Author: Mr Rogers

  • Humidity Takes the Gold

    On a super-humid morning, 6 regulars, a Kotter (welcome back Goldberg) and a gent at his 3rd F3 workout (Gambler) climbed down from Mount Olympus for some Olympic fun & games. 

    We moseyed to the Carillon, where about 4 deer eyed Bodos, contemplating how they might take him out. But with his mighty brothers surrounding him, the deer thought better of it, backed off and warm uparama ensued:

    COP: Arm Circles, Cherry Pickers, DQs, SSHs, Mt Climbers, WWIIs, Merkins. 

    In honor of the city of lights, hosting the 2024 summer Olympics, we moseyed to Burpee Lane.  2 Burpees at each lamppost. 

    Like the handsome champions we are, next we moseyed to the Tennis courts and entered like Rafael Nadal.  Triple check called.  P1 ran the other side of the court and back.  P2 did LBCs.  P3, shoulder taps. 

    Mosey to Byrd Lake, which will henceforth be named Ledecky Lake, in honor of the American swimming phenom, Katie Ledecky.  We partnered up, alternated wheelbarrowing b/w lampposts w/ 5 jump squats at the first lamp, 5 crunchy frogs at the next.  Repeato. This got modified real quick. We added lunges and bear crawls to the rotation. After completing 66% of the way around the lake (which was pretty dang impressive), we audibled to running, alternating 5 merkins and 10 SSHs at each lamppost.

    Once around Lake Ledecky, we moseyed back, decidedly unlike Noah Lyles, to Burpee lane for, you guessed it, more Burpees at each lamppost. Since most of us were swimming in our own sweat at this point, we only did one Burpee at each stop on the way back.

    At the Carillon, we lined up for an Indigenous People’s run BTTF. With 60 seconds left, we did a 6 inch leg raise for 60 seconds and were then grateful to be done.  Numbers, Names, Announcements:

    Pickleball Tournament on 8/17 @ 6am @ Batteau. There will be no Dog Pile on 8/17.

    2nd F at Innsbrook Fire House Subs on Tues, 8/13 @ 12pm.

    Bootleg, our fearless Site Q, we missed you and hope you are enjoying Scotland. Looking forward to hearing all about it upon your return.

    Prayers for Byproduct, who might just be a grandfather for the 1st time today, if his daughter gives birth today. Whenever it does happen, prayers for a safe delivery for mom and baby.

    Thanks for letting me lead today. See y’all in the gloom!

  • What’s Left of July

    What’s Left of July you ask? No more Fridays so the Bro Code run was the call of the day for Currahee. Since a fast four showed up to this running AO, the usual route was extended to Gayton ES. And because Doozy runs like a freakin’ Kenyan, he extended it a bit beyond that.

    Today, I discovered that I was surrounded by greatness. Doozy ran a 6 something pace at one point today. I wondered what that would be like. I don’t know and probably never will. He shared that in HS, he set records in Michigan and hit a 4:45 pace. Good Gawd! If you didn’t know, Lighthouse is a tenured professor, which means he has published research. To the degree that the latest iteration of Chat GPT knows his name. Whoa! But apparently b/c of F3, Chat GPT knows all of us (Honeydo was the example given, maybe Chat GPT 8.0 will know about Hornydo). Freaky. And another member of our gang this morning, Whitesnake, beats the skins for Richmond’s preeminent boy band (man band?), Left of July. And his daughter was just hired by Duke University.

    Great to know you High Impact Men!

    It was another week without Pigskin and I know I’m looking forward to his return and to hear all about Spain and Portugal.

    Hope to see the other regulars that didn’t make it out today soon.

    COT. Announcements: Ultimate and Pickleball tournaments in Aug. DD’s Homegrown 1/2 on 8/3. And watch out SOJ, coming to an AO near you – Westhoe Takeover starts next week!

