Author: Marv

  • They’ll Drop in Mid-July

    Seriously. 9 degrees? It was 9 degrees this morning? However, in what has to be an unprecedented F3 Event, I am proud to say that there were more PAX at a workout than the actual temperature. 11 men showed up to trundle around the beautiful Tuckahoe Elementary, Tuckahoe Middle, Freeman District.

    QIC-MARV

    PAX-Bleeder, Totahnka (FNG), The YA, Wedding Singer, Swirly, BT, Fudd, Splinter, Saab, Sippy Cup, Marv

    Name of the Run– First Class Run

    The Thang:

    4 Milers– Lake to Boatright via the northside of the Robins Center (including somewhat of a killer hill that is very rarely used). Boatright to Lakewood. Lakewood to Wood. Wood to Baldwin. Baldwin to Stuart Hall (pausing to genuflect on Lally Construction’s latest masterpiece). Stuart Hall to Forest. Forest to Rock Creek to Baldwin to Westham. South on Westham to University, north on College and then through the parking lot of the Robins Center back to the lake.

    5 Milers– 4 Mile Course beginning but straight on College to University. Right on University to Ralston. Left on Ralston. Cross River to Windsor on the James. Take the WOTJ loop back to River to Ralston to University back to the lake through the Robins Parking Lot.

    6 Milers– Same beginning as four mile but go south on Westham as opposed to crossing and going to the Lally Project. Westham to University where they would pick up the 5 miler trail and go from there.

    It had been awhile since we had run the “First Class Run” of the Windsor on the James. There’s nothing quite like running in the wide streets of the WOTJ with no cars parked on the streets to get in your way. A tip of the hat to the folks that occupy the houses in WOTJ, as they spent their entire weekend taking down their Christmas lights. QIC took his family around that loop (in a vehicle) late last week and it was lit up like the Griswolds. Those folks definitely move on.

    We really can’t emphasize enough how cold it was. QIC isn’t sure his legs ever got warm, and he was wearing TheYA approved NIKE tights. Shout out to the Head ski gloves sold by Costco this fall…they did the trick and then some. BT debuted a cool ensemble that included a neck guard and a hood…and something for his ears.

    The first hill up by the Robins Center was a pleasant little gassing surprise. Nothing like asking your body to try to regulate it’s temperature while climbing up a steep hill. I’m not one to use foul language, but my body was pretty much ripping me a new one at that point.

    It does beg the question that may or may not be debated in the comment section below… Would you rather run at 9 degrees or at 77 and unbelievable humidity? Think before you react as the latter is pretty brutal too. I’d actually throw my vote in for the 9 degrees over the sweltering heat run…at the very least, my car doesn’t smell like a wet rhino after the 9 degree run. I’m interested to see what everyone else thinks.

    Other notes–welcome to Totahnka, son of Snowden. So, in Iceland, his name would be “Totahnka Snowdenson”. He’s a freshman at Bucknell, studying economics. QIC isn’t really all that concerned about Totahnka Snowdenson taking his radio gig based on his first impression…but it was super having the 18 (or 19) year old out there.

    All time shortest post huddle conversation time. Ever. QIC literally had to chase The YA into his car. Speaking of The YA, good to have him back healthy…wasn’t the same without him.

    Overall, it was a terrific way to break in the first work day of the New Year. God Speed, gents, and make sure you bundle up the rest of the week.

  • PRE-Blast Puppy Pile 8/19/17

    PRE-Blast Puppy Pile 8/19/17

    The second “Puppy Pile” is set to kick off at 7am this Saturday after Dog Pound. If you aren’t familiar with “Puppy Pound” it is a 2.0 centered workout…so bring your kids and we’ll go for an hour. As of right now, we are doing it the third Saturday of each month, right after Dog Pile. We started it in July and it was a ton of fun…definitely quality time with the 2.0s.

    Unfortunately, I’ve gotta get out of town this Saturday. Can anyone commit to hot potato-ing it from 7-8? I think we are going to have a good crew out there as it was very well received last month.

    If you can take an exercise or two, please post below so we know that there will be someone there to lead the 2.0s through the gloom.

    Thanks,
    MARV

  • I Can See My House From Here

    It’s crazy how much time flies, doesn’t it?  For a decent stretch in the winter, the Mt. Henrico Spider Run was a relative mainstay.  Introduced by Splinter in the fall of 2016, the run begins at the bottom of The UofR and extends to what is known as the highest elevated point in Henrico County…right there on the corner of Parham and Julian Rd.  During the winter months, you could count on Mt. Henrico showing up once every four weeks or so.

