No one at Godwin HS, few runners out but Currahee was in force with 5 PAX looking for a route that does not get them lost in the rainy gloom.
Route today was : Old Prescott, Right on Glen Eagles, across the apartments and gas station to Old Pump, then Right on Three Chopt for 5mi or Right through the Short Pump Park for 5.5mi, then Right on JRP and return to the flag.
Doozy took us out. Prayers for his neighbor work has recently developed impactful cancer. Prayers for the PAX for healing and travel for the next few weeks.
Coffeeteria at Dunkin where Hutton was excluded from cool Garmin feature demo and discussion, but like a proper Tucka-Hoe-weegan, then he jumped off the top rope with: “My watch was designed in Cupertino by Apple”
Get some.
Four Redwoods showed up on a sweltering morning for a little jaunt in the west end. We mostly ran the deep run park route.
Pigskin took us out. Prayers for a friend with a breast lump.
NMS. Not much to report today. Lots of mumblechatter with Lighthouse and Mr Rogers – you have to ask them what they talked about.
10 PAX came out to R’n’R to see if Heist would merlot after some bourbon fueled Cheer with the Rountree crew. Sadly none of rest made it, not even a little late.
Triple check. Swing pumps, squats and run the apparatus. Mosey to baseball field.
Partner up. straight up Dora 100x Merican, 200x WW2, 300x Squat. Bear crawl and crawl bear on the hill. That was too easy so quick demo of crawl bear up a hill. Mosey to the parking lot. 9x Burpee thanks to mud slide actually being friendly enough to get a reaction from a passer by
New partners. Bear Crawl catch me around parking lot. 10x WW2. 5x booyah Merican when switching who knew all cars wanted to leave at that moment?
5 min of Mary. Rotate around calling 10 of an exercise.
YHC took us out. Prayers for Cha Cha. TYA and Blue Moon for recovery. 2nd F at Starbucks where YHC libation wanted to get on the table many times.
NMS – welcome to Cholula who hails from south Texas and whose M is from North Mexico. Spicy. Strong consideration for Ariel on account of a quote well apportioned mermaid tattoo- but that is just too easy. YHC enjoys being south of the James with a great crew. Great to see so many neighbors out. YHC soft EHd Ray who spent 28 years in the Army ad an infantryman and medical services – he is missing the boys, lets get him out.
60 warriors braved the rain to enjoy our annual Memorial Day convergence. It was a little wet out. Some call it rain, SEALs call it Frogman weather, Bulkhead calls it training. This pic is sums it up because many personalities are featured including our newest FNG Gambler and also Ripcord.
According to the STPT workout group gathering in the rain and anticipating max enjoyment for their long canoe portage, this is what went down, more or less:
COP All PAX mosey to Browns Island. Greeting, disclaimer, mission. COP: 30x SSH, 10x DQ, 50x Merican, 10x LBC, 10x right leg straight LBC, 10x left leg straight LBC, 10x both legs straight LBC (Inspired by Chum Bucket!), 10x APD, 15x squats. Break into 4 groups
Rosie breakout Q: Mosey over to the stage for a triple check with monkey humpers and flutter kicks. Loop around the stage and to the bridge for a Dora 100 merkins, 200 box cutters, 300 squats, runner goes across the bridge and back. Back to the base of the hill to meet up with the rest of the PAX.
Florence breakout Q: At Bridge #1 : Triple Check – Dips, Squat Jumps, Timer runs across Bridge and back
Mosey to Fountain Line up in incline Plank position around the fountain, Curb Crawl clockwise around the fountain for a full loop Hold incline Plank on fountain, PAX at the front does 20 incline Merkins while rest of PAX hold Plank, Repeato down the line until everyone has done 20 incline Merkins
Mosey to Bridge #2 Tripe Check – Gomer’s 1 legged LBC’s, Crab Cakes, Timer runs across the bridge and back. Mosey to the War Memorial hill
Heist breakout Q: Mosey over T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge. On the way did 20x copperhead squats and 5 burpees.
