Instead of a Monday evening Group Run, we decided to have a Monday evening plank challenge... because that's fun yeah?

I tackled my technology ignorance and set it all up on Zoom (gasp).

I'm so impressed how GoodGym will always remain strong through challenging times, 17 people still came together to do this challenge, we're such a unit.

After a few people were distracting the start of the challenge, I set the timer and the planks began. One by one, the GoodGymers were dropping like flies and it was left to Simon and Robert to battle it out like troopers... with Robert just pipping Simon in a time of 4 minutes and 18 seconds.

... but it was not quite over just as Robert was celebrating his champion status, our friends and GoodGymers Tom and Sarah (reigning plank champion) were due to join us from New Zealand, where they have emigrated to, but missed the live Zoom. However, they didn't want to miss out and recorded themselves doing the plank challenge. Tom didn't last too long and was looking on as Sarah crept passed Robert's time for a record 4 minutes and 20 seconds. I'm not sure if it's easier to plank in the southern hemisphere?!

Well done everyone and keep tuned in to await next week's fitness challenge.

Tonight's run was part of Coops Fortnight and the job in hand was to go and clean each of the 50 GoGoHares that are scattered across the city centre.

It was quite an emotional evening as it was Tom and Sarah's final good deed before they jet off to New Zealand for their future lives. It's been a pleasure having you both with us and you will be greatly missed by everyone.

We had 5 new runners this week in Jacob, David, Fleur, Kate & Cyrus.

A well done to Sam and Jack on doing their 10th good deed this evening.

I did then make the group aware that we had a photographer at the start taking photos for an EDP article and it wasn't just a random guy taking photos of everyone haha.

After the warm up the 35 GoodGym-ers were put into 6 groups and allocated certain GoGoHares to clean from the plan I'd made earlier, luckily I did make a plan otherwise they could have ended up running anywhere! Each group had around 8-9 GoGoHares to clean between them to cover the whole 50. One group headed to Riverside area, one to the Catholic Cathedral area, one to the Norwich Cathedral area, one to the Norwich Museum area, one around The Forum and the other around Chapelfields.

After all the groups set off I was stuck between the decision of going to watch the football down the pub (jokes) or try and find each group... I headed to the train station with the photographer to get some photos of the Coop sponsored GoGoHare then stumbled across 2 of the groups on my way back.

Once all the groups returned I beasted them through a fitness session (to help burn off the calories consumed at the GoodGym Norwich 1st BBQ party yesterday), which was our 1st for a while and we finished with a stretch.

Another great task was completed. Enjoy the photos of the GoGoHares.

Next week we have 2 tasks to do!

This week marked Norwich GoodyGym’s 1st birthday.

Soon it will be walking, talking and heading off in to the big bad world, forgetting those who raised it, loved it and cared for it. Still we thought we would mark this momentous occasion with a little BBQ. We headed to our Grand Poobah’s home/mini estate and got down to business. Mountains of salad was revealed, from pasta and potato to rice and barley (we are right fancy and varied here in Norfolk). Tonnes of meat and vegan substitute burgers complimented the flowing drinks and witty repartee. With the sun out, the swing ball set up and Steve on the barby, we were all set for the best group task we’ve done to date.

After eating our weight in food we relaxed on blankets, under a shady oak to listen to Steve relive some of our favourite GoodGym moments, puns and runs. After a jog down memory lane Steve awarded Jasmine with “most improved runner”, whilst Bill and Katy won “GoodGym-er of the year”. Well-deserved all around. Unbeknownst to Steve, the team had went behind his back to make him a special card and thank you bag in recognition of all the effort he has put in to help create our wonderful running family.

Leaving the sappy stuff behind, it was time to get stuck into some games. A hybrid game of relay sack croquet was under way, with rules too convoluted for any to follow. However, if you were hungering for drama you need have looked no further than the mӧllky field. No idea what mӧllky is?! Well neither did we. Still it created a level of excitement and drama on par to the most tense world cup final. So if you still haven’t googled mӧllky, you probably should.

With the afternoon finally winding down we unveiled the deserts! A lovely summer pudding was provided by Bill and Katy, and two cakes were baked by Calum. To celebrate Sarah and Tom moving to New Zealand next week (with some travelling first mind you) one of the cakes featured a kiwi. Some say the cake contained actual kiwi bird, but these claims have remained unsubstantiated. Still there were mutters that the GoodGym birthday cake was too delicious for words, and birthday orders have already been placed.

With GoodGym’s birthday well and truly celebrated, the team finished their epic game of mӧllky (because a good mӧllky game takes hours) and retired, weary but happy, to their homes. Resting so they are prepared for tomorrows run.

