DOING GOOD

The rain skipped our weekly GG meet-up again (jinxed it?) & we were lucky enough to have a clear, crisp evening as we set off to the Glebe Garden Allotments. Met by the lovely Andrew & Vron, we were showed around this beautiful oasis & pointed to our good deed; cutting the hedges back.

Splitting into two camps we set about tidying the hedges to make the allotments neater & more accessible for the local residents. Some GG'ers cut the hedges with sharp things (no members were injured, honest) others collected the trimmings & the rest of us - arguably the best job - were the removers! We raced back & forth with wheelbarrows & bags of trimmings to dispose on the compost heap.

Top quotes from the task:

• I thought I might amputate an arm ~ Harriet

• Take a photo of your piles! ~ Emma

By the end of our time at the allotments, the hedges were looking in tip top shape (disclaimer: it was dark) & we had earned ourselves some huge piles... of hedge trimmings.

WHILST GETTING FIT

Lots of bending, reaching, carrying, pushing & pulling, this task was a full body workout. Especially for the wheel-barrow'ers! I alone clocked up an additional 1.5 miles from disposing of the trimmings, just saying.

As well as an active task, we enjoyed a 5km total run, with a few hills thrown in for good measure. At one of the hills Alice exclaimed;

I can't even hide my disgust!

Ouch, poor hill! We made it up & down all of them, arriving safely back at the Jurys, where we had a quick Christmas-do debrief. (FYI, the snacks & drinks do is here & the run-do is here.)

Good job we played wet noodles & statues before our run hey GG'ers?!

UP NEXT

We're back on flyering duty next week, this time for the lovely people of Saint Lukes Church to help them inform local residents about an event they're hosting. This one will be a little different as we have a map of where needs flyering... fancy! Get signed up to be awesome here ... especially you Sid, you need to make a streak right through til Christmas now!

For those of you who like to do extra the good deeds, we have a community mission on the 30th Nov where a couple more pair of hands would be wonderful.

THANK YOUS

Thanks again to everyone for coming along, not cutting your fingers (or arms) off & smiling through the hills! Thanks Sid for being a fabulous back-marker & inspiring a potential pub quiz prize with your flashy trainer lights!

Big loves everyone

DOING GOOD

Last nights run goes to show that when opportunity arises for extra good-deediness (& extra fun) we just have to rock with it!

We were at the Age UK centre on Chaddesden park to clear their front garden; sweep & bag the leaves, litter pick, weed the borders & pavements & generally make the entrance to the building tidier for the people accessing the service as well as local residents.

And what a difference we made!

After just 25 minutes of sweeping & bagging, the area that was previously covered in soggy leaves (quite the slip hazard!) was looking spick & span. Di - the task manager - was delighted with the work that we carried out & couldn't quite believe that we had run there too, as well as would be running back!

Mission Achievements:

• A collective of just over 4 hours of volunteering!

• Entrance & pathway clear & hazard free

• 5 bags of leaves removed

And that wasn't quite the end of the Tuesday saga...

DOING MORE GOOD

As well as the GG Derby taskforce in action clearing the front garden, last night was the launch of a new weekly fitness class at the Age UK centre to help raise some revenue. Unfortunately, the bitter weather & dark evening kept the participants away & so with a room set up ready for a Rock Sticks class & classic rock anthems blaring, we were the heroes in red to fill the space & get our rock on!

A 10 minute rock-inspired-boxercise type class took place, led by the fabulous Fay, who will be leading this weekly class at the Age UK centre (usually for an hour.) If you're a resident of Chaddesden who loves a bit of rock, check this class out; every Tuesday at 7:15pm. You'll love it!

We air punched, hit our sticks together & - my favourite - played the air guitar!

Smiles all round after the sweaty & fun class. We wish the centre luck with the class & if you ever need some extra bodies to get that building rockin', you know who to call!

WHILST GETTING FIT

After over a 2 mile run to the Age UK centre (up a rather long hill) lots of sweeping leaves & air punching, it was time to run the 2 miles back at a steady pace, chatting & laughing about the evening's antics.

Fitness Achievements:

• A total of 70km covered by foot power - go team!

• 10 minutes per GG'er of air punching, kneeing & hitting sticks

MENTIONS

Thanks to our back-markers Ashley on the way out & Sam on the way back to base, as always both doing a crackin' job.

A BIG welcome to Harriet who has taken the newbie badge off of Sid & can wear it with honour for a while. We hope you loved your first & very random GG group run!

Let's give a round of applause to BadGym & Rachael who have both completed TEN good deeds & can now become part of the Taskforce! Well done guys. BadGym isn't so bad after all ey?

UP NEXT

We can never have too much gardening... Am I right?! We're helping over at Glebe allotments next week. The weather will be glorious, no where will be flooded & we'll have an amazing time, who's in?! You can sign up here.

Thanks to everyone for attending, getting stuck in & making the group run fabulous!

BIG LOVES

DOING GOOD

Fireworks & hills galore on last nights leaflet drop task in Mackworth!

We were back where we did our second ever group run, supporting the Direct Help & Advice charity (DHA) with one of their community managed libraries. From glossing to flyering, we're the heroes to help them out!

Last night we were tasked with delivering leaflets about volunteering opportunities to the local residents to see if we could rally up some desperately needed support. Volunteers support the running of the library, from sorting books, to answering any queries from the public & so our efforts were highly appreciated by the DHA team.

