Best group run of the year so far!

2020 has started with a fierce turnout of 31 runners and S4C coming along to capture our antics.

Acknowledgements

• Emily reached 50 good deeds
• Imogen brought a friend to GoodGym and gained herself 1 red lace! #LifesGoals. Imogen will now have one faster foot as the power of the red lace makes you run faster!

We play a game of 'Stuck in the Dance' to warm up tonight and did our usual high knees, butt kicks and lunges.

Two tasks - Choose where you run!

Ben led runners who wanted a speedy run of a longer distance to the Rhydypennau Library. Welsh Dave led runners who wanted a shorter distance to the Star Garden at Tremorfa Hub. Ellen led the walk/run group to the Star Garden at Tremorfa Hub.

Write up by Ben about runners efforts at the Rydypennau Library

Rhydypennau library is the second furthest task we've run to on a group run to date, nevertheless, undeterred we ran pavements, crossed streets, ran past Roath lake and across a large roundabout to make it to the task. When we arrived to the Library we were greeted by Sue Thomas, a librarian at the centre. Sue was ever so friendly and invited us in for a cup of tea or a coffee before we got started. We thanked Sue for this kind offer however time was against us and we wanted to make a big difference in short time we were there for. We got stuck into the task straight away (after a few required shots by the film crew). Yvonne, the presenter of Heno and new to GoodGym herself, got stuck into the task, making light work of a very challenging task. The runners were required to dig up plants and overgrown long grass and move it into temporary plant pots. We only had 20 minutes to do this task but we managed to do it!

Write up by Welsh Dave about runners efforts at the Star Hub

17 keen goodgymmers got to the STAR (or Stare 😉) hub in sunny Tremorfa. Unfortunately plan A turned into Plan B - but luckily there was plenty to do at the Hub! We weeded, carried, picked and emptied our way through the task. Moving compost, stacking chairs and weeding the garden are all in an evening's work for Tuesday night's Tremorfa team!

Time to finish the first group run of 2020

Sadly, time moves as quick as we do, and it wasn't long after we arrived at each of the tasks before we had to head back! Yvonne from the S4C was also gutted it was coming to an end as she was having so much fun!

A special thank you to Rebecca, the Social Communications and Marketing Manager at GoodGym head office, who helped coordinate the involvement of S4C, our Welsh Speakers and task organisers.

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2020 Tweet Off

Marie is taking an early lead in the tweet off! It already looks like she may beat last years winner, Lucy.

• MOH - 2
• Everyone else - 0

RunPunStiltskin award

Can you come up with the best pun title for the run report? if yours gets chosen you get a point on the leaderboard.

• EW - 1

This evening 22 GoodGym runners ran to the STAR hub in Tremorfa to litter pick the surrounding area and clean the windows!

5 days after St. Davids Day we are still being reminded of what Wales is notorious for... blooming rain! Yes, this evening it was like all of the water in the world was being unleashed on Cardiff... In fact, I am surprised we weren't running alongside dolphins, crocodiles and sea turtles down Queen Street. Anyway! Spring is fast approaching and we are keeping our fingers crossed for some better weather, that's for sure.

Let's get warmed up!

• Fish and Chips - Ahh yes, that game when you actually burn more calories contrary to what you'd expect from the name; Runners would jog around and then when I said Go they would find a partner and say either "fish" or "chips". If they said the same they would do squat jumps and if they said different they would do star jumps.
• In the Race / Over the line - A metal grill in the middle of the road divided one side from the other. One side was ' In the race' and the other was 'Over the line'. When I shouted Over the line runners had to be on the Over the line side and when I said In the race they had to be the other side. If they were last or made an error then they were out and had to do star jumps until 2 were left in.

Headcount and HUGE welcomes!

Goodness gracious Grandmpa Gerome! Would you believe it? We had TWO amazing new runners come along to GoodGym tonight - A MASSIVE welcome (Shwmare!) to Claire and Mali. You were both absolutely fabulous company to run with this evening and we hope you enjoyed yourselves. It was also beyond lovely to have Lorena back running with us. Lorena ran with us until the end of last year before she moved away from Cardiff and she is now back visiting and seeing her was such a treat.

