Our second week returning to St. Paul's Community Hall, how much of the railings can we complete this time, and with a bigger group?

Our numbers had doubled, but we were limited to paint holders..... We could also feel the light slipping from our fingers into darkness matching the paint in our pots.

Michael continued with “encouragement”, whether asked for or not.....

We’ve Got This

Everyone had their own way, Su, Darren and Julian working like the limbs of an octopus. Neda, Natasha and Adam getting down to work, taking it seriously...

It’s nice to paint something different>

Jonathan and Dylan the lyricist got to great work, they were our two pros from the week before, making easy work of the painting. And finally..... Our later arrival, Dylan the dabber!

We managed a good amount of painting, we even painted part of the floor! There was talk of holidays, music from our very own goodgym band, and the upcoming half marathon.

Go goodgym Go

The countdown began, was extended, and then some more. Until, the paint had been used from all our pots.

we’re not leaving until you’ve finished you’re pots>

As we headed back to the start location we agreed our plans for the cheer points for Sunday’s half marathon.

See you all on Sunday, and then next week (session here)

The change is weather is causing havoc with health..... Let's stay fit, warm and safe.

We make our way over to the community hall next to St. Paul's Church in Grangetown, our task to help them paint their fences with metal paint ready for Winter.

Our paint had been donated, and was a very large container with a spout. This made it impossible to stir, like regular paint tins..... and so Michael took the initiative to shake it (carefully) but not getting it on the goodgym gear.... As we had no scrubs

This worked, mostly, however the paint did separate quickly again inside the tin cascading like waterfalls. Everyone got their own container of paint and we all got busy painting. We covered the railings quickly and just as smooth as the paint we flowed from railing to railing.

As we changed paint, however, we suddenly had some runny paint being flicked around from eager brush work.

And so, we found Jonathan painted like Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes. He hurriedly made his way to the bathroom to clean his face and we continued in his short absence.

We managed around 4 metres of railings tonight, quite a good amount to get done. More next week, hopefully to finish off even more....

Join us..... Sign up here

It seems that the weather doesn't want us to paint! A second try at the task and once again play was rained off.... But a little rain doesn't stop us, we LOVE it.

Off we went, a lovely run in the cleared misty air, it wasn't too long before we reached our destination. Our task, now changed, we were going to wire brush some of the railings (for the day that we can finally paint them) and tidy up the back of the community hall.

Cara, Dylan and Martin got to work on the railings, whilst Jonathan and Michael went straight to the back to tidy up the yard. Jake was the only goodgymer to do both tasks - #keen.

After our group photo, it was a simple run back to get social and catch up with each other. Plenty of talk about runs coming up, festivals and the fun of Cosmeston relay, which we will be taking part in once again. What should the team names be?? Well we agreed it shouldn't be 'Dylan and the minions', it should be a group decision not just 'what would Dyl do!' After many, many, many discussions and a couple of strange options it was finally decided for 'Hobnob handover'. Let's see if they stick with that when it comes to registration!

Now to FUN FACT TIME

Walking in the rain, or after it has been raining, can actually be good for your body and your mind. Some scientists think it is all down to negative ions. These are odourless, invisible molecules which are created in nature near moving water.

As well as rain, they can come from waterfalls, waves in the sea and even morning dew and mist. Dr Niek Buurma, of Cardiff University’s School of Chemistry, said one way they can be formed is by water, such as raindrops, hitting the ground. Research is taking place into the effects of negative ions, but it is thought they may boost our mood, relieve stress and give us more energy.

The air is cleaner during rainfall and after it because raindrops wash dirty particles out of the atmosphere. There is also that unmistakeable smell when it rains after a long period of dry weather. The earthy scent is called petrichor, from the Greek words petra, meaning "stone", and ichor, meaning "the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods". Petrichor includes a chemical called geosmin, which is made by bacteria in soil. Inhaling it in the air can have a calming effect.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51157ep524o

Next week is a first time task - as we say hello to the Scout Hall and help them. Get signed up here

Take me running, painting in the rain Feel it washing over me, oh oh Join us, running, painting in the rain Cover me in ecstasy , oh oh

So that's out the way now and possibly stuck in your head! Last night 11 goodgymers got together, despite the rain, to make their way on a lovely night time run to help out with some painting of railings.

Michael, led the crew on the quickest route tonight, so that we could get as much painting done as possible. First, we had to get into the office for the equipment. Luckily the key holder was in the Choir and could see us looking all confused at a locked door.

We're IN

Just as we had the equipment out and we started, our organiser Julian arrived, just in time to get stuck in with the rest of us. We were brushing the railings with wire brushes, being followed by the painters. We split into a few groups, with three of us heading off under some trees to paint, which we were thankful for when it started to rain!

Time to Call It

We cleared the equipment and put it back into storage, as we got warmed and dry with a quick bit of food from the lovely Choir with no name. A quick group photo, and it was time to head back for a nice social.

We see an old fence and we want to paint it black.......

Well it turns out our last trip of the year to the community hall was not as we thought, we returned to help with the mighty task of painting the fence.

11 goodgymers huddled together on a chilly evening, ready to take on the WORLD

Back for their second time was Chloe, welcome you regular you. And we had the return of one who started us all those years ago...... Benjamin

CROESO

Off we went on those mean streets of Cardiff (not really mean, us Welsh are very nice) and we had a nice steady pace to St. James Community Hall.

Tonight's task, to wire brush the fence that we had previously freed from the ivy..... Whilst the rest of us painted as much as we could in the time we had.

You could definitely feel the Autumnal crisp chill this evening, but we were soon warmed by the gratitude of the choir as they came out from the hall to see what we were getting up to. Impressed by the amount of us, they even offered us the food they had left.

DIOLCH

We made our way back to the Daffodil, to warm up and catch up. We will return one more time this year.... As its a BIG fence.

A nice run today away from too much hustle and bustle of the city, following the embankment by the river.

Our journey, leading us to the Community Hall of St. Pauls.

Our task..... To remove all growing, tangled vegetation on the railings... And there were a lot of railings.

As we arrived we got together with those that had made their own way to the task, but realised one was missing. Just as Michael was about to send out a message a figure appeared from the hall...

Are you the runners?

How did they know... Well, it turned out our missing Holly had arrived early and decided to join the choir inside. And what a great time they were having.

To the task... We all got gloved up (Safety First) and picked our tools from Julian's (Our task organiser) car boot. No messing around, Michael put up lights to help as the darkness enveloped the group, but not our spirit!

Along the way we managed to find 2 vodka bottles, lots of rubbish, some tea bags and a Clock....

Our last visit to the community hall this year, and a great success.

See you all on the next task soon.