As usual - to add in some fun, friendly competition - we broke into teams for this flyering task. In highly mature fashion we split into boys vs girls & we were off! The boys won by a very, very, very small margin (not bitter at all) with the girls hot on their heels! We delivered our leaflets in super-record time; the pre-folding of the flyers ready for letterbox posting definitely helped.

WHILST GETTING FIT

The run to Mackworth library where we began our flyering mission was just under two miles, with quite a bit of incline, certainly getting our heart rates up! Once on the estate, we tackled a few more hills delivering the leaflets in a flash of red tees & then for good measure, an Ant Middleton inspired hill sprint session... because, why not?

Thanks to my experience at the weekend of being beasted for eight hours by the SAS man himself at his Mind over Muscle day camp, I was feeling generous & wanted to share some of the love with GoodGym, you lucky lot! We found a lovely short, sharp hill, broke into three teams & set up our stations: Runner 1 in each team (at max effort) runs up the hill & back down, while Runner 2 holds the squat position & Runner 3 jogs on the spot. Once Runner 1 is back, the roles switch. If our heart rates weren't already up, they were after a few rounds of this game, mixing up the exercises with lunges & star jumps for good measure.

Oh what fun we had! Smiles resumed once we took a breather to eat some Haribos & watch a few of sky sparklers. Then it was a down-hill (pretty much) run back to the Jurys Inn. Phew.

MENTIONS

Thanks to Sam for being an ace back-marker, we never would have noticed your pins were sore on those hill sprints! Congratulations to Sid on his second GoodGym run; we're glad you returned after the Pumpkin saga. And happy holidays to Katherine & Mark who will be sunning it up for a few weeks. As always, thanks to everyone for pulling yourselves away from the radiator (a good deed in itself as Alice accurately pointed out) & making awesome things happen with GG Derby - GO TEAM!

THE C WORD

I won't say it... but if you'd like to come along to our festive fuddle on the 17th December after the last group run of 2019 (eeek!) please sign up here so I can get a price for nibbles / drinks (it'll be in the region of £8-£10pp.) Thanks!

UP NEXT

We're gardening again! Headtorches / lights required for this one to illuminate the night GG style. The run will be approximately 7km total. Sign up here to be part of the coolest crowd in town!

Big loves x

DOING GOOD

What an evening! 19 GoodGymers hitting the pavements of Derby to do good & get fit on the spookiest GG evening of the year! Our biggest turnout in quite a few weeks - nothing to do with the shorter run eh guys? - & a crackin' evening of doing good, running & team games involving a pumpkin or two in 'traditional' Halloween fashion.

On behalf of the Friends of Darley Open Spaces (FoDOS) we cleared the top Darley car park of litter (suprisingly, not a lot), bagged up as many of the fallen leaves as we could & swept the space clean! That car park looked amazing once our 38 hands had had their wicked way with it!

Achievements

• FOUR bags of leaves swept up
• ONE bag of litter removed
• ONE happy car park & volunteer group!

Our hard work was noticed immediately by a local resident passing by who commented on what a smashing job we were all doing. She said that she collects litter every morning - which explains the lack of it - & that some mornings she finds a tenner... we weren't so lucky!

WHILST GETTING FIT

We stepped outside of the warmth of the Jurys Inn, away from the temptation of the shelves of chocolate & crisps (& beer) & worked on our high knees to create some heat. The one mile run from Jurys Inn to the car park took us straight up Cardiac-Hill, the perfect warm-up & we were ready for good-deed-iness!

After completing our mission & with the car park clear & obstruction free, cones were set up & we broke off into pairs, completing alternate laps (6 each to be precise) to make up ANOTHER paarlouf session! We'll have a week off from that, promise.

With heart-rates elevated & legs pumped... it was time for the much anticipated PUMPKIN RACE!

The Annual Pumpkin Race

Two teams headed up by Emma & Helen (who bossed the Halloween fancy dress!)

One badly decorated pumpkin per team.

Each runner takes the pumpkin to the cones & back to their team... safely! The pumpkin gets passed on to the next runner & so on, until each runner has cared for their pumpkin baby, in the fastest time possible.

A couple of mishaps, including a dropped pumpkin (documented well in the snaps!) & some rowdy-running, but both pumpkins made it back safely to their teams, with Helen's team taking home the win with about a 5 second margin! GO TEAM!

"We had a smashin' time!" - Ashley

Big thanks to Kathleen for marshaling our first Pumpkin Race & well done to everyone for getting stuck in with so much gusto!

Here's to replicating that at Christmas with a pudding...

WELCOMES & THANK YOUS

It was wonderful to welcome new faces to the clan last night & you no doubt added to the fun! We hope you enjoyed the Pumpkin Race Kate, Ellie & Sid & hope to see you soon for more weird games!

Thank you to BadGym for being a surprisingly well behaved front-runner. Thanks David for being an ace mid-marker & for joining us all the way from Sheffield! & a BIG thanks to Emma, Helen, Alice & Lehann for embracing Halloween & coming in your spookiest attire. You guys smashed it!

UP NEXT...

We're running to Mackworth to flyer for the Direct Help & Advice service; the perfect task for enjoying the sky which is sure to be illuminated with fireworks on Guy Fawkes night! Come along for our first FLYER-WORKS night... get it?

Big Loves x