This week, 27 runners ran to do good in the Cardiff Community!

Our numbers seem to be growing week on week - Yipee! - and his week we had the pleasure of welcoming two new people to GoodGym. A HUGE welcome to Elsa and Jen who came along to their FIRST EVER GoodGym run this evening - Hope we didn't scare you off and we hope to see you back very soon!

What else is worthy of a mention:

• 29 of us headed to the Lake District to hike Scafell Pike over the weekend (Helping Nathan complete his 2019 New Years Resolution).
• The AWESOME Meg ran the Port Talbot half Marathon and achieved a new PB - You go girl!
• Lewis did Parkrun - He is our religious parkrun runner at GoodGym

Before we headed out for this evening's run we got warmed up by playing a game of Fish and Chips; Fish and Chips is an EPIC game. Run around and then when Ben shouts "Fish and Chips" you must find a partner and say either Fish or Chips, say the same and you must perform 10 star jumps, say different and you perform 10 squat jumps. We also did some running specific basic warm up drills.

It's time to help out in the community

Ben led those wanting a further run to Global Gardens whilst Ellen led the group wanting a shorter run to the Grangetown Hub.

On the way to Global Gardens Ben had everyone doing step ups, planking, running forwards and backwards and performing tricep dips on public benches.

Run to plog

Unfortunately Poppy wasn't at the Global Gardens Allotment - We hope she is okay! So instead, we took to the streets and back streets for some fast paced plogging, shouting PLOG everytime we needed to bend down to pick up litter. Ben managed to find an empty chewing gum packet and crisp packet. The Daz machine picked up LOADS of cigarette ends. Lucy found empty beer cans, a yankee car air freshener and also an empty packet of cigarettes.

After plogging we headed down to the roundabout by Roath Park and from there we turned onto Fairoak road. Fairoak road is where the 12 mile marker is in the Cardiff Half Marathon. It is also the place where runners have to tackle the final hill in the half marathon. To practice getting used to the hill, we ran up it and then jogged down it to recover. We did this 3 times.

After the hill sprints, which everyone LOVED :D we began running back towards town. We stopped one final time to run on King Edward VII Avenue to run the final 200 metres of the Cardiff half marathon course. Lucy gave everyone a pep talk before they ran the 200 metres which helped spur everyone on.

Run to the Grangetown Community Hub

10 GoodGym runners ran to the Grangetown Hyb to help spruce up the outdoor surroundings. We weeded around the car park, digging the moss and weeds in the cracks of the paving stones. Some of those pesky weeds need quite a good whacking, which Fancy Su provided. Andie Cleaver showed us her namesake skills, handling a miniature cleaver to cut up some of the weeds! Some of us also did a mini-litter pick, grabbing up the litter blowing around in the car park and surrounding lanes, with their excellent pincer skills. Ceri (spelling?) from the Hyb said it looked so much better coming out of the double doors, seeing that so much had been cleared up, so quickly! So with a group photo and a wave, we set of back to base camp.

Well done

A task well done by everyone. You should definitely be proud of yourselves :D Here's what's coming up over the next few weeks:

• Next week our group run will involve running to promote Cardiff Pride - Rainbow colours encouraged! Click here to sign up to it
• On Sunday 1st September, we have the opportunity for you to volunteer at the Cardiff 10K. Click here to find out more
• On Wednesday 4th September, a number of GoodGym runners will be getting up early to partake in the festivities of Soulful Sunrise. Click here to find out more
• On Saturday 21st September we will be running to help Coryton Primary School set up their Autumn Fair. Click here to find out more and get involved.

We then headed over to the Glassworks for drinkypoos and for the weekly tweet off.

It's time for the tweet off!

Darren has stopped Marie's winning streak - Marie had a whopping 4 consecutive weeks of tweet off victories! I almost fall off my chair every time the tweet off happens as i'm always sitting on the edge of it. Tune in next week to see whether Darren can make it two wins in a row.

• LM 9
• MO 4
• DRN 4
• MG 3
• EW 3
• NS 2
• MJ 2
• BA 1
• NI 1
• AG 1
• WD 1

On the hottest day of the year so far, 8 GoodGym Cardiff runners headed to the Aquapark in Cardiff Bay to cool off. They donned their incredibly sexy wet suits and life jackets and attended the safety briefing before taking to the water. It was suprisingly quite cold! There were lots of screams of excitement (and fear - well for Lucy with the height of some of the slides), numerous slips and falls into the water and laughs once we came back up from a fall. Fifty minutes later we were all feeling pretty tired and like we had had a really good work out. The aches, pains and bruises stayed with many of us for several days to follow!

Thanks to Lydia for suggesting and organising such a fab social event for us.

An additional thanks to Fiona and Aimee for coming along to watch, support (And giggle at us!) and take some photos. Can't wait to see them!

26 runners ran to help St Alban's this evening on one of the hottest days of the year!

At GoodGym we run every Tuesday irrespective of weather, but this evening it was VERY hot. Portable air cons whilst running aren't a thing yet so we had to make do.

So what's made the news over the past week?

• The Shindig happened at the weekend - GoodGym runners from across the country got together to discuss how to make GG even better - A huge round of applause for those who attended
• Nathan and Liz from GG Camden built a gazebo for Mr P - Click here to read the run report
• Mike and Liz dismantled a bed for Mrs v - Read the run report here

We did a quick warm up game of 'Stuck in the Dance' to prepare our bodies for the run ahead. Martin has learned some serious dancing moves since the last time we played this game. Andrew can certainly bust some moves too.

We also did a headcount and shared with everyone our favorite type of tree... Yes you heard me correctly, i'm not barking mad, we branched out with some pretty intense stuff. People shared their love for fir trees, Christmas trees, cherry blossom trees and other lovely trees.

Who you gonna run with?

Aimee led a walk run group to the task and Ben and Welsh Dave led the larger group to the task, with Nathan and Rosie both backmarking - Fab job of it too guys!

Wahooo We're here!

We arrived to St Alban's Primary School where Rachel, the school head teacher, was waiting to greet us with a warm smile and much appreciated glasses of water. She told us about St Alban's school and the tasks she had for us to do to make a positive difference.

The tasks:

• Painting the plantation beds
• Paint a pegoda
• Picking up litter on the school grounds
• Weeding
• Use wire brushes to remove old paint from fences

Runners spent 30 minutes completing the tasks. They did a fantastic job of it. After helping everyone got together for a group photo. Rosie also spent some time having deep meaningful conversations with the chickens, Bella, Poppy, Bubbles and Pinky, whilst feeding them grass. One runner also had paint on their head... can you look at the photos and figure out who it is?

Sadly... It's time to run back

Rachel thanked us for our help and bid us farewell until our next visit. Ben and Welsh Dave led the run back and Aimee led the walk runners back to Big Moose.

The Tweet off Leaderboard

A HUGE well done to Marie - Only last week you got on the Tweet Off board and already you are moving up it! You are another 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
• MO 2
• BA 1
• NI 1
• AG 1
• WD 1

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