial sub 6 minute mile, stopping the clock at a magnificent 5 minutes 53 seconds! John was just outside 6 minutes, which was rather super duper given his weekend of two races and two pbs!! Rebecca, Fran and Helen were certainly thrown in at the deep end with the time-trial on their first group run, but all three performed great, working hard together recording very strong times, great stuff! Balal ran his first time-trial running very strongly, working hard with Aidan. As ever it was great to see everyone working so well together, even though my fingers got a bit cold doing the timing! Oh and Aaron would like a special mention for his personal worst after doing a killer rowing session for the first time in a while yesterday! He described his legs as 'dead'! I'm sure he will be back on form next month!

Once done it was a nice steady run back to base and back into the warmth of 1000 Trades!

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.