Whatever the weather... we shall attend GoodGym together!

The weather at the moment is VERY Welsh. Within the past 2 weeks we have had 2 storms, Ciara and Dennis, and it feels as though the rain has been non stop! Today Cardiff had more rain but, undeterred by this, 34 runners showed up to GoodGym ready to walk/run to do good!

Welsh Dave started the warm up this week. He got everyone doing high knees, butt kicks, side steps, you name it he did it. We had 4 new runners this week! A HUGE welcome to Sylvie, Beatrice, Bethan and Helene :D It was so lovely having you join this week and we really hope you come back!

Achievements this week

• A HUGE well done to Nathan who has reached the 100 good deed milestone!
• Congratulations to Ted who earned himself a red lace for bringing a friend to GG this week #LifesGoals
• Welsh Dave and Matt got engaged - Congratulations :D
• Darren turned 40 - but he doesn't look it!

Let's head to the task!

This week we planned to meet Ash Wales, our task organisers, at Cardiff Castle. To get warmed up, we had a 10 minute run before meeting there.

Hello GoodGym, we are the Charity 'Ash Wales'. It is lovely to meet you!

Kimberly greeted us at Cardiff's iconic landmark, Cardiff Castle. She was there with her team from Ash Wales. They had warm smiles on their faces which warmed us all up in the cold weather conditions. Kimberly then told us about Ash Wales and explained to us that the Ash Wales charity aims to increase awareness of the health, social and economic effects of smoking in Wales - The mission of Ash Wales is to achieve a smokefree Wales!

Did you know? 83% of the population of Wales is smoke free and, of those who smoke, 60% want to quit.

The Ash Wales team then kitted us up with gloves, bags and cigarette butt picker uppers. It was safe to say we looked like a force to be reckoned with.

Before heading off we had a quick group photo... Smiles! And, of course, HANDS IN THE AIR! hahaha

Off we go!

Continuing in the 4 teams, each group still led by Ben, Aimee, Welsh Dave and Ellen, we began picking the cigarette butts off the streets of Cardiff. Each group targeted different areas of Cardiff city centre. Ben's group went down Womanby Street. Nathan, with his wings, was flying around from butt to butt, just like when he plays his Pokemon Go, he was collecting them all!

"I couldn't believe how many cigarette butts there were. We could have spent the whole of the time on just one street" One of the runners said.

Thank you GoodGym

The whole of the Ash Wales team thanked us for our efforts. They said they couldn't wait to team up with us again in hopefully warmer and less wet weather conditions.

After we stretched to cool down, Nathan reminded everyone that we go for "drinkypoos" at the Glassworks to celebrate doing good in the community, Peter and Nathan both brought delicious treats this week which we subsequently devoured at the pub... Nom Nom Nom!

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2020 Tweet Off

Jiminy cricket - Marie is a fighter! Well done Marie for retweeting quickest this week. Let's see if next week someone else can get their name on the leaderboard.

• MJ - 4
• MOH - 3
• Razzle Dazzle - 1

RunPunStiltskin award

A triple whammy! The combined efforts of Ben, Andrew and Martin made this weeks pun possible, a point for each of you!

• BA - 4
• EW - 2
• AS - 3
• MG - 1
• GD -1

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

Best group run of the year so far!

2020 has started with a fierce turnout of 31 runners and S4C coming along to capture our antics.

Acknowledgements

• Emily reached 50 good deeds
• Imogen brought a friend to GoodGym and gained herself 1 red lace! #LifesGoals. Imogen will now have one faster foot as the power of the red lace makes you run faster!

We play a game of 'Stuck in the Dance' to warm up tonight and did our usual high knees, butt kicks and lunges.

Two tasks - Choose where you run!

Ben led runners who wanted a speedy run of a longer distance to the Rhydypennau Library. Welsh Dave led runners who wanted a shorter distance to the Star Garden at Tremorfa Hub. Ellen led the walk/run group to the Star Garden at Tremorfa Hub.

Write up by Ben about runners efforts at the Rydypennau Library

Rhydypennau library is the second furthest task we've run to on a group run to date, nevertheless, undeterred we ran pavements, crossed streets, ran past Roath lake and across a large roundabout to make it to the task. When we arrived to the Library we were greeted by Sue Thomas, a librarian at the centre. Sue was ever so friendly and invited us in for a cup of tea or a coffee before we got started. We thanked Sue for this kind offer however time was against us and we wanted to make a big difference in short time we were there for. We got stuck into the task straight away (after a few required shots by the film crew). Yvonne, the presenter of Heno and new to GoodGym herself, got stuck into the task, making light work of a very challenging task. The runners were required to dig up plants and overgrown long grass and move it into temporary plant pots. We only had 20 minutes to do this task but we managed to do it!

Write up by Welsh Dave about runners efforts at the Star Hub

17 keen goodgymmers got to the STAR (or Stare 😉) hub in sunny Tremorfa. Unfortunately plan A turned into Plan B - but luckily there was plenty to do at the Hub! We weeded, carried, picked and emptied our way through the task. Moving compost, stacking chairs and weeding the garden are all in an evening's work for Tuesday night's Tremorfa team!