    Until it didn’t.

    For whatever reason, ol Mt. H got on the bad side of the Spider Run PAX.  Fudd Run?  Still popular.  Grandma’s Over the River Run?  Mainstay.  Even Saab’s Finger Runs near CCV have received a pretty consistent call.  But Mt. Henrico, for whatever reason, lay dormant since, well, since anyone can remember.

    Until Today.

    Fourteen men, dodged the alligators and the manatees in what has officially become “Swamp Richmond” as they bounded around the near west end as we revisited the Mt. Henrico Run.

    The Thang
    Take Richmond Way to the Robins Center Parking Lot
    Realize it’s been three years since the VCU Rams have lost in that building
    Head West through the Robins Center Parking Lot, down to College Road
    Left on College Road
    Right on Lakewood
    Right on Wood
    Left on Baldwin
    Left on Rock Creek by the big church
    Left on Forest
    Right on University
    6 Milers take a right on Arlington Circle and rejoin University
    Right on the name of the Road where the Arizona Cardinals play and where the NCAA Basketball Championship was this past April (Glenside)
    Right on Julian Road
    Get to Parham and Backtrack.
    Other than that, it is pretty much a straight shot.

    The PAX got to see an update on the latest handiwork from Lally Construction at the prodigious 705 Baldwin Road. Needless to say, at 5:40 and 6:08 no one had shown up to 705 Baldwin yet to work. We’ll all keep that in mind around Thanksgiving. All joking aside, Baldwin is starting to take shape as the framing is in full force.

    Think about inspirational views that you’ve had during your life. Maybe you’ve seen the Grand Canyon, or sunrise at the Outer Banks, or the Final Four Banner at the Siegel Center.

    For us today, the inspiration came from seeing Sippy Cup out there running with us on a Tuesday. Can you believe its almost been 3 1/2 months of rehab for one of F3RVAs most elite runners? Tip of the cap to the patience of one Cup, Sippy as he has slowly but surely worked his way back.

    Also good to see Pele and Theta out and about this morning. Not 100% sure the route that Pele, Swiper, Sippy and LugNut took on the way back from the Henrico Peak but all is well that ends well…even if the ending is at 6:25 in the morning.

    Happy New Shoe day to Swirly. Jeff Bezos appreciates your business. (Fun fact…who had more revenue in 2016…Amazon or Apple?)

    Finally, the PAX took a brief moment to think about Circle K’s father. Let’s all keep him in our thoughts and prayers as he handles the services this week to honor his dad.

    See everyone in the gloom.

    PS–It was Apple? I missed that one when I first heard it. Who would’ve thought that?

  • DogPile 2.0 Debut

    There are moments in all of our lives where we’ll never forget our location when the event occurs.

    Where were you when VCU played in the Final Four?

    Where were you when you found out Toga was leaving town?

    Where were you that one time Swirly ran opposite right into that group of Seal Teamers and left nothing but a wake of blue t-shirts and cliipboards laying on their backs behind him?

    The same goes for today, where were you when we launched the first ever DogPile 3rd Saturday at 7am 2.0 Friendly workout?  Also known as DP3Sa72FW (working title…feel free to send other title ideas).

    This morning, in the sludge that was a Richmond Post Dawn humidity fest, 14 men and their 2.0s gathered at DogPile to launch the first 2.0 specific workout on this side of 195.  Inspired by Doner Kebob and his Gridiron workouts, those of us in the city and the near west end decided that we couldn’t quite drive the the suburbs randomly to workout in all that new construction.  We needed to go back to the basics.

    We also needed a bit of consistency…something to look forward to…something to mark our calendars.  So it was decided that the 3rd Saturday of every month, at 7am, would be a 2.0 Friendly THANG that would immediately follow the 6am DogPile workout.

    By the way…good gracious on the size of the Saturday 6am DogPile…The Richmond Spiders don’t get that many people at their conference games.  Terrific job, men.  Also, there’s nothing quite like the looks on the faces of the 2.0s when they see the mass of men returning back to the flag after a 60 minute beatdown.  It’s akin to standing in the front of the line in a roller coaster and the previous coaster pulls into the station and everyone is throwing up.

