GoodGym comin' atcha on a Tuesday evening!

It's here.... Tuesday... finally! GoodGym day. You know, I firmly believe that in 1000s of years time GoodGym Cardiff will still be running (Excuse the pun) and that great legends and stories of GoodGym Cardiff will be told to the masses.

Anyway, let's get on with reporting on tonight's run.

Who turned up!?

This week Nathan Swain made an appearance on the Tuesday run! Nathan gets involved in community missions and missions to help older people however doesn't often make it to the Tuesday group runs as he leads a youth club on the same evening. He also hung around after for the tweet off to make sure there wasn't any cheating going on... Nathan takes the tweet off very seriously. Who else? We also had Rachel, Alice and Marion all come along - They haven't been to a Tuesday group run for a while so it was so nice to have them join in - Wish we could see you all every week :)

Lets get warm!

To make sure our muscles were warmed up enough ready for the run ahead, we did warm up exercises that got the blood flowing. Our warm up involved bouncing on our tip toes, lunges, high knees and butt kicks!

Let's get our run on!

Adam led runners to Bute park whilst Martin, Su and Rosie all backmarked ( The 3 musketeers making sure that nobody got left behind). Ben led the walking talking group.

The fitness circuit bonanza

At Bute park we all stopped to do some fun fitness exercises. First, Ben told everyone to run and find themselves a leaf, which they did - Some runners got very attached to their leaf. Ben then asked everyone to line up with their leaf, to sprint for 10 seconds and then place their leaf where they stopped. They then had to repeat the run and reach the point where they put their leaf onto the floor - Some people couldn't beleaf they found their leaf again... they were definitely releaved.

Then it was time for some fun circuits. Runners ran to station 1; there they had to do star jumps for 30 seconds, then they had to squat jump to station 2; there they had to do squats for 30 seconds, then they ran to station 3 where they had to do press-ups for 30 seconds.

The fitness circuit bonanza ended with a wheelbarrow race - OH YESSSS!

Welcome to the Samye Foundation

The mindfulness and wellbeing centre always love having us visit! Lorraine gave us very much needed water when we arrived so we could rehydrate.

The tasks for tonight included:

• Putting up bird boxes
• Planting cauliflower plants
• Weeding the garden areas, laying fresh soil and sprinkling seeds for the bees and butterflies

25 Minutes of hard work got the jobs done. Lorraine was impressed with what was achieved, thanking us and offering us tasty nibbles to make sure we were properly fueled for our run back to Big Moose.

Time to run back

Ben led the walkers back and not long after Mikey followed with the rest of the pack.

Well done everyone on tonight's run - You all looked great, ran well and I look forward to doing it all again next week when we help St Alban's Primary School. Click here to get signed up so you don't miss out

Tweet off!

Well done Lucy on winning the tweet off this evening!

Here's the updated league table. Lucy is smashing it this year. But there's another 33 points (approx) up for grabs until the Christmas party award ceremony

• LM 5
• EW 2
• MG 2
• DRN 1
• BA 1
• NS 1
• NI 1
• AG 1
• WD 1

This Thursday evening, 9 Goodgym runners met at Byrd Crescent Community hall in Penarth for, quite aptly, a Community mission! They were met by Helen, who is Oshi's auntie and a Director of the charity. She told the group all about this amazing charity that organise events and arrange gatherings for disabled children. Their latest venture was the Sensory garden that had been built on the grounds of the community hall. Goodgym were in attendance to help by painting all the woodwork in the garden to ensure it is protected through the winter.

The group made quick work of painting the planters, mud kitchen, fencing, and sensory toys and even musical chimes. They began by cleaning the mud and dust off everything before breaking into team to attack the task. There was only a limited number of brushes so the team alternating in the painting and even cleared up and swept up all the leaves from the paved areas.

The runners chatted and joked as they completed the task. Helen is also a keen runner who is running the Cardiff Half Marathon for the first time. We shared our own experiences and some training tips to give her the confidence she would smash it and enjoy it come October. The runners were on their way an hour later and we hope to return to work with Oshi's world again really soon.

Oshi's World are a local charity based in Penarth, South Wales. Inspired by a little boy called Oshi, the founders set out to create an accessible social, sensory and play space for children with disabilities.

