Author: Whitesnake

  • The Three Musketeers

    We did about 3.2 miles from the flag to Short Pump park, at the park we did a warmaramma, ran in some circles doing abs exercises (LBC, WWII, Flutters), did some triple checks with dips and step ups and more running and got rained on. Add a COT and all before you need to click to

  • RTT for BRR

    10 of the best from the West End and a fast visitor from Raleigh tried to not get lost in a 4-5 mile run that included ~1.5 miles of Rain Tree Trails (RTT). Lots of hills and different terrain hopefully was good BRR prep for a few of us. YHC is the only one who had experienced the trails before and noticed that the roots got bigger in the dark. The team only had one fall and some got lost after the trail ended but everyone made it back safely. The route went something like this:

    Pump South to Falconbridge to Raintree South to the Raintree club.

    Take the trail on the LEFT of the Raintree complex (some learned that going to the right of the complex is not possible) and then take the lake trail counterclockwise around the lake. Admire the lake and wildlife. 3/4 the way around the lake, take the trail on the right.

    This trail takes you to Rounding Run which takes you back to Falconbridge. Go right on Falconbridge and quickly look for the trail entrance on the left.

    Take the trail for a mile, avoid the roots and rocks, crossing the stream while avoiding the trolls living under the bridges. Trail ends at Rocky Point Parkway and find your way back to Ridgefield (done a few different ways).

    Take Ridgefield down past Pump and come back on Old Prescott.

    Announcements: BRR in Sept (need more runners), new AO in Manchester starting Saturday mornings at 7:30 with the Healing Place (see Offshore for more info), Sin N Sip 9/24 (see Gomer for more info). Check Slack for other stuff.

    Prayers for Lab Rat and Gomer’s sister-in-law and family.

    Good to have El Chapo from Raleigh join us the past couple of days. Always a privilege to Q and glad I did not get anyone too lost.

  • Bright Path to Coupons

    Gypsy reminded some and informed others of the origination of the WaThoHuk name. I did a little research to add to the story. It was Jim Thorpe’s name from being a member of the Sac and Fox Nation and is translated as “Bright Path”. Jim Thorpe is one of the greatest athletes ever, second to Pigskin. When looking for a new name of this AO, that is located at Pocahontas Middle School, a Native American name was desired and no better athlete for some inspiration than Jim Thorpe. He is also a good lesson for all of us as he struggled a lot after his athletic career with alcoholism, money, finding work and cancer. Being a good or great athlete is not the ultimate goal.

    We leaned some of this from Gypsy while running into the Windsor Place West neighborhood. We then stopped at the little cul-de-sac for some warmaramma of SSH, Cherry/Strawberry Pickers, Merkins and Arm Circles. We then ran down to the Church Run pool parking lot where some coupons magically appeared. Coupons at WTH may be a first.

    We did 5 coupon exercises of ten reps each and in between ran to the other end of the lot and did a ladder of burpees (starting at 5 and going down to 1). Exercises were Overhead press, Curls, Merkins with hands on Coupon, Flutter Kicks while holding up Coupon and Triceps. Had time for one more and Brick voted for Merkins again so we ran to the end of the lot, did 5 more burpees and then back for Merkins.

    Back to Thamesford Way and went up and down the hill 3 times doing 20 LBCs at the top. Started back and did 5 squats at each recycling bin (4 or 5 bins total) then moseyed back to the flag. Ran 3.5 miles total. Coupons are behind the dumpsters in the back of the pool parking lot for the future.

    Always an honor and pleasure to host my favorite AO.

  • 2022 WTH Accounting and Economics Conference

    Three esteemed colleagues gathered at the 2022 WTH Accounting and Economics conference to debate the recession, housing market and burpees.

    Required Session 1: Are we in a Recession? We ran West on Three Chopt and determined the answer. It is only available to paying attendees.

    Required Session 2: Icebreaker/Parking lot warm-up. Speakers included Side Straddle Hops, Hillbillies, Imperial Walkers & Ukrainian Soldiers. Ended with everyone’s favorite speaker, 10 burpees OYO.

    Required Session 11’s: Counted the 10 burpees as the beginning and then ran up the lot to meet the engaging presenter, Jump Squats and then back and forth doing 11’s. Pigskin maintained the T-account to keep track of how many were left.

