Author: Faceplant

  • Humid Miles

    Several of us started early, several of us started late, but we all finished on-time. There were a few pooches out there too panting and loving the heat.

    YHC, Fico and, Bodos went out on Grove towards the Fan and back for about 5 miles. The conversation was good, we talked about classic movies from the 80s and 90s, and college roommates turned runners.

    There was a Saab sighting as well in the wee hours of the morning running shirtless up and down Grove. Rumor has it that he was running since mid-night.

    Good luck to all the racers this weekend – DRINK WATER!

    YHC took us out.

  • Thank you Alan Adler

    Thank you Alan Adler

    In case you are wondering Alan Adler is a serial inventor, and creator of YHC’s favorite coffee maker called the Aeropress, along with the Aerobie. What is an Aerobie you ask, it’s a difficult to catch frisbee like device that can fly for hundreds of feet. You can find them on rooftops of suburban houses back in the mid 90s. Bet you didn’t know that the Aerobie holds the Guinness book of world records for the farthest thrown object. Here is how things went down for the 5 Wdog warriors this morning.

    YHC started off with some stretching, always important to stretch. Dead man hangs, reach for the skies, a few others, finishing out with ‘the sprinkler’.

    Then mosey on over to the sunken field for a modified version of ultimate frisbee – name is still in the works. The way it was ‘supposed’ to work, everyone gathers at the end of the field, the group has 5 minutes to make it to the end of the field and back, continually passing the frisbee, or in this case the Aerobie, a difficult to catch object made even more difficult with the low light conditions. Every time the Aerobie drops, the PAX drops and does 5 burpees, clock does not stop. If the team does not make it back in the 5 minutes, 20 burpees. Bodos did the math and said well why not just throw it all the way to the end and run and do the 5 burpees anyhow. That was the last we saw of the Aerobie for the rest of the workout. YHC called the workout and onward to the next activity.

    The PAX was off to the penny stage to pick up a coupon, then mosey on over to the amphitheater. Using the coupons as a ‘book mark’ the PAX took their coupon and did one block burpee at each step up the ampitheater, leaving the coupon on the level to remind them where to come back to, after each block burpee run down to the bottom and back up to the block and repeato all the way up to the top.

    At the top there was time for a quick block merkin ring of fire, keeping feet on the blocks. Then it was back down the amphitheater steps, this time each level 5 WW2s, and using the coupon as the ‘bookmark’.

    Then it was time to return the coupons to their home, and some time left over to pay homage to our brethren Pigskin with some donkey kicks and wall sits on the penny stage. The PAX also preformed a structural integrity evaluation of the penny stage to ensure that it was strong enough to withstand our mighty donkey kicks – HEEEE HAWWWWW

    Mosey back to the flag for names numbers and announcements.

    Mumble chatter: Some thoughts were shared that wow it takes a lot longer to go up and down the amphitheater when we actually keep track with the ‘bookmarks’. Big thank you to Bodos for going back out afterwards and finding the Aerobie.

    It was an absolute pleasure to lead this crew this morning!

  • Double Triple Check

    Twelve early birds descended upon the mean streets of the west end of Richmond to see what surprises YHC had up the sleeves. The mumble chatter was going strong even before the clock struck 5:30. TYA and FICO were synced up with matching outfits this AM.

    COP

    YHC was sure to do all the offical Q announcements at the start of today because there was a FNG in the mix and YHC wanted to make sure they knew all the rules. The PAX helped with some of the pre announcements. No stretching for today, YHC wanted to leave that to the end, so it was off to the races. Mosey on over to the tennis courts for the main event.

    THANG

    Once we arrived at the tennis courts YHC was surprised to find a white board with some great exercises written down (inspired by Bodos). Everyone partnered up and there was an odd number at first but out of the darkness emerged Kokomo, so Antharx had a buddy now.

    The way a double triple checked worked was as follows. The board had a series of exercises, and one partner ran around the entirety of the Mary Mumford campus (0.7 miles to be precise), while the other partner went through all the exercises on the board, and when the partner came back they picked up where the other had left off, and the next partner ran the lap. Each partner runs the loop three times, and when you get to the bottom of the list you start back over at the top. Total mileage was somewhere just shy of 3 miles.

