On the penultimate @GGSHEFF run before Xmas we welcomed 2 new fantastic runners into the group. Please welcome, support and cheer;

• Michelle Clarke
• Finn Burgum

After a brief welcome and chat about the soar legs in the group after the fantastic efforts the previous day at the infamous Percy Pud 10k we set off with DANGEROUS DAVE as our back marker to our task destination of The Real Junk Food Project - Sheffield, a fairly new task, but a massively worthy cause for the group to be involved with.

On arrival we were warmly welcomed into the warehouse by Logistics Manager AMAZING ALICE and volunteers.

Alice gave us a great brief splitting the group into 3 teams;

1. TEAM MARKETPLACE RE-ARRANGE
2. TEAM HAMPER, NO PAMPER
3. TEAM SORT/IS A HOT CROSS BUN SAVORY OR SWEET? IS A TOMATO A FRUIT OR A VEGETABLE?

The teams got straight to work along to the tunes of cheesy xmas music to keep energy levels high, which were also topped up thanks to some generous snacks provided by the team at TRJFPS. A lot of our runners were in the market for a Xmas treat after being hampered by yesterdays 10k, volunteering and a few bevvies at Charlotte & Carys'. THANKS AGAIN BOTH!

All teams did a fantastic job and nothing hampered our efforts. After pudding everything away, we had a big group photo and Alice gave her thanks on behalf of TRJFPS for a market down crate effort by all...

We waved our goodbyes and headed homebound with a cheeky game of King/Queen of the hill to help shift the junk from our trunks. The crown on this occassion was won by the visiting wonder that is DANGEROUS DAVE who we all wish good luck on his PHD review today!

With climbing on Wed and the Regather Social on Dec 12th after our last run before Xmas on the 11th there is still plenty of GG action to get involved in and earn those mince pies so make sure you've signed up to them all and keep an eye on the WhattsApp group for other festive treats!

The annual Steel City Striders Christmas race, the Percy Pud took place yesterday. With several members of the club also frequent good gymers, us previously taking part in their invitational 10k in the summer and a few people missing out on places in the race following the 'entry open stampede' , GoodGym Sheffield got in touch to offer our assistance with the race.

We were allocated the water station in the finish area and getting there nice an early helped to clear the storage unit of over 2000 Christmas puddings (who wants a medal anyway) and enough water to meed the demands of those taking part in the race.

We helped out where needed and provided a meeting point for those goodgymers running the race and once they had set off, the water station became a hive of efficiency to stock up ready for the first finishers who, it turned out, would be back in record time!

The next hour was a blur of plastic cups, water bottles, rubber gloves and water spillages (although only on one table) and we were done, several of the runners then joined us in dismantling the water station and the rest of the finish area before we all headed off. Lots of positive comments from other runners and the Stirders organisers. Definitely a great way to take part in the event other than having to run 10K!

Thanks all!

This week saw @GGSheff run to a new location with the fantastic REGATHER to help Friends of Lynwood Gardens with the upkeep of this city centre gem.

WELCOME

We welcomed a new runner to the group this week who mucked in really well with the group and is a real chip off the old block. Give a big CHEER and follow for LUKE

LETS RUN

With a bit of a longer run than usual everyone did a fantastic job of getting to the task site. On reaching the site we were given a fantastic and thorough brief of the nights task by GORGEOUS GARETH who even brought some posh moveable lights for the task to make the task doable in the dark of the wooded area and made for some very arty lighting for photos.

TASK TIME

Our tasks for the eve was to shift cut down weeds into a compost pile and shift as much woodchip into the muddy grounds of the park as we could to make the area more useable for the public and the kindergarden on site. By the end of the task we had covered a massive area with very little beating around the bush. The team really stuck with the task throughout with everyone chipping in!

PHOTOS & TREATS

At the end of the task we gather for a great group photo taken by MAGICAL MARTIN and had time for a quick drink before heading back to base with bags of treats provided by GORGEOUS GARETH of REGATHER in the form of honeycomb and fudge - DELICIOUS!

SPRINTS & SITS

On the way home as it was a bit of a longer run put in some sprint and returns with everyone doing a great job and really giving it a go when they saw the sprint go off the front and the hands go up for the loop back to 'THE KING' as the back marker. We formed a great wall sit tunnel in the underpass to give high fives and cheers as people came through and get a great group photo.

Back at base we used the wall for some stretching and headed inside for liquid refreshment, pun suggestions and talk of a GG climbing session this week - watch the WhatsApp!

Until next week,

Happy Running :)

It was a Sally-themed night in Wandsworth last night, as we said a tearful goodbye to one of founding members and task force. But don't worry, Sally will still be part of the GoodGym family in Bristol!

We had some good news to temper the tears, with a whole gang of lovely new runners joining us for the very first time. Put your hands together and give a cheer for Davinder, Rosie, Imran and Greg. Great to have you join the team! We also had the pleasure of having lovely York and Barnsley trainer Egg along for our run.

