Author: Upchuck

  • Welcome to the Hot Box

    20 warriors of The Gloom came to ride or run their way through the soup that was the latest edition of the Run/Ride at Mary Munford. Temps were sunny and 70 with stickiness.

    Routes: With the Stanley Cup Finals starting on Monday, YHC pulled the Hockey Stick Route out of the archives…east on Grove to Malvern (left) until each of the following…top of railroad bridge (4 milers), Saunders and Laburnum (5 milers), or right on Laburnum to AP Hill Statue (6 milers).

    Sippy and Phonics tore off to complete the 6 miles. A gaggle of runners, including Splinter, Saab, Offshore, Handshake, YHC, and Abba (aka, “I don’t care about that.”) hit the 5 mile route. Bleeder, Honey Do, Lug Nut, and others hit the four. Something happened to a bunch of other runners.

    Riders rode.

    Number-am-a, Name-a-ram-a, YHC took us out.

    Announcements:

    Summer Tour starts tomorrow…26 officials AOs and 9 extra credit options.

    Memorial Day Convergence is Monday at 7 a.m. Meet at the parking lot next to the Tredegar Iron Works.

    AO starts Thursday in Mechanicsville…The Anvil. Boot camp. Watch for additional AOs this summer, including The Bellows, The Tongs, and The Chisel.

    Splinter is looking for PAX to staff the 24 hour F3RVA Technology Service Center.

  • Stick with Me on the Math

    Something like 6 showed up, but no more than 3 in any one place at any one time. Routes were run, mostly in ones and twos. YHC did a small, a medium, and a large…something in the 4 range. Others did more or did less. Some rucked.

    Each man took himself out in his own personal ball of man (or ball of young man). The young man also had a blue ring pop, which all others coveted. No actual violations of Commandment 10 were contemplated. The ring pop attacked Husky’s face and clearly came out the victor.

    NMS:

    So, it’s Wednesday at 5:00. Kubota and Husky posted for a ruck. Temps were sunny and 70 with a slight breeze. Gorgeous day.

    YHC showed up at 5:10. Stretched for a bit. TYA drove up and said he would “be right back.” YHC waited. Got bored. Ran down the hill to TYA’s house, where TYA had decided to drive the 200 yards to the AO in order to keep his Gatorade (Grape) with him.

    YHC ran loop 1. YHC then met up with TYA. Purchasing a grape Gatorade apparently comes with a pair of grape running shorts. For those keeping track, the legend of TYA’s running attire grew. Then, TYA took his shirt off. For those keeping track, the legend of TYA’s lack of running attire also grew. Jokes were made, fun was had, and friendships built.

    YHC thanks LJ for listening to YHC’s venting. Catharsis was achieved.

  • Saab on the MTA

    Four stepped up for four on the Service Road and one hit the roads for today’s edition of Sunday Funday. Temps were sunny and 70 with 150% humidity and rain, according to Saab’s free app, scheduled for later.

    Number-am-a, Name-a-ram-a, Hutton took us out.

    NMS:

    Good run boys. Lots of chatter today about BRR, Field Day, summer heat, train crossings, and donkeys. You can ask, but YHC advises against it.

  • Always Sunny and 70

    One PAX bounded up, down, around, and over the Roller Coaster on this fine Wednesday. With Bodo’s insightful words fresh from this morning’s beatdown and the rain adding a refreshing environmentally-friendly cleansing (with props to Ollivander), YHC motored through one Big, one Medium, and one Small loop. Untimed.

    NMS: It’s great to run solo, it’s great to run in the rain, and it’s great to have take some time for introspection. Check, check, and check.

    Announcements: YHC encouraged YHC to figure out ways to drive more men to more 3rd F.

  • 2+5=7 for 4 at 0500 or 0530

    7 circled the wagons for Breakfast Club. Temps were sunny and 70. Route was ET’s down Cary to Robinson, through the park to the Police Memorial, and past the campers into Dogpile.

    Reverse route (for YHC and Kubota) was Park through Carytown, then left on Ellwood (Main), and onto ET’s.

    2 miles down, 2 miles back.

    NMS:

    YHC rose early today in order to start a trifecta of posts. Pulling into Dogpile, a figure arose through The Gloom…”Is that Kubota?” Yep…already running through the park. Kubota, headed to an early workday, was kind enough to wait while YHC parked, stretched, and caught up. Great to have someone to run with, even better to catch up with Kubota. Thank you, my friend. That made the start of a long morning for YHC fly by.

