We love parkrun!

It possibly goes without saying, but parkrun really isn’t about running at all - despite it’s name - it’s really about community cohesion, wellbeing and the coming together of the community. Pretty much like Good-Gym!

We are spoilt for choice in Brighton and Hove with 5 parkruns across the city. Once a month, we meet up together and run or walk or volunteer at a different parkrun, proudly wearing our GoodGym T-shirt. Sometimes more often for spontaneous initiative of the Good Gymers in our area.

This Saturday we were parkrunning to East Brighton Park...and, some of us stayed longer to help in a community mission to restore this citypark.

Hereafter all the link to the parkrun racecourses across Brigthon & Hove:

• Preston Park: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/prestonpark/course
• Hove Promenade: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/hovepromenade/course
• Hove Park: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/brighton/course
• East Brighton Park: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/eastbrighton/course
• Bevendean Down Park: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/bevendeandown/course

Make sure you get there for the run briefing just before 9am.

New to parkrun?

Parkruns are free, weekly, community events all around the world. Saturday morning events are 5k and take place in parks and open spaces. You can run, walk or volunteer at parkruns. You can even take your dog (if you have one) along! If you have never run a parkrun before, they are a great way to get into running in a welcoming and inclusive environment. Remember, it's FREE, but you can register HERE: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/ to keep a profile (number of parkruns you do, times, etc.). GoodGym-ers in Brighton have their parkrun profile associated with the group/club: GoodGym-Brighton, and we like sharing our photos :-)

Happy parkrun-ing with GoodGym!

A group of Good-Gymers jogged two miles up an incline to Cardinal Newman School. Meeting the rest of the group there! After we found the entrance we were met by the care taker Pedro who showed us the school gym which needed cleaning. We welcomed two new members Olivia and Hannah and welcomed back Daniela who quickly got stuck in.

Looking at the school website we were in the St Augustine Building which also has a climbing wall - a nice one to discover next time!

We donned gloves and got to wiping and dusting the pretty dusty gym equipment. Some of us who were good at multi tasking managed to use the running machines and clean! We had fun on the balance board. We were impressed with their moto use your muscles not your mouth although we definitely used both!

After we finished up we jogged up a hill to The Dyke Alehouse to enjoy a drink and some chips. Nice meeting here Lucia too!

The magnificent seven ran, walked and cycled 1.5km up the hill to Lavender House in Kemp Town. We welcomed back Daniela and Edel. 😊

Good Gym has visited Lavender House lots of times but in the words of William Shakespear: "idle weeds are fast in growth"!

Lavender House is retirement housing and we enjoy helping the residents there.

We met Keith of Lavender House who showed us the tools and the task to be done.

Juliet, Jane, Rosie, Ben, Daniel, Edel and me rapidly if indiscriminately cleared the weeds from the flat garden and by the pavement.

A passer by told us how much better it all looked! We managed to finish off and mostly miss the rain shower!

With the sun shining again, ten Good Gym runners and one Good Gym cycler met to run to Preston Park. We welcomed back new members Daniela and Edel. It was good run or cycle ride to the Vicarage bowling club, which is the other side of Preston Park. We met Jenny who told us there used to be five bowling clubs in Preston Park but sadly there are now just two remaining. She said bowls were for all ages and anyone was welcome to join. Sherman, Ben, Frannie, Daniela, Rebecca, Angela, Edel, Sarah, Jane and I helped clear the ivy from the flower beds and weeds from the path. It was a large area, and we could see there was more to do so it would be worth a return visit. Afterwards, Pippa led a fitness session involving some hill sprints and balancing exercises in Preston Park 😎