My woodchip brings all the paths to the yard!

Hearing of the task ahead, 24 GoodGym runners turned up to GoodGym this evening for what was going to be an epic group run! All of us were looking forward to running to our friends at Women Connect First

We had 4 new runners this week! Welcome Sue, Claire, Sioned and Becky! Claire mentioned that she had seen us on BBC evening news, googled us and decided to come along – I love it!! Frequent GoodGym runner Martin also shared his story about how he got involved; He found out about GoodGym through his daughter who runs with a GoodGym in London… and now he’s hooked!

The clock struck 6.30pm and so we headed outside to warm up. Ben quickly explained about GoodGym and the 3 ways runners can get involved. Nb. We are trying to promote Coach Runs at the moment in Cardiff (If you would like to be paired with an isolated older person and use one of your weekly runs to run to them, spend 20 minutes chatting and run home after, then let us know!)

To warm up we walked on our tip toes and heels of feet (stretched out our Achilles, calves and the tendons in our foot) and then lunged (this works your glutes in your hips and butt along with the hamstrings and quadriceps in your thighs). We then moved onto running specific warm up drills, starting with straight leg bounds and moving onto High knee skips.

We also acknowledged the GoodGym runners who took part in the running events over the past few days... Well done to Mark, Lucy, Ben, Paul, Kirstin, Alexis, Emma, Aimiee, Sioned, Fliss, Mark, Martin and Lawrence who all took part in the Cardiff 10k. Click here to read the race report and well done Mikey, Ben, Lucy, Paul and Tom who all ran the mile sprint at the Grand opening of the athletics track at Cyncoed Campus - Click here to read the race report. New PB's were set across both of these events - A HUGE well done all!

Feeling warmed up we split ourselves into two groups; Mikey led the runners who wanted to go at a rate of knots and leave trails of fire in their tracks. And Ben and Craig led the runners who wanted to challenge themselves at pace that meant they had more time to take in the views of Cardiff… after running to the mindfulness centre last week we all wanted to practice our mindfulness skills!

On the way to the task site we squatted, did push-ups and some triceps push-ups. There was a little bit of waiting around at traffic lights, waiting around for the green man to flash** ;) woooo** (I mean the green traffic light man guys!) (…whilst of course, jogging on the spot until it was safe to cross).

2.1 miles later we arrived…

Welcome GoodGym to Pengam Green Allotments!

Kati, our task organiser, was waiting for us at the entrance gates of the allotment and welcomed us in. Menaka, the charities Senior Admin & IT Officer, brought her children along. They were waiting with Kati at the gates and high fived runners as they entered the allotment. Rehana are the kid's honourary auntie :)

Once we all arrived Kati explained about the charity Women Connect First and the tasks they needed our help with doing at their allotment. Runners were split into 3 teams; De-weeders, woopchip layers and ground levellers (Due to a purchasing error the plan to paint the shed wasn’t possible, however, in Maria’s bag of tricks she set the runners another task which was to level out the ground adjacent to the shed, making sure all of the grass was removed too). Maria is the CEO of the charity Women Connect First - She loves watching us runners getting stuck in and helping out!

Let’s get straight to it!

Gloved up and weedy to weed the de-weeders took to ruthless annihilation of the weeds that were taking over the allotment. Craig, Simone and our new GoodGym runner, Sue, were by no means holding back. Their unquestionable efforts meant those weeds had no chance!

Runners allocated to woodchip laying responsibilities dived straight in! (Metaphorically speaking). They filled wheelbarrows with woodchip from one side of the Pengam allotments and wheeled it around to the allotment we were working on. They then covered the ground in the woodchip, covering the space between the plantation beds. Sioned and Sioned worked in pairs and Lucy and Aimee also worked together filling up and emptying wheelbarrows. They looked like they were having a wheely good time. Ben said "I wood chip in but I have to watch the task and make sure everyone is safe" - We are used to Ben's humor now!

The ground levelers took spades and forks to the ground. They were not going to let the mud and grass win! Andie and Tom did not hold back… I hope the mini beasts in the ground were okay.

All of these tasks were taking place around Women Connect First's brand new shed. The fantastic shed was funded by the NHS Centre for Equality and Human Rights, part of Public Health Wales. Claire Sullivan, the communications coordinator for Public Health Wales came along to see us runners in action working on the allotment :)

---

Riddle for the Run Without further a do, it is now time to share the riddle for the run. I have a head and a tail but no legs. I am also brown. What am I? Do you think you know the answer? Comment at the bottom of the run report! Answer will be revealed in next weeks run report

---

Runners grabbed the sheep by the horns and worked on the tasks for a full 30 minutes - There is no doubt that the tasks set definitely gave everyone a good workout. Lydia was using this incredible gardening tool that made uprooting weeds a whole lot easier, it is called a twist and tiller which helps break up the soil… Lydia was definitely enjoying herself using this efficient gardening tool!

Time is up!

Ben announced that time was up and directed runners to put all the equipment back to where they had got it from. We then quickly regrouped for a photo with lovely smiles on our faces :D!

Kati brought over some food for our runners to refuel… mmmmm! There were grapes, peaches, plums, strawberries and spicy onion bhajis – It was delicious… truly truly scrumptious. Thank you very much!

Time to run back guys!

We were all having a great time but it was time to head back. Maria, Rehana, Menaka and Kati all thanked us for our efforts. We all waved goodbye as we ran off into the sunset… but not before giving Menaka's children high 5’s again as we left Pengam allotment.

The run home was lovely, the sun was setting on Cardiff and it gave us a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the night’s run. We continued chatting with each other as we ran and when we stopped to regroup Ben spoke to everyone about how daylight was now getting shorter and how it may be worthwhile investing in head torches and reflective gear in order to stay safe on runs; whether this be group runs, mission runs, coach runs or outside of GoodGym (What?!? Running outside of GoodGym!?).

We arrived back at Yr Hen Lyfrgell just after 8pm. To finish the evening’s run we warmed down, calculated our total mileage which was 4.2 miles and then headed to the Glassworks pub for some well-earned beverages!

As mentioned in the run report we are trying to promote GoodGym Coach runs. Do you, or do you know of anyone would be interested in running to an older lonely person as part of their weekly run? If so, please email bena@goodgym.org.

Would you like to come and try out one of our group runs and see whether Goodym is a run club that is right for you? If so, just come along to one of our group runs.Click here to see what runs are coming up.

The RunPunstiltskin this week is awarded to... drum roll me - Well done me! See whether or not you can win this prestigious, life changing award from me next week! (At Christmas time we will be voting for our GoodGym Cardiff Pun of the Year award, so get your thinking caps on guys... that doesn't give you long!).