Laura Williams

Why didn't the chicken cross the road?

There was a flurry (okay, okay, it had to be done) of anticipatory excitement at the thought of skilfully relocating the chicken coop at John Scurr this evening. But on arrival, Ray informed us that the decision to move the chickens had been put on hold for the moment, over concerns that these noisy, feathered friends may prove to be an undesirable alarm call for local residents in their new spot.

Sand and Deliver

Never ones to complain, the GoodGym crew promptly set about suiting up for the next task: priming the wall for a big paint job. It was all go, with goggles, masks, extendable rollers and disposable aprons. Ray had left no stone unturned ensuring every health, safety, mess and precision box was ticked.

While we waited for the wall to dry, we moved to the next task: sanding the iron structure outside the classroom. This was tougher on the delts, lats and triceps that you'd imagine, and a lower body boost, too, particularly if you fancied climbing to confront the higher beams.

The time sped by, and before we knew it, we were posing for pics in our science dress up.

Same time, same place

Ray was really pleased with what we got done, and wasted no time inviting us back next week.

I'll be there.

Well done, everyone - a thoroughly lovely start to the long weekend.

There was chat, there was running, there was a pre-training task... Yep, it was Monday night at Meath Gardens.

All the regulars!

What a lovely turnout. A full list of sign-ups arrived at the fallen tree in huge Meath Gardens, an oasis nestled away behind bustling Roman Road.

We welcomed back Task Force member Kat, who'd flung herself right back in at the deep end, co-leading tonight's task at Hollybush with Becky. A supersquad no less.

And so we gathered in our favourite semi-circle with mats, resistance bands, music and a blue, blue sky.

What we did...

We ran to the basketball court a couple of times ("Maybe 3/10 intensity on the way there, and, say 7/10 on the way back?"); enjoyed some static stretches, dynamic stretches, and a core set-up, before running through top-to-toe moves with our looped resistance bands.

We finished with the greyhound-and-hare speed game, perfected by Simon who did the best hare impression, even after a sprint finish.

Shout-outs of shout-outs

Thanks to Becky and Kat for top task-leading, and to Becky for leading the run from Hollybush; to Jess and Simon for being our speedy, fun, courageous hares, and to the whole crew in general for committing, showing up, welcoming one another, and just being living, breathing Team Spirit.

See you in a fortnight!

Back together again...

A lovely sized group headed to our favourite Meath Gardens this evening for our Monday night fitness session.

We arrived in dribs and drabs: some came straight to Meath; others arrived from our Monday night task at Hollybush, thanks to fabulous task-and-run-leading by Leo.

Show us your moves

Tonight's movement menu consisted of a couple of running drills, to work on hip drive and hip mobility; some standing balance-and-core moves, before a tough little lower body/upper body/core circuit.

We finished with our favourite grey-and-hare relay-esque speed game before some fiddly-but-effective stretches.

Pat on the back.

Well done to everyone who showed up and ploughed through all this content. It's lovely to learn how to be together in a group once again, with a little small talk and a lot of strength work.

Shout outs tonight to Joanna, our wonderful Task Owner from favourite Meath Gardens who we saw on her way home! And who took some fab aerial pics of us working out.

...While shout-out of the night goes to Leo, who didn't miss a beat when picking up our first group run baton, taking both the good-sized team to Hollybush, navigating a picturesque canal run, all before devouring 45 mins of fiery fitness moves.

Thanks for a lovely evening, everyone. Until next week.