James Nottingham

On a cold and crisp Sheffield eve 13 brave runners headed out to help litter pick on and around Chatham St down by the Riverside pub (good pub).

Even before arriving we could see in the distance, up the hill a waving litter bag which was held by MARVELOUS MARTIN and COURTEOUS KAREN, who welcomed us and gave us our instructions for the eve which was to litter pick around a triangular area and then head up ROCK St to clear as much as we could up there.

We grabbed pickers and bags and got to rocking and rolling, moving and shaking, picking and flicking!

Amongst the usual items, we also found some choice items, including:

• An unopened can of Irn Bru
• A rusty saw
• A kitchen knife
• A broken bike lock
• Various items of clothes (enough to make an art piece out of)
• A water pistol
• Parts of a car

Once we had done what we could in the time we had, we headed back to where we started to leave a number of brimming bags, ready for the council to collect. We said our goodbyes to the team and headed in the direction of home.

On route back we stopped by some lovely lit blocks for a bit of a fitness Bloc Party! We got paired up and whilst one person sprinted around the outside of the blocks, their partner completed a block based exercise and then we switched. This week we focused on:

• Step Ups/Box Jumps
  
• Squat Jumps
• Press Ups

Once back we got stretched off and headed into The Showroom for some refreshments.

Until next time, happy running :)

Icey Icey Baby! After a beautiful morning the temps took a dive up north, so we were keen to get going tonight! After a quick count up and group photo we got on our way past the closed footpaths and over obstacles. We even took in some 'suicide sprints' and some extended loops in order to keep us all together on the way there.

Once at the park we met with our mate Parky Rob who gave us the brief for the nights task which was to cut back the hedges on the triangular section of parkland on Midhill Road.

We birfurcated into 3 teams to manage the areas most effectively and got straight to it, cutting back, filling and unloading tonne bags all with happy faces!

Once time was up, we downed tools and headed to the U-Mix centre for a little look at technique.

We took to the sprint track and focused on lifting our heels up into the underneath of our bums to mimic good technique and get some nice kinesthetic feedback to refer us back to in our own future runs. We also got three sets of squat jumps in to get some conditioning and took a little look at good squat technique also.

Once home we stretched off and headed inside for drinks and to find out more about the councils consultation and plans for active leisure - Find out more below:

https://sheffield.citizenspace.com/place/sport-leisure-strategy-consultation

We welcomed a new GoodGymer Derek along to our early morning litter pick at Mount Pleasant mansion so obviously a good time of day for some of us.

Sunrise was at 8.20am this morning so we met before dawn and had a good pick in the ground of the mansion. The locals were met with various quotes from us including the surprise of finding fish in the long grass (of course they were not alive even though it seemed necessary to mention they were dead at the time).

It was good to clear a popular cut through and it looked much better after 30 minutes.

A few of us then did a lap of the park to warm up and enjoy the crisp morning sunshine. Some of us are doing RED January too so good to have a short run.

Tomorrow sunrise is... 8.19am!! And sunset is one minute later too so lighter days ahead.

Thanks for everyone for coming.

'I phoned Mr A just before lunchtime on Christmas Day and he was in very good spirits. I enjoyed hearing about how he had seen his son's family and was looking forward to lunch with his friend today. We chatted about how it was snowing where I was calling from, but no signs of snow from his window unfortunately. I've been trying to call Mr J but it goes straight to voicemail- I'm sure it's just because he's having a relaxing Christmas and doesn't want to be disturbed! I think I'll try again tomorrow.' Becky.

Thanks to all the volunteers who made nearly 20 phone calls over Christmas weekend to people referred from Live Well.