Author: Marv

  • A Nostalgic Crew

    The 1/21 SpiderRun had a very old school feel to it. A hearty crew of 19 veterans set out in the low 20s weather to jaunt around the Greater Tuckahoe Area. Here’s the thang…

    Lap around the lake (Heading towards the baseball field). Back at the flag hang a right on Richmond Way and then a right up the hill. At the top of the hill, jump on College Ave towards Boatright. Head down Boatright past the football stadium (on the left) and all the way to Lakewood. We then go to a modified Fudd Run.

    Lakewood to Wood…hang a right on Wood.

    The 4s—Wood to a right on Baldwin. Baldwin kind of winds around, it turns into Hampshire, then a quick minute on Horsepen then Ridge Top. (The QIC now looking on googlemaps how this could be easily messed up. He apologizes) Anyway, RidgeTop to Chandler. Right on Chandler…all the way to the top of Chandler. Back down to Gardiner. Left on Gardiner, then through the bridge/natural area. Back on Boatright to College Ave. College Ave to the parking lot by Pitt Field. Then back to the flag. (Sorry Singer, my problem was that I was looking at Bleeder when giving directions and he seemed to know exactly what I was talking about).

    The 5s….The 5s take the right on Wood. Then left on Baldwin. Then right on Westham and take that all the way to Woodberry. Woodberry hits Horsepen. Horsepen to Devon. Right on Devon, right on Ridgetop. Left on Chandler. Back down to Gardiner. Left on Gardiner, then through the bridge/natural area. Back on Boatright to College Ave. College Ave to the parking lot by Pitt Field. Then back to the flag.

    The 6s….The 6s go across Westham and stay on Baldwin. Marv picks up Onions. Right on Rock Creek. Rock Creek merges into Sweet Briar, Sweet Briar to Woodberry. Woodberry hits Horsepen. Horsepen to Devon. Right on Devon, right on Ridgetop. Left on Chandler. Back down to Gardiner. Left on Gardiner, then through the bridge/natural area. Then right on Boatright all the way to the top to Three Chopt. Back down Boatright. College Ave to the parking lot by Pitt Field. Then back to the flag.

    The QIC didn’t tell the quicker 6s about the Boatright detour…again, on him.

    Hope everyone pulls for those VCU Rams this weekend.

  • OddsMakers

    Eleven jubilant runners decided to brave the early morning rain to trundle around the Near West End on this, the third day of January.

    According to those that going around 5am, it was coming down pretty hard at Munford for the start of the rain. By the time the remainder of the Pax got there at 5:30 it had turned into a light rain and had cleared pretty much by the end of the Q. Temperatures were about a running-weather perfect 49 degrees.

    The Thang…

    Only 4s and 6s today…which actually gave the QIC a break because his 5 mile run was more like 5.45.

    Immediately head EAST right up Wilmetta and then to Kingscrest and on to Malvern. South on Malvern…across Cary and into the lovely Windsor Farm neighborhood.

    From there, bear left on Canterbury….take that all the way around, past Bleeder’s house, and then a left on Dover. Dover Dead Ends at Locke. Left on Locke.

    Take Locke all the way down to one Stuart Siegel’s property at the end of lock. Circle around his little entrance there and the 4s take Locke all the way back to Grove. East on Grove and then back to the flag.

    The 6s cut from Locke to Pocahontas and that deadends at Hillcrest. 3/4 of a lap around Hillcrest (2nd time this week for many) and then right on Charmian (for the 2nd time this week…if there’s a steeper hill in any Qs than Charmian, I’d like to see, but not necessarily run on, it).

    Charmian turns into West Moreland but somehow spits you out slightly west of Munford on Grove….running right by Bleeder’s church where there is a playground named after him. Right on Grove and back to the flag.

    Notes: The QIC used to run part of this route all the time prior to his F3 days (there should be a name for that, like B-F3…but something better than “B-F3″…maybe FartSackLandia or something.) Anyway, what the QIC never really noticed was that Dover stretched all the way across the lovely Windsor Farms neighborhood…so, unfortunately…many of the PAX took Dover when they crossed it the first time. That led to all kinds of confusion and an embarrassed QIC.

