Pick-Tock, Pick-Tock... Boom!

'Plogging on' with the January Challenge, this evening we were out helping Keep Barnsley Tidy and getting some extra kilometers in for it too. The plan tonight was to meet with one of our litterpicking contacts to collaborate on a pick, alas unforeseen circumstances meant that they unfortunately couldn't make it. We hope to see them next month! So we were a couple of people fewer than expected this evening but that didn't deter us... no no no... it spurred us on to pick more rubbish than usual in order to make up for the lack of boots on the ground!

First off we went to the location at which, previously, we were meant to meet our litterpicking ally and commenced our pick there at the junction of Dodworth Rd/ Lancaster St. We first turned down Nicolas St, then worked our way up Lancaster St weaving in and out of the parked cars lining the road and probing under them to pick up cans flattened by the steel beasts. When we reached the top of Lancaster St we turned right onto Shaw Ln whereupon we spotted the old GG starting location of Shaw Lane Sports Club. Making our way down Shaw Ln we stopped at the entrance to another one of our task locations, the YMCA allotment. Here we spotted several large heavy cylinders of nitrous oxide resembling scuba tanks that had been dumped by an over-zealous whipped cream enthusiast! See the pictures for evidence.

Now suitably weighed down with diving apparel and full bags we endeavored to find a street bin by the side of which we could deposit it all. Our best bet was to head to the main road but when we reached it there was no bin in sight. Not wanting to run with the massive bags for any great distance we spied a bus shelter in the distance up the road; large shelters usually have a rubbish receptacle next to them but we couldn't see for sure. James made the decision to leave Daniel guarding the bags whilst he ran up to the bus shelter to check if there was a bin... there was! We left the purple bags next to the bin, making sure to get some snazzy snaps of them, before running unladen back down to base.

We knew that we could-bin at goodgym

For the evening's fitness activity I had a taxing session on the agenda. We were headed to our regular steep uphill Strava segment of Fitzwilliam St, but we wouldn't just be running the segment as usual. Tonight we'd be using the lampposts on the hill to do suicide sprints- starting at the bottom of the hill we'd be sprinting up to the first lamppost and then jogging back to the bottom, before sprinting back up the hill to the second lamppost and jogging back to the bottom again, continuing this for all of the lampposts on the street until we reached the top! It was tough, but we managed it.

Rather out of breath now, we walked over to the Glasshouse stairwell to stretch off indoors. Unfortunately, there was someone in residence on the stairs so instead we opted to stretch in the great outdoors. All of the key muscles we had worked in the evening's activities were stretched off and then some news read out. GoodGym Barnsley has had several new sign-ups on the website recently, in part due to our promotional efforts... good job team! We also have a new task to go to soon, so stay tuned for info on that as well!

See ya next week!