Author: Splinter

  • Party Crashers

    Fifteen elite athletes plus one crotch sniffer huddled for elaborate, but simple directions for today’s Spider Run. Even Flatline knew where he was going today. Routes were declared as follows:

    Routes

    • Everyone head up UR drive and take a right on Campus to Three Chopt
    • 4 milers take the access road then a left on St. Christophers, right on Patterson
    • 5/6 milers take a quick left then a right on Pepper. Left on Hanover, right on Ripley
    • 5 milers right on Patterson
    • 6 milers left on Patterson, right on Charles, right on West Marshall, right on some road, left on Patterson
    • Everyone east on Patterson to a right on Maple
    • Quick detour to the St. Chris track for one lap (opposite direction just to screw with people), waving to Gypsy and other F3 brothers getting track work in
    • Back south on Maple, right on Grove
    • Down Iris around the golf course and BTTF (courtesy Flatline)

    Announcements

    • Prayers were needed today for two acquatences of the PAX
    • PAX is always here to offer assistance

    Numbers, names, YHC took us out.

    Moleskin

    Picture perfect (albeit dark) morning for arachnid galloping. Given the declared routes were in the heart of owl territory, and YHCs group included 50% owl assault victims, Faceplant decided to run waving his arms above his head. He lasted 5 seconds before determining that would not last the entire run, accepting the risk was low as a redwood was running by his side.

    Heck of a party at St Chris track in the morning. Only Gypsy will be able to comment if our clockwise running caused chaos after our one lap and then exit.

    Great to see everyone this morning. Lend a helping hand to those around you.

    Splinter out.

  • Farmer Fran Runs on Clouds

    An unknown number of participants started at various times and arrived at various times, all of which contributed to today’s RAMM (Gears). After Hitch scurried home to change into a long sleeve shirt, there were 4 of us for the proper 0530 launch time. Routes were declared as follows:

    Routes

    • East on Grove
    • 4s left on Hamilton, 6s left on Boulevard
    • Left on Patterson
    • Right on Commonwealth
    • Right on Monument
    • Left on Hamilton
    • Left on Broad (for 1 block) then continue west on Fitz-Hugh
    • Left on Commonwealth
    • BTTVSF

    Announcements

    • Big day in F3RVA tomorrow
      • 8Y Anniversary Convergence @0730 @Gridiron
      • TYA has the bridge, perhaps solo… depends on someone’s wife
      • Sit & Sip, see slack
    • Epic scrimmage between Marv & BTs 2.0 against YHCs 2.0 Sunday. It will be a beautiful day to play 2.

    Numbers, names, and YHC took us out, just like the wind pulls us along.

    Moleskin

    The air made a few of the PAX frisky this AM. One made reference to the rhythm method while another mentioned an injury from parkour (YHC heard hard core, which is a completely different type of activity). One clam was so happy he rubbed his chest (read nipples) to warm up post run, then graced us with a shirt to erase the memory.

    Apologies to the 4 milers who apparently can’t follow directions. Glad you were still able to get 4 miles. Yep, that’s how we apologize in this here parts.

    A flurry of Gears crew arrived right as YHC was leaving. Ping on slack if I missed you and you want credit.

    Sayonara.

    Splinter

  • Kubotas are Better than John Deeres

    Eleven non-recovering NC runners gathered at the darkest AO for some Splinter magic. Moon was almost full and the sky was reflecting plenty of airborne water particles, 100% possibly. Regardless, we wandered over to the jacked up Ford truck to attempt to pick up GP before we decided to just depart for our mission. The goal? Make everyone jealous for not posting at Hoedown. Mosey over to the church parking lot via Lindsay and Forest for…

    COP

    • 1x Burpee
    • 2x Merkins (+ 1)
    • 3x Squats
    • 4x LBCs
    • 5x SSHs
    • 6x Burpees
    • 7x Merkins
    • 8x Squats
    • 9x LBCs
    • 10x SSHs
    • 11x Burpees
    • 12x Merkins
    • 13x Squats
    • 14x LBCs
    • 15x SSHs

    Next exercise is… the mosey. Over to Silverspring Drive, stopping at Carriage lane. Partner up for a version of love hill, uphill. One partner runs to the top of the hill while the other performs an exercise. Flip flop until both partners are at the top. Exercises were Bear Crawls, Lunges, Broad Jumps (not walk out Burpees).

