A lovely 5km run tonight around Cardiff Bay, a little brisk but much quieter than the bustling Xmas market in the City Centre. Thank you to everyone that braved the chilly evening and kept me company.

Our task, writing Christmas Cards for the Care Homes in Cardiff. Writing cards is a slightly dying art, but one that should continue as it can brighten someones mood and remind them that the sense of community still exists, and more importantly - CARES.

Michael had done their usual and hit the cards shops earlier on, buying as many charity packs as they could find, an extra bit of charitable work as the money goes to;

Teenage Cancer Trust, MIND, Macmillan Cancer Support, Alzheimer's Society and Make-A-Wish.

To add to the challenge, and for an extra workout, Michael decided to carry all of the supplies in their bag during the run.

Our location after the run once again, Muffin Break - time to treat ourselves with Muffins and Vegan sausage rolls.

YUM

The supplies came out and we got to the task at hand, coloured pens, brains trying to think of messages and some outstanding Artwork.

A special Shout Out - Condurache, your cards are fantastic! And of course,

Welcome to GOODGYM

Just 2 group activities left for this year, so get signed up Now. One more session writing cards, we managed 60 this time around..... Let's beat that next time. I'm hoping for 200 in total.

https://www.goodgym.org/areas/cardiff/happenings/group-runs?available=true

Take me running, painting in the rain Feel it washing over me, oh oh Join us, running, painting in the rain Cover me in ecstasy , oh oh

So that's out the way now and possibly stuck in your head! Last night 11 goodgymers got together, despite the rain, to make their way on a lovely night time run to help out with some painting of railings.

Michael, led the crew on the quickest route tonight, so that we could get as much painting done as possible. First, we had to get into the office for the equipment. Luckily the key holder was in the Choir and could see us looking all confused at a locked door.

We're IN

Just as we had the equipment out and we started, our organiser Julian arrived, just in time to get stuck in with the rest of us. We were brushing the railings with wire brushes, being followed by the painters. We split into a few groups, with three of us heading off under some trees to paint, which we were thankful for when it started to rain!

Time to Call It

We cleared the equipment and put it back into storage, as we got warmed and dry with a quick bit of food from the lovely Choir with no name. A quick group photo, and it was time to head back for a nice social.

Tonight was a first for Cardiff as we changed our goodgym format.

ooooohhhhhh

We met at 6.30 for a full run, and then it was over to our nights location to get Volunteering. Our run was a nice out and back with a couple of groups for varying speeds. We spotted a few running groups out tonight, always nice to see others getting active.

The task was to update our goodgym Leaflets with a new QR code for the Cardiff specific page.

There was Nathan and Natasha on cutting duty as everyone else got busy with the stickers. We tried not to make too much mess, and as the clock hit our usual 8pm, we were done. Stickers used up, only 4 wasted and a total of 458 Leaflets updated.

Well done ALL

But wait... The evening isn't over, as we have a birthday to celebrate and cake to eat.

iechyd da

A nice run today away from too much hustle and bustle of the city, following the embankment by the river.

Our journey, leading us to the Community Hall of St. Pauls.

Our task..... To remove all growing, tangled vegetation on the railings... And there were a lot of railings.

As we arrived we got together with those that had made their own way to the task, but realised one was missing. Just as Michael was about to send out a message a figure appeared from the hall...

Are you the runners?

How did they know... Well, it turned out our missing Holly had arrived early and decided to join the choir inside. And what a great time they were having.

To the task... We all got gloved up (Safety First) and picked our tools from Julian's (Our task organiser) car boot. No messing around, Michael put up lights to help as the darkness enveloped the group, but not our spirit!

Along the way we managed to find 2 vodka bottles, lots of rubbish, some tea bags and a Clock....

Our last visit to the community hall this year, and a great success.

See you all on the next task soon.