Wow!

I didn't think GoodGym Leeds could get any better, but it just did today! An amazing 27 runners joined our starter session, including 14 first-timers! You guys are already legends!

This run was all about encouraging some new runners who maybe can't usually make it on a Wednesday evening, find some of the distances a little daunting, or who just wanted to give it a go when they could actually see what they were doing! Hopefully you all got a taste of what GoodGym is all about and we'll be welcoming you back for more!

We started the session with a bit of a fun warm-up called "Aron says". It's essentially Simon says but with a bit more movement and jumping around, and while it took a while to get going the group cracked it in the end. The main thing was that everyone was happy and smiling before we set out on our runs and walks!

Aron took the running group with Helen backmarking to make sure nobody was left behind. We headed a slightly more scenic route as we took advantage of the light to venture onto Woodhouse Ridge. Liz took the walking group and took the most direct route so she even managed to beat us there!

Once we'd all found each other and reconvened at Bedford Fields, Ian ran us through the list of jobs. We were tasked with:

• Consolidating 2-3 piles of wood chip into one big pile.
• Removing old wood chip/soil from a path so we could lay down new wood chip.
• Clearing weeds/brambles/everything else from a section of verge, and putting the cuttings into a dead hedge.

The team quickly split into groups, grabbing the necessary tools and taking instructions from Ian and the other volunteers at Bedford Fields. Everybody got straight to it, with a few of them realising that shovelling in particular is pretty heavy work! Jackets came off as people quickly started to work up a sweat.

Some of the more experienced members of the group were coming to terms with doing a GoodGym activity in the daylight for the first time, and weren't quite sure what to make of it!

"It's a little bit more intimidating doing it in the daylight, you can actually see whether you've done a good job!"

Carol continued her tradition of ending up using one of the least appropriate tools for the task, by trying to clear soil off a two foot wide path using only a trowel! The rest of the group were using shovels and spades, but apparently Carol is so keen to make sure everyone else has a tool she's often left without! So selfless!

Meanwhile, over at the verge clearing, regulars Helen and Anne were getting to grips with brand new tools! As far as we could work out, they were mini scythes used for hand-held cutting of plants. It's a new one to our to our collection anyway. (**edit: apparently this is a sickle. I think I should have known this by now)

The wood chip shifters definitely had the hardest task as it was seriously tough going! However, even when given the option to switch they were having none of it.

"We're just suckers for punishment! We can't give up now, we want to finish it!" Naomi, first timer who was really relishing the challenge!

The verge-clearing crew were also finding it strangely enjoyable, with Joe spending most of his time posing for photos (whether the camera was on him or not) and another GoodGymer finding their own sense of satisfaction in finding space in the dead hedge.

"It's quite fun, it's like a game of Tetris!"

With the piles of woodchip almost completely gone, and the path cleared, there was just enough time to get some new woodchip on the path. Everyone was redistributed to a new role, wheelbarrows were filled, and the most energetic amongst the group ran the wheelbarrows the short distance to the path. With time running out, the last few wheelbarrows were raced into position for a final bit of smoothing out. Phew! We would hate to leave the job unfinished!

After a quick pic under the pagoda, we trotted over to the park, where Aron had a cheeky little fitness session planned. We split into 5 teams, and using the four sides of the monument, we had the following stations:

• Step-ups
• Sit-down squats
• Wall/step press ups
• Tricep dips

The fifth team had a short out and back run which set the time that the rest of the teams would be working for. While there was a suspicion that some groups were running extra slow to make it harder for everyone else, we had a great little workout and really worked up a sweat! Great job everyone!

With that, we were all done for the day, and had a gentle jog back to base, where we had a lovely stretch, and few of us hung around for a sociable drink.

It was absolutely fabulous to welcome so many new faces to GoodGym today, and we really hope you'll be able to make it back again soon.

Thanks for another fab group run, you guys are ace!

20 Runners ran 4km to help make sure the Life House is ready for opening

The cold weather and half term saw our numbers ever so slightly depleted, but we still had an amazing group of 20 tonight! Great work. Special kudos goes to Anne and [Anne](/runners/anne-ingleson who were completing their first ever run with us tonight. We had Kati, a tourist from GoodGym Huddersfield showing her support for another Yorkshire GoodGym, and it was also lovely to see some returning faces who haven't been for a few weeks - It's great to have you back!

As the weather was so cold, we did a really gradual running specific warm up, building up our movements from our feet and our ankles upwards. We all somehow ended up very close to each other by the end so maybe there's a little work for us on keeping our heads up.

Next we headed off down to wards Seagulls, with Aron leading and Tom backmarking. It was the same run as last week, so it wa the same drill - gentle jog down the hill, with a bit of looping back (up the hill!) to keep the group together. We'll all be masters of the hills in no time!

