Author: Gumbo

  • A FirstWatch Block Party

    10 partygoers, including 2 early bird yogis, showed up for a block party – gloom style. This is how we rolled…

    Mosey around the parking lot in case there were any LIFOs – there were none. Circle up by the vehicles for COP, including DQs, Helicopters, SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies, Shoulder Taps, Toe Taps (a crowd pleaser), Merkins, LBCs and APDs.

    Grab the party favors (blocks) and cross River Road at your peril – carry blocks to the church parking lot and circle up for several rounds of block exercises each followed by a mosey around the parking lot or a lunge walk to the steps and back. Exercises included block burpees, squats, curls, shoulder presses, bench presses, WWIIs (without the block), overhead shoulder work on the curb, step-ups and more. Some plank-o-rama and mountain climbers and other fun while we wait for the SIX and catch our breath in between reps.

    Carry blocks back across River Road and load them in Kubota’s truck.

    Four Corners – 10 merkins; 10 merkins + 20 single count mountain climbers; 10 merkins + 20 MCs + 30 squats; and 10 merkins + 20 MCs + 30 squats + 40 SSHs and back to the original COP Circle.

    4 minutes of Mary, COT, numbers, names and YHC took us out.

    Great, cool morning and some good block work accomplished. Thanks to Kubota for bringing the blocks. Splinter’s account will be charged for breaking his block – inflation is a bitch. Not a ton of mumblechatter, but YHC lost the group in COP with the toe taps and then subsequently when one PAX member (YHC isn’t exactly sure who) cleared the deck and I’m pretty sure left skid marks in the parking lot. We regrouped however and put in some good work. Thanks for letting me lead.

    Also great to catch up with WOJ over coffee!

    Announcement – Memorial Day Convergence 0700 at Tredegar – bring your Shovel Flag and a Friend.

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • Tour De Twin Team with your Host, Gumbo

    11 intrepid dwellers of the GLOOM, including 1 FNG and 1 Downrange Double RESPECTer posted in the beautiful Gloom of BWES this morning. Even Don Draper and Boberry donned gloves for a bootcamp because YHC promised some miles. As the clock struck 0530, the tour began and off to the namesake we go…

    Mosey across Robious to the base of Twin Team and circle up for the disclaimer and COP, including DQs performed at the impeccable speed.

    We were all limbered up so time to climb – mosey up Twin Team to the top stopping at each drive way (and any offset mailboxes) for 10 merkins each. YHC thought that would lessen the pain of the climb but it only added to it…oh well, what doesn’t kill you…

    Collected the SIX at the top and moseyed down and continued down the pathway to the back entrance to JRHS and over to the “murph” area for a triple check including pull-ups, squats and a choose-your-own-timer of run a lap OR 20 WWIIs. The Tour can’t be late, so an audible was called and the triple check was truncated…

    Mosey down past the SWAMP and stop for a quick couple minutes of rapid fire Mary, then over to the outdoor basketball courts for some Donkey Kicks on the wall.

    BBTVF via the parking lot and across BWES field. 30 seconds left so 2 Burpees to get your money’s worth.

    COT, Numbers, Names and YHC prayed us out.

    NMS:

    Great to have 4 folks who have never been to TT before, including an FNG (Chubbs bro) and a down-ranger from St. Charles Missouri (THE CHUCK). Other than the climb up TT, not a ball-buster today but we kept moving and we got to show off most of the AO. Gumbo will provide another 3.3 mile tour that was planned another time soon.

    Happy Hour SOJ tonight at Diamond Billiards

    SOJ Takeover coming soon to AOs all over

    May 21 is a family BBQ at BWES – see OC for more details

    Summer Tour details and conditions are on Slack – see HoneyDo if you got questions

    A pleasure as always to lead. No More Gumbo For You!

  • Miles, Coffee and Fellowship – just another great Sunday morning

    6 runners, plus 1 four-legged leader, and 3 walkers maneuvered the mean streets of Midlothian while sharing stories and getting a sweat going. Great morning for a run! Thanks for showing up men.

  • A Post March Madness OG

    8 stalwarts posted to NoToll this morning (2 extra early for some Broga) and most knew exactly what was in store…perhaps others stayed in the fartsack or traveled to a different Nano region to avoid it – only they know.

    The 8 of us crushed an Old Glory and are all better off for it.

    Log your laps here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-L8e9W24ygnU0suaGyKxzi1PgPqY1CBd57hLrKTZI-g/edit#gid=1717732871

    Well done men!

