Good numbers at GoodGym Portsmouth this evening... great to see everyone. Plenty of chat and laughter too.

We welcomed Rasha for her first ever group run, and she only thought she was turning up to do a doc check! We also welcomed Rachel for her first run with us, she first ran with GoodGym in Cardiff but now lives down our way. She was also christened Welsh Rachel to differentiate herself from Rachel C who we welcomed back from her Aussie adventure. We also had 2 Sophies with us tonight so they are from here on known as Queen Sophie and Normal Sophie.... this is what happens when you let people choose their own nicknames!

Having a ball

Ashley ran us round to Manor Infants where he had very kindly arranged some indoor tasks - the first was touching up the walls and the skirting. We love a double entendre here in Pompey so that really set the scene for when we started the other task which was clearing out & tidying the PE cupboard - we had saggy balls, balls that were too hard, ball sacks, lumpy balls, balls that needed pumping up - you name it there were plenty of ball related quotes of the night. Once everything had been sorted and was being loaded back into the cupboard there was even a comment about being back in the closet! If you look at the photos you will also see that Lara and Lou have been (self)nominated as playground friends and they very fetching they look too in the yellow cap.

How many GoodGym runners does it take...

...to put together a goal with no instructions? The answer appears to be greater than 16 as we didn't quite manage to work out what pieces went where!

Squats lunge got to do with it?

As it was face-freezingly cold and we are a group of (mostly) southern softies, we did our fitness session inside our room in the community centre. I was impressed that for once we actually left a task in time to do a full fitness session! There were many excellent efforts on the agility ladder, some gorgeous grapevines and skips on the drills station, groaning efforts coming from tricep dip corner and some good air on the squat jumps.

Awesome work from everyone, hope you're not too sore tomorrow!

Next week we are outside so wrap up warm as we return to St Faiths, site of the bindweed battle. And there will be a final chance to bag some good deeds for the January challenge on Thursday 31 January with a plog at Hilsea, meeting at the Rugby Club/Covers car park.

Today was all about promoting the good work that we do in the local community. It started with my appearance on the Express FM breakfast show (yes, we took the photo the wrong way round!). And we followed it with our group run: a running loop north of the community centre and a walking loop heading south to spread the word to local charities and organisations about what we do and how we can help. Our one down side was that most of the schools had locked their gates and had no post boxes... it's almost as if they don't want to hear about things outside school hours!!

It was great to be back to a normal Wednesday, spending the evening with the enthusiasm and positivity of all the Portsmouth GoodGym Runners. Thanks also for getting stuck into the rotating plank challenge when we got back inside.... the temptation to just sit down in the warm was pretty strong!

Our ABC activity to start involved "B" for balance combined with everyone's highlights from Christmas and New Year. Maura & Tracey were both sporting a new pair of trainers, good for racking up those kms in the January challenge!

Three cheers

Shout outs tonight for achievements: * Lara for running the furthest she has run as part of our group - hope the legs aren't too sore tomorrow! * Angela for running the furthest she's ever run at the beginning of the week (12 miles in preparation for the Pompey half in February) * Sam for completing her "LIRF" course which means she's on her way to becoming a GoodGym Run Leader.

And I'm sure there are others we should be shouting about, so don't be shy - share your achievements with me!

We have another chance to do good on Saturday, this time in the daylight! Meeting at Hilsea Lido and there's CAKE afterwards. Hope to see you there - details are here. Next week we return to Naomi House. Both runs have a walking option (thanks to our walk leader extraordinaire Jo!)

Until I see you next, happy running & thanks for giving me that GoodGym Good Feeling again tonight :)

Well this is a bumper edition of the run report!

Today is the 175th anniversary of A Christmas Carol - written by Portsmouth born (oh yes!) Charles Dickens so look out for the related puns...

News & Updates:

Judy managed a 5km PB at Great Run Local on Sunday - she's been taking big chunks off her times recently - nice one Judy!

Rachel is doing her 50th Parkrun on Saturday before she flies off for some Aussie sunshine. Come on down to Southsea to run as well, give her a cheer and maybe celebrate with some cake after!

Festive Tai Chi is now on this week: Saturday 11:00 at the Coffee Cup. Free to attend and guaranteed laughs.

Tonight's Task

Tonight we welcomed back Shakira who has returned to the south coast for her Christmas break... just remember your friends here in Portsmouth when you're a super star!

For our first task, we returned to Buckland community centre tonight to offer many willing hands and some seasonal cheer. Mary wasn't expecting quite so many people but we split into various groups. The hardcore folk went outside to sweep up wet leaves in the rain, those who stayed in the dry sorted out the charity shop area, leaflet stands and swept the floor of the cafe area - mince pie crumbs, glitter and dried peas were the main haul. Louisa was singing Christmas songs whilst brandishing the mop, if only I'd taken a video it would've been a viral hit!

After the task we headed back to Fratton Community Centre to share food and fun. Task number two was a task with a Twist - try to eat all the food that we had collectively brought along to share! There was plenty of festive good cheer and no sign of Bah Humbug! as we shared Christmas plans (Lapland and Australia by far the most exciting) and good news about future new members of the gang!

And we also had the Awards - perhaps there were Great Expectations for this part of the evening. It wasn't quite the Oscars but the right people got their certificates! Here's the round up:

Top of the Pops (most good deeds this year excluding tonight!) in reverse order were: Judy (15), Rosie(16), Maura(18), Laura(18), Sam(19), Tony(30), Mel(30), Angela(31). Pompey Angel with a massive 34 good deeds in 2018 is Jo.

Forrest Gump award to Angela for most kms logged with a total of 439km!

Hat Trick award to Mel in recognition of her coach runs, missions and group run good deeds.

Mr Bump award to Rosie for most random injury. Sustained not in a group run (in case Ed is reading and wondering about the missing accident report!) but on the way to GoodGym when she was lassoed by some plastic binding.

Congratulations to all our winners AND also a big thank you to everyone who comes along to GoodGym and makes it a great place to be. Tonight we hit 487 Good Deeds for Portsmouth - awesome team work!

Here are a few things to be aware of as we head into the New Year:

The January GoodGym Good Deeds Challenge - we have set a stretch target of 90 good deeds for the month and a collective running distance of 650kms. We are competing against all other GoodGym areas for the coveted Golden Trowel trophy! So sign up to the group runs, community missions and keep an eye out for anything else we can get involved with - please speak to me or one of the task force (Mel, Jo, Angela & Sam) if you see a good opportunity. AND please link your Strava accounts to your GG profiles if you haven't already!

RED January - This started life as "run every day" in January to support your mental health but this year is slightly different - it's about being active every day so that might be running but walking, biking, gym class, dancing etc etc all count too. You can sign up and use it to raise money for MIND if you would like to or just get involved via their social media accounts on Facebook & Twitter.

Strava Club - Rosie has kindly set up a Strava Club for us called GoodGym Portsmouth if you also join this we can see how far we can all run together in 2019... How fast do you think we will get to 2019km? Place your bets!

Group Runs restart on Wednesday 9th January with a mystery task! Before that you have a chance to come and join in with a coached session on Monday 31st December and a beach clean on Saturday 5th January. Plus there's an additional Southsea Parkrun on Christmas Day at 9:00 and the opportunity to do the double on New Year's Day - Southsea at 9:00 and QE Country Park at 10:30

If you are still awake at the end of this report, well done! Thanks again for playing your part in GoodGym this year. Here's to more fun, runs, puns and good deeds in 2019. I will leave you with a genuine quote from A Christmas Carol which seems fitting:

There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour

Have a brilliant Christmas and New Year. See you on the other side!

Katie :)