    Breakfast Club was post #10 for YHC this week (including Breaking Bread). Counting Dogpile and Gridiron, the total rose to 12 by the end of the morning. The genesis for this personal CSAUP idea came up on Tuesday while YHC was running with EF Hutton. After consulting Hutton’s accounting skills, it was determined that YHC could hit 12 AO’s in a week…hey, it’s as pointless as any other mission. Let’s do this!

    YHC tried not to mention it much this week, generally to avoid the possibility of anyone realizing in case YHC didn’t make it. By chance, Handshake mentioned it on Wednesday morning. By today, YHC had it in the bag and couldn’t stop talking about it (anyone surprised that YHC couldn’t stop talking? Don’t answer that…it’s a rhetorical question).

    Ironically, a couple of years ago, YHC was with Hutton and the twosome decided on another run to visit every AO by the end of the year. (Memo to self: when in need of a solid CSAUP inspiration, run with Hutton).

  • Crabs, Gorillas, and Bears

    13 came out of the mist for today’s version of The Patriot.  With YHC moseying Down Range to his ancestral homeland of Northern Virginia, The Gloom shined a bit brighter today with temps sunny and 70.

    Lucius had the Q and appeared at 5:15 with a mix of traffic cones and a soccer ball – an added motivator.   

    COP

    SSHs x20 (so far, so familiar)
    Little baby arm circles 10 forward…5 bigger…Reverso…5 and 5
    Cherry pickers x9
    Standing Stair Climbers (just forget YHC mentioned these)

    Drop Sprint

    Run around track…at two points on the track, last man to the orange cone drops out and does 10 burpees.  Continue until all PAX have dropped.  The PAX really have only two options: win the whole thing, or do 10 burpees.

    Crabs, Gorillas, and Bears F3 Soccer

    3 teams with 3 goals in a triangle.  Each team tries to score at one goal while defending the other two goals.  Movement only by the assigned method per team.  Each team has one of the three methods at a time.  Swap methods among teams at end of each round.  3 rounds.  Each team tries each method.

    Sevens

    Round 1: Carolina dry docks and squats.  Run 50 yards in between end line and midfield.
    Round 2: Dips and 4x4s.  Run 50 yards in between sideline and other sideline.

    Mary

    LBCs
    Flutter kicks

    Number-a-ma, name-a-ram-a, Lucius took us out.

    NMS:

    YHC met a very cool group of guys today. Lucius brought a good mix of pain and fun…YHC notes that Shake Shack burgers for dinner + beat down + locked bathrooms = No joy.

    Welcome FNG Wee-aw (think the sound of a firetruck siren) who is a medical transportation something-or-other. For those who track these things, F3 The Capital named him on Day 1.

  • You Guys are Hard Core.

    Tres hombres posted, each with his own approach, to this edition of the Roller Coaster.  Temps were sunny and 70.  No humidity, no heat, no problem.

    Swirly did one long, one medium, one small.  Somewhere around 4.5 miles.

    UpChuck did one medium, one small.  Somewhere around 3+ miles.

    TYA walked a few laps in preparation for this weekend’s 100+ mile hike. 

    NMS:

    The ladies of Hillcrest apparently have never seen a runner, certainly not on a hot day.

  • Offshore Takes an Insurance Exam

    Four joined at six for 4/29’s version of The Punisher. According to the hombre who parked in the Teacher of the Year space, something like this happened:

    COP:

    IWs x 10
    SSHs x 20
    IJRs x20
    DQs x10
    HRMs x10
    LBCs x10

    Mosey over Here:

    Use chalk baseball/kickball diamond for three rounds of:

    Bear crawl to first base
    5 merkins
    Lunge walk to 2nd base
    5 LBCs
    Polar bear crawl to 3rd base
    5 four-count flutter kicks
    Run to home
    5 Carolina Dry-Docks

    Repeato for rounds of 10 and 15

    Mosey to the Picnic Benches

    Gang of Four Exercises, all times 5
    Derkins
    Dips
    Step ups (each leg)
    WWIIs
    Repeato for rounds of 10 and 15

    Mosey to School Wall
    Quad-check…
    1st man runs to street lamp
    2nd man BTTW
    3rd man people’s chair
    4th man donkey kicks

    Offshore Q: To be revealed…hey, it’s Punisher, so if the Q needs to leave, next man up…

    NMS:

    Kru does a mean looking set of tumbling exercises

    Chum rocked the 50K with Johnsonville and Aderol (who may have done the race, but definitely took pictures)

    Night Crawler definitely has the best excuses for not posting.

