A big, huge, massive WELCOME BACK to GoodGym Newcastle for 2020

Tonight a massive 24 runners and walkers assembled for their first dose of Good things in the new year and it was so great to see such a super mix of old and new faces. Welcome to our new runner Nada for getting stuck in and making us all smile!

We had loads to catch up on including a massive epic challenge that Andrew, Evan and Darren took part in yesterday: The Winter Wipeout. Not content with just doing something very hard and in very hard conditions, the three of them took part in less-than-standard running gear. Well done you three, we are really proud of you!

We warmed up with a quick recap of Best Christmas Presents which made us all smile. Choices included a Dyson hoover, a candle of Beyonce's face, a few pairs of trainers and not forgetting "This is quite lame, but, ALDI FACEWASH". We then split off into three plogging groups for the task. Heading off on three different distances were the walking group with Charlotte, the longer run group with Paul and the medium distance and chats run with me. We'd be taking part in a general tidy up on the way to, in and around Leazes Park to give us the chance to kick of 2020 with a sociable (and easy!) task for the night.

The task itself was much easier than previous visits to Leazes Park with many of the areas we usually find a lot of litter surprisingly clear- this was of course great to see! We did find enough to fill a few bags and there was also a dumped Christmas tree in the bandstand to take care of- Martin and Jon to the rescue on that one. It also gave everyone a really nice chance to catch up and ease back into GoodGym for 2020.

The fitness session was another story

A few people mentioned they were starting to feel cold so that gave me the perfect excuse to get everyone working extra hard! Two paired games to start, then into teams for a spot of file running, recovering with easy laps by the lake. Kudos to everyone for such brilliant effort in this tonight, and shout out to Paul for standing in the cold to be our human turn-back point.. we didn't almost forget you.. honest.

As part of the JANUARY CHALLENGE we are squeezing as many good deeds into one month as we possibly can, so get along to a Community Mission or two this month if you can. You'll find them all listed on the website, ranging from gardening to a takeover at Newcastle parkrun. There are a few of our old favourites in there as well as some brand new sparkling tasks for you to get involved in to start the year off with a bang. As well as this, don't miss out on a bonus Group Run on Saturday 18th January which is the ideal run to bring someone along to who wants to give us a try as part of a New Year's Resolution!

Hope to see you back with the same brilliant energy for our monthly visit to Newcastle Eagles next week.

Welcome back!

Anji x

Baby, it's cold outside!

I can't believe there are so few runs left between now and the end of the year. We have a few.. ahem.. crackers lined up, and we started that line up tonight with our final visit of the year to Newcastle Eagles Community Arena. We have been visiting the arena every month to lend a hand to tidy and keep on top of the gardens at the front of the arena car park. We always like this one as it's a short run, has a great area for fitness session and it's always super well-organised (thanks, Neil!).

We started the night with a big shout out for Aimee who reached the glorious landmark of 100 GoodGym Good Deeds at the weekend. She couldn't make it to the group run tonight, so the great golden wings of goodness will have to wait until next week! It was great to welcome Martin along for his first ever Group Run too, you will see how stuck in he got with the task too, very impressive for a first timer.. you can come back, Martin!

Task Force awesome Andrew also got a shout out for an impressive 12 month mission streak. Bravo, sir.

There were three Community Missions over the weekend, with a double header for Newcastle Parks that included a sloth cake, and a solo visit to Nunsmoor Park for Ross who I awarded Pun of the Weekend to. The reports for the missions are in the Run Reports section here

A number of cancelled parkruns in the area over the weekend due to ice meant there wasn't a lot of weekend running to catch up on. The group didn't really need to hear my extended story version of my PB (or was it) at Oulton Park Half yesterday, as I am so unable to walk it kind of spoke for itself. I got a nice sympathetic clap anyway, then left the group in the hands of Katy for the warm up while I hobbled up to the task with Miranda.

Hi-vis on, wheelbarrow and tools collected and it was straight on with the job. Neil had given us two areas for weeding that will be finished off by a group who attend regularly from the Scouts and Cubs too. There was some impressive and aggressive weed pulling, including a massive win by Rachael and Debbie- check out their proud photo! We were able to make a massive difference (shout out to Nick for much wheelbarrow-ing tonight!) in just 25 minutes and Neil thanked us for the brilliant effort we always put in. We will be returning to continue the jobs in January.

After a few epic group photos it was on with the fitness session, which was a team-effort sprint relay. The energy was top-class and there was some super fast running on display. It ended up being a draw which despite the cold on the Scotswood Road, gave me a lovely warm snuggly feeling. Top work, everyone.

There are two chances to get an extra good deed in this week but be warned, both of them are super-Christmassy! The first is a big present wrapping mission on Wednesday night and the second is on Sunday at Nunsmoor Winter Festival so pop along if you can. I'll see you next week for our return to Recyke Y' Bike! Sign up for that here Have a great week knowing you started it doing good things.

Anji x