    Speaking of the embarrassed QIC, the 6s missed the turn on Dover and ended up, somehow, on Cary. QIC’s phone was in his heavily insulated pocket, so it had no clue where it was. From Cary they went west and then South on Locke to head down to Mr. Siegel’s. We will do this run again in the very near future so to get it right for the 4s and 6s.

    Somehow, we crossed paths on a few occasions with the boys that leave at 3:30am (Swirly, TYA, Lug). The odds of that are pretty small IMO. We haven’t run the lovely Windsor Farms route in awhile but we did, without communicating with the group that leaves 2 hours earlier…yet there they were, pretty much running a similar route. Relatively long odds, I would say.

    And I’m being serious…I want to know a steeper hill that Charmian.

  • RAMM is Just Fine

    It has been a rocky 4th quarter for one of the OG AOs, RAMM. Depending on who you chat with there’s been some splitting up, some loss of bikers and just some overall general malaise. There’s been some rough numbers at RAMM over the last few weeks, but, with 17 hearty men showing up this morning at 5:30…

    RAMM IS BACK BABY!!

    And to celebrate, we ran on truly, in my humble opinion, one of the best running streets in all of America…Monument Avenue. Add in some Christmas lights by those that don’t care about their power bill or don’t have a timer, and it made for a terrific mid-December trundle.

    Here’s the THANG.

    Everyone North on Commonwealth

    Everyone East on Monument

    4s–South on Boulevard, west on Grove, back to ol Mary

    5s–South on Meadow, west on Grove, back to Proud Mary

    6s–South on Harrison, west on Grove, back to Bloody Mary.

    Everyone have a terrific weekend….here’s my email address if you’d like tickets to the VCU Game on Sunday rrobinson@vcusportsproperties.com.

  • Dog Days of Winter

    You are looking live at an unseasonably warm December day on the campus of the University of Richmond. This morning, fourteen men, and an energetic K-9, have gathered by the duck pond of one of the Southeast’s most expensive universities. Over the next 45 minutes, they will motivate themselves to run for forty-five, yes, forty-five consecutive minutes…beginning right here at 5 Richmond Way, and ending right here at 5 Richmond Way.

    Some of these men will decide to run six miles. Other’s four. Another group will trundle for five miles.

    But the story of the day is the addition of a two year old mixed breed, aptly named Onions. Onions will not start with the PAX, but there’s no doubt that she’ll finish with them and drag MARV along with him…down the hill from Baldwin.

    It’s a tremendous atmosphere here among the trees of the University of Richmond…we’ll take a break, when we come back, we’ll start the race, the race we call Spider Run.

    The Thang

    Start at Richmond Way. Take a right at the baseball field…for the fours & fives…left between Robins Center and Football Stadium…for the 6s right beyond the right field wall of the baseball field.

    Everyone left on college…right on Lakewood…left on Westham…right on University.

    4s get to Ralston from University and then turnaround and double back.

    5s and 6s take a left on Ralston, run by the Grinch Christmas Mobile to River Road. 5s turn around and double back from River Road.

    6s take a right on River, then a left at Windsor on the James. Take the “first class loop” all the way around their neighborhood (commented that there weren’t a lot of Christmas lights on).

    6s double back but take a left on Ridge. Then Right on Rock Creek. Right on Baldwin. That’s when we stopped to grab MARV’s Onions. Baldwin across Westham and then across Wood…cut through Fraternity Row, back to the Flag via the Robins Center parking lot where more people had the chance to caress MARV’s Onions.

    6s Coversation Topic of the day–Rodents of different sizes. Humor Genes.

  • Eight Men Out

    Baseball has always been an enormous part of my life. Since as long as I could remember I loved playing the game, watching the game and generally being around the game. I have no idea where the passion came from, neither my Mom or my Dad had any interest in it at all when I was growing up. I don’t remember an uncle or a friend introducing it to me. I guess I just found it when I was young, and it stuck.

    I was incredibly blessed to be born left handed. For that reason, and really that reason only, I was able to play baseball in college. Left handed pitchers are hard to come by, and I was one…and I guess, all things considered, I was good enough for some college coach to recruit me and want me to play for their team.