    Break: Run up Westgate behind Panera and then behind Dunkin, up to Broad, down Pump to SPES and down to the football field. Discussions may have included new Rev Rec rules and Deferred Taxes.

    Required Session 4: “How has Accounting and Economics changed since WWII?” To find the answer we ran back and forth behind the goalposts, doing ten incline WWIIs 6 times. The main lesson was that it was really wet. This session will not be available for replay on youtube.

    Final Session: Back to the Flag.

    Ended up with 3.5 miles running and some other exercises. CPE Certificates will be mailed shortly.

  • The Wild West End

    Five half-awake rock stars went on an expedition to find a lake to run around, multiple times. Early on the route, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” was heard from the woods and five became six.

    We ran downhill to the Raintree Swim and Racket club, ran 2-4 laps around the half-mile lake path, looked for Gomer and Gypsy in the pool, and then ran uphill all the way back for a 4-5 mile run depending on how many laps of the lake you did. We saw and heard lots of wildlife (cranes, hawks, frogs, whitesnake) which made the run different than the normal neighborhood routes. The fog on the lake was a nice touch.

    Conversations went something like this:

    – Where are we?
    – Corner of Bumfuck and You Got a Purty Mouth.

    and

    – The only chance we have to survive is to huddle together for warmth
    – I, for one, choose death.

    Uphill on the way back and doing laps on the same route were not the Pax favorites so next time we will do a track workout and just the laps.

    Thanks for letting me Q.

  • WTH-open for business

    It was great to see Gypsy (and his dog) walking the bus loop while the rest of us ran 4.25 miles and did some other exercises to slow us down. We missed a WTH regular in Pigskin but I am confident he and Mickey Mouse were doing burpees while we did our thing. Here is how it went:

    The group ran to West Broad Village and around the lake before cutting over to Thamesford Way. We then ran to the end and cut over to the Church Run pool parking lot. After some warmups of Imperial Walkers, Don Quixote and Freddie Mercury’s, we tackled some 7’s of WWIIs and Burpees, running back and forth between parking lot islands in between.

    While I considered running to Gomer Pyle’s house, I forgot the TP so instead we ran back to Thamesford and hit every cul-de-sac on the left and alternated between 20 LBCs (3 times) and 10 Merkins (2 times). We then went back to the West Broad Village lake and ran to the Gazebo. There we did 20 dips and 10 Derkins. From there we look the long way back to the flag and met back up with Gypsy.

    Announcements: Convergence on Monday at 7AM, park near Tredegar/Belle Island. Bridge on 6/4. Next 2nd Tuesday West End 2nd F lunch on 6/14.

    Prayers for Gypsy, Pinto, my friend Ryan, and all the Texas families impacted by the terrible tragedy yesterday.

    Thanks for letting me Q this morning. Always a pleasure.

  • Where is Pouncey Track?

    8 runners/walkers came together Friday morning to get confused by me calling every road Pouncey Track. If we ever get to Pouncey Track at this AO, someone is in trouble. Here is how the runners went:

    4.5 & 5 milers: Pouncey Track north (Pump) and then a right on Pouncey Track (Church). Took the next right on Lake Pouncey Track (Loreine), went down the hill, stayed left, went to the cul-de-sac and came back around the other way and then up the hill. Took a left on Pouncey Track (Church). 4.5 miler took Pouncey Track Parkway (John Rolfe) to Pouncey Track Drive (Glen Eagles) to Pouncey Track (Ridgefield) while the 5 milers stayed on Pouncey Track (Church), went left into Keswick neighborhood then took Pouncey Track Parkway (John Rolfe) all the way to Pouncey Track (Ridgefield). All the runners merged on the way back.

    We have enough walking wounded that Currahee has become the hot spot for walkers across Short Pump. They have perfected a walking route for anyone else looking for company on a Friday morning. GP is back to a running/walking combo and I know he is looking forward to getting back to the full running group as soon as possible.

    COT: Announcements: Convergence Monday May 30th at Browns Island/Tredegar area. June 4th Blood Drive and the Bridge. Pick one or both! Prayers for Gypsy, Pinto and Lab Rat.

    Thanks for letting me Q. No one got lost or (re)injured so I will sign up again in the future.

  • Breathing is good

    Had a good/patient group this morning for my 3rd Q. After losing my breath 5 minutes in, Lighthouse taught me to not count every piece of the cadence. What a difference! (of course) Pigskin also counted in English more than usual to help.