    “We are about to do that?”

    In the end, there were 5 adults and 9 2.0s…they had us outnumbered from the beginning.

    The THANG:

    COT

    This was more of an Oval of Trust at the very top of the Carrillon.
    25 Side Straddle Hops
    16 Donald Quixotes
    15 Imperial Walkers
    15 Arm Circles Forward
    15 Arm Circles Backward
    6 ‘mercans
    20 LBCs
    20 Freddie Mercury’s (hey dad, why do they call those Freddy Mercury’s?)

    Mosey West to the Trees next to the Carrillon.

    Touch a Tree
    Run to a tree, do 5 ‘mercans and 1 burpee. Next tree hit 4 ‘mercans and 2 burpees. And so on…
    Next set…run to a tree, do 5 ‘mercans and 1 LBC. Next tree 4 ‘mercans and 2 LBCs…wash and repeat

    Noah’s Ark (TradeMark/Patton Pending–Doner Kebob)
    Circle Up in the grassy circle east of the Carrilon. Each member of the PAX picks an animal “walk” to get to the middle of the circle and back. Highlighted Animals in no specific order:

    Bear Crawl
    Polar Bear
    Crab Walk
    Duck Walk
    Penguin
    Worm
    Copperhead Crawl
    Bird
    Squid
    Flamingo
    Seal Crawl
    Elephant Walk
    (maybe a few others. The Seal Crawl and Copperhead Crawl were total beatdowns.

    Mosey to the Carrilon for Triple Check.
    One member of each team runs up the stairs to the Carrillon and then back down while the other members either do LBCs and spell-check. The spell check was your school, or teacher or university or your job. Each PAX member ran three times.

    At this point, Lockjaw took the potato and headed to the bars. By this time, some moseys became flat out walks.

    At the bars, the PAX had to use the chin-up bars like monkey bars and slide down and around.

    Following that–we headed to the dip bars where we did 7 dips and 15 flutter kicks.

    PAX then moseyed back to the big field facing the Carrillon for the 2.0 staple and the sneaky hardest exercise of the day–the Sharks and Minnows game. Sharks had to try to catch Bear Crawling minnows while crab walking. If you left your hands at anytime you were out as a crab.

    The first round caught only one 2.0 as the dad’s strategies fell a bit short…those minnows were very fleet of fours. Following a huddle and a strategy, the dads began picking off the minnows one by one. “BearRolling” was deemed allowable as long as your 6 didn’t hit the ground. This would be akin to spinning in flag football but not using your hands as a stiff arm.

    The winner of the sharks and minnows was Veep…his second ever win in a Sharks and Minnows game.

    Switch sides…dads are minnows and 2.0s are sharks. Ronnie gets the win.

    Mosey to Ring of Fire where the PAX finishes with burpee shuffle and 20 American Hammers (in honor of TYA).

    Editor’s Note–I hope we continue to get more and more 2.0s out at this each month. We had a terrific time. Who knows what our 2.0s will remember. If they are like me, they’ll probably only remember the times I screwed up or got mad or things like that, but I can’t imagine them NOT recalling getting up before 7am and going to a workout with a bunch of other 2.0s. Next one is 8/19/17…mark your calendars.

    Welcome FNGs–
    Bassy Lassie — she likes to fish but also likes to wear pretty dresses
    Panda Hamm– big women’s soccer fan who has an affinity for Panda Bears
    Crickey– Huge outdoorsman that also does art. A renaissance boy (said in Australian dialect)

    Have a good weekend, gents. Help us all be better fathers.

     

  • DogPile 3rd Saturday 2.0 Friendly

    Gentlemen,

    As promised, the 3rd Saturday of every month is a 2.0 Friendly PAX at DogPile, starting at 7am.  We’ll fist bump our early rising friends who finish the 6am version and then get going on an hour workout of our own.

    You don’t have to have or bring your 2.0 to in order to enjoy a good ol’ fashioned kid friendly beatdown, but it’d be super to see a bunch of our next generation F3 out there.

    See you in the quasi-gloom on Saturday.

    MARV

  • Righty Tighty / Lefty Loosey

    Twenty-two gentlemen and scholars showed up on an all together pleasant morning for 45 Minutes of Mary on 18 May.  It was the two year anniversary of Bleeder inviting MARV to F3, so MARV took the occasion to Q his second ever boot camp style work out (there’s been quite a few Q’d runs).  A quick shout out to Loose Goose, who was missed today, and who led my first Q two short years ago.

