Top-pling the Ivy League

With the weather still being oh so mild for late October, meant we warmed up pretty quickly during the warm up just outside YHA (as usual every Tuesday at 18:30). The Goodgym team were pleased to welcome Katie who joined us for the first time. Roy and Tabitha, (aka Natasha) were super proud of their PBs on Saturday's Park Run. Tabitha, to her bewilderment, shaved off a whole minute; let's hope she can keep that record going! And congratulations to Michael on completing the Great South Run in an impressive time of 1hr 23 minutes.

The eleven of us then ran together to meet councillor David Gibson at teh bottome of Elm Grove where we dropped off Frances, Helena, Michael & Katie to clear tall bushes and pull out weeds enhancing curb appeal and improving the views for residents living behind these. Good thing Tara had organised floodlights (spotlights really) and head torches to make sure we didn't miss any of those darned weeds and unsavoury objects.

The rest of the group ran a little further to Morley Lodge on Wellington Road, where local residents are doing a great job of keeping the communal gardens looking great in the face of council cuts, but needed a little extra Goodgym help. Five of us focussed on a really dense bed of tangled ivy and brambles and with much pulling and heaving we managed to bag up around half a dozen black bags of ivy and bramble. In another part of the garden Rosemary and Paul were tasked with clearing more ivy and brambles to reveal a pretty flint wall. Before long we were joined by the Elm Grove crew who helped with the final clear up. What a work out! I'm sure I overheard David's plans for us to return in December, if not earlier!

We were all delighted to fit in two laps of 400m sprints, with a 45 second rest in between, to finish the evening off. Helena of course made it look so easy and was at the top of the ivy sprinting league.

The ousted Social Secretary (Nipun) has to make up for last month's social no show by reminding everyone that the next social event (which usually falls on the second Tuesday of the month) is planned for Tuesday 20th November instead. Yes it's far too early to talk about the c word (Christmas that is), nevertheless we should plan ahead and vote on the most popular date for our December do. I believe karaoke is on the cards (washed down with copious amounts of beer and wine obvs).

If you've never been to goodgym before, do come on down. We're not just good, we're great fun!

(Thanks Nipun for another great run report and to Tabitha for the pun! Tara)