Across the bridge and worked our way down to the rock climbing area: 1) Pax held wall sits. Went down the line for 10x donkey kicks 2) Pax then held plank and did 10x dirty hookups (hand wall walks) 3) Lunge walked back to the stairs.
Moseyed back across the bridge Triple check: Picnic bench dips/incline merkins and running to gate.
Gomer breakout Q: Mosey across middle bridge to Tredegar. 11s Merican + WW2.
Mosey to Belle Isle bridge. 20x WW2 at the bottom of each rainbow, 15x WW2 at the top. Return the way we came.
Convergence Q: Meet at the bottom of the War Memorial Hill. 1x burpee for each light pole for a total of 10 on the left and 10 on the right. At the top, 10x Grass angels and 10x Australian grass angels to finish the job.
Memorial Day sharing outside the Virginia War Memorial. Thanks to all who were able to share and those who remember lost ones in their hearts.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.” George S. Patton
Probation took us out. Prayers for Florence Family, Gomer’s work, Hitchhiker.
2nd F in the mizzle is the best. Venmo @uberrock if you want to help. Thanks to Lighthouse for picking up the vittles, and to Heist and Florence for bringing coolers of gatorade and water.
Announcements:
Sign up for summer tour
Sign up for breaking bread
NMS – Great fun seeing everyone out there! Who doesn’t love a convergence? Really excited to see PAX we have not seen in a while. Great to see 2.0s. Welcome to Gambler, former crew chief for Kiowa scout helos.
My memorial call out today is to COL Donny Ollar. This is his bio from 2015.
Donny is a brother of mine from our pre-Ranger program for 6 months while at Engineer Officer Basic at Fort Leonard Wood, MO in 1993. He went on to serve 28 years as an officer in the Army. Donny is a West Pointer and a football player. During PT, we sometimes partnered up and carried each other up and down a hill. Pretty sure we used to trade off carrying the 240B while patrolling. He learned how to shotgun beer under arguably the best tutelage (with some other WP alum, it was oddly satisfying at the time). After EOBC he went to Ft Polk, I went to Germany. We lost touch. The last time I was at FLW in 1999 as a EOAC student, Donny was a EOAC small group instructor and we ran into each other in the hall and had lunch together. He deployed multiple times, including 2 tours in Afghanistan and 2 tours in Iraq. After leaving the Army, he committed suicide, leaving behind his wife and two daughters.
This impacts YHC tremendously two ways 1. We had a lot in common and might have had much more, but Donny made the Army a career. 2. I did not know of his passing until recently – he and I were simply not in common circles despite all our modern connectivity – I have to think how many more are out there have I lost touch with?
The cynic will say, it was a job that you got paid for and that you signed up for, but at best, that point of view is awfully short sighted. The transition from *that life* where the abnormal is normal is challenging and that we all take it on differently.
This sums it up: A war is not over until its last veteran passes on. How grateful we, that have not had to experience war, should be because of those who have.
The lesson for us is that as men we probably dont want to share inner challenges, but we must – we can get though it together. Call me anytime.
9 nimble giants met in the waning gloom to enjoy a new Orion brocode route on a perfect day for running.
After an excellent overview of the route the PAX led a brief discussion decrying the Qs infatuation with hills. The Q mildly replied that while the PAX correctly identified a passion for training, these mounds are easily ascended – and we set off.
As we got started, apparently some PAX (not Kubota – he is always reliable) thought the Q was kidding about trying the backdoor route then were quite hesitant going in until they tried it for a bit finally agreed with Kubota that the under right conditions, it can work out just fine. All PAX left energized. Pigskin is ready for more.
Lighthouse took us out Prayers for healing, upcoming surgical success, and tough work decisions
NMS – Brocode always brings out requisite mumblechatter. Coffeeteria after always is lively covering a range of topics ranging from labor and immigration policy, who is the slum king of F3, and who might be crazy enough to date returning college age 2.0s on the rebound.
It was a treat have Kubota join us this morning. He helped recon the AO when it was just an idea.
