Category: Richmond, VA

  • The Beardless Swiper

    The Beardless Swiper

    To shave, or not to shave, that is the question. For one of our PAX it was an age old question, beard or…

    Intervals was the call of the day and YHC could sense the excitement of the PAX. One PAX member started pacing around 528, grumbling something about still waiting for instructions. Huggy Bear emerged from his chariot asking how this run thing worked. Perfect timing for YHC to declare, “Let’s Mosey!”

    The Thang
    Warm up run up out Richmond, Right on UR, left on Ridgeway. Convene at the intersection of Fairway and Ridgeway for intervals. 1 minute up hill at 75%+ effort. Recovery mosey back down in 1:45.

    3x – Fairway to Tapoan
    3x – Ridgeway
    Mosey to the bottom intersection of Roselawn & Towana
    3x – Roselawn
    3x – Towana

    Recovery mosey back to the VSF for our post workout routine and YHC took us out.

    Moleskin
    YHC hasn’t been to Spider Run since August and has sorely missed the hills around UR. As YHC was reviewing previous Spider Run routes and contemplating possibilities for the day, a realization was made that intervals have been non-existent since Saab’s variation in August. Election day seemed like a perfect opportunity to reintroduce them to the PAX.

    Great catching up with everyone during and post run. Especially fun to discuss how Tuckahoe’s future leaders decided to break into Bodo’s church, repeatedly.

    Announcements
    TYA Turkey Fest on thanksgiving at Mary. Also planning on a Black Friday party in Forest Hill Park. See TYA for details.

    Kanye West is apparently still on the ballet in Caroline County.

    Until next time fellas.

    Splinter

  • No Toll to Vote

    YHC was motivated to be at No Toll on voting day for many reasons as this day in 2020 will determine the next president. This is during the COVID-19 pandemic and the interesting times for families, students, parents and relationships. So here is what went down:

    Mosey to large tower parking lot for COP:

    20 SSH, 10 DQ, 10 Russian Soldiers, 10 4ct V ups, 10 scorpions and 20 merkins.

    The THANG

    Mosey to grass Field for 7 Diamonds and they went like this:

    Run to corner 1(C1) perform reps starting with 7 burpees then C2 perform 7 burpees, C3 7 burpees, C4 7 burpees. This is Lap 1

    Lap 2 – 14 ea flutter kicks at each corner.

    Lap 3 – 21 merkins at each corner

    Lap 4 – 28 squats at each corner

    Lap 5 – 21 Overhead Claps at each corner

    Lap 6 – 14 WW2 Sit ups at each corner

    Lap 7 – 7 Werkins at each corner

    TRIPLE Check – we next divide into groups of 3 and Partner 1 runs lap (same lap as 7 diamonds) as timer. Partner 2 LBC’s and Partner 3 – 40 merkins. Then P3 – Runs Lap, P2 – 40 Merkins and P1 – LBC’s. Then P2 – Runs Lap, P1 – 40 Merkins and P3 LBC’s. This is one rotation. We do this rotation 2 more times for a Triple Check. Great partnering with some young bucks today who smoked it (Fresh Prince and Rosetta). Nice partnering with you guys.

    Mary – We mosey to flag for Mary Official Merkin count (Thank You Rosie 252 so we did 8 more at Mary to have a nice 260 merkins…Done and ready for the day!!!)

    COT

    Namerama, Numberama, YHC took us out. No Announcements this morning, Just make sure you VOTE!

    Moleskin

    I brought music to this workout to remind us that we all have songs that may motivate us and bring joy to our time on this earth. It is often the heartbeat of my day as I enjoy music and I hope this made the workout go faster for everyone!

    Back in the late 60’s you had to be 21 in order to vote, this was very controversial as a young 18 year old could be drafted and sent to war and they had no voice in this matter. Cartoons such as below emerged to point out this issue:

    The Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI) was ratified on July 1, 1971. It lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 and declared that “the right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.”

    Your vote is important as it is your voice on the future of the US, the direction we go as a country and remain the free Americans in our blessed land.

    It has been an honor to lead you fine men this morning, your proud patriot of the United States … CB

  • Northside Block Party

    10 of RVA’s finest came out on a cool Monday evening to help YHC stamp another location on is passport.