Time to finish the first group run of 2020

Sadly, time moves as quick as we do, and it wasn't long after we arrived at each of the tasks before we had to head back! Yvonne from the S4C was also gutted it was coming to an end as she was having so much fun!

A special thank you to Rebecca, the Social Communications and Marketing Manager at GoodGym head office, who helped coordinate the involvement of S4C, our Welsh Speakers and task organisers.

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2020 Tweet Off

Marie is taking an early lead in the tweet off! It already looks like she may beat last years winner, Lucy.

• MOH - 2
• Everyone else - 0

RunPunStiltskin award

Can you come up with the best pun title for the run report? if yours gets chosen you get a point on the leaderboard.

• EW - 1

There were mince pies, mulled wine, sweat, sweets, smiles and a little bit of hail all on offer this Sunday as 15 runners competed the Merthyr Mawr Christmas Pudding Race!

We gathered at the starting line - the base of the 2nd highest sand dune in Europe! - and at the sound of the horn, we dashed off! But after much huffing and puffing, this turned into a walk as a few hundred runners all realised that running to the top was going to wreck us, before we got any further. Things quickly sped up as what goes up, must come down! And down we went over the other side, and into the fantastic Merthyr Mawr sand dune system.

The winding course too us across dunes, up grassy hills, through freezing cold streams, down muddy tracks, through woods, through more streams, onto the beach, up the estuary, through even more streams ... to the finish! It was truly a test of endurance, and even some pain as Mat dislocated his kneecap along the route! But well worth it for the lovely lunch afterwards, to refill on calories, share stories and plan our next events. Great running everyone!!!

Christmas is often a really difficult time for families who are homeless, so tonight's task was a very sensitive and emotive one. It was a task that we hope brought aspects of joy to the lives of families during a very challenging time

This evening 38 runners showed up to Big Moose to join in this evening's GoodGym run. Yes, 38!!! 38 is the most runners we have EVER had on a GoodGym Cardiff run. There were 3 new runners tonight too- A huge welcome to Sarah, Abby and Lucy! It was absolutely fantastic having you run with us. Jayne brought along Abby to GoodGym that means she earned herself a red lace #LifesGoals! Jayne will now have one faster leg when she runs until she brings another friend and claims another red lace.

The evening started with Ben leading a warm up. He then gathered everyone together to do the usual introduction and acknowledge any achievements over the past week. They included:

• GoodGym Cardiff and The Vale (That's us!) winning the BBC Sport Wales, Getting Wales Active Award
• Ben (GoodGym Trainer) running the 3 Day Ultra Trail Marathon in Ibiza; running over 105km over 3 days
• Lucy Marsh reaching 200 good deeds - Woo!!!
• A wonderful Community Mission at Herbert Thompson directed by Ms Guy

Runner of GoodGym Cardiff and Global News room journalist, Peter Gillibrand turned up in his star costume this evening. If you didn't know by now, Pete is attempting to break a Guinness World Record by running the 2020 London Marathon dressed as a star - Well done Pete you looked fab!

Arriving at Nightingale House

We've run to Nightingale House twice before yet we always managed to forget which building it is - Running up and down the street gives us a bit of extra exercise though, something that we shouldn't be averse to as GoodGym is about getting fit after all.

The staff at Nightingale House welcomed us in with the warmest of welcomes. They were very shocked to hear that 38 runners had turned up, a jump from the 20 that were signed up a couple of days ago.

Our tasks this evening were to decorate the communal areas with Christmas themed decorations and wrap presents, in secret, in the building at the rear of the garden. Some of the runners also gave the garden some TLC by picking up leaves and doing some weeding.

What an incredible task

Everyone found a role and got stuck in. At least 3 Christmas trees were put up. One of the children had James playing with an inflatable Santa for most of the time. Imogen was also being chased with tinsel by some of the children. There was a baby who was dressed in a VERY cool Christmas outfit, who was amazed by the Christmas tree and kept gazing at it in amazement.

In the back building aka. Santa's workshop, runners were speedily wrapping presents. After wrapping one present they would quickly be on to the next. Every bit of space was made use of for the task. Chloe and Sue spent 30 minutes in the toilet wrapping presents.

Thank you so much for your help

The staff and the residents at Nightingale House were extremely grateful, and we were grateful that they allowed us to celebrate some of Christmas with them. Everyone wished each other a Merry Christmas and then we disappeared into the night.

Dave led the run back to Cardiff City Centre, although he quickly ran back to Nightingale House as he had forgotten his bag (Some more unexpected exercise!).

A task that will definitely make a difference. Well done all!

Next week's GoodGym run is on Wednesday - Make sure you come along!

Next Tuesday we have the BBC Sports Awards so the group run will take place on Wednesday. The plan is to help Samye Foundation. I will also be looking for an additional Christmassy themed task. I would love to see you next week - I will bring the award to show you too. Click here to sign up to next week's run.

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Tweet Tweet

Gosh that was quick! Megan has claimed another point on the tweet off leaderboard! Well done! ALL points count and there are less and less opportunities to move up the leaderboard as each week goes by.

• LM 13
• MO 9
• EW 5
• MJ 5
• DRN 4
• MG 4
• NS 2
• RJ 1
• BA 1
• NI 1
• AG 1
• WD 1