YHC enjoys this route for the hills in all the right places, but also the quirkiness of the 1979 vintage covered bridge. We have always run pieces of this route and the complete 4mi route debuted during the CSAUP. It is a keeper.
YHC took us out. Prayers for tough work decisions.
NMS – At one point YHC was choosing exercises to make sure we would finish on time. Had to add the dog leg at the end to make the distance goal and avoid running the bus loop (monotonous). This is one that YHC still feels.
Its tough to make the running and time goals and not have to double back – and this was a lot of fun! YHC is glad that worked out so well.
16 fearless HIMs gathered in the waning gloom for a little ruck action. 3 mi route below.
YHC took us out.
NMS- It was great to see PAX from all over the region today. Thanks for making it out to Currahee gents!
Rucking was something we did all the time in the Army. YHC needs to work at it to get back to the standard of 15min / mi for 12 miles.
If what we did wasnt hard enough for you, set goals for more weight and faster – the best can hit a pace under 12min / mi without running.
YHC enjoyed walking with Prairie Dog and Brimstone today who are visiting us from New Orleans and Mississippi for an extended mission trip out toward Rockville. Found out that Prairie Dog was in the Louisiana National Guard where he was a Gun Bunny and then a Chaplain. They love rucking and do it much more often than Bootcamps. Interesting to talk about the regional differences.
Join us at 7am on Monday 5/29 at Belle Isle for our annual Memorial day Convergence.
We will do a beatdown finishing at the War Memorial and have coffee and bagel fellowship after.
Remember that May is FNG month. Bring an FNG out this month and get him to the convergence. Special prize to the region with the most FNGs and to the top recruiter.
8 runners, 3 walkers, and one logistics expert made it out to the third phase of runs. After a little reorganizing and realizing that we had planned team members missing and an odd number to make three full relay teams, we decided to split the Pax into runners and walkers and simply take breaks between 5, 3, and 4.5 mile runs.
Offshore took us out. We are all grateful for something. Thanks for sharing.
NMS – Enjoyed talking to local citizens as they finished up a photo shoot with a candidate and sharing the F3 mission. The camaraderie and 2f between runs and hanging out with this crew was truly enjoying. The weather was perfect and training goals were accomplished. Some PAX have never run that far in their lives, and some haven’t done it in a long while due to injury. Looking forward to the next CSAUP.
TCLAPS and special thanks to Upchuck, Shakedown, and Offshore for extra logistics. Thanks for stepping forward men!
Also thanks to the PAX for thinking through an audible on the relay. It was much more fun running with the group and YHC was able to make my Senior’s last ballet recital!
33 PAX made it to the Far West End for a little Beatdown and the second phase of the CSAUP.
According to Senator Dunnavant crew who was filming a campaign add during the beatown, this is how it went down more or less.
Mosey to the COP – 25x SSH, 10x Don Quixote, 10x Ukrainian Soldiers, 10x Copperhead Squats, 15x Arm Circles, 10x Merkin, 10x WA merkins, 10x diamond merkin, 10x HRM, 12x SHAZZAMs, 1 OMC merkins. Flip it over. 10x Snow Angel, 10x Hello Dolly, 10x flutter kick,10x Rosalita, 10x HtH, 10x Crunchy Frogs. Mosey to Circus Maximus.
Triple check. Run the loop, BTTW, Squats. Fudd shows up.
Curb Crawl to 5 and back down.
Pole smoker audible. Apparently we have never done this before, Q revolt ensues. Call it, Mosey back to the flag.
Finish it off with 50 flutters, 10 Hello Dolly, 15 APD.
YHC took us out. Bagels and Coffee Fellowship.
Announcements – May is FNG drive. Bring an FNG out during the month and get him to the Memorial Day Convergence.
NMS – Thanks for everyone that made it out and for letting me lead. Really excited about all the pax from across the region making it over for this little CSAUP.
Welcome to Warhol. He is an overall handyman and an artist and we are glad to have him.