After a bit of news (don't forget the last social of the year this Thursday for all GoodGym groups) and a well done to those who raced at the weekend (congratulations Nick for coming 6th in the poppy run this weekend!) we headed outside for our warm up. After some dynamic exercises to combat the cold and get our heart rates up, we did a head count and found out our favourite things about Sally, as wel as our best puds. We unanimously agreed that Sally is friendly, welcoming, modest, funny, an inspiring runner, has great curls and a lovely smile. She is also a big proponent of a word that shall not be mentioned in this run report, but rhymes with lobnut. We also decided that the best desserts were ice cream, banoffee pie, apple pie and anything chocolately.

Tonight we were splitting the group (sniff), with two tasks to choose from. The larger group were heading off to tackle a massive painting task at a local school, led by ace King's trainer Alyx, while a smalled group were running to an amazing refugee support charity, KLS, to lug a whole load of packets of flooring up 3 flights of stairs.

This latter group headed off into the night and thanks to a nice downhill start, at a fair lick. We soon arrived at the charity to find the flooring waiting for us, and got cracking straight away shifting the boxes up the stairs. Within minutes we were done, and so we finished off the job by clearing a whole load of broken tiles out of the bathroom. Great upper body work out team. Now - legs. It was a short run through Battersea to a nearby hill, where, in twos and thinking about form (especially those arms - it's all about the positive backwards arm drive) we knocked out three quick but tough hill sprints. This was only the start, and we made our way to the common for some more lovely fitness.

Meanwhile, the painting team were busy at work at Allfarthing Primary School, where they were tasked with finishing a job we had started this summer. Here's what Alyx said about the task...

The celebration party took Dave and Sally on a 3km run down to Allfarthing Primary School to paint more of their playground fences. There was a bit of confusion over the colours needed for each fence as it was pretty dark by the time we arrived, but a couple of runners 'sage'd the day and realised there were two different colours (safe and forest) just before we made any mistakes! We got most of the fence done and there are just a few left that we can go back to finish another time. Once done we split into two groups to run back to Clapham Common to meet Ana and the crew for a gruelling fitness session.

The fitness

We met up at the common, and the real hard work began. We started with a quick time trial featuring two hard laps of the common, and then got stuck into some conditioning exercises including planks, sumo squats, and Egg's marvellous press up challenge, before hitting the same route to see if all that firing up of glutes and abs had made a difference to our times. And it had! Great running team.

All that was left was to sprint back to the BAC and complete the run with a proper Wandsworth finish which saw Sally making her way through the full guard of honour. It was back to the bar for a cheeky lemonade and to say our goodbyes. We'll miss you Sally!

Next week we're doing a spot of gardening at our favourite community garden. Go one, sign up here for some more GoodGym fun.

WELCOME!

This week we welcomed 2 fantastic new runners to the @GGSHEFF crew. Please put your hands together and welcome

• Elizabeth Townsend AKA BEANY
• Emily Stoker

Give em a cheer!

TASK TIME

This week we set off on a slightly longer run to another site under the supervision of Heeley Development Trust called ASH TREE YARD.

Finishing on a tough hill we met FANTASTIC FRANK who gave us a brief of the evenings task which was to fill 5 tonne sacks full of wood that has been sat in the yard roting away and creating access for a spate of break ins. Heeley Development Trust have secured funding to develop the site and are therefore clearing the space so it can be put to better us in the community.

The @GGSHEFF team got straight to the ROOT of the task, quickly forming a human chain to twist and pass logs from person to person creating a fantastic TRUNK workout! A small team quickly TWIGGED we had a few too many people in our chain and soBRANCHED off from the main group to tackle the big logs using some fantastic teamwork to lift and shift the heavier logs using a wheelbarrow. Did you CEDAR ammount of wood we shifted?

WOOD you BELEAF it, we smashed the task and managed to fill all of Franks sacks in the alloted time! A really strong team effort with no DEADWOOD to be seen.

Oaky kokey SYCAMORE jokes? time to move on from the puns and onto the...

FANTASTIC FITNESS

With a slightly longer run this week we had limited time for group fitness, however we did get some good work in with some on route loop backs with great efforts from SENSATIONAL SAM & DANGEROUS DAN.

Once we got to the light of a park we got paired up and did some JOHN PEEL PAIRED SPRINTS followed by a DEAD ARM HANG CHALLENGE with MAGIC MIKE taking the crown this week alongside his PUN MASTER title!

On return to the Showroom we finished with the HOWARD ST STRAVA SEGMENT SPRINT for those that fancied it, stretched off and headed inside for liquid refreshment and puntastic conversations.

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

We will officially be 1 next Mon! To celebrate we are going to go out for some food after the run so won't be running straight back to the Showroom after the run next week.

You can let us know you are coming to the meal by completing the Doodle Link here

Until next time,

Happy Running!