A lot of things have changed since we last did a group run but one thing was definitely the same; We had a bunch of absolute legends giving up part of their Tuesday evening to do some good for a couple of local projects.

The onions were a bonus

Big shout out to Amy for joining for her first GoodGym good deed 🔥 and Ali, Katy, Louise, Nathan and Rebecca for coming on their first Lambeth group run - so great to have you along guys :)

We kicked off with our first $#%! prize of the month of the year - a collection of mostly useless items courtesy of our Taskforce that gets given to a person (or persons...) who've done amazing stuff with GoodGym. This months prize was a Christmas hat, a tiny bottle of Mezcal, some fragile tape (perfect for moving house...) and that toy car from Myatt's Fields Park. They were awarded to a couple departing on a new adventure who've done nearly 400 good deeds between them and been loyal, friendly, funny, irreplaceable members of GoodGym Lambeth - Samantha & Steven you will be missed!

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Back to the good deeds! We promptly split into two groups. Sarah led a small but mighty group of Isy, Nathan and Katy to do some flyering around some fancy houses for Get Rid Of & Donate, a charity who take people's unused clothes, bags, furniture and kitchenware and re-gift it to vulnerable families, refugees and rough sleepers.

The rest of us headed to meet Justin from Ruskin Park Community Garden, where we had two tasks - pulling up all the onion (and garlic and secret potatoes) from one of the beds, and the less glamorous task of turning compost (and Michael did a sterling job of digging up and sieving some fresh compost). The fruits of our labour were a good arm workout and some organic onions/shallots and some garlic to take home with us! 🧅🧄

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We timed the way back perfectly to meet our flyering buddies and had a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors (feat. planks and sprinting) in the park.

WE ARE BACK

Nice one guys. Solid work and a great job! 💥

Hope to see you next week for Filling the Library/a trip to the Portico Gallery!

On the 30th June our mission was complete... We hiked Mount Snowdon.

This evening 14 GoodGym runners ran to help out at the YMCA retail store on Colchester Avenue.

14 runners showed up at GoodGym tonight, excited to get the mileage under their belts and enjoy a GoodGym run when it isn't raining! Didn't we have a nice bank holiday weekend too? 3 days of scorching weather is often unheard of in Wales! Anyway, everyone turned up promptly between 6.15pm and 6.30pm with their beautiful GoodGym t-shirts on display - everyone looked so fine and dandy! At 6.30pm everyone went outside to warm up. Jogging, lunging and high knees... Nice dynamic exercises to prepare for exercise! No new faces this week, but it was good to see Emyr, Louise and Rhian again who haven't run with us for a while... keep coming back y'all!

Feeling warm we were ready to role

We decided to run as a group to the YMCA, being mindful of our running form on the way there. Lifting up our knees, holding our head up to make sure we maximize oxygen intake, trying to land on the mid-foot or front of our foot rather than heel striking, keeping our arms at a 90 degree angles and trying to relax our breathing.

Our run to the YMCA involved crossing a number of roads. This broke up the run which allowed us to catch our breath. We also seized the opportunity to do some squat jumps - by popular request!

Welcome to the YMCA

We were greeted with a warm welcome by Matt who works at the YMCA. Unfortunately he wasn't singing like the Village People when they sung the YMCA but he may surprise us in the future and serenade us as we enter. Matt told us all about the YMCA and then gave us our tasks for the evening which included hanging clothes, sweeping outside the shop and hoovering the store:

• 10 runners hung up clothes (Lowri, Louise, Rhian, Emma, Mikey, Emyr, Aimee, Andie, Su)
• 3 Runners swept outside (Darren, Ellen and Martin)
• 1 Runner hoovered the shop (Lucy)

Everyone got stuck straight in. Darren began posing and dancing with the broom. Martin was running around the car park pretending he was on a broom that could make him fly and Ellen tried her best to keep them both in line.

After 10 minutes of good deeding, Mikey began thinking he was Count Dracula (excited about Bucharest - I think!) and Martin tried his hand at being a ventriloquist... Martin, it was a very... original impression!

Andie and Lowri took the opportunity to have a look around the shop, their eyes wide open to potential bargains!

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Riddle of the run

No run would be the same without a riddle, so here it is;

I AM A SEED, THREE LETTERS IN THE NAME. TAKE AWAY TWO AND I SOUND QUITE THE SAME. WHAT AM I?

Think you know? Comment below!

Click here for the answer

After 30 minutes of hanging, sweeping, hoovering, and the best blooming banter in town, we were finished! Matt was amazed by our efforts. He thank us and bid us a safe run back...

We all then begun running back to Yr Hen Lyfrgell at top speed. Louise tested out gravity on the run back and quickly realised that Earth's gravity is still as powerful as ever! Fortunately though Louise was okay and she assures me that she will be back at GoodGym next week or the week after.

Click here to sign up to next weeks run - Do it now :)!

25 GoodGymmers came out for a splendid run this evening

We all arrived into Yr Hen Lyfgrell for our Tuesday evening group run. We were all keen to get out running because there had been colossal levels of snowfall over the past week which impacted on opportunities to go out running – even Cardiff Parkrun got cancelled… the 4th time it has been cancelled in 10 years!

We started off the evening with a warm up, opening the gates, letting the sheep out and closing the gates again after. Warm ups help prepare the body for exercise and can help prevent injuries We then did our headcount and welcomed Mark to GoodGym! Hi Mark!!! It was his first ever time running with GoodGym and it was a real pleasure having him come along. Mark will be aiming to run in over 50 towns over the next 60 days! "Good luck fellow runner!" Our headcount this week also involved stating what our favourite food is before going on a long run. Ben shared how much of a fan he is of the bagel and porridge pre race diet! Elvis’ peanut butter and jelly sarnies were also a choice for a few runners! Anyway, a little less conversation a little more action!

So after getting warmed up and maybe even feeling slightly hungry, we split into two running cohorts, the sexy runners and the speedy runners. Jack led the speedy runners and Ben led the sexy runners, obviously!

Let’s go and help Keep Wales Tidy!

We ran the streets of Cardiff making our way to Pen Y Lan library. On the way there we did sprint drills and used curbs to do step ups, benches to do tricep dips and walls to do planks.

"Hello GoodGym Cardiff! I’m Lorna from Keep Wales Tidy and I need your help!"

Lorna explained about Keep Wales Tidy and the charity work Keep Wales Tidy do across Wales to protect the environment for now and for the future. She also gave runners an in-depth health and safety briefing so that runners could litter pick safely!

Runners then went out in force… here are some of the interesting items they found

• A glove
• Cans
• Straws
• A pair of socks
• Burger packaging
• Polystyrene

It was all so exciting that time just flew by and before we knew it the 25 minutes were up!

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Riddle Diddle Doo, here is a riddle for you

I start with M and end with X. I have a never-ending amount of letters. What am I?

Did you get it? If not then maybe tomorrow?... Oh I mean next week!

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After we arrived back to Yr Hen Lyfrgell, we clapped in Stuart and Jack and then participated in a warm down. We stretched all the muscles we had been working out whilst on the run and reflected on how it went - There was consensus that litter picking is VERY satisfying. The sexy runners covered a total mileage of 3.2 miles and the speedy runners covered approximately 5 miles.

Antics continued at the Cosy Club after the run with burgers, macaroni cheese, cakes and a wide array of beverages! This was to celebrate Ben's birthday! - ** Happy Birthday!**

The RunPunStiltskin award this week goes to the BIRTHDAY BOY!... ME :D - I will enjoy the virtual and bring it back next week .