This evening we hit large numbers again with 20 people showing up to GoodGym, eager to combine their running with doing good (and most importantly, having fun too!)

Who remembers that boiling hot month of heatwave we had back in June? It sure does feel like ages ago now and the temperature is dropping a bit, sadly. The good news is though is that we are really settling in well into our meeting point; we have a place to store bags, coats, bikes and other stuff whilst we are out on our runs - It really does make life easier (Many of the runners have also been popping into Big Moose for coffees too - Nice one folks!).

Tonight's run took us to the Global Garden’s allotment by Gabalfa. Despite us all being full of excitement and raring to go, we couldn’t leave without warming up so our run this evening started with an ever-so-graceful warm up.

The warm up drills this evening consisted of; walking on tip toes, walking on our heels, lunges, jumping high knee skips and exaggerated long strides. We then did our headcount whilst jogging on the spot, introduced ourselves and announced our favourite flavour of ice cream! Salted caramel was a popular choice - 🍦 🍦 Feel free to offer us ice cream if you ever bump into a GoodGym runner! 🍦🍦

🏃The journey there🏃

Over roads and far away, we began our run to the allotment. The speedy Gonzalez group, led by Ben, set off at a rate of knots whilst the pacer group, led by Ellen, ran at a more graceful pace,focusing on their technique and taking in the atmosphere... the pedestrians on Queen street wondered what on earth was going on when 20 runners started running down the centre of Cardiff - and with a quick google of 'GoodGym' they will be able to find out all about us! 🤷

🌺Welcome GoodGym to the Global Gardens Allotment!🌺

Poppy welcomed us to the allotment, offering us water upon arrival. After the speed at which everyone ran to the allotment the offer of water made everyone’s ears perk up and Cheshire cat smiles appear on faces. The vision of the Global Gardens Project is to create a growing space that supports community-based sharing of food and cultures - They do loads of incredible stuff and you can visit their website by clicking here

Once we were all hydrated Poppy then announced the tasks for tonight... The tasks for tonight were as follows (the names of the runners who completed the tasks are alongside):

• Moving compost and digging a trench – Peter, Lucy Mikey, Stuart, Jess, Martin, Adam, Andrew and Sean
• Pulling up roots where a new plantation bed is to be situated – Aimee, Ellen, Sue, Marion, Su, Gweni and Jess
• Sorting out the bad apples from the good apples and putting them into separate buckets – El, Sophie and Andie
• Pulling up weeds from around the blueberry bushes – El, Sophie and Andie

After 30 minutes of digging, weed pulling and fighting with roots the tasks were complete! As the great man himself Winston Churchill once said (an adapted version);

”We shall fight roots, we shall fight weeds, we shall dig trenches; we shall never surrender!”~

In addition to Poppy, Churchill would’ve been proud of us too with how much we got done.

Notable goings on during/after the task; During the task Ben told everyone about how he once pulled up a weed with alcohol attached to it... It was root beer! After the task Poppy showed everyone the largest Butternut Squash the world has ever seen. She said the butternut squash is as a result of being given some 'magic' beans by the Chilli man in Cardiff market.

It’s time to run back now folks

With Poppy waving to us a fond farewell and saying thank you to us all as we left the allotment,, it was now time to run back. Andie was back marking and Ellen led the runners back - we were in safe hands.

Well done everyone who came running tonight – You ran AWESOMELY! Many of you are now training for 10k races, half marathons, even marathons… You are putting the effort in and it will pay off. Remember with running it is TMYPITMYGO – The More You Put In The More You Get Out!

The winner of this week’s RunPunStiltskin award is Andie and Ben. Come on guys! More of you need to get thinking of Puns during next week’s task.

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