A Toad-ally Awesome Task

This evening at GoodGym, 24 runners ran to help Mackintosh Community Gardens

It was beginning to look like a wet one, however the Welsh weather did not let us down and we were blessed with glorious sunshine for our run.

The warm up began with a game that helped runners improve their agility and balance. They got into pairs and had to tag the knee of the person they were partnered up with without getting tagged themselves. What followed was a game of captains coming. Runners got into 'pirate mode' and warmed up by scrubbing the deck, climbing the rigging and walking the plank.

Before heading to this evenings task we participated in a headcount. To make in more fun we also said our names backwards... What? Really?... Yes, really! No new people tonight so I am holding onto the red laces for a little longer! #LifeGoals #BringAFriendAndGetARedLace

Time to head to the task

Carol was waiting for us at Mackintosh Community Gardens so there was no time to waste! Ben led the main group whilst Emma Wilkins led a walking group. We crossed streets, ran around churches and up hills until we reached the task site.

Welcome to Mackintosh Community Gardens

Carol greeted us with open arms and a warm smile. She was ever so happy to see us. She told us about the wonderful gardens and explained that before she acquired the gardens it was completely overgrown and it was a gargantuan challenge to try and clear it all up and get it into the condition that it is today. She told us about the plants that grow there, the habitat that live there and how they make it into a community space.

Carol then explained to us the tasks they need our help with. She explained that there used to be a brick path which has become overgrown with long grass over time. It was our job to clear the overgrown grass and weeds and make the path visible once again! Knowing how hard and quick we work, Carol had another task for us to do. At the back of the gardens were piles of soil which needed shifting to the other side of the allotment. This was a task for 8 runners... and it wasn't going to be easy! Whilst this was going on we SAW A TOAD! It looked so cute.

Anyway, enough about the frog/toad, or whatever it was, we had work to do! 8 runners jumped on the piles of soil and began shifting it into wheelbarrows and moving it to the other side of the gardens. The 16 other runners, armed with gardening tools, began pulling up the grass that covered the brick path.

During the task Lowri shared her new found love of riddles and requested that riddles come back to GoodGym Cardiff on a regular basis because Ben's riddles are THAT GOOD! To satisfy Lowri's request, Ben came up with two riddles; 1.) What has 4 'eyes'/i's but cannot see? 2.) What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

Runners continued to work hard at the task whilst trying to solve the riddles. Everyone put so much effort into the task that within just 20 minutes the task was done!

Thank you so much everyone

Carol and Gareth thanked us for our help. She said she couldn't even have imagined how long it would have taken her if she did it by herself. She wished us well as we continued our run and waved us off as we left.

1 KM Sprint - WHAT!?!?

After completing the task we headed over to Roach rec. Ben ran 1km and told everyone to run until they met him after a 2 minute delay. Mikey finished the km sprint first and the rest of the group followed closely behind.

Well done everyone... It's now time to run back

The run back was at a social pace. Runners had earned the rest! Conversation moved on to talking about what people were having for dinner after the run... Many people didn't actually know (It was all I was thinking about!).

It wasn't long before we were running down City Road, across Richmond Road, back to the city centre and the final stop, Big Moose!

It really was an AWESOME run this evening. We then did a cool down, spent time reflecting on the evening's run and Lucy Darren and Mikey told everyone about the upcoming group runs and community missions. Click here to look at all the exciting runs coming up in Cardiff!

The Tweet Off

Marie is taking no prisoners at the moment. She has gained 3 points on the tweet leaderboard over 3 consecutive weeks - Marie is unstoppable! Or is she... Tune in next week to see whether she makes it 4 weeks in a row.

• LM 9
• MG 3
• MO 3
• DRN 3
• EW 3
• NS 2
• MJ 2
• BA 1
• NI 1
• AG 1
• WD 1