Meri

The truth is out. Rebecca Black prefers Tuesday's because that's the day when GoodGym Cardiff takes place

As soon as 6.30pm struck Ben directed everyone outside to warm up. He got them jogging, doing high knees and butt kicks. Runners then played a game of stuck in the dance and then regrouped for a headcount. We welcomed two new runners to the run this evening, Danny and Anish - A HUGE welcome! We acknowledged runners achievements over the past week too. Here's what got a mention:

• Lucy ran Lisbon Half Marathon
• Ben ran Lisbon Marathon
• Mary ran her FIRST EVER parkrun
• Darren and Ellen undertook a mission to help an older person - fab work!
• A community mission took place last Thursday to help Macmillan Cancer Charity. Well done Ellen, Aimee, Nathan and Emma!

Before setting off we split into separate groups. We had 1 group led by Mikey to help the charity Forget-Me-Not. We had another group led by Ben to help Chapter Arts Centre, and we had a walking group led by Lucy, also to Chapter Arts Centre.

We're at Chapter Arts Centre - Rosie where art thou?

Runners embarking on a slightly shorter run arrived at Chapter Arts by 7pm. They then headed over to the Cwtch where Rosie had reserved tables for the evening's task. The walking group arrived soon after. Rosie welcomed everyone to Chapter Arts and told everyone about the centre and what goes on there. Rosie then told runners about the tasks they had been set for the evening; to make Pumpkin pompoms and ghost bunting which will be hung up around the centre.

There was some extremely creative pompom pumpkin making. Ted created an amazing chain of ghost bunting that he became quite attached to. Martin became engrossed in making pompoms and approached the task with unwavering levels of focus.

To finish the task we invited Adam, an employee of Chapter, to take a group photo of us for this run report. He kindly said he would and now he has a mention in this run report forever more... who knows, maybe we will see him at a future run...

Whilst some of us were helping at Chapter Arts, the rest were helping the Forget-Me-Not charity at St. Edwards Church

11 runners embraced the extra distance to run to St. Edward's church for Forget me not charity. A simple direct run, several light stops, but an introduction to the streets of Cardiff.

We were welcomed as always with a warm embrace, a session had just finished which added to the task. So tonight, putting back the chairs in the church after their evening and cutting back a rather large Buddleja.

Darren lead a group out to tackle the Buddleja that we had taken down last year. Whilst Mikey got the four runners inside to work on resetting the Church.

It wasn't too long before everyone was outside taking down the butterfly Bush for another season. It took some work, but eventually it was nothing but a group of sticks.

And so to our photo, and where else should it be but in a tree.....

Thanks to forget me not, a run back and wait, there's still time for a bit of extra exercise. It was runners choice, either step ups or a race around our second church of the evening. Each group got their sweat on and then we carried on to meet up and cool down with the rest of the crew.

A task well done

A huge well done to everyone who came to GoodGym this evening. Rosie and Kathie were both extremely grateful for our support.

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The Tweet off

Megan won the tweet off this evening, moving up the leaderboard to overtake Nathan Swain - Not sure whether he knows this yet, but if he is reading this then he does now. Well done Megan!

• LM 11
• MO 8
• EW 5
• DRN 4
• MG 4
• MJ 3
• NS 2
• BA 1
• NI 1
• AG 1
• WD 1

This evening, 27 GoodGym runners ran and made a HUGE impact at two community projects in Cardiff!

Welcome To GoodGym Cardiff and The Vale - The MOST AMAZING place to get fit in Wales

Tuesday's are the BEST day of the week. GoodGym is an opportunity to get fit, do good, meet like minded people and have fun. This evening we had 1 runner come along to GoodGym for their first ever time!Welcome to GoodGym Yasmin. We hope you had a fantastic time and come back again. :)

Before heading out for the evening's run we completed a warm up and did a headcount.

Two Tasks this week!

This week there were two tasks for runners to choose from. They could either run to Mackintosh Community Gardens, a slightly longer run, or run to Butetown Pavilion - I know how much you runners love a choice of where to run to!

Ellen led 10 runners to Butetown Pavilion whilst Ben led 17 runners to Mackintosh Community Gardens. We waved each other off knowing that in 1 hours and 30 minutes time we would regroup again and share stories of the tasks we completed.

