It was one of the first cold nights so far and we were prepared for the cold weather with many layers!

All heading up the hill to start with, down the roads of Broadstone and up and down long and short driveways.

Team work really makes the dream work as within 45 minutes we’d covered all the roads planned!

It's Summer Solstice!

The longest, although not warmest day of the year. It's a time to celebrate the weeks ahead of warm days (hopefully) as the seas warm up around is, giving the earth more warmth!

As Goodgym, we subconsciously decided to follow Pagan traditions and celebrate with a balance of fire and water. The fire was used to cook our pizzas and the water would be much needed after a hot run!

But its Goodgym, so we had a task to do! A litter pick was planned in a local park, where exhibits included an Asda sign, cardboard, cans and dog poo bags! All nicely finished off with a quick hula hoop attempt where Christine showed us all how it was done.

It was a literal hop, skip and jump over the road to join fellow running group, Oakdale Runners! Jason who previously ran often with Oakdale Crew was given a big welcome and headed off at the front with a few other chaps.

A 5k route had been planned so a great opportunity for us all to network and chat to fellow runners!

It was a hot evening as expected and grateful to enjoy a steady pace across the bridges.

We returned to Rob's Filling Station where pizzas were in the oven and cooking up just for us! Robert kept to his usual sprint finish with Elizabeth racing him to the finish!

Topics of conversation was the usual chat about local races, injuries, events coming up and even just getting to know someone a bit more and what makes them tick!

Fire extinguished from the pizza oven, water drank, strawberries handed out courtesy of Christine's garden and it was time for home. Still in full light and warmth!

Bring on the summer!

We return to Goodgym after a weekend of celebrations across the country! It has been the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend where the nation celebrated 70 years of our Queen Liz on the throne. There are not many 96 year old's who are still carrying out duties which include public appearances, meeting high ranking people and signing off telegrams. From what we know of Queen Elizabeth from the war, I'd hedge my bets and say she'd be a great Goodgym member! She'd roll up her sleeves and get involved, who knows, maybe even the keeping fit bit! 😁

Tonight we decided to meet at the task, not a bad location arriving to see rain over the hills, views of Corfe Castle and colourful beach huts with sail boats sailing behind them. 😀 We had agreed on a short speed session and on Liz's suggestion, headed to the bridge (no one can ignore a Liz right now!). We managed team sprints up and down the bridge with Queen Liz herself pulling a fast one...by a sneaky short cut - who'd have expected that behaviour from a Elizabeth! Three rounds of sprints led onto lamp post runs which included fast and slow. Finally to finish it off- we headed for the goal posts for final sprint sections. All sprints were short but lung busters to get your heart racing.

We found Stan's iconic car in the car park with shovels and a wheelbarrow. So straight to work it was - clearing the side pathway and filling holes across the park to avoid trip hazards. Stan is grateful for help with heavy lifting part so saved us jobs like this we can really put our back in!

Holes filled, soil cleared from the side path and a happy team of volunteers.

In the words of Paddington Bear- Happy Jubilee your Majesty...and thank you for everything ❤️

In true English style I like to start all my reports with a view of the weather on our task.

Tonight is no different and certainly was brass monkeys, baltic, parky!

We met outside what was Daveena's like old times! It is now Club Hub and an anti natal class was underway, run (no pun intended) by a fellow runner no less - queue antics outside the windows!

It was fabulous to welcome along tonight a Goodgym first timer - Laura! Laura is a local club runner and previously has volunteered for local charities that work outside so was more than happy to get stuck in tonight!

We started off with our role call - Catching out any newbies who are unsure what is happening with the numbers! The 5 of us set off just after 6 having yet to see a name on the list - Ian. Ian like magic appeared in Ashley Cross Green less than a mile in. I've still no idea how he got there but we were very happy to see him! Ian completed Couch to 5k last year and has only recently joined Goodgym, completing some missions in Bournemouth already! Delighted to have you both along tonight- We really hope to see more of you!

A few hop, skips and jumps aroumd Ashley Cross fountain befroe the trundle up the hill towards St Aldhelms. Many of the runners tonight was feeling the aches of a few days consecutive running. parkrun Saturday, muddy running Sunday, Plod Monday for Elizabeth for example- A machine Liz!

