Chop it like it’s hot

“Lack of dedication.” “They look like they don’t want to be there.” “A tragic collection of individual high performers.”

England – now we know how you feel at the Euros. A boiling evening on the Costa del Chelmsford saw nine GoodGym members arrive hot and sweaty before we’d even started.

Setting off to the top of Broomfield (why is it so far uphill?) for some weeding and path chipping, David led out at a gentle pace while Team Walk became Team Drive/Carry Your Water. Fay's car probably has air conditioning too. Not fair.

Broomfield was alive with people enjoying the sun – including a group who clapped us as we jogged past. We were going slowly because of the heat rather than to enjoy the applause – honest! It’s the kind of support Angela could have done with on her 30 mile fundraising hike last week.

As we arrived, Joe and David debated the proper name for the wooden arch at the churchyard entrance but could only come up with “definitely not a shed.” At least the ideas to rename the pub being refurbished next door were better. Maybe we could add The Old Testament to the October social route…

The team got stuck into murdering giant spiky plants and shovelling woodchip onto the new pathways. Sallyann decided it would be easier to lay the chippings if she was on the other side of said giant spiky plants, so hurdled the hedge and made a neat and tidy job of it.

Because David did such a good job of naming the not-a-shed, Laurie decided to bounce baby name ideas off Fay instead. Lots didn’t make the cut – David Junior, or DJ for short – but we’ve all marked our calendars to meet little Prince Chatterjee.

Andy had clearly taken notes and reckoned it’d be easier to ‘help’ by lifting and tipping the full barrow rather than shovelling it onto the ground. A good idea in theory, but less great when he ended up dumping the woodchip all over the shrubs. Even worse, he did this just after Sallyann had managed to pick her way out of the thicket.

Maybe it was fighting the thorns or maybe he misread GoodGym in the heat, but Martin was a fully scratched-up member of BloodGym by the end of the task. He looked like he’d gone 12 rounds with a feisty kitten on Red Bull, but there’s nothing that Broomfield’s trademark orange squash can’t fix.

A 10k beer trail run is the next session (no pun intended) and despite the heat being the perfect excuse for not winning or beating David, Russell decided to wait until the last minute to bail on us. More GoodGym members are marshalling the Havens Hospices Race4Business on 3 July, and there’s a pub quiz on Sunday 7 July at the Ale House.

Stay cool and run happy 😎

Joe