Gumbo and his 2.1 and 2.2 (Redbird and Snare) and two 2.0 friends filled up the Gumbo-mobile with Chicken Fiesta and headed to The Daily Planet to “break bread” with the folks there. We dished out some delicious rotisserie chicken, rice, salad and, of course, some fried Yuca. It was a great time. The 2.0s all took orders, served plates of food, and engaged in great conversation.
Just like the first time I Q’d Breaking Bread, this is a wonderful opportunity for 2nd F and 3rd F and to meet and share some food and fellowship with some great folks who have hit a rough patch. One woman tonight got sick and had to have heart surgery. Throughout the process she was hospitalized for about six weeks and ended up losing her apartment. Talk about being kicked when you are down.
It turns out that another couple from Grove Ave Baptist Church came tonight and brought Domino’s pizza, so there was a lot of food to go around, but the Chicken Fiesta was hit. The patients were extremely thankful – it sounds like last Sunday was quite the opposite – not enough food to really make a meal. But, they got creative.
Certainly makes you feel grateful for all the many blessings we have been given. I encourage any of you who have not posted to a Breaking Bread to look at your calendar and try to block out a few hours on the last Sunday of one of the upcoming months. So worth it. You will get more than you give.
If you have not been to a Breaking Bread, or if you haven’t been back for a while, consider coming with me and my 2.0s this Sunday.
I have the Q for the upcoming Breaking Bread this Sunday, 8/26. It is a great 2nd/3rd F opportunity from 5:00/5:15 until about 7:30 p.m. at The Daily Planet (180 East Belt Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23234). We will be preparing/bringing and serving dinner to patients recovering from illness or injury or surgery in the Medical Respite Program. I’m looking for a couple volunteers to attend with me and help out.
Not sure what the menu will be, but if you are able to help out contact me at 804-687-0120 or respond in the comments.
8 weekend warriors, including 1 FNG, broke the hold and didn’t let the crazy thunder last night keep them from posting to Batteau this morning to start the work-week the only way we know how…in the gloom. Gumbo made a long-overdue return to Batteau and took the Q in order to pay a little honor to his father who would have been 81 today…and Gumbo’s pops was no runner, so YHC needed to Q a bootcamp beatdown to be sure. It went a little something like this:
Mosey through the darkness down to the Reedy Creek via the hill of ill repute. Circle up at the bottom of the hill for a quick disclaimer and COP, all IC, including:
DQs x 8
Helicopterx x 20
Cotton Pickers x 19
SSHs x 37
LBCs x 81 — whew, that was a lot of LBCs
THE THANG
Circle the Creek – lap around the creek stopping at each lamp post, whether lit or not, and do 10 merkins at every other lamp post and 10 2-ct flutterkicks at the other ones. Plank for the six.
Given our PAX at 8, YHC needed 1 more prop for the next exercise so he left the PAX in Swirly’s capable hands for some ab work while waiting for the six and YHC ran back up the hill to his vehicle. Meet the PAX at the tennis courts. Box Cutters for the six.
4 Corners Circuit – 2 PAX at each corner, exercises as follows:
Round 1:
Corner 1 (2 jump ropes) – each PAX member completes 30 jump rope revolutions. When both are done, call SWITCH and the PAX moseys to the next corner.
Corner 2 = Mountain Climbers
Corner 3 = Freddie Mercuries
Corner 4 (2 Kettle Bells) = KB squats.
At the end of round 1 plank in your corner, then entire PAX bearcrawl to the center-net and perform 10 merkins in cadence, then bear crawl to your next corner for Round 2.
Round 2:
same exercises as Round 1
At the end of Round 2 – lunge to center-net and perform 20 Imperial Walkers in cadence, then mosey to your next corner for Round 3.
Round 3:
Corner 1 = each PAX member completes 25 jump rope revolutions, consecutively. If you mess up, start over. You may choose 5 penalty burpees if you can’t get 25 in a row, but your partner has to do them with you.
