Author: Marv

  • Cool Mountain Air

    The warm mid June heat wave took a bit of a breather on this comfortably cool Tuesday morning as 10 guys met down at the bottom of UofR for a jaunt/ride around the near west end of RVA.

    There’s no doubt, the heat of the summer is going to come roaring back with those 74 degree mornings and 80% humidity, but today we were treated with 60 degree temps and a nice breeze.

    Nothing super complicated about this mornings trundle…we all tackled Mt. Henrico.

    No 6s

    Handful of 5s headed to the top of the hill and then back down the way we came.

    The 4s were out 22:30 and back.

    Maybe mention of Bodos hitting the traffic circle, which continues up University Blvd (which is not to be confused for University Dr.).

    Good to see everyone out there ITG.

  • Veep…Is Asleep

    It had to have been 9 years ago that I brought my 2.0 to an F3 workout. He was 9, going on 10 and had just won a student council election at Mary Munford (this is all if my memory serves me right, which, most likely, it does not).

    Anyway, since he had just won the election, and, at the time, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss’ hit comedy “VEEP” was the latest and greatest binge watch, he got the handle “VEEP”.

    Looking back over the last 11 or so years, some of my most memorable workouts were with my 2.0’s (my female 2.0 is “Pink Panther”…something, I’m 100% sure, she’d be super fired up to be now that she is almost 16 and about to enter her Junior Year of HS).

    Most of the time, the 2.0s were excited to join dad and his mysterious group of guys that he wakes up super early to go run around and sweat with. Every now and then, the 2.0 was out in the morning due to some punishment. Most likely not turning homework in on-time. But even then, if I remember correctly, Veep had a couple of quick one line jokes that made his old man proud.

    All of this to say…well done to Wolfgang, the 2.0 of Vandalay, for joining us, in the summer no less, ITG. Needless to say, Veep, who just finished his first year at Virginia’s Polytechnical Institute, well, Veep, was asleep.

    The Thang

    COT– Dead Man Hangs, Don Quixote, Helicopters, Arm Circles (forward and backwards). Side Straddle Hops. Fudd’s wife. Pulsating Calf stretch. Runners Stretch….left hand high, right hand high. 10 two count mercans.

    According to Handshake…while I don’t Q often, when I do, we do agilities, most likely in honor of my time in college.

    High Knees. Butt Kickers. Ballerina’s. Leaps and Bounds. Kareoke.

    Four corners, starting in Alaska (freshly painted US on the blacktop).

    10 Mercans. 20 LBC’s. 30 Copper Headed Squats. 40 SSHops

    20 Mercans. 40 LBC’s. 30 Monkey HUMPers. 50 SSHops

    Mosey down to Lindsay. 20 Mercans.

    Partner Up. Up half the hill while the partner is…

    Lunging. Bear Crawling. Bernie Sanders-ing.

    Meet Halfway up the hill. Finish the Hill while the partner is

    Lunging. Polar Bearing. (that’s all we got).

    Mosey to the front of TES…

    Partner Up for “Duals”. First Partner runs while the other does incline Mercans. Next “Dual” is the partners running while the other does calf raises.

    Mosey to parking lot. Mercans. three burpees. SSHops.

    Good work Wolfgang and the rest of the guys. Nice to see 1-800 at the tail end of the workout…it’s not the same without him there.

  • Make Hoedown Great Again

    Admittedly, it’d been awhile since I’ve been to Hoedown…not sure why, but just one of those things.

    The wonderful aspect of growing AOs is that ultimately more people are under the tent…more guys are involved and working out. The “ever action has an equal opposite reaction” is that the numbers dwindle at the other AOs.

    It’s all good, but gives us even more reasons to get guys out and working out. Especially at Hoedown where there are no shortage of Dad’s/Dudes/Men who could use a good workout to start the week.

    Speaking of…if you’re like me and haven’t been to Hoedown in awhile, re-commit. You’ll be glad you did.

    Since the spreadsheet was blank for this one…EF Hutton took the reigns, and YHBBW (Your Humble Back Blast Writer, Marv!) said he’d be the one to write the Backblast. How much faith did Hutton have in that occurring? Probably little…little faith…but aha! it’s not yet 7bells on Monday and this bad boy is about to be posted.

    The Thang…

    Warm Ups…

    Dead Man Hang, Donald Quixote, Helicopters, Copper Head Squats, Imperial Walkers, Wilson’s Wife, Fud’s Wife, Mercans

    Mosey over to Spottswood for a Triple Check.

    Hand Release Mercans, Jump Squats, 100 (or so) yard run up the Spottswood Hill.

    Mosey over to church parking lot for continued Triple Check (there were, after all, only three of us)

    Wall Sits with Pigskin-esque exercises to choose from, WW2s, Run around the parking lot counter-clockwise.

    Mosey to Other parking lot with the coupons…

    Assortment of coupon exercises, including, but not limited to…Overhead presses, curls, swings, bench press, tricep press, copperhead squats, curls, squat thrust. Alabama Softball Players(?). 20x each. Couple of laps around the parking lot.

    Mosey Back to the Flag.

    American Hammers

    Frederick Mercuries

    Good to have Knight back with us after launching next week. You guys should get back to Hoedown this summer.

  • I’d Be at 1,000 if it Wasn’t for Marv

    For some, posting a backblast immediately after an AO is a responsible, courteous thing to do. After all, if you took the time to get up and get over to a workout, the very least the Q could do is recognize that you were there.

    For me, I think the world needs to slow down a little. Be patient. Exercise some grace as well as our bodies.

    For that reason, I like to post backblasts, oh…I don’t know…a solid month after the workout.

    As my mom used to say…”you don’t sleep as well if you have something hanging over your head.” She was right. Since May 8th, my sleep has been terrible.

    So….back on May 8th a legitimately good crew came out to Munford that day to traipse around the near west end. YHC actually tweaked a calf muscle early on in the run…something, ironically, that has been lingering for the last, um, month. (Maybe F3 mojo?)

    The thang….

    Pretty much the Marv RAMM special. Head up Hillcrest to Malvern. Enter into the land of Windsor. Left at the “T” across Cary…head all the way around to the 2nd time you see Dover. Left on Dover, across the median to Pocohontas….down to Hillcrest.

    4s can choose whatever way they wish to come back.

    5s circle around Hillcrest twice and exit…get to Oak and then get back.

    6s cirlce around Hillcrest twice and then up Charmain and out that way. A hairpin turn at the end of West Moreland to go back into Windsor. And then back to the flag.

    Sorry it took me so long to write this up. Zero excuse.

  • Hitch Can Do 6s

    Ahhhhh….the weather continues to be splendid on these late August mornings as a handful of F3 stalwarts gathered at Mary Munford’s elementary school for a jaunt around the near west end.

    As always, our good friend Hitchhiker showed up as the crew was leaving…with no 4s to join. It was mentioned that Hitch can do a triatholon so there’s really no reason he couldn’t easily keep up with the 6s. Especially wiht Phonics in the house. (Great to run with Phonics this morning, by the way! Best of luck to his crew this weekend in a intercollegiate cross country meet at Pole Green Park.)

    Above is the route. It’s Bodo’s all time favorite…and now probably Hitch’s as we saw him running down Charmian in a direction that wasn’t necessarily part of the original plan.

    I hope everyone has a really good Labor Day weekend.

  • It Occurred on a Tuesday

    We were moving mountains on a glorious Tuesday morning in the lower Tuckahoe Area. Normally, a trip up Mt. Henrico includes a jaunt up Julian to what is the highest point in Henrico County…the intersection of Julian and Parham.

    But not today.

    It’s been a good 7 years or so that we’ve been meeting every Tuesday to run around the leafy hoods of Henrico County’s west end, and we’ve never gone down Ridge Road. This is partly because, for a long time, it was pretty darn dangerous. Like, “hey, I’m Lockjaw, let’s run on that dangerous two lane road this morning” type dangerous.

    However, the Board Supervisors of Henrico, who we all voted for, have installed some pretty substantial bike lanes on Ridge heading down to Forest, so we figured we’d make that run for the first time.

    And it was glorious. I guess. I mean, it was fine…nice little diversion from Mt. Henrico.

    The Thang…

    The 4s ran the normal Mt. Henrico out 22.5 minutes and back. Pretty standard.

    5s and 6s did their normal Mt. Henrico out but ran past the right on Glendale (where the AZ Cardinals play) and continued on University which eventually turns into Glendale heading towards Ridge. It’s a pretty steep hill.

    Take a left on Ridge and head to Forest.

    The 5s cut through Bodo’s church lot to Lakewood and then back to the flag.

    The 6s took a right on Ziontown and then took a left on Holmes (Near Kanawha). Ending up on Sunset to Lakewood and then a lap around the lake…just shy of 6 miles but right at 45:00.

    Marv took us out.

  • Wait, You’re from Rochester too?

