After a grey day there could be only one cure for the Bank Holiday blues.... A goodgym Tuesday Task.

Perfect for running and cylcing, keeping us cool, but not too cool for school.

Today's task, to clear the school house (the old caretaker house) of everything so that it could be sorted. The school were getting ready for a new curriculum so time for a good old spring clean.

But first, we met up as usual at Sport Wales National Centre, said our hellos

Croeso Amelia, welcome to goodgym

After introductions we got our legs moving and made our way through the park and streets up to St Monica's Primary School.

With teachers ready to sort, a skip ready for rubbish and a mighty fine playlist......

let's Do THIS

We made a human chain from the top of the stairs all of the way back to the playground and it began. Every hand and armful was like a memory of times gone by, there were books galore (my favourite was Owl Babies), a child's first tool kit (Jealous!) and a boxed skeleton (Of course) just to name a few.

Then came the furniture, the bookcases just kept on coming.....

Eventually the top rooms were empty, and most of the bottom rooms too. It was a great feeling of achievement, sweaty, active and a great workout. Some of us were leaving with more than we had arrived with, Ellen and her crate - proof we all had a Crate Time.

A quick group photo before heading back for some refreshments and a catch up.

Tonight, was the first evening when it was dark as we left for our task, time for the trusty chest running light. Eleven of us at the meeting point tonight after losing a couple who weren't feeling well. Once everyone had arrived and the register was done (already feeling like school) it was time to hit the streets....But wait

Welcome Shauny to your first group task with us in Cardiff.

Now

Follow the flashing red light of Michael

Thankfully, the rain was only mild, so we were not getting too wet, and the run was just a quick 2 km to our task at St Monica's Primary School. Once there we waited by the gate for our contact for the evening, Mr. T

No not this Mr. T, Mr. Thomas the Deputy Head. We were welcomed into the building, and we put on some fresh masks, and hand sanitiser as per the school rules. Once inside we had a brief chat with Mr. Thomas about the school whilst putting on protective gloves, as tonight we would be waxing the doors and cleaning the brass handles.

We split into groups and picked our doors, there was lots of chatting going alongside the work, but one thing was missing, some epic tunes. Mr. Thomas sorted this for us and soon we were bopping away happily. As we ran out of doors, we realised it must be time for a group photo, sweaty gloves off and wax and brasso returned, we got together first for the school photo and then for Michael's.

Back to the dark outside and time to get back to the start, stretch out those muscles and go for a social.

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 rainy Saturday morning, seven GoodGym Cardiff runners met up at St Monica's Primary School to help set up for the Cathay's Community Fair. Many of us have run to St. Monica's during group runs, but it was great to be able to help on the weekend with a community mission. We were greeted by Mrs Beacon the head teacher who explained the task. Nearly 50 tables and chairs needed to be moved from all over the school out to the school yard set up for different community groups and crafts people. Mrs Beacon showed us her diagram for where all the tables were to be placed and we got to work. Before we knew it, the skies cleared and the sun came out. The tables and chairs were moved, cleaned, and placed in their location for the fair. Everyone was pleased with how much was accomplished in only a little over an hour and set off to enjoy the Saturday sunshine.

13 runners went the extra mile and ran to help out at St Monica’s school

Runners arrived to Yr hen Llyfrgell however the doors were locked and no one was home :) oh no. We still met outside the large doors and the lovely Glassworks pub kept our stuff safe us whilst we went for our run. We did our head count and gave the warmest of welcomes to Rhidian who was running with GoodGym for the first time EVER. It was awesome having you run with us and we hope we didn't scare you off; Rosie brought him along to GoodGym so she earned herself a RED LACE - WOOOOO! Darren also reached 50 good deeds - What a guy!

We then got on our way. Our run there involved going up steps, down slopes and sprinting down alleyways. You name it, we did it!

Welcome GoodGym to St Monica’s Primary School

Our arrival at the school was met with ice cold free pops…. MMMMMM. They were in Frozen packaging (as in Disney Frozen) so Ben thought it was a punderful opportunity, however his efforts were met with silence so lets move on quickly...

Abi then welcomed us to the school and told us a bit about the wonderful facilities they offer to children who attend. Abi also told us about the history of the building; It was actually built in the 19th century.

Our tasks for the evening included:

• Painting the gates with hammarite paint
• Litter picking on the streets outside the school

After 35 minutes and a couple of minutes extra we were done!

