This was my last group run as trainer at Goodgym Bath. A great turn out with 29 runners coming along from Bath and Bristol to send me on my way but first we have some flyers to pop through letter boxes  for Bathscape promoting the Bath Walking Festival taking place in September, maybe you would like to get involved http://www.bathscapewalkingfestival.co.uk/

Welcome to John tonight and Valeria who came all the way from Mexico to be with us, they certainly picked a crazy night to come along.

Thanks to GG Brizzle for coming along this evening, love you guys ❤️

I was instructed by Steve to head outside first and wait by the river and was soon joined by lots more Steph’s....Hahaha!! Now that was a sight for sore eyes 👀 The chuckle brothers arrived in their matching Bucharest vests now that’s the Steph nightmares are made of. I'm sure Steve enjoyed gouging out my eyes 

All masked up so off we go into the deepest darkest depths of Widcombe armed with 200 flyers, this wasn’t going to take long so it seemed only fair to spread those letter boxes out in places giving those who wanted chance for a little sprint with Matt being chief torch bearer, Pascale was herding everyone in from the rear making sure there was no escaping. The next task was to find a box to put Jack in and there just happened to be one at the bottom of Widcombe hill although he needed a little Gary style tuition to master the jump, poor guy must dread seeing me in the vicinity of a Box of any description or he secretly enjoys every moment.

TIMES UP FOLKS

The pub is calling us for a celebratory drink and GG Bath update........ My Show is Over but the show must go on as Freddie would say after 176 group runs since we launched in Bath. I'm all flyered out, I had a whole lot of loving for a handful of Runners

The Boater seemed like a perfectly located drinking hole for an update, Emma and Pascale will be looking after you all throughout August and it’s hoped GG HQ will come up with a way forward from September, so I truly hope everyone is kept in the loop, we’ve worked hard to get where we are with such a great team in Bath including our community hosts and let’s not forget B&NES Council who made it all possible in the first instance...Thank you!!!

I managed to fight back the tears 😭 during a very unexpected presentation of fine Gin and Crystal drinking vessel engraved with Lady Bath all topped off with a fabulous homemade masterpiece of a cake baked by our very talented vet Nicola...Yummy!! I even got to slice Lydia down the middle and eat her 😂 Clean Mary was definitely missed tonight but someone’s gotta keep the country ticking over.

The pun needed to be the best of the best in the west for my final group run as leader of this wonderful pack of people and GG Bristol’s Jack came up with a paronomasia to top them all.

I would like to Thank Everyone for making the last 3 years so enjoyable from runners to task hosts, I love you all dearly.

OH, WHAT A NIGHT AND WE HAVE LIGHT..whoop!!

A CHANGE OF PLAN TO THE ORIGINAL TASK

However a wonderful 4 k run in the light along the riverbank in Bath this evening for a spot of PLOGGING for 17 runners.

PLOGGERS AWAY

A warm up and headcount with a scone theme, jam or cream first?? Poor Mary had a hard life growing up so it was marg and jam but I’ll stick to jam first. A warning to stay safe and away from the water’s edge before heading along the riverside to Churchill bridge and the south side to the Quays and beyond to collect as much litter as possible.

HI HO…A PLOGGING WE GO

Gloves and litter pickers at the ready and they’re off along a stretch of the riverbank to see just how much litter we can collect in 40 minutes, to save our waterways and oceans from the increasing amount of plastics that are destroying our oceans.

A LOTTA BOTTLE

In fact we collected so many empty bottles topped with some unusual finds from a toothbrush charger to a swanky trainer but the prize goes to the guitar body ... Ta Da!!

WE ARE THE WASTE WARRIORS

10 bags later and a short PLOG back with a bit of weight lifting from the team just to prove we take the gym outdoors.

Thanks Emma for back marking and Joe for another fabulous pun... literally.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Tonight we welcomed Ben to the group for his first Goodgym experience and Andy, a good gym veteran of a whopping 46 Good Deeds who was visiting us whilst on a work trip to Brighton. We also welcomed back Rose who joined us for the first time since our epic launch back in July. A big well done to Rose who, during the run, told me about her triathlon at Southwater over the weekend. Awesome effort!

