Graham Atkins

We had a great crew of Goodgymmers log on this morning for our special Weekly Coffee Time meet-up to say farewell to James Gilbert and Claire Choe, two long time Goodgym Islington runners. They have some exciting times ahead, as they pack up their stuff before traveling to New Zealand. Earlier this morning, they received a knock on the door, and were greeted by Graham, providing home-made buns for breakfast (which looked delicious too!).

It was great to see some familiar faces from our past group runs too, including Tracey (and her attention seeking black and white cat) and Steve (who is getting back into his trademark long runs again, and is planning on meeting Frances for a snowy walk on Monday!). Kike was being proactive too, quietly fixing her bike in the background and preparing for some laps of Regent's Park, and Patrick set up a lovely backdrop for his Zoom set-up, with a special message for James and Claire ("We Miss You Already"- a sentiment we can all agree with). Aidan joined us too, sporting a lockdown moustache, trimmed after his fancy dress run with Graham last week (A "118, 118" Dave Bedford costume collaboration, for the GG Islington RUN-GO contest), and Caroline demonstrated her collection of virtual Zoom backdrops, previously used for her improv comedy performances (we had sci-fi bubbles, red brick wall and various wine bottle themed backgrounds!).

As always, it was an absolute pleasure to catch up with everyone, but also so lovely to see so many people show up to say Goodbye to our Goodgym friends. We all look forward to coming to visit your Southern Hemisphere wonderland very soon! Good luck, and all the best James and Claire.