On a beautiful autumnal Tuesday evening 17 runners ventured to Yr Hen Lyfrgell to meet for the GoodGym Cardiff Group Run!... Keep reading to find about what went down

What a tip top day it was in Cardiff… The weather was on our side (As it always is, conveniently for our indoor tasks). All 17 runners arrived ready for the evening's run. There were 5 new faces this week amongst the crowd – A HUGE warm welcome to Emma, Rachael, Charlotte, Eleri and David! It was awesome having you join us and we hope to see you again next week!

When the clock struck 6.30pm we made our way outside. We lined up and began jogging on the spot (This got the blood flowing quicker!). Ben, who was also jogging on the spot, began explaining about GoodGym and the 3 different ways to runners can get involved; group runs, mission runs and coach runs. He then explained the task we would be doing whilst on the evening's run and gave an update on who’s been taking part in running events/parkruns over the past week. Well done to Charlotte who took part in Parkrun and Ben who ran the Bristol half Marathon.

We then continued the warm up; walking on tip toes, heels, dynamic stretches of our hip flexors, calves and adductor muscles. Before heading off we also did our headcount. We said our name, number, whether we had been to GoodGym before (HUGE cheers to the new faces – absorb and love it, you only get this level of cheer once until you reach 50 good deeds) and our favourite colour. Aimee said cleverly said “Rainbow!” as she couldn't decide because she loved them all! – Everyone gave a resounding “ooooo, good one”.

Before setting off we allocated a lead runner and a backmarker; Ben and Mikey led the run and Fliss, the star that she is, volunteered to back mark (We have a lead runner so that everyone stays together and so that nobody gets left behind!)

Let’s run to the Y…. M…C…A, we’re going to run to the Y… M..C …AAA!

And that’s exactly what we did. We set off, chatting as we ran, getting to know one another that little bit more. Knowing each others favorite colours was just the start of blossoming friendships.

We ran down Queen Street and then onto Newport Road. We continued on Newport Road for some time until we reached the bottom of Colchester Avenue. During the run we stopped a few times to pull up our invisible chairs and Squat and regroup; We recommend real chairs opposed to virtual ones... however at GoodGym we can only run with our virtual chairs.

Thank you for coming everyone. We need your help!

We arrived at the YMCA just after 7pm. Lee was there waiting for us, ready to set us our tasks for the evening. He told us about the YMCA and how what we would be doing will be making a positive difference to the Cardiff community. Here’s some information about the YMCA Cardiff:

YMCA Cardiff works across South East Wales. Their aim is to make a positive difference in the community. They work in two distinct areas, youth and community and housing and homelessness. Cardiff YMCA Housing Association is a charitable Housing Association and a Registered Social Landlord. They are registered with the Welsh Government and we directly manage board and lodge hostels in the Roath area of Cardiff. They provide Accommodation for nearly 120 homeless people in Cardiff with the belief that everyone should have a safe place to stay. Their residents receive the support they need in order to achieve and sustain the transition into independent living. They provide opportunities through our Retail shops and recycling unit for our residents and volunteers alike.

Runners took on the challenge and immediately got into teams and raced off to help with the tasks. We had team clothing line, bed dismantlers and furniture polishers.

The clothing line involved runners taking bags of donated clothes and sorting them into various bags before they’re steamed and sent to the YMCA retail stores. Clothes which had already been steamed were hung on railings – Lucy and Lowri were full steam ahead doing this. Craig and Martin also looked in their element… Martin found a dazzling pair of shoes!

The bed dismantlers, did – You guessed it! – They dismantled a bed that had been purchased by a customer so that it was ready for collection. They then worked together to move two single beds across the store. Great work. David also plunged straight in, getting the job done!

The furniture polishers were assigned the important task of ensuring all of the furniture for sale looked spick and span! Their arms were working like Mr Miyagi – “Wax on, Wax off!” – Keep going Daniel son! Fine work Fliss and Eleri!

10 Minutes to go; Let’s give you a riddle or two!

Ben then threw the gauntlet down and got everyone's minds working.

A doctor and a bus driver are both in love with the same woman, an attractive girl named Sarah. The bus driver had to go on a long bus trip that would last a week. Before he left, he gave Sarah seven apples. Why?

A boy fell off a 100 foot ladder but didn’t injure himself - how is this possible?

Post your answers in the comments section at the bottom of this page – The big reveal will be on next week’s run report

Ding a ling a ling …. Ping! – Time is up

Time was up. Pleased with our efforts Lee said, “I didn’t expect you to get everything done so fast!” We all gathered together outside for a group photo. Our faces had glorious smiles on them!

We then thanked Lee and headed off. Ben led the run back and Aimee backmarked. On our way back we stopped to regroup, however, instead of squatting we got into pairs and did Press-up-Wheelbarrow-Squats. Click here to see what on earth they are.

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And finally,

Well done to Aimee… you’re puntastic! You’ve won the RunPunstiltskin award again! Can anyone stop Aimee's RunPunstiltskin streak? (She created the pun which is the title of this week's run report)

Everyone give yourselves a huge pat on the back for tonight if you ran tonight – You dug deep and did wonderful! To all the new runners to GoodGym… You smashed it!