    Spending four years on a college baseball team was pretty much like spending four years of my life in a sitcom. It was non-stop laughter. Not stop jokes. And absolutely non-stop ball busting. I mean, Professional Ball Busting.

    Look, no doubt, we can give eachother a hard time at an AO…and it’s funny and we all get a kick out of it. But it PALES, dramatically, to somewhat intelligent baseball players in college…many of whom were from above the Mason Dixon Line.

    Not surprisingly, it took some time to get used to. Early on my freshman year…and, honestly, throughout my whole career, I was a pretty easy target. Put a non athletic left handed pitcher with a big nose on the squad with those guys and it’s like throwing chum in shark infested waters.

    I can distinctly remember calling home and lamenting to my Mom. (Who else are you going to lament to, in that case…the strength coach?) And Mom would remind me about her first job when we moved to NOVA when I was 16. Mom worked for the Fairfax Government in the adoption services division. Here she was, this distinctly southern woman working with all these government working grizzled veterans. What she would tell me is this…

    “David, you just have to keep being yourself. Keep loving on them. Keep ‘killing them with your kindness’ and they’ll soon figure out that you are genuinely that nice…and they won’t help but like you.”

    At the time, it was counter to the advice I wanted, which was “just punch them in the face”. But in the end, it was about the only way I knew how to handle the situation (do you know any un-athletic left handed pitchers who could win a fight? Me either.)

    There were times during college that I was close to pulling the rip cord and wanted to transfer. It just wasn’t worth it in the end, I thought. But I heeded Mom’s advice and did what she told me to do.

    All those guys are really good friends of mine now. Mom was exactly right. I go to football tailgates and it’s all laughs and hugs and chuckles. They still bust my balls…but usually pretty funny and well deserved. Again, Mom was exactly right.

    So here’s to you, Sandy Robinson…here’s to you bee-bopping into that 5th floor in Fairfax County with a smile on your face…just loving on those county government workers until they loved you right back. I hope you know how much I miss getting a bit of that love here on earth.

    The Thang

    Donald Quixote X12

    Helicopters X9

    Side Straddle Hops X42

    Arm Circles X15, Reverso X 15 (did this twice)

    Russian Soldiers X12

    Hillbillies X15

    Arm Circles X15, Reverso X 15 (twice)

    Mosey to the west end of the TES Blacktop for baseball-esque agilities.

    Head East at your own pace on the Blacktop. At the end do 5 burpees. Head back and do 5 mercans.

    PAX then did the following agilities Kareokes

    Ballerinas

    Straight Steal of 2nd

    Left Handed Pickoff Move Steal (Needs to be a better tutorial on this) (twice)

    Tag Up at Third

    Mosey to the Bottom of Lindsay

    Explained “Bat Pole’s” to the PAX. A Bat Pole is when you run with your hands over your head, as if you were holding a bat over your head. The Genesis of this was when our team got caught violating curfew one night and the next day we had to run with a weighted bat over our head for about 45 minutes.

    Bat Pole run halfway up Lindsay and Back

    42 Lunges to halfway up Lindsay and Bat Pole Back

    Bat Pole Arm Circles…clockwise, counter clockwise…X9

    Bat Pole run halfway up Lindsay

    Partner Up….Partner Bear Crawls while other runs to the top of Lindsay. Rotate

    Bat Pole Arm Circles, clockwise/counterclockwise…X9

    Bat Pole run to the bottom of Lindsay

    42 Lunges up Lindsay, Bat Pole run to the top

    Arm Circles X15

    Back to the Flag

  • “Daddy, it’s Push Yourself, Don’t Hurt Yourself.”

    A hearty 26 1.0s and 2.0s descended on Dogwood Dell for the WTBS SuperStation 7:05 start of Puppy Pile on the first Saturday in July, which today happened to be the last Saturday in June. Due to a team building email from Marv for his Little League All Star team, we had a good amount of FNGs that are preparing to take on the likes of Tuckahoe, Huguenot, Mechanicsville and more starting next week.

    The Thang:

    Mosey to the big circle west of the Carrilion. Our good friends at the City of Richmond haven’t mowed that grass for awhile…kind of reminds the QHC of his current yard status.

