Operation January

We welcomed back from sunny Morocco Belinda and Johnafter their sunny week away. Extra kudos to Rosalind who had already been working outside all day . Craig - so good to see you back ( please link your strava to GG again! ) It was great to see Paul back after his bout of covid and it was an extra surprise to see Sarah especially as there was a 30 % chance of showers! Daisywas hoping to swerve some fitness by meeting us at the task ( bad luck!! ) and despite her toothacheGillybean came to help and support us too. Thanks team - a good, healthy turn out to support the January challenge.

The running group set off in the direction of the pier whilst the walkers headed directly to the task where we met up with Gill and Daisy.

We had been asked to return the The Recovery Project, which is part of the Turning Tides local homeless charity, to tidy up their front garden. It was 2 years since our last task there, and we were happy to see that it was in a good state with a minimal amount of pruning and tidying to do. With this in mind, once the runners arrived I got them straight onto fitness with functional drills and timed laps around the block whilst the rest of us stayed with the task.

In the end everyone gave a hand to get all the debris bagged and cleared up. I think the general consensus was that the group all enjoyed the 'old school' format - join me Wednesday evening for a litter pick and bonus fitness session with sprints on the seafront.

Don't forget to log any good deed and all your km's on strava - every little counts.

Thanks all of you and hope to see you soon:)

Julia xx

Back to the normal RV

For the first Monday meeting of January ( last week was cancelled due to snow) we met at our regular meeting point at Splashpoint LC. It was so nice to see Stephen back at GG together with Paul, Anne and Rosalind On such a cold January evening it was a real treat for me to see them turn out to do good. Special mention to Ros who had been outside working all day too.

We all set off running through the town at a steady pace until we arrived at Byron Road.

*Brushing it away *

We were enthusiastically met at the venue by Jason , one of the residents who was so pleased we were there and who is keen for us to return to sort the back garden out too as his room overlooks it. I enjoyed a chat with Jason, hearing about his story reminds me that we are only a few instances of bad luck away from being in his position. I wasn't so keen on his 'King Rat' account of finding a giant rat around the hostel!

Today, Anne was the queen of pruning and did some great cutting back of some of the lanky shrubs. Steve, Ros and Paul got stuck into clearing the borders. Luckily for us there was a big skip that we threw all the debris into which made life very easy for us. As it was so cold, and because we all wanted to do some fitness, we downed tools. The group photo outside the front door looks a little strange as they were all blowing cold air when I took it!

Fitness is back

We headed to the seafront and we loved doing squats, lunges , jumps and sprints all the way home ( via the pier) This will resume as a regular feature of Mondays for those who would like it - for those that don't, thats fine too as we can accomodate every ones needs.

January Challenge

Please do try to get to as many tasks as you can - we need 76 more this month to meet our target ( 24 so far) Plus remember every KM counts to so ensure your strava is linked to GG and get recording every time you walk, run or cycle anywhere ! If you do a good deed like Barbara does every week, then please ensure you self log it too.

See you next time !

Stay warm all of you :)

Julia

A great way to de- combat stress

10 of us came along to participate in the annual soldier walk which is a 4 km walk from the east of Worthing to the west and back gain...... ending at the pub!

It was lovely to see Rosalind Belinda Sue Sarah Barbara John Daisy Craig and Ryan walking and chatting and posing for photos at every soldier. Barbara seemed particularly fond of each soldier:)

When we got to the pub we were joined by Natacha, Tamsin and also Ricky who had bought cakes in celebration of his 100th different park run area (132 parkrun's in total) We spent a really pleasant hour or so chatting and catching up with our fellow GG buddies.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Christmas and here's to a great 2024 in the planning ( or planking ) We will be kicking off the New Year with a daily plank challenge. More details to follow.Lots of fitness and tasks will be winging your way during the year too!

See you on the other side

Julia xx

Hunkering down

It was good to be back at our regular meeting point tonight and it was especially nice that it wasn't raining! With a clear evening promised it was no surprise that Sarah, who doesnt step foot out of the door if there is a chance of rain, came along. There was a worrying few minutes on the run to the task when it started drizzling but luckily it was short lived.

Joining Sarah we welcomed her partner Ryan and top fan, John together with Daisy, Anne and Rosalind.

Tonights task was at Anchor Gardens situated on the seafront close to our meeting point. As it was such a lovely evening we took a detour to walk/ run around our stunning pier. Daisy, Sarah and Ros set off on a run whilst the other 4 of us took a chatty walk option instead. The run seemed to take on a social aspect too with Anne and I wondering if they had taken an additional detour to a cafe!

We all linked up and arrived at the task and with the help of our wonderful GG lights plus head torches we assessed what needed doing. The garden could do with a lot of TLC and although we made good progress with the weeding, pruning and tidying, there is still much more that needs doing so we will not be short of tasks this winter!

The Worthing calendar is now up to date until January including socials so get yourself signed up to as many as possible and lets have some fun!

Keep going with the press up challenge - not long now !!

See you next week

Julia xx