    Continued prayers for Whitesnake’s FIL who is in decline. Prayers of gratitude for the wild abundance that we have, from cars to jobs to family. We all have so much. Take some of what overflows your cup and go give it to someone who needs it. Do it today, for free and for fun. You’ll both be rewarded.

    And for the Dry July crew, hang tough men. There’s only only a little Left of July.

    Happy Friday y’all! : -)

  • Welcome Estrogino!

    COP: Arm Circles, Cherry Pickers, DQs, SSHs, Mt Climbers, WWIIs, Merkins. 

    Mosey to the nickel bridge.  5 merkins at odd posts and 5 AHs at even posts.  Coming back, 2 Burbees at each odd post and 2 Heels to Heaven at each even post.  Faceplant then led us in a little plank work.

    Mosey to the Pipeline.  Triple check.  P1 ran the pipeline.  P2 did LBCs.  P3, shoulder taps. 

    Mosey to the Rusty Cage.  OYO, Pull ups to failure, 5 hanging dips, 5 jump squats, 20 SSHs.  3Xs. 

    BTTF.  FMs, Box Cuters, Little Baby Side Oblique Crunches, WWIIs, LBCs, 6 inch leg raises for 60 seconds and finish w/ Merkins to failure. 

    Numbers, Names. Great to have Stinger (he met his M on Bumble) visiting from Tuscaloosa. Senor Frog EHed his Brother-In-Law (Respect SF!). This FNG hung right there with us for the full hour, had many notable positive qualities, but as a father of 4 girls, he walked away with the name (wait for it) Estrogino, which just might be Italian for manly man with many daughters, but we will probably never know.

    Announcements: Pickleball Tournament Aug 17 (no Dogpile this day). 6am. Find a partner. Doubles only. Sign up. Ask Hitchhiker if you have questions. Pickleball practice on Mondays at Batteau. Someone will always have an extra paddle for you.

    Check out Dark Helmets State of the Nation address. Learn where F3 is going and changes to look out for.

    Machismo, quite eloquently, shared from Fudd’s recent 3rd F post that as men get together to lean on each other and help each other – it can be seen as weakness, but we see it as strength.

    Prayers: Please pray for Purple Rain’s friend who is battling liver failure, esophageal and stomach cancer with kids under 7. Pray for Bootleg’s Brother-In-Law who may have liver cancer. And pray for Offshore’s father after a recent fall. God, we ask that you bring healing to all of these men.

    Very enjoyable coffeeteria. We soaked up an F3RVA history lesson from EF Hutton and Bootleg. Great to hang w/ y’all!

    Thank you for the opportunity to lead. SYITG!

  • BRR Prep

    Today’s installment of Currahee was good BRR prep, but no one attending today is attending BRR ’24. We hit the hills of Westhoe nonetheless. After deciding against New Prescott, we headed down Old Prescott, turned onto Glen Eagles (hit all the cul-de-sacs on the left after Oakhampton), left on John Ralph, left on Ridgefield, jumped back on Old Prescott and rode it all the way BTTF.

    A work friend of Posh joined us today, without Posh. Impressive first post: running AO, on a humid day, without the gent that EH’ed him. This FNG is from Pittsburgh and a Steelers fan. When contemplating their rival Ravens, it wasn’t long before we landed on Poe for a nickname. Pax welcome Poe, the father of 5 and the knower of smart computer stuff. Hope we see him come out again.

    Big shout-out to Gypsy who left no man behind and got in some sort of workout w/ Poe closer to Godwin. Respect!

    Wasn’t quite the same without Pigskin. May he and his M travel safely in Spain and Portugal for a couple of weeks.

    Announcements: Ultimate at Grid Iron (20th) and Heartbreak (23rd). Go have fun, but watch out for injuries. Pickle Ball and Ultimate tournament on, I believe, 8/17.

    Prayers for those dealing with injuries (Whitesnake’s back, Doozy’s hip, and many others). Prayers for healing of body and heart. Prayers for 2.0s just starting professional jobs and those still on the hunt.