Corners 2-4: Same as Rounds 1 and 2.
At the end of Round 3 – broad jump to center net, 20 American Hammers in cadence
ROF – hold plank, 1 PAX does 10 merkins, next PAX in the circle is jumping rope, pass when 10 merkins are done and finish when everyone has done merkins and jump rope.
1 Minute of Superman and time was up.
Mosey back to the Flag for COT, COR, NOR and YHC took us out.
Announcements:
Puppy Pile on Saturday after Dogpile – Marv has the Q
Breaking Bread – Sunday evening 5-7/7:30 – Gumbo has the Q. Looking for 1 or 2 others to help out.
Labor Day Convergence at 3 Lakes Park at 0700. Be there. Bring your SF and a mug for coffeeteria afterwards.
BRR is right around the corner – the guys are looking for a second driver. Talk to TYA or Swirly if you can commit.
CSAUP 10/20 – miles and beers and maybe Kubota manning the grill….seriously, does it get any better? Well, maybe – let’s find a way to get some football on TV…BAM!
NMS:
Batteau is the DEEP GLOOM for sure. A different kind of darkness there. A great AO and worthy of the trip if you have not made it over there. Great group of guys this morning. It was nice to meet ABBA and Crossroads and of course, Periscope (FNG – Jim).
Naming was a challenge this morning and the neurons were not firing in YHC’s brain, so after some reflection on the drive home, YHC settled on Periscope for Jim’s F3 Name alluding to Jim’s time serving in the Navy as an intel officer on a Submarine. Welcome Periscope.
Thanks for coming out guys and for letting me lead. I knew the 81 LBCs were going to stink but I just wanted to do a little something to remember my father this morning. November will be six years since he passed away. I still feel his presence and remember him daily. I miss him dearly, but I know he is smiling down on me and my family. Love you, Pops!
Great work this morning guys – way to push through and give max effort! I won’t wait so long to return to Batteau!
3 SOJ vets broke the hold and converged on SOT for another unseasonably mild morning. The menu was full of Gumbo and here was today’s recipe:
Mosey down to the far bus lot for COP, including:
DQs
Helicopters
Cotton Pickers
Arm Circles
Imperial Walkers
LBCs
Freddie Mercuries
Hand Release Merkins
THANG
Triple Check 1
At corner of the school where the bench is – dips, flutter kicks and 3rd PAX member runs to far tree in the line, does 10 SSHs and runs back. 3 times each.
First set of Door Checks
Starting on the side of the school at door 5 and going through the “gauntlet” to door 18 — at each odd numbered door do squats x the number on said door. At each even numbered door do box cutters x the number on the door. Stop at stairs down to the track.
Triple Check 2
From the sideline benches — step-ups, American Hammers and run up the steps and back down… x 3
Elevens with monkey humpers and LBCs and run up/down the stairs between each round.
Door Check #2
At the top of the stairs, starting at door #26 and working our way around to door #33 – do 2-ct mountain climbers at the even numbered doors x number on the door and do 2-ct flutter kicks at the odd numbered doors.
3 MOM, including Dollies, Rosalitas and Hold Six Inches.
COT, COR, NOR, and YHC took us out.
Announcements:
Puppy Pile (Marv Q) Saturday 8/25 right after Dogpile.
Breaking Break (Gumbo Q) Sunday 8/26 at 5:00p.m. until about 7:30 p.m. – Let me know if you can help out.
Labor Day convergence – 3 lakes park – see preblast
10/20 CSAUP – get ready!
NMS:
For a few minutes this morning I thought I had a solo beatdown coming, but then Tobit rolled in and Mr. Roper shortly after. I had planned to do a full tour of the doors today but scrapped that thinking I’d wait for a larger crowd to hear the displeasure. After the first triple check I decided a dry run of some doors might be good. The gauntlet will be as brutal as expected and when you get into the mid-twenties, everything sucks! One day we will do the full tour…
Great job by the PAX today. I realize (now really) that monkey humpers, step-ups and stairs are a terrible mix one after the other…I’m already hurting. We focused mostly on legs and abs – the kind that will seize up and hurt around 2 pm today…you’re welcome!