Currently they run every Saturday at Byrd Crescent Community hall between 10- 1 and have an open access policy where families can drop in, free of charge, at any time during this session. You will find parents and carers enjoying a cuppa while the children chill in the sensory den, get creative with our arts and crafts, enjoy a story and make friends. The official Sensory Garden launch will be the 29th September - Goodgym has an open invite.

https://www.oshisworld.org/

On a cooler than usual Tuesday evening in Cardiff 18 runners used their running to do good in the Cardiff community by helping out at Butetown Pavilion and the STAR Hub in Tremorfa

The temperature this evening was slightly milder but the enthusiasm to do good was wilder. Runners met at Big Moose, arriving there via different modes of transportation, Rachel cycled there (so good to see you again for your second GG run!) and Adam sprinted from his home only stopping when he entered door of the café.

When it was time for our run (6.30pm) we gathered outside the café! Ben got everyone to do a warm up jog and then regroup for introductions and a headcount; A HUMUNGOUS welcome to Sophie who was running with GoodGym for the first time – It’s great to have you come along! This run also marked a milestone for both Rosie and Ben, who were celebrating 50 and 100 good deeds respectively (100 good deeds meant Ben was due to wear the rainbow wings, which he did beautifully!) (Rosie also made lemon drizzle cake to mark 50 good deeds, however it was so delicious the Ants got to it first, so instead she supplied carrot cakes and almond bites for after the run - much to the delight of the carrot cake lovers!). The warm up also included the legendary game of Fish and Chips (contrary to the name suggests you actually burn calories - I know, WHAT!?!) and stuck in the mud (Daz was on, and it was him vs the rest of GoodGym – after a minute Nathan also joined him being on – It was now the coat brothers vs all!).

Feeling warm, ready and with our hearts beating faster we were ready to go!

It was two task Tuesday this week so we had two places to help out, the Butetown Pavilion (which Ellen led) and the Star Hub community gardens in Tremorfa (which Ben led).

The 'Butetown pavilion massive' included; Lucy, Ellen, Darren, Lydia, Emma, Amy, Rosie, Tanya and Su! The 'Tremorfa Stars' were; Tom, Ben, Martin, Keira, Rosie, Sophie, Nathan, Rachel and Mikey!

What went down at the Hub!

Runners arrived at the hub after a speedy 2.2 mile run to get there. When they arrived Lewis was on hand ready to let everyone know what needed to get done in the 30 minutes allotted time. “GoodGym, it is fantastic to see you! We need your help to dig a trench for our plants. Do you think you’ll be able to help?” Encouraged by Lewis’ faith in GoodGym everyone got stuck straight in. The ground was tough because of how sunny it has been lately and dried the soil out. However, with a positive mental attitude the dry soil was no match for us and in 25 minutes the trench was dug. Nathan, Mikey and Martin also found time to do a spot of litter picking, picking up all sorts of litter from lids from butter tubs to sweety wrappers! Tom was rolling out the puns; he was clear feeling quite punacious and being a very punny guy!

Clearing the Jumanji weeds at the Pavillion

Ellen led the adventurous runners, with gloves at the ready, to Butetown Pavilion! They had an extra 0.9 mile run owing to Ben’s confusion over Grangetown and Butetown pavilion (he thought they were the same place - Doh!) When the runners arrived at the pavilion though they were weedy excited for some weeding. With their PPE on (gloves) they began pulling up all the weeds. Ellen kept everyone motivated with words of encouragement, “don’t let the weeds get the better of you GoodGym, you’ve got this!” Ellen said.

After 25 minutes the weeding was complete. It was GoodGym vs. Jumanji and GoodGym reigned victorious!

Both teams ran back at pace, 8pm was approaching fast!... Through parks, crossing roads, over walls and down slides, the route back presented many Fun challenges...

Arriving back at Big Moose it was time to warm down and then head for post run drinky poos at the Glassworks - and to eat the cakes Rosie kindly supplied... Nom Nom Nom

Join in next weeks run to Cardiff Bay where we will be promoting Cardiff Pride! Fancy dress is encouraged, bright colours and enthusiasm – We’ve got this! Click here to get signed up!

OHHH and last but not least...

• Well done to Darren who is this weeks RunPunStiltskin champion - He came up with the title of the run report. Enjoy the virtual award, look after it and bring it next week so we can see who wins the RunPunStiltskin award next time...

• Huge well done to Emma for winning the Tweet Off - Can anyone stop her being crowed Tweet off Champion for 2018? Keira, Martin, Lucy, Darren, Nathan, Ellen, Rosie, and all the other tweeters... the challenge is on!....