DOING GOOD

One cold frosty night, ten runners huddled in the warmth of the Jurys Inn, dreaming of a hot chocolate (or maybe a beer) before it was time to brave the elements & step outside. As if this cold exposure wasn't enough, these poor souls were then given a circuit to complete; press-ups, squats & hoover planks all in front of the Jurys large glass front! They may have felt foolish, but their warming muscles thanked them.

And then it was time for their mission.

Katherine led the group out to Darley Park, stopping just before Cardiac Hill for Walk Leader (& injured runner) Dani & Sam to regroup. Once together, kit was divvied out, runners in pairs & the mission was a GO.

We 'plogged' our way up Cardiac Hill, to the top car park, finding quite a bit of litter - mostly of the alcoholic variety - behind the Wildlife Gardens, before heading to the Tearooms, across the playing area & over the lovely new path besides the river.

Chatting, jogging & litter picking, spirits were kept high despite a few numb fingers!

Four bags of litter collected, a lonely knight photographed & a broken umbrella rescued - mission success! Now the running was about to get serious.

WHILST GETTING FIT

The run out to Darley Park & the plog that followed meant that the group covered approximately two miles in a steady pace. Unfortunately, we were a little cold, so it was time to warm things up. We regrouped by the bridge & marked out (using lights & Sam) a lap that we guessed was about 200m, with a downhill section, a flat & short, sharp climb. Perfect.

Parlouf time!

Set into pairs, the runners took turns to tackle the lap (aiming for a solid effort of about 70%), completing three laps per runner, six as a pair.

Sweaty & heart rates elevated, it was time for Katherine to lead the runners back to the Jurys, snap our group photo & say our goodbyes.

UP NEXT

We're back at the delightful Broadway Baptist Church next week. There will be a walk group & a run group so all abilities are welcome to join in the good-deediness!

Big Loves x

DOING GOOD

What an evening! 19 GoodGymers hitting the pavements of Derby to do good & get fit on the spookiest GG evening of the year! Our biggest turnout in quite a few weeks - nothing to do with the shorter run eh guys? - & a crackin' evening of doing good, running & team games involving a pumpkin or two in 'traditional' Halloween fashion.

On behalf of the Friends of Darley Open Spaces (FoDOS) we cleared the top Darley car park of litter (suprisingly, not a lot), bagged up as many of the fallen leaves as we could & swept the space clean! That car park looked amazing once our 38 hands had had their wicked way with it!

Achievements

• FOUR bags of leaves swept up
• ONE bag of litter removed
• ONE happy car park & volunteer group!

Our hard work was noticed immediately by a local resident passing by who commented on what a smashing job we were all doing. She said that she collects litter every morning - which explains the lack of it - & that some mornings she finds a tenner... we weren't so lucky!

WHILST GETTING FIT

We stepped outside of the warmth of the Jurys Inn, away from the temptation of the shelves of chocolate & crisps (& beer) & worked on our high knees to create some heat. The one mile run from Jurys Inn to the car park took us straight up Cardiac-Hill, the perfect warm-up & we were ready for good-deed-iness!

After completing our mission & with the car park clear & obstruction free, cones were set up & we broke off into pairs, completing alternate laps (6 each to be precise) to make up ANOTHER paarlouf session! We'll have a week off from that, promise.

With heart-rates elevated & legs pumped... it was time for the much anticipated PUMPKIN RACE!

The Annual Pumpkin Race

Two teams headed up by Emma & Helen (who bossed the Halloween fancy dress!)

One badly decorated pumpkin per team.

Each runner takes the pumpkin to the cones & back to their team... safely! The pumpkin gets passed on to the next runner & so on, until each runner has cared for their pumpkin baby, in the fastest time possible.

A couple of mishaps, including a dropped pumpkin (documented well in the snaps!) & some rowdy-running, but both pumpkins made it back safely to their teams, with Helen's team taking home the win with about a 5 second margin! GO TEAM!

"We had a smashin' time!" - Ashley

Big thanks to Kathleen for marshaling our first Pumpkin Race & well done to everyone for getting stuck in with so much gusto!

Here's to replicating that at Christmas with a pudding...