Enjoyed the conversation as well. Thanks for posting.
7 veterans, but one Twin Team virgin, posted to River Run to log some miles. Several folks are putting in the miles in preparation of BRR. Others are checking off a box on their way to completing the Summer Challenge. Either way, it was a great group this morning to pound the pavement.
We took off out of BWES and turned right…yep, that means we are going up Twin Team. Up Twin Team to the second right onto Cawood and into Powderham. First right onto Drakewood. First left onto Glendower. Glendower becomes Bosham and then Drakewood again (unless you are Bleeder and Lug Nut and you jumped onto Ellesmere off Glendower before the changing road names). Right onto Ellesmere and out to Robious Road. Kubota loved Twin Team so much he decided to head back and down Twin Team. The rest of us crossed Robious and into Tarrington and down Ashwell hill toward the River. With a left just past the poolhouse and a few other turns, we ended up back at BWES.
All returned safely, without getting lost, by the closing bell. With mileage ranging from 4 to 5.5. Good run guys.
COT, COR, NOR and YHC took us out.
Announcements:
Puppy Pile 8/25 – Marv has the Q.
CSAUP coming up 10/20 — log some miles and drink some beers to prepare
Labor Day Convergence at Three Lakes Park, which we determined is 30-minutes away from everywhere.
Breaking Bread 8/26 – Gumbo has the Q and I’m bringing my 2.1 and 2.2 (12 and 10) – like last August. Would love a couple PAX members to join. Let me know if you ware interested and we will coordinate what to bring. If you haven’t been yet, it is a great way to give back and give a few hours to folks who need it.
NMS:
Twin Team punched everyone in the gut this morning, but Phonics and Rosie were off like lightening after we reached the flat portion of the run. They circled back a few times to check on us mortals. Way to push guys. It was great running with Honeymoon this morning. Our paces were all over the board and we circled back a couple times to make sure we hadn’t lost Kubota or that he hadn’t broken down. It was a little confusing with several different runners in our group and others going every which way. Bleeder and LugNut cruised right along and blazed their own trail.
7 SOJ stalwarts and one lost mechanic posted in the gloom of TImberwolf this morning for some light calisthenics and a whole lot of conversation. 4 Men of Hate and 4 Men of Silence. 8 men, ready to start their day right.
It was like a freaking Oprah book club there for a while, but along with the mumblechatter, we put in some work too. It went a little something like this:
Greetings and re-introductions by the “guest”-Q and then 0530, time to Mosey to the front parking lot for some COP, including:
SSHs x32 for the number of days since YHC’s last F3 posting
DQs
Cotton Pickers
Helicopters
Imperial Walkers
Tempo Merkins
LBCs
Flutter Kicks
Mosey down the hill to the school entrance to start the THANG
Switchback Curb Crawls – starting at the bottom of the hill, work our way to the top (designated by the 3rd light pole) while employing the switchback method of mountain climbing — crawl diagonally across to 1st light pole, do one merkin; crawl diagonally across to random point between 1st and 2nd light pole, do 2 merkins; repeato back and forth adding 1 merkin each stop until you get to the 3rd light pole at top of the hill. YHC recounted how thankful he was on the many hikes in Utah for the use of switchback to ease the elevation gain from bottom to top of the mountain…I was especially thankful after our last hike had exactly zero switchbacks and was essentially straight up the mountain…OUCH!
Elevens at the light poles around the parking lot – starting at the first light pole with 10 2-ct mountain climbers and 1 box cutter. Run to next light pole and do 9 and 2…and so on. Book club (i.e., Roper and Lab Rat, were in full effect during 11s).
Brief plank-o-rama after 11s, including some DEEP Holds in Wilson’s Wife by Sparky. He even had to turn away from Wilson because he couldn’t look him in the eye!
