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.

The Albany Road Run Club is a running club in Cardiff, and a few members of GoodGym also run with them.

For the last four years, Albany Road Run Club have held a summer event called 'Loopathon' to raise money for charity.

The 2025 event took place on 17th August. I was tasked with creating some 'street art' near the start line. As the charity this year is for Maggie's, I drew their logo near the start line. I added some other items, such as a rainbow, and the Roath park lighthouse (both are featured on Albany Road Run Club's running tops), and a unicorn for 'fun'.

After running my 2 'loops' of the parks in Roath, I spent my third loop picking up trash. There was a lot of it! It took me two hours to complete that loop.

I then had another walking loop, and then finally joined all the remaining Albany Road Run Club members for the community walk. This final loop I did as a litter pick too.

Neda and I (Flo) went to see Mr L today. Mr and Mrs L needed help in their garden, mainly raking up fallen leaves.

First, we did some weeding to make sure his garden paths were clear. Then we started on raking up the leaves, most of which were hidden under the hedge lining the garden, which separated it from the driveway.

Together, we managed to fill three bags with a mixture of the leaves and weeds. Mr L said he would either get rid of these or turn them into compost.

We started packing away and returning Mr L's tools to his garage. After a brief chat with Mr L, both Neda and I travelled home.

We were thrilled to be returning to the Samye Foundation, and even during yet another heat wave, nothing could stop us from getting back to one of our original charities that we have been helping since the very start of goodgym Cardiff.

Our very first run to Samye was back on Tuesday 26th September 2017 and the transformation that we have seen is amazing. This was our return after a break, and the garden project looked fantastic, the pond we helped to dig was now in full working order and sounding tranquil.

Our task tonight were ready as usual, set up on the flipchart at the front of the building. (I love a flipchart!)

Runners were the first to arrive, and quickly sat down under cover to rehydrate after the hot run. Walkers were next to arrive, and Michael quickly pointed them towards the water and squash - hydration was very important today, before any tasks started.

Our list of task for the evening were as follows;

• Move the 2 seater sofa from level 2 in building 252 to the front room in building 250.
• Cable tie the dogrose to the front railings.
• Cable tie the fruit trees in the back garden.
• Bring the spiky plants from the back garden to the front.
• Cut out and compost the red orach.
• Re-pot baby plants from 250 porch into new pots.
• Move the metal table from outside the cafe window to under the gazeebo .
• Display the plants for plant sale on the tables under the gazeebo.

There was a good list of tasks, and 8 willing volunteers to crack on with them. We split into 3 groups, moved to our relevant areas, and got started - wasting no time, eager to get as much completed as possible.

Aimee and Emma went into the back garden and tied up the fruit trees, then removed the red orach and cut it down for composting.

Jonathan, Dylan and Jessica took to the task of moving the sofa, the spiky plants and the re-potting some baby plants.

PIVOT, PIVOT

Emma and Flo moved the metal table, plants and tied the dogrose at the front of the building.

All groups gave an outstanding effort tonight, especially with the temperatures that we had to endure. We got so much done, and Lorraine from Samye Foundation was so happy with our effort. We finished up for the evening, and then sat under the gazeebo for some delicious parsnip soup. Then we all walked back, far too hot for anymore running.

The gazeebo was looking lovely now surrounded by all of the plants, they are opening this is every Wednesday for plant sales in case your interested.

See you all next week - sign up here

Learning Time

Atriplex hortensis var. rubra Red orach, also known as red mountain spinach is a species of plant in the amaranth family used as a leaf vegetable that was common before spinach; it is still grown as a warm-weather alternative to spinach.

On a previous visit to Worthing, I saw that the town Information Centre let's you borrow litter picking equipment to clean up the beach.

I decided to take part.

I have to say, the beach was pretty clean, or maybe the bag was bigger than I was used to. After plodding about for nearly two hours I still hadn't filled the bag.

The most common piece of rubbish was baby wipes, and the most unusual piece of rubbish was some bits of wood nailed together, perhaps previously part of a chair or table.

In my area, the bins get collected on a Wednesday morning.

This often means that seagulls dive into the rubbish bins and recycling bags in the search of a feast, and that my street can look pretty messy on a Wednesday afternoon.

So I left my house at lunchtime to see what efforts needed to be done on the street.

It was actually pretty tidy, and even a complete plod round my most local park meant it took most of the lunch hour time to fill just one bag.

I like that stat a lot!