    An un-claimed Q-sheet brought a handful of guys to the land of Mary Munford and really no direction.

    Which brings up this question….do you have direction in your life right now? A vision? A goal? We should all have visions and goals of some sort…for us on this particular Friday morning we needed more direction and it came in this form.

    YHC told everyone to head north on Commonwealth and get to Monument…to run 22.5 minutes and to run back to the flag via a south on a street and Grove.

    Funny couple exchanges as welcome FNG Ridge (his real name, his F3 name is Body Armor, based on the fact that Ridge went to St. Johns and the dude that is funding Rick Pitino’s team is the same guy who created and sold Body Armor)….anyway, Ridge is introduced to Garbage Plate and immediately says “Are you from Rochester?” And, of course, GP is from Rochester. Small world. I also think there was another Rochester connection in there somewhere, maybe By-Product’s wife’s family(?), can’t really remember.

    Beautiful weather and a wonderful trip around the near west end of RVA…not a bad way to start the Friday.

  • Late but Not Forgotten

    If a backblast is updated two weeks after a run, does it still count? Look, some of you are classic overachievers, doing backblasts THE DAY of a run, or maybe even the next day. Anyone can do that…but it takes a special form of procrastination to wait a whole fortnight before posting…which is exactly what this post is. (Who knows where my son gets it).

    The Thang…

    This was the Spottswood run, up one of the nastier little short hills in Henrico County. Here’s how it went, or, in Bodo’s case…supposed to go…

    Head out towards the baseball diamond, hang a right up the first base line and then to the parking lot. Get to College Drive and take a right. Then a right on Lakewood, right on Wood, left on Baldwin…we know the drill. Across Westham and stay on Baldwin and 4s and 5s take a left on Rock Creek towards Forest, 6s go up one more block to Stuart Hall and take a left, also towards Forest.

    Everyone runs south on Forest to Spottswood. 4s and 5s go into that pocket neighborhood and do one lap, the 6s do two.

    From there, the 4s can just get back to the Flag any way they choose, preferrably south to Lindsay and then east to the flag.

    The 5s and 6s keep advancing down Forest to Ridge to Ziontown. Left into Ziontown and go all the way to University with the dogleg on Ralston. 5s get back to the flag from there, 6s could probably do one more block on Ralston and a left on Rose Hill…but we aren’t running that fast these days.

    YHC took us out.

  • Always Be Tapering

    A hearty crew of 11 showed up on Friday the 11th for a crisp morning trundle around the near west end.

    For the record…The Carrillon is finally open (that was news to me) and we got to run up the stairs for the first time since pre-COVID. Better late than never, huh?

    Also, for the record…the 4 mile Carrillon run looks like this…

    Out on Grove to Arthur Ashe.

    Right on Arthur Ashe (south) and that takes you to Idlewood.

    Right on Idlewood. Right on McCoy. Take McCoy to Cary St. Left on Cary St.

    Cary goes to Malvern. Right on Malvern, left on Grove and go to West Moreland and double back to Commonwealth.

    And that’s the 4 mile Carrilon route.

    Good to have Frozone at the Q from the great city of Savannah, GA. He and his family were heading up to DC with a stopover here in RVA.

  • Jericho? Not this Time

    All good things must come to an end.

    We’ve had a pretty good record in recent weeks doing the VCU Basketball Jericho Run around the Siegel Center.

    Quick refresher–If at all possible, I like to run around the arenas that the Rams are playing on my gameday runs. For home games in Richmond, that is the Siegel Center, which is about 3.3 miles, give or take from the Flag.

    With the influx of Friday night games, we’ve done it a few times this year…and Sippy has joined me on a Saturday or two for an un-authorized run. We also did it a few weeks ago around the Robins Center prior to the Rams road games at UofR.

    All runs have been fruitful as VCU hadn’t lost a home game all season.

    That came to an end on Friday as later that night a Max Shulga 3ptr clanked off the back iron and the Rams fell to Dayton by 3. Tough way to end the season as it quelled the momentum VCU had getting an at large bid. Nevertheless….a terrific season.

    A bunch of walkers headed out to do what they normally do. It’s good seeing those guys.

    The 5s and 6s headed towards the Stu, kind of meandering our way through the fan…ending up on Ryland and dumping out across the street from 1200 West Broad. A lap around the arena (we’ve been doing two laps…maybe that was the issue) and back from Broad to Lombardy to Monument. Then weaving our way through the boucolic streets of the nearer west end.

    Hope everyone pulls for the Rams in DC this weekend.