    Quick right on Spotswood and continue up the hill, past the illegal court, stopping at the right turn on Spotswood for the next version of love hill. Partner up. One person runs to the bottom of the hill while the other performs an exercise. Flip flop until both partners are at the top. Exercises were Crab Walks, Monkey Walks, Walk out Merkins.

    Collect the six and then mosey up Paris. 11s to the bottom of the cul-de-sac with diamond merkins and jump squats. Collect the six and mosey back to the parking lot where we almost were run over by a teacher (who was complaining about previous attempts to help carrying supplies into school) while completing Flutter Kicks and American Hammers.

    Numbers, names, YHC took us out.

    Moleskin

    Great bunch of men this morning. Some shed clothes, some said they were new but really were not, some tried to drink breakfast beers. Regardless, these are strong men. Grateful to have an opportunity to lead today.

    Announcements

    • Shawn G Hogan beer mile on 10/29. Virtual options available
    • Prayers for those in need, especially those who were spoken today that need extra support
    • Prayers for Bodos who is already beginning to forget his age

    Always a pleasure today. Thank you for letting me lead.

  • Ask Singer What Day It Is

    Fifteen pounders and peddlers congregated before and after today’s main event. Singer interrupted the instructions to tell a story about what today means to him before allowing YHC to continue. Instructions were simple, and unless mother nature made you detour, the routes were followed.

    Routes

    • Everyone head south on Commonwealth and into Windsor Farms
    • Berkshire to Sulgrave to Caterbury before exiting to go north on Malvern
    • Right on Grove
    • 4s left on Hamilton
    • 5s left on Tildon
    • 6s left on Boulevard
    • Everyone left on Patterson
    • Left on Bunting
    • Left on Grove

    Numbers, names, and YHC took us out

    Announcements

    • The bridge needs a last minute Q for tomorrow. See TYA
    • Flannel Q tomorrow at Dogpile
    • The newly established Pronunciation Guild will meet every other Friday to discuss various southern vs northern pronunciations. Today’s examples were Buchanan, Buckingham, and Worcester

    Moleskin

    Mary is dark these days. I put the over/under at 311.5 days until the light in the parking lot gets fixed. Regardless, we know each other well enough to identify each other by our shadows.

    Route itself was flat today, exactly what YHC needed to feel good about a run. Thanks for the 6s for sticking with me, most of the time.

    Apparently post Mary has turned into somewhat of a Broga session. I’m not sure who led the charge, but 6 or 7 finished the run up with some stretching. Conversation was light and jovial until Saab started stretching Swirly out. That thinned the crowd out real quick. PSA: You can likely find some new athletic shorts on back to school sale this weekend.

    Enjoy the day fellas.

    Splinter

  • Stupid Circles

    Stupid Circles

    Up and down the same stupid hill. Post a comment if you want credit.

  • We Didn’t Share Towels

    We Didn’t Share Towels

    Shark week happened. TYA and Bleeder tried to pull one over on everyone but 16 or so regulars showed up anyway. Post a comment in Slack if you were there and care about the point and I’ll add your name.

  • Double Turds

    Danny Noonan

    Eight Danny Noonan wannabees huddled in the normal gathering spot while the Q meandered around prior to launch. After all preparations were made, YHC walked up which immediately shut down mumblechatter. Wait three minutes to see if little blue would show up and then off we went for traveling COP.

    COP

    • Mosey to the end of the triangle for invisible jumprope x20
    • Mosey to the next road for helicopters x10
    • Mosey to the next road for suzanne somers x10
    • Mosey to the next road for copperhead squats x15
    • Mosey to the bottom of the hill for mountain climbers x10 and LBCs x20

    The Thang

    We tried a new creation today. Leap Frog. It needed some modification as we worked through it but YHC believes it was a success. Organize into groups of three. One partner runs up the hill 20 seconds, stops, and starts to do merkins. Second partner runs past the first partner 20 seconds. When your partner passes you, switch exercises from merkins, to jump squats, to WWIIs. Trailing partner does 10 WWIIs and then runs up past the first partner in leap frog fashion. It worked, hard to describe, but it worked. We went all the way from the bottom of the hill to the light.

    Short mosey over to the parking lot for curb crawls, 1-5.

