Whipping 'round Whipton

12 amazing GG Winter Warriors came out in the FREEZING COLD, ran 6 k and whipped around Whipton, delivering a community magazine. Amazing work!

It really was bitterly cold outside when we gathered at the Phoenix! So cold that we decided to do our intro speech inside rather than in our usual spot outdoors. Amazingly Ashley came up with our pun already at this point! That's got to be a record in punning!

For our warm-up session we jogged around in a circle and on different commands different runners carried out different movements. For example: Everyone with a beard had to do squat jumps, everyone going away for Christmas had to do star jumps, everyone who has a pet had to do high knees and so on. I think we laughed as much as we worked out, but the result was the desired; we no longer felt cold and we were ready to run!

Town was beautifully lit up with all the Christmas lights and we got cheered on by people out and about as we ran towards our task location. We made the most of the re-groupings by carrying out a variety of lunges, squats, foot-taps and step-ups. It's always great to give your legs that extra little work out! Massive thank you to Lucy R who back-marked the whole way so that no-one got left behind. Also, a big shout out to Sarah! This was her 10th session getting fit and doing good with us! Yay!

When we arrived to the task location we were met by Amy, the community builder for Whipton and Beacon Heath. She had the boot of her car fully loaded with copies of Whipton & Beacon Heath News, a community magazines in which ideas, events and thoughts about the area are shared. We quickly split up in teams, divided the streets between us and set off to deliver. In 45 minutes we covered a massive area! GREAT WORK EVERYONE!

Once the magazines were delivered we ran back to town centre where we gathered outside the library for a very short but super intense core session! We listened to Eminem's “I love the way you lie”, and did static holds of different core exercises (mainly planks) whilst Rihanna was singing, alternated with different movements whilst Enimem was rapping. Not really my favorite type of music but possibly one of my favorite core session, working those abs so hard in such a short space of time!

Even if you didn't love the burning feeling during the core session, I promise you will love your strong abs towards the end of your long runs when you manage to keep in a good running position despite feeling tired! YES!

After a cool-down jog back to the Phoenix and stretches we chatted about all the exciting stuff happening in our area over the next few weeks (see below). To finish an amazing evening of running and doing good we gathered in the Phoenix for some well deserved drinks and chats, before heading home.

You guys are just the best, not letting the cold or dark put you off, always turning up with smiles and laughter, always giving it all you got! You're definitely some pretty awesome #GGwinterwarriors!

Dates for the diary:

• Next week we are running to St James to help deliver a newsletter for St James Forum. It's a 3 k run with a great fitness session. Sign up here to join!

• Sunday 8th December we are doing a training run on Dartmoor, this will be a long distance trail run with stunning views! Sign up here to come along.

• Sunday 15th December we have the Haldon Jingle Bell run in the morning, and our Christmas party in the afternoon. Would love to see you for one of both of these exciting events!

• Remember no group runs on Tuesday 24 or 31st Decemeber, but look out for the extra events in January!