    Here’s the exercises – courtesy of Bodos:

    • 100 SSH
    • 90 Squats
    • 80 LBCs
    • 15 Burpees
    • 70 Mountain Climbers (two count)
    • 60 Merkins
    • 50 American Hammers (two count)
    • 15 Burpees
    • 40 WW2s
    • 30 Flutter Kicks (two count)
    • 20 Burpees
    • 10 Diamond Merkins

    As the teams finished we circled up for an ab ring of fire. We got through two rounds, which YHC led everyone with varying heights of leg raises. YHC picked APDs.

    Mosey on back to the flag and picked up Kokomo again on the way back.

    The PAX welcomed FNG Prefontaine. Pre seemed to fit right in with the mumble chatter crowd and we look forward to his return – sans running.

    Announcements – Mark your Calendars for June 4th. Convergence at the Bridge. 1 year anniversary

    YHC took us out – be thankful for what you have.

  • Lethal Weapon 1, 2, 3, and 4

    A lucky 7 came out to WDog for YHC’s post birthday beatdown. In YHC’s travels YHC tries to post in different locations and learn new things. Today YHC brought two new activities to F3RVA. This is how it all went down

    Started out with stretching, dead man hang, fudd and wilson’s wife, Donny Q’s, and a new one straight from F3 Houston, the sprinkler. Then it was a short mosey on to the stage to pick up coupons.

    For the rest of the workout the coupons didn’t really leave our sight. On another recent travel to Cape Fear F3 in the Wilmington, NC area YHC learned about 50s. With coupons in hand moseyed over to the sunken field.

    50s consists of a square/rectangle, with stops at each corner. First corner 20 of the exercise, next corner 15, next 10, and the last 5 reps. Running between each corner with coupon in tow.

    First Round: overhead presses

    Second Round: dips

    Third Round: curls

    Fourth Round: WW2s but run with block over head between each stop

    Fifth Round: burpees, but murder bunny the short side of the rectangle and run with block over head between the long sides.

    That took up pretty much all the time, took coupons back to the stage for safe storage, then mosey to the Mel Gibson hollywood star. Mel you say, well when YHC learned about 50s in the middle of a field where we ran around there was a film crew and they were setting up for a new Mel Gibson movie being field in Southport, NC. At the star everyone did their 10 merkins of choice and stated their favorite Mel Gibson movie. A lot of the PAX love Lethal Weapon.

    Mosey back to the flag and with time left over there was some cool down stretching.

    Names and Numbers and Announcements and YHC took us out.

  • Birthday Dice Surprise

    Last attempt at this was washed out by a freak rain storm but YHC planned well this time and asked the rain gods to not wash away the chalk markings. It went down like this, PAX pairs up with a runner of similar abilities. Each duo gets a dice, and we moseyed to the bottom of a nearby hill. YHC had marked out six chalk lines of varying distances up the hills. Each duo rolls their dice, sees the number on the dice and then proceeds to run up the hill to said rolled number – and repeato until time is called.

    YHC left a birthday surprise at dice roll number six with one burpee. Bodos and Swiper had the most fun and were the most excited for the hill dice roll workout. Don’t worry guys this one will be back!

    Names, Numbers, and Announcements.

    Announcements: Gypsy is still looking for a few more volunteers to help sort things. Vinny is Q-ing at ‘The Bridge’ on the 26th – very powerful place, highly recommended you go at least once.

    YHC took us out

    followed by coffee and donuts for YHC’s birthday. Thank you to everyone who joined in the festivities!

  • Grovveeeeeee

    9 frosty harriers braved the sunny and 70 degree weather to take on the tundra. YHC memorized all the routes, despite not ever remembering a route that is told to YHC. It went down like this

    There was a crew of long distance folks that got out early

    3 milers, well there were no 3 milers but YHC had a route planned just in case.

    4 milers- west on Grove, right on Granite, Right on Patterson, then right on Westview, then left back on Grove, take a left on to the Lexington/Albemarle loop and do one loop, then get back on Grove to the start.

    5 milers- East on Grove, run to Hamilton, then turn around and head back west on Grove, right on Granite, Right on Patterson, then right on Westview, then left back on Grove, take a left on to the Lexington/Albemarle loop and do one loop, then get back on Grove to the start.

    There were no 6 milers, but YHC had a route planned just in case.

    It was good to see everyone this morning and everyone persevered despite the frosty temperatures. For those of you keeping track this was YHCs VQ for RAMM. It only took a few years to finally remember a route.

