I often wonder how many runners will turn up to GoodGym on a rainy day and I'm so pleased that loads of you still turn up even when you know you're going to get soaked. This evening 17 runners showed up to help at the YMCA Store on Colchester Avenue. Keep reading to find out what went on...

This evening we were joined by Hansh. Hansh develop content for social media and publicise it on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. They joined the GoodGym run to create content about GoodGym because they heard about how awesome we are and wanted to create a piece on us.

We had one new runner come along to the GoodGym run this evening. Welcome George to GoodGym Cardiff! We hope you had a fantastic time and come back.

What else is worthy of a mention;

• Darren ran Berlin Marathon on Sunday
• Pete ran Budapest Marathon on Sunday
• Ben, Lucy, Martin and Fiona all attended the Big Social Run
• Mali participated in Parkrun in the rain

Warm up - Runners, let's get those legs moving, arms driving and hearts pumping

We played two warm up games to get our hearts pumping. We played;

• Rock, paper, scissors - There were 3 exercises depicting each action. The game involves people winning games, losing games and running about.
• Fish and chips - Contrary to what you might expect, this game is renown at GoodGym for burning calories. People run around in a space and when Ben, the game organiser, shouts "Fish and chips", runners find a partner and say either "fish" or "chips." If runners say the same they do 20 jumping jacks, say different and it's 10 squat jumps.

Time to run to the YMCA Store on Colchester Avenue

We headed to the YMCA store as one group. Crossing roads and doing fitness exercises so that we could all regroup, and because the fitness exercises strengthen our core.

Welcome to the YMCA store on Colchester Avenue

Matt and Bab's gave us a warm welcome to the YMCA Store. They had refreshments waiting for us so that we could rehydrate. Matt explained about the YMCA's initiative and then told us the tasks that needed doing that evening.

• To sort the donations into bags
• To build two beds
• Hoover the store

Runners we given 25 minutes to complete the tasks.

"Thank you so much everyone. You helped us out massively in such a short space of time. We can't wait to see you again soon!

We then ran back along Newport Road and made our way back to Big Moose. After collecting our belongings from Big Moose we headed to the Glassworks pub. There Darren got ID'd for ordering an alcoholic drink :) Bless him.

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The Tweet Off

Marie won the tweet off this evening. We caught her for a brief interview afterwards. She said "I'm so pleased that I am now in second place. This is what dreams are made of... tweet off wins."

• LM 11
• MO 6
• EW 5
• DRN 4
• MG 4
• NS 2
• MJ 2
• BA 1
• NI 1
• AG 1
• WD 1

This evening 20 GoodGym runners ran in defiance of the challenging weather conditions to make a positive difference in the Cardiff Community… Keep reading to find out how they got on.

Intro!

This run report could not begin without giving a HUGE thank you to Run and Become. Run and Become have allowed us, whilst Big Moose is temporarily closed, to meet in the shop and store bags there whilst we are out running. The shop is a specialist running store, with friendly staff who are able to provide expert advice about running gear and able to help point you in the right direction when you are looking for your next pair of running shoes. Click here to be go to the Run and Become Cardiff website

Time for the headcount

We did our headcount at 6.25pm in the shop and some of the runners also spoke about missions they had taken part in over the weekend. Well done Emma, Mikey, Amy and Aimee who all helped out older people in Cardiff with tasks they are no longer able to do themselves. See photos of them doing the tasks by clicking here. We also welcomed Sophie along to GoodGym. It was her first time running with us – we hope we made you feel super welcome. Click here to support Sophie on the GoodGym website.

Let’s get going!

This evening runners had the option of two distances. They could either opt for a 5 mile round trip to Colchester Avenue to help at the YMCA led by Ben or they could opt to run the streets of Pontcanna with a spot of plogging (which is litter picking and running), led by Ellen.

We had an even split!

10 runners opted to go to the YMCA and 10 opted to go plogging. First to recap the run to the YMCA. The run there was fun, fast and exciting! We began running up St Mary’s Street, passing by the Glassworks (where we go for drinkypoos after our runs), down St Mary’s Street and then along Newport Road pretty much the remainder of the way. This run took about 25 minutes... of course we would have run it MUCH faster if we didn't have to cross all the roads that slowed us down --- Thank you roads! When we arrived to the YMCA, Matt who works at the YMCA welcomed us in with a big smile on his face. As we had a few new runners with us he told us about the YMCA and how they create a positive difference in the community by helping people who are homeless find housing. Matt then told us the tasks he had for us this evening. He explained that two beds still hadn’t been built after arriving into the store a week ago, and so it would be a massive help if we could help build them. He also asked whether we minded polishing and hoovering the store. “Not at all” we said gleefully… “this is why we are here!” And so with our superhero costumes on (Our GoodGym T-shirts) we got straight to it.

• Lowri, Mikey and Adam opted to make a babies bed.
• Darren, Matt and Welsh Dave opted to make the double bed.
• Lucy and Paige got stuck into hoovering.
• Katie got stuck into some serious polishing!

After all the beds were built, half the shop had been hoovered and most of the tables and cupboards had been polished it was time for our group photo. We all positioned ourselves in the shop window for the group photo before we made the journey back to Cardiff City Centre. Our run back was quicker than our run there – I think – and everyone displayed some seriously good running form too! NICE WORK ALL! :D

The Ploggers!

Ellen led the runners who fancied a 'litter'ally amazing fun ourdoorsy run! But first, the runners did a fitness session that had everyone doing high knees, skipping, sashays, sprints and even running backwards. Top Sashay award went to Aimee, who used her dancing skills to impress the judge (Ellen)! They then jogged on to Pontcanna (upper Riverside, really), and went off in groups of 3 to plog through the neighbourhood. They covered good area - so much so that Ellen couldn't find two of the groups to take more pics! And they managed to pick up enough litter to fill 3 rubbish bags. Sue was tempted by a dropped t-shirt with a great Welsh slogan on it, but the group managed to persuade her that it probably wasn't a good idea - so she binned it (both the idea and the t-shirt). Off they jogged back to the meeting spot at Run and Become - Super dooper peeps :D

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I won the RunPunStilkSkin award tonight - the RunPunStiltskin award for 2019 is up for grabs again next week!... Who can suggest the best puns that will be good enough to make the title for the run report?