19 runners showed up to the last GoodGym Cardiff run of the year before we take a break for Christmas.

Don’t worry, we will be back on the 8th January 2018 (If not before) and we will have lots of fun in store for January!

After an incredible 2018 it was only fitting to end the year with an incredible task! This evening the plan was to head to Nightingale House. However, as most runners know, running before warming up is not always the best idea, so that’s what we had to do first! The warm up this evening consisted of running lengths, and when Ben shook his bells (Ben quite literally had bells that he shook) runners would either do high knees, lunges or butt kicks for the duration of the bell ringing – It was worth the lunge!

Everyone then made their way into a circle for the headcount. We welcomed 3 runners who had not run with GoodGym Cardiff before; A HUGE welcome to Amie, Katie and Christopher! We loved your company and it would be awesome to run with you again :) It was seriously a Christmas treat having you come along. A MASSIVE well done to Adam who reached the 50 Good Deed Milestone – Woopeee! He couldn’t believe it himself!

Favourite Christmas movies?!? – Part of the headcount included everyone announcing their favourite Christmas movie. Aimee reminded everyone they needed to say it loudly, by saying “the best way to spread Christmas cheer is by saying it loud so we can all hear.” Here are some of the movies that were worth of a mention:

• Elf
• The Holiday
• Miracle on 34th Street
• Home alone

Did I miss any? If so, comment below!

Run to the task

Our run to the task was approximately 1 mile. On the way there we stopped to play a fitness game of Rock, Paper, Scissors and also do a Christmas game which involved us all being hardworking elves that had to run sprints as fast as we could to ensure we were in time to help Santa at the workshop. The final sprint consisted of shouting “Santa we’re coming” as loud as we could to make sure Santa knew too!

Welcome to Nightingale House

After the 1 mile run we had arrived. We were greeted with a warm reception by the staff at Nightingale House. Their face lit up when they saw us and our face lit up when we saw theirs! They told us all about the wonderful work they do at Nightingale House to support and provide temporary housing to individuals and families who are faced with difficult life circumstances, people who would otherwise be homeless – We really admire the work you do!

After hearing about how Nightingale serves to help people through the hardest of times, it was safe to say we couldn’t wait to get stuck into this task!

Even though there were 19 of us -which meant 38 hands - which sounds like a lot, there were lots of presents that needed wrapping and so we had to get straight to it.

Has anyone got a spare pair of scissors?, pass the pen please, more Sellotape.

It was safe to say that what was going on at Nightingale House would have looked exactly like what Santa’s workshop would look like, with elves hustling and bustling to make Christmas special for families throughout the world. The task also comprised of a special treat, a Christmas sing-a-long! First on the playlist was ‘East 17 – Stay Another Day’ which Darren joined in with; he made sure everyone knew that this is favourite Christmas song. Then ‘Fairytale of New York – The Pogues’ was played.

After approximately 35 minutes of present wrapping time was up! We managed to wrap LOTS and LOTS of presents and there were now bags stacked up in the hallway full of presents that will bring wonderful smiles to the people who receive them.

Upon leaving, one of the residents said, “thank you for coming along and wrapping our presents” – it was clear they were onto us! So, with a sprinkle of pixie dust, a merry Christmas wish, a smile and a wave, we said our goodbyes. And, before you could say “Santa Claus is coming to town” we were out of there!

** Thank you GoodGym – You are amazing!**

The staff at Nightingale House thanked us for our support. We thank them for giving us a wonderful reason to run.

On our run back we imagined the faces of the children opening the presents we had wrapped. These thoughts kept us with a feeling of warmth on a cold evening.

Everyone deserves a warm Christmas and we wish you a very Merry Christmas too!