On Sunday 1st October GoodGym Cardiff and runners from other GoodGym areas including Bristol and Bath took part in the 2017 Cardiff Half Marathon. For some runners it was their first ever half marathon and for others it was an opportunity to set a new PB.

At 9am GoodGym runners gathered outside Yr Hen Lyfrgell. Ben Jozefiak was already there waiting – who knows how long… It was a pleasure to see him again in Cardiff after he left to go to Scotland about 2.5 month ago.

At 9.25am we started our warm up. We jogged on the spot, did lunges, butt kicks, high knees and an assortment of other running drills so our bodies were ready to run. We then made our way to our allocated starting pens.

9.55am; Everyone was in their pens. Adrenaline was now pumping through veins and their hearts were far from resting pace.

10am; The gun sounded. 20,000 runners were now embarking on the 13.1 mile journey. The route took runners down Penarth road, across the Barrage, passed Cardiff Prison, - Wahey!!! Just before the 8 mile marker was the GoodGym cheer point! Thank you all for coming out to support, we needed you – continuing up Richmond road, down Albany road, around Roath Park, up hell hill and back to City Hall where the finish line lie in waiting. After GoodGym runners finished they all regrouped 300m from the finish line to cheer on the next lot of runners through (That was pretty cool as we then had two cheer points along the route!). Patrick’s words of encouragement drew laughs “come on ladies, less chatting more running”, “speed up you are about to get overtaken by a teacup” and “Come on Gary, stop playing on twitter you have a race to finish.” Our words of encouragement definitely got runners pushing themselves in the final stretch!

Special thanks to our supporters who gave us much needed words of encouragement along the route (Samina, Andie, Lexi, Ellen, Lowri and Adam!)

What an awesome day! Well done to everyone who took part :) Get signed up for next year!

One month since GoodGym launched in Cardiff... It's time to celebrate and paarrrtttyyyyy

GoodGym Cardiff launched on May 23rd 2017 and since then we have completed 7 group runs and have also started doing run missions. We've made friends, increased our fitness levels and created a massive impression in Cardiff already. We've set ourselves goals, discovered more of Cardiff than we ever knew before and learned how painful squats can be in the process!

So after our run to Nightingale House, which you can read about by clicking here, 20 runners stayed on and headed to the Cosy Club to... not get cosy with one another (or have a cwtch - to use Welsh terminology), but socialise and celebrate the clubs' successes and have a good ol' chin wag without the need to catch our breath!

Cheers m'dear

We all raised our glasses in good health to one another :D

This gathering was not only a celebration, but it was also a fond farewell, for now, to Ben and Janelle. Each week since GoodGym Cardiff launched they've been running with us. It's been a pleasure getting to know them both in this short time. Ben and Janelle will be moving to Scotland for pastures new and we wish them all the best!

All the best Ben and Janelle - We will miss you!

As this social was mid week, the jokes of ordering a bottle of wine remained a joke... however, i'm sure this joke should only be taken lightly and other socials in the future may contain another wine or two.

Craig shared jokes about cheese... what do you call cheese that's not yours? Nacho Cheese! And then Ben (trainer) mentioned about a time Lucy threw a block of cheese at him, and he said sarcastically "well, that's mature". The jokes didn't stop there.... What did the cheese say when it looked in the mirror? Hello Me! (halloumi). ((Now i'll stop before they get too cheesy)...

Just a personal note from Ben, the GoodGym Cardiff Trainer...

It's a pleasure leading the runs every week. Everyone is so motivated to get fit and use their runs to do good and I love being able to run with such a passionate group of people. Remember I am your GoodGym trainer so do ask me should you need advice with setting goals or working towards a goal you have already set yourself. - With hard work, grit and determination, you can achieve things you once thought were never possible!

Here's a secret video which, if you've read this through to the end, you will have the pleasure of watching. It's Ben, the GoodGym Cardiff trainer when he featured on a TV Gameshow about 6 years ago... Click here for the secret video!

Thanks guys! Keep running with us all - and Until the next social...

Hwyl Fawr

Blimey! What a scorcher of an evening but that didn't put 17 Goodgymers off a sweet suitably short 3k run along to part of the Skyline taking in some meadows to The Nuttery at Smallcombe for Transition Bath. A chance to clock a Good deed before heading to Glastonbury festival for a lucky few.

welcome to Tom and Tim and Roxanne joining us for their first Goodgym experience and what a night to pick ... whoop!!!

A change to the planned longer route this evening as our lovely host Virginia has a post task social to thank the Goodgym runners for all the help received since launching in October 2015, The task itself to rake up and gather an area of pre scythed grass with a demonstration and safety talk on scything from Keith. There will be a chance for a scything task at a later date at Dryarch growers with Keith and I think you'll agree it is great to learn traditional skills that don't rely on machinery, plus we all get a great abs workout in the sunshine.

The scenic run was taking in part of The Skyline across the meadowlands to Smallcombe and what a beautiful place it is. Take a peek for yourself http://transitionbath.org/nuttery/

They say make hay while the sunshines

couldn't be more right tonight as the group got raked up and raring to go gathering the waist height grass and forming a chain (no flies on these guys) carting it across to the compost heap.

Everyone had a chance to have a go at using an Austrian scythe under Keith's watchful eye, just goes to show how hard farmers worked back in the day.