    This how it went down

    COP (ALL IC) – SSH, Merkins x 5, DQ, Merkins x6, Hillbillies, Merkins x7, LBC’s, Merkins x8, Flutter Kicks, Merkins x9, Arm Circles, Merkins x10

    THANG

    Touch a Tree – Partner Up, first partner does Donkey Kicks while second partner touch one tree then switch. Rinse and Repeat with increasing by one tree each round till 5 trees

    Mosey to the bus loop

    Light Pole to Light Pole – Starting by polar bearing to one light pole then lunge to the next. Short 10 count then polar bear back to the middle pole and lunge to the last pole

    Mosey back to the parking lot

    Triple Block Check – Sit-up + Press, Alternating Incline Merkins, loop around the parking lot

    Mosey to the picnic tables

    IC Sets – Dips x10 IC following by Skull Crushers x10 IC. Rinse and repeat increasing reps by 1 till 15.

    Mosey to SF

    Partner Time – First partner murder bunny about 15 yards to Rifle carrier back while second partner does exercise of their choice. Two rounds completed

    30 SOM – Boat/Canoe

    Numberrama, Namerama, Announcements, YHC took us out

    MOLESKIN

    November is here so its time for our annual challenge. YHC got a count between 140 to 160 Merkins.

    This was YHC’s first trip to Punisher since it had been moved to nights. T-Claps to Chum Bucket for building a strong regular PAX including some 2.0’s

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • Run in crispy cold morning

    In a chilly morning, three strong men ran to Dogpile around the lake and ran back to the ET. We felt like we were moving that morning. About 4.5 miles at an 8-8:30 pace. Good conversation! Learned that Doublemint does a lot of volunteering with his children and Orange Crush is a good cook.

  • By the Light of the Waning Gibbous

    8 studs gathered in the gloom to start the week the right way. With the time change we thought we might have more light, but had to settle for the 97% lunar illumination of the waning gibbous. Still pretty great.

    Mosey to the bottom of Lindsay Court.

    COP, all IC: SSH // Deadman Hang // helicopters // DQs // Cherry Pickers // Imperial Walkers // Lt Dans (6ct.) // Alabama Prom Dates // LBCs // Merkins

    Up the Hill: Parter up. P1 runs up to the top of Lindsay Ct and back. P2 performs lunges. Flipflop when P1 returns. // Round 2: Bear Crawl // Round 3: Broad Jump Burpees.

    Mosey to middle lot of Third Church

    Flora! (Dora + Coupon). Partner up. 100 Incline Merkins on the Coupon // 200 Reverse Crunches with Coupon on Chest // 300 Squats with Coupon. Plank when done, 25x Pickle Pounders for good measure.

    Mosey to back Third Church lot

    Run + Burpees + Wall: Partner 1. P1 runs to end of lot, performs 3 burpees, runs back. P2 is on the wall with Balls to the Wall. Flip Flop // Round 2: Wall Sit // Round 3: Donkey Kicks.

    Mosey back to the Flag.

    Numberama, Namerama, YHC took us out.

    NMS: Really enjoyed the first truly cold morning today. Very impressed by eHarmony who has posted 4 times since Wednesday. We have a committed brother in the making! Prayers for peace this week.

  • Have we done this Q before?

    Warmarama :

    10 four count SSH

    10 four count Don Quixote’s

    10 four count Russian Soldiers

    10 four count cherry pickers

    The Thang : 

    Mosey to rock pile and choose your poison

    All PAX together jog up Satan’s hill then back to parking lot for an exercise. Repeato for as many exercises as possible. 

    1st exercise – 30 overhead rock presses

    2nd exercise- 40 four count flutters

    3rd exercise- 25 rock thrusters 

    4th exercise- 30 rock curls

    5th exercise- 40 four count American hammers

    6th exercise- 50 rock squats

    7th exercise- 20 rock tricep extensions

    8th exercise- 25 WWII’s while holding rock

    (Time was running out so we did our

    Jog halfway up Satan’s hill for the last exercise)

    9th exercise – 20 double count ball dippers

    DONE

    COT :

    YHC loves the rocks and hill at this AO. Hard to beat the easy access to coupons and a long hill to make your Q’s challenging. 