    Announcements – see slack

    Prayers for Wildcat and Dinky.

    No More Gumbo for You!

  • OTB for 1 – dark, cold and early

    Well, YHC said F Daylight Savings Time and posted to OTB. DST and travel wiped out the rest of the PAX. No problem. I get to dictate the pace and do my own thing…great. I got off to a good start with a 9:30 first mile, but then all went to shit when two negative splits lead to an internal challenge to have 5 negative splits. And an 8:17 sixth mile completed the challenge. So much for controlling the pace and an easy 6. Wonderful sunrise on the way back across the river. A great morning!

  • Serving with the 2.0s

    Gumbo, Redbird (2.1) and Snare (2.2), cooked up some meatloaf, green beans, cornbread, and cookies and loaded the car headed for Daily Planet. The stubborn meatloaf took extra long to cook, but we made up time on the trip with Redbird at the wheel. A party of 10 was on the reservation sheet, but only 8 were in attendance when we arrived. No worries – all were served, fed and satisfied. We didn’t eat with the residents, but we served and chatted and made sure they were well fed. Another great time serving with my 2.0s and helping the good folks at the Daily Planet.

    If you have not signed up and attended a #BreakingBread – do it. It is super easy. You can cook or you can buy and bring. You can serve and leave or you can stay and eat and spend time with the residents. That is all up to you. They are very grateful and it is a great cause.

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • My First…Again

    Gumbo was on the menu this morning for the first time (but not the last time) at First Watch and it was a seating for 11. These are the side dishes and accoutrements served along side the Gumbo:

    0530 and time to Mosey – right out of the parking lot and YHC may or may not have gotten lost or disoriented in the darkness. Nonetheless, we completed our mile and stopped at the corner of S. ridge and Country Squire for COP, including:

    • Deadman Hang
    • Helicopters
    • Jazzercisers
    • SSHs
    • Tempo Merkins
    • LBCs
    • Flutter Kicks

    Triple Check – Runner, Imperial Squat Walkers, Box Cutters. Round 1, runner goes up S. Ridge a bit. Round 2 runner goes up Country Squire. Round 3 runner does 10 burpees.

    Mosey up S. Ridge to Triangle for Triangle of Fun: 3 Burpees at point 1, run to point 2 3 Burpees, 10 2-ct mountain climbers and run to point 3, 3 Burpees, 10 2-ct mountain climbers and 20 Hello Dollies. Back to point 1 and plank for six.

    Mosey to parking lot for 4 corners – 10 merkins, 20 2-ct Freddies, 30 squats, 40 LBCs. Plank-o-rama and then reverso 4 corners 40 – 30 – 20 – 10 same exercises. And, some references to American Pie – Flo still has no idea what that is.

    3 minutes of Mary

    COT, Numbers, Names and YHC took us out.

    Great morning men. Great to take the Q at a new AO – a VQ of sorts. The energy even woke me up 15 minutes early this morning…and that’s early.

    Lots of mumble chatter and some hard work put in. All with plenty of time for coffee afterwards.

    Thanks for letting me lead.

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • Frozen Triangle Part Duex

    A total of 46 guys, including an FNG (big respect) showed up today for the first RVA CSAUP event in quite a while.

    An eager 45 (including 3 ruckers) gathered before 0600 in the dark gloom of Dogpile ready to roll. The temperature lived up the CSAUP name, it was chilly, but the adrenaline was flowing. 0600 on YHC’s watch, so the ruckers hit the road and the rest of us grabbed the shovel flags and moseyed to the COP circle for disclaimer (you v you and pay attention to your body) and COP, including:

    • SSHs
    • DQs
    • Helicopters
    • Deadman Hangs
    • Imperial Walkers
    • Alternating Shoulder Taps
    • Tempo Merkins
    • Freddie Mercuries

    Head to the Amphitheatre and pass the baton to Rosie for the THANG:

    Ladder – 5 incline merkins on each step going up; 5 dips on each step going down; bunny-hop/box-jump back up to the top.

    Circle up for numbers and names and then grab the shovel flags and runners take off for Punisher. Flags were flying. We were getting some honks, and the air was brisk. Many guys circled back to pick up the SIX. I think Gypsy did it 5 times and ran an extra 3 miles.

    PUNISHER

    33 of the 43 bootcampers made the run to Punisher for bootcamp #2. OC and CB got the provisions set up and guys fueled up. Then CB set up the audio and lead a Tabata ground and pound for that included merkins (OUCH), DQs, Arm Circles, Squats, LBCs and other

    Circle up for numbers and names and then grab the shovel flags and runners headed for Mary. Again, bro-code was in effect.

