My name is David and I'm the founding member of GoodGym Luton.

I was never a sporty person until I discovered Parkrun and discovered the joys of running. Getting out on your own for a run can be a bit intimidating but being able to do it with a bunch of other people, of all fitness levels, really takes any embarrassment out of it.

Parkrun was great for getting the weekend off to a good start and I became a regular, always trying to improve my 5km time, but it can still be tricky to find motivation to run during the rest of the week. That's when I discovered GoodGym. I was living in London at the time and found GoodGym a great way to get some more running into the week.

GoodGym is a sort of casual fitness group that donates it's effort to local good causes. So, you might be running to help your local park, help an elderly neighbour, or paint a community centre, all in a couple of hours. Combining fitness with doing good really leaves you with a good feeling. I ended up running several days a week by combining Parkrun with GoodGym and became more confident in just going for long runs on my own and had never been fitter.

When I moved to Luton a few years ago I became a regular at the Wardown Parkrun but there was no GoodGym and I missed that. So, I resolved to try and bring GoodGym to Luton. It took a few meetings with the council but they soon realised the potential of GoodGym and decided to back it. One pandemic later, I found myself the Leader of GoodGym Luton and doing more running than ever before, taking our members on runs around town, constantly seeking new members to join and new tasks to run to.

There's always a first step to getting fit and I hope that coming to the first GoodGym session will be the first step for many more Lutonians!

If you are interested in being involved in the GoodGym, please visit https://www.goodgym.org/v3/areas/luton