27 runners ran 4km to ‘The Secret Garden’ of Adamsdown

On a splendid Tuesday evening, 27 GoodGym runners met at Yr Hen Lyfrgell. Their hearts filled with warmth, legs ready to run and hands ready to paint... Nothing was going to hold them back… (Nope nothing… not even if Gandalf turned up with his stick and said “You shall not pass!” A scrum would’ve formed and Gandalf would’ve been moved out of the way in matter of seconds- Simples).

Here’s how the evening unfolded…

Lots of familiar faces this week, and lovely faces they are! We had Ysanne ,Craig, Felicity, Caroline, Lucy, Emma and Johannes join us this week for their first ever runs with GoodGym (Please clap loudly as you read :D woooo) – It’s awesome having you join GoodGym! We also had George join us from GoodGym Lambeth – So nice to have you...Come and visit again anytime!

When the clock struck 6.30pm Ben led the cohort outside and got everyone running on the spot whilst giving the GoodGym intro speech. He informed us runners about the 3 blooming awesome ways we can get involved with GoodGym 1.) Group runs 2.) Missions 3.) Coach Runs. Getting involved in all 3 ways not only means you get out running more – which is great for increasing your mileage! – but running to help an elderly isolated older person also gives you a #ReasonToRun. #Doit.

After a headcount and lots of clapping for those who were running with us for their first time, or for those who best emphasize how many times they've been running with GoodGym, we set off at a rate of knots. All 27 of us GoodGymmers were so excited about the task ahead that not even Mo Farah could catch us at the speed we were running, however Usain Bolt may have had a fighting chance, but unlikely. Lucy helped lead the way to the task whilst Jade and Stuart backmarked (Tip Top backmarking guys!)

Just when we thought we were near the task, we ran straight past it (I TOLD YOU it was ‘The Secret Garden’ and it’s not called that for nothing…). After turning back and running 25 metres the door appeared, and moments later Jonathon, our Task Organiser from Edible Adamsdown, also appeared at the door. He was so surprised to see us he jumped – Sorry for making you jump!

Welcome folks

Jonathon greeted us all and led us through into the Secret Garden; The gardens were B-E-A-UTIFUL Click here to see Jim Carrey impersonate our reaction Jonathon then explained the tasks that needed doing and also informed us about how it would be helping out the centre. He then split us into groups and we got stuck in. Click here to find out more about Edible Adamsdown

Working our magic – Take a 35 minute nap and we’ll have been and gone and you wouldn’t recognise the place

We split into mini groups. 1 group was pulling up the weeds and overgrowth around the pond, another were sanding and painting the garden furniture a wonderful array of colours (it looked like a rainbow fell from the sky and landed in the garden)! 4 runners were painting one shed Pink and another group were painting the other shed purple! There was also a wooden board which some runners painted green. Samina and Craig double teamed the patio area, sweeping it clean and the final group pulled up all the weeds from one of the overgrown plantation beds, whilst being very careful to not harm the mint! (and… BREATHE!... lots to do in time we had, but we’re GoodGym Cardiff so we’ll do it! ) SPOILER: We did it!!!

After spending only 35 minutes at the gardens the place was transformed! Jonathon thanked us all for our hard work and said…

You can come back any thyme…

“I think he appreciates how mint we are!” Ben said.

And, customary to our practice, and armed with herbs which Jonathon kindly gave to us, we ran off. On the way back we stopped off at Cemetery Park. There we all formed a circle and took it in turns to individually name an exercise and run to the green bin and back, whilst all the other runners engaged in the exercise. When the person returned from the bin they called out another runners name and repeated… We did burpees (We <3 burpees though so thanks Ben! More next week please!), press-ups, planks, star jumps and more! To finish, we all ran to the bin and back together, tapping the bin as we reached it so nobody missed out on this wonderful opportunity. We then began making our way back to Yr Hen Lyfrgell.

On our way back we split into two groups, Ben led the group of runners who thought they could run a longer route and make it back in the same time – Thanks to Samina for backmarking this group! We then had another group led by George, backmarked by Janelle – Awesome running by all in the final stretch. We then warmed down and did some stretches... Wow these felt nice! 7 of us went to the Glassworks pub afterwards for a well-deserved beverage and chinwag!

Pun for the Run

On the Facebook Group Ben asked GoodGymmers to come up with the ‘Pun For The Run’. This week the RunPun-stiltskin award goes to Sioned!!! Well done!!! Wooooo! And as you can see your pun is the title for this week’s run report.

Sign up to next weeks run by clicking here

Reminders

*Bring ID to get checked in order to do Run Missions/Coach Missions

*Sync your Strava/Garmin with GoodGym

*Share this run report on Facebook/Twitters

*You can use this video to 'get your burpee on' and improve your technique, strengthen your core and also your running form.