Author: THE Yankee Aggressor

  • Frank Abagnale’s Grandmother

    9 stallions posted for a Tuesday morning spider run.  70 and sunny as always

    The Thang:

    6 milers head up the hill to the main entrance and make a loop on campus.  Take the back entrance out of UR, through the shopping center, over the bridge, west on Riverside, 4 milers turn at park, all others proceed west until you hit Cherokee and turn back around and head back to the lake.

    NMM:

    1 year anniversary of Spider Run.  In my humble opinion this is the best road running venue we have in Richmond.  There are so many options at Spider run that we rarely do the same route more than a couple of times.  If we do, there always seems to be a twist to the run.  Today was no different.  The fast runners did a 8/10 of a mile hilly run before setting out to catch up with the rest of the PAX.  Every time a PAX member was caught, he owed 5 burpees at the finish.  YHC  forgot to do my 15 punishment burpees at the end, so pounded them out at the office this morning.

    Great to see Circle K out for the first time at Spider run.  He and Pucker were leading the 5 milers for most of the run.  Circle K was really focused on making sure he had his headlight on this morning.  So much so that he did not focus on his keys.  Both his keys and his phone were inside the car so he was temporarily stuck.  He hitched a ride to his wife’s office so he could borrow her car and rescued his car via locksmith because for some reason, he does not have a spare key.  Much cheaper to pay $50 to unlock the key than to dole out the $1.49 for a spare key or two.  Just saying.

    One modern day problem that he had as well was the lack of phone.  He had many phones to borrow to make a call, but because all the numbers are saved in the phone, the only one he knew was his spouses’. So, he couldn’t call his office or anyone else to help him.  Good lesson for all of us.  Learn a few phone numbers in case you ever need a lifeline (I still have not programmed Bleeder’s number into my phone for that reason alone)

    Singer continues to hone his running skills.  When he asked me this morning about the five mile route, I kept giving him the directions for the four.  It took me until the halfway point to realize he was in fact going to do the five mile route.  He rocked it today, pumping in 5+ miles for the first time at F3?  He has the Monument Ave 10k on his calendar for the weekend.  Good luck Singer…..

    Saab was flying this morning and lapped everyone…..except.  That is right, Bleeder.  He nearly caught up to Bleeder on the last stretch.  But once Bleeder saw him, he turned on his short stint jets and sprinted for the last quarter mile.  Dude has sprinting wheels.  Saab was on a mission.  He caught up to the five milers at the turnaround point.  Thats right he did 3.6 miles in the time it took us to do 2.7.  Ridiculous.

    Thanks for all the birthday wishes for YHC today.  Humbled by the number of birthday wishes in person, tweet, email, and text that I received.  Great to have so many great friends out there.  Thanks.  P.S.  This will be my last birthday.  54 is far old enough!

    TYA Out

  • Ventura… Yes, Satan?

    4 determined souls posted for a Sunday morning trail run.  Weather is looking up in the RVA, so short sleeves and shorts was all that was needed.

    The Thang

    Northbank to potter bridge to buttermilk and back to the parking lot.  Approximately 7.25 miles covered.

    NMM

    It was a wildlife experience to behold this morning.  We started out on the northbank and when we went to make the turn onto the path just behind maymont, a pack of deer (somewhere between 3 – 100) go spooked by our approach and were scrambling out of there to get away.  One (or maybe 40) was stuck between Lab Rat and the path and was totally freaked out until Mr. Rat moved away.  We continued further down the path to see an otter in the water and 2 more deer on the railroad tracks (that were again spooked by our presences).  Along the way we encountered additional wildlife including a woodpecker and a few squirrels.  Reminded me of the scene in Ace Ventura when his landlord leaves the apartment and all of the animals come out of the woodworks to greet Ace.

    Trails were quiet today with only four of our PAX members (Saab was away on a camping trip) and not many others seen on the trail.  When we got back to the parking lot, it was packed, so they must have just gotten a later start than us today.  It was a great departure from last week when we were the only cars in the lot before and after our run.

