Stu Coe

Six GoodGymmers gathered for a trip along route 6 of the National Cycle Network along Great Central Way.

The walkers set off through Bede Park towards our meeting point while the runners headed in the same direction for an out and back with the idea being to land at the meet point at the same time - thanks to some exact pacing and maths from Jen we landed back right on cue to get cracking!

Among the usual junk we uncovered a halved watermelon and a mug, no shoe this time out, surely a first!

Great to see Lindsay, on her 134th good deed, sporting her Angel Wings 100 good deeds shirt at long last! A belated and repeated well done!

Cracking effort again tonight folks, see you on Sunday for part 2 of this week's good deeding!

HD

River Runners

Tonight we were delighted to welcome GoodGym Founder Ivo along to visit GoodGym Leicester hot on the heels of his trip to GoodGym Worthing the previous evening - tremendous touring!

After an update on the weekend's running (and post-run breakfast eating) adventures including some parkrunning, the Sherwood Pines 10k and a fry up in a hollowed out loaf of bread, the runners headed up river taking the off road route towards our destination. Arriving on site as the vaccination centre we found Lindsay and Mel ready to greet us and Stu already hoovering up metal faster than The Iron Man from the classic Ted Hughes novel!

Trash Back

Lindsay and Katy set off for a lap of the centre ensuring their main car park and the surrounds were tidied while the rest of the gang set to work on the temporary staff and patient parking areas notorious for their whiskey bottles and Holsten Pils cans. To add to the regular pieces of junk, our age old favourite discarded item was discovered this week by Mel - the pair of shoes! We should really award a prize for whoever finds the shoe(s) on these litter picks - the Cinderella Award perhaps? As ever, we were given plenty to feast on to the point where Huw yet again struggled to drag people away from the task as time ran out! While it can be frustrating not to get the area completely cleared the sheer amount of junk we clear away from that site is phenomenal. As we gathered to finish up, Ivo noted his scepticism at the start of the task that we would each fill a bin bag full of litter...only a first time visitor to this task would say that! As ever we separated out as many aluminium cans as possible for Stu to take off to the Helipads for Hospitals big red bin - extra good deeding!

The Home Straight

Taking the slightly shorter (but certainly not as flat) route back to catch up some time, we landed back at the back of DMU to use the little off road set of lampposts as markers for our 30m every 30 seconds sprint drills. We'd previously tackled this fitness task on the outfield of Electricity Sports Cricket Club after we did some painting there and outside the deserted King Power Stadium - plenty of space, no obstructions! Tonight we encountered a few more people in the way but some creative alternating from side to side of the central planters ensured we powered home in style.

Great work tonight everyone!

HD

Back out in the fresh air to kick off 2022 in style tonight with some litter picking on the National Cycle Network helping make the route more pleasant for commuters and exercisers alike!

We shared stories of mostly quiet Christmas breaks while tackling the cycle path and verges of the assortment of cans, bottles, crisp packets and miscellaneous trash! Lindsay (who had forgotten her head torch) took under five minutes to find a full strip light in the hedge which caused a chuckle.

A slightly longer run back than the direct route and some 30 metre sprint every 30 seconds reps outside DMU got the fitness sessions back in gear for the year.

Next week's task is TBC but it will definitely be outside!

Also please check out the GoodGym Leicester Members Facebook page for a poll on potential weekends to volunteer at junior parkrun.

Happy running, HD

Mel Jen and Stu met up for a litter pick of the notorious car park near to Peepul Centre. Notorious only for it being one of the best spots in Leicester to find discarded drinks cans! However today was different, yes there was the usual rubbish to pick up but also an unfortunate visitor to the Peepul Centre had misjudged the angle of the car park exit ramp and drove her car onto the low side wall where it was stuck with wheels off the ground. Jen went to investigate what and how it had happened. Though on arrival at the car, it was obvious the driver needed help so Jen did what she could and the AA was called. A quickly placed orange traffic cone stopped any further accidents occurring. Peepul Centre staff came out to assess the situation and comfort the driver. So Mel Jen & Stu carried on with their original task.
Two bags of cans collected which Stu has taken to the H4H collection bin. One bag of general waste collected and added to the pile left from our last litter pick. Back to the car stuck on a wall story: the AA man arrived and with help from the Peepul Centre staff the car was eventually jacked up and towed up and over the wall. Mel Jen & Stu gave a quick round of applause then left the rescuers to finish up their rescue.

Last community mission of 2021. Jen and Stu arrived early at the litter picking tonight and true to form the task didn't disappoint. They were joined by Mel and Lyndsey who started the tidying up. Cans,cans and more cans were soon crushed by Stu and bagged up by Lyndsey and Mel. Jen collected general litter and also found a bed and a tv obviously fly tipped . During the litter pick Stu found 12 empty whiskey bottles , adding to the 5 bags of cans and 5 bags of litter. A good evenings pickings . Merry Christmas everyone .