I shared the news during the speech, that earlier in the day I’d walked past the BHT task we did a few weeks ago in Oriental place and I was delighted to see they now have a planter full of flowers, so I think our tidying efforts there kick started a new found pride in their outdoor space!

After the speech and the warmup we headed up the big Dyke Road Hill to tonight’s task at Exeter Street Hall. Thanks to Helena for leading the speedier group and to Beth for back marking. And it was great to have Tess back after a few weeks off and she did a fine job of leading the moderate paced group (now christened The Mods!) with myself back marking.

Dave met us at Exeter Street Hall and told us about how the local community pulled together to raise the funds to buy the hall and keep it as a valuable community resource. They have recently completed some building work to improve the hall’s accessibility and our task tonight was to have a general clean and tidy up before they reopen. We set to work vacuuming floors and curtains, dusting ledges, getting sticky stuff off tables, washing down walls and painting new door frames. A special mention to Frances and Rachel who tackled the newly accessible loft area which had some particularly dusty beams. I was informed that the dust up that was actually from the Victorian era! Ew!!

We did a great job and Dave and team were very appreciative of our efforts which will help them get the hall reopened and back in use for later this week.

A much easier downhill run home and a quick fitness session on the Old Steine where we focused on some one leg strength and stability moves to help keep us ‘strong and stable’ during our runs!

See you on Saturday for our first monthly parkrun outing to Preston Park and next week where we will be returning to The Bevy for some gardening or a shorter option to One Church where we will be nailing the railings! And after we will be staying behind for a drink for our monthy social.

A change of plan to the scheduled task this evening for 16 intrepid runners in Bath but of course that would also mean the addition of a hill or two to the 6k run to DONKEY LANE community garden .

A few announcements before the off with a warm welcome to another Goodgym tourist from GG Greenwich the lovely Amy....whoop!!!

Bath Heroes this month

Mary 8 Good deeds

Alison 188.9k

Remember everyone get signed up on Strava through your Goodgym profile and all your training runs will be logged, you also get to support your fellow runners/vice Versa. Could be a tiebreaker in the making regards hitting the next BIG 50!! Joe at 48 and Mary at 47.

welcome to Caitlin (my daughter) for her first taste of Goodgym fitness and no I didn't force her.

The first part of our run out was nice and flat, that was until we arrived at Hedgemead Park when it became apparent the

only was is up baby, for you and me now

I'm not too hard on them though as they'd already enjoyed a couple of hill sprints to warm up, plus had a breather at the top of the many steps with an opportunity to

squat it like it's Hot or until they drop

Sue was eagerly awaiting the group at the end of perfect view with her tools, our task to help weed to help with the maintenance of this rather large area.

The task for 35 mins

Clearing the Pathways through the herb and veggie area,. Cut back a rather large Kale plant, although this got rather out of hand with poor Jo trying to keep Joe and Sam on task but Sam was literally engulfed in Kale...Ha!! Pretty maids in a row working on the garden paths doing a fabulous job. Steve, Rob and the two Emma's tackled the stingers on the other side of the footpath allowing the young trees some breathing space.

Amy confessed to enjoying the hills with Holly, Megan and Caitlin taking the herbs in hand. Pascale had a lovely bunch of Kale to enjoy in her breakfast smoothie, that might make up for the extra mileage she did tonight.

Time up!!

Group photo and our very own Mexican led wave by Dora to top off the evening.

Thankfully a nice downhill finish back to the leisure centre for a few stretches.

Thanks to Emma for back marking and Joe for our fabulous pun tonight.

Reminder that it's monthly **QUIZ SOCIAL on Thursday at The Boater at 7.30pm, please feel free to come along and bring a little raffle prize to show our support to Rob who will be climbing Kilimanjaro with his brother and is self funding, so the money he raises will go to the charity. They will be supporting Against Malaria Foundation, who ‘fund anti-malaria nets, specifically long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), and work with distribution partners to ensure they are used’ (https://www.againstmalaria.com/WhyMalaria.aspx). Feel free to share their giving page Here is the link for the fundraising page! https://www.againstmalaria.com/Fundraiser.aspx?FundraiserID=7688

hope to see you at Thursdays quiz.