    The trail running contingent continues to get stronger everyday.  Lab Rat is now working on his technical skills (rock hopping, etc) to get faster.  Offshore was also pushing the pace today making sure the PAX were moving along.  Taxi Cab, despite have only posted a few times to the trail run put in a great pace.  YHC had a good first half of the run, but is still not fully recovered from his race a couple of weeks ago and had a slow second half.

     

  • sdrawkcaB

    12 wayward souls emerged from the fartsack and posted for a Thursday morning beatdown.  Last vestiges of winter were apparent.

    The Thang:

    COT (take out by YHC), 6 minutes of Mary, backwards run to the tomato haven.  Double triple check, run to fence and back twice, balls to the wall,  and LBC’s  Mosey to the tennis courts.  Elevens.  First round jump squats and merkins, second round burpees and WWII setups.  Second round instead of running from end to end, run 1/2 way, bear crawl the rest of the way, run 1/2 way back and crab walk to the line.  Mosey to end of tennis courts for COP.  Imperial walkers, Freddy Mercuries, and SSH, disclaimer and back to the flag.

    NMM:

    YHC had many ideas for a beatdown this morning, most involving going off campus, but opted for a backwards workout this morning.  Many of the PAX picked up on the theme right after we had a COT  to begin, others did not get the theme until YHC did the disclaimer and SSH at the very end of the workout.  I won’t mention that the PAX member who is usually the most vocal members was one of the PAX that didn’t figure it out until the end.

    Flipper is on a high.  Dude is smiling from ear to ear every time you see him.  His best buddy is back in town and the new head coach of VCU and that has a bounce in his step.  Every time I looked at him, I thought he had something he wanted to share.  No, that was not it, he was just happy.  His happiness has also made him faster.  He crushed the second set of 11’s lapping each and every PAX member.  Great work Flip Dog.

    Great to have Donor Kebob back out at a Mary workout.  One of the old negative things about the growth of F3RVA is that you don’t get to see some of the regular PAX as much as before.  I had not run into DK at a workout for months.  Two things of note for DK this morning.  He was our spotter for the International Space Station as it passed by this morning and was visible for a few minutes. Truly cool to see that.  Second, DK sold his old Jetta.  Yes, the one that had a very unique sound as it pulled up.  He would have had Swirly confused when he pulled in (unless Swirly already knew about DK’s new ride).

    Announcements

    3rd F opportunity with Lab Rat on Sunday.  See his pre blast.

    Wilson’s gold tourney coming up.  Help a brother out if you can.

    Lunches today at Pops and Whole Foods.

  • Alone…….listless

    1 brave F3 soul and the women’s track teams from UR and VCU showed up for a Wednesday evening hill run.  Weather was sunny and 70 and all the track ladies had their racing garb on.  TYA let the ladies lead the way and followed them for a 45 minute jaunt around Hillcrest.

    The Thang:

    Three extended loops around hillcrest.  West Hillcrest to Old Orchard to Hillwood up and back, to Chairman, to Pocahontas to Poplar, to Virginia, to East Hillcrest and repeat x3.  Loop is about 1.6 miles with a few hills along the way.

    NMM:

    Pictures of the ladies and I can be seen on various websites.  You know where to find them

     

  • Stubbornness beats Athleticism

    An ultra legend (Saab)  and an ultra virgin (TYA) showed up early Saturday morning for a short trip through the woods just north of Charlottesville.

    The Thang:

    50k, no, 55k, no 56k through the trails and roads of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  My super accurate Garmin GPS clocked us in at 34.91 miles (17.46 on the way out and 17.45 on the way back).  GPS said it was just over 5,000 feet of climbing though the run.  Here is how it was from my perspective.  Nice downhill start for 2.5 miles on the road, 5 miles up and down in the woods, steep 1 mile descent (25k turnaround), 6 miles mostly flat or downhill in a valley in the woods, and 3.5 miles on a torturous paved/gravel road that was uphill both ways.  Turn around and try to survive the ascent after the 25k turnaround spot and limp back to the finish line.

    NMM:

    Weather was definitely a factor.  For some it was negative, some folks had a problem with the camelback tubes freezing.  For YHC it was a huge positive as itcut down on the sweating and made hydration a much more manageable issue.  Only time we were really cold out there was prerace.  Temperature was around 18 degrees at the start and we opted to stand next to the fire and keep warm versus being cold and listening to the preface instructions.  Once the running began, weather did not cross our minds much at all.  Just a few minutes of cold wind at the highest point of the race, but that is all.

