Blue Monday but We're REDy to Go...odgym

Apparently today is Blue Monday - the most miserable day of the year

What better way to banish the blues with some feel good endorphins : * Get some exercise * Do a good deed

There was very little in the way of blue to be seen and lots of red as Ipswich Goodgymers congregated ready to FEEL GOOD on Blue Monday.

A big welcome to Fiona and Emily who were joining us for their first Group Run.

Our warm up timing wasn't great as the rain began to come down hard just as we started, but few minutes of non stop action and we ready to go, heading to a new venue for us - St Michaels Community Centre.

Quite a short run saw us arrive to no sign of life at the centre - A quick phone call and I realised I'd mistyped our ETA when communicating with Anna who was expecting to meet us at 7.45 - Doh! But no problem Anna was on her way.

So we had an additional run around the Town Centre taking in the sites of the Cornhill and Tower Ramparts Bus Station before looping back to st.Michaels just as Anna and Tom arrived.

Once in we set to cleaning a huge meeting room used as a venue for The Home Hub - a place to give homeless people somewhere warm to get something to eat during the day. There also some donated stocks of clothing to be sorted and the kitchen cleaned and organised.

Despite the size of the centre - with good numbers in our group - the place was left sparkling within half an hour. Hoovering, polishing, window cleaning, dusting, mopping, washing and sweeping - serious clearing up!

Tom even found some change to donate to the charity coffers as he hoovered under sofa cushions.

With our good deed done we headed of for our run back to base incorporating a very long "train" sprinting from back to front was some challenge. On arrival back at the Waterfront we completed the evening with a few variations on a "Running (wo)Man" single leg balance drill to help improve our core stability and balance.

Fabulous work from everyone tonight - next week we make a return to Castle Hill Community Centre which is a bit of a longer run than the last couple of weeks.

For more info on this and upcoming runs including a Saturday "Starter Session" on 27 January linking with Kesgrave parkrun see HERE