Well that was a wet one....

21 wonderful dry people set off from Vivo tonight to run a short distance to a road in Bedminster that needed a little TLC. Some of us were prepared for the weather, some of us were a bit more optimistic and hoped our 'it never rains for GoodGym' mantra would hold true for this run.

Sadly for the optimists, it absolutely deluged on us. We'd have been drier in the river. But because we're tough and b because it was not actually that cold, we stuck to the plan and got on with the run. It didn't take us long to get to the site in Bedminster where we met up with the Patchwork Project and were given gloves, trowels and bags and asked to weed several flower beds. It was important to weed first as we were then planting lots of little seedlings, which in their formative stage look like weeds!

30 minutes seemed to both fly by and go slowly as we got wetter and wetter and wetter, but we actually finished the task with about 5 minutes to spare so we went for a slightly longer run to get back to HQ - and of course it stopped running pretty much the second we stopped gardening. Thanks for nothing, weather gods!

Our run back was uneventful and actually rather lovely as we followed the river and crossed it no less than 4 times to get back to Vivo! At the end we had a few congratulations to dish out - to Ted for making this his 50th run and to Chris L for getting to his grand old 100th run! Top work chaps. Also congratulations to Robyn, Hannah and Emily for coming along for their first time despite the weather - if you can make it in that kind of rain you've got no excuses for the future.

24 wonderful people met up on a beautiful May's evening for a jolly old run to the Northern Slopes, a nature reserve in (of course) South Bristol.

We met up at Vivo, and it was great to see a few new faces - big welcomes to you all!

Gary led the run to the Northern Slopes as this is his turf and he was excited about running up the 'steps of doom', which were at the end of our run. Sadly for Gary but happily for everyone else, the task was based at the bottom of the steps of doom as opposed to the top, so there was no doom to be had that day.

We met up with Julie and Len who dished out tools and also warnings about disturbing nesting birds, and set to cutting down brambles, sawing away at blackthorn bushes, litter picking, and for a few brave souls, wielding a scythe! To compliment our host of farmyard tools, there was a pitchfork about too. The whole gang dived in to the task, despite a few scratches and a little blood being spilled from the brambles - it was a good job I had my first aid kit.

The unexpected gift of tea, coffee, and biscuits brought the task to a halt, so we were a little later leaving than usual. Gary led the gang back to Queens Square where we had a good old stretch and cool down.

We had the most magnificent run yesterday. No less than 43 people and 1 Radio 1 reporter met up at Vivo Gym to run over to Windmill Hill City Farm. Last week we had 40 people. Last night, 43. What next? How many more people can we get running?

It was a beautiful evening for a run, warm and dry, and we headed off in good time despite the mass of runners - having 2 sign in sheets really helped, plus Kim was on sign up wrangling duty so we set off on time to get to the farm. One hill and a bit of flat later, and we were there, with Jim from Radio 1 Newsbeat in tow - I was mightily impressed by his ability to run and interview people at the same time, serious fitness/journalism skills!

Once at the farm, it took a few moments to get the task in motion, so we all enjoyed some lunges and squats (isometric squats, if you fancy a long word to describe your squats!). I'm sure everyone was gutted when the tools turned up and everyone dived in to grab the sharpest loppers. Our task was to trim trees and hedges at the edge of the farm, as well as doing a massive litter pick - Kim grabbed some of the runners to pop over to a near by community patchwork garden to give it a little spring clean, given there were runners all over the place and we could spare a few.

As we chopped, lopped, barrowed and litter picked, Jim went around the gang, speaking to people about GoodGym - thank you so much to everyone who spoke with him (and no worries if you hid from him, we had loads of people who could chat!). Also we have been thanked by the members of the church group who meet opposite the hedge - a lady from the church came and asked me who we were, what we were doing and why, and she was ever so pleased to see the area cleaned up, plus a chap driving by asked if we needed anymore volunteers, and I could very honestly say 'thanks but no thanks!'.

With 43 people, I felt it was safe to let some of the gang have a quick look at the spring lambs that were the current attraction on the farm, but it was still a job to round everyone up for the group photo at the end.

Chris B led a faster group of runners off to do a couple of laps of Queens Square, whereas I led the regular group to do just the one (and provide cheering for the sprint at the end), then we finished in our usual corner of the square with a good stretch and an endless series of announcements, plus a strong rendition of 'Happy Birthday' for Chris L. Good luck wishes were given to all those heading off to Budapest at the weekend to join in with the massive GoodGym running team over there - although it seems that in Bristol we're a big running team anyway.

If you're a regular runner with GoodGym, then you may be sick of reading me write this: THANK YOU! If you're new, WELCOME and THANK YOU - I really am at a loss for words to describe how amazing I think you all are for coming along. Whilst I'm so proud we've had 43 runners, it's not about quantity of people, it's about quality, and you are all made of pure diamond.

It was a cold night for 17 runners to be out and about! We met up at Vivo Sports Club and after a quick introduction, wasted no time in heading up to Clifton. There was a lot of up but that seemed to be absolutely no issue for Matt G who pelted up Jacobs Wells road like a spring bunny! The rest of us didn't exactly hang around, and at the top we split in to 3 groups to distribute loads of flyers about food waste recycling.

The group I was with, called Group C quickly distributed our leaflets, but not discovering several things about the Clifton area (for those of you who are not from Bristol, it's the very posh area of town!). 1) They have well oiled letter boxes. The more you flyer, the more you appreciate a smoothly opened flap! 2) They have tiny letterboxes. Why? No clue, but they're about half the size of a normal letter box. 3) Where the Lido is. And how to say Lido (was it 'lee-do' or lie-do'? 'Lie-dough' if you want to be really phonetic!). 4) Basement flats in the dark are a bit scary. We may have missed a few because we didn't want to come a cropper on gloomy steps!

Once our cargo was distributed, we met up with most of the others (some were doing a slightly longer run!) and galloped back down the hill to do some laps of Queens Square. At this point, dear reader, you may be wondering where the name of the run came from. Well wait no more! As the gang ran around the square, they noticed a woman practicing fire-breathing! Wow! Also she was either naked, or half naked, depending on who you spoke to. Double wow, given how cold the wind was.

What a great night and what a fab bunch of runners - we stretched, made a few announcements, and then retreated to the warmth of Vivo.

P.S Sorry about the lack of decent photos this time around - people were moving too fast!