    Another short mosey to the triangle park for a skills based challenge. Pax was 20 feet away from a 10 foot circle. Cycling through the PAX we had to try to chip a ball in the circle. In the circle, 20 LBCs. Just miss the circle, 5 merkins, completely miss the circle 5 burpees. Second round we eliminated the “just miss”. We did almost all burpees. Third round was a speed round with cumulative merkins for every miss. We did 8. Fourth round we ditched the club and just tried to throw it in the circle. 7 of 9 were successful so we did 2 merkins. BTTF.

    Announcements

    • TYA is off to the bridge this Saturday. Ping him if you are going.
    • Lots of HDHHs not on Hump Day. Next one is Tuesday at Snuff’s house. See slack for details
    • Prayers for our brothers that need our assistance. Reach out a hand to provide support.

    Moleskin

    YHC was unsuccessful in identifying his next captain’s choice partner. Everyone complained about not cutting the grass but what YHC learned is that everyone sucked at chipping. Maybe we should try putting next time, you know… night putting. Bacon Bits and Ronnie had the biggest scares. I thought their shots were headed for the house across the street.

    Appreciate the opportunity to try something new fellas. Let each of us offer strong support for those around us no matter where they need assistance. That’s what this brotherhood is for. None of us is alone in our challenges.

    SYITG fellas.

    Splinter out.

  • The Baggie, The Hand Mask, and the Toupee

    A strong twenty of the area’s finest gathered in the bowl for today’s Spider Run. Plenty of quiet suppositions prior to launch, with many questioning when there would be instructions. 0530 arrived and off we went.

    Everyone head west along the lake, across the bridge, right through the (now dark) path, and huddle up at the base of University and College.

    Intervals were next. All were 1 minute up hill followed by 1:45 recovery back down. First round of intervals were up University. On the third interval up we took a right on Wood and slow moseyed to Lakewood.

    Continue past the PoJ and complete 3 intervals up Lakewood. On the third, continue the recovery north on Wood.

    Continue on Wood to the Baldwin intersection on the left. Third round of intervals were up Wood. Apologies to the neighbors on the street as we completely took over that road. It was only 3 intervals, which is just over 8 minutes, and then we disappeared without a trace. Ok, maybe there was a trace of something left behind which stirred up the neighbors.

    Slow mosey back Baldwin, through Fraternity Row, then back to the flag which Flatline so graciously planted.

    Numbers, names, YHC took us out.

    Announcements

    • TYA is heading up The Bridge this Saturday. Contact him if you are interested in a 6am clown car.
    • Prayers for Lab Rat, Swirly’s MIL, and others in our PAX who are recovering or managing life’s various challenges

    This was the first interval session since winter. The common consensus was that winter is better for these shenanigans. That’s why we modified and chose different hills today. Great job to all.

  • The Crossett Fit Games – Hoedown Edition

    Twelve gentlemen gathered in the waning morning light at Hoedown for our tribute to Treehugger. It went something like this:

    Mosey to the blacktop for COP

    COP

    • SSH x25
    • DQ x10
    • Hillbillies x15
    • LBCs x20
    • Scorpions x10
    • Shoulder Taps x15
    • Mountain Climbers x10

    Mosey to the top field for The Crossett Fit Games.

    • 10x Pullups
    • 20x Vee Ups
    • 30x Merkins
    • 40yd Broad Jump Burpees
    • 50yd Sprint
    • .5 mile run to the corner of Forest & Lindsay and back
    • Repeat 5x (we only made 4x)

    Numbers, names, YHC took us out with prayer requests from the PAX.

    Moleskin

    Last night while contemplating today’s workout, YHC stumbled across Florence’s slack post. YHC changed plans and opted for the tribute this morning. Man was it a heck of a workout, even without wearing a 20# vest. Prayers for Treehugger and his family.

  • Backblast Comments Are Now In Slack

    Backblast Comments Are Now In Slack

    Slack is becoming a larger part of F3RVA. In order to consolidate comments to a single platform, we are shifting all comments to slack. Comments have been disabled for all posts and WordPress.

    If you need a login to Slack or need assistance with how to use Slack, please reach out to Splinter or your friendly neighbor at your local AO for more information. Anyone can grant access to new users in Slack by adding them directly into Slack.

    We will trial this for a while before considering moving additional functionality to Slack in the future.