Wonforderlly Well Done!

9 runners didn't let the rain put them off and ran 6.5 k to help Wonford Planters clear a wildflower area in the Burnthouse lane estate. We had two new university students joining us this evening: Sophie who joined us for her first GoodGym run ever, and Holly, who has done GoodGym runs in Colchester before. Welcome to Exeter! We loved having you with us and we hope you will come back soon again to get fit by doing good with us!

Wow! It certainly felt like autumn had arrived when we gathered outside the Phoenix for our dynamic warm-up exercises. It was dark and blustery and the ground was wet from the rain that had been pouring down all day. But none of the amazing GG runners who came along this evening seemed bothered by any of that! The atmosphere was great, everyone was chatting and laughing.

The fact that we are here instead of sitting at home watching "Bake-Off" shows how motivated we are!

We stopped to re-group at regular intervals so that no-one got lost or left behind whilst making our way to the task. A long section of the run route was lined by stone walls so we certainly got our fair share of wall squats done this evening. What is a GG group run without wall squats anyway?! A big thank you to Sarah for back marking both ways!

At the task we met with Jenny and her lovely volunteer gardening group, Wonford Planters. The group works very hard to maintain the green spaces in the area after cuts to public funding meant that these areas became unkept and overgrown. Last week we helped them with various gardening tasks at Laburnum roundabout and this week we helped them clear a wildflower area. We made sure the seeds from the wildflowers were spread out in the flower beds and we then pulled out the dead plants. We must have filled over 10 big bin liners with dead plants!

Fantastic work at the task everyone! The Wonford Planters have really valued our help! 17 of us working for 35 minutes last week, and 9 of us working for 35 minutes this week, adds up to a total of 15.5 hours work!

Sarah also carried out a spontaneous upper body work-out session by doing biceps curls and shoulder lifts with the filled bin liners! I think we can let her off for refusing to do star jumps after this excellent initiative!

On the return run we did some interval training again, this time by forming a single line of runners and having the last runner in the group overtaking the whole line of runners. This way of doing intervals is great in a mixed ability group as everyone can join in. So great to hear everyone cheer each other on! We also stopped in Princesshay for some circuit training, before we returned to the Phoenix for some stretches. Amazing effort throughout the whole evening everyone!

Next week we have a short and flat 3 k run to Newtown’s primary school where we will help improve their school ground and possibly some indoor areas too. The school relies on the help of parents and volunteers for this kind of work so lets get a big group of us together and make a real difference. As the run is shorter than usual we will also have time for a fun-filled fitness session. It will be great to get fit by doing good together! Sign up here to come along! We can’t wait to see you there!

We are also meeting at Exeter Riverside park run this Saturday. Park run is a great way to work on your 5 k run time so come along and join us! We'll have coffee and cake afterwards too, obviously this is just as important as running!

Finally, you are all heroes for coming along this blustery evening! I think we can all agree that it FEELS AMAZING to brave the weather, get fresh air, run and carry out a good deed! Lets keep up the good work together! See you soon!