We had two tasks tonight in different locations but for the same organisation. BHT (Brighton Housing Trust) provide essential services to help prevent homelessness and they had two messy and weedy yards in different locations which were in need of some Goodgym TLC.

Run Leader Helena took the warm up tonight and coped admirably with the unexpected situation of our lovely warm up space having been commandeered by Club Tropicana in preparation for this weekend’s Pride celebrations! On offering the group the options of going long with Helena or short with Tara there was pretty much an even split and those going long headed off to Hove for a 7.5km round trip to BHT Archways project which provides accommodation for people with mental health support needs. By all accounts the task was a great success and the weedy, messy yard was quickly transformed into a neat and tidy one. Gilles did some watering of the hanging baskets, Will pulled up a bush and exposed a gang of snails and no less than 4 bin bags of weeds were pulled up. Great work!

Closer to home those choosing the shorter option had a 3.5km round trip to BHTs Phase One project which is a high support hostel providing accommodation for single, homeless men and women many of whom are dealing with alcohol and substance misuse. We set to work sweeping, weeding and tidying their basement yards and even had time to give the windows a wash. Half an hour later and the yards were transformed. There was even talk of getting some scaffolding put up and doing the whole building!

We had some time to head to Hove Lawns for a fitness session where we worked on our core with a side plank Tabata (20 sec work, 10 sec rest x 8) followed by an ingenious partner workout where partner A holds a plank, thus working on core, whilst partner B, jumps over their legs and gets a great plyometric workout. Just as the group were reaching peak plank they were saved from further planking by the arrival of the long runners from Hove and we all joined up together for the last kilometre back to base.

Sadly no new runners tonight. If you're thinking of coming down, don't be shy, we're very welcoming, I think you'll like us!

Don't forget next week is our first social so we will be staying behind at our fabulous host venue YHA for a drink or 2. Until then Keep On Running!

‘Thunderstorm and hail warning for Brighton issued by Met office’ said The Argus, Brighton’s local newspaper. Surely not again! After another week of dry and balmy weather could it be possible that the only bit of rain that we’ve had in a whole week would coincide with our second Goodgym run?! The first spots were felt early on but the full deluge held off until near the end. Although the thunder and lightening felt a little ominous in the end we got the nice running rain, the welcoming kind that cools you down and refreshes.

It was a longer run tonight, 4km each way and uphill on the way there, so we cracked on with quite a pace to maximise the time at the task. The speedsters went ahead led by me and back marked by Dani, with Tess (who wrote a fantastic blog about last weeks task) read about it here leading the rest, back marked by Gillian from head office.

Our task tonight was banishing bind weed at The Bevy. I LOVE the Bevy! The pub was previously closed down because of anti social behaviour but the local community raised the funds to refurbish it and now it serves as a community pub and hub for the Moulsecoomb estate. There are all sorts of things going on there from quiz nights and live music nights, and ‘Brains at the Bevy’ where local academics come and give short and enlightening talks. The food is pretty good as well and even cheaper than chips in some other parts of town! And the locals are super friendly! Check out their website for more info and if you haven’t been there before, go check them out here. There is even a parkrun on its doorstep, of the hilly and off road variety, and the Bevy hosts coffee and breakfast after.

So there was a massive amount of bind weed that needed to be pulled up and that is exactly what we did. Whilst Jonathon & Tom did great work weeding the raised area above the pub garden (and thankfully not falling off the wall!) everybody else tackled the bind weed in the kitchen garden to the side. And after just 20 minutes we had removed 2 massive building sacks full of the stuff. Great work gang!

Bind weed banished we headed home, this time downhill. On the way back we injected a little bit of speed into the proceedings by running fast for a couple of timed intervals, stopping when I blew my whistle (that was fun, I felt like a school sports teacher!) and recovered by jogging back to join the group where we continued as one until the next burst of speed. If you want to run faster you have to, well …run faster! But by doing it in short bursts you get your body to adjust to the faster pace until before you know it that has become your new normal.

As we stretched at the end Gillian reminded us that Goodgym is about more than the group runs, so if you want to get involved with Missions and Coached runs then please join up and bring your documents along so we can get you DBS checked and doing even more good!

Well done to you all, that was a long run in hot conditions, please come along for next week’s shorter run with another great task and it might not even rain!

And we’re off! Brighton Goodgym has launched! What a night! What weather! What a task! What a great bunch of Goodgymers! What a lot of exclamation marks!!

So much to talk about where to begin? Let’s try the beginning.

As I arrived at our fantastic start location of YHA hostel I immediately spotted a red Gooodgym t-shirt. Deb from Bristol was continuing her tour of south coast GG’s having visited Worthing along the coast the previous evening. Thank you Deb for kindly offering to stand outside and welcome runners into the fold.