    For the first 8 miles all the Richmond PAX (except Lab Rat) were within spitting distance of each other.  So good to have 9 of us out there for support an encouragement.  A familiar face and a few kind words when trying to accomplish a huge task like this is invaluable.  Post 8 miles, Saab stuck with me the whole way.  From mile 8 – 14, we kept up a pretty pace and I don’t think I slowed down Saab too much, Mile 14 – turnarounds was tough and we both slowed down a little.  For the rest of the race, I was definitely the pacer (holding Saab back).

    Once we passed the turnaround, I knew that I would make the full distance.  I still felt pretty good and was mentally in a good state.  I also knew that I was holding Saab back.  I told him on many occasions that he was free to go, that I was good and that he could press on at his pace.  He would never leave.  At some point in a race this long, you just want to be DONE.  That, I think is true for everyone.  For Saab to prolong his run to provide me with support and companionship while his mind and body were telling him to finish ASAP was incredible.  I cannot express the gratitude and emotion I have at his self sacrificing actions.

    Running is fascinating to me.  For me, it is all mental.  The first mile and the last mile always suck.  The number of miles in between, really do not affect my mood much at all.  For this race, I just told myself that I had 9 hours to finish and had nothing else to do with that time except hang with my buddy Saab.  That kept me pretty happy and occupied the whole time.  I just stayed in the moment and enjoyed the company, scenery, and at times the lack of talking.

    Interesting things we learned along the way

    • Traversing a creek is much easier without walking poles.  Saab was ready to kill the guy in front of us who had poles and was gingerly crossing the creek trying to avoid any contact with water
    • The ladies love Saab.  At one particular aid station, Saab had his own personal assistant.   She was attentive to Mr. Saab from the moment he entered the area, and was real concerned about the minor cut on his knee.  I think she wanted to go all Clara Barton on him.  Good new for her, was that Saab got to visit twice
    • Best snack was the peanut butter pretzels.  Yes, saltines with pb&J are awesome, but the pretzels were the best.  Worst snack pb&j on a corn tortilla.
    • Saab is a bit competitive.  When we were about a mile from the finish, I looked back to see if any of the 50 milers were coming.  He said to me that if one started to catch up to us, I had no choice but to run as fast as I could the rest of the way so that they could not catch us
    • Nothing is better than finishing a race and have F3 Pax members waiting at the end.  WOW.  the support is amazing.  It is very much like finishing a BRR leg.  You have all the guys there interested in one thing and one thing only: what do you need and how can they help you.
    • Just keep moving.  One step forward is one step closer.  It is that simple
    • Water freezes below 32 degrees.  Ask Lab Rat about the person he helped whose Camelback tube had frozen.

    TYA and Saab Out.

    Last thing, for Honeydo, I hope you noticed that Upchuck listed Saab and I in his backlist PAX list.  That means we double dipped for BIG DATA on Saturday

     

  • Back to Winter

    4 running studs and YHC posted for a Sunday morning walk in the woods.  Weather was high twenties and a bit windy, but 70 and sunny in our minds….

    The Thang:

    Northbank to pipeline, cross the potterfield bridge to buttermilk and back to the pump house parking lot.  8.3 miles, 1.5 hours total…

    NMM

    The group stayed pretty close together today.  Not sure if the running studs slowed down or I sped up because of the cold.  Either way, it was good to stay in contact the whole way.  I enjoyed spending some time chatting to Phonics today.  We touched on Big Data, zip codes (if you ever need to know and RVA zip code, just ask Phonics, I think he knows them all), neighborhood strip clubs and a variety of other topics.  Helix and Lab Rat were at the lead of the group for most of the morning.  Not sure how the two of them got along…my guess, lots of talking from Lab Rat and an EF Hutton like performance from Helix.

    Two or three PAX members declared they would participate this morning, but were no where to be found.  No names.