    THE THANG

    We live in a right-handed world.  Scissors, most golf club sets, clippers for any type of tree trimming, they are all made for those that are right handed.

    As a card carrying member of the proud to be left-handed party, I’ve heard my fair share leftist jokes…my favorite being “hey, you are standing on the wrong side of the ball” when I’m on the first tee about to enjoy a round of golf.  Yeah, really funny.  I’ve never heard that one before.

    For that reason, this morning’s Q went in reverse as we circled up in the normal spot located in the northwest corner of Mary Munford’s Elementary School.

    Yes, but instead of the normal side straddle hops, Don Quixote’s and LBCs and the like, as lefties are sometimes known to do, we went backwards.

    PAX ran to the shovel flag (or where the shovel flag normally would stand…I guess I need to get myself a shovel flag) and immediately did…

    21 American Hammers
    21 Freddie Mercuries
    21 Alabama Prom Dates
    Spelled out with our legs the names (in ALL CAPS) the last three VCU Head Coaches (Shaka Smart, Will Wade and Mike Rhoades)
    Ring of Fire…running in place and knocking out three mercans on “Go”. 22 times around the circle…so a total of 66 mercans to start, for those keeping score at home.

    Now may be as good of time as ever…there’s really no significance to the number 21…I was somewhat of a Roger Clemens fan growing up, but only to the extent that anyone else that followed baseball in the mid 80s was. I think I’ve written before that I was #42…21 is half of that…maybe next year I’ll have the stones to do 42 American Hammers to start.

    On with THE THANG…

    My freshman year, we heard legendary stories about the seniors (who had just graduated) getting caught after curfew one year on a road trip. The Monday that they returned from the three game series they had to run 20 minutes of “Bat Poles” which involved running with a weighted bat over their heads from foul pole to foul pole. In the spirit of those guys, and my left-handedness, whenever the PAX moseyed or ran, we did so with our hands in the air as if we were carrying those hated weighted bats. This was fun for about :21.

    Following the beginning Ring of Fire we moseyed (with imaginary bats in full tow) to do four corners. Northeast corner was five pullups, northwest corner was 10 dips (either on the bar or on the ground), southwest corner was 10 mercans, southeast corner was 10 leg pull ups. We would run from each station with our arms above our head.

    The conclusion of Four Corners led us to the west side of the tennis courts where we proceeded to do a set of agilitities, running the width of the four courts. Halfway through the set, both on the way and way back, we paused to do an exercise.

    First set– Butt Kicks / 3 burpees
    Next set — Russian soldiers / 10 monkey humpers
    Final Set — Karaoke / holding your leg up in baseball balance position for 10 seconds

    This time seemed as good as any to do a sprint back and forth on the width of the courts. We learned that one of the reasons UVA Baseball went 2-22 in the ACC in 1994 was because the position players had to run 18 60 yard sprints during the course of a game and they were exhausted.

    Next up was something relatively new…manual resistance arm workouts. PAX paired up and did the following with their partner adding manual resistance…

    Side Arm raises with resistance on the way up and down
    Front Arm raises with resistance on the way up and down
    Curls

    When asked after the Q what Corporate thought of the manual resistance exercises, corporate replied “yeah, that stuff is really good for toning the muscles.”

    This will be the last time we do manual resistance for awhile, I’m thinking.

    The PAX picked up their invisible sand bats and ran back to the northeast corner for the “left-handed ring of fire”…as we finished with…

    15 Monkey Humpers
    15 Donald Quixotes
    11 Monkey Humpers
    21 LBCs
    9 Monkey Humpers
    21 Side Straddle Hops

    I appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm. It was a fun morning. See you in 7 hours in the gloom.

  • Tying…it’s like…better than losing

    The outlook was rather breezy, for the Spider Run 9 that day

    As they gathered at 5:30 at the locale of 5 Richmond Way.

    At first Bleeder showed up in day glo, then Taxi Cab did the same

    Then TYA and Swirly, BT, Pucker and Toucan came

    Finally trickling in was Swiper, with those glasses in which wood could carve,

    The 8 of them huddling near the lake, waiting on the Q from MARV.