Mosey around the back of the school
Bernie Sanders Hill – 1 burpee at the bottom, backwards run up to the fence and 10 jump squats at the top, run back down. Repeato x5.
Mosey around to the tennis courts — Lab Rat was noticing several of the disc golf holes. Hopefully he will come back soon and lead a disc golf workout at Timberwolf as only he can.
Burpee Shuffle – shuffling feet, each PAX called a number, either 1, 2 or 3 and you couldn’t repeat the immediately preceding number, By my count, we did 15 burpees.
4 MOM, including: Freddie Mercuries, Rocky Balboas, American Hammers
Back to the Flag for COT, number-rama, name-a-rama and YHC took us out.
Announcements:
Amateur Gears tomorrow at RAMM GEARS – sure to be a spectacle! Grab your BMX or Schwin and be there.
HDHH at Kuba Kuba Dos (Tuckahoe) next Wednesday 5:30 – see Kubota for details.
CSAUP 10/20 – Rosie said to plan to run a LOT (or a little), just plan to be there!
NMS:
It’s great to be back…well, at least back to F3! I missed you fellers. It was also great to be back where there is actual oxygen and I don’t need to gasp for air just to complete a sentence.
Seriously though, the thing I missed the most during my month in Utah was F3. Nothing gets my day started like joining you men in the gloom for some fellowship and motivation. It was great to be back and pick up right where I left off. Its like riding a bike. Any of you fellas out there reading this BB who haven’t posted in a while, come back and POST. It might be an initial shock on re-entry, but it is great to be back with your brothers in the gloom.
Great effort by the 8 PAX members today. Strong work and strong fellowship. I thoroughly enjoyed it guys. Thanks for letting me lead this morning!
31 PAX (including two 2.0s)broke the hold and left the comfortable AC behind this morning to post for a Dogpile beatdown to close out the month of June. YHC planned to get in a few of his favorites before he leaves town for a while. This is how it went:
Circle up around the Flag for COP, including:
SSHs
DQs
Helicopters
Imperial Walkers
Tempo Merkins
LBCs
Flutter Kicks
6 Burpees OYO
THANG:
Bridget Triple Check – Mosey down to the parking lot by the bridge and pair off in 3s for a triple check — 1 member runs out to the 6th light pole (count them however you want) and do 2 burpees and return, 2nd member is doing WWII situps and 3rd member is doing jump squats. Switch off and repeat x3.
Al Gore Palooza and Plan-O-Rama for the Six
Pipeline Dora – Mosey down the road to the pipeline and team up for a Pipeline Dora — 100 merkins, 200 single-count mountain climbers and 300 single-count American Hammers. Trade off with your partner while running the pipeline loop.
Brief Cage Visit – Mosey up the pipeline to the Rusty Cage, perform LBCs until the six arrives, then each PAX member completes 5 Burp-Ups and then run to the amphitheater pit.
Six inches and Flutterkicks IC until the six arrives.
Proper Amphitheater Doras — Complete 1 incline merkin, 2 box jumps and 3 2-ct Freddy Mercuries on each step all the way up to the top.
Plank in the circle or bear crawl to the man-hole cover in the middle and back to the edge for the six.
Ring of Fire — Circle up around the big circle for Merkin ROF 10 merkins and pass, holding plank.
Back to the Flag…COT, number-rama and name-a-rama and YHC took us out.
Announcements:
July 4 convergence at Tredegar at 0700 — Kubota will kick things off and there will be coffeeteria in the parking lot afterwards.
Send thoughts and positive vibes to Rosie and Shakedown this evening as they will be crushing a 50K out in Farmville. Good Luck Guys! Sugar Sock is on logistics and will be tweeting updates.
July Puppy Pile needs a Q…step up if you can.
Guest Q at Grid Iron next Saturday. Lab Rat has Dogpile if you want to take the hard way…according to LR.
Circle K and TYA and their 2.0s (or some of them) are heading off on a mission trip soon…good luck fellas.
