Author: Upchuck

  • 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.

  • We Could Use an Umbrella

    8 sponges, including 1 FNG, flopped out of The Fartsack and into Hoedown for a sunny and 70 Monday morning. The motorcyclists hauling through Westham tell the story (loudly) like this…

    Mosey to the Third Church parking lot for the COP

    Invisible Jumpropes x22
    Don Quixote x10
    Imperial Walkers x15
    Side-straddle Hops x20
    Scorpion Kicks x10
    Hand-Release Mercans x10
    Little, Baby Crunches x20

    Mosey to the Horseshoe

    Garbage Plate suggested PLTs…so the PAX did 20 PLTs at each of the arrows on the Horseshoe…6 arrows = 120 PLTs each

    Mosey to the Soccer Field for Lake Florida

    YHC travels a bunch (or had you not heard)…to Florida. YHC believes F3RVA could use more AOs with man-made lakes, massive humidity, and the possibility of carnivorous reptilian observers…for today, the field at Tuckahoe would have to suffice. The PAX was told to mosey around the outside of the field, stopping at six points around the field, to perform the following exercises:
    20 squats
    20 hello dollies
    20 flutter kicks (4 count)
    20 hand-release mercans
    20 reverse crunches
    20 dips
    Each PAX also composed and played a 5-second musical accompaniment on the playground drums. To YHC’s knowledge, Mr. Holland selected no PAX members for the All-County Chorus or any accompanying percussion activities.
    Do this 3 times.

    Mosey to the Blacktop for a Quadruple Check

    Partner 1: bear crawl up the hill to the tree
    Partner 2: Balls to the Wall
    Partner 3: People’s Chair
    Partner 4: World War II style sit-ups (Mr. Holland’s choice)

    2 rounds only due to time restrictions

    Mosey Back to the Flag for 2 minutes of Mary

    Rosalitas x20
    LBCs x20

    Number-am-a, Name-a-ram-a, Vinny took us out

    Announcements:

    Breaking Bread Sunday…please let YHC know if you would like to join
    Field Day, May 11…see Vinny for details
    Welcome Umbrella…Joel is a lawyer who helped recruit Vinny…and his favorite insurance coverage is umbrella.

  • The Rain Will Be Light

    8 swamp rats shucked off the dry, warm Fartsack in favor of an a full-on deluge. So much for Weather.com. We’ll call it sunny and 70 above the cloud line. Weather.com sent YHC an alert at 5:09 that a shower would start at 5:21. The rain would be light (or, because it’s 2019, lite). Here’s how the worms crawling on the asphalt tell the story:

    5:25 emerge from cars

    Rain

    5:28 Three Early Risers emerge from The Gloom.

    5:29 TYA appeared. Then, he left to run elsewhere.

    5:30 Let’s mosey. Flag left warm and dry in the car.

    5:31 Rain

    5:32 Rain

    5:33 Rain

    5:34 Rain, growing to a downpour.

    Yadda, yadda, yadda.

    Cary to Robinson to Lakeview to Trafford to Park to Dogpile. The PAX alternated running, fording, swimming, and dog paddling along the route.

    Some of the Early Risers ignored the Q, turned right early and appeared later. YHC presumes they pulled a Rosie Ruiz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_Ruiz).

    Reverso, sort of, on the return. Dogpile to Park to Sheppard to Cary to Thomson. 8 PAX out, 5 PAX back.

    NMS:

    Good run, fellas. YHC tips his hat to Swirly, Handshake, Rosie and Hutton on the return run today…fastest return run YHC has been a part of yet. Way to push.

  • It’s National Make-Me-Laugh Month

    27 stand-up artists took the stage to earn their 15-seconds of fame in today’s edition of The Dogpile. Temps were sunny and 70, with a slight dose of misty, muddy, and nasty, all perfect for an UpChuck Q.

    Mosey to the Amphitheater for the COP

    Today’s workout celebrated National Humor Month with the PAX encouraged to bring their worst joke. PAX approval earned the PAX member the right to select the next exercise. PAX or Q disapproval earned everyone 5 burpees.

    The PAX also gathered in celebration of a number of other National Awareness, Celebration, or Appreciation Months.

    COT: In celebration of National Alcohol Awareness Month, the PAX did exercises in increments of 40, 24, 12, and 6, with several sets of 5 burpees thrown in for good measure. The Q also was reminded to welcome an FNG and provide the disclaimer.

    SSHs x 40
    Hillbillies x24
    LBCs x12
    Something x6

    Mosey to the Great Lawn to Celebrate Mathematics Awareness Month.

    The PAX were reminded today of squares, both the shape and the numerical multipliers.

    Exercises were:
    Run 1/4 of the way down the Great Lawn for 4 lunges, take a 90 degree left turn, mosey across the field for 9 WWIIs, take a 90 degree left turn, and head to the end of the field for 16 burpees. Reverse the rectangle and repeat the 9 and 4 exercises on the way back to the start (i.e., “the prostitute”).

    Hold 6 inches for The Six.

    Second round…run 1/2 way down the field. Continuing with the rectangular theme, do 25 HRMs, 36 squats, and 49 flutter kicks. Repeato on the way back.

    Hold 6 inches for The Six.

    Third round…run all the way down the field, perform 64 mountain climbers at the corner, 81 LBCs at the other corner, then run back the length of the field for 100 SSHs. Repeato the exercises on the way back.

    Hold 6 inches for The Six.

    Do a round or two of 5 burpees somewhere in there.

    Note: Some PAX included their own celebration of Irritable Bowel Syndrome Awareness Month along the way. Google it.

    Staying on the Great Lawn for Couples Appreciation Month

    Partner up for wheelbarrowing down the Great Lawn. At the 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and end of the Great Lawn, stop for each partner to perform 25 PLTs. At the end, appreciate your partner by holding six inches. Then, swap partners for 25 of Wilson’s Boxing Cockroaches. Add a set of DonQ’s at the end.

    Mosey to the Amphitheatre for National STDs Education and Awareness Month (Also a real thing)

    On each step in the Amphitheatre, perform 5 ABDs, 5 pickle pounders, and 5 monkey humpers.

    Perform one forward roll (pull knees to chest, lean forward…that’s just how I roll.)

    BTTF

    Number-am-a, Name-a-ram-a, Lab Rat took us out.

    Announcements:

    All the PAX were reminded of the fragility of the lives we have been given this week. Keep Alan and Holly Nicolette, their family, and their friends in your prayers this week. Also, Gomer Pyle lost a college friend (aka, The Hammer) this week at far too young an age. Keep him and his widow in your prayers.

    NMS:

    YHC thanks the PAX for indulging his childishness yet again. There were some good groaners this morning, and YHC confesses to being fully prepared to retell a few.

    Today was a mudder – YHC’s favorite kind of workout. It’s a wonderful reminder for YHC of the intensity and fun that are literally rolled together in an F3 workout. Thank you all for pushing.

    Welcome to our FNG. There was much discussion in the COT and at ET. YHC has settled on Hustler as the name. Looking forward to having him join us regularly. Welcome!

    Go Hoos!