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!

Wow, what an unbelievable turnout this evening and only one runner short of our all time record!

A big welcome to 3 new runners in Abbie, Libby and Emily, I hope you enjoyed your 1st GoodGym experience.

Some milestones this week with Emily on her 10th good deed, Lizzie and Jen were on their 25th good deeds.

Simon kindly volunteered to be back runner.

This week's task was our quarterly visit to Eaton Park, a 3km each-way run. The task this week was to clean the gates, weed a small flower bed near the fish lake and weed a very large flower bed next to the boating lake.

Michelle was in the lime light this week. Firstly, her and Helen did a Mission straight before this run, which is amazing. Then she had these awesome light attachments for her trainers and glow in the dark trousers (see the photos when the flash is on) that had some interestingly positioned arrows on them. She then placed her hand in doggy poo...

Once we blitzed the jobs, there was enough time to have a little stop in the play area... I've never seen Michelle run so fast so she could get their 1st. After 5 minutes of being kids again and waiting for Bill to finish playing on the climbing frame (goes to show at 69 you can still have fun) we headed back to The Forum for a stretch, which was nicely followed by a trip to the pub.

Great job everyone and our best turnout in the winter months.

Next week we're visiting Sprowston Community Hub.

I'd been looking forward to this task for ages, it's one we'd not done for over a year and is for such a great cause. Being able to help knowing how many have to rely on the Norwich Foodbank to be able to eat (something which we often take for granted) is very rewarding.

Elizabeth was one her 50th good deed tonight and ironically her 1st ever good deed was when we visited the Norwich Foodbank previously. Kev had got her a variety of banners to pin to her for the run - check out the photos!

3 new runners joined us this evening so a big welcome to Kerrie, Ross and Claire.

Bill was back runner.

After the warm-up (which is even more crucial this time of year now the colder weather has come in) we made our way on the 2-mile jog to the task. It was a good pace this week so great to see everyone progressing with their running. Each week more and more people are signing up to races.

One the way their it was like watching a firework display while running as it was bonfire night and various parts of the city were lit up by fireworks.

On arrival, Keith greeted us and explained what the tasks were. Most of it was to sort through cans of beans and soup to put in date order for next year. They'd just had the autumn harvest so lots of products were in stock at the moment. A small group were then weighing in newly donated items.

After we finished 30 minutes later, Keith explained how this saved him half a week's worth a work, something that does really help an organisation run by a small group of volunteers.

We took a slightly longer route home so everyone could open their legs up a bit on Earlham Road.

Yet another good deed done and thank you all for being involved with GoodGym.

Next week we're visiting Eaton Park.

So this is the first full group run report I'm having a go at writing - with Hitch sitting at my elbow watching me like a hawk and prodding me when I get bits wrong!

Our scheduled task got cancelled but Oxfam saved the day by coming up with a great task for us to get stuck in to. Having had a refurb recently with new flooring, the Oxfam shop was in need of a really good dust and hoovering.

Tonight we welcomed a new runner Chris. We also had some good deed milestones with Sam completing her 25th and both Robert and Len hitting their half centuries - goodness 50 good deeds each is really impressive! We also had some race successes over the weekend with Mish, Robert and Rosie T all getting 10k PBs! After a stiff warm up on the Forum steps (someone remarked that Hitch had clearly had a bad day to put us through that) we headed off to Oxfam where Emma greeted us with an action plan to help organise our task. We were therefore able to get stuck in and down to the hard work straightaway. We split into 4 groups working in each corner of the shop - with Hitch checking on our ability to hunt out the fluff and seeing which handbags he preferred. After 40 minutes we made our way back to the Forum - going via the Walk to do a sprint race. A few of us foolishly thought that was the fitness bit of the evening sorted but little did we know just what a bad day Hitch had clearly had as he then got really mean back at the Forum. Box jumps, bear crawls and sprints to City Hall steps followed by 4 minutes of tabata (as Hitch said, this is what it's like when you arrive in Hell...) A few red faces later and we almost forgave him when he remembered the Quality Street hiding in his rucksack. Next week we'll be making the City clean by having a litter pick.

** we'll leave you to work out which one was Hitch's and which one was Katy's verdict...