A warm welcome awaited us tonight for a brand new smashing task!

It was a super task to welcome new runner Brooklyn tonight as it contained a trio of excellent GoodGym elements:

• Warm indoor task

• Team work to create a human chain

• Toys to play with

But as we celebrated Brooklyn joining the #GGNCL family, we had another big milestone to celebrate: EMILY'S 50th GOOD DEED and therefore the second outing for the Geordie cloak of Good Deeds. Emily has split her time between Newcastle and York GoodGym, spreading sunshine and smiles wherever she goes. Emily cited her favourite task as the regular mission to Nunsmoor Park where they have the best biscuits. We look forward to seeing Emily in the amazing black tshirt of Goodness soon! It was FREEZING for the warm up tonight which we blasted through while Charlotte led the walking group ahead to meet us at the task. A mixture of mobility exercises got us started then we were off and ready to go!

Our task at Nunsmoor Centre was a new Group Run, but it was somewhere we have visited for Community Missions in the past. Alyson at Nunsmoor Centre asked us for help tonight to sort out a few cupboards that needed emptying, cleaning and rearranging. The Nunsmoor Centre is a hub for activities in the Fenham area for families to access that relies massively on volunteers, and it was a wonderful space for us to complete both our task and fitness session.

We split into a few small teams to empty the main cupboard, pass items along a human chain, check them over while the cupboard was cleaned out, before passing them back along the chain to restock. The smaller team worked on two other cupboards to give them a good tidy and sort out as well as a deep-clean. These are the types of jobs that are easy for us to do in such a large group, but would take a long time for someone to complete alone. There were some weird and wonderful (mainly wonderful) toys for us to - ahem - check over including an array of musical instruments. If I had known that, the fitness session would have been putting a band together!

Speaking of fitness sessions, it was brilliant to have the hall to use for it tonight...

I've heard of this GoodGym! It's fabulous to see it in action!

There was a circuit of fun for the session: 2 minute stints at 4 stations: frog walks (yes they ARE a thing, ribbit) shuttle runs, rock, paper, scissors with squats as a forfeit, and the all-important planks. Twice round the circuit then a 4-set finisher. Faye said she was so warm it was nice to actually step back out into the winter air! Everyone worked super-hard on this and it was an amazing effort by everyone, although I do think there will be some sore quads in toon tomorrow.

Don't forget there are TWO chances to do good things this weekend with a community mission on both Saturday and Sunday so get involved if you can! We are back at Newcastle Uni for the Group Run next Monday where we are also being joined by ITV news so get along and grab your 5 minutes of fame!

Happy running!

Anji

Our tasks with Changing Lives are always fantastic, and our first visit to Eslington House in September last year was one of the most epic of all GoodGym group runs... remember the Flat Pack Adventure?! so tonight we took the opportunity to chill in the most laid back of kitchen tasks.

It was great to welcome back Will who's been a little tied up the last few months becoming Daddy to a new baby boy! Will was one of the original GoodGym Newcastle family and has continued to support us from afar. As we passed our 200th member of #GGNCL this week it's always nice to look back at who has been with us right from the start too. Welcome back Will! Will was one of 21 battling through the Blue Monday Blues to use their run tonight to do good things.

Eslington House is a Changing Lives project for homeless young people to stay to help them get back on their feet after a period of temporary housing. This little set of flats is hidden away in Gateshead, giving us a super view of the Newcastle Quayside as we venture over the Tyne! I was so proud of Aimee who despite not running since her last GoodGym attendance before Christmas, battled through the bracing winds (and hills!) to complete the run and give it her absolute best.

Smashed it!

On arrival to Eslington House it was immediately into two teams and into major spring clean mode to tackle not one but two shared kitchens. Rachel deserves the biggest shout out tonight for being first on with the dishes and last to leave the task. I hope your hands aren't too pruny Rach! Fridges and microwaves scrubbed, windows gleaming (Faye on her favourite job!) and cupboards deep cleaned and in just 20 minutes we were all done.

You could eat your dinner off them!... Which is, kind of, the point.

This extra time gave us the opportunity to do some mobility drills where we discovered Katy is the clickiest and Ross is the bendiest, and that the best of these simple exercises is just shaking your foot up and down until something goes crunch. Running, eh? Two elements to the fitness session tonight (step reps, squats, shuttle runs and lunges followed by speed play) meant we arrived back at Hotel Indigo absolutely glowing! Everybody worked so hard and supported each other and it was great to hear our sessions are paying off in the shape of some speedy 5K times at parkrun last weekend.

We have a new task next Monday which is the perfect Group Run for newbies, so spread the word and get some of your friends along who want to give us a try. We are off to do a Canny Big Clear Out for the Nunsmoor Centre for which there is a walking option too. Hopefully see you again there!

Have a wonderful week knowing you got it off to the best start.

Anji x