P.s. – With Tom and Sarah leaving our running family I wanted to leave you with this:

Somehow you'll escape all that waiting and staying. You'll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping, once more you'll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you're those kind of a guys. And will they succeed? Yes! They will indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed!)

Calum wrote all of the above by the way.

That’s right, our leader, our captain, the sultan, the grand pupa Steven Hitch abandoned us to go sun himself – and on our 50th run too! Thankfully the gracious and glorious Paul Evans stood in for Steve. Paul Evans, winner of the 1991 Lisbon Half Marathon, the 1996 Chicago Marathon and 10k finalist in the 1992 Olympics – we’re looking into making this swap slightly more permanent

Our intrepid runners gathered excitedly on the steps of The Forum. Eagerly awaiting Paul’s arrival. What would he be like? Would he bring his medals? Could he run on water? And how were we going to work his AND Steve’s name into a pun worthy of a Goodgym run report title?! (We smashed the last one, thanks Hayley and Liz)

Paul soon arrived and settled everyone into a warm up. After some stretches with an Olympian, a half-cut punk and 32 Goodgym runners we were ready to call this a weird joke and go home. Instead Paul handed off the responsibility of leading the run to Sarah and Calum, very sneaky Mr Olympian. There was immediate concern. Calum has often led Goodgymers astray in past runs – and not even in a humorous way, in a “Where is Calum and his 5 runners?” way. Still we all had faith in Paul’s decision, and no-one else wanted to set the pace for the night.

After multiple ‘almost wrong turns’, a dozen ‘not that way Calum’s’ and a few ‘Grab him before he runs to Ipswich’ the runners arrived at the base of Gas Hill. Now, the runners have faced this specific challenge many a time in the past. They were familiar with the deceptively devilish slope. But in their prolonged absence from the eye-watering incline of Gas Hill this once surmountable task had developed into nothing less than a behemoth. It was a colossus of gradients, the master of calf bursting, one hell of a mole hill. They set off.

ALL MADE THE PEAK!! They celebrated with high fives and “whooping”. Some whispered they heard Paul even say “That’s quite the hill” but that’s just rumour and hearsay. Soon our sweaty travellers arrived at their set task. De-weeding Marion Road Day Centre’s garden. Ploughing into the challenge our runners pulled, tugged and trimmed to their hearts content.

The task wasn’t without its mishaps. One young man was sitting, enwrapped in his task. He and his gardening fork are united in uprooting the befouling weeds before them. The rise and fall of his tool is rhythmic. Sweat and focus cover his face. Until, tragedy. The Fork has broken. The middle tooth lost in the wilderness of the garden. Oh for fork-sake. Despite this set back the team make the garden beautiful. And by a happy accident they end up collecting an extra runner from somewhere.* Wonder of wonders they’ve hit 33 and broken their record for highest attendance in Goodgym Norwich history!

The task completed, and Day centre staff elated, our runners head back to The Forum. A sprint session finished off the night’s 3.5km run. Some say a more punctual run has never been had. Others, that Sarah and Calum’s leadership was simultaneously inspirational and uplifting. Still all you need know is everyone arrived back safely. Stretched. Thanked Paul for his kind service to the cause and then ate some brownies supplied by Jasmine. Alas! Here our tale does end. Before I leave you to wait another week to hear of our next exciting exploits I shall leave you with this. You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes, you can run your life in any direction you choose. Until next time folks!

(*Actually it was Emily who joined us at the task!)

To put things into perspective, we had 32 GoodGymers tonight running just over 11.5km, that equates to over 370km in total and 16 hours of volunteering time... very fitting for National Volunteering Week. It was also our joint highest turnout and longest ever Group Run.

We had 3 new runners in Emily, Brad and Lisa - what a run to start on so a massive welcome and well done to you!

Some milestones this week - Rosie A on completing 10 GoodGym deeds and Alex, Samantha and Sarah E on each completing 25 GoodGym deeds.

Also a big Happy Birthday to Robert, he'd produced some millionaire's shortbread as motivation to run back to at the end, along with Calum's brownies.

Tonights task was to visit The Grow Organisation at Bowthorpe to dig up and flatten out an overgrown patch that will then be set up as an area used by Veterans to work, rest and play. There were also some other weeding bits and bobs to do.

As we had such a large group and a long way to go, I lead the session, Catherine was going to be in the middle and Bill as back runner.

The topic for the run out was 'favourite type of brownie' with no pun intended for those who have visited Amsterdam haha. Probably not best prep for a long run out but luckily we got a biscuit on arrival to control the hunger.

Alex and her team were ready and waiting for us with their tools ands gloves. After a well earned 5 minute recovery break and drink (plus the biscuit) the army of red t-shirts go stuck in. As task owner Alex quoted:

They're like a swarm of locust that come through and tear all the rubbish up

After 30 minutes we headed off for the long journey back where aforementioned cakes were awaiting us.