    And with that, ends the attempt at putting a whole backblast to the rhythms of “Casey at the Bat” (if you didn’t read it in that cadence, go try again, and then roll your eyes and, at least, try a fist bump for the effort.  I guess we could always try haikus again.

    The Thang

    Starting at 5 Richmond Way.  Heading north (north is always up, right? If you are running up you are going north).  Hit College Drive and head east.  Take that and go south on Henri (runs parallel to Three Chopt).  Dive back east down Grove.

    4 Milers–going to Greenway and then turn around, SAAB style and run back

    5 Milers–keep going to Oak.  Go South on Oak and get to Cary street.  Then SAAB it back

    6 Miler (singular)– Go across Cary and do Hillcrest.  Salute TYA’s house when you run by.

    So that was the run.  Almost perfect weather and a good mix of uphills and downhills.  It almost made you feel like the BRR, with the hills and the breeze and the lack of humidity.

    No real announcements.

    Sippy Update–Saw Sippy today at Byrd Park at a Little League game (more on that in a minute).  He’s doing ok.  He has two more appointments with the physical therapist and he’s guessing that after the 2nd appt he’ll be cleared to run again.  That’ll be a good thing, I miss Sippy.

    Speaking of Byrd Park…allow me to have somewhat of an ode to Richmond Little League, if I may.

    If you are ever on your way home around 6:45 on a weekday night, and the weather is as perfect as it was tonight, with a cool sunset and a nice breeze, I plead with you to at least drive by Byrd Park (heading south on Shepard Street) and I swear, if you’re not careful, you’ll think time has stopped, or at least gone backwards.

    There are usually two baseball games going on, “Jerome the Hot Dog Man” flipping burgers and dogs and kids running around and playing all different types of games.  There are no IPads, there are no flat screens…just kids running around outside the fences and playing ball inside of them…it is almost…idyllic.

    On this particular night, the Minors 9 Braves, coached by the indomitable BT, were matched up against the Yankees.  It’s been a tough start for the M9 Bravos, as these kids are venturing out into their first experience in kid pitch.  While I’m not one to report records of teams comprised of 9 year old boys (most of whom still sleep with some sort of stuffed thing), lets just say that BT’s team has a lot of wins left in them.

    But tonight, the M9 Braves were on fire! They were playing inspired baseball.  And who was at the helm steering this ship, but our own BT, who 13 hours earlier was tracking through the near west end running up and down hills, mentally preparing for that night’s battle.  There he was, bent over in that aggressive coaching position with his hands on his knees, with his “Cons” turf shoes on which are, and I’m not kidding here, at least 24 years old.

    The Braves got out to a big lead and you could feel the buzz of their first win in the air.  But the Yankees were undaunted, and in 9 year old baseball where the coach comes out and lobs them in there after ball 3 (a rule constructed on a run with Splinter and Sippy one morning) no lead is safe.

    Look, there’s butterflies, there’s nervousness and then there’s the feeling a competitive dad has in the bottom of the 4th (and last) when his team is close to securing a monumental win. That’s where BT was.

    In the end, a ground ball plated a runner for the Yanks and the teams left the field with a 7-7 tie. A good step for the M9 Braves, definitely something they could build on.

    BT is left to go back to his house and second guess the moves he made, the motivational talks he gave in between innings.  He’ll check his batting order and wonder if he switched a couple of kids around if he could squeeze a run or two out of this group.  It’s a tall task, BT, remember, many of them still sleep with plush ducks.  But they are certainly extremely fortunate to have you to gather them up after each game and provide encouraging words of wisdom from an extremely caring coach.

     

     

     

     

  • It’s A Straight Line People

    Let’s be honest, it isn’t always easy finding your way around the streets of the near west end when aren’t from the area.  As a Q, sometimes you spew off a few instructions which, in your mind, are simple left, right, left rights, but to those unfamiliar with the area, may as well be a form of Greek Google Maps.

    Heck, we’ve been doing Tuesday Spider Runs for six months now and I could no more Q a run there (other than 10 laps around the pond) than I could a Q in Youngstown, Ohio.

    Thus, last week, the unthinkable happened…we lost a pair of runners (almost).  Coming back from the Carrillon, Back Bay and Copernicus (who, ironically, got his name from finding us after we had started) became misplaced in Windsor Farms, a place, we’ve experienced, you don’t want to be misplaced in that early in the morning…or, really, ever.  Thanks to the homing beacon that is Lab Rat, we were able to safely return Back Bay and Copernicus to Mary Munford unharmed.

