We're back and we will not let the threat of rain stop us, 10 goodgymers met up raring to go out there and help another good cause. Tonight, our journey was to the wonderful YMCA shop on Colchester avenue, the tasks to sort donations ready for sale, make a display for the Sci-Fi books that was 'Out of this World' and hand and display the clothes all ready on the rails.

We met outside of Big Moose, introduced ourselves - welcomed back Amelia for a second group activity and BIG welcome to Dalma for the FIRST introduction to goodgym.

We hope you enjoyed the experience

We made our way on one of our longer runs to the second pick up point, chatting all the way about our weekends gone by, brutal work out classes and races we had taken part in. A quick stop at the second point before 'running up that hill', a great workout for the thighs and a great Kate Bush song to boot.

We were welcomed at the YMCA, not by the Village People but the Manager Liam. A quick thirst break to top up our hydration levels before splitting into groups and getting to volunteering. 30 minutes passed in no time at all (except for the 30 minutes) and clothes had been put on display, multiple bags had been sorted (those not for sale were being recycled, including the bag of many, many bras). And finally the display of Sci-Fi books was set up and glorious enough for our final group photo.

Time to say thanks and head off back to our start, a stretch or two - which turned into everyone showcasing their favourtie stretch until we had all tried them, and then a social in the local and chance to get each other some more. The conversation of choice tonight, what else - Eurovision.

Join us next week for our 5th Birthday Celebration Activity.

Not the Start to Spring that we had last week as a wet weathered Wales emerged from the grey evening sky.

Not to be beaten by the rain, 8 eager goodgymers stayed strong and committed to the cause, and tonight that would be the wonderful YMCA shop on Colchester Avenue.

For those taking on the full run - a nice 7km, with our usual relaxed start closer to the task and a lovely 1 mile.

Lots to talk about tonight with Easter break just around the corner and for most a luscious long weekend, an opportunity to see family and friends in some (hopefully) better weather. Once at the task there was just enough time to rehydrate - Always important when being active, and now to get our volunteer muscles worked out. We had three tasks on the go,

• A load of new records to sort
• A library of books to arrange and sticker
• The usual sorting of donations ready to transfer to the other shops in Cardiff

Hannah was first to jump straight at the books, with three jobs on the go. If the books could be sold, then a YMCA sticker went on ready to be added to the library of books with a great deal of 6 for £1...

Andrew and Karolina were our 'record breakers' getting to work on the cage of records to be sorted, some reminders of the past in there.

Finally, the rest of the group hit the donation tables. Four cages of bagged donations to get through, with sanitiser and gloves ready and after a quick talk through, we were off. Anything that was not good enough for resale was bagged up for recycling with as little waste as possible.

The time went as quickly as ever and it was soon time to stop, but not before a quick bit of time to SHOP. A few items purchased and a quick group photo and we were off, returning to the city. Not the Start to Spring that we had last week as a wet weathered Wales emerged from the grey evening sky.

Not to be beaten by the rain, 8 eager goodgymers stayed strong and committed to the cause, and tonight that would be the wonderful YMCA shop on Colchester Avenue.

For those taking on the full run - a nice 7km, with our usual relaxed start closer to the task and a lovely 1 mile.

Lots to talk about tonight with Easter break just around the corner and for most a luscious long weekend, an opportunity to see family and friends in some (hopefully) better weather. Once at the task there was just enough time to rehydrate - Always important when being active, and now to get our volunteer muscles worked out. We had three tasks on the go,

• A load of new records to sort
• A library of books to arrange and sticker
• The usual sorting of donations ready to transfer to the other shops in Cardiff

Hannah was first to jump straight at the books, with three jobs on the go. If the books could be sold, then a YMCA sticker went on ready to be added to the library of books with a great deal of 6 for £1...

Andrew and Karolina were our 'record breakers' getting to work on the cage of records to be sorted, some reminders of the past in there.

Finally, the rest of the group hit the donation tables. Four cages of bagged donations to get through, with sanitiser and gloves ready and after a quick talk through, we were off. Anything that was not good enough for resale was bagged up for recycling with as little waste as possible.

The time went as quickly as ever and it was soon time to stop, but not before a quick bit of time to SHOP. A few items purchased and a quick group photo and we were off, returning to the city.

Our task tonight was a return trip to the YMCA shop on Colchester Avenue, a lovely place with some great finds. In fact, my favourite chair in the house is from here!

As it was a longer run, we split into two meet points, the runners got together as usual and started the run to the second meeting point where we picked up the second group. Another nice jog and we were soon at our task for the evening.

When we arrived, there was some juice ready to quench our thirst after the exercise so far. We took a couple of minutes to rehydrate, and some even started to browse the shop floor.

Let's get busy

Michael rounded up the crew, and went through the tasks to choose from....

• Sorting of clothes donations
• Placing YMCA stickers on books
• Vacuum the floor with our good friend HENRY

We split into to groups and got to our volunteering. Hannah & Llion were on book duty, trying not to get distracted by the titles - a great deal to be had though with 6 books for £1. Su took up Henry and started her cleaning mission,

The rest of us made our way to the sorting tables, gloves on and bins ready, those bags were ripped open in a frenzy. Children's wear, shoes and accessories, Men's wear, Women's wear , coats all sorted ready for resale. Anything not good enough was put into textile recycling bags to be sent off later, we lost count of the bags that were gone through but it was a fair few.