Virginia's extra special treat for everyone this evening as a way of saying Thank you for all the help Goodgym provides to the various growing and community groups she's involved in around Bath. The location perfect with a natural seating area to sit and enjoy some fabulous food and drink, we enjoyed a fabulous homemade black currant cake and some elderflower cordial aren't we a lucky bunch. Plus Keith had some homemade Dry-arch Cider, perfect on a solstice evening in the West Country.

shout out to Sam who earns his Black T-shirt tonight for 50 Good deeds in the bag.

A very short jog back to base to stretch out (not forgetting those arms) and chat about upcoming races and events, plus a reminder to get your documents checked to be paired up or go on missions.

Thanks to Rosie for back marking and Lydz for a fabulous pun this evening.

what a fab time doing good whilst keeping fit and socialising

Please check yourself for ticks and if your heading to Glastonbury please stay safe and have a fabulous time.

I'm away for two weeks but my fellow Run leader Pascale will continue to make Goodgym Bath Amazing!!

We even had Lollipops from the lovely Doris during stretch out.

When the West wind doth blow, the Goodgymers grow in Bath showing the wind who's boss tonight a 16 strong team for a scenic 4k run to A Hidden Gem in our beautiful City, in fact it's believed to be the oldest outdoor swimming pool in England and the country's only surviving Georgian Lido http://www.clevelandpools.org.uk/

It closed to the public in 1984 but a target date to re open April 2019 if enough match funding is raised.

we went along tonight to help out in the grounds to keep it manageable for the trust to host open days to help raise funds.

Whoop!! Welcome to Ollie joining us for the first time.

Round of applause for

Emily who was sporting her Gg Wings

A reminder during our warm up that everyone is welcome to come along and support the Goodgym Olympics on Saturday at Parliament Hill track Hampstead Heath, it should be fun.

Pascale kindly lead the group out with Steph back marking and we took a short but scenic route along the canal to our destination where our lovely host Sally was waiting.

what an amazing place

The short run meant we could lavish a full 50 minutes on tonight's task at the finding all sorts of creatures from newts to beetles and giant slugs

Lido woah oh oh oh oh oh oh One more Newt ought to get it One last slug then we quit it One more run for the road

3 amazing teams divided on site with Pascale and her magic team clearing windswept debris from around the pool. Alison and crew clearing the pathway behind the main building to allow access. Ollie jumping right in with his team to tackle a rather overgrown bank.

Wow!! What a great job done in a short space of time in an amazing space.

Just time for our magic Bath Boomerang before bidding Sally and the Pools goodbye until next time.

A short spurt back to the leisure centre for a chat about tonight's pun and nice little stretch out.

Well done everyone, as they say another task bites the dust at Goodgym Bath

It may be holiday time for some but that didn't stop the lucky 11 from coming along for a 4K run with a bit of a hill to Bloomfield allotment group to help clear a space and make a bonfire.

Well done to Pascale who ran The women can marathon at the weekend.

The inspiration for this women only marathon is American endurance runner Kathrine Switzer, who in 1967 was the first woman to officially complete the all-male Boston Marathon. As runner number 261 she completed in 4 hours 20 minutes, despite being manhandled by officials who tried to drag her off the course two miles in. The images from that day - together with Kathrine's campaign for the "archaic rules" to be overhauled - changed endurance running for women forever. What Kathrine did showed that women CAN run marathons,

Now that's a Fact worth knowing

A 4k run tonight with a short steep hill to climb at the start taking us to our task location at Bloomfield allotments to help sift through a collection of wood and debris to create a bonfire.

Antony (our paramedic) was lead fire starter this evening on his final Goodgym Bath run, he literally went out in style.

Steve, Tom and Antony sawing an old gate up and salvaging the door furniture to be reused , whilst everyone else collected wood and anything else fit to burn.

It was a combination of saving a variety of wildlife in the process from Alison's collection of

Slugs and snails to Toads , Emma even spotted a rat , 'Twas almost Tales of the riverbank

In all 35 minutes spent to get the area cleared and onto the bonfire , we managed to get the bulk cleared just leaving a small amount and fire watching to our lovely hosts this evening .

Thankfully it was all down on the way back with some looping for the faster ones throughout the evening to keep the group together , so shout out to Joe , Tom and Antony for being jolly good sports .

Well earned stretch with Thanks to Pascale for back marking and Joe for a fabulous Pun .

I'm sure we would all like to wish Antony all the best with his move to a new area and hopefully a new Goodgym group for him to inspire with his motivational spirit , we will surely miss him in Bath .

Look forward to seeing you all next week at Cleveland pools , a gem of our beautiful city .

Thank you everyone for being you .

The sun was out tonight in Bath along with a 15 strong team ready to tread the streets for a nice 4K run to Oldfield Baptist Toddler group to clean the kiddies play things ready for a new term.

A big shout out to everyone who'd raced over the last week

during the pre run catch up and always confused headcount.

And they're off

to Oldfield park with the sunshine in their eyes and cool breeze in their hair, to get steaming and cleaning with toys. Liz was excited to see us and understandably as it normally takes her a day and a half to do this task on her own

Enough to drive anyone crazy

from steaming soft toys to sanitizer and dish sterilisation of all those little blocks n bits.

Some might say we are Potty

They did such a good, we even formed a band with a little help from the instrument box..... A...mazing!!!

Time up and they're off back to the leisure centre, where it all began. A discussion about the Pun which I believe I may have confused on the journey home.

Thanks Pascale for taking the tail, Rosie for the Pun and everyone for being fab.

Jaxx is now officially task force so watch this space, she full of fun ideas.