    But it was a good lesson learned.

    On Friday, we decided, just to be safe, that we were basically going to do a down and back.  The suggested route had the group hanging a left on Grove, a right on Westmoreland and then a right on one of America’s most famous running routes…Monument Avenue.  From there, the PAX was to run until 22:30 and then turn around and run back.

    Theoretically, it didn’t matter if you followed the route or not…as long as you turned around and came back at the 22:30 point, then you were ok.

    Fortunately, everyone made it back safely to Mary Munford…including Sippy Cup, who, honestly, probably ran a sub 43:00 10K.  He was going to beat his time that it took to get to the 22:30 mark, and by the looks of how quickly he finished, he did just that.

    Enjoy the weekend, group, and enjoy this nice weather and best of luck to anyone that ran in the races around the Marathon.

    And always run in pairs.

  • Your Friday Monument Jaunt

    A lucky crew of 13 men braved the almost perfect 50 degree weather to trundle down one of the country’s best running routes–Monument Avenue.  Truly, the largest question looming was weather or not a long sleeve shirt was necessary as the temperature was at that sweet spot of being good for short sleeves or long sleeves.

    During the first week of April, tens of thousands of people spend upwards of $45 to $50 to run on Monument Avenue in the Monument Ave 10K.  This was the first year that I actually ran it, and really, only because a buddy of mine had a free bib because his friend bailed on him at the 11th hour.  I always regret not running our phenomenal city’s signature running event, but then I realize at any point in time I could put on shoes and run it for free…much like we all did this morning.

    It was a relatively easy route, comparatively speaking to the other routes I’ve led us on in the past. To quote Saab (who was sorely missed), “it’s a effing square people.”   Four milers went from Mary Munford to Sauer, to Monument to The Boulevard to Grove and back to Mrs. Munford’s fine elementary school.

    Our hearty five mile crew took Boulevard to Cary and got to enjoy all that the CaryTown run has to offer…which is mainly the free smells from Can Can.

    The six milers actually went to the Columbus statue at Byrd Park (or Bird Park if you are mapmyrun.com) and went around the lake, headed towards City Stadium (looking oh so pristine…in the dark) then to CaryTown and back to Commonwealth.

    Speaking of Columbus.  Raise your hand if you knew that Columbus never (EVER) set foot in America.  That would not have been me until Monday.  Seriously, google it.  Not only did he not step foot in America but he also was pretty much a tyrant and war monger…killing a massive amount of indigenous people in Bermuda.  It’s true.  I mean, I don’t want to compare him to a Hitler or anyone on that scale…but he’s a lot closer to those guys than he is, say, Ricky Bobby.

    Yet this week is Columbus week in the first grade at Mary Munford.  Poems, word finds, necklaces, coloring books…the works.  For a guy who was truly an awful person and is known for something he didn’t come close to doing?  Crazy, huh?   The weirdest thing about it is that on Saturday, if you would’ve asked me who discovered America, I probably would’ve said “Columbus.”  Talk about my own Age of Enlightenment.

    Either way, I guess the moral of the story is that it’s not a terrible idea to question things.  Or at least surround yourself with people who question things. You may learn something new.  (Seriously, does it bother anyone else that they teach this to our kids?  It. Isn’t. True.)

    So here’s to saving $45 on the run, on top of the $100 from other opportunities that are out there for early morning workouts.  Have a blessed weekend, gentlemen, enjoy the sunshine and feel free to give your condolences to Sippy who had to endure my Columbus questioning as we circled the lake.

    MARV

  • Community Focus

    Community is an incredible thing, isn’t it?  Whether it’s your school, your church, your neighborhood block, your family, or, basically every morning of the year, a group of guys looking to get a good workout, have some laughs and sweat until your eyes burn, people crave shared experiences…there’s just something within the fabric of our DNA that gets a kick out of doing things with other people.

    By and large, those shared experiences are fun–8,000 people cheering at the Siegel Center at a VCU Men’s Basketball game, a group of competitors going around a racetrack in Daytona, a few hundred people rocking out to a band at the National, and, in some cases, grabbing another guy’s ankles, kicking your legs towards his chin while the sweat from his shorts drips on your forehead.

    As said earlier, we crave shared experiences.