Jane is day 25 of RED and no let up! Already clocking up 60 miles this year #stravastalker!

Patricia as our Ninja Nana is mixing it up with cycles, runs and a lot of gardening, nearly bailing tonight but thankfully kitted up and got out the door.

Onto St Aldhelms - Our first visit back in a long time and delighted to meet Heather, bags of knowledge about gardening she is working hard volunteering at the church with a few other great people! Heather was already on it with piles of leaves in various places to sweep into the wheel barrows and into the compost heap. It was team work with wheeling up and down, hands, dustpans and brooms all in use! We had our lights so we could ensure the place was left clearer by a long way! Everyone got hands on immediately and 40 mins or so later and we were ready for pics and to go!

Great to have Jason join us again, again a local club runner, Jason was keen to have a steady run and achieve something tonight - Pretty sure we covered all those bases!

We are still on the look out for tasks but will contine doing the great jobs we do from litter picking to sweeping!

To finish up on the weather front - Have you heard of these words for cold weather? Hyperborean, boreal, hibernal, hiemal, gelid, bruma!

Great job everyone!

A surprisingly mild evening that decided it would not listen to a weather forecast and throw some rain into the mix as we all met in the dark shadows of Langside School.

A lovely group of 10, it was fabulous to see again Tracy join us again after many months and Jason! Ellie and Tracy know each other from Canicross Training and soon formed a team responsible for leaf dumping!

Jason face lit up as he saw a leaf blower and soon was revving it up to play with. Meanwhile Jane was just as happy to see some bamboo needed chopping back and a large pair of shears to do it with.

Sian and Patricia soon tackled the first flower bed pulling off the mounds of leaves that had settled onto them covering some cute ornaments. The smells from the herbs gave a lovely aroma off as we tried to free them from so many leaves burying them.

Christine was busy cutting back a bush that was over spilling onto the path and hopefully will flower again next year. Whilst Robert was deep in the beds clearing away leaves! Nicola meanwhile was around the side surrounded by leaves!

Tracy and Ellie on wheelbarrow duty filled and spilled over many trips piles of wet leaves building speed as they were pilling up!

We left the school with a much clearer bed and pathways leaf free!

Onto the run and Christine took the lead to take us on a 2mile route to Runton Road lights! It was lovely along the way to see the houses lit up and even a couple worth a stop and picture! Runton Road itself was full of many houses and it attracts many people to see the displays whilst raising money for local charities. After no lights in 2020 it was lovely to have a selection of lights from blow up dinosaurs to candy cane driveways!

We returned back to Langside for a quick offer of cake, mince pies and alcohol free Mulled Wine out of the car boot to mark the last big task and run of 2021.

It has been a mixed bag! But friendships have grown and tasks have been done so we keep at it to Get Fit and Do Good!

Well done everyone!

It was a beautiful morning as Jane, Patricia, Jason and Esther met at 8.30am!

There was a perfect 20 mins to fit in a warm up and some short sprint relays across the large field - Having very speed work at the moment for most of us with lack of racing and parkrun - It was a certainly felt in the lungs!

Great to have Jason join us for his first Goodgym session! We hope to have you back again in future - Today representing the men!

9am and we were joined by Nicola, Shelley, andElizabeth (looking fab in Goodgym T-shirt and jeans!)!. It was straight into the litter hunt!

Thanks to Friends of Hamworthy Park who lent us a bag of litter pickers, we all headed off towards the play area. The beach and park is a popular family area with playpark, beach and a (currently empty) paddling pool, as well as beach huts and playing field. Friends of Hamworthy Park carry out a weekly littler pick but are always looking for more volunteers to help maintain the large area.

It all looked good on first inspection and not a litter to be seen - But with a good look around we found bottles, lots of cigerette ends, tissues and even make up compact and shampoo!

Happy with our loot it was all bagged up and left for the council to collect.

It was amazing seeing some familiar faces - Ones many of us have not seen since pre lockdown!

Being a lovely day - No one could run after the mission as had to shoot onto family matters so it was mission accomplished by 9.45!