Jillef! The Best a man can get

NEWS FLASH!!!! This is the first run report written by someone other than me (Tara!). Huge thanks to Rose for taking it on. If ever anyone feels inspired to write another one...it's all yours!!! Take it away Rose....

It was great to welcome new GoodGym-ers Rosemarie and Carol who we hope to see again next week, or at Hove Prom parkrun where we will be doing a group run on Saturday 21st July at 9am.

Brighton is still in the middle of the driest and hottest June on record since the 1920s so it was quite a relief to head to the relative shelter of the trees and bushes of the Pavillion Gardens. There we met head gardener Robert who may have missed a calling as a history teacher or expert tour guide. As well as running a group of local volunteers, who look after the gardens, Robert is incredibly knowledgable about the restoration of the gardens, their heritage and culture significance. For instance, he explained that they were one of the first in the UK to purposefully 'hark back to nature,' using wild flowers, long unmanicured grassy areas and wild green plants to obscure the Pavillion. This was done to offer visitors inticing glimpses of the palace rather than revealing it rather anit-climatically, that is all at once. Learning more about these gardens has certainly made me appreciate this area of Brighton more.

We then headed to the seafront for a 10 minute run and fitness session where we split into pairs, each doing 10 burpies, 20 press-ups and 30 squats, while our partners ran along the Prom and back up to relieve us. My partner and I ended up with 4 cones but it was the 'full burpy' experts Helena and her partner Rachael who came away with the prize.

Hot and tuckered out we headed back to the YHA where we did our stretching and then headed out for goodbye drinks and food with Gilles. He had reserved a spot at the Black Lion Inn who had confused his name and written 'Jillef', after whom our GoodGym Run Report is named. If it is this difficult getting English people to understand how to spell and pronounce your name just image how difficult Gilles will find it in Houston, Texas where he is headed next month. We wish him all the best, he will be sadly missed.