We headed out into the misty morning to do our semi-frequent volunteer at Parkrun. When we arrived, welcoming Chris back, some of us gushed over the incredible northern lights we saw last night, others over the rum and coke/ star wars marathon (Angela). Fay was incredulous that Martin had chosen to keep his legs covered up for once.

We headed out to our assigned tasks, with me being sad that Paul didn't fall off the bike, although not sure I know how to ride one still anyway, and went to cheer on the runners. We all completed our tasks with aplomb - special shoutout to Laura making her Parkrun debut.

Heading to the traditional Spoons for brekky, Andy and Martin leapt at the chance of a second breakfast, with Andy moaning he was forced into ordering toast by....himself.

Good work, have a nice weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

10 GoodGymers congregated on a chilly morning to volunteer at Chelmsford Parkrun's 11th birthday event. Andy wore his birthday hat to celebrate, while Fay wore the GoodGym banner in an effort to keep warm. We welcomed a new member called George (also known as Martin) and gathered for the obligatory group picture. Our youngest supporter Eden joined us with her dad and we all set off to take up our positions.

There were some very speedy runners this morning, so fast we weren't even sure if they were taking part or just happened to be sprinting along at that time. We saw some quality fancy dress, including a dalmatian leading a dalmatian, the lobster in question and a variety of nuns. We also saw some familiar GoodGymers taking part. Joe, Joel and Richard E all waved hello as they went past. (None of them were dressed as nuns!) As the tail walkers made their way back the marshals joined them and we all congregated at the finish line for some delicious cake (although Angela wished it was more fiery!). A little starter before a well deserved fry up! We said goodbye to Laurie, David, Sallyann and Jenny who apparently had better things to do and headed off Spoons.

There are some great pictures from today, everyone was in good spirits even though we needed to defrost afterwards.

We have another litter pick coming up this week, hopefully it will be slightly warmer than last week, you can sign up here

Two GoodGymers volunteered at Parkrun this morning, while 6 others took part. We wanted to use the opportunity to spread the word about GoodGym so had our banner on display but we didn't manage to encourage any new members this time unfortunately. There are normally some GoodGymers at parkrun each week though so if you missed us this time you can come and say hi next time. We are doing a mass parkrun volunteer next week so maybe we'll see you then!

You can find more information about our upcoming sessions here

12 GoodGymers and one little helper braved the cold for a volunteering session at Chelmsford Central parkrun.

We did marshalling, barcode scanning, and finish tokening.

Most of us struggled to resist the Mr Kiplings pies afterwards, followed by hot drink queues, large breakfasts and pancakes at our old faithful Wetherspoons.

Well done all, and we'll be repeating this in January!

Laurie

11 GoodGymers were up bright and early to volunteer at Chelmsford Parkrun this morning. It was a very special occasion, (some would say even bigger than Rich's wedding), as there were lots of milestones to celebrate today. Rich was celebrating his 250th run (walk) and 50th volunteer for Parkrun. Wanting to keep it low key he came with just the two yellow balloons in order not to draw attention to himself. David was also celebrating his 200th good deed for GoodGym. Everyone else was celebrating the fact they were doing good and had breakfast to look forward to!

Fay, Joe and Paul headed off to their marshal positions. Richard and Martin were entrusted with the bikes. Rich and Sallyann followed up the rear as the tailwalkers. David and Cherry were barcode scanning and Laurie and Rachel were token sorting. Despite an early shower, the morning was mainly dry, if not particularly sunny. 673 parkrunners made it round the course and once we had returned our lanyards and high-viz we made our way over to Bill's for breakfast, having said goodbye to David and Sallyann en route. Andy was obviously missing us while on holiday as he joined us in spirit from Bill's in Lanzarote!

After some discussion it was decided we should get a team together for the Ale House pub quiz tomorrow night, so we have an impromptu social coming up. You can sign up here

Next week, for our group run, we are at Broomfield allotments for a spot of gardening, you can sign up here

Special thanks to the parkrun photographers who contributed to our photo gallery today

9 GoodGymers turned out bright and early to volunteer at Chelmsford Parkrun this morning. Rich and Russell were timekeeping. Laurie, David and Jenny were barcode scanning and the rest of us did some sterling clapping and cheering while marshalling. The weather was good and 677 people ran, jogged and walked the course, so we did our bit to help Chelmsford get fit while we did good!

After we'd given back our hi-viz jackets and lanyards we moved on for a spot of socialising over a fry-up. Rachel and Abi joined us for some breakfast and we had a good catch up before heading off to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Our next group run is on Wednesday and is a litter pick for Essex Waterways, you can sign up here.