7 Hearty GoodGymers braved the cold and set out into the night to pick up some litter behind the B&M car park.

Myself, Richard, Jane and Russell met at the old factory gym and discussed how we are hibernating a bit too much this winter and that we should maybe do a bit more. Richard spoke about his new job coming up and we celebrated him reaching his 50th Good Deed on Sunday while volunteering for Farleigh Hospice Santa Run. Congratulations Richard clap clap clap.

Collecting the litter pickers and bags from the gym we set off to meet Fay, Sallyann and Jess at the car park to bolster our litter picking group. with lots of chatting going on we filled 5 bags in no time and decided it was time to get back and warm up. After posing for a group photo we discussed this weekends coming events and who was taking (and not taking) part in them...

We bid goodbye to Fay and Sallyann who walked in. And to Jess and Jane who ran back to their respective homes. Richard, Russell and I jogged back through the city centre to the gym to put the pickers back.

Thanks for coming guys, you've made a little bit of Chelmsford that little bit nicer.

Next week Angela will be leading a leafleting run on Wednesday and then David will be leading a leaf clearing the week after. And then that will be it before we break for Christmas.

In January we will be doing our annual GoodGym January Challenge so if you can, we'll need every one of you to help us reach our targets.

Don't forget "If you move, log it on strava" and make sure you join GoodGym Chelmsford strava group. and do at least one good deed.. 😉

until then...

Run Happy

Rich

Andy: “Where are we going after Joe’s last run with us then?”

Joe: “It’s wings night at NO FREE PUBLICITY – we could do that?”

And so it was decided. Joe’s last night with GoodGym Chelmsford as a local would end with drinks and wings. Before that though, we just had to reach Upper Bridge Road, delicately pick leaflets with gloved fingers, jam hands through letterboxes and try not to leaflet the same place twice. Game on.

'Twas the first run of Christmas, and all through the streets
The lights were all sparkling, switched on late last week
The stone bridge and roundabout were bathed in a glow
So we stopped (and Rich jumped) to take a photo

The traffic jams parted and Dave – pretty quick
Stood in the middle to take a few pics
Then onwards to the centre for more snaps by the tree
Posing – dare I say it – almost elegantly

Then out on by the underpass there arose such a din,
Ben and Richard racing to see who would win
Past the shopfronts in Moulsham done up for Christmas
Despite our speed and our numbers, blink and you’d miss us
But if missing’s the subject there’s only one name around
Joe will miss you all when he heads out of town

"Bye, Laurie! Bye, Russell! Bye, Sallyann!
Sorry I left my glittery flares in the van!”
To the top of the road! To the top of the hill!
But the actual top of the road, not the one for Joel!"

And then, in a twinkling, a letterbox closes
Jess’ poor glove its metal jaw encloses
As she drew back her hand she exclaimed with a yelp
But Andy was too busy backmarking to help

His leaflets went fast, he was onto a winner
Like a lycra-wrapped Santa, just older and thinner
With leaflets delivered we headed back into town
Our stomach to fill, our sorrows to drown

This was the first time that Kate had seen us at a pub
But she'd heard the stories of crawls and pre-parkrun clubs
Our Wednesday night mad one became more insipid
They’d run out of wings! Fuming. #Livid.

Erin was gutted but the solution was easy
An alcohol-free espresso martini
Fay came to discover what tater tots are
(Basically hash browns, but smaller by far)

With leaflets all leafletted and all the drinks drunk,
We contemplated whether all our waistbands had shrunk
Some emotional hugs and drawn-out goodbyes
Could’ve been warm, but we did them outside

So up the A12 with memories galore,
Joe disappears to go and explore
Chelmsford will miss him, and he’ll miss their fun
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good run!

With the threat of Storm Bert heading our way, 7 GoodGymers wrapped up warm to head out this morning for some parkrun volunteering. As an incentive Leanne brought along some delicious cake for us, even though she wasn't joining us for the task. What a superstar! Rich wasn't allowed to be left unattended with it though, in case it all mysteriously disappeared before we'd finished our parkrun duties. We reconvened after a fantastic 580 runners had made their way round a very muddy course. Robert selected some cake before heading off for the day, Sallyann was off to visit her mum and the rest of us headed for our customary Wetherspoons breakfast to reward ourselves for our "hard" work. Eden was very excited to be having her second breakfast of the day, particularly as it was followed by cake. Andy realised he had too many layers on once we were indoors and was close to expiring so decided to take his home with him.

Ben brought along his donations for the reverse advent calendar collection for the foodbank. Anyone else who is contributing to the collection will need to get their donations to me this week please. If you are coming along to our task on Wednesday, I'm happy to take them then. We will be doing a leaflet drop followed by some leaving drinks for Joe who is off to the only English city to be excommunicated by the Pope. Make of that what you will!