GoodGym assisted parkrun again this morning as 5 of us volunteered at 3 events across the city. Raull was at Perry Hall, Steven at Woodgate Valley, while Liam, Lisa and Ryan were all helping to make it happen at Edgbaston Reservoir.

It was a bumper day for the collaboration process as nine goodgymers volunteered at two parkrun events in Birmingham. I began by setting up the course at Perry Hall with Chan and his mum, marking out and checking the course for the runners. I had to run off quickly myself for something I'm about to get to in the report, while Chan got the chance to walk the course and Raull took up tail walking duties.

At the same time, local running club City of Birmingham Striders were doing a volunteering takeover at Edgbaston Reservoir, the place I was in a rush to get to after setting up the Perry Hall course (I got there a few minutes late but managed to get a run around). As there are a number of club members who are also goodgymers, there was a lot of representation, and everyone else here was taking part whether run directing, marshaling, tail walking, timing or token scanning among many other tasks. Well done everyone!

This week, the social distancing runners of GoodGym Birmingham put their modal verbs into action for another week of keeping fit and staying safe.

Saturday marked my 40th birthday where I would’ve been out celebrating, so I took a picture of the boarded up 1000 Trades bar which could’ve been a venue for the night. Laura and Rob should’ve been running a half marathon in Budapest but a picture on a half around Birmingham will have to substitute. Laura was compensated with an emoji medal from Ryan.

We’re all getting used to running alone and keeping a good distance. For another week, we have inspired each other to get out with views of the world outside. It’s not making up for the loss of our group runs as it’s a lot more difficult to run solo, and certainly harder to motivate yourself to get out when you are used to group running. So like many aspects of the world around us, we are continuing in a virtual space.

Lizzie has continued to tempt us with muddy, countryside runs, though it is drying up somewhat. Tousif found the perfect angle to show off the locks on the canal network; as well as engaging in a competition with me to find every angle of Perry Hall Park. I also found a stray Santa suit at the top of a hill in Sandwell Valley, I hope not as an ominous sign. David found that he had the city all to himself, as he ran around the deserted high streets. Annie found a beautiful library in the form of an old, red phone box. Ryan found some blooming Daffodils and spectacular blossom while out on his run. Daffodils were certainly the theme as Liam and Raull found plenty too. Morwenna explored the beauty of Bournville, for all the chocolate lovers. Raull found my family business in Wednesbury. And we all cheered each other from afar.

Hopefully we will still be allowed our daily run to keep our fitness going as I don’t look forward to joining the people doing marathons in their back garden.

Our first week of isolation runs dates back further than a week, as we began sharing our run pictures at the excellent request of Annie, when we got the news that all GoodGym activity was being paused.

I’m sure we all take in lots of views as we rack up miles...

This also came on the week of the first anniversary of our friends at GoodGym Solihull. The suggestion was met with an instantly positive response to the disappointment of not being able to mark this anniversary or get together as a group. As you will be able to see from the photos shared, we have taken in a lot of good views as we have kept fit during isolation and social distancing. There were also plenty of tantalising hints of our group run venues, with our city centre dwellers finding our meeting point of 1000 Trades, as well as the spots where we do hill reps and time trials.

The first set of photos are really touching to look back on, especially as they tended to be shared with a ‘here you go, Annie’ comment. Through this we’ve also learned what a streak is, how good some photography skills are in the group and as time went on the photos became a ‘where am I’ quiz. They have already had a life beyond the group as Morwenna has done a great job of sharing them on the GG Birmingham Twitter page. At this point it was clear that the first photo of the day inspired others to get out and we were really appreciating the nature around us as we ran to stay fit.

Not all heroes wear (Lands)capes

We’ve seen how we have been able to keep each other motivated and encouraged during the hugely changeable early days of this crisis. The photos really do paint a picture of the changing landscape around us as we learn to keep healthy and safe for everyone.

It’s clear we will continue to be there for each other, through more of these sessions (hopefully not for too long) and through our support in the WhatsApp group. If you’re not in the group and want to be added, get in touch with me at johnhayes@goodgym.org and you will find a lot to keep you going.

There were lots of doubles and singles at parkrun this morning, as I’m sure there were last night in the New Year celebrations. Chris ran Sutton Park in 22:50 and volunteered at Perry Hall, managing the funnel. Lisa (37:35 & 36:29), John (22:10 & 20:34), Fiaz (27:42 & 30:08) and Rauul (33:15 & 35:12) did the double at Sutton Park and Perry Hall respectively. Chris did Brueton in 22:07 and Kingsbury in 22:36. Miriam did Perry Hall in 34:15, Slin in 49:27, Balal in 29:49, Kanchan in 41:14, Bal in 38:59 and Tousif in 32:51. It was great to see so many people out to make a great start to 2020!