Well it's hard to imagine doing a Group Run in Norwich without our Run Leader Hitch being at the helm but even he's allowed to take holiday now and then (as long as he doesn't get too carried away) so instead the lovely Goodgymers had to cope with me being Run Leader for the evening! It was the first time I've had to lead a whole session so I found myself feeling a bit nervous beforehand, not wanting to mess up for everyone. I even made myself a crib sheet so I wouldn't forget any bits of the intro!

As there were no new runners this week, we went straight into marking milestones. Well done to Elliot for achieving his 10th Good deed.

We then took a moment to congratulate those taking part in races at the weekend. Several Goodgymers had battled the grotty weather the previous day to run the Norwich Half Marathon and David did a muddy run somewhere I keep forgetting which involved wearing a pink tutu! That man does like to dress up :)

A special shout out also goes to those Goodgymers who did a Community Mission volunteering at the Norwich Half in the pouring rain!

I then made sure I went through Hitch's Risk Assessment for the task - his instruction 'Don't wave your tools around!' brought much amusement, especially as we know that he always likes to keep his well tucked in when out with us!

We then went outside for a quick warm up session before heading off to the task. Bill kindly volunteered to be back runner.

After a 3km run to the Catton Grove Community Centre, we were met at the task by Linda who was well organised with all the equipment we might need to carry out the various tasks required and which involved litter picking, cutting back overgrown greenery, weeding the flower beds as well as the grooves in the brick weave paving. As usual the Goodgymers quickly got stuck into the tasks needed and after 30 minutes there was a massive mound of greenery and several bags of rubbish to show for it.

We then headed back to the Forum, stopping briefly for a photoshoot. No doubt everyone was relieved that there wasn't enough time to do any extra fitness session!

Hopefully normal service will be resumed next week, which will incidentally be Hitch's 100th Good Deed. We're looking forward to the celebrations!

Tonight's Group Run was linked in with WWF Earth Day so we decided to do a litter pick around the city of Norwich, which was a good environmental task. Norwich City Council kindly lent us the litter pickers.

Hollie and Jon were on their 1st GoodGym adventure tonight so welcome to the group :-)

Dave T was completing his 10th good deed and Liz & Bobby were completing their 25th good deeds.

Helen was back runner and Bill walk-leader.

The lovely Alice was on her final outing with GoodGym Norwich before she moves to London. You'll be missed but there's plenty of GoodGym's to pick from in London :-)

We caught up on the races from the weekend with members completing the Wymondham 20-miler, London Landmarks 1/2 Marathon and the Resolution 10K.

Although the litter pick was from our base at The Forum, we couldn't not do a little run so we started the evening with a little jog around Norwich in search for some litter we could come back and clear up.

Once we got back to The Forum we got into 4 groups and headed off to different areas of the city with litter pickers, bin bags and gloves. 40 minutes later the groups returned. A thank you to all the photographers tonight as I couldn't really cover 4 areas of the city at once. We couldn't get a photo of all the rubbish collected as someone (me!) forgot to let the council know we were doing the litter pick so all the bin bags were disposed in bins near to the area where each group was but shhhh, don't let the council know haha.

It was then time for everyone's favourite part of the evening... the fitness session ;-) This week it was a little pairs conditioning workout focusing on strengthening the lower body, upper body and core.

On Saturday we have a Community Mission at Catton Park for Earth Day and next Monday's Group Run is at The Norwich Food Bank.

We had our 2nd biggest turnout this evening with 37 GoodGymers hitting the streets of Norwich.

Amy C was completing her 25th good deed!

A thank you to Robert for being walk-leader, Catherine for being back runner and Helen E for being the photographer.

We were visiting the Oxfam Charity Shop tonight for a variety of tasks. Emma met us there and explained what they were, which included: cleaning the shop floor, putting new stock out on the shop floor, giving the kitchen a deep clean and taking books down on the conveyor belt into the pulping room. You'd think it would take some organising with a big group of people, but you'd be run as within a couple of minutes they were all split up and cracking on with all of these tasks.

It was quite an entertaining evening... check out the photos! Dave T styling a feminine hat, me with my whopping mushroom and three of the girls fitting into one pair of knickers... a sight I'm still not sure what to make of haha.

After a good 40 minutes of hard work, which equated to an incredible 24 hours of volunteer time we finished up and headed back... but not straight back. Oh no, I'm not that kind! So it was a detour via Grapes Hill, which everyone put a sterling effort into. After that we did a quick sprint session in Chapelfield Gardens before returning to The Forum. The evening was finished up with some cakes Elizabeth brought along ahead of her 21st birthday on Thursday.

Next week we're doing a litter pick in aid of WWF Earth Hour.