WELCOMES & THANK YOUS

It was wonderful to welcome new faces to the clan last night & you no doubt added to the fun! We hope you enjoyed the Pumpkin Race Kate, Ellie & Sid & hope to see you soon for more weird games!

Thank you to BadGym for being a surprisingly well behaved front-runner. Thanks David for being an ace mid-marker & for joining us all the way from Sheffield! & a BIG thanks to Emma, Helen, Alice & Lehann for embracing Halloween & coming in your spookiest attire. You guys smashed it!

UP NEXT...

We're running to Mackworth to flyer for the Direct Help & Advice service; the perfect task for enjoying the sky which is sure to be illuminated with fireworks on Guy Fawkes night! Come along for our first FLYER-WORKS night... get it?

Big Loves x

We've launched!

55 runners (not including our special VIP guests from the council, including Mr. Mayor!) met at the Jurys Inn yesterday to mark the launch of GoodGym's 54th hub & to kick off doing good, whilst getting fit in our wonderful city.

It was brilliant to see so many new faces to GoodGym starting this journey together (we're sure you'll all be hooked from now on!) as well as seasoned GoodGym'ers from other areas supporting the launch; a huge thanks to the GoodGym Sheffield crew & those who travelled from the depths of the south (London!) to celebrate with us yesterday.

Doing Good

Our first task took us through the lovely green space of Darley Park to support the Friends of Darley Open Spaces (FODOS) begin the transformation of the Butterfly Garden into the Wildlife Garden & boy did things get WILD!

From dead-heading buddleias (I only learned what that meant yesterday) to weeding, sweeping, hoeing, digging & admiring the UK's largest collection of Hydrangeas, our tribe of 53 runners made an incredible difference.

To put a number on that difference (we like stats!) the 40 minutes each of us spent last night volunteering, collectively equates to 36.6 hours! Amazing right!? That's 2,200 minutes! I'm sure the fabulous volunteers from FODOS would agree that our first task has made an enormous difference to their garden & to the local community who enjoy that space. These numbers really help to highlight what GoodGym is all about... we might not be volunteering somewhere for very long, but as a large group of runners (come on, we work fast!) we can get a heck of a lot done!

(Pssst... We're back at the Wildlife Garden on the 29th October to support this lovely group again!)

Whilst Getting Fit

More stats, the running kind, the kind we love.... We traveled a total of 4km powered by foot last night, with a running group led by Dani (me) & back-marked by Rachel & a walking group led by Nicky (let's give the task-force a cheer!) as well as a mini fitness session which saw you all finding your glutes with squats & lunges. Plus we can totally include the 40 minutes of hard labour you put in at the garden, especially the diggers & wheel-barrowers!

Radio's back!

TV's overrated, we're going to be on the radio! & Sam from BBC Radio Derby is totally alive FYI. Keep your eyes peeled on GoodGym Derby's social media channels for an announcement of when you can hear your claim to fame on the BBC Derby Radio Breakfast Show. Thanks Sam for joining us & doing double the mileage running & back forth to do interviews!

Ready for task two!?

The launch event is done & dug (hehe), but this is only the beginning!

Every week (on Tuesday, don't turn up on a different day, we won't be there) at 6:15pm we'll meet at the Jurys Inn & run to a task, smash it & run back! Next week we're going a little further afield, running a total of 10km to do a leaflet drop in Mackworth for a community library. This isn't any old leaflet drop; there will be an option on the run out to work on your speed (getting some practice in) because once we hit Mackworth, a friendly teams-based competition will unfold! Don't let the sound of speed-training put you off, all abilities are welcome as always.

10km too much at the moment? Our third task takes us to another beautiful green space, with a total distance of 5km.

The Snaps

Big thanks to Ashley for taking amazing photos on last night's launch. If you haven't yet set a profile photo for your GoodGym account, find yourself in the snaps & use one of these beauties!

THANK YOU!

Finally, a huge cheer to every single one of you for being such a wonderful group last night; for getting stuck in, being super friendly to everyone & generally just a delight to be around. Here's to next week & the start of something beautiful with GoodGym Derby!

Happy running & exploring,

your trainer, Dani x