  • Phonics and crew coming in hot

    8 veterans and two FNG posted for a Sunday in the woods.  Weather was 70 and sunny.  Really, it was 70 and sunny at the end of the workout.  Certainly unseasonably warm for February in Richmond.

    The Thang:

    South side to Forrest hill park loop and back to the parking lot.  4 of the PAX took a second loop, Northside to new bridge and back on the south side.  Saab added and extra loop thru Forrest hill park.

    NMM:

    Phonics posted with 50% of his children this morning.  His 15 year old boy, Andrew (F3 name Monarch), and 13 year old girl, Rachel (F3 name Betsy Ross) joined us for their first sunday trail run.  The crew was coming in hot as they were a few minutes past 7am, but the benevolant Q decided to hold the PAX since some FNG’s were on the way.  TSB certainly enjoyed having some other “hate, hate, hate, respect” folks in the ranks.  For the first time in a long time, she wasn’t the war baby on the run.   Phonics reports that at least one of his other children was chomping at the bit to post this morning.

    Monarch and Betsy Ross acquitted themselves well this morning.  They both had strong runs and seemed to enjoy the trails.  The one place that Betsy was not comfortable was when she found out she was going to get a nickname.  She clearly did not want to go through that process.  I think the group alleviated her fears and gave her a user friendly name.

    4 folks oped for an extra loop in preparation for the Belmont in three weeks.  Saab, Upchuck, Labrat and TYA were the takers.  As can be guessed from the participants, there were two very talkative and two relatively non talkative PAX members.  You guess which is which.

     

  • Sitting on left hand

    14 redwoods emerged from the fartsack to take on the activity of the day.  Sunny and 70 all around this morning.

    The Thang:

    Mosey to intersection across from the pavilion.  Mosey to Reveille church doing burpees and merkins along the way.   Enter Reveille church parking lot.  COP, disclaimer, 29x SSH, 15x arm circles (each way), and 20 Imperial walkers.  Mosey to parking lot behind church for triple check.  Merkins, dips, and run around parking lot (first forward, then backwards, then forwards).  Mosey to front of church for BBC.  One pax does Burpees, other pax bear crawls to brick patch, runs to end of street, backwards walks back to brick path and crab walks back.  Repeat x 3.  Second iteration.  One PAX does Lt. Dan’s, other pax lunges to end of street, reverse lunges back two light poles, and runs backwards to end of street.  Switch and repeat x2.  Mosey back to school and shovel flag.  Along the way do some more burpees, merkins, and backwards running.

    NMM:

    TYA was hazing the PAX from Mechanicsville this morning, refusing to talk to them,  after some backlist comment chatter between Bleeder and Abacus.  Seems that after listening to the podcasts, Abacus wants to revert to the civil war.  Just to be clear here, although RVA is further south, i, THE Yankee Aggressor, am on the northern side of this battle (and always will be).  I may have lived in the state of VA longer than I lived in Massachusetts, but i will forever be a yankee (and damn proud of it).  Lots of folks were baffled by the banter and were wondering if there was a real fight going on between mechanicsville and other Richmond AO’s.  Just to put this rumor to bed, nothing to see here.  Just a little fun playing around.

    We did a modified version of a workout we did a couple years ago when we originally visited Reveille (see Swirly, TYA or Conspiracy for a full description of the first trip and its origins).  It is good to go “off campus” every once in a while.  Shakes up the norms and brings in new possibilities and terrain. Amazing to me how we were able to get so much more done today versus two years ago.  Great work guys.  You are getting stronger everyday

    Kotters to flashdance. He was back after a trip to Mexico and a couple days or recuperation.  Great to have him back today.  Lots of great mumble chatter between Toga and Lab Rat today.  Toga was pointing out how tough the Daville workouts must be because they need to have at least 2 Q’s to pull off a workout.  (Sorry for adding more fodder to the Daville, RVA discussion).  Saab in his ever so subtle way shared his thought on the subject by turning his shirt inside out.

    On the way back to the flag, for a reason I cannot remember, Toga shared a neat trick about how to best put your left hand to sleep.  For more details or how and why, Toga will be happy to discuss at anytime.

    Be Super.