    YHC took us out with a quick prayer to go into the day and warm someones heart.

  • Take Inventory

    Every now and then it is important to take stock of what you have. In life and just in general, do you have a fully charged phone, do you have gas in your car, money to donate, a watch to tell time, and enough coupons for all your buds when you need them. Seven of F3RVA’s inventory specialists were chipper and awake for a nice sunny and 70 morning at Wdog.

    First up some light stretching, then it was off to the races, literally. YHC gave the pax two options for a race route, the finish line was the same, the Penny Stage. One route took runners down and around Pump House Road for approx. 1 mile. The second route was a straight shot to the stage, which was shorter, BUT it was lunge all the way there. YHC had done some math beforehand and both teams arrived at relatively the same time. Good job teams!

    Once at the stage, we took inventory! Each PAX picked up one coupon each and ran it over to the fence line, and did one burpee with the coupon. One by one all the coupons were carefully inventoried and counted. After all coupons were out in the light YHC counted them up but first each PAX had to guess how many. Oyster won with the closest guess. 35 was his number and there were 37 coupons. After that 37 was the magic number, and we did 37 merkins, 37 flutters, 37 WW2s, 37 Alabama prom dates, and 37 second plank.

    Then put all the coupons back!

    Next up mosey to the bottom of the hill, there we partnered up, 20 bo-ya merkins to start with your partner, then one partner runs to the top does one merkin and the other partner is lunging and alternating bear crawl. At the top 20 more bo-ya merkins, then mosey back to the flag for merkin ring of fire and partial ring of fire abs.

    Moleskin – There was lots of good mumble chatter this morning, Bodos re-told his Uber driver story, and YHC updated everyone on the status of stalled construction at the Carillon.

    YHC took us out.

  • Evil Elf Christmas DJ

    YHC said that this was not going to be an annual workout last year, but YHC cannot be trusted. YHC saw an opening Q spot for Wdog and swiped it up. YHC used to not like Christmas music and despised it, and would only listen to it on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but that has changed in YHC’s old age. Now YHC LOVES Christmas music, listens to it all the time from post Thanksgiving on up to the day after Christmas. YHC spent the week listening to all up-tempo Christmas music to improve upon last years Christmas playlist.

    YHC was happy to see a return of Exit Row to Wdog, welcome back pal good to have you out in the gloom!

    First song, to kick things off during some light stretching was Linus and Lucy from the Vince Guaraldi Trio, also known as the Peanuts theme song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbPy7hxvj9Q. We started off with some light stretching, dead mans hang, reach up to the sky, legs spread apart touch right foot move over to left foot.

    The PAX was good and stretched out at that point and we moseyed on over to the amphitheater with music in-tow. The first stop and exercise on the Christmas themed tour was 50 box jumps on the amphitheater steps.

    Next we moseyed on over to the shorter version of the rusty cage and did 50 jerkins. Then moseyed on over to pick up some holiday themed coupons and did 50 overhead presses. Left the coupons in the circle then on back to the rusty cage and did 50 knee raises. From there we did 50 lunges then jogged the rest of the way back to our coupons. Picking the coupons back up we did 50 squats to overhead presses with the coupons – always making sure the coupons touched the ground.

    The Christmas music was cheering our hearts and warming our blood and we continued on with the workout. We put away our coupons and moseyed back to the amphitheater. Somewhere in there YHC’s bluetooth speaker breathed it’s last breath, and it died. Phone stepped in and at a much quieter level the music kept playing. YHC will be asking the M for a new bluetooth speaker for stocking stuffer. That Jambox was 10 years old… Keeping with the theme of 50, we did 50 supermans, 50 WW2s, 50 flutter kicks, 50 side straddle hops, and the cheery on top was 50 burpees. Well not quite 50 burpees, for every artist that the PAX guessed correctly for the Christmas songs one burpee was removed, so it came to a grand total of 44 burpees. With just enough time to spare we mosyed on back to the flag and wrapped things up with some stretching, and YHC’s favorite the ‘have a nice day stretch’.

    YHC took everyone out sharing a story from a family tradition in YHC’s family of the oldest grandchild having to lead the family in grace for Christmas Eve dinner. YHC is the oldest grandchild so YHC has the distinct honor to say grace every Christmas Eve. On the first Christmas Eve that YHC was old enough to lead the charge, YHC didn’t actually know what to say, BUT YHC did know one prayer and that is the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer.