The run to Mackintosh Community Gardens

In Ben's group, Ben led the runners along queen street, down Newport Road and up Richmond Road. They then ran through lanes to get to the gardens. Carol, the task organiser for the evening, was quick to welcome eveeryone in. She said she wanted to the make the most of the time she had us for and immediately began explaining the tasks that needed doing. "The weeds need to be cut back, steps need to be made up to the children's play area, the gravel needs to be shifted from the path and onto the play area, and I need some other volunteers to pick tomatoes and green beans."

Everyone got stuck in for 30 minutes, working together to complete the task. Emily, Lucy, Anthony and Ben did a fine job shifting the gravel. And everyone else did a marvelous job picking tomatoes, building steps, laying the gravel and pulling up weeds.

"I can't believe how much you managed to get done in 30 minutes. We should've had a film crew here!"

Carol was in disbelief about how much we managed to get done in 30 minutes. She thanked us for our hard work and wished us a pleasant run back.

Before running back to Big Moose everyone partnered up and ran circuits around the gardens. In partners runners alternated between running and squatting - Such a fun exercise!

The run to Butetown Pavilion

Ten runners trotted on down to the Butetown Pavilion, to do some weeding and a general clear up astound the grounds. This was so that social areas around the grounds are more inviting and useable for the community, and youth clubs using the centre. We quickly got to grips with the task, pulling, pushing, hacking and cutting - even with a tiny pair of scissors! Emma W went to town with the cleaver (a scarily common tool!), and Tori hacked away like a seasoned jungle veteran! In all we collected 7 bags of greenery and rubbish, and left the Pavilion in a better shape then we found it. Result!

The Tweet Off

Well done Lucy. You're into double figures. Can you make it two weeks in a row? You have to be in it to win it!

• LM 10
• MO 4
• DRN 4
• EW 4
• MG 3
• NS 2
• MJ 2
• BA 1
• NI 1
• AG 1
• WD 1

This week, 27 runners ran to do good in the Cardiff Community!

Our numbers seem to be growing week on week - Yipee! - and his week we had the pleasure of welcoming two new people to GoodGym. A HUGE welcome to Elsa and Jen who came along to their FIRST EVER GoodGym run this evening - Hope we didn't scare you off and we hope to see you back very soon!

What else is worthy of a mention:

• 29 of us headed to the Lake District to hike Scafell Pike over the weekend (Helping Nathan complete his 2019 New Years Resolution).
• The AWESOME Meg ran the Port Talbot half Marathon and achieved a new PB - You go girl!
• Lewis did Parkrun - He is our religious parkrun runner at GoodGym

Before we headed out for this evening's run we got warmed up by playing a game of Fish and Chips; Fish and Chips is an EPIC game. Run around and then when Ben shouts "Fish and Chips" you must find a partner and say either Fish or Chips, say the same and you must perform 10 star jumps, say different and you perform 10 squat jumps. We also did some running specific basic warm up drills.

It's time to help out in the community

Ben led those wanting a further run to Global Gardens whilst Ellen led the group wanting a shorter run to the Grangetown Hub.

On the way to Global Gardens Ben had everyone doing step ups, planking, running forwards and backwards and performing tricep dips on public benches.

Run to plog

Unfortunately Poppy wasn't at the Global Gardens Allotment - We hope she is okay! So instead, we took to the streets and back streets for some fast paced plogging, shouting PLOG everytime we needed to bend down to pick up litter. Ben managed to find an empty chewing gum packet and crisp packet. The Daz machine picked up LOADS of cigarette ends. Lucy found empty beer cans, a yankee car air freshener and also an empty packet of cigarettes.

After plogging we headed down to the roundabout by Roath Park and from there we turned onto Fairoak road. Fairoak road is where the 12 mile marker is in the Cardiff Half Marathon. It is also the place where runners have to tackle the final hill in the half marathon. To practice getting used to the hill, we ran up it and then jogged down it to recover. We did this 3 times.

After the hill sprints, which everyone LOVED :D we began running back towards town. We stopped one final time to run on King Edward VII Avenue to run the final 200 metres of the Cardiff half marathon course. Lucy gave everyone a pep talk before they ran the 200 metres which helped spur everyone on.