    Prayer:

    Rosco

  • Battdeaux

    Two stallions traded the fart sack for a 70 degree and sunny morning at Forest Hill Park. Here’s how it went:

    Warmarama: mosey to corner of 42nd and Forest Hill Ave for SSHs x 20, IWs x 10, Helicopters x 10, arm circles x 15 x reverso, Freddy Mercuries x 20, APDs x 10.

    The THANG: mosey to the sledding hill for 11s – 1 x hand release merkin, up the hill, 10 x Dying Cockroach Quixotes (DQs supine on the deck), etc. to 10 x HRM and 1 x DCQ.

    Mosey to coupon garden for Coupon Lindsay: 10 x coupon squats, carry coupon to far pylon by the maintenance shed, 30 x coupon curls, etc. to 30 x coupon squats and 10 x coupon curls.

    Mosey to pickleball court for 4 Corners (High Class Escort Service Style – come back to the same/first corner each time, but don’t add the intervening exercise sets — that’s for hourly hotels and truck stop bathroom stalls):
    – 10 x WWIIs
    – 20 x American Hammers
    – 30 x Heels to Heaven
    – 40 x Flutter Kicks

    BTTF for some Old Man Stretches. Numbers, names, YHC took us out.

    NMMS: Prayers for Boberry’s sister’s s.o. – got a positive COVID test and hoping for the best. YHC was glad for the company this morning — it’s easier to embrace the suck when you’ve got someone pushing you and supporting you at the same time. And that goes for the hours between 06:16-05:29 as well …. SYITG!

  • Walking is the new running!

    Three walkers showed up and on potential runner, but the walkers convince the runner to take a rest day. he is better for it…………..we hope! Had some great conversation and coffee.after.

  • Off campus wayfinding

    Seven showed for the most recent Punisher offering. We began our mosey at 6 PM sharp and hit the grass on the western side of Holton for the COP with 25 x SSHs, 15 x Hillbillies, 15 x DQs, 15 x Helicopters, 10 x Suzanne Somers (per side), and some Arm Circles.

    Begin off campus mosey heading north up Hermitage Road. Faster guys plank at each cross street heading north – Claremont and Nottoway – waiting until we are all gathered again. Cross Hermitage to west side after Nottoway. Plank and wait at Bellevue then resume jog to the Hermitage Road entrance to the Acca parking lot. Find the fresh blacktop with clear paint lines and divide into small groups. One group starts with seven Merkins per parking space in the shorter parking column. Second group starts with six two-count Flutter Kicks per space in the next parking column. Third group starts with five two-count Front Lunges per space in the next parking column. Rotate until everyone has completed the sequence. Resume mosey back to school, pausing at cross streets and crossing east at Nottoway. COT just past northwest entrance to Holton grounds and YHC took us out.

    Nice job guys. Welcome to F3RVA Chunked.

    Check out the Wrong Worshippers (duo led by Punisher regulars Flea and Animal). Just dropped and seasonally themed. https://soundcloud.com/user-757441863/halloween

  • A Cage Fight at Grid Iron

    3rd F: Faith

    • Thank you Chum Bucket for taking us out.
    • Pray request for YHC’s Uncle Greg. He was diagnosed with Lung Cancer yesterday and they are still determining what stage and type.
    • Virtual 3rd F Q openings are available.
      Come talk with your brothers across the region every other Tuesday from 8pm to 9pm as we explore thought and ideas from a faith perspective for today’s challenges of life.

    2nd F: Fellowship

    • Shout out to UpChuck with lining up and supporting the Breaking bread. read more here:
      https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2020/10/14/breaking-bread-we-need-you-now-two-nights-per-month/
    • Grid Iron will be on the road next week as we go support BlueMoon at this Richmond Marathon that he will start at 6:30 am. More details to come out this week so please stay posted to the Slack 1st F channel.
    • The RVA shoe drive has been more successful than we 1st anticipated. We are over 100 pairs of shoes and YHC will be getting a final count tomorrow morning as I understand more came in today around the region.

    Announcements:

    Merkin challenge is starting tomorrow 11/1. Keep yourself accelerating and burn off some of those Thanksgiving calories ahead of time.
    SIGN UP TODAY so you are not starting up behind. See more details here:
    https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2020/10/30/november-merkin-challenge-2/
    Virtual Happy Hour and Kettle bells has moved from Mondays at 530PM to Thursdays at 530PM. The Zoom link will be posted in the 1st F Slack channel Thursday morning.