  • Breaking Spiral Ham and Green Beans

    Two intrepid volunteers peeled, sliced, cooked, and cleaned their way through a sunny and 70 evening of Breaking Bread, NBA playoffs, and good fellowship at the Medical Respite on Belt Blvd. The drive-thru operator at the Wendy’s next door tells the tale as follows:

    5:00 Set-up. Q has botched it already as he has forgotten the drinks. Water, water everywhere for everyone.

    5:05 Oven heating mashed potatoes and spiral ham.

    5:10 Shallots, oil, green beans, and lemon seasoning wafting throughout the building.

    5:20 Plates and silverware ready to go, Kings Hawaaian rolls warmed, green beans simmering, ham sliced…let’s do this.

    5:30 Residents stroll through, Round 1

    5:40 Residents stroll through, Round 2

    5:44:50 One Resident strolls through for Round 3

    5:45 Cookies out. Mmmmm.

    5:45:05 to 6:10 YHC and Vers (FNG) watch Warriors / Rockets with the residents

    6:10 to 6:30 Clean up

    Home by 7:00. Easy peasy.

    NMS:

    Welcome FNG Vers, aka Annabelle Nee, YHC’s oldest. YHC is declaring that volunteering for three Breaking Breads is worth at least one workout for a non-athletically inclined kid, thus the nickname has been bestowed. Plus, YHC came up with a good nickname, Vers, as in Carol Danvers. If you don’t know, look it up. Female super awesome heros rock.

    Breaking Bread is awesome. This is dinner for 10-15 homeless people recovering from injuries. YOU – yes, you, the PAX member reading this – should sign up to Q a Breaking Bread. Many of us have our 3rd F efforts, but THIS 3rd F is unique – it is the only 3rd F that is uniquely F3. While not an official event, only the men of F3 are going to do this. You are the cavalry to these homeless people. Take every reason you are thinking of to avoid this and throw each excuse individually out the window…give yourself one reason to step up and take this on…YHC will give you two reasons…your M and your kids will likely never care if you attend a workout (be honest with yourself – they barely tolerate your stories), but they will love you for helping your fellow humans.

    Once a month, F3 needs men to sign up to Q this. For example, May 26 is open. There is a Convergence the next morning…grab your best F3 pal, your kids, your spouse, or your neighbor and pull together a simple meal. Tacos, spaghetti, pizza (yes, you can just buy a lot of pizza), filet mignon, beef bourguignon, sushi, kimchi, welsh rarebit…you name it and you make it.

    For the rest of the summer, we need men to step up and bring dinner for the following Sundays at 5…if you need any advice, ask Lab Rat, Hardywood, HoneyDo, Slurpee, or the many others have all done this successfully.
    May 26
    June 23
    July 28
    August 25

    All the attendance points and all the mercans in the world can’t provide the same sense of purpose. Plus, as YHC said, chicks dig a man who help those less fortunate.

  • More North Bank Trail, Now Open

    With apologies to Grantland Rice and Thanos…Outlined against a sunny and 70, blue April sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore their names are Death, Destruction, Pestilence, and Famine. But those are aliases. Their real names are: Lola, Offshore, UpChuck, and E.F. Hutton (and Sally). They formed the crest of the North Bank cyclone before which another Sunday Funday came together… the sportswriters of the former New York Herald Tribune filed the following story:

    Route today was across the bridge, Buttermilk, skip the lariot, two leaps across Reedy Creek, and we crossed at the T. Pottersfield Bridge while performing a Port-a-Sally. Continued on Tredegar St., right on Brown’s Island Way (think really steep hill), left on 2nd St., down the ramp to the North Bank Trail, and, by way of the newly opened section, back to the VSF.

    The newly opened section cuts a bit off the length, so today’s 6.55 miles were shorter, albeit hillier, than the prior route.

    Number-am-a, Name-a-ram-a, EF Hutton took us out.

    Announcements:

    Dinner for this month’s Breaking Bread is all-but-green-beans completed and waiting for the 5:00 arrival time

    Anyone looking for pain, blisters, and beer on Friday should contact TYA. Consider sticking around for Saturday’s repeat. Then, consider doing so again for Sunday, and at the end you too can say you have done 105 miles on the AT over 3 days.

    NMS:

    Exceptional morning for a run…good chatter along the way. Way to go, fellas.