At GoodGym Swindon's Friday Night Virtual Social, we pondered how we could pay tribute and salute the late Captain Sir Tom Moore. Paul suggested a 100 mile relay and Stuart - that we pass the baton with our GoodGym shirts.

Captain Tom raised millions, hope and a sense of humanity through the pandemic and in his memory, GoodGym Swindon raised miles, smiles...and their shirts, and all was captured on film!

Jo made sure we were fit for parade with perfectly laundered shirts. With some words of encouragement and assurance that Tom-sorrow was another day and that we could all achieve our goals, Cath got the relay started from her treadmill. Then, shirts were thrown and miles were run in the streets and parks of Swindon. The relay successfully concluded with Samantha and her mysterious goodgym sweater?!

Check out our video here:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=874933253325741&id=196024781216595

It was our ho ho ho honour to takeover the 41st Swindon virtual parkrun - and our first Christmas parkrun 🎅🎅

As well as the big man in red, the red shirts of GoodGym were out and about, pacing, tailwalking and marshalling and making an early claim for the 2021 nice list 😇 Thank you all - you are all tree-mendous Christmas stars 🎄🌟

112 runners and walkers were present 🎁 and together this year 508 runners have completed a total of 5,760 total runs - that's a total distance of 28800km. But more than that, we've built a wonderful, friendly and supportive community. We may pine for real life parkrun, but we definitely have the next best thing. Christmas had us feeling all santa-mental so we had a lovely photo walk down memory lane, thanks to Tracey ♥️🖤

2020 virtual parkrun is all wrapped up now...the next time we meet it will be 2021. Keep those fingers and toes crossed for a brighter and better new year 🤞🤞

The gauntlet was thrown down to come up with a fitness task for the good folks of GoodGym Swindon. But what to do?

We settled on Running & Walking bingo. There were 20 activities to complete over a period of two weeks. The aim of the game was to keep us connected during lockdown, while supporting our fitness and general happiness levels. Activities included playing on some playground equipment on a run, running a new route, running at sunrise/sunset, enjoying an unhealthy snack after a run and many more.

So trainers were laced up, bingo cards took pride of place on the front of kitchen fridges, bingo dabbers were poised - and we were off!

There was an immediate flurry of activity with lots of squares being dabbed early on, despite the rainy conditions. More than one activity could be completed on each run so plans were hatched to fit as many into each run as possible. The activities that seemed to be causing most concern to participants were, ‘Wear your most uncomfortable pants’ and ‘Naked Run: no Strava’, except for Rhoda who seemed to be planning to run naked with some guy called Mike! We enquired but didn’t quite get to the bottom of who he was and it will remain one the great unsolved GoodGym mysteries!

We were relaxed on rules, leaving a certain amount of artistic licence to interpret and complete the activities. After all, it was really just about getting out there in the fresh air and having fun. A few notable mentions were Gina who wore her most uncomfortable pants over her leggings, superhero stylie; Richard who tried to submit a streak on his driveway; and Gaby who missed the opportunity to run in the rain so created her own with a bottle of water and colander. Gaby also lucked out on her dice roll run – when you only have a 20 sided dice you’re unlikely to get a nice short run! Well done on the 11k! Sam B also did a great job of ticking off some squares by bike with Ashleigh.

We had some brilliant Strava art including a unicorn, a spider, a swan, underpants ( a bit of a theme emerging!), a Christmas tree, the word ‘Lads', and a fishing line (!!!). And Tracey decided that wearing shorts in 2 degrees as well as wearing uncmfortable pants on a 5.5k run was worthy of having a song made up about it and sung out loud during the run.

As promised, there was a prize draw with Jo, Kirsty and David being the lucky winners. Goody bags are winging they way to them now, complete with a handcrafted medal made of ribbon .... and a bingo dabber!

A huge well done to everyone who threw themselves into the game and brought the smiles and laughs. It got us all chatting and sharing our running escapades which turned out to be more fun than expected, as well as providing a bit of motivation or change of focus for even the most regular of runners. And we have another great new photo album to add to our lovely collection!

I'm no film buff, but a quick Google tells me that 'Twenty Eight Weeks Later' is a film where six months after the Rage virus turned half of Britain into zombies, the US Army helps secure London for the survivors after a carrier of the virus enters the city and the horror begins once again.

Well, it might be week 28 of virtual parkrun in Swindon, but no Zombies were spotted by Team GoodGym as we paced, tailwalked and marshalled the event. Phew!

So what did happen?

🅿️ lenty of PBs...the PB bell rang 15 times 👏👏👏

🅰️utumn sunshine...and beautiful blue skies🖤🍂🌄

®️unners...joggers, and walkers; 113 people taking part 🏃♀️🏃♂️

Keeping our spirits up...while we can't be together

®️ed....and black shirts of GoodGym with you all the way ❤️🖤

Uplifting...support and camaraderie in strange times 🤗

Not...long until we can do it all again! 🎉🎉

And in the all important stats for week 28, the 28th woman was our very own Gaby Newson ❤️🖤

Together over the last 6 months, we've run 21000km - more than half way round the world 💪🌍 But far more important is the support and friendship in our running community - it's no wonder Swindon has been named as the most thoughtful place in the UK!

A new task owner, and location, for the litter pick on this Sunday!

We met at 10.30am by the fancy new entrance to Foundation Park, the new home for the football club’s foundation. We were there to help clean up the green spaces surrounding the County Ground. The pick itself was organised with the South Swindon Parish Council, and a handful of their councillors, volunteers and Comms & Events Manager Matt, joined us for the pick.

All ready and waiting were Mike, Kirsty, Samantha and Ashleigh. Just as we were kitting up with some fancy hi-viz, and equipment, Becky arrived too. But where was Gina?

After a quick call, Mike tracked Gina down, and even got to have a chat with a lady hoping to join the pick from the council side who had brought her litter picking, eco-warrior super six-year-old!

We soon got a-picking, clearing plenty of sandwich wrappers, beer bottles, and crisp wrappers. If you came along and found any other unusual items, let us know in the comments below.

After an hour, we gathered back together for some group photos (and a good bit of litter-picker-posing), and even got a free coffee from the lovely folk at the community foundation café!!

We’re planning on working with the great team at South Swindon Parish Council again soon, watch this space!