14 people ran 8k to run a fitness session for the attendees at Free@Last

So, on the first GG Brum run since the clocks changed we made good use of the light nights by running to and from our task destination via the canal. Garry did the back-marking duties, carrying a large bag full of his balls ready for the task ahead.

Once arriving at Free@last after our 4K run, we were warmly greeted by James who rounded up the children ready for the fun fitness session. Garry led the session with the rest of the group joining in! We started off with a game of ‘head, shoulders, knees and cone’! This involved two people against each other touching their head, knees and toes when commanded to do so by Garry, when he shouted ‘cone’ it was the first person to grab the cone! It was great fun, a few of the group (me included) showing their competitive side! We then went into a game of ‘Sumo wrestling’ pushing against each other’s hands, Richard and David had lots of fun with this one!

Ball tampering?!

The last game everyone got to tamper with Garry’s balls, fortunately nobody had any sandpaper down their trousers, Aussie cricketer style! Anyway, it was a good old game of dodge ball! Liam was the ‘king’ of this game, being the last one to get hit. I think he was the only group member to enjoy it more than the kids! There were balls flying everywhere, everyone getting involved, having a fantastic time! Once we had finished James was appreciative of the group’s efforts and is looking forward to us coming back, so great work everyone and thanks to Garry for doing an awesome job of Running the session!

We obviously had the obligatory photo before leaving and then it was back on the canal for the run back. It’s always a bit tougher on the way back as not only as everyone is quite tired from the run there and the task but to add to that it’s also uphill. Anyway, everyone did a great job as usual supporting each other on the run back and we all arrived at 1000 Trades just as it was getting dark.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

12 people ran 9k to get shown around and brainstorm some task ideas at Free@last

It was great to have a dozen runners at tonight’s run, on the coldest GG Brum night yet! After a flurry in the afternoon the white stuff kindly stayed away throughout the run. Once the intros were done we were out into the cold and got on our way rather quickly! Nobody wanted to be standing around tonight! We ran the 4.5k to Free@Last and were happy to get into the warmth on arrival. James welcomed us and showed us around the whole facility. The climbing wall was especially impressive. Richard and Luke especially enjoyed climbing across it! We were shown DJ booths and even recording studios, it really is an impressive facility. Once our tour was done we had a brainstorm on what we could do to help the facility next month, it was decided we would take a fitness session for the facilities’ attendees.

The run back

Once done, we had time for a quick photo, David seemed to enjoy lying in the snow I'm sure he would have been up for building a snowman if there had been a little more of the white stuff knocking about! We ran in a few groups all running slightly different speeds. Everyone worked well supporting each other to get the job done in quick time.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.

13 people ran 8k to give out fruit to the homeless

Tonight, it was great to welcome three newbies to GG Brum, we had Elizabeth, Joana and Dave joining us for tonight's run. It was great to have you with us!

After the intro's we were ready to go on what was a virtually tropical night compared to recent standards. Tonight's task was a bit different. Normally we help a specific organisation, however tonight we were running around the city centre giving fruit, mainly bananas, though Karin (who also thought up tonight's 'pun') brought some nectarines along as well, to the homeless. We split up into two groups, I led one group along the canal, before coming out at Brindley Place, while Rob was the 'big boss man' of the other group running more centrally through the city centre. We then arranged to all meet outside the town hall at 6.55pm.

Banana man!

Once we met at the town hall we ran together to give the remainder of the bananas out. Luke the 'banana man' was very keen, running in all directions to give out his copious bunches of bananas he had brought along! By 7.25pm we had given everything out, so on the way back to base we quickly stopped in Cathedral Square or Pigeon park as many know it, due to the amount of feathered friends in the vicinity to do a very quick Bootcamp blast! It was a little mixture of high knees running, jump lunges and tuck jumps. The group put in great effort as usual. Joanna put in some great work on the high knees, Morwenna got nice and low with the jump lunges and David got the knees right up in the tuck jumps!

Once that was all done, it was just the small matter of the 1k run back to 1000 Trades.

Next week we will be out doing good again, it would be great if you could join us sign up here.