    COP

    Fifteen Side Straddle Hops. Ten Donald Quixotes. Ten Imperial Walkder. Fifteen arm circles, forward and fifteen backwards (don’t drop your arms). Ten Hillbillies. Five ‘mercans.

    Mosey to the big field (called Mr. Tumnus’s field. A few years ago I was walking back to my car with some friends after a concert at Dogwood. My friend was complaining that Dogwood Dell could be better, more engaging with more things to look at…”like a statue park” he said. I replied “Like Mr. Tumnus and the animals in the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe?” Anyway…

    Partner carries back and forth to the end of the field. Two sets. If a 1.0 had 2 X 2.0’s then he carried one to the end and the other back. This is not easy no matter the 2.0 size. Also, should be noted, it may be easier to carry a 170lb dude who is holding on tight than an 80lb dude who is just acting as dead weight.

    Mosey to the south side of the Carrillon.

    We played HTF. Or…Hide the Frisbee. 1.0s would take two frisbees and hide them behind trees while 2.0s would do LBCs. Upon the finishing of the hiding the 2.0s would go look. When they went to a tree that didn’t have the frisbee, they were required to do 5 Side Straddle Hops. They were really bad at following this particular instruction.

    We then played HTD….or Hide the Dad. Dad’s would hide behind the trees and 2.0s would come find. If they came to a tree that wasn’t their 1.0, they owed 5 SSHs. Again, not all that compliant.

    Fifteen monkey squats when we returned to the home base. The Q was then flipped to Sippy Cup.

    Sippy Cup takes us back to Mr. Tumnus’ field and sets out four cones.

    1st Cone-Crabwalk and Back

    2nd Cone–Bear Crawl and back

    3rd Cone–Bunny Hop and Back

    4th Cone–Sprint and back

    Four different legs…do whatever you didn’t do the last time so you complete all four. (Bunny hopping 30yards and back is a bit of a grind).

    Break Out the Whammo. Toss the whammo and run until it hits the ground (staying in the Tumnus Field). Once it hits the ground you have to do an exercise until you get there. Exercises (in no particular order)— Skip, Frog Hop, Bunny Hop, Sprint.

    Mosey to the roundabout east of the Carrilon. Circle up shoulder to shoulder in plank position. Cup, Sippy gives instructions on moving forward, right, left, back…all whilst planking.

    Then the 1.0s lineup to install a 2.0 Tunnel of Love Army Crawl style. Activate that.

    “The Farmer and the Dell” is playing tonight in the amphitheater…to celebrate there were random cutouts of wooden vegetables around the roundabout (and some fruit as well). 2.0s and 1.0s had to find their favorite food and take a lap around. Then had to do it again…get to their favorite food..then another lap to their least favorite food. (QHC did cucumbers and cabbage. How everyone didn’t end up on cabbage, I’m not sure).

    Back to the flag for a ring of fire of 10 mercans.

    As much as I love all the Qs…or at least all of the ones I’ve been to…none of them compare to the 2.0 workout. To get the kids out there having fun, exercising, pushing themselves and spending time with their 1.0 is the highlight of the week. Thanks to all the guys who showed up today, I hope your brood enjoyed it as much as mine did.

    PostGame Notes–

    Congrats to Splinter’s son’s Little League all star team. They won the prestigious District 5 10 year old tournament and will now advance to the state tournament in a few weeks in Norfolk.

    Hahahaha, very funny on all the comments below about me writing up a backblast.

    Splinter and I both enjoyed our little tour of SOJ this week…ya’ll were right nice to host us. It started off by just us wanting to get a run in and also home run derby…after Splinter’s LL team kept winning…we decided we couldn’t break the streak. Plus, we were fascinated by the rotting carcass of the deer on Huguenot road. Originally the thought was to stand it’s rigor mortis-ed body up in the median with an F3 shirt on. That plan was punted and then we just couldn’t wait to see how much it had rotted. Anyway, thanks for the SOJ hospitality.

    Finally, and I can’t believe it was my Q that it happened…but was told afterwards by Fudd that “this was it.” This was truly his last F3 in Richmond, at least as someone that wasn’t truly visiting. What can we say about Fudd that hasn’t already been said? Obviously he is a terrific father and a really good friend. Considering my only interactions with Fudd, really, have been between 5:30 and 6:15 in the morning, it’s incredible how many funny memories I have of him. Fudd, may you and your family bloom where you are transplanted in Denver. Best of luck out west and don’t be a stranger.