When we arrived at Seagulls. Cat and Kate were ready and waiting for us this time and they had what seemed like an impossible list of jobs for us to do. We were tasked with:

• Painting a window frame in the lovely blue from last week
• Edging all the floor with grey floor paint
• Painting the entire floor
• Painting one large wall
• Covering two walls with a PVA glue wash so paint would stick to it
• Painting the toilets
• Bonus coat rack building if there was time

Whew! They really like to test us! But this is GoodGym and we felt we were up to the task. We immediately split into small and started attacking smaller jobs as little teams. This was going to take lots of teamwork to make sure we didn't paint someone into a corner and leave them stuck there, so we planned some paintless corridors that we would leave, so people could make their way out at the end. We decided to leave the toilets and the coat rack for now, but cracked on with everything else.

Everyone jumped straight in and got cracking on, even if they didn't always know exactly what they were supposed to be doing!

"I'm not really sure what edging is, is it just painting round the edges?" Ellie, GG Leeeds

Everyone worked out what needed to be done, but with the edging clearly the slowest task, early signs weren't good for getting it all completed within the time. Co-operation was the order of the day though, and the wall painting team in particular seemed to have it all sorted, with a range of heights among the team meaning they could reach high and low!

"We really are the perfect team!" Abi, GG Leeds

Kate from Seagulls was still absolutely buzzing from what we'd managed to achieve last week, and was really happy to have us back. We're already talking about some exciting future projects we could team up on, so watch this space!

"We really wouldn't have been able to do all of this without you, it's freed us up to do some other stuff which just wouldn't have managed to achieve without you!" Kate, task owner, Seagulls

By now, team PVA glue had whizzed through their task, thanks in part to Farid's double handed painting technique! They were mostly repurposed to the glamorous job of toilet painting, with others joining in painting the floor. We were starting to get a little cramped in the middle of the room by this point, with some people 'customising' their trainers. I'm promised it should all wash off, unless of course you think they look better this way! The tight spaces meant there was some imaginative lunging, yoga posing and in some cases dancing to make sure the paint was properly applied to the floor.

Finally, we reached the really tricky part, people started to make their way out of the room, with a human conveyor belt of paint tins, trays, rollers and paintbrushes. Clare and Liz decided they could smash out the hat rack in the final few minutes so they jumped to it, while everyone else was dancing a careful ballet out of the room in the tiny available paintless spots.

Tom had positioned himself furthest from the door and become Last Man Painting, with Adam doing his best to paint him into a tiny island adrift from the rest of the crew. With one final balletic leap, Tom was out of the room, the tiny square he'd been standing on was painted over by a team of three, and the whole operation was complete. What a task!

Amazingly, there was still time for some running drills before we headed back up the hill. The drills we did were:

• Single leg balance
• High knee walking
• A-skips
• Butt-kicks
• Heel to Bum kicks

Everyone felt very silly at times, but there were definitely some things for us to take away, particularly around balance, and whether one side is stronger than the other.

Finally, we made our way back up to base, with a bonus loop-back hill rep for those who were brave enough, with high fives for everyone else, before an easy stretch and debrief. Top work tonight team, you absolutely smashed it!

An AMAZING 68 runners ran 3km to help completely clearing two large sections of verge for Bedford fields!

Our first task had high expectations, and boy did you all live up to them!

It was a bumper turnout for our first task, and everyone was happy, smily and chatty, spending bit of time getting to know each other before we got underway. We had a lovely send off from Councillor Rafique, and after a quick warm up of 'Jump left, jump right, jump in, jump out' it was time to see if Leeds was ready for GoodGym!

As the task was so close, the runners went for a nice lap of the park before the light faded, while the walking group headed straight for the task. It was tough to keep so many people together, so we split into two, with Aron at the front of one group, and GG Yorkie Trainer extraorinaire Egg at the front of the other group. Grace and Heather were our backmarkers.

We arrived at the task and Ian gave us a quick pep talk - our tasks were:

• To rip out any weeds/nettles/brambles out of two overgrown areas.
• Move everything we'd pulled out further up the path.
• Add the "woody stuff" (a technical term) to the dead hedge, with everything else thrown over the hedge to rot down behind it.
• Another small group headed off to do some heavy lifting moving some big logs.

After some early apprehension about just pulling out nettles and brambles protected only by some gardening gloves, everyone got really involved and there was a whir of activity. There were people pulling, chopping, running this way and that, and lots of motivating each other!

"It's like I'm back training with the paras here!" Ian, task owner, Bedford Fields

Everyone pitched in with whatever tools were available and we really started to make some progress, even if some people did have a bit of trouble with the tools...

"This rake is really mugging me off" Gillian, GoodGym HQ

When the log shifters rejoined the group we really picked up the pace, and we made some massive progress. As our 45 minutes came to a close, we swept the path and cleared away all the tools, before Egg led a round of birthday squats for Trainer Aron's birthday.

It was just a short run back to base, but we stopped off for a bit of a fun cone workout to really get our sweat on! Everyone worked really hard on the range of exercise and there were loads of synchronised squats and rope climbs which was lovely to see.

After we collected all the cones, we took a gentle jog back to HPBC, where we had a nice stretch and (for some of us) a well earned drink, with the warm glow of a good deed done (or was that nettle rash?)

Thank you all for such an amazing launch, you're all fab. Go give each other a cheer!