    Some final thoughts: This week on a podcast, I heard a man say, “The path to meaning is service to others without the expectation of anything in return.” Hmm.

    Look out for our newest member, Poe. Enjoy this Friday. Go do something for someone else. And do it for free and for fun!

  • Evenly Apply Your Sun Screen

    Today’s edition of Currahee called for a bro Code run. Everyone wore yellow except for Doozy. Then everyone ran the bro Code route except for Doozy. But when a HIM takes the lead (for those that don’t know, Doozy runs like the dang wind yall), he pushes everyone to new heights. The entire crew pushed past our turn at Copperas, caught up to Doozy and ran behind Gayton ES, continued on through the mean streets of the FWE (mostly Poplar Forest Dr.), taking a left on Ridgefield and back to the Tamper Flag.

    Pigskin hung back at Godwin HS to walk with kettle bells while throwing in about 200 merkins and 1000 other forms of self flagellation.

    Names, numbers.

    Announcements: July 4th at Forest Hill Park (Batteau/Stone House for Field Day activities), Dry July, Don Draper’s Homegrown Half on Aug 3, and look out for more details about the WE setting up a traveling evening AO. The mission is to get some Sad Clown and turn them into HIMs.

    Prayers for the men of F3 to find men that need what we have so freely been given. If you know a man that could use F3, tell him about it. Don’t just invite him to a workout. Tell him you’ll pick him up. If he says 5:30am is too early – find out about these evening AOs and get him there.

    Missed a lot of regulars today. Hope to see y’all soon!

    Do something good for someone else today. And remember to evenly apply your sun screen. Happy Friday gang!

  • Sleep Mask On – Ready Position Move

    According to LOTS of cyclists in the park today, w/ at least one hittin’ some wacky tobaccy before embarking on a 100 mile trial ride (like the Frog suggested, perhaps this is the recruiting tool we’ve been missing), this is what went down:

    COP: Arm Circles, Cherry Pickers, DQs, SSHs, Mt Climbers, WWIIs, Merkins. 

    Blimps (burpees, lunges, imperial walkers, merkins, plank jacks, and side strandle hops) then run a loop after each exercise.  

    Line up across the carillon – 100 yard sprint followed by 100 merkins (1st one completing 100 calls it). Slowsy back to the starting point. 75 yard sprint – 75 squats with a slowsy back. 50 yard sprint, 50 LBCs, slowsy back. 25 yard sprint – 25 Monkey Humpers, slowsy back. 10 yard bear crawl, 10 burpees OYO.

    Eye of the Tornado: 10 Markers (a couple trash cans, a bucket, & some cones) set out in a circle, each with an exercise written on it. 3 Burpees at the Eye and then pick an exercise.  Repeato, until all 9 exercises done  (markers & exercises were 0= 10 AMs, 1 = 1 Burpee, 2 = 2 Burpees, 3 = 10 WWIIs, 4 = 15 plank jacks, 5= 15 mt climbers, 6= 20 Monkey Humpers, 7= 20 flutter kicks, 8= 20 box cutters). 

    To the triangle- bear crawl the short side, 20 CDDs, run, 20 WWIIs,  feel the Bernie up the hill, 20 merkins. 

    SSHs Plus –
    Form a circle.  Do SSHs OYO.  A member of the pax, when called on, initiates a core exercise.  15 are done.  Then return to SSHs. 

    Indian Bear Crawl carrying bucket of cones. All bear crawl.  Man at the back carries bucket to the front, drops bucket, and resumes bear crawling.  When the man at the back gets to the bucket, he grabs it and runs to the front, then bear crawls.  I didn’t communicate this well and it was a LONG way to crawl.  Therefore, this was a train wreck.  Borrow this idea at ur own peril.

    BTTF.  FMs, 6 inch leg raise/hold for 60 seconds and a finish w/ merkins to failure.  Numbers, Names, Announcements:

    Summer tour (great to see some tourists today!)