    1st F (Fitness)
    The Thang: Cage Fight

    6:50AM. finished the pre-run and found a few pax already standing outside on this cool fall morning. As the PAX continued to roll in, YHC knew that the we had a lot of work to get in this morning so I gave the disclaimer right at 7am and we took off immediately for a mosey to get the blood flowing.
    Circle up at the Tennis Courts on the back side of the school.

    COP: (Circle of Pain) warm-up
    1 BLIMPS

    • 5 Burpees
    • 10 Lunges
    • 15 Imperial Walkers
    • 20 Merkins
    • 25 Plank Jacks
    • 30 Squats

    4 Corners
    Starting in the center of the 4 tennis courts you run to one of the 4 corners and perform 10 of a set exercise then run back to center for 2 Burpees.
    Go to the next corner and so on and so forth until all 4 corners and 4 sets of burpees are completed. We did 4 rounds of this with the following exercise in the corners. (32 burpees in the middle as well)

    Round 1MerkinsWide arm MerkinsNarrow MerkinsCarolina Dry-dock
    Round 2WW2Reverse LBCFluttersHells to heaven
    Round 3SquatsLungesReverse LungesJump Squats
    Round 4MerkinsWW2SquatsBurpees
    10 or each exercise

    Great Work guys!!!


    Why are we standing around talking about F3 Disaster Ops and F3 Mission trips, WE have more work to do.
    (but seriously if you want to know more about the Nations 2nd F events, DM me and I can get you connected with the events NANTAN or Q lead)

    The PAX looked like they were getting chilly as YHC talked their ears off so figured we needed to warm up with 1 round of BLIMPS:

    • 5 Burpees
    • 10 Lunges
    • 15 Imperial Walkers
    • 20 Merkins
    • 25 Plank Jacks
    • 30 Squats

    Modified CAGE FIGHT WAR!!!
    YHC has a pack of F3 Workout cards. (See MudGear site to order a set)
    The game is simple: PAX lines up against the cage fence. One by one you draw a card, announce the exercise on it and keep it. (yes Chum.. you keep just your card)
    (Number cards you add 10 to it, face cards are 20, aces are 100)
    The entire pax does the exercise at the far end fence (4 tennis court lengths away) and return to start. This is done until each pax member has pulled a card.
    To finish this off; after each pax has their card, in pairs, they pick another pax member to “Play war” with. The higher card is the winner and the reward is we all get to do the exercise before collecting those 2 cards.
    Exercises pulled today: Heels to heaven, 100 M lunge walk, Ranger Merkins, Calf raises, Low Slow Squats, Flutters, Freddy Mercury, Explosive Merkins, and ??. (I forgot the last one).
    Mosey back to the AO launch.

    DONE!!. Lets go get coffee and Bagels

    NMS (Naked Mole Skin)
    Great work by all today!
    It was a bit chilly so YHC wanted to keep us moving and NOT roll in the wet fields. YHC DOES NOT LIKE rolling around in the cold wet fields. So a good ol’ Fashion cage fight was perfect for today:
    3 miles of intervals almost all within he confines of the cage
    200 calf raises
    100 Merkins
    52 burpees
    Countless Squats, Lunges, and Core.


    Key notes taken from today.
    Johnsonville can whistle REALLLLLY loud..
    Chum Bucket cant hear Johnsonville whistle
    Fireman ed is never allowed to play F3 War again. (My Calves are still burning from 200 Calf Raises)
    BlueMoon ditched us to go run in traffic.
    Deuce is a runner in disguise. (and fast on a sprint)
    Attila loves bootcamps with lots of squats, lunges, jump squats, calf raises.. more squats and a few more lunges.
    LightHouse doesn’t tie his shoes??? No idea how he does that for a workout and not trip??
    Tater has more energy than a 10 yr old on 3 Monster energy drinks and a red bull.
    Pinto is secretly in the Secret Service but wont tell any one so keep that just between you and me. SHHHHHHHHHHH!.
    This ENTIRE PAX crushed it today. I look forward to seeing you in the gloom again soon. (like at WTH on Wednesdays. #ShamelessPlug ? )

    AS always: If you have read this far. Take the next 30 seconds to text a person in your life that you have not heard from in a while. It may be what helps them through the day.

    Thank you for allowing me to lead.
    v/r
    John (Gypsy) Boles