Keep hitting those AOs for the Summer Challenge. Lab Rat announced that Breaking Bread is Extra Credit.
Ultimate Frisbee at Heartbreak Ridge on 7/9 — white and black shirts
NMS:
Great morning fellas. YHC rolled in around 0533 to find Big Blue of course and the AO secured. After a brief visit to the blue building (and a near shared experience in the blue building with UpChuck…YIKES), YHC was ready to roll and the cars and PAX members kept rolling in one after another in the last 10 minutes. 0600…time to get it on…circle up!
Mumble chatter was at a good level until we hit the pipeline…that takes it out of you. Lab Rat declared the bridge Triple Check a failure before we started, but YHC thinks it worked out ok. In hindsight, should have run further out onto the bridge and killed the burpees. YHC loves the bridge and wanted to get it in again before leaving town.
Strong work by all and thanks to Lab Rat and Swirly for partnering up today. Tclaps to Dory and Pele – way to work! Phonics was killing the bridge. Swirly and Spike and Helix and Sippy and Hardywood were out front all day. Great job guys!
6 SOT regulars (great to have a solid base of regulars at the new SOT AO) posted on this Hump Day morning. Nobody signed up to Q but YHC secured the AO, so I kicked off the festivities and went to the bullpen to bring in Wild Thing (aka Rosco) to close it down. This is how it went, more or less:
Mosey down the hill to the football field (still of broken dreams to borrow McRib’s moniker for Old SOT’s football field) and circle up for COP, including:
DQs
Helicopters
Arm Circles
SSHs
LBCs
Flutter Kicks
THANG:
The Beast – six stops, six reps of the called exercise at each stop, 6 rounds — Exercises included Merkins, Jump Squats, Mountain Climbers, Ball Dippers, Freddy Mercuries and Box Cutters. Plank or Al Gore for the six between rounds.
Plank-o-rama and then YHC called in the big guns…Rosco, your Q my man…
Dip/LBC/Stairs Circuit — 20 Dips in cadence, 20 LBCs in cadence and run up the steps on the left (touching each step), side shuffle across the top, and run down the steps on the right. 3 rounds. For the 3rd round, instead of side shuffling, we ran the steps of the bleachers up and down…serious tiltage on those steps – a little wobbly.
Rosco’s Hand to Hand Combat School — Between round 2 and 3 of the aforementioned Circuit, Rosco treated the PAX to a lesson at his Hand to Hand Combat school, including the partner football sled drills and several rounds of Indian Arm Wrestling.
Mosey back up the hill to the Flag for COT, COR and NOR – Rosco took us out!
Announcements:
July 4 Convergence at Tredegar – be there if you are in town.
Wish our boys Rosie and Shakedown (and maybe TYA?) good luck as they are tackling a 50K (32 mile) race this Saturday. You guys will kill it!
NMS:
A great morning for the workout. Days are already getting shorter and the PAX noticed it was a little darker this morning. No Q, No Problem. Gumbo and Rosco to the rescue.
Great to see Bag Phone and Digger becoming regulars and Tobit and Olivander are definitely SOT regulars — great stuff!
Speaking of Tobit and Olivander – the standoff between the two of them in the sled-pushing drill was classic. 3 minutes of pushing back and forth and I don’t think they moved more than a foot either way from where they started. “We’ll call it a Draw”.
Apparently Digger’s super strength is Indian Arm Wrestling. He easily mowed down the PAX one by one without breaking a sweat. Well done.
The allure of the HR Derby brought 23 willing participants to the ball field in the gloom this morning, including the man, the myth, the legend…Kevin (McRib) Bacon and 1 FNG.
The PAX signed in (for BB purposes and for the batting order (but more on that later)) and formed up on in right field for COP to get loose, including:
SSHs
DQs
Cotton Pickers
Helicopters
Imperial Walkers
Poles – Sprint from the foul pole to the left field foul pole, do 10 merkins, sprint back and plank up for instructions.
