Feeling ROSIE and (good)JIM at the Old Lady on the Hill!

GoodGym Swindon welcomed four fabulous new runners last night; Dan (from Oxford), Darren, Jenny and Jon. Thank you for joining us; it was great to chat to you all (I just hope the run up THAT hill didn't put you off at all)?! I promise our runs won't always include such a steep incline, but everyone knows that the only way to get into Old Town is up some sort of hill?! And we must also remember that the task was at Christ Church, kindly nicknamed by locals as the 'Old Lady on the Hill'. On the plus side, where there's an up there a down, and everyone seemed to enjoy running down THAT hill after the task.

So we started the evening gathered together in a circle outside the front doors of the Oasis Leisure Centre, sharing our names and favourite subjects at school as a mini icebreaker and headcount (I'm really keen to speak with those of you who loved English at school; how about writing these Run Reports occasionally?!) There were 18 of us. We were going to get a lot of weeding done tonight! Keen to get going, everyone waited patiently for me to work out where the Strava App was on my watch and thankfully after a minor delay (!) we were away!

With myself as Run Leader and Lewis 'Backmarker' Bird (please note the recent change in nickname) at the rear, we ensured that no one was left behind on the journey from the Oasis to Christ Church. I was impressed with Richard's ability to talk AND run up THAT hill. I asked him afterwards how he manages to keep a decent conversation going while under such physical pressure. Apparently it's not just about fitness; it's part of his job. He loves talking to people; Richard will talk to anyone at any time anywhere! This is what we love about GoodGym; it's fun and social and not just about running. We get to have a bit of a laugh, while getting a little bit fitter. It's great!

It had been pre-arranged that Gareth Bailey from BBC Wiltshire was going to join us that night and that we were to meet him outside the radio station, which also happens to be at the top of THAT hill (also named as Victoria Road by local residents). What we didn't realise was that he was going to film us trying to run up it. Now, that was funny. A few of us did try and smile, wave and make the whole thing seem a breeze (when in reality it wasn't), before turning left onto Union Row welcoming the short downward incline to the front gates of Christ Church. We then gathered together on the driveway (I did notice at that point how many of you are now wearing red GoodGym t-shirts, which is absolutely brilliant) and after a short recovery, the wonderful Rev'd Simon Stevenette (Vicar of Christ Church and ultra keen runner) met us with open arms and led us to the beauty of the Rose Garden.

We spent 45-minutes in the rose garden, weeding, clearing, chatting and laughing while being interviewed and filmed by multi-tasking Gareth. We were lucky enough to be there for the bellringing as well and apparently Christ Church has some of the finest bells in the country with ten bells in total. I was told this last week while litter picking with the wonderful Teresa who unfortunately couldn't make it to Christ Church last night, but whose local knowledge was greatly received. Once our time was up, we had a group photo, cleared away our tools, thanked Simon for hosting us, and then set off down THAT hill to Queens Park (with Gareth somehow managing to film us while running backwards?!) for a short exercise session on the grass (set the previous week by Drill Master Emily 'Crazy Legs'. Pyramid training is apparently the way to go in terms of improving stamina and fitness? I hope you all enjoyed it?!

Once the exercise was over, we sped off, past the geese and swans and interesting smell (?!) through the park to the streets of Swindon Town Centre. We reached the Oasis in no time at all ending with a little bit of stretching and a cuppa in Coffee Corner. What a fabulous evening. Please join us again next week. We will be heading to Toothill Farmhouse for some much-needed painting and gardening with super friendly Paul Bonner.