Time to stop, we may have gotten carried away so time for a quick group photo and head off back to the City.

Join us next week for more fun!

Tonight 17 eager goodgymers took to the evening to help out at our old friend of a Charity - the Y.M.C.A

It had been a few years (thanks pandemic) since we had been about to help, so the task was well overdue.

In a few groups we made our way, runners, walk/joggers and walkers heading a good 6km to the task location on Colchester Avenue. There was plenty to do upon our arrival, a mountain of donations just waiting for our help. Bags were ripped open as garments were checked and inspected to see if they passed the test.

If they looked good enough to keep they were sorted;

• Kids
• Womens
• Mens
• Non-Clothes (books etc.)

There were more bins to fill but by now I was busy with my new friend HENRY as we cleaned the floors, shouting countdowns to the sorting crew. We also had our bed builders - Martin and Marie, busy creating a lovely bed.

As the final shout out was made, the sorting was called to an end and it was time for a quick group photo.

We will be back again in a few weeks to help out with the sorting some more.

All hail GoodGym Cardiff

Being prepared is about expecting the unexpected. And today, unexpectedly, the unexpected that we expected happened, Unfortunately the YMCA couldn't have us help there this evening.

Let's get warmed up

Runners ran up and down the street outside Big Moose, touching the wall by Trespass and then Prince Harry. Runners then did butt kicks, high knees and some old style 90's dance moves to get warmed up.

We run as one!

We headed to the Samye Foundation as a group, Ben led the way and Emma backmarked. Seconds after we started running it started hailing.

The good deeds this week

This week Mikey and Welsh Dave were leading plogs. 'Litter'ally the best people for the job! Ben looked after the runners helping at the Samye Foundation.

A message from Lorraine

Unfortunately Lorraine couldn't be at the Samye Foundation this evening to give us our tasks, however Lorraine had wrote out a list of tasks for us to complete. There is a picture of the tasks she had for us in the slide show above. Unfortunately, due to mother nature, we were unable to do much of the painting tasks.

Our tasks this evening included:

• Hoovering the office and stairwell in the first building
• Installing tarpaulin on the shed in the back garden
• Weeding
• Tidying the side of the building and more!

Whilst some of the walkers/runners were doing this at Mindfulness centre, Mikey and Welsh Dave both set off leading 2 separate groups to litterpick the streets of Riverside and Pontcanna. They managed to collect over 5 bags of litter combined - What a superb effort!

That's a wrap!

After helping out for 25 minutes the time had come for us to run off and back to Big Moose. After arriving back the time had come to warm back.

After the run, as per usual, walkers/runners headed to the Glassworks pubs for drinkypoos.

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2020 Tweet Off

WAHOO! Megan you have won the tweet off FOUR consecutive times and are extending your lead. Marie is going to have to up her game. It looks like we are going to have a new winner this year!

• MJ - 4
• MOH - 2
• Razzle Dazzle - 1

RunPunStiltskin award

Woopahhhhhh Ben,yes that's me, came up with the pun for the run this week!

• BA - 3
• EW - 2
• AS - 2
• GD -1

Would you believe it? A gargantuan 29 runners turned up to GoodGym this evening to get fit and do good! When I call you all superstars, I truly mean it!

Skies were grey in Cardiff this evening. If you didn't like the rain then you would probably feel quite dismal being outdoors. There was not a single dismal face at GoodGym tonight, though. We embraced elements and just got on with it!

There were two new runners to GoodGym this evening! A HUGE welcome to Sophie and Catriona. We love new faces! Lucy and Imogen invited the new runners along, so they earned themselves a red lace each! #LifesGoals #BestThingToEverHappen. We also welcomed Ali and Megan to their first GoodGym run on a Tuesday evening. They actually joined us on Saturday's run in Penarth. Ali is actually training for the Chicago marathon - EPIC choice!

Let's get our run on

There were 3 different paced groups this evening. Aimee led the walk runners, Mikey led the runners who opted for a run at a more relaxed pace, and Ben led those runners wanting a speedy run!

To reach the YMCA all groups walked/ran through Cardiff City Centre and down Newport Road. Ben made the speedy group do some sprint drills outside sofology.

Welcome to the YMCA!

Matt, Babs and Arianne welcomed us to the YMCA with an extremely warm welcome and freshly made squash at the ready. Arianne, who will actually be leaving the YMCA this Friday, told us about the YMCA's initiative, after which we could wait to get stuck in.

There were a variety of tasks to help with this evening. Ali hoovered the whole store. Some of the runners built a bed, others priced up books and the rest sorted through bags and bags of clothes donations at a rate of knots!

We played a game of Ben's Price is Right - You have to guess the price of random items; one of the items was a calendar with toilets at different exotic locations for each month.

Time to run back

After approximately 40 minutes of helping, it was time to head back. Matt, Babs and Arianne thanked us for our help and waved us off. Helping at the YMCA this evening gave us a really good reason to run - It just feels right!

We ran back to Cardiff City Centre and back to big moose to warm down and collect our belongings. There we reflected on the evening's run and we all agreed that it felt worthwhile.

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2020 Tweet Off

The witty man himself, Darren retweeted the quickest this evening. He was overjoyed with the win and the whole of the Glassworks knew about it.

• MOH - 2
• Razzle Dazzle - 1

RunPunStiltskin award

Come up with the title of the run report and be in with the chance of winning the RunPunStiltskin award,

• EW - 1
• BA - 1