    At 5:30 on Friday, July 8 a group of 16 F3 men gathered at the Mary Munford parking lot for the weekly Friday run.

    While the building itself looked the same and the Tomatoes were still out there and the sun was up a little earlier as the summer wears on, that building, where F3 gathers twice a week, woke up nursing a heavy heart.

    It has been a tough 7 days for Mary Munford Elementary.

    My son shared a Kindergarten and 3rd Grade classroom (this past year) with this girl.  The Haas family lives on the 4300 block of Cutshaw and all week long, since last Saturday, that block has seen the community rally around it.  Yesterday, Betsy’s 3rd grade teacher brought 30 Monarch Butterfiles (Mary Munford’s mascot is the Monarch) to release in the Haas’ backyard with 30 or so elementary school kids cheering their flight and Betsy’s memory.  It’s been a week when the community of the near west end has been at it’s finest.

    During today’s run, F3 jumped in a bit to share with the community lend their thoughts, prayers and hearts to the community’s effort in comforting a family who is going through the unimaginable.

    THE MOLESKIN:

    A huge thanks to TYA for stepping back for this run and allowing me to Q, even though neither of us signed up to take it.  TYA had even laid out glow sticks (real glow sticks!) as he canvassed his neighborhood setting a trail for us to run.  We all undoubtedly look forward to the run next Friday where we can tackle Hillcrest and look for the glowsticks around 5:50 in the morning when the sun is brightly shining.

    Speaking of TYA….here’s a snapshot of my favorite conversation this week…

    Me: “TYA, how did you get all those bites on your torso?  Did you just get those playing ultimate frisbee?”  (this conversation occurred after yesterday’s pathetic display from all of us in the 45 Minutes of Dropping a Frisbee, errr, Mary”

    TYA: “No, these are actually something I got when I ran into a tree the other day on a run?”

    Me: “You ran into a tree the other day?  That stinks.  Was it on some trail run?”

    TYA:  “No, just a regular road run.”

    Me: “Really? You were on the pavement and then just ran into a tree??”

    TYA: “Yeah.”

    So anyway, I appreciate TYA stepping aside for today as we had the ol’ awkward Double Q.

    The 16 guys started off and ran and biked, as a group, to the 4300 block of Cutshaw, where the Haas family lives.  From there, we took about :30 and said a quick prayer of comfort for the parents and a word of thanks for the 9 years God allowed us to get to know Betsy.

    From there we headed to the “track” at Thomas Jefferson where we all looked to run a mile as fast as we could (or, in Saab’s case, however long he felt like).  The purpose was to try to see how fast you could run that mile.

    Interesting thing about the TJ track…it really isn’t a track.  Who knew?  Someone get John Baliles on the phone.  The TJ track, in case you were wondering, is 25% sand and 75% weeds.  It may or may not be 400M around (although I think it’s close, based on my and Sippy’s mile times).

    From there, the 4 Milers headed down Malvern to Monument. From Monument to Hamilton.  From Hamilton to Grove and from Grove back to Munford.

    The 5 Milers went from Monument to Boulevard to Cary.

    With the prayer and the four TJ laps, I’m not sure anyone did 6…but it was Strawberry to Cary.

    Do you know what sucks?  Running three more miles after you hoof it for a mile on a sand/grass TJ track. Ugh.  Taking that turn on Cary/Grove was brutal. The 89.9% humidity doesn’t help.

    In the end, my mapmyrun.com abilities showed to be horrible, as the 5 mile run was really 5.6 (sorry, Wilson).  But overall, a great workout, and none of us, I think, will have grass rashes on their backs from doing about 300 barebacked LBCs in the wet grass.

    I do want to say thanks to the PAX today for indulging my Munford community and myself with the timeout on the run, I appreciate that.  The obligatory thing now would be to say  “hug your kids extra tight tonight” or something cliche like that, but I’m pretty sure we all do that anyway.  I’m not sure about your kids, but my 9 year old has a tendency to do goofy things and I have a tendency to correct him on it.  Betsy was known to be silly and goofy, wearing huge bows on her head and sometimes purposefully wearing clothes backwards.  I think I’m going to tone down the critiquing of the 9 year old for awhile.

    I’m very thankful for my son’s school, our neighborhood, our church.  But this morning, I couldn’t be more appreciative of the community I have with the guys that come out of the gloom at 5:30 and drip sweat, run hard and drop frisbees.