    TYA

     

     

  • I took care of the M last night

    8 motivated and fleet posted for a morning spider run.  Weather was 70 and sunny, no humidity.

    The Thang:

    Warm up lap around the lake, mosey to bottom of hill from lake.  Pair up (with someone of differing skills).  We did a circle loop (approximately .85 miles).  One pax runs the hill one way, other pax the other way.  Meet in the middle and turn around. Repeat 2x then switch directions and repeat two more times.  Keep going until 6:15.

    NMM

    Today was essentially hill repeats with a partner.  For the slower partner (me, since I was with Marv), distance was a little bit less, but since the top of each run was relatively flat, you got the benefit of just as much of the hills.  I was having a “wilson” moment before the run as I was really stressed out about having an odd number or runners because I would have had to adjust the plan.  Thankfully, 8 showed and all was right with the universe.

    I was grumpy coming into the run today due to a not so stellar day yesterday.   Posting to the run definitely helped in a couple of ways.  First, just exercising is always good.  Running puts some good endorphins in your body and sets your mind straight.  Second F always helps at the end too, just hanging out for few minutes just BSing makes the small issues fall away.  Finally, hearing someone else’s struggles and issues tends to make your’s minor.  One of the new PAX members talked about a challenge he and is family is currently facing.  They were clearly attacking the issue with some vigor and a positive attitude.  Inspirational and a reset to what a real problem looks like.

    Happy Valentines day everyone.  Someone suggested that Sippy and Marv should hold hands skipping up the hill on their way back to St. Stephens (I did not pass them, so no confirmation whether they heeded the advice).  For advice on marital bliss on or around Valentines day, see Saab.

    Announcements

    Happy hour Wednesday at Ardent 530pm.

    Lot of running events happening in April.  Two, Ragnar and Smokey mountain Relay, are team events.  Toga and Swirly have set these events up in anticipation of folks participating (and with expressed interest by a lot of PAX).  Now that it is time for the events, they are having trouble getting enough participation.  Let’s not leave our brothers holding the bag…..

  • Beating Swirly to the AO

    11 determined stalwarts posted for a Wednesday morning beatdown…weather was perfect, 70 and sunny.

    The Thang:

    Mosey across the street towards the lake, stop at the triangle at the top of the street.  COP including 25x SSH, 10x Don Quixote, 15x Imperial walkers, 25x LBC, and 13 merkins.  Mosey further down the street to the gate for the 1k 5k.  Groups of two perform 100 burpees, 200 captain thors, 300 Merkins and 400 2 count Freddy Mercury’s.  One PAX exercises while the other runs a 1/4 mile.  Team completes 1000 exercises and 5000+ meters.  Mosey to street.  Lt Dan’s down the street.  Run back across the street to the shovel flag.  YHC takes us out and we are all off to our days.

    NMM

    A ton of mumble chatter and confusion this morning ensued because of missing PAX.  First off, Swirly and the blue truck were not at their appointed spot at 5am and that threw several of us off.  YHC was scouting out the route for the day and since BT did not see Swirly, he got confused, looked up the Q sheet and headed over toward the lake to see if the location had change.  Fortunately, he followed me back to the usual spot.  Also, I had trouble trying to figure out where to park.  It is easy when Swirly is there, just park behind him.  Without him, i could not tell where our regular spot was…I took a guess and I think I got it right.  Since the AO was not secured without Swirly there, I decided to head off campus to a safer spot ?

    Also before the workout everyone was confused who was to Q as Bleeder was not in attendance either.  It appears that all are reading the Q sheet now to see who is on deck.

    Heal quickly Swirly and Bleeder.  They have caught the bug the is going around that was started by patient zero (circle K).  YHC battled the same illness a month ago, and it took a good month to feel back to normal for me.

    “Swipe right” was in rare form this am.  The PAX’s knowledge of tinder terms and philosophies grows guy the day (even if we do not want any more knowledge on that front).  Also of note for “Swipe right” is that he is trying to get ready to pass a range test (5 miles in 40 minutes).  He better start running with Sippy and Saab….but if he does, they will whip him into shape quickly.

    Hardwood and Flipper were talking about he finer points of Karate classes.  Their terminology was foreign to me.  They must have taken a different class.