    2nd F at Firehouse Subs on the 2nd Tuesday (6/11 @ 12pm)

    July 4th Convergence

    Beware of the SOJ Takeover next week

    Pickleball, Monday, Forest Hill Park, 5:30am.

    New AO, Iron Bridge, launches with Posh on 6/22.

    Prayers for Fudd’s sister Mary and Splinter’s mother. Prayers for Hitch’s M, who’s ready to introduce that baby to the world.

    Final Thoughts: BB title from my headband looking like a sleep mask and the correction I needed on my exercise introductions. Even after 4 years with yall, I”m still learning and working at this thing. Crabgrass, well done today after only being in the gloom for 3 months. Great to meet you, thanks for the visit to Dog Pile and congrats on your 8 month old. Lots of folks out there are going through it. Let’s all strive to compare ourselves to who we were yesterday, not to someone else today – so that we may continue to grow to be strong for ourselves, for our families and our greater community. Go do something positive today fellas!

  • Scavenger Hunt

    When you have a fierce group of men, you don’t treat them like babies and give them step-by-step instructions. You treat them like teenagers, and give them a Scavenger Hunt – teens love that crap.  These Westhoian Warriors, and a speed demon called Doozy, were challenged to find a Covered Bridge, a Publix, a Waffle House (Westhoe’s finest new establishment, besides Perry’s), a Dunkin and to run a loop around John Ralph Square.  Any order.  Any way possible.  Improvise & Adapt.  Overcome & Get ‘Er Done.  Some ran to all 5 locations and earned a Gold Star.  Doozy and Gypsy really went for it and made the task harder intentionally.  Pigskin found one item on the list and then did whatever he wanted.  Who’s gonna stop him?!   And just like teenagers, some just walked around and talked.  In short, it was Amazing. 

    Announcements:

    It’s Grow Ruck time.  Only hours away!

    Cul-de-sac Series. This is a running event/group/thing. They get together every Monday night in July. Gypsy could use a training partner for intervals. If you have an interest, hit up Gypsy.

    Westhoe Shield Lock is starting a new book, 12 Rules for Life.  It’s a great time to jump in and join us. 

    Prayers for creative new ways to help bring in FNGs, so they can get what we so freely enjoy.  And prayers for safety and spiritual growth for all Grow Ruckers this wkend. 

    See y’all at the Convergence!

  • Handshake’s Mom’s Number

    COP: I tried to mosey to the bottom of the Amphitheater.  The gate was closed.  I hopped over a railing and then F3RVA’s lone Harvard grad showed me that you can just open it.  Onward to the bottom for arm circles, cherry pickers, DQs, SSHs, Mt Climbers, WWIIs, Merkins. 

    Mosey to the typical warm-up circle for The Downward Spiral: 10 burpees, 10 Merkins, 10 WWIIs and 10 Jump Squats, run the circle and do 30 SSHs at the other side.  Back to the place you started for 9 of everything w/ another helping of 30 SSHs on the side.  Then 8,  7, etc, down to 1. 

    Mosey to the Carillon for Call Me Maybe: 10 Markers (a couple trash cans, a bucket, some cones and a shovel flag) lined the field in numerical order.  Each marker had an exercise posted on it. Numbers were called. We ran to the numbers selected and did the exercises written on the markers. Exercises were 0= 10 AMs, 1 = 1 Burpee, 2 = 2 Burpees, 3 = 10 WWIIs, 4 = 15 plank jacks, 5= 15 mt climbers, 6= 20 Monkey Humpers, 7= 20 flutter kicks, 8= 20 box cutters, & 9= 10 ball dippers.
    Numbers called were:
    911
    Jenny’s number (1st thing: surprise-surprise – our 24 year old stud, Fergie, didn’t know it’s 867-530 nign-eey-igh-ighn.  2nd thing: One gent knew Tommy Tutone wrote this ode to Jenny.  That’s 2 pts now for Harvard – for those keeping score). 
    Next number called: Handshake’s mom’s number,
    then your own phone number,
    13×10 to keep the wits sharp
    Next, I considered audibling to socials and banking PINs, but i don’t trust yall that much.

