The team did weedy well this week, when our super 17 runners tidied the playground at Liverpool's Methodist Youth Centre.

After a stormy day, the sun came out for GoodGym and the city's Georgian Quarter was glowing as we ran through it and on it to Toxteth. After just a 1.5km run the team was feeling fresh and ready to get stuck in. We were met by youth worker Spencer who showed us the overgrown outer areas of the building, before we sprang into action.

At the front of the building, Pauline, Sara and Richard made short work of weeding and clearing the area to create a far more welcoming entrance. While the rest of the team out back struggled to pull weeds out of old tarmac. Nevertheless, they persisted and the playground was left in a far better state than when we arrived.

There are loads of shout outs today, so bear with!

• Shout out to Jackie, who came up with the Scouse-tastic title of tonight's run report. I was made up. Boss. Ta la ;)
• Welcome to newbies Richard and Jo - you did great and are most welcome to run with us anytime!
• Welcome back to Emma R. and A.J. - we've missed you, don't leave it so long next time please.
• Hiiiiya and thanks for visiting to David and Caroline, visiting from GoodGym Sheffield. You've earned your Scout badges.

After the task, we ran to nearby Princes Park and enjoyed a quick fitness session looking at balance and using our legs in different ways. Mostly this involved joyful skipping!

Well done to the team for anther great week.

Next week we're heading to Sunflowers Cancer Care Centre to look after their garden area. It should be another really worthwhile task for a brilliant organisation. So sign-up!

Until then, happy running, Char <3

A shoal of seven saturated super runners squelched nearly 12km on the longest - and WETTEST - GG Liverpool Group Run to date.

After weeks and weeks of glorious blue skies, who'd have guessed that the week we planned an extended run it would decide to absolutely chuck it down! I was stunned that so many dedicated souls joined the run, in spite of the truly awful weather, running hard all the way to Calderstones Park and setting a good pace too.

When we arrived at The Reader - a fab literacy charity based in the park - we were greeted by GG runner and The Reader staff member Kirsty. The original task was painting picnic benches but unfortunately the weather made this impossible. Instead, Kirsty put the team to work cleaning the playground around the centre's "Story Barn". And within no time, the area was free from leaves and grime, but the rain continued to beat down.

We took shelter for a few minutes to discuss whether we should return to base via bus or even taxi. But it was unanimously decided that since we were already soaked through, we might as well finish the run. And so we did! It rained all the way back until just as we pulled up to our Hope Street Hotel base, it finally stopped.

The whole team deserves shouts outs this week for being absolute troopers (there should be a special GG duck badge for occasions like this) but most deserving of a special mention is Mat. Now a regular, when Matthew first came to GoodGym back in April he found a 2.5km run tough going. This week he ran 12km without trouble and in a really decent time too. Mat's "You've just got to keep going" mantra and can do attitude is an inspiration to the whole team. Nice work fella!

Well done once again to all of my soggy runners, and thank you for not leaving me to run/swim alone this week!

Next week I can't promise it won't rain (although early forecasts say it is unlikely) but I can promise a shorter run. We'll be heading to one of our favourite tasks, working with Friends of Everton Park. The run is around 2.4km in each direction and pretty flat so it is ideal for newbies and returner runners. See you then!

Have a lovely week and happy running, Char <3

A massive team of 19 rad runners beat the heat on a run to help out a community sports centre in Kensington.

We were newbies aplenty on this perfect starter run underneath a beautiful blue sky. The 2.2km run to Jubilee Sports Bank took us up a small hill and there were barely any complaints! On arrival we met with Laura who introduced the project to our newbies and welcomed back those who joined us when we tidied up the place a few weeks back. Jubilee Sports Bank is a community sports centre located in one of the most deprived areas of our city. It seeks to make sport available to all. We love their mission and love to help them out.

The team grabbed a pile of tools and Laura led us to some dead flowers beds and to an accessible path that was no longer accessible as it had become badly overgrown. I split the team into two groups and they set to work on both areas of the park that were badly in need of TLC. Half an hour later and with a pile of cuttings and weeds almost as tall as Leo, they had done a fantastic job.

A fun fitness session followed in the form of a good old fashioned relay race, with a little balancing and hurdling involved. Then it was downhill all the way back to our Hope Street Hotel base. Well done team! It was amazing to have such a big group this week - thanks to everyone who came along to give GoodGym a try for the first time, you are so welcome to join us again soon.

Shout out to GoodGym giant Beth who was in town for a long weekend and joined us to clock her 610th good deed - what a rockstar! And a big welcome to Ellie who joins a growing group of GG Lpool runners who have escaped from That London and are now living the good life in Merseyside :)

Next week is a bit different, as we'll be taking on a challenging run of 6km (in each direction) in an extended 2 hour session. We'll be heading to The Reader at Calderstones park to paint benches, so sign-up here if you're ready for the challenge. If you're a less confident runner, feel free to drop me a line to discuss whether this run is right for you, or to discuss alternative options such as running in one direction only. And/or/also sign-up to the following week when we're back with the Friends of Everton Park and the run is a steady 2.5km each way.

Looks like the weather is a going to be a bit cooler this week so make sure you get those training runs in. Until next time, Char <3

P.S. I really need help me with title puns folks!!!