  • All Kinds of Suck Right Here

    Terrific trot today for a hearty group of Spider Runners. It is the opening of college basketball season, and prior to F3, my ritual would be to try to run around the arena where the Rams were playing. F3 punted that ritual, but I wanted to give it a go this morning, somewhat modified, as we essentially circled El Center de Robins.

    Busy day for me, so here’s the quick MOLESKIN.

    Richmond Way to Claiborne Stadium. Left there to Boatright. Boatright to Lakewood to Wood to Baldwin (modified Fudd Runn here). Baldwin all the way up to Hollins. Right on Hollins, Right on Woodberry.

    4 Milers take a right on Westham and head back to the Commons from there (Baldwin, Wood, Lakewood, south of Robins Center).

    5 & 6 Milers Head to the dead end at Horsepen. Right on Horsepen, hairpin turn on Patterson to Ridge Top.

    Then we all get to do Chandler.

    5 Milers do it twice and 6 Milers do it three times. It came a bit out of the vault, did Chandler, and it hasn’t gotten a lot easier since we did it probably a year (or more!) together. Chandler to Gardiner, through the woods and home.

    6 Milers went back to Ridgetop, then to Hempstead, to Wood, to Lakeside then home.

    Pretty hilly run.

    Now to more important stuff. I’ve got a suite open tonight for the VCU game, one of the few times all year it has been unsold. If you would like to go, shoot me an email rrobinson@vcusportsproperties.com and I can leave you tickets. Pretty much could be an F3 night at the suite if enough of you want to go. Either way, if you want to go to the game tonight…tip off at 7pm, let me know.

  • KYP

    A hearty 8 1.0’s and 2.0’s made it out to October’s rendition of PuppyPile. After an all night Nor’easter and a legit threat of rain in the area, the normally robust group of 2.0s and 1.0s shrunk a little bit…mainly because most of us exercised the sports adage–KYP. Know Your Personnel. You see, I know my personnel (AKA, my 2.0s) and rain and low 50s wasn’t going to make anyone happy. For us, “Push Yourself, don’t hurt yourself” is a challenge, a badge of honor, a motto to get us to do one more Merican or Burpee. For 2.0s, well, it doesn’t mean the same thing.

    That said, the thought of TYA or Swirly or anyone giving me a hard time for not showing up for a Q was too much to take, so I found myself 2.0-less but out there at 7:05, ready to roll with 7 others who’s personnel has no problems whatsoever with a little rain and cold weather.

    The THANG

    Moseyed to The Carrillon bricks and got into the COT.

    15 Side Straddle Hops
    11 Helicopters
    8 Don Quixote’s
    15 Arm Circles (forwards and reverso)
    Burpees OYO (either your age or 1/4 or your age to the nearest even number)
    Hillbillies

    We then had a quick demonstration on how to do the following exercises…
    Monkey Squatters (verbiage cleaned up for 2.0)
    Polar Bears
    Bear Crawl

    The Pax then moseyed to the activity trail (not sure what the name of that trail is that we did the race on last month) and started at the two chin-up bars. The goal was to do exercises that got us all around the trail, one full lap.

    We started by doing “Relay 11s”

    Pair Up (fortunately, Sippy has two 2.0s at the Q, so I grabbed Blue Collar as my partner)

    One Partner Does 11 Mericans while the other broad jumps (or bunny hops) down the trail. Once the partner catches the jumper/hopper, they switch off. 2 sets

    The Combos–
    Monkey Squats / Broad Jumps
    Mericans / Lunges
    Burpees / Polar Bears (3 sets)

    The Burpee / Polar Bear combination was surprisingly brutal. Could possibly have taken it to a new level for a 2.0 workout.

    From there, we did an Indigenous Person run for about an 1/8th of a mile. Following that, we did the same thing while carrying their partner. Hat tip to Tyson, our 13 year old 2.0 of Sippy, who carried Sippy for that 1/8th of a mile.

