The Green Mile

17 runners run to Colchester and Tendring Women's Refuge to weed and clear their car park

Wednesday, what was the perpetual meaningless day, so often acknowledged as no more than the celebration of passing the middle of the working week, has now become a day to look forward to with a sense of pride and good feeling.

As Colchester GoodGym’ers set off, from Colchester Leisure World, on their third adventure since launching at the start of August, the sense of community spirit was evident in all who set-off - a feeling seemingly increasing week-on- week.

Last week, our band of merry GoodGym’ers tackled a respective jungle clearing at St Peters Church, this week; our green fingers were put to work with what was, comparatively, bonsai weeding for the Women's Refuge.

None-the- less, with no deed being too big or too small, our efforts were greatly appreciated by another local charitable organisation, whom are very much deserving of any support that our community can offer.

Like so many small charitable organisations, funding is limited meaning that they often operate on a hand-to- mouth basis, relying heavily on the generosity of others. This is why GoodGym works so well as a community initiative.

So, with our good deed done, it was time to switch our attention to exercise. After our hill sprint repeats last week, surely this week would be a walk in the park?!

Well, almost. A walk became a full-mile timed sprint. As our GoodGym’ers hurtled themselves along the river path, the green hue from our fingers started to work its way up to our faces. Perhaps, in my case, this was the result of questionable pacing.

(For any movie buffs, we even had a small door mouse accompany us on our green mile)

So, with another good workout in the bag I can certainly say that I’m feeling much fitter as a result of our GoodGym runs. This feeling of wellbeing, coupled with the positivity of doing good within our community, means we can now look forward to Wednseday’s as being much more than just a celebration of the middle of the week.

Next week we’ll be combining clearing the river path, in Colchester Park, with some training of the Colchester Park Run course… which I guess means more hills… bring it on!

Run Report written by David Isherwood

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