Category: Richmond, VA

  • Additional Accolades for Joey Chestnut

    A strong PAX of 4 posted for the Punisher. Joey Chestnut was hesitant, perhaps because of a dearth of hot dogs, but warmed up to the beatdown and put in a solid effort with the other PAX.

    The THANG:

    Dribble soccer balls from the VSF to the soccer field for COP: SSH, IW, Hillbillies, Scorpion Kicks, Back Lifts, Tempo Nosewipe Merkins, JLos/Not-Pickle-Pounders-Because-They-Were-Side-To-Side, Helicopters IC

    Triple Check. One PAX dribbles the soccer ball down the field to try to score on Jville. If not, 1 burpee. Another PAX does American Hammers and another does Carolina Dry Docks. Joey Chestnut was 3-for-3, Offshore was 0-for-2, Chum was 1-for-2(?).

    Mosey to the basketball court for a game of Knockout. Joey Chestnut edged out Jville for the win after eliminating his dear ol’ dad.

    Mosey to the end of the court for a triple check. One PAX dribbles to the end of the court and shoots until making a layup, another does Reverse Crunches, and another does Storm Squats. Joey Chestnut led the field in shooting percentage; YHC shot like a Tarheel (or was it a Hokie?).

    Mosey to the playground for a Mini-Modified-Murph: 5 Swing Jerkins, 10 Merkins, 15 Jump Ups on the springboard thing. Then traverse the playground, including the slide, and plank for the six. Repeato 4 times.

    Mosey back to the VSF for some WWIIs.

    Winter tour continues. Prayers for Joey Chestnut’s grandparents. This was perhaps one of the worst beatdowns for someone with a torn calf, but Jville was a good sport and improvised as needed. SYITG!

  • Back to the Mines

    8 men and 3 2.0’s found their way to the new OTB location and got in some miles around Midlo. The runners did a loop chosen by Gumbo that took us back to the Midlothian Mines, the usual path for the old location. Wilson was missed but we all knew he would fartsack once that Deshaun Watson broke that tackle in OT. Sorry Bills fans.

  • Dig The Damn Well

    14 stud muffins shunned the temptress that is the fart sack and committed to making themselves better. Despite cooler temps in the Richmond metro area, it was a successful 70 and sunny at Batteau.

    COP: SSH X 20, IW X 20, Lunges X 10, WWII X 20, FC X 20, HRM X 20

    Mosey to tennis courts

    FOUR SQUARE: The old Hardywood goto came out of the stables for the first exercise. Here’s how this works. On each round add a corner, then hit each corner as you make your way back to the start. So on round two you’ll do corners #1, #2, #1 then on round three you’ll do corners #1, #2, #3, #2, #1. Got it….good. This ended up being a ton of merkins and a helluva way to start a Monday.

    • Corner #1 10 shoulder tap merkins
    • Corner #2 20 wide grip merkins
    • Corner #3 30 decline merkins
    • Corner #4 40 regular merkins

    Mosey to Spring of Success.

    DORA: All of YHCs knowledge really boils down to three things; 1990s baseball trivia, rollerblading and that if you are gonna show up on a Monday…you are ready to bring it. The pax put on a show!

    Partner up. One partner runs down the Hill of Ill Repute to the first light on the left and the second partner is completing the following exercises to a specific quantity in succession. Exercises are as follows

    • 100 Captain Thors
    • 200 Imperial Squat Walkers
    • 300 Two Count Flutter Kicks

    Mosey Back To The Flag

    Numberma, namerama and the greatness that is Flatline took us out.

    NEWS:

    You can order custom F3 Dr. Try Hard (or is it simply Try Hard) shirts here. It’s extra to get your own name on it. https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2019/12/20/your-f3-name-shirt/

    Oyster is the best and a beast. Not only has he organized the Winter Tour of 2020, word on the street is that he’s on the organizing committee of the Earth Day 5K and Reese Strong 5K.

    MyFace & Tic Tac: Fact; there are way to many social media channels and 99% of the crap on them is mental Doritos. Fact #2; most people post only the things they want other people to see and most people do it from the toilet. If you are like YHC you justify some social media channels to stay in touch with F3 buddies. Honey Do has set up an F3RVA Slack channel.

    Moleskin: YHC is borderline obsessed with the following book; Second Mountain by David Brooks (thanks to Bodos for the recommendation). If you are reading this stupid backblast then you will love this book. Do yourself and your family a solid and read this book.

    Many concepts from the book resonated deeply with me and this one starts with a Parker Palmer quote; “If you can’t get out of something, then get into it. Brooks goes on to write. “If you can’t easily walk away from something , then the only way forward is to double down. When the well of love dries up, it takes an act of will to dig a little deeper.”

    When all the things that used to work seemingly stop in their tracks or you get frustrated and tired, or even worse when you simply feel like your best effort leaves you stuck, sometimes the only thing to do is dig the damn well. As long as you keep digging, you’ll hit that eternal spring.