Instructions were simple – 3 swings – over the fence = HR; everything else = out. Outs result in 3 Burpees for the entire PAX. HRs – the hitter gets to choose the exercise x10 for the PAX. If anyone goes Tori Hunter (or EF Hutton) and robs a HR, the robber gets to choose the exercise. On deck man jumps rope while waiting…game on!
FNG-John led things off – 3 outs, 9 burpees…that combo would be repeated 20 out of the 23 times…OUCH!
Thankfully, Handshake, McRib and Upchuck spared the PAX from the 3 outs – 9 burpee combo. Handshake hit 1 HR and called for 10 merkins…prompting vocal THANKS from DK (and others). McRib and Upchuck each hit 2 HRs – McRib called for 20 mountain climbers. Upchuck had pity and called for 20 LBCs.
Yep, 69 swings and 5 HRs…YIKES! 64 outs = 192 burpees – possibly a new records (?) for a 45-minute workout.
Playoff between McRib and Upchuck – 1 swing a piece go until 1 guy homers and other doesn’t. Three rounds. Upchuck led off round 2 with a deep blast, but McRib answered in kind and then when back to back, leading off the 3rd round with another blast that Upchuck couldn’t match.
McRib defends his 2017 Title and becomes the first back to back F3 HR Derby winner.
COT, COR, NOR and YHC took us out with great thanks for the ability to have this group of brothers and friends that is willing to show up at the baseball field at 0530 and pretend (most of us) that we can still play and to be able to share this morning with my 2.0 (Redbird) and have some fun.
Announcements:
HR Derby happened today…next one is 11 or 12 months away. You will be warned.
July 4 Convergence at Tredegar
NMS:
Thanks for indulging me again with the HR Derby. It was a blast. Lots of hard hit balls, but we need to work on our launch angles and exit velocity as a collective PAX. Not McRib or Upchuck though – those guys came to play. McRib even cleared two fences and put on on the real softball field. Well done sir…see you next year when you try to go back-to-back-to-back.
Welcome Ovi (FNG-John). You can blame Loose Goose for pumping you Pittsburgh roots and fandom for the name…I was trying to come up with a good Philly name but couldn’t. Of course, on the drive home, I thought, “darn, should have called him Cheesesteak”… Oh well, Ovi is timely and painful for a Pitt fan. Welcome brother. Hope you come back out soon.
Highlight (or lowlight?) of the day had to be Upchuck’s throwing the bat over the dugout and 3 rows up into the stands….no worries, he regrouped and absolutely tattooed the next 2 pitches out onto the track. Bravo sir.
I was contemplating taking points away from McRib who I think skipped Beast and Marv in the batting order and told Mulder he was on deck after him…or, maybe that was evil genius by McRib – force Beast and Marv to do about 100 more burpees before they get to hit and lower the chances of them hitting HRs…BRILLIANT. I’ll lead-off next year!
Great fun guys. Thanks again for coming out. IT was a blast.
3 SOJ natives (1 expat) and 1 Sheriff to keep order (although LIFO) started out the morning with some miles. For the 3 natives, it was a flat out and back 2-mile loop down to the River and back to the Flag – do 20 SSHs and 20 LBC at the Flag and the REPEAT as many times as possible for 45 minutes. YHC had to pull into pit-row after the first lap, but managed 2.5 for 5 miles. I believe Splinter and Rosie may have gotten in a full 3…I lost sight of them.
Rosco was not deterred when the PAX was gone. He headed through Tarrington and up Ashwell Drive hill for a strong 4+ miles.
COT, COR, NOR and YHC took us out.
Announcements:
HR Derby is tomorrow. Don’t go to NoToll…go to Huguenot Little League behind Robious Elementary School. Bring a glove.
July 4 convergence at Tredegar…see pre-blast.
Great run gents! Great to have Splinter back in the motherland and great to have Rosco back out after being away in steamy Charleston. Always good to run with (umm…after) Rosie. He is looking strong and ready for the weekend race with Shakedown and maybe TYA (?). You guys will kill it.