At 6.30pm we stepped out to the Old Steine for intros and warm up. Nigel Levine (Team GB 400m runner, proper, proper speedy!) came down with Team Personal Best to tell us how flippin’ tough and awesome we all were for turning up in such challenging conditions. I concur!

Group photos and a warm up round the fountain complete we set off along the seafront for our 3km run to the task. It was great to see so many red t-shirts on display. I spoke to a few of you who had previously been Goodgym members in other areas but having made the very sensible decision to move to Brighton, had been left without your Goodgym fix. The wait is over. We’re here. Thanks for your patience.

There were also many of you doing your first ever Goodgym so a very warm welcome to you all. If you would like a dashing, red t-shirt to let the world know what an amazing movement you are part of, then all you have to do is become a member and its all yours!

As we ran along the lower promenade the group became more strung out with Dom from Croydon doing a fine job of back marking and Run Leader Helena working the mid section. We reconnected by giving the speedier runners some sprints up the ramps on the seafront, some squats at the Peace Statue and some tricep dips on the seats in front of the i-360. After 3km we were pretty soaked through from all the rain, but happy and energised and keen to get the Doing Good going.

On arrival at The Brighthelm Centre volunteer co-ordinator Jacob and his team of volunteer gardeners explained the task ahead. In order to transform the pre-school garden we were split into teams with different tasks. Team Turf had the task of digging up the turf to make the pathway to what would become the wood chip seating area. The turf was put into wheelbarrows and taken away by Team Wheelbarrow. Team Membrane started laying the weed proof membrane over the ground and then moved on to lay it on the path area cleared by Team Turf. Team Woodchip were moving the, you've guessed it, wood chip to the garden area for laying on top of the membrane. There was also a Team Flower Bed and a Team Litter Pick working in the larger garden.

Once the turf path was clear a few of you were without a job and the litter pickers were getting chilly in the torrential rain so we did a little session on running technique focussing on efficient arm drive. We worked on not crossing our arms in front of our mid line, keeping our shoulders still and moving our thumbs from hip to lip. After running a few lengths of the garden where you all displayed awesome arm drive we did a little workout to celebrate the date of the momentous occasion of Brighton Goodgym launch. 11th July 2017 (11/07/17) was marked by completing as many rounds as possible of 11 Squats, 7 Bench Press Ups and 17 Jumping Jacks in the given time.

Back in the fenced pre-school garden fantastic progress had been made but it needed one last push to get the last of the membrane laid on the path and the wood chip spread out on top. The final task was to lay the rings of tree trunks with planks on top that will be the seats for the children. And with seconds to spare before our time limit the task was complete. What a transformation! Jacob and his team were absolutely delighted and couldn’t believe that we’d got the job done so quickly and in such challenging conditions. They are a very small team of volunteer gardeners working for just half a day a week so to get a task like this complete would have taken them several weeks. We did it in half an hour!

It was all downhill from there as we ran the final kilometre back to base, running through the picturesque Pavilion Gardens. Brighton really does have some amazing spaces to run in, we shall be exploring many more of them in the coming weeks.

So a huge thank you to all of you for coming tonight. After weeks of dry weather we had the rainiest evening in months for our launch but you didn’t let it phase you and you got out there, keeping yourselves fit and Doing Good. Feel proud, you were fantastic!

Blue skies, hot air balloons and a polar bear provided the backdrop for tonights run as nine cheery GoodGym runners negotiated a hot 8k up and down the hills of Bear Flat.

BEARERS OF GOOD NEWS

Our task was to distribute flyers to the residents of Bear Flat to spread the news of the Community Market that’s held every third Saturday morning to promote local food and to provide space where the community can get together and share information.

It was a four vs four head-to-head as Dora, Emma, Sam and Becca (our newest member donning her red t-shirt) took on David, Rob, Steve and Tom to ensure we covered all the households on our trusty map.

SWING WHEN YOU’RE WINNING

We resisted the urge to dash down the stairs and go recce the Two Tunnels route ready for the weekends GoodGym nominated race and instead, as it was such a blooming’ lovely evening, popped in to Bloomfield Park for a quick mid-run play… I mean an impromptu improvised Strength and Conditioning session using the equipment for core stability exercises and pull ups!

A canter back along the canal topped off with a walking lunge lap and we were back to base for a stretch out.

Thanks to Sam & Tom for our pun, Emma for back marking and to everyone for a great run and a task well done.

PARK LIFE

Don’t forget it’s the GoodGym takeover of Park Run this Saturday morning, 9am, wear your GoodGym t-shirt with pride and come represent, whether it’s to run, steward or support.

There’s a task to tackle at the Bath City Farm afterwards so sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/saturday-big-farm-fundraiser-event and join the GG tourists as they sightsee this beautiful city.

Good luck to all who are competing in the Relish Running Races events on Sunday.
Happy running everyone.