I was out volunteering at Cardiff juniors parkrun this morning. I conducted the first-timers welcome. Whilst explaining the course route, I had to explain that although the juniors will pass the playground, they must resist the playground and carry on. It will still be there at the end of the parkrun.

I then headed over to the playground area to marshal there. I helped another regular volunteer lay out the cones to show the route. The weather threatened rain, but never did (phew!).

There were 138 juniors out enjoying the parkrun today. Well done all.

Disclaimer - if you have never heard the Jessie J song 'Price Tag', please go and listen to it first if you want this report to make sense!

8 Goodgym folks ran, walked and cycled through the pouring rain to help out at the Samye Foundation.

Lorraine at Samye was pleased to see Michael, Adam, Emma, Aimee, Darren, Rosie, Dylan and Jonny arrive; she had pinned a task list to the door for us to crack on with!

Jonny and Aimee got on with pricing up items for the upcoming plant and book sale.....they under took the....

Price Task

Seems like everybody’s rushin’

Runnin’ through the rain, no hushin’

Volunteers with soggy shoes

Still smiling, got things to do

Why is everyone so serious?

Why am I leaf-clearing in shorts?

Can we slow down and just breathe?

Or at least get a towel, please?

It’s not about the price task, task, task

It’s all about the give back, back, back

We wanna make the world run

Forget about the rain splash, splash, splash

Just focus on the impact, impact

GG just wanna make it count

Even if we’re soaked and worn out

A little kindness, a little sweat

Volunteering with no regret

I ain't writing a song for every task.... :o)

There was plenty of vacuuming to be done so Adam and Emma (and Henry!) cracked on with that. Adam also washed the walls down in the hall to de-scuff them.

Some nominative determinism was in play as Rosie cut back the roses at the front of the foundation!...ably assisted by Dylan. Michael floated around (quite literally with the rain!) helping everyone, taking pics in the process.

The group were re-leaved to leaf Darren alone to sweep and clear up the.....you guessed it - leaves.

A little sodden we all really appreciated the piping hot Carrot and Coriander soup Lorraine had made to say thank you.

We all had a chat.........mainly about the old test card (click here if you are too young for this reference!) and dried off a little.

You may have noticed a non red runner amongst the pack, Jonny was being a good sport by wearing a Norwich City jersey as he lost a friendly wager with Darren and had to spend the evening in his rivals jersey! As you can tell from the pictures he was delighted! ;o)

The rain had got a lot harder but we ventured out running, walking and cycling back home or to the pub.

The three amigos got out in Cardiff for some wet weather weeding.

Let's get our weed on

A slightly injured Michael kept back Darren on the run, but we made it in time still. Lucy joined us on her bike, all smiles and ready to tackle those paving slabs. (Her favourite)

Tonight, we were tackling the front of the community hall and next to the old church. Michael commented that the choir with no name weren't in, and was informed that they had changed locations for their rehearsals. Certainly was quieter without them, we will have to bring some tunes next visit.

40 minutes of volunteering and the slabs were weed free and looking "tidy".

We headed to our new test pub for a soft launch tryout, next week we will be starting and ending there.

Keen to work up a thirst before a gin-centred social, GG Cardiff met for a litter pick of the local area

schools are back on Tuesday and over the summer rubbish had accumulated in the fences and roads around two local schools. a quick blitz of the area left it looking ready to welcome back the kids and families from their summer break.

GG cardiff then headed off for drinks and to catch up on their respective summers

With the end of Summer in sight, and the school holidays nearly over, the goodgymers answered the call to help from Cwtch Together.

7 in total running, 4.6km to the task and back.

And what a task.....

The grounds had been set up as a child's dream, with toys galore, play pits and more inside.

Our jobs for the evening were to clear the garden so that we could get it cut, move all toys inside the hall, or their respective storage shed. A sandpit to carry, get those guns going! And the most fun you can possibly have, emptying the ball pit.

Another wonderful evening in the best company. See you again soon.

I was back at Cardiff junior parkrun this morning. I had been assigned the role of tailwalker.

The junior who was near the back of the pack today seemed to be finding the event a bit ... not fun. Despite the efforts of the juniors' grown-ups, the junior did not seem to enjoy participating in the parkrun.

So I enlisted this junior on a very special mission to help me count the dogs. I am known for counting dogs when I run, but not usually when I walk. If the walk is special, though, I will count the dogs.

Thanks to the valiant help of the junior, I was able to spot a total of 33 dogs. The junior also roared with happiness through the finish funnel. A win for both of us.