    45MOM

    31 of the 33 made it from Punisher to Mary, and we picked up Handshake for the last bootcamp and last leg of the Triangle. There was no catching your breathe or fueling up because UpChuck was ready to roll. Thankfully, UpChuck started us off with SSHs and then added some Broga (which really pleased Last Call). Then he dropped the hammer:

    The THANG: Twisted Dora – Line up across the blacktop and partner up. Exercises were 100 Carolina Dry Docks, 200 Squats (either jump or touch 5 fingers to the ground), and 300 SSHs. Runner – bernies across the blacktop to the fence and runs back. Oh, and the TWIST – every time the runner returns, partners do 5 Boo-yah Merkins…KILLER.

    Mosey back to the starting point for numbers and names before taking off to for Dogpile and to close the Triangle.

    The run back to Dogpile was blinding and painful. We gutted it out and everyone made it back to Dogpile where the ruckers were waiting for us and Circle K had the grill going with dogs and sausages.

    One last number-rama and namarama, announcements and COT.

    We prayed for our F3 brothers – Fudd, Gomer Pyle and Pigskin – heading to Honduras in service.

    Other announcements –

    • Great job F3RVA for donating around 400 shoes for various groups. Well done!
    • Shank has his VQ on Tuesday at Bermuda Triangle
    • Add any others I missed in Slack

    Huge shout out to all those who helped bring this CSAUP back. Rosie and I put it out there and the PAX stepped up to Q, drive, get provisions, chip in, and just generally to do whatever is needed and check on the SIX and make sure everyone was accounted for and good to go. LOVE this group for all those reasons.

    We can sometimes get lost in our daily/weekly routines or often times we don’t have time to hang out and chat before or after weekly workouts. CSAUPs give us the chance the see new guys, and to deepen our fellowship with other guys. In addition, they give us the opportunity to push through our normal boundaries and test ourselves. We all aced the test today. Well done men!

    Get some rest this weekend, enjoy some family and football, rest those legs, and I’ll see you all back out in the gloom soon!

    Who’s planning the next CSAUP?

    No more Gumbo for you and It’s all coming up Rosie!

  • PRE-BLAST: Frozen Triangle January 21

    If you have been posting or reading Slack you have been hearing about an upcoming CSAUP – The Frozen Triangle. It is 2 weeks away, so below are some more details, and we are looking for HCs (and soft commits – if you must) to help us plan provisions. Please add to the HC count on Slack if you are in. Give a thumbs up or something else if you are a soft commit.

    Many folks have reached out to Rosie and me to let us know they want to help. Thank you. We will be touching base with you over the next week to divvy up responsibilities. If anyone else wants to help, let us know. Help can include chipping in for provisions, bringing provisions, bringing coolers, setting up/cleaning up at one of the AOs, etc. Many hands makes light work – and more fun for the hands doing the work.

    GOAL: As always, push ourselves, but don’t hurt ourselves and have a damn good time doing it and enjoying some fellowship.

    Rough Details:

    • Starting time and location: 6:00 a.m. at Dogpile parking lot
    • 6:00 – 6:20’ish: Bootcamp at Dogpile
    • 6:20’ish: depart Dogpile for Punisher (3.3 mile trek) – travel on foot, by bike or however you want.
    • 7:00’ish – 7:20’ish: Bootcampt at Punisher
    • 7:20’ish: depart Punisher for 45MOM (2.9 mile trek)
    • 8:00’ish – 8:20’ish: Bootcamp at 45MOM
    • 8:20’ish: depart 45MOM for Dogile (2.5 miles) to complete the triangle
    • 9:00’ish: arrive Dogpile and let the fellowship ensue. Bring lawn chairs and dry clothes and hang out for a while. Hot dogs will be on the grill and beers will be in the cooler.

    Remember – this is not an All or None – participate in it all or participate in whatever piece or pieces that you can. See you on January 21.

    No More Gumbo For you AND Everything is Coming up Roses….OUT

  • Just another OTB with a little FW Overshare Feel to it

    3 Walkers and 5 runners this morning. It was brisk. Pace and distances are in question, depending on the watch you consult, but one thing that is not in question is that miles were slayed, fellowship was had, and it was a great start to the day.

    YHC is thankful for Rosetta deciding to kick off the new year by posting and bringing all sorts of fun stories. Nothing that would probably satisfy the FW crowd, but for OTB and a Sunday at SOJ – good stuff! Thanks, Rosetta.