10 runners set off from our usual staring location of Lifeleisure Grandcentral at 6.30pm.

We did a longer than usual warm up as our task location was literally a skip hop and less than a jump away from us!

We warmed up with a mini circuit to prepare ourselves for the gardening task on hand, and then for the circuit planned for after the task.

We ran a very small loop, which was welcomed after last weeks huge run, to get to our location of behind Stockport Town Hall. Here we were greeted by the lovely Eleanor and the fabulous Simon, who is a regular Goodgym crew member and a fantastic human. After introducing themselves they set about the task of handing out gardening equipment to de-weed and arrange the wildflower planters……when you think of planters you think of smallish pots? Nooooo, this was a massive 70s structure! It was a massive task, but once again we set to it.

As the nights are getting darker earlier time was once again us, so picked our tools, put on our gloves and set to it with the pulling up of weeds and picking out litter. As ever the task seemed massive but with 10 of us at hand it gets done quickly and so the transformation began.

The area is pretty big and used by people working in the building close by to stop and have lunch, people also walk around to get a bit of exercise and fresh air, if i’m honest I didn’t know it was there, but its a fabulous place that now looks clean and fresh and ready for more wildflowers to be sewn.

Chatting with some of the Goodgym crew we mentioned as well as getting a good run in, and doing a good deed for our community we are also getting to know various bits of where we live that we never knew about, which is fantastic! Last night I heard about a place called “Happy Valley” I never knew such a place existed in Stockport, and now I look forward to finding it and doing a run around, I mean who wouldn’t want to run around in Happy Valley??

After the task was completed the gloves were off and the tools downed, we had a circuit session, since the run was very small! The fitness circuit comprised of star jumps, squats, lunges, press ups and hill run and of course a bit of loop running…….It was a tough finisher that made lots of red sweaty faces, but a great challenge. Some adaptations were made, as ever, we can mix things up so that the session is inclusive for everyone. The very last part of the session was a 3 minute interval session, where everyone blasted on through and did a fantastic job.

We then all cooled down, stretched off for a while and talked about our celebrity status!!

This week, on Tuesday morning we were talked about on non other than the Chris Evans breakfast show on BBC2!!!! The discussion is at the 1.12 mark if you feel like having a listen, he basically and rightly so says how wonderful we are, how we run to a community hot spot, complete a wonderful deed then run back, he says we move mountains (and if you were at wk 2 and remember the pile of twigs we moved, then he’s not wrong!) It was amazing to hear us get a mention, and whats more wonderful is that it was one of the parents from the primary school last week, so it was completely random. Every week i’m amazed at what we achieve, not only do we do the things mentioned but we are like a little community of our own, if you feel like being part of it we meet every Tuesday at Lifeleisure Grandcentral at 6.30pm, for further information visit the website at www.goodgym.org and any questions just email me at lisa.h@goodgym.org

Till next week guys, keep running,

Lisa H

Last nights run saw 16 runners do their thing around Stockport Town Centre, running 5km in various locations to do a big clean up! After handing out gloves and bags we started our first section of clean up. We started on the stairs near the station where we collected bags and bags of rubbish along with some other exciting objects such as Jeans, T-shirts, a Hat, a Tie, a Speeding sign, a Wallet and a Cuddly Toy?..........last bits a joke, but we found a lot, and we cleaned a lot! Within 15 minutes we had cleared the stairs for commuters to enjoy, the space is so lovely but before we arrived it looked like a bin site, We left with it looking how it should, green, clean and tidy!

After our first location we ran onto the historic market place for another section of a clean up, as well as cleaning some lovely green spaces this time we found a Sleeping bag, a wine glass and 2 cans of beer!! You could say we could have had a party, o wait, we did!!!! Not only did we run and do good last night also saw our first Goodgym Stockport social, created by the fabulous David Higham (Thanks dude!)

After our second section of clean up we did a bit of running, we ran around the hilly market place of Stockport, including the fish hill, if you know it, YOU KNOW IT! its difficult to walk up let alone run up, so the challenge of as many loops around the market and up the fish hill as possible in 15 mins was a epic challenge that everyone took on, there were options to miss out the hill or do smaller loops or add rest, so don't panic if your thinking of joining us in the future, we always have alternative options, and were all lovely and like a good chat!

This week saw lots of us wearing our Goodgym T-shirts so we are begining to look like the super crew we are and we had a few people ask what we were up too which was great!

Welcome to our first time runners this week: Ellen Adamson, Kate Sharples and Brandon Kilbride! you all worked super hard. Was also great having a chat with Jennie Neil about her personal running journey, a total inspiration!

Also a massive shout out to all the people that ran the Lifeleisure Stockport 10km, I marshalled the event and supported you all, and was great to see you out there, well done for the challenge but also well done for doing that on Sunday then still joining us on Tuesday, you guys totally rock!!

We now have a WhatsApp group, and a Starva group (thanks again David!) and at the social we have already penciled in 7 events for next year.........and we all only had 1 beer each!

Once again Stockport crew, thanks for your continued enthusiasm for the running and the good deeds.

Next weeks run is 4.5km each way so 9km in total, this is going to be our longest run to date, our good deed is to paint and tidy a local school in need a bit of TLC. Im really looking forward to it, I hope you guys are too. Try to remember a bin bag to wear as we will be painting with bright blue paint.

Until next week folks.........Happy running x x x x x