    From there, the mix of running and bootcamp leaned too much on the running side. Lesson learned.

    Here’s what we did:

    Ran to Wells Fargo. Some security camera likely caught 20 Side-straddle hops,15 Imperial Walkers, 15 Don Quixote’s and 20 Flutter kicks. And me learned to breathe while reminiscing Homer’s cadence skills.

    Ran to the first parking lot on Westgate. Did a modified Dora, group of 2 sharing 50 Merkins, 100 LBCs and 150 Squats, group of 3 needing to do math and 75 Merkins, 150 LBCs and 225 Squats.

    Ran behind the Panera and the smell of coffee, then ran behind the Dunkin Donuts to the entrance to the apartment complex there. Too dark to see the American Flag but it is the thought the counts. Here the Pax was super excited to do 50 WWIIs.

    Went to Broad St and took a right, ran down Pump to the Softball field next to the school. Everyone went to a base. Everyone did Merkins. Home plate started with 10 then ran to relieve 1st (every base keeps doing Merkins until relieved) who then ran to relieve 2nd, and so on. Yes, that means 3rd base sucked.

    Ran the pathway through the woods. Stopped for 20 seconds midway for some 3rd F. Showed the Pax the spiritual labyrinth there. Worth a visit when you have the time.

    Ran back to Pocahontas. Ended up running ~3.25 miles. Will do more WWII’s next time and run less.

    Announcements:
    Bluegrass Jam benefit for the Fisher House, April 30 (rvabluegrassjam.com for more info)
    Blood drive June 4 at Epiphany Lutheran (sign up on red cross site).

    Pigskin took out us.

    Looking forward to my next Q and seeing whether I did this wordpress thing right.

  • West Broad Rocks

    Three warriors met at a warm parking garage to enjoy a musical workout. Did you expect anything less from my first Q (2nd if you include the one time I was the only one to show up)? Here’s what we did:

    Warmup: Ran up a few levels doing butt kickers and high knees. Then stopped for some Don Quixotes and Russian Soldiers. Then the music played:

    Playlist:

    Chumbaburpees: Listened to their one hit “Tubthumping” doing SSH’s except the Chorus with a burpee for every “knocked down” (about 20). Took the stairs down and ran to the Aloft deck entrance.

    Paula Abduls: inspired from her smash hit “Opposites Attract”, we ran two sections of the deck, did ten LBCs, then ran back one section, did ten LBCs, ran up two sections, etc. About 50 LBCs total. Took advantage of the little running space we had. Took the stairs down, ran back up a level.

    (Don’t) Let the Bodies Hit the Floor from the band Drowning Pool. Plank for the verses, Merkins in cadence with the song counting “one, two, three, four” and mountain climbers during the Chorus. (about 20 Merkins). Ran up a level, stairs down, ran up a level

    Inspired from the Jan 1 Convergence, “Bring Sally Up”, Squats and stay down unless the song tells you “up”.

    Ran up, found some Wall space for the People’s Chair. Held for “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt 3” (about a minute). Took the stairs down, ran back to the Aloft entrance.

    “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins. SSH except when you hear “Danger Zone” and do squats instead.

    Got a little over 2 miles of running in this morning, some good tunes and exercise.

    Some stretching, COT and Pigskin took us out.

    Thanks Roger Roger and Pigskin for the support this morning. It was my honor to lead today and start to pay you back for all the times you have led me.

  • Hear I Go Again On My Own

    Left the house at 5:18. Ran to Pocahontas, arrived at 5:28. No cars. Uh Oh. 5:30 came and went solo.

    “I don’t know where I’m goin’.”

    Ran to WB Village, hit the parking deck stairs to the top. Then did 10 Merkins, ran down the stairs, ran up the ramp back to the top, 10 Merkins, then repeated a few times.

    “But I sure know where I’ve been.”

    Ran to a different parking deck. Did the same thing. Threw in some side straddle hops and LBCs.

    “Hanging on the promises in songs of yesterday. And I’ve mad up my mind, I ain’t wasting no more time”

    Ran around the village some more and headed home. Just a couple minutes short. 4 miles total running plus the fun. Did not leave anyone behind and had some great conversation.

    Ended in prayer: “Oh Lord, I pray you give me strength to carry on. ‘Cause I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams

    Here I go again on my own
    Goin’ down the only road I ever known
    Like a drifter I was born to run alone…”