A big welcome to Jason and Will who joined us tonight for their first Goodgym Ipswich Group Run.

It was another rainy Monday evening - we've had a few those recently!

Congratulations were handed to those who had successful weekends with a whole host of events including the Manchester Marathon and Bromley 10k, but pride of place goes to Sue and Andrew who carried out the first Goodgym Ipswich mission on Saturday - you can read all about it here

Undeterred by the falling rain we set off for a 2.5 mile run across town to Highfield Nursery. This was our second visit to the nursery with the task of painting a room that hosts 2-4 year olds on a regular day.

Andrew and Carl met us and were well prepared with dust sheets, brushes, rollers and paint all laid out ready to go. And immediately everyone set to work. Almost naturally the group divides into "rollers" & "brushes" with "brushes" cutting in and taking on the intricate areas while the "rollers" cover the large expanses quickly and efficiently - there was some fabulous team work and the whole room was completed in around 30 minutes - Robin even had time for a short break in one of the children's chairs.

With the job complete we headed back on the return leg of the run completing just over 5 miles in total - with a longer run the additional fitness had to be saved for another day.

The return run was even wetter than the outward leg but there were no complaints as we splashed and chatted the whole way back.

Next week's run is a similar distance to the neighbouring Castle Hill Community Centre - more details and sign up HERE - it may even be dry!!

A big welcome to Jen who joined us for her first Goodgym Ipswich Group Run this evening. Great to have you along.

There had been a lot of "long runs" done over the weekend - a sure sign marathon training season is in full flow. Consequently there were some tired legs among our number tonight, but everyone was raring to set off to a new destination for us - Highfield Nursery.

Although we were going to a new venue we took a familiar route across Ipswich town centre and along Norwich Road for an outward run of just under 5km.

We arrived to find the best organised task ever - lots of dust sheets covering furniture, paint already in trays with rollers and brushes in abundance

The task was to paint two large rooms used by over 100 children during the course of the school day. Some of the Nursery staff were also there to help in their own time. We split into two teams to take on alternate rooms and everyone got stuck in.

It was a big task and we didn't quite complete both rooms entirely, but made a huge contribution, before heading off into the night for the return run bringing the evening's total distance to just under 10km.

A big run and a big task and a late night for the Goodgym heroes - Fab work from you all!

Next week will be a much shorter run to the familiar Brickmakers Wood - more info and sign up HERE