“Sawn, swept, de-littered; fine chores”

12 fabulous runners took to the streets of Colchester to help their community.

We met at Leisure World and spirits were high. As we arrived Ella organized our World Cup competition and people drew their teams with much controversy and it seems that Louise took a slight issue at drawing the mighty Tunisia and I somehow managed to draw Argentina. Cheer Louise here to console her! Colchester's Goodgymers had plenty to celebrate with Bob achieving another PB at Parkrun Colchester, Michelle in full training mode for a marathon at Loch Ness and Ian, Michelle, Catherine (good to see you running so well), Parksy, Tommy, Ella and I taking part in the brilliant and long awaited first ever Colchester Stampede 10k run at Colchester Zoo. The animals loved watching us humans sweating and battling the hills. Finally it was great that my 'coach' received a certificate that was proudly on his wall saying well done for motivating me to run to him. We left leisure with Ian back-marking and warmed up and stretched on a rather bouncy bridge (except Helen who sensible did not risk squatting and jogging on the bridge). We jogged alongside the park, through the historic castle wall, up East Hill to Firstsite where we hydrated and were instructed in our tasks on the front lawn of the gallery. In small groups the team set about sweeping the cycle rack area and the side road (well done Carl and Louise), trimming and sawing back the tree growth at the base of the trunks, litter picking (Helen wombled and plogged with gusto) and Michelle worked on her strength by battling back the overgrown grass on a path. From start to finish it was a remarkable effort with clear results. Two wheely-bins worth of green waste demonstrated the effort put in. Admittedly I played with a ball whilst encouraging and supervising but world cup fever seemed to be todays subplot.

The Firstsite staff were very pleased with the results and they look forward to having us back as much we look forward to helping out again.

The work rate meant we had plenty of time to train and everyone put in a decent shift. We began with partner sprints, with squat holds and squat pulses on East Hill before moving into Castle Park. Some excellent upper body and core work took place using those vital running muscles to hold planks, v-sits with a little static and scissor style leg raises.

After some good stretching we continued to Upper Castle Park were we showed our love for Goodgym by forming a man-made heart on the hill under the backdrop of the Bandstand and Castle.

Finally the jam packed session concluded with a little work om technique to help on the Parkrun Hills and further cool-down stretches under the trees.

As always we thought of puns as we finished an awesome evening and credit to Louise for out headline. Surely a winner.

Keep running, stay hydrated and see you at Parkrun and Goodgym soon.