Poole Hospital Charity run this Elf Dash annually to raise much needed funds for equipment.

Our job was pretty simple, we are there to direct the runners and keep them safe as marshals.

We all met at 10.30 at Speedway and a walk around the course to know our positions. Turns out to be much nippier than expected so we jumped into the North Pole bus for a mince pie and warm up till it was duty time.

It was a short course of approx 2km and questions to answer along the way. Parents joined in so it was a very relaxed affair. Some amazing outfits along the way, kids and all times of elfs!

The warm up was headed up by Goodgym too, so I got to use my daughter's examples of being beans to be the Mexican, French, runner, string and broad bean to get everyone going!

Definitely time for a cuppa after!

September is such a cracking month! Still light enough in the evenings, warm enough and not too much rainfall!

Another new task location for us at Goodgym Poole last night and a new contact with Poole Housing Partnership requesting this one!

First of well done to Ali and Rob for New Forest 10k at the weekend - I hear it is a stunning route through the forest.

Everyone was delighted to hear the task tonight was only a mile away - just North Road to go 'up' first (groans!). A quick lap around the cricket pitch to realise in the warm up that the brains had already switched off from the ability to remember more than one instruction :)! But we managed it just about with some jumps and knees and lunges!

North Road has the benefit of long slow drag and the sharp incline near the top, as well as a few steps if you off road so great chance to practice use of arms up the hill and some quick feet on the steps! Great to see Graham back for his second run blasting up the hill with Richard making it look pretty easy! Loved the fact that Vicky, the ever so reluctant runner, was the only one to volunteer with the men to blast up the steps again!

We arrived at Belmont Court with the light and a resident, Virginia and her little dog ready for us. Virginia was organised and had for us empty green bins, tools and plenty of bins so once again we could just crack on!

The aim of the task was to clear ivy from the pathway as it was an emergency vehicle access driveway. Fortunately it just pulled up as the driveway was pretty long and it was a wide section. As a team of 8, they literally worked there way along the driveway much to the amazement of Virginia as she watched the area get clearer and clearer! I counted at least 3 green bins filled and emptied into the compost pile - it may have been more! Pat was quick to grab some shears (too quick I think!) whilst we had Julie x 2 filling the containers faster than we could squish in down in the green bins! 35 minutes later and the difference is clear from the photos, as well as looking a lot better it will make it safer for use by vehicles.

Virginia thanked us at the end and gave us 5 stars!

A nice steady run down North Road to finish up and time to go home for a cuppa!

Next week we are celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Goodgym so watch out for what is happening! (There may even be cake...!)

Tonight was a sensitive task as we visited the baby gardens at the local cemetery.

This all started following the appeal of a small local charity, Tyler's Friends, for volunteers to help their garden clean up. It coincided with our run night and although we had another task booked, it was moved around so we could support this event and join the team of volunteers.

There was 2 options on the table tonight on the run there - both involved running up! The first option was a gentle incline up and the second a longer route way round to add in extra half mile or so whilst going up. This option also gave the runners who wanted it, an option to do some additional hill work as they looped back round. Pleased to say the majority opted for the longer run! We even found a shorter section for a quick sprint 100m or so where Rob as ever showed off his sprinting ability and shot past the rest of us!

On arrival at the task, we met another half dozen or so volunteers, many of whom had personal links with the gardens. Kirsten from Tyler's Friends was there and pleased to see us and gave us some task direction. It is a small baby garden with a round 30+ graves from young children to premature babies. We spent time just clearing leaves away, pulling weeds, raking areas and making it look a lot tidier! After 30 mins the difference was really clear and Kristen was so pleased that 15 of us being there for 30 minutes could really make an improvement and save many hours by just 1 or 2 people alone.

Thanks to Richard for back running tonight as a new runner too! Welcome to new runners Julie, Ruth, Lauren, Karen and Sarah x2! You all got stuck in with the task and chatting to each other in super quick time!

Kristen was happy for us to take a final pic although we didn't take pictures during the task tonight out of respect