Not deterred by boltic temperatures, 24 fearless GoodGym Cardiff runners attended GoodGym this evening… It was Jack Frost vs. Jack Munn and Jack Munn wunn!

It was great to see so many runners defy the elements and come along for a run. In fact, everyone came prepared and wearing many layers including, gloves, leggings and some even deciding to wear earmuffs - CAN YOU HEAR ME OKAY SU? Nobody brought documents to be checked this week (to get involved with running to help older people) – Come on :) Bring your documents along next week!

At 6.30pm we headed outside for our warm up – This is actually misleading as it was more like stepping into an outdoor freezer. So, continuing with our warm up in our outdoor freezer, we got jogging on the spot. This was followed with opening the gate to let the sheep out, then we ushered them back in after 15 seconds and closed the gate to keep the sheep safe. After, we played a game of fish and chips where runners would run around and then when Ben shouted "Fish and Chips" runners would have to find a partner and say either "Fish" or "Chips". If you said the same as your partner you did 10 star jumps and if you said different you did 10 push ups… WAIT A SECOND… In the first round, in what could be described as the most unlikely of situations, by complete coincidence everyone said the same as the person they partnered up with… Something fishy is going on here! Ben decided to mix the game up. Instead of Fish and Chips runners had to squat or stand – A ha! Gotcha… The final warm up game played was group-ees. Basically Ben shouted a number and runners had to form a group of that number of people. Those in a group had to do star jumps and others burpees.

HEADCOUNT! For the headcount we said our names, what number we were and our favourite thing to do in wintery conditions. MASSIVE welcome to Andrew who was running with GoodGym for his first time ever! #Legend. Kudos to Rachael for inviting him along too – Rachael won herself 1 red lace. We also celebrated Aimee’s 50th good deed milestone #YouAreSoAwesomeThatItIsReallyAmazingHowAwesomeYouAre

Definitely warmed up it was time to head off

Ben led the run to the task with his helpful accomplice Ms S Nav. Aimee and Emma both back marked – Love you guys! At great speed, and continuous running to keep warm, it wasn’t long before we reached the task.

Welcome GoodGym to Llanover Arts Centre.

John welcomed us to Llanover Hall Arts Centre. He told us how Llanover Hall is run by the Council on a very limited budget, there is no caretaker and John has, for the last few years, worked to maintain the grounds singlehandedly. John tasked us with tending to the garden... eradicating the weeds and cutting back the overgrowth!

Motivated to help John we got stuck straight in.

Mikey was cutting back Ivy off the walls, making interesting noises in the process. He was supported by Su and Charlotte with this; cutting back the ivy, not making interesting noises. Joseph went to the back of the building armed with a saw to cut back the thick overgrowth there. Louise, Rhian and Maya got up the weeds from the car park. Pablo, Andrew, Darren and Rachel all tended to the garden at the front of the building…. It is fair to say, LOADS was getting done. (I only listed a few here!... Check out the photos! - Darren even spent 10 minutes waving to a garden hoe saying "Hi Ho, Hi Ho").

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It’s RIDDLE TIME!

Drop me from a building and I will be fine, but put me in water and I will die. What am I?

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4 Minutes left!!!

With only minutes left the intensity increased... And then time was up!

Thank you all so much, I would love to have you back here helping out again

We had a quick group photo, put away all of the gardening tools, waved goodbye to John and thanked him for letting us help him, and then we ran off – It’s amazing what can get done in 30 minutes!

The run back included some fitness exercises. 50 star jumps, running on the spot at full intensity for 20 seconds, high knees on the spot for 20 seconds and then finish with Squat jump partner claps (Yes it had a name!). We then increased our speed in the last half mile of the run… Zoooooomm! Well done Pablo for your speedy Gonzalez performance.

RunPunStiltskin Award

Well done to FLISS BROOKS!! WOOOOOO who receives the virtual award this week. Take it home, look after it, cuddle it and cwtch it, but return it next week!