Run to the Grangetown Community Hub

10 GoodGym runners ran to the Grangetown Hyb to help spruce up the outdoor surroundings. We weeded around the car park, digging the moss and weeds in the cracks of the paving stones. Some of those pesky weeds need quite a good whacking, which Fancy Su provided. Andie Cleaver showed us her namesake skills, handling a miniature cleaver to cut up some of the weeds! Some of us also did a mini-litter pick, grabbing up the litter blowing around in the car park and surrounding lanes, with their excellent pincer skills. Ceri (spelling?) from the Hyb said it looked so much better coming out of the double doors, seeing that so much had been cleared up, so quickly! So with a group photo and a wave, we set of back to base camp.

Well done

A task well done by everyone. You should definitely be proud of yourselves :D Here's what's coming up over the next few weeks:

• Next week our group run will involve running to promote Cardiff Pride - Rainbow colours encouraged! Click here to sign up to it
• On Sunday 1st September, we have the opportunity for you to volunteer at the Cardiff 10K. Click here to find out more
• On Wednesday 4th September, a number of GoodGym runners will be getting up early to partake in the festivities of Soulful Sunrise. Click here to find out more
• On Saturday 21st September we will be running to help Coryton Primary School set up their Autumn Fair. Click here to find out more and get involved.

We then headed over to the Glassworks for drinkypoos and for the weekly tweet off.

It's time for the tweet off!

Darren has stopped Marie's winning streak - Marie had a whopping 4 consecutive weeks of tweet off victories! I almost fall off my chair every time the tweet off happens as i'm always sitting on the edge of it. Tune in next week to see whether Darren can make it two wins in a row.

• LM 9
• MO 4
• DRN 4
• MG 3
• EW 3
• NS 2
• MJ 2
• BA 1
• NI 1
• AG 1
• WD 1

A fantastic GoodGym run to help St. Monica's Primary School and the Samye Foundation

How much bigger and better can GoodGym Cardiff get? A whopping 25 runners showed up to GoodGym tonight. Keep coming guys, and don't forget, bring a friend and earn yourself a red lace :D - Exciting times :)

It's TWO task Tuesday

Tonight there were two tasks and runners got the choice of where they wanted to help - Pretty cool eh? Runners could either run with Welsh Dave and head over to the Samye Foundation to clear, lined and filled a plantation bed OR they could run with Ben to St. Monica's Primary School where the runners would be set the task of painting a HUGE wall.

Let's get warmed up

Before we could run to the tasks, we had to do a head count and get warmed up. Runners participated in the headcount and shared with the group were their favourite place to run is - where is your favourite place to run on that note? Comment at the bottom of this run report.

The warm up involved the game 'Stuck in the Dance'. It's a game that is similar to stuck in the mud, but different. If you get tagged you keep dancing until you are saved!

Let's Go GO GOOOOO!

With our warm up done it was time to get our groove on. Those running with Welsh Dave ran in the direction of Cardiff Castle and continued up Cowbridge road towards Samye. Dave made runners 'get their squat on' as they waited for the lights to change in order to cross the road safely. Those running with Ben ran in the direction of city hall, they passed by the extinction rebellion drumming band on the way which provided a great opportunity for Ben to demonstrate his talents at dancing whilst he runs.

Welcome to St. Monica's Primary School

It wasn't long before those running with Ben arrived at the task. Abi gave everyone a warm welcome that was as warm as the weather. It was so nice to visit the school as it has been a while since our last visit. Abi told us about some of the changes that have happened at the school and told us that the school now has introduced the THE DAILY MILE. The Daily Mile encourages children to get out of the classroom and run a mile everyday Abi challenged us to guess how many laps of the playground the children needed to do in order to run a mile... the children have to do a total of 30 LAPS!

We then got stuck into the task, and armed with rollers we all began painting the wall white - WE WERE ON A ROLL!

Martin managed to accidentally paint himself during the task - Or maybe on purpose because he wants white shorts?. Llion mentioned about the fantastic book he has just got published - It's written in Welsh!

Circuit time!

With the task complete and time remaining, what better way to make the most of the time we had remaining than do a circuit session on the playground. There were 6 stations, and in no particular order, here they are:

• Hopscotch
• Hopping up a ladder on 1 leg, alternating between legs on each ladder ascent
• Running the daily mile route
• Running up a small grass hill in the school and rolling back down
• Running, hopping, jumping, walking on tip toes between points on the floor
• In pairs copying the other persons actions

Abi told us that the school children love running up the grass and rolling back down it, pretending that the grass is a hill. This was not a view shared amongst the runners who attended St Monica's tonight, though.

Time to leaveeeee

Oh it was great to be back at school, but alas the time had come to leave. Abi thanked us for our help and told us about how amazed she was about quickly we got the task done.

