What a turnout, 40 runners came to GoodGym this evening and for 7 runners it was their first time ever GoodGym run! It's amazing that nearly the whole population of Cardiff came tonight, okay, not literally, it was actually 0.011% of Cardiff's population, however that is a good number and the most we've had to date.

The new runners to GoodGym this week were: Rosey, Ben, Clare, Emma, Skye, Vicky, Lawrence and Lauren! It was ABSOLUTELY LOVELY to have you come along. I really hope you come again as you already feel part of the GoodGym family. I know we are quite a lively bunch and the warm up activities aren't the most 'serious' warm up drills, however I really believe it's important to have fun whilst we get fit and do good in our community!

Achievements

• A huge well done to our two red lace winners. Well done Sara and Alice! #LifesGoals. Alice and Sara both brought friends to GoodGym this week and therefore earned themselves a single red lace. It is a fact* that wearing a red lace makes you run faster.
• Adam, one of our lovely regular GoodGym runners has had a baby (Not Adam himself, but his wife) - Congratulations Adam x
• Awesome that some of you volunteered at junior parkrun on Sunday - You are helping the athletes of the future.

Warm up

To warm up before the evening's run we played 3 different games. We played the game 'Fish and Chips', 'Captains Coming' and 'Marmite, Digestive and Staycation or Vacation'.

Let's get our walk/run on

Mali led the walking group. She had a contingent of 4 walkers! Ellen led the more relaxed paced runners to the Tenovus Charity Shop. Ben led those runners who wanted to run a bit further this evening. They went plogging and leafletting.

*Welcome to the Tenovus Charity Shop *

As runners arrived to Tenovus, Carl explained the mission of the Tenovus Cancer Care charity. If you have cancer or you’re close to someone who has cancer, it can be frightening and stressful. Tenvous tries to help. They bring expert advice, emotional support and life-saving treatment to the heart of communities. They help cancer patients and their loved ones cope, and our their vital research gives hope.

After Carl explained about Tenovus charity and the tasks. 24 runners jumped into action and helped get the shop ready for spring. They sprung into action, steaming clothes and tagging them up ready to be hung out on the shop floor. Some of the runners helped to tidy up the racks of clothes, and dusted down the shelves. Others put price stickers on the cds, dvds and lps. We dressed mannequins and sorted sizes. Others looked like they were having story time around a pile of books - but they were just pricing them up 😀 All in all, they carried out tasks that would have taken the staff and volunteers all morning to do.

*Litter picking and leafleting runners *

9 bags of litter were collected in total in approximately 20 minutes! 4 streets were leafleted with flyers about GoodGym.

We then played Bring Sally up and Bring Sally Down - It's not something any of us will forget in a hurry.

Time to head back

After returning to Big Moose it was time to stretch out and reflect on the evening's run. Ben led the warm down and everyone clapped runners as they returned.

After the walk/run everyone headed to the Glassworks for post run drinkypoos.

2020 Tweet Off

WAHOO! Megan you have won the tweet off THREE consecutive times and have overtaken Marie. Marie will be nervous now. Lucy, last year's winner hasn't made the leaderboard yet - but there are still 11 months to go and a lot can happen between now and the end of the year.

• MJ - 3
• MOH - 2
• Razzle Dazzle - 1

RunPunStiltskin award

. Ding Ding Ding. Gareth came up with this weeks pun for the title of the run report - You, my friend, get a point!

• EW - 2
• BA - 2
• AS - 2

• GD -1

• May not actually be a fact

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