    With shouts of FEBA, off we went.  

    Mosey to the next circle, form a circle, and stand equidistantly apart.  Bear crawl in.  Slap 5 dude’s hands and do 15 Booya Merkins with the 6th man you encounter.  Back to the edge of the circle for round 2.  Lunged in and 20 Rosalitas once you reach another 6th man.  Then crab walk and 20 FMs. 

    BTTF.  Variety of core work and big finish w/ merkins to failure.  Numbers, Names, Announcements:
    Grow Ruck is coming boys. 
    EFH is in, are you?!
    Up Chuck will host a workout at Dog Pile on 5/6 at 6am, before the  Grow Ruck Ruffians come in and start a workout at 7am.  Feel free to double dip (the Dog Pile Double Dip invitation stands for Grow Ruckers as well). 
    Prayers for the Grow Ruckers to stay injury free and to grow in mind, body and spirit from this upcoming event. 

    Excellent to see Gomer out at coffeeteria 2 wks in a row enjoying some 2nd F while he heals up nicely.

    Enjoy your weekend fellas! 

  • BLAMPS.

    We started with a miscommunication, causing Pigskin to miss COP.  After running to W. Broad Village, we did some Arm Circles, DQs, Cherry Pickers, SSHs, Mt Climbers, Flutters, and Merkins. Pinto then led us straight to Pigskin. 

    Now that the crew was together and warmed up, we got to the main event: BLAMPS.  This was called because I enjoyed BLIMPS, but couldn’t think of an exercise beginning with the letter I.  So, we did BLAMPS: 10 Burpees, 10 Lt Dans, 20 American Hammers, 10 Merkins, 20 Plank Jacks and 10 Speed Skaters – running around the perimeter of the parking lot between each.  Kudos to Bottle Cap for showing us great Speed Skater technique and how to modify if you have any lower back issues. 

    Then I saw some stairs. We went up 3 stories and down. Mosey. More stairs. Up and down.

    More BLAMPS at the next stop.

    Next up: 7s. Like 11s, but 7s. Merkins and WWIIs.

    BTTVF.

    40 seconds left, so we did Merkins to failure.

    Numbers. Names. Announcements: None

    Prayer Requests:

    Homer’s mother is entering hospice. Please pray for him, his mother and his family.

    Whitesnake’s Father-In-Law will be moving assisted living facilities (staying in RVA). No small task. We’ll be praying for you and your family brother!

    YHC took us out.

    Final thought: God has granted the men of F3RVA strength. Let’s use it to be strong for someone who needs it today.

  • Hutton’s Encore

    I recall once seeing a high school track athlete’s shirt that said: “Our sport is your sport’s punishment.”  That being said, 8 faithful and strong beat the fart sack this 35 degree morning to come out and pound the undulating pavement of Raintree Drive.  First, we started on Raintree.  Then we went the other way on Raintree.  Then we went back. And then back again.  Once we pounded that damn road into submission we huddled up at Godwin HS for some COT.  

    Announcements: 2nd F at Innsbrook Firehouse Subs at 12pm on 12/12. Rosie’s 12 DOC at No Toll on 12/19 (only parameter is just don’t literally bring shit in a box). Remember Shood and keep those gently-used shoes coming gents. Some kid out there is truly gonna appreciate it. Also, please reach out to that man that hasn’t posted in a while. He might need the encouragement. Sometimes we don’t know why. Or in Gomer’s situation, you know it’s simply due to being lazy and unmotivated. Either way, give them a nudge.

    Prayer requests: Prayers for Vagabond as he navigates moving his family to St. Louis for a new job.

    YHC took us out.  

    Moleskin: Enjoy this holiday season fellas.  Don’t let it pass you by without savoring it.  You never know how many more you get to have.  As Bodos recently cautioned, Memento mori.  SYITG!