    The Prayer is more of a prayer for battle and less so a blessing to kick off Christmas Eve dinner, so much to YHC’s family’s surprise when the following words came out of YHC’s mouth – it left the table with jaws open in confusion but everyone was ready to go to war.

    Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.” …and now let’s eat Christmas Eve Dinner!

    If you want to listen to the playlist… here it is!

    https://music.amazon.com/user-playlists/73d5e836853746108e45d4f24c7a2078sune?ref=dm_sh_HSrR33Ajg27z0psJmExYyuk0N

  • Icey Sleety Potato

    Four plus one late-comer from afar descended upon a sunny and 70 degree morning at WDog. Typical WDog conversation about when the Carillon would re-open and who has seen the fence up the longest was a consistent theme of chatter. YHC saw it was 5:30 and no Q so Hot Potato was called.

    YHC started it out with a quick stretch, because well stretching is always important.

    • reach for the sky
    • deadmans hang
    • right leg over left leg and touch toes and then flap jack
    • some arm stretches

    Then we were off for a nice mosey to the first circle near the amphitheater. Since there were just four at the time, each team of two put their hands on the curb around the circle and at each break point in the curb did one merkin, each team of two proceeded in opposite directions around the circle side-ways bear walking, until the teams met up on the other side of the circle. Neutral made an appearance somewhere in the circle exercise and he was welcomed into the PAX.

    Then on down to the amphitheater, each step up descending squats, 1 on up to 18. At the top wait for the 6 then YHC handed the potato off to Corned Beef. Sidebar discussion here, as we got to the top of the amphitheater we thought it was starting to rain but it was too hard for rain and a nice big sleet storm rolled through dropping a bunch of ice balls on us. It quickly passed and Corned Beef had us mosey on over to the poles for some pole smokers. 5 leg lifts each with each person holding 6 inches, Neutral held 10 inches.

    After that mosey on over to the blocks, everyone gets a block, and each person runs to 6 trees sans block while rest of the PAX does exercise of runners choice. 5 rounds of this, then returned blocks and potato went to Bleeder. Sidenote, YHC did not listen and only ran to one tree, but PAX believed that YHC was just so fast that no one questioned, YHC will make up for it later.

    Bleeder lead all over to the triangle hill. 3 rounds,

    1st round – bear crawl flat, run down hill, 10 burpees at bottom, and Bernie Sanders up hill.

    2nd round – lunge flat, run down hill, 20 WW2s, and Bernie Sanders up hill.

    3rd round – backwards lunge flat, run down hill, 30 somethings, and Bernie Sanders up hill.

    Mosey on back to the flag for names, numbers, and announcements

    YHC took everyone out, remember to be kind to people was the message of the day.

  • Shooting Stars and Tacky Lights

    YHC did not sign up to Q, but YHC made a suggestion on a possible route and that turned into the Q… Someone said flat, someone said it’s December, and YHC did a quick math equation and spit out the answer. The answer was run down Monument because it is flat and look at the Christmas lights because it’s December. YHC believes it was Wedding Singer that said the route looks like the big dipper with everyone coming back down Grove after heading out down Monument. Pun intended, because the stars aligned and as YHC and Handshake were heading down one part of the dipper YHC glanced up and saw YHC’s first EVER shooting star. Never in YHC’s 37 years on God’s great earth had YHC seen a shooting star, it was impressive.

    Mileage ranged from a few miles this morning on up to 10 miles. You will have to guess who did 10 and who did the few miles.

    It was good time to catch up with Handshake on the run, and then at the end for the final stretch pretty much the entire PAX reconvened for the last bit or running, even Saab! YHC did a victory lap with Saab and proceeded to bring up all the episodes that YHC had listened to of the dormant F3RVA podcast which Saab was a host of.

    It was a good morning, and was nice to be back running with everyone.

    Names, Numbers, and Announcements. With such excitement YHC even counted twice.

    Handshake took us out, prayers for Evan and those who know him and for the upcoming PAX with 2.0s. Other 2.0 news, YHC’s twin brother Rip Cord who has been a bit absent relayed a message to YHC that his M is due with twins next week. So please keep Rip Cord in your prayers he’s going to need it!