Hanging out and being a bit sally at the YMCA - I squat you not!

With the autumn night’s drawing in finding motivation to run can be a challenge… BUT not for 21 GoodGym Cardiff runners who knew there were good deeds to do, exercise to be had and friendly people to run with

Runners met at 6.15pm in Yr Hen Lyfrgell and had a little chinwag before the run commenced. At 6.30pm as per GoodGym fashion, we made our way outside, started jogging on the spot and did our headcount… We shouted our name, number, whether we had been to GoodGym before and our favourite alcoholic beverage. Gin came up trumps… EWWW! … And on another note, a HUGE WELCOME to Molly who was running with GoodGym for her first ever time. We hope that this is the first of many and that you don't think it's a secret club where we talk about our favourite alocholic beverages and the running aspect is one big conspiracy (After choosing to join us on a 4.8 mile run as your first run we definitely know you don't think that!) :)

We then began our warm up routine which consisted of an array of running specific drills; Walking on tip toes, heels, lunges, hip flexors and more. We also jogged on the spot at various speed intervals ranging from 1 - 5 with 5 being the fastest.

With Emma volunteering as the backmarker and Ben leading the way we were ready to go.

Not a minute to lose! Let’s go go go!

We started running as a single group, down Queen Street and onto Newport road. We then split into two groups with Mikey leading runners who wanted to run a little faster and Ben leading the more graceful runners amongst the group.

After crossing roads and counting down from 3 to 1, believing that we could influence the traffic lights, we arrived at the YMCA Department Store on Colchester Avenue.

Adam, our task organiser, welcomed us with a big smile on his face and offered us water to rehydrate - what a lifesaver! We told him: "We are 21 runners with 42 hands altogether and we are here to help!"

30 minutes and counting…

Adam explained what the YMCA is all about and told us our tasks for the evening. Our task was to sort through as many items of clothing as we could in 30 minutes Designer items of clothing had to be sorted into the big bag drops for Wellfield road and the non-designer items were placed into the bag drop for Albany Road.

Throughout the task it was unclear whether runners were being inquisitive when sorting through donations or being reunited with donated clothes... Discoveries included Martin finding a pink dress and Sue finding a matching pink bra. Fliss found a cute top, Jack a dress and Daz some sort of blue Japanese attire (Is my best guess..). Almost forgot to mention... Sue also found a pair of pants which she was very pleased about.

Here are your riddles for this week…

What can be driven but doesn’t have wheels and sliced but stays in one piece?

Lorena then suggested the next riddle

The name of which European country starts and ends with the same letter but the letter is not A

Think you know the answer? Post it in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Shall I bring Sally up?... Oh no!

Thinking that more of a workout is in order, Ben loaded up Bring Sally up on his phone. He instructed everyone to find space in the shop and to make sure that when they squatted their bums didn’t knock breakables on the floor. Ben also said that if they are feeling squatted out and may collapse then they should fall away from breakable items…

Ben then started the 6 second countdown until 3 minutes and 30 seconds of sheer glute hell was unleashed. Then it begun.

Bring Sally Up... Bring Sally Down… Bring Sally Up... Bring Sally Down…

This physiological torment went on for what felt like ages. Runners kept having to remind themselves that there is gain in this ‘little’ pain. It was a tough challenge but we all endured for as long as we could. I think it's fair to say that meeting a Sally will bring back memories of this run (so don't be alarmed if your name is Sally and one of our runners looks scared when they meet you)...

Time to run back for Su’s birthday bash!

It was runner Su’s birthday bash and we knew she was sitting there waiting for us in the Glassworks Pub. Therefore without further ado we bid farewell to Adam (Adam also joined in the Sally Challenge so he is now officially a legend!!) and made haste with full steam ahead.

AWESOME Run guys!

Here is a snippet of GoodGym runners bringing home the bacon.

We then arrived back to Yr Hen Lyfrgell and did our post run stretches.

Combined efforts all around for the RunPunStiltskin award this week! Aimee, Daz and Ben were all racking their brains non stop to come up with the best pun - They were all punny and so this week the RunPunStiltskin award is being awarded to all 3 of them! Not only are you good runners, but you are good punners too.

We have a Halloween themed group run next week folks!!! Remember that fancy dress is encouraged. Sign up to it now by clicking here!