We ran back towards the city centre, running over obstacles, sprinting down museum avenue and running hard up the slight gradient between the city hall and town centre.

Sam-Yayyyyyy!*

Whilst the other team were rolling their way up to St. Monica's, 13 runners were navigating the protests of Castle St. With plenty of opportunities using the closed road for everyone's favourite step-up challenge!

Speeding down Cowbridge Road East, we make it to the Samye foundation and are welcomed by Lorraine, in true Samye spirit, with a table full of food and a van full of soil for the new plantation beds (those who attended the Samye last time might remember painting these ones at the front of the car park - they're looking 👌!)

The team got stuck in removing rubble and adding the soil to the planters for new flowers to be added, 40 bags goes down surprising fast! Aimee meanwhile set about saving some plants that Lorraine found recently thrown-away.

The first task-riddle was solved in a matter of seconds - what's got a head and tail but no body? Well done Charlotte!), So it was time to make it more of a challenge - there are three tube stations with all the vowels in - what are they? (Turns out there's only two and Dave read the riddle wrong...)

Unfortunately, after our second snack-stop courtesy of Lorraine, it's time to run back - which means no time for the threatened Sally Squat Challenge! ...maybe next week? If anyone happens to be passing the Samye be sure to have a peek at our work!

Make sure you keep up with your fitness by signing up to next week's run - Click here to sign up.

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The Tweet Off Leaderboard

Well done Marie - You've got yourself on the Tweet Off board, and you are one point closer to winning the tweet off this year! Here are the current standings on the tweet off leaderboard -

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

On a glorious summers evening, 20 GoodGym runner took to the streets to combine their running with doing good!

Another Tuesday, another AWESOME GoodGym! Tonight we had two new runners joining us and a very special visitor who came across the border, all the way from England, to join GoodGym for this evening's run.

Let's get warmed up

To get warmed up we started this evening's run with some technique drills. We followed this up with a game of 'Captain's coming!' Runners were encouraged to scrub the deck, catch parrots, climb the rigging, run from port to starboard and mark the arrival of captains girlfriend with a big "oooooooooooo."

Head count

Whilst jogging, we did our headcount and announced what our favourite spread was to put on toast. We had Elvis Presley fans stating that they like peanut butter and jelly, we had some runners who love the taste of butter, other runners who like jam and we have Alex who likes potato on his toast, yes potato - "Smashing," Ben said! - Don't knock it until you've tried it! We wished a MASSIVE welcome to Meri and Emily. We hope you enjoyed this evening's run and will come back again. Emily got herself a red lace #LifesGoals for bringing Meri along. ((Rumour has it Mo Farah is also trying to get his hands on a red lace because, if the tales are true, it will help him run even quicker)).

Running to the task

Ben led runners to the task whilst Emma and Ellen both backmarked.

Welcome to the Global Gardens Allotment

Poppy welcomed everyone to the allotment. She explained the vision of the Global Gardens Project is to create a growing space that supports community-based sharing of food and cultures. At the Global Gardens allotment site, where we were for this evening's task, Poppy is cultivating an organic kitchen garden, celebrating crops from around the world.

Poppy gave runners the following tasks to help out with at the allotment:

• To water the plantation beds
• Turn the soil
• Get stuck into weeding the plantation beds
• Cut back overgrown bushes to make room for a composting toilet

Everyone was given 30 minutes to complete the above tasks. It was amazing how quickly everyone worked together over that time to make sure the tasks were completed. There was much discussion from those weeding about what's a weed and what isn't. Those cutting back the overgrowth ready for the installation of a compost toilet had the most delightful discussions about who's used a compost toilet before and what compost toilets smell like; Lydia shared her wisdom that sprinkling sawdust over your business helps prevent it from smelling,

It's time to run home

Okay, not quite literally home, but sadly it was time to wave goodbye to Poppy and leave the allotment. We ran back as two groups. Ben led the speeder runners and Ellen led the sexy runners. The speedy group ran SUPER speedy so that Alex didn't miss his train... and fortunately he didn't :)

The RunPunStiltskin Award

Ellen came up with tonight's pun for the run and win the virtual RunPunStiltskin award - Well done! *You are a punny one!

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The Tweet Off Leaderboard

Well done Lucy - You've proved that you are still a force to be reckoned with in the Tweet Off! Here are the current standings on the tweet off leaderboard -

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