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!

It was a very interesting morning to welcome Slin to GoodGym for her first community mission. I arrived early to meet all of the people running the holiday camp. At this point I met Verona, who was busy assessing her kitchen, finding that it needed a good clean and was a bit sparse of equipment for preparing food.

Thankfully, soon after Slin arrived, so did the food. We were able to help arranging the it to know what we could prepare and serve the breakfast cereal for children as they arrived. Soon enough we had made a good team together and had fed all the kids ready for a day of triathlon based activity. It turns out that we were just a toaster away from a satisfying breakfast for everyone. Well done Slin for being ready for anything, and getting your good deeds started in style.

We left just as Verona had returned with some decent equipment to get snacks and lunch sorted, while the children went off for a swimming session.