    After gathering back up, we did a ‘still trying not to get really wet’ version of Touch a Tree. But this time, we used the exercise stations on the trail which included, but were not limited to…

    -climbing up and over bars around 8 feet in the air
    -parallel bars
    -squats while holding on to a pole

    More indigenous running until we happened upon monkey bars. The Q traversed those with ease.
    More indigenous running until we got to a wall. We all jumped over the wall with relative ease.

    Back to the flag for the Burpee Shuffle. Kudos to our FNG Gamer for calling out three burpees on a day where we did quite a few. Very much throwing down the gauntlet in his 4 1/2 year old 2.0 way.

    After looking at Big Data, Vinny remarked how Puppy Pile, pound for pound, gets the most attendance each time we have it. And he’s right. We have been averaging around forty or so each Saturday that we do it. That number, with the rain and the cool climes, will take a bit of a hit after this weekend. That’s ok, however, as all of us don’t have to worry about sniffles or sick days because we followed through on “push yourself but don’t hurt yourself.”

    Here’s to the weather looking good at the end of November for us to continue Puppy Piles into the winter.

  • 47 1/2 Hour Grace Period

    Were there times over the last 47 1/2 hours that I could’ve written this PuppyPile Backblast? Absolutely? But that time would’ve taken away from weekend family time…time sitting on the couch watching football, time where the family is watching me do yardwork, time where I’m sitting on the couch watching the US get hammered in the Ryder Cup. And ultimately, wouldn’t that crush the spirit of PuppyPile? Spending quality time with our kids, not on the computer typing away like we do all day.

    Which leads me to this handy new revelation–the new IOS on my phone has a “screen time” measuring app–so it tells you how long you’ve been on the screen. It’s scary! Did I really spend 4 hours on my screen? That seems a bit excessive. Maybe it counts my son’s IPad time as well? I hope so.

    All that being said, a hearty crew of 34 dads and their beloved 2.0s gathered at PuppyPile 47 1/2 hours ago to grind out a 55 minute bootcamp.

    The THANG

    COP
    Twelve Side Straddle Hops
    11 Helicopters
    10 Donald Quixotes
    15 Arm Circles Forward
    15 Arm Circles Backwards
    15 Hillbillies
    5 Mercans

    Mosey to the large field in front of the Carrillon (which was half mowed, for those wondering)
    Partner Carry (2.0s on the backs of 1.0s) to the end of the field (traversing the 2 feet of grass). Run back. Head North again on the field. Partner Carry Back. If more than 1 X 2.0, the other 2.0 does side straddle hops while the partner carry is going on.

    5 X Boo-yah Mercans

    Relay race–Down and Back X 2 while partner(s) are doing a mini Bernie Sanders up and down the small hill in front of the Carrillon.

    5 x Boo-yah Mercans

    Hot Potato to LockJaw

    Partner Up someone of similar size. Wheel Barrow from west and back east on the halfway mowed field. At the far west side, 5 X Boo-yah Mercans.

    Wheel barrow back east and do 20 PLTs (I think, I mean, it has been 47 1/2 hours).

    Mosey to wooden stage behind the Carrillon.
    At this point, Splinter does this really peculiar interpretive dance, on the stage, to a Lady Gaga song that none of us knew. It was definitely something different, and its up for debate on how it fit into the Q, but it did allow us some time of reflection and it may have brought me closer to my Veep, my 2.0. Either way, thanks Splinter for that 4 1/2 minute rest.

    Touch a Tree–
    Touch 5 trees while doing donkey kicks
    Touch 6 trees while doing scissor kicks
    Touch 7 trees while doing WW2 sit ups

    Hot potato to Splinter
    Did a triple check variation with only two people. So a double check
    Run to the Carrillon fence while partner is on the stage doing WW2 sit ups
    Run to the Carrillon fence while partner does XXXXX
    Run to the Carrillon fence while partner does “Man Ups” (A Man Up is where you hoist yourself onto the stage and then jump back down. It’s like a box jump but you use your arms).

    Mosey to the half mowed field.

    Separate teams to 2.0s vs 1.0s. And what would a PuppyPile be without a vigorous game of sharks and minnows. This variation was that the sharks were bear crawling and the minnows were crabwalking. This made it extremely challenging for the minnows as a bear is much quicker and more agile than a shark. Splinter called an audible, extended the field and we all went back to the old school bear is the minnow and the shark is crabwalking.