A good stretch was then needed.

A mention to Jasmine for pushing herself and completing her longest ever run! Also Darren for this week's pun.

It was when time for an extremely tasty cake and a duly trip to the pub, you all did good.

Next week I shall be in Tenerife so you have a guest in double Olympian Paul Evans leading the session, which will in fact be our 50th at GoodGym Norwich!

We were only 1 short of a record turnout at GoodGym Norwich so thank you to everyone for turning out this evening... over 15 hours of volunteering time was given to Norwich Farmshare.

Announcements this week were to Elizabeth for taking part in her 25th GoodGym good deed. Elizabeth and Darren did the Wroxham 5km series on Wednesday evening. Robert B did the Chase the Train on Sunday and Sam finished top female at her Parkrun.

Calum completed his Leadership in Running Fitness course at the weekend so is nearly ready to assist me with sessions. Katy has hers in June.

3 new runners were taking part in their 1st GoodGym encounter so welcome Tammy, Annie and Naomi :-)

It was a lovely warm evening and we took a scenic route through Marriott's Way and Sloughbottom Park. The sight of all the red GoodGym t-shirts in the sunlight was a phenomenal spectacle as we embarked on our 2-mile outward journey.

Some of the GoodGym-ers had the task of sieving through compost and the others were forking (and yes I mean forking!) over an allotment area while some were collecting up the stuff that had been forked (not another innuendo I promise haha).

A thank you from me to Jazmine and Daisy for teaching me what a Boomerang is... when they asked if I could Boomerang them sieving I couldn't work out how a sieve could be used as a Boomerang, innocently not knowing it is some kind of video used on social media! Everyday's a school day.

After 30 minutes of hard work we then headed back to The Forum before several of us went off to the pub to unwind.

Credit for the pun this week actually goes to the task owner!

Next week it's bank holiday and we're visiting our good friends at Marlpit Community Garden.

You're probably thinking to yourself "what on earth is that pun all about?!"... well read through and all will make sense.

A big welcome to Rosie who was attending her 1st GoodGym run.

The last time we visited Eaton Park it was winter and dark from start to finish. Roll on 3 months and it's completely light and sunny. We set off on the 2-mile trip through the Golden Triangle and what a lovely sight as an array of red GoodGym t-shirts drifted into Eaton Park.

Stuart was there waiting for us with buckets and cloths ready for the gang to go and clean as many benches in the park as they could. My gloves may have been left in my bag when we last used them in the rain (oops) but they have since been kindly washed by one of our members... they were so bad that 3 people offered to wash them (oops again).

30 minutes later of cleaning benches, we packed away and emptied the buckets out... after some people trying the bucket challenge (see photos).

Just as I was about to say "lets head back", the kids in the group (which seemed like the whole group haha) decided we needed to go via the playground so they could have a go on the zip-wire. Then of course it was also the swings, climbing frame, monkey bars etc. plus Catherine going down the kids slide.

So after reliving our youth again we did then head back to The Forum.

Next week we shall be visiting The Norwich Farmshare.

Credit for this week's pun goes to Mr Darren Watkins.

For the 2nd week in a row we topped 30 runners :-)

The word of GoodGym Norwich is certainly getting around as we had another 6 new runners this week. Welcome to the family Sam, Sarah, Rosie, Sabrina, Isabelle & Verena.

Thank you Catherine for being back runner this week.

Some milestones this week as Hayley has now done 10 good deeds and Beks and Calum have now done 25 good deeds each! Amazing achievements.

Due to some last minute problems out of my control we had to change the task and instead we were visiting Oxfam to sort through some more donation books.

We had a short 1.5km jog there and was greeted by Emma who went through what books we could and couldn't keep. The good ones get put in boxes ready to be priced (Calum had already priced up Oliver's t-shirt and my forehead) and shelved and the bad ones get sacked up and put down the conveyor belt ready to be recycled.

Someone came across 3 nude body art books, I checked whether they could be kept and apparently they sell for a lot of money... enough said!

The team got through the rest of the book donations, which is a massive help to the charity and not bad when you consider over 16 hours of volunteering time went into this evening.

After we emptied our sacks on the conveyor belt to Sarah and Tom, we headed back downstairs for a quick group photo and then off for the fitness session we went ;-)

We had a stroll up Grapes Hill before hitting Chapelfield Gardens for a 10-minute FUN fitness session... well I think it was fun mwahaha.

We stretched off back at The Forum and then sang Happy Birthday to Bill who is turning 69 tomorrow! I'll be happy if I'm Bill's condition when I reach his age.

Next week we're visiting Catton Grove Community Centre to remove a large bush.