The world is hearing about what GoodGym Cardiff and The Vale is doing and they are inspired!

The temperature has dropped in Wales over the past week and we've been having temperatures sub zero. Fortunately that didn't stop 32 GoodGym Cardiff runners showing up to GoodGym this evening, though. Tonight at GoodGym we had one new runner, Gareth. Gareth heard about GoodGym a while ago and has been meaning to come for some time - It was so nice to have you join us this evening and we also look forward to meeting your colleague next week too!

Acknowledgements

• Congratulations to Darren and Nicola who are having a GoodGym Cardiff baby. Darren and Nicola met through GoodGym. Serendipity in its truest form.
• A HUGE well done to GoodGym Cardiff Trainer Ben Annear who has reached the 200 good deed milestone
• Well done to Marie for reaching 50 good deeds!
• Clap Clap Clap to Mike for reaching 50 good deeds!
• Hip hip hooray to Lewis who also reached 50 good deeds!

Don't forget; when you reach 50 good deeds you are able to claim your black goodgym milestone tee

Which group will you choose?

We had 3 separate groups tonight. Aimee led the walk run group, Ellen led the relaxed pace group and Ben led the speedy group. Aimee and Ellen took their respective groups along Newport road, up towards Albany road and then straight to St. Edward's Church, whilst Ben took the speedy group through Cathays, up Richmond Road, along Albany road and then up some hills in Roath before heading to the task.

Welcome to St. Edward's Church. The meeting place of Forget-Me-Not

Forget-Me-Not are a support group and Cafe for people feeling isolated and vulnerable with Dementia, Memory loss or Stroke, carers and relatives. Their support groups run every Tuesday 2pm until 4pm at St Edward's Church. They provide a friendly and welcoming environment. They encourage people to come in and have a chat and to make themselves at home.

In order to be able to help this wonderful organisation we had to complete the tasks they had set us. Here were the tasks we were set:

• Move all of the chairs from the church hall onto the raised area, sweep, mop and dry the floor and return all of the chairs back to their original positions
• Cut back the overgrown bushes in the church gardens, whilst paying close attention not to disturb the Terrence the hedgehog's home.
• Clean and sort mugs
• Clean the church windowsills

Many hands make light work as they say. It took only minutes for everyone to move the chairs. Once the chairs were moved a group of rapid goodgym runners assembled to clean and dry the floor. Once this was done all of the chairs were returned back in their original positions. It was so quick! You know that saying, "blink and you will miss it", well it was almost that quick!

Whilst all that was going on inside the church, outside there was a team cutting back the overgrown bushes. It was cold out but at the speed they were working they wouldn't have noticed.

"Thank you so much. We cannot believe you managed to do all this so quickly. It's remarkable."

Kathie and Alan were both amazed by how quickly we got everything done. They were so thankful and were smiling cheek to cheek. This made the task feel worthwhile.

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2020 Tweet Off

Well done Megan! You are now on the leaderboard!

• MOH - 2
• MJ - 1
• Razzle Dazzle - 1

RunPunStiltskin award

Come up with the title of the run report and be in with the chance of winning the RunPunStiltskin award. Well done to EW - You're in the lead!

• EW - 2
• BA - 1

Would you believe it? A gargantuan 29 runners turned up to GoodGym this evening to get fit and do good! When I call you all superstars, I truly mean it!

Skies were grey in Cardiff this evening. If you didn't like the rain then you would probably feel quite dismal being outdoors. There was not a single dismal face at GoodGym tonight, though. We embraced elements and just got on with it!

There were two new runners to GoodGym this evening! A HUGE welcome to Sophie and Catriona. We love new faces! Lucy and Imogen invited the new runners along, so they earned themselves a red lace each! #LifesGoals #BestThingToEverHappen. We also welcomed Ali and Megan to their first GoodGym run on a Tuesday evening. They actually joined us on Saturday's run in Penarth. Ali is actually training for the Chicago marathon - EPIC choice!

Let's get our run on

There were 3 different paced groups this evening. Aimee led the walk runners, Mikey led the runners who opted for a run at a more relaxed pace, and Ben led those runners wanting a speedy run!

To reach the YMCA all groups walked/ran through Cardiff City Centre and down Newport Road. Ben made the speedy group do some sprint drills outside sofology.

Welcome to the YMCA!

Matt, Babs and Arianne welcomed us to the YMCA with an extremely warm welcome and freshly made squash at the ready. Arianne, who will actually be leaving the YMCA this Friday, told us about the YMCA's initiative, after which we could wait to get stuck in.

There were a variety of tasks to help with this evening. Ali hoovered the whole store. Some of the runners built a bed, others priced up books and the rest sorted through bags and bags of clothes donations at a rate of knots!

We played a game of Ben's Price is Right - You have to guess the price of random items; one of the items was a calendar with toilets at different exotic locations for each month.

Time to run back

After approximately 40 minutes of helping, it was time to head back. Matt, Babs and Arianne thanked us for our help and waved us off. Helping at the YMCA this evening gave us a really good reason to run - It just feels right!

We ran back to Cardiff City Centre and back to big moose to warm down and collect our belongings. There we reflected on the evening's run and we all agreed that it felt worthwhile.

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2020 Tweet Off

The witty man himself, Darren retweeted the quickest this evening. He was overjoyed with the win and the whole of the Glassworks knew about it.

• MOH - 2
• Razzle Dazzle - 1

RunPunStiltskin award

Come up with the title of the run report and be in with the chance of winning the RunPunStiltskin award,

• EW - 1
• BA - 1