Su, Lucy, Mikey and Gwenni painted the gate inside the school. Darren, Ellen and Adam had painted the entrance gate to the school. And Martin, Rosie, Rhyddian, Andie and Jess cleaned the surrounding the streets of litter. Lucy also managed to paint herself slightly and Gwenni thought the paint would look quite trendy in part of her hair.

Before leaving Abi told us about how the school plans to introduce the community mile into the school; this is where the pupils run a mile during school time on the school grounds. She said she wasn’t sure what route she could use for the mile, and so before leaving half of us ran a 0.5 mile route to help plan the route for the community mile. The other half either had a go on the trampoline (Su was clearly living the dream!), took on the schools adventure course or embraced the marked-out hop, jump and run track on the school playground.

Then it was really time to head back - Schools out! We had a fantastic time and we cannot wait to run to help out there again.

After the run cookies and cakes were provided courtesy of Darren for reaching 50 good deeds - Who will be next to reach the epic 50 good deeds milestone... We look forward to it with salivating mouths.

26 GoodGym runners came out in force this evening to run from Yr Hen Llyfrgell to St Monica's Primary School to help garden, sand and remove old paint from the fences

1 year on and GoodGym Cardiff is still going strong! Who would have imagined that it would have grown to be what it is today? We all met at Yr Hen Lyfrgell - The amazing venue that has been hosting us every Tuesday evening on a weekly basis since Tuesday 23rd May 2017 on our very first run. Once it was 6.30pm we headed outside. Ben gave a brief overview of the nights exciting events and then Councilor Susan Elsmore acknowledged the success of GoodGym Cardiff, reflecting on her meeting 3 years ago with the founder of GoodGym and recognising GoodGym as an amazing project that she wanted to be involved in bringing to Cardiff. Councilor Susan Elsmore also highlighted the different projects that the runners have helped in both Cardiff and the Vale and also reminded us of the memorable moments - Councilor Elsmore follows GoodGym Cardiff and Vale on Twitter so hears all about the good we do. A BIG thank you to Councilor Elsmore for coming down to GoodGym this evening.

Time to warm up, do our headcount and then get going -- but very quickly, what has been your favourite GoodGym moment to date?

It was then time to begin our run. We did our headcount and as per our usual standards, losing count and Ben almost missed out Ellen!!! - Oh BEN! Everyone stated their favourite GoodGym moment to date; Aimee mentioned about the GoodGym trip to Bath and wassailing. Lowri mentioned about the Snowdogathon and Angharad said that her favourite memory of GoodGym so far was running to her coach! We also welcomed Jenny who was running with GoodGym for the first time - WELCOME!! Tanya returned to GoodGym again this week after running with us for the first time last week and it was huge pleasure to welcome back Larry, who we have also missed greatly!

Time to run run runnnn!

We began our run to the task. It was a squat of fun and we did exercises which allowed the others to catch up. We also did Lunges, holding them until everyone got in the lunge position... which did mean there was some groans!

Welcome to St Monica's Primary School

Our Task organisers this evening were Abigail and Richard, the headteacher and deputy head respectively. They were both prepared for us with tasks and equipment at the ready! Richard led a group of Gardening enthusiasts to the school allotment known as 'The Table' and Abi orchestrated the other runners to sand outside benches and climbing equipment. Abi also allocated some runners to use wire brushes to clean old paint from the fences. Everything is always so organised which is fantastic! There we also biscuits and water too which everyone really appreciated.

Everyone worked hard at the task for 35 minutes. Darren had a couple of children throw some grass at him, however after some TLC from Ben he felt okay again to continue.

Stuart was quick to seize the opportunity to use the lawnmower, mowing the lawn and pretending he was Mow Farah and pretending he picked up the wrong bottle at drink stations.

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After completing the task we used the outside playground to play a game of 'Runner Runner come and get your PB'. This game is slightly different to British Bulldogs, and by that I mean not only does it have a different name as British Bulldogs which is a banned game at St Monica's Primary School, but other than tagging the person nobody gets spearhead tackled to the ground - phew!... Fortunately everyone heard the rules too and the game continued without incident.

"Thank you so much everyone - You've been incredible and you've made a massive difference in such a short space of time" Abi and Rich both said appreciative of our efforts

It was now time to run back, sadly, as we love helping out at St Monica's Primary School with Hollie filming us as we left. On the way back we did some planks and sprints which was unanimous good fun!

Again, a huge thank you to Councilor Susan Elsmore, Abigail, Rich and Hollie who all helped make the run tonight a success (Hollie was from the BBC and was doing some filming).

Get signed up to next week's run by clicking here!!

From me, a personal note to say thank you for everything you have done to make GoodGym Cardiff what it is today.