    Back to the flag.

    Burpee Lake was pretty dry…so didn’t have a chance to use that one this time.

    Sorry for the late, Q, everyone…thanks again for coming out. It’s terrific to get the kids out there in the gloom.

  • “As It Turns Out, I Can Keep up With a 4 Year Old”

    It is late in the month, it is 7:05am on a Saturday, and we were at Dogwood Dell…that can only mean one thing, it’s PUPPYPILE! We wake up our 2.0s a little earlier than normal (especially on a Saturday) and battle the gloom for a 55 minute beatdown, of a bunch of kids between 4 and 16. A total of 34 as it turns out.

    MARV had the Q, admittedly, his first Q in a long, long time. Between LockJaw scheduling Carrillon runs on a weekly basis on Friday and just general laziness, MARV has been pretty much freeloading on the PAX over the past few, um, years. But nothing motivates MARV like youth sports, so count me in to lead PUPPYPILE when needed.

    The Thang:

    It was good to see the 6am DOGPILE-ers show up with cinder blocks. The Q had a thought to grab the blocks and try his luck with the 2.0s and 15lb cement blocks…but decided against it. Meanwhile, a 7:05am tip of the hat to the guys who were up at 6 on a Saturday and got to carry bricks.

    Moseyed to the grass circle just east of the Carrilon.
    Twelve Side Straddle Hops
    Eight Donald Quixotes
    Ten Helicopters
    Ten Hillbillies
    Three Burpees
    15 arm circles forward
    15 arm circles backward
    Five Mercans
    Ten two count LBCs

    Off to a good start!

    Then we all went to the outer circle for “Hot Potato Animal Walks”

    Sippy–Bear Crawl to the Center
    Fudd – Crabwalk to the Center
    Vinnie — Lion Lunge to the Center
    Rosie — Alligator Walk (no fun)
    Unnamed — Snake Walk (equally no fun)

    Moseyed to the stage behind the Carrillon for a game of 2.0s vs OG Hide and Seek.
    2.0s do 15 Side Straddle Hops while the OGs go out and hide behind a tree. While hiding, the OGs have to do copper head squats. Shout out to Sippy…found a good spot behind a tree that eluded 2.0s Blue Collar and Tyson. We had to go as a group to find him. Switched it up to have the 2.0s go find dad.

    Moseyed to the front of the Carrillon for a little triple check. Not a big triple check, mind you, but a little one. First person ran around the fencing around the Carrillon (from Hardywood: “I’m looking forward to getting the Carrillon back.” Yes you, and all of RVA, Wood). 2nd person was spelling their last school attended with straight legs (overheard “how do you spell Hard Knocks?”) 3rd person does SSHops.

    Introduced our 2.0s to the Indigenous Person run around the Carrillon field.

    The broke the old standby “Bearcrawl/Crabwalk Sharks and Minnows”. For those scoring at home, it has been six months since the grass has been mowed at the Carrillon. We actually lost two 2.0s in the grass over the course of the workout, including the first round of Sharks and Minnows.

    Back to the flag for a three minute round of Burpee Shuffling. Shout out to The Wonderer for calling out the three burpee shuffle.

    Closing word from MARV then many off to Elwood Thompsons.

    It was fitting to do the 2.0 workouts as the Little League World Series is concluding this weekend. There are some fabulous sporting events throughout the year…from the Super Bowl to the Final Four to The Masters…every couple of years we get the Olympics. You can have all of those, I’ll take the Little League World Series any day. The MARVinsons are good for about 30 hours of Little League baseball watching for the 10 or so days that it is on. I can’t tell you how flat out good these 12 & 13 year olds are. Maybe it is because it comes at the end of a baseball filled summer, maybe because I have an 11 & 8yo, or maybe because there’s so much junk you have to sift through these days in the world of sports…but my eyes get consistently sweaty through the tournament in Williamsport. I encourage you to take your afternoon tomorrow to watch the final game.

    We’ll pinpoint a September date for the next PUPPYPILE sometime soon. No matter when it is, count me in.