Nothing was going to stop 19 GoodGym Cardiff runners this evening run to help out at the Ocean Arts Centre.

It was our second run in January and what a corker. Many beautiful regular running faces joined us this evening and they were really lovely new faces too (Welcome to GoodGym, Luke and Ffion! And we hope you enjoyed the very warm welcome you received). Ffion was Darren’s friend and Luke is Charlotte’s brother which means…. RED LACE ALERT! Well done both of you… you’ve earned yourself 1 red lace each. Darren now has a pair of red laces… but how attached is he to having 1 red and 1 green lace on his shoes... We will have to see.

Jack led the group who wanted a hard, fast and long run… and Ben led runners who anticipated more of a gentle run (He still gave them a v. good workout!...). Aimee was a back marker for the group Ben led; Well done Aimee… You are a star! It is good to have you back from America… thank you for coordinating your flight so you could arrive for GoodGym – That is commitment! Eleri back marked the group Jack led – You are awesome!

Ahhhh! Check out that sign!

We arrived at the Ocean Arts Centre just after 7pm, keen and ready to get stuck in to some painting! Upon arrival we noticed signage for the Ocean arts centre which had GoodGym written below it... A really warm welcome (Just what was needed on a cold night). Sally, who runs the centre, was there to greet us. She told us all about the good they try and achieve there; “Ocean Arts Cardiff is a multi purpose centre for the arts, therapies and community groups. The centre has a main room suitable for group work, presentations, small gigs, workshops, dance groups, parties and much more.” We all thought this sounded fantastic and we couldn’t wait to do our part in helping out at the centre.

Sally had laid out stations around the centre ready for us runners. So armed with paintbrushes, and rollers we got straight to it. There was specific paint for walls and gloss paint for doors. There was also blue paint which runners used to paint the edges of the floor.

I can’t believe how much you got done so quickly, some of the runners have finished already. These are tasks I’ve had on my to-do list for a while.

These words are like music to our ears. We love helping our community organisations and making a difference. When there were 5 minutes left ‘The Final Countdown’ by Europe began to play from the speakers... Darren couldn’t quite believe it, almost fainting in the toilet he was painting. He couldn’t believe how much of a coincidence this was! Ben didn’t say whether he did this on purpose and Darren still doesn’t know and he may never know.

-------------- Riddly Diddily Doo… I have a Riddle for you! ----

During the task Ben gave everyone a riddle. He asked them, how many days are there in 4 consecutive years? Runners were bazongolled by this and began trying to work it out… The answer is at the bottom of the page…!

After spending 45 minutes helping out time was up, unfortunately – we were having so much fun and didn’t want to leave. So Ben had a plan…

Sally up you lot!

With speakers present, Ben seized the opportunity to play ‘bring sally up, bring sally down.’ This worked everyone’s muscles (Including the leg muscles of Lucy and Sally) for over 4 minutes which in turn will help with their running… It was now really time to go.

Thank you so much for coming to help out.

We bid our farewells to Sally and Lucy… until next time. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we would love to help out there again. Thank you for providing us with squash, orange segments and nibbly treats – they were scrumptious!!! The run back was at a cantor with everyone keeping a challenging pace.

Well done guys! After arriving back to Yr Hen Lyfrgell Emma, Charlotte and Lucy, who were really committed to getting a rounded figure on their garmin/strava and more distance for the January Challenge, jogged in circles whilst Ben did the brief and led stretches.

After running back altogether and some stretches it was time to head to the Glassworks for celebratory drink and sweet treats. What were we celebrating I hear you ask….. it was Lucy’s 50th good deed! Well done Lucy.

Here is a clip from the run:

Answer to the riddle = 1461 Remember there is a leap year included in one of the years

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