🏆 A mega (post-COVID record-breaking) 40 people attended tonight’s group run. We kicked off December with a bang and donned our Christmassy cheer for some present-wrapping fun.

💪 But first, it was time to celebrate some excellent Goodgymmers. James T was named GoodGymmer of the month for his sterling work leading clothes swap and book sale tasks very regularly. Then we had not one but two PBs to celebrate from the weekend - Charlotte with a 5k and Matt with a 10k at the Abbey Dash. Amazing stuff everyone!

🎄 Next up, we had a Christmassy warm-up in the shape of (an abbreviated version of) the 12 squats of Christmas (a different exercise for each day of Christmas). Pete led the walking crew while Ed led and Laura backmarked the runners to Park Grove School.

🦁 Vicky met us there with our instructions - to wrap whatever was in front of us. For some people, that was incredibly cute teddy lions, for others it was keyrings.

🍭 And for others (not for the faint-hearted), it was pass the parcel. Wrapping up to 30 layers of paper and making sure there was a lollipop in each layer (cue lots of double-checking for lollies) was quite the challenge, but one that was impressively tackled by Team Parcel.

🍫 And if that pass the parcel wasn’t enough, once we’d finished wrapping, it was time for Vicky’s special fitness pass the parcel. With a different fitness challenge for each layer and the ultimate reward of a Crunchie for the winner, it was the perfect way to finish our task (especially for Alex who won the golden Crunchie).

☔️ Although the rain had held off on our run out, it wasn’t so kind for the return journey. The walkers therefore made the sensible decision to head straight to the pub where lots of the runners joined afterwards for a meeting to discuss the January Challenge. And with some exciting plans being made, there’s lots to be looking forward to (and some more fun group runs in the meantime).

👏 Thanks to Vicky for a really fun task, and to everyone for coming along.

We had bumper turnout of 27 GG Yorkies tonight as we came back to tackle the wildflower meadow at Clarence Gardens. But before setting off we had a couple of things to celebrate. Well done Michael who completed a 20mile race in Czechia that i won't attempt to spell! And an even bigger well done to Jane who was completing her 50th Good Deed. Jane joined us midway through the January Challenge and has been a regular ever since. Great work Jane 👍

Our warm up was inspired by Paul Kelly's dedication to seeing Radiohead at the weekend after securing last minute tickets and jumping straight on a train to London to just make it to the O2 in time! So we named the great lengths we had gone to for an event or a thing. Turns out a lot of us have travelled a very long distance just to get dumped! 💔

We then set off with Vicky leading a walk/run group, Ed leading the main run and Lucy backmarking. Upon arrival we were greeted by task owner Iain and future task owner Rachel who has just joined the council's eco team. We then grabbed some rakes and got cracking, scarrifying (no idea how to spell it, sorry) the ground ready for it to be seeded. The GG crew formed an almost perfect line other than one head torch which could be seen in the distance raking their own corner of the meadow. Turned out our lone raker was Bec who, not wishing to conform, had decided to rake a different spot

Meanwhile, Alex, Nikki, Mitch, Paul and David were busy with their own task which involved clearing quite a large amount of green waste and shifting it over to the skip. There are few things certain in life other than death, taxes and seeing Mitch on top of a skip when we need to create more room!

Over with the rakers, Jan and Nicola were doing an excellent job of gathering up the arisings and shifting them to the skip giving Mitch more to jump up and down on!

Before long it was time to down tools and start our fitness session, which this week involved teams competing against each other to jump forwards with a cone and then sprint back to their team for then next person to sprint out to the cone, jump and then sprint back. The result of the race was too close to call, so they had to go again to decide a clear winner, which I think ended up being Leanne's team, although possibly with a little bit of cheating

We'll be back at Clarence Gardens in a few weeks to finish the job

Tonight's GoodGym York Group Run saw us returning to the wildflower meadow at Clarence Gardens to clear the flowers that we had previously sown. We started the night with a bonus litterpicking task in the surrounding area, before getting stuck into the main event with a bumper turnout for an autumn night. Imen had joined the litterpickers for her first ever GoodGym task before deciding to stay on and stick around for the group run. We also welcomed Georgina along for her first ever session. Give them both a big cheer!

Tonight we were finally able to presentJenna with the cape of Good Deeds a little bit later than we should have (so sorry!) but still gave her a big round of applause for competing her 400th task. What an incredible achievement. And we also said well done to Richard who had completed his first ever cross country run at the weekend. Quite remarkable for a man who has done most things imaginable running-wise!

It was then off to the task with Mitch leading a small walking contingent and Nikki backmarking the main group. We were joined at the task by Cara, Jan, James and taskowner Iain who got us underway with some very simple instructions. Basically rake up all of the arisings and shift them over to the skip by any means necessary. Before long there were tonne sacks, wheelbarrows and tarps being moved left, right and centre and the skip started to get full, although a fair chunk of the space was taken up by a buried Mitch! In fairness Mitch and Pete did a cracking job of stomping down the skip so we could continue to fit more in, clearly impressing taskowner Iain who was planning where we could start a new pile once the skip got full.

Before you knew it, it was time to put the tools down and pose for a group photo before this evenings fitness sesh which involved teams of three running in opposite directions, or completing some exercises before then having to meet up again around a coloured cone, where they were then rewarded with a rest or punished with even more exercises. The activity required a lot less explaining than i'd imagined and seemed to work despite some groans from everyone one they realised they all had to complete burpees at the end regarldess of which cone they were stood around.

All in all the gang of GGers shifted a huge load of the arisings, but there's still plenty more to do so we'll be back later in November to finish the job

It was a wet and windy one tonight, but that couldn't dampen our spirits because there was just so much to celebrate this week! We kicked off with a shout out to Stef who took on one of the 'Grim Up North' events at the weekend, and despite his lack of training, managed to get round in a very respectable time. We also give a big cheer to the crew who had tackled the Marathon du Medoc featuring 23 glasses of wine over 26.2 in the French sunshine. More importantly, we also had the news this week that GG regular, Abigail, had given birth to baby Dylan. Huge congratulations to her and Martin. We'll forgive her for not being at GG this week but expect normal service to resume next Monday!

After all that celebrating, and with the rain lashing down, Mitch set off with the walking group whilst Ed led a quick warm up before setting off the running group, ably backmarked by Laura and Babs. We then arrived at Park Grove Academy to be greeted by an already soggy Vicky and Gary who soon got the everyone off to work to avoid any unnecessary standing around. The group were split into wheelbarrow and shovellers, raised bed weeders, tree choppers, willow weavers and rakers.

This task definitely wasn't for fair-weather GoodGymmers as the rain continued to pour down, giving a real test to the new GG branded jackets that were on show. A few people may have spent a bit more time hiding under any shelter they could find, but Ed wasn't going to be too much of a taskmaster tonight as it really was pretty grueling conditions.

There was a little bit of confusion when the walking group were gathered to begin their route home, with word getting around that the task was complete (possibly more out of hope than anything else) despite there still being a good 10mins or so left. But we decided to call it a day before anyone suffered from hypothermia and so downed tools ready for a warming fitness sesh.

Before the fitness began we heard the news that Sophia would be leaving us for a few months in order to go and work abroad. It's been fab having her join us and we look forward to seeing her back next year. Give her a big cheer!

The fitness then involved some wacky relay racing which included lunging, jumping, skipping and crab walking. After the first round of racing we did some traditional birthday squats in honour of Area Activator Vicky's birthday, before a second round of relay races before a dash back to CVS to warm ourselves with Lyndsey's chilli chocolate brownies.