  • Hoedown is back in 2020

    Sixteen studs came out to the first Hoedown of the decade. With Mid 30s temps and darkness across the AO mosey’d to the front of school for:

    COP: SSH, Imperial Walkers, Helicopters, Arm Circles, Merkins, LBCs, & Don Qs. Pass a cold week-old Potato to Splinter. Splinter took us back to the parking lot for 11s: Imperial Squat Walkers & Derkins. Splinter passed Q back to YHC, over to blacktop. 4 Corners: 10 burpees, 20 V-Ups, 30 Merkins, & 40 Jump Squats. 2nd round increase all reps by 5.

    Back down to parking lot, quick elbow plank & 20 Pickle Pounders. Then follow the arrows: Crab Walk arrow loop, 3 Hand-release Merkins each arrow. Head over to the flag for Mary: Flutterkicks, Hello Dollys, APDs, Kimchi Twists, American Hammers. YHC took us out.

    NMS – Great to have 16 out to start new year. Lots of new faces and old ones we haven’t seen in a while. A Slurpee sighting in the gloom is always a good thing.

    YHC was hoping Splinter would be in attendance to pass him the Q without his prior knowledge. He promptly dropped the 11s on us. Backwards running in the pitch black is always a good call. But somehow Gomer Pyle did not hurt himself during the 11s.

    Mr Holland was back to form, looks like he back is better. Kimchi Twists are all the rage at hoedown so YHC felt compelled to drop them on the larger pax. Maybe Doozy while take them down SOJ soon.

    Prayers for Offshore’s In-Laws. Winter Tour is in full swing. Also YHC has taken the liberty of creating an F3RVA group on Slack. Be on the lookout for invites via email. Other F3 regions are using this to good effect and with new year YHC wanted to give it a try.

    Announcements: T Shirt order see link below:

    SPREAD THE WORD – GET YOUR T-SHIRT ORDERS IN THIS WEEK
    https://f3.mudgear.com/products/f3-rva-shirt-pre-order

  • Good things come in small packages

    A surprise awaited the 10 F3RVA PAX that decided to forego the fartsack on this first Monday of 2020. Something we haven’t done at RiverRun in a while but there is such a great setup to do.

    Hill repeats, yes, a Splinter favorite finally made it’s way back SOJ. An easy mosey around the school trying to rein Gumbo since he was already warmed up and ready to go. Roll on up to a good spot on Twin Team. 45 seconds up 1:30-2:00 down. Repeato 5x. Jog to the cul-de-sac and back with one last push to the top. Add a lap around the track for the route back.

    Thanks for indulging me out there this morning. It is something I have been wanting to do recently but those days have only come with 1 or 2 other PAX and YHC wanted to make sure the pain was well distributed. Small package of mileage but an effective one, or is the title a reference to Bullseye? Welcome back Slumlord, flying around after losing some weight with exercise-less methods and then gaining some of it back on a holiday cruise.

    Have a great day, hope everyone’s kids enjoy their first day back to school after the nice long break. I know the M’s are happy to see this day come.

  • Another Puddle, Please

    Three two-leggers and one four-legger broke free from the pull of the fartsack for a jaunt on the access road and around Belle Isle.

    Sorry to report that Shakedown hurt his shoulder rock climbing – YHC hopes that he found relief from the pain.

    Sally set PRs for: 1) shortest time across the bridge and 2) muddiest after a trail run. She ruined a beach towel when YHC dried her off. Perhaps we needed one more puddle to clean off with.

    All the best to the PAX and 2.0s as they get back into the work/life/school groove.

  • Handicap Placard Not Included

    There was a M*A*S*H unit at Gridiron this morning.  One guy cannot run, another guy has a fake knee, and another guy is in a boot.  Needless to say, they were not ready for a traditional boot camp.  They grabbed their KBs, hopped in Johnsonville’s car and did a separate workout under the cover of the bus loop.  YHC has no idea what they did after COP, but here is what happened to the non-handicap placard PAX:

    • COP
      • 30 SSH
      • 15 IW
      • 15 Hairy Rocketts
      • 15 DQ
      • 15 Helicopters
      • Arm circles – 15 small, 5 big; forwards and backwards
    • Mosey to turf field at Striker Park
    • 10 minutes of burpees
    • 40 APDs
    • Partner wheelbarrows with 10 derkins – 3x
    • Dora with 100 merkins, 200 flutter kicks and 300 LBCs
    • Intervals for 5+ minutes – sprint across field, mosey down the field
    • Mosey back to the Pavillions
      • 25 dips
      • 25 step-ups
      • 25 dips
      • 25 step-ups
      • 25 dips
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    We need to pray for healing for this PAX.  Johnsonville has a jacked-up calf; Tater heard something pop in his knee this week; and Fireman Ed’s ankