Author: Marv

  • The Walls Come Tumbling Down

    We’re going to begin this morning by turning in our bibles to Joshua 6:1-27….the Old Testament story about the walls of Jericho. Most are familiar with the story, if not, it’s a quick and good read. There’s some legit OT stuff in there about war and God’s power, and marching.

    Traditionally, if it is all logistically possible, on VCU Gamedays, I try to enact my own walls of Jericho situation by jogging around the arean in which the Rams will be playing later that day. Road games in general are hard to win, so I’m not always successful but it has led to some cool runs over the years including, but not limited to…

    That arena in Maui you watch the games from during Thanksgiving. Atlantis. Over the Brooklyn Bridge and back to Brooklyn on the Manhattan Bridge. St. Lake City (where the Utah Jazz play). Portland on the Portland River (where the Blazers play). Key Biscayne in Miami. Alamodome in San Antonio in 2011 on the run to the Final Four.

    Anyway, in full Jericho tradition the PAX ran 22:30 towards the Robins Center to get ready for the Richmond Area Honda Dealers Capital City Classic and then 22:30 back to Munford. Splinter and YHC were actually able to make it around the Robins Center and circle it. No trumpets were blown and no walls came down, but we SpiderNation should know we were there.

    Have a good weekend, fellas.

  • First Class Run

    Still not really even a hint of Fall in the air as 12 guys took their running talents through the hills of the Lower Tuckahoe neighborhood.

    By the way…how about the new lights around the pond at UofR?? It’s like running in the daylight…for real. There’s lights and then there’s LIGHTS…and UofR went all in on their LED lights around the pond. Bravo.

    Our route…

    –Towards the baseball field. Through the parking lot to College. Left on College and Right on University. Take University all the way to Ralston. Left on Ralston. Ralston ends at River…go right on River.

    The 4s…they are a bit like Moses…they get to the edge of the Promise Land (in this case, the Promise Land is Windsor on the James, which, if you own a house in that neighborhood and want to sell it, would be the Promise Land)….anyhoo, they get to the Promise Land and double back.

    The 5s get to go into the Promise Land…do a lap around the neighborhood…and double back.

    The 6s go into the Promise Land…do the lap, double back until Westham. Left on Westham, right on Baldwin, Right on Wood, Left on Lakewood. Right on College…then a lap around the pond…where we saw the incredible lights.

    YHC took us out.

  • It’s a Bear Thing

    A, reportedly, record breaking 14 men were seen in the gloom on this sub 60 degree, well before the crack of dawn, First Watch.

    An interesting note before we get started…

    –Who knew that some of the guys really do get together at 4:30 for Yoga. Here I was, this fledgling member of First Watch, thinking that the chatter on the text was pretty much tongue in cheek. No Sir. When they say that they are on the mat at 4:30 am, they are on the mat at 4:30am. I would say that I would never do that…but then again, I can remember thinking that I’d never do First Watch, yet here I am.

    It’s been awhile since YHC, HC’ued a boot camp style workout. When I say awhile, I probably mean over three years. Reading that in print is pretty embarrassing, YHC needs to probably jump into that a little more. That being said, we decided to go THEMATIC for the morning…”Build a Bear”.

    The Thang…

    The morning got off to an auspicious start with a huge freaking crane where we planned to circle up to warm up. That moved the circle to the relatively damp grass in front of the soon to be under construction church (either that or someone just left a crane there).

    10 Donkey Hoetees. 10 Helicopters. 20 Side Straddle Hops. 15 arm circles forward, 15 arm circles backwards. 10 mercans. 10 Ukranian Freedom Fighters

    Mosey south on River to Country Squire Lane.

    The “Build A Bear” instructions were, apparently, lacking to some of the Pax and the mumble chatter ramped up a bit. Fair enough. Essentially, we were going to do three different sets of partner exercises on three different hills around the neighborhood…each having to do with a bear (Bear Crawl, Crawl Bear (thanks for the assist on that one Kubota), Polar Bear). Whichever “Bear” exercise you did for your first one, you could NOT do at the next location. Had YHC had to do it over again, he would’ve said “We are going to three locations over the course of the Q, this is our first one, you have to choose one of the three Bear exercises…whichever one you choose, you cannot do in the next two heats.” But it didn’t come out that way.

    Handshake mentioned that while YHC can run fast, I’m not that efficient. That’s been a lifelong struggle, but I also invite Handshake to run with me on Friday morning for 45 minutes.

    The Q went up the Country Squire hill by the Goodwin house, which I think is finally finished. Or maybe it’s close to finished and they just park their crane by the church on off days.

    Q then went down Westham Station road and “Built the Bear” (get it?) on Overlook Drive.

    Arm Circles and Mercans at the bottom of the hill.

    Q then went up Westham Station road and “Built the Bear” up to Ross.

    Arm Circles and Mercans at Ross.

    “Built the Bear” (the 4th time, alternationg from Polar Bear to Bear Crawl to Crawl Bear” back to Country Squire Road.

    Executed three Richard Kimballs on the way back to the flag.

    COT–Iron Cross, 20 American Hammers, Spell “Build a Bear”, Superman’s (with song), 10 Mercans

    YHC Took Us Out.

    Great to have Monroe visiting us from Wilson, NC.

  • Always Be Tapering

    A week ago coming down Westham Station road, before we plowed up Panorama Drive, Faceplant said to no one in paticular “it’d be nice to see the sunrise on one of these runs” as he stared off over the Huguenot Bridge.

    He was right. It would be nice to see the sunrise as it seemed we were right in the sweetspot of a 6:15am peak above the horizon by the sun. Thus, YHC, sent 15 men over the Huguenot Bridge this morning in search of that picturesque scene that all of us could enjoy, despite the oppressive humidity.

    As it turns out, it was raining this morning.

    And also, I feel like we’ve missed the window for the sunrise, at least for the time being. Or maybe there really was never a window and the lights we saw last week were just the lights from the Huguenot Bridge. Either way, we’re going to have to wait to see the sunrise at another time.

    With the BRR this weekend, YHC thought it’d be a good idea to give everyone a nice, flat, tapering run to get all those participating in peak physcial shape for their mountainous journey Friday & Saturday. (For the first timers, the best route is the one that starts in Boone and heads down the mountain…especially if you get to do it in the middle of the night. Actually, all middle of the night runs are really cool).

    The route–The basic up river route. 22:30 out and 22:30 back. Bat cave to Huguenot Bridge…right on the ramp off the bridge then a left on Riverside. That takes the 6s to Rustic, which sucks out loud when you take it up. Then we all come back to the parking lot.

    Faceplant reminded everyone of the Beer Mile on the 29th of October.

  • That Thursday that No One Signed Up to Q

    Coming off a Q-Less RAMM on the 29th of July, 45 MOM wouldn’t be outdone as it was Q-Less as well. (Speaking of “XXX-less” I highly recommend “Smartless” if you are into podcasting and you like to laugh.)

    I’m pretty sure Hutton took the first 20, Chippendale the next 20 and YHC took us home. I do remember making everyone do two (2) Richard Kimballs…which truly are the worst.

    Tough couple of days for Proud Mary…being left at the altar by the google doc. Fortunately she had better days ahead.

  • One Day in July When No One Showed to Lead

    What do you do when 17 men show up on a July Friday to trundle around the City of Richmond and no one is there to lead them? From what I remember (it was over a month ago) I’m pretty sure everyone went their own way on this Q-Less Friday.

    The 6s did the Bodo’s Run…which takes you through Windsor Farms then down Pocahontas to Hillcrest. Couple of loops around Hillcrest then back up Charmain. Charmain turns to West Moreland and then you hairpin on Locke. Locke to Dover and then back to the flag. It’s the Bodo’s Run because there’s always some consternation from our friend named after the bagel shop when we run it as a group.

    Not sure what anyone else did.

  • A Left then A Right then a Left…

    It had been a decent spell since we traversed the difficult terrain of Mt. Henrico (or “Henricus” as they called it in the ancient times). Nevertheless, with the humidity pulsating and the heat rising, 16 men decided to grab our inner-sherpas, forget the debate between WordPress and Slack for 45 minutes and trundle to the peak of this wonderful county of ours.

    Here’s how you get to Mt. Henrico from the parking lot…

    A left. A right. A left. A left. A right. A Right. A left. A right. A left. A left. A right (5s, jump down to then next line) A left. (4s turn around and double back to the flag).

    A left. A right. A left. (6s double back to the flag)

  • Better Late than Never

    LockJaw didn’t show up on this day (August 27th) either to give us a route. Can’t really remember the routes taken by the group but I think it was pretty much a freestyle. Splinter, Faceplant and YHC ran the Bodos inspired Windsor Farm run.

    And that’s all I have to say about that.

    Sorry, sort of for waiting so long to post. For you Big Data people I know that it’s annoying.

  • He’s Like Yellow Dog from Funny Farm

    Every now and then there’s a reference that is simply too good not to mention on the BackBlast. Yes, Chevy Chase is known for much, much more than his role in the very pedestrian movie “Funny Farm”. But he made it during at time when he was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, coming off blockbusters like the Vacation franchises and Fletch.

    So those of us who are a certain age all saw “Funny Farm.” From what I can remember, I was very underwhelmed. Needless to say, it’s not one that I’m dying to show my 14yo (unlike Fletch, Vacation and, at some point after he’s 16, the un-edited version of Caddyshack”.

    I do remember one pretty funny part of the movie and that was the continual plot thread of the yellow dog just running around the Chase’s property. This morning, out of nowhere as the gloom was beginning to lift, Big Tennessee brought out the ultimate of late 80s references comparing Saab to “Yellow Dog from Funny Farm”. It was right on the mark and a truly classic line.

    And classic lines should be written about in the bACKbLAST.

    No LockJaw today so we were kind of on our own to make up a route. The group was leaning towards Reverse Carrilon, but instead decided to head north towards Monument Avenue.

    4’s–Up Commonwealth, east on Monument, turn around at Boulevard, back to the flag.

    5’s–same thing to Monument, turn around at Strawberry, back to the flag.

    6’s–same thing to Monument, turn around at the circle where the Robert E. Lee statue was once located.

    Saab–Just running around like Yellow Dog in Funny Farm.

    You guys have a good weekend.

  • Deal with the Carillon

    A lively and plucky bunch, most of whom were looking for some relief of the humidity by way of a bicycle, showed up at Mary Munford’s Elementary School on Friday. It’s been really, really hot lately…like, the kind of heat that when you walk outside you just get mad. It’s August, so it’s really no one’s fault that it is so hot, but when someone recommended an Amateur RAMM Gears, it seemed to make sense to a good amount of people.

    YHC originally signed up to lead the PAX on a jog around the near west end…maybe a new route that no one would follow, maybe an old route that no one follow, maybe something that no one has any idea what it is. Upon hearing from Splinter on Thursday that there was an Amateur RAMM Gears on Friday, YHC figured most would be up for that and the runners would be a small number (as they’ve been lately at Munford).

    So YHC borrowed a bike from a buddy and woke up five minutes earlier than normal to tighten up the seat and get it into the car. Why didn’t I do all that the night before? I’m not sure, but I’ll keep that in mind this fall when I get on my 14yo so about being lazy.

    Or maybe I won’t.

    Anyway, shockingly, the bike didn’t originally fit in the back of the 2015 Honda Accord. Who saw that coming? After a few tries I decided to see if I could open the window and stick the wheels out. Sure enough, that worked. Eureka! Of course, that left 7 minutes to get to Munford, normally a 9 minute drive. So YHC did about 75 down River and up Cary…smart move.

    Fortunately, I didn’t get caught behind any lights or slow cars and pulled in with about 45 seconds to spare to give the runners…of which there were more than normal…the route. “Carillon”. That was met with some considerable consternation, for reasons passing understanding. YHC feels like it’s been a bit since we’ve run that nostalgic route.

    So off they go and YHC grabs his bike and begins the breeze feeling RAMM Gears Amateur hour. About 50 yards into the trip one of the more experienced Gear guys mentions that I have a flat tire and “You’re not going anywhere on that thing.”

    Nice.

    Dumped the bike, went for a reverse carillon run, YHC thinking I’d meet up with the regular carillon runners who, you know, theoretically should be running in my direction. Yet I never ran into them. No one saw that coming.

    Awesome to have 25 guys out there in some way shape or form. Next time, Saab, I’ll put together a new and intricate route that will make up for this one.