Author: Marv

In a November tradition like no other, Tuckahoe stalwart Saab took the Tuesday morning to get a run and a vote in at the same time, leaving MARV to type the backblast…which means it’s coming a few days, weeks or in some cases months late. Marv ain’t all that great in typing backblasts when it is his Q….even worse when no one snags the Q and he tells himself that it’s a good idea to go ahead and lead that day…and then there’s the least likely way to get a timely backblast…when he fills in for someone else.

Nevertheless, here’s the ol’ review of Tuesdays Election Day run.

Took the old school way out of UofR (non bat cave) to River and then to Westham Station. Up Highland and back to Westham Station…then up the hill. We found ourselves on Westham in the neighborhood…right on Waveny which turns into Wood. Wood to University, University back to the flag. 5s and 4s did a variation of that.

Saab also did a variation of that, which included taking a detour to vote, which is something he’s done since the creation of Spider Run.

A solid dozen dudes posted on a “the heat is on it’s way” morning in the near west end. While the temperatures were hanging in the mid-60s, you could feel the humidity creeping in.

There was chatter before about the origins of the Spider Run. YHC is pretty sure it was birthed by Saab and me once things at Mary Munford got cemented. That said, I don’t feel like the historical “Fudd Run” was founded after Spider Run was launched. Like, it predated it…somehow. Not sure if that makes sense or if there were runs in the near west end/Westham area prior to Spider Run becoming an official AO but it was a topic of conversation this morning.

To that end, it was a bit of a Fudd Run this morning through the hills of Westham.

4s, 5s, 6s got into the Westham neighborhood through the standard Robins Center Parking lot, College Road, Lakewood, Wood, Baldwin.

4s and 5s took Baldwin to Hollins to Woodberry. 4s took Woodberry to Westham and then back to Baldwin and back to the flag.

5s went across Westham to Horsepen…Horsepen to Devon to Ridgetop…Left on Chandler(!)…up Chandler back to Gardiner. Gardiner hits Wheeler…cross the bridge back to campus…then launch to Boatright to Three Chopt. Uturn on Three Chopt back to to the flag with a bit of a lap around the lake in there…YHC apologizes as it seems that was a wee bit short.

6s actually went Rock Creek to Sweet Briar to Woodberry to Hollins. Hollins to Baldwin to Brookside…Brookside to Bryn Mawr back to Woodberry. From there, the same as the 5s without the trip around the lake.

On the run there was a cute yard sign that congratulated a preschooler on graduation. A few of us on the run raised an eyebrow at that early congrats…but then again, what gets celebrated gets repeated and who doesn’t want a graduation to be repeated in Elementary School, Middle School and obviously high school.

While the county of Henrico has many amazing vistas…coming over the railroad tracks on Hillard off of Staples Mill, pulling into the Costco parking lot on a Saturday, Sandston…there’s nothing quite like that scene between 5:50 and 6:00 am when you arrive at the highest point in the county, the seat apex, if you will and you find yourself at the crest of Mt. Henrico.

The Blue Ridge Bank (with electric charging stations (@Faceplant, @Sippy). The Burger King. The CAA Offices (did you know that they are no longer the Colonial Athletic Association, but the Coastal Athletic Association? Thirteen years ago that league had JMU, ODU, VCU all playing quality hoops against each other and UofR making up what was widely regarded as the best FCS football league in the country. Now all those schools are gone, including UofR, who bolted to the Patriot League for football).

I digress.

Anyway, it was a georgeous morning to grab your oxygen tank, your sherpa and your SLR Camera to head to the Zenith of all things Henrico at the intersection of Julian and Parham…which is exactly what a dozen post Memorial Day exercising guys did.

The thang…

Lakeview to the parking lot by the baseball field. (Anyone know what they are doing on the baseball field at UofR?). Down to College. College to Lakewood to Wood to Baldwin. I mean, we all know this, right…kinda playing the hits here. Baldwin gets ya to Rock Creek which, if you take a leo, you end up at Forest. Forest to the other University, not to be confused with the one 1 mile away. University all the way to Glendale (like where the Arizona Cardinals play, thanks @Splinter) to Julian. Run to the end of Julian…take a deep breath, think about all those fantastic CAA Tournament basketball games in the Coliseum, turn around and head home.

Where have you gone, Eric Maynor?

For the first time since the dog days of summer someone other than Lockjaw or Splinter showed up at Spider Run with a route to run. YHC joined twelve guys at the lowest point in the Tuckahoe Area (not an official measurement) to run around the hills of Westham on a beautifully cool and crisp morning.

The Thang–

Everyone to College Road via the baseball field parking lot. Right on Lakewood and left on Wood. This should all be very familiar. From there, Aha!, it takes a bit of a change…instead of the normal right on Baldwin, everyone went left…and we took that to Woodberry. Left on Woodberry.

The 4s-Take a left on Sweet Briar…to Stuart Hall. Left on Stuart Hall and a left on Baldwin. Baldwin to Westham, to Baldwin…right on Wood, left on Lakewood…then back to the flag.

The 5s…They went Woodberry to Hollins. Left on Hollins then right on Baldwin to the top up to Patterson. Back down Baldwin to Westham. Westham to University to College to the parking lot…back to the flag.

The 6s…They went left on Baldwin after Hollins…right on Rock Creek…left on Forest and then right on Spottswood. There’s a loop on Spottswood to take that more or less dumps you back out on Forest. Left on Forest, right on Rock Creek…right on Baldwin. Then pick up the 5s trail on the way back to the flag.

Full disclosure…I think YHC days of running 6 in 45 minutes are pretty much over. The crew had a brisk pace this morning and I wasn’t really close to running 7:30s. Anyway, I think 6 mile routes are worth brining up…but know there may be an extra minute or two at the end that you wait for YHC to come trundling in.

When I turned the car on after the workout this morning the themometer read “85”…at 6:35am in the morning. 85. Now, there’s some variance on that temperature, when I turn it on in the middle of the afternoon it can read 105 and then it quickly drops, but still.

Eventually the temperature, on the way home, dropped to 78, but stil…

Just going to be transparent here as someone who has logged my fair share of workouts, both boot camps and runs…you dudes can have 78 degrees in the summer. Count me out. Call me whatever you want to call me, I’ll gladly wear it, and I’ll gladly find something else to do on mornings where it’s over 75.

I’ll miss you those mornings, I really will. And I’ll see you when it’s 3 degrees (or more) cooler.

The Thang…

This was your basic UofR to Hillcrest in the City run. It’s fun to cross the county lines, in my opinion. That’s a unique part of Spider Run…you can truly get to, what, three different municipalities from the launching point at the UofR commons? You can get across the river into Chesterfield (right? Or is that a bit more down Huguenot road?) and then into the city, and obviously Henrico.

For this morning, we shot out of UofR, up Towana, south on Three Chopt to Grove. Grove to Oak and then Oak to Hillcrest. From there you were out and back depending on what your watch said. The 6s got a couple of loops of Hillcrest in, for what it’s worth.

But still…78…just too darn hot.

A good crew headed up the mountain this morning, the mountain of Henrico. For those that are new to the program, it’s named Mt. Henrico because the top of Julian and Parham it’s known to be the hightest point of the entire land of Henrico County. There and back from UofR, ironically, is about 6 miles…if you do the Arlington Road circle twice.

Anyway, sorry for the belated backblast.