Influential Women of the World

This week our run marked International Women's Day (It is this Friday!). First and foremost, i'd like to take this opportunity to say that ALL of the women who attend GoodGym are incredible and I am proud to run alongside everyone of you every week. Part of the headcount also comprised of naming other influential women in the world, here were a few that were mentioned;

• Mother Theresa
• Michelle Obama
• Marie Curie
• Princess Diana
• The Queen
• Jo Pavey
• Runner's mums/grandmothers

Click here to read about other influential women in the world

Time to run to the STAR hub in Tremorfa

Time was against us as the clock was ticking so we had to get a move on. Mikey led the run to the STAR hub and the amazing Aimee G backmarked the crew. Trainer B (Ben), still resting his injured leg, led the walking group this evening.

"Welcome GoodGym to the STAR Hub!" The staff at the STAR Hub welcomed us all in. We armed ourselves with litter pickers and cleaning implements to clean the windows! It felt like we were going into battle, it was us vs. the litter and windows and they didn't stand a chance!

The most common piece of litter found was laughing gas! Honestly... you don't need that stuff when you run with GoodGym, our jokes and humour is so good that laughs just come naturally!

Influential Women Quiz - Created by Emma!

Before running back to Cardiff City Centre we couldn't leave the hub without doing a quick quiz ... The quiz highlighted women's achievements in the sporting world to date. Everyone was given two options, either A or B. If they thought it was A they had to squat, and if they thought it was B they had to lunge - Even the staff working at the Hub got involved!!

It's now time to run back... :(

Sadly our time helping at the Hub had come to an end. Mikey led the run back whilst Martin backmarked.

Thank you everyone who came to GoodGym this evening, especially all of the women as research has found that women are less likely to engage in sport and you are counting for the numbers that do!

After the run we all headed to 'The Stable' for food and drinks... and no it wasn't a horses stable or the stable in Bethlehem where Jesus was allegedly born... We went to the restaurant in Cardiff called The Stable!

On a cooler than usual Tuesday evening in Cardiff 18 runners used their running to do good in the Cardiff community by helping out at Butetown Pavilion and the STAR Hub in Tremorfa

The temperature this evening was slightly milder but the enthusiasm to do good was wilder. Runners met at Big Moose, arriving there via different modes of transportation, Rachel cycled there (so good to see you again for your second GG run!) and Adam sprinted from his home only stopping when he entered door of the café.

When it was time for our run (6.30pm) we gathered outside the café! Ben got everyone to do a warm up jog and then regroup for introductions and a headcount; A HUMUNGOUS welcome to Sophie who was running with GoodGym for the first time – It’s great to have you come along! This run also marked a milestone for both Rosie and Ben, who were celebrating 50 and 100 good deeds respectively (100 good deeds meant Ben was due to wear the rainbow wings, which he did beautifully!) (Rosie also made lemon drizzle cake to mark 50 good deeds, however it was so delicious the Ants got to it first, so instead she supplied carrot cakes and almond bites for after the run - much to the delight of the carrot cake lovers!). The warm up also included the legendary game of Fish and Chips (contrary to the name suggests you actually burn calories - I know, WHAT!?!) and stuck in the mud (Daz was on, and it was him vs the rest of GoodGym – after a minute Nathan also joined him being on – It was now the coat brothers vs all!).

Feeling warm, ready and with our hearts beating faster we were ready to go!

It was two task Tuesday this week so we had two places to help out, the Butetown Pavilion (which Ellen led) and the Star Hub community gardens in Tremorfa (which Ben led).

The 'Butetown pavilion massive' included; Lucy, Ellen, Darren, Lydia, Emma, Amy, Rosie, Tanya and Su! The 'Tremorfa Stars' were; Tom, Ben, Martin, Keira, Rosie, Sophie, Nathan, Rachel and Mikey!

What went down at the Hub!

Runners arrived at the hub after a speedy 2.2 mile run to get there. When they arrived Lewis was on hand ready to let everyone know what needed to get done in the 30 minutes allotted time. “GoodGym, it is fantastic to see you! We need your help to dig a trench for our plants. Do you think you’ll be able to help?” Encouraged by Lewis’ faith in GoodGym everyone got stuck straight in. The ground was tough because of how sunny it has been lately and dried the soil out. However, with a positive mental attitude the dry soil was no match for us and in 25 minutes the trench was dug. Nathan, Mikey and Martin also found time to do a spot of litter picking, picking up all sorts of litter from lids from butter tubs to sweety wrappers! Tom was rolling out the puns; he was clear feeling quite punacious and being a very punny guy!

Clearing the Jumanji weeds at the Pavillion

Ellen led the adventurous runners, with gloves at the ready, to Butetown Pavilion! They had an extra 0.9 mile run owing to Ben’s confusion over Grangetown and Butetown pavilion (he thought they were the same place - Doh!) When the runners arrived at the pavilion though they were weedy excited for some weeding. With their PPE on (gloves) they began pulling up all the weeds. Ellen kept everyone motivated with words of encouragement, “don’t let the weeds get the better of you GoodGym, you’ve got this!” Ellen said.

After 25 minutes the weeding was complete. It was GoodGym vs. Jumanji and GoodGym reigned victorious!

Both teams ran back at pace, 8pm was approaching fast!... Through parks, crossing roads, over walls and down slides, the route back presented many Fun challenges...

Arriving back at Big Moose it was time to warm down and then head for post run drinky poos at the Glassworks - and to eat the cakes Rosie kindly supplied... Nom Nom Nom

Join in next weeks run to Cardiff Bay where we will be promoting Cardiff Pride! Fancy dress is encouraged, bright colours and enthusiasm – We’ve got this! Click here to get signed up!

OHHH and last but not least...

• Well done to Darren who is this weeks RunPunStiltskin champion - He came up with the title of the run report. Enjoy the virtual award, look after it and bring it next week so we can see who wins the RunPunStiltskin award next time...

• Huge well done to Emma for winning the Tweet Off - Can anyone stop her being crowed Tweet off Champion for 2018? Keira, Martin, Lucy, Darren, Nathan, Ellen, Rosie, and all the other tweeters... the challenge is on!....

On a balmy evening in Cardiff, a smallish but perfectly formed group of great GoodGymmers ran over 6k to tidy up the grounds around the STAR Hub in Splott!

This week, our regular running crowd was greatly diminished by the absence of 9 runners who went to the Bucharest Running Festival over the weekend. Well done all who ran and joined in the festivities. Can't wait to hear more news of the races next week! Further good news is that our task numbers were buoyed up by 3 new faces: firstly by a guest from the east, Alex from GoodGym HQ. He was in Swansea looking into a possible new GoodGym there, and wanted to join us here in Cardiff for the group task. Great to meet you Alex, hope to see you again in South Wales soon! Secondly, forget Two-Drink Tuesday, it was Two-LACE Tuesday last night! A couple of our regular runners Pablo and Fiona brought along friends: welcome Emily and Tanya! Luckily I had two red laces on me to hand out - whew!

So after intros all around, and a quick but dynamic warm up, we headed out and made our way to the STAR Hub in Splott. We took a direct route to cover the 2 mile distance in time, which gave as a good opportunity to get in a steady run, with Charlotte and Fiona backmarking - thank you both! We've been to this Hub before, to wash windows in preparation for a royal visit a few months ago. But no royalty this time - just the staff and regulars who were happy to see us. We had a nice intro from Mike the manager on duty, who explained the relationship between the leisure facilities and Cardiff Council, and the work they do to get local children into sports and activities on site. Sounded right up our street, so we were keen to get on and get stuck in. Our task was to litter pick around the grounds of the centre, and we broke into teams of 2-3 and headed out into the fresh air. Before we started, we were alerted to the fact that because a school group had done this task just a week ago, there may not be a lot of litter around. But this is Cardiff where there always seems to be litter 😔. Indeed, our first piece of litter was right in the centre itself - a Penguin Bar wrapper right at my feet (not mine!) Later on, Fiona reminded me of that wrapper and provided the pun for the run: to P-P-Pick up a Penguin. If anyone needs a reminder, here is the reference to P-P-Pick up a Penguin! (Maybe before our time, right folks?)

All in all we collected 6 bags of rubbish - a fab job team GoodGym! Must be all that sunshine 🌞 We then headed back to base, had a good warm down and stretch, and some of us headed off to the local, for a cool drink. Not before we reminded everyone of the First Anniversary Run and Celebration Dinner next week !!!! It's going to be a good one, running to St Monica's Primary School in Cathays and then dinner afterwards at the Stable in town. Get signed up to both on the website and see you there!

Riddle for the Run: What has 6 wheels and flies?