We Don't Joker Round - Tonight's Task Was Aced

Tonight we missed our regular GoodGym Queen of Drills, Anji, and King of Maps, Paul, who are sunning it up in Menorca (yet still trying to get in some good deeds and fitness sessions - check out the pictures!) Thankfully, the wonderful * ahem * talents of Queen of Squats, Katy, could be called upon to save the night!

Tonight, we welcomed a fantastic four new runners for our return run to the Nunsmoor Centre.

Welcome to the family Holly, James, Leigh and Lydia!

The weekend had also been filled with fabulous antics to catch up on for regular runners. A ghetto golf social on Friday night and two fabulous missions on Saturday and Sunday, with the later being our biggest Community Mission turnout yet! Shout out to those who did the double, and especially to those who made it to Saturday's mission after Friday's night out...

I definitely just lay on the sofa all day... Someone came with sunglasses and donuts...

Sending off the walkers and before taking the delightful jog up the hill ourselves, we enjoyed a new warm up game of 'body parts'. The aim was to get together with that number of body parts when they were called out...10 fingers, 5 knees, etc. This definitely tested peoples times table and addition skills more than expected. It reminds me that someone said they couldn't do maths when they run - may there's a study in there somewhere?

We arrived at the Nunsmoor Centre in good time and got to the task:

• Taking items out of the cupboard and sorting them into groups

• Repacking and cleaning items

• Putting items neatly back into the cupboard to make things more accessible

• Generally trying not to play with items and just putting them back properly...

With 25 super-focused volunteers we made quick work of it, and this left us plenty of time for the spectacular new game that Ross and I dreamed up. In pairs or threes, groups ran to collect a playing card. The suit dictated the exercise (burpees, squats, lunges and star jumps) and the number was the amount of reps. Then - the exciting part, as it was diversity week, there were rainbow stripes to be awarded to the winning group. I have never seen people race that quickly towards some playing cards scattered across the floor...

In the end, Andrew, Richard and Fai were victorious with 55 reps (lucky card picks I think as well as speedy exercises!) and I realised that next time I'll have to bring a few more packs given how quickly you all raced through them! Nevertheless, everyone seemed pleased with the news that they would all get an extra 5 minutes in the park as a reward - the neon photos on the equipment are pretty cool!

Hearts burning and hi-vis reflecting like diamonds, our wonderful club of happy helpers spade their way back down the hill.

There are lots of community missions going on before our next Group Run: Thursday for the Red Cross, Saturday at St Lawrence, Saturday at Nunsmoor and Sunday at the City Stadium.

Well done again everyone and thank you for a great night! You all make it such a friendly atmosphere and it's great to be part of GoodGym Newcastle!

Happy running,

Katy