And then we were back

It was quite a sight: 11 GoodGym runners turning up one-by-one to meet by the fallen tree in lovely Meath Gardens, for our first day back of organised outdoor sport.

We said our hello's; we went through our health and safety, we distanced and distanced a bit more, and started this evening's exercise itinerary...

We did...

First up was...the running. Stephen led the strong squad for a couple of laps, followed by Becky taking her turn to get the team around. We then blitzed what seemed like dozens of dynamic stretches, some running drills, strength work and some more...running, playing the great greyhound-and-hare game, and then the "I-know-lets-finish-with-the-blended-speed-lap."

The runners were so resilient when having to complete tough lap after tough lap.

We finished with some static stretches before saying a brief cheerio, and heading home for dinner.

Counting our blessings

It was a lovely evening: the sun shone, the tarmac beckoned, the laughter echoed and the support remained throughout.

Well done everyone.

On arrival at Weaver's Adventure Playground, the team were well settled in: I was greeted by Eimear and Heather who were busy painting the external wall, and on stepping inside the playground, a team of four - Neil, Rohan, Chris and John - were rolling supersized logs across the playground, waiting to be expertly electric-sawed by Alex.

Meanwhile, Sian and Joel were knee-deep in soil, digging a hole for the apple tree to be relocated to, that Nadia, Jess and Clelia were all tackling. It was a morning of stubborn roots for sure.

The team didn't let up for one minute - the apple tree digging team became one, as Jess and Clelia lugged it, roots and all, over to the newly dug team, while Team Logs soon joined Alex to join in the manual sawing of dense, dense wood.

It was exhausting just to watch! And what a contribution: this small team helped brilliant playworker Alex tackle these time-consuming, heavy lifting jobs relentlessly. And the playground is now a little bit closer to re-opening.

Well done everyone.

A committed group of GoodGymers gathered at the huge Crisis warehouse today to help with the final stages of emptying the building.

How so?

We were lucky enough to be involved from the off in helping set up this huge Christmas warehouse operation, but we didn't expect to be invited back in March! Quelle surprise.

Anyway, it turns out many pairs of active hands make for light work, and so the runners busied themselves lifting bags, and bags, and tables, and wheeling pallets and trolleys and generally getting quite the workout.

Richard, the project co-ordinator here at Crisis joined the team on the warehouse floor throughout, assigning members to new activity every time any one looked at a loose end.

Good times

It was spacious, it was safe, it was sociable, and it was really quite an enjoyable way to spend the first Sunday in March.

Hopefully we'll be back for another final visit before the team move on.

Well done and thanks to everyone involved today, and a huge warm welcome to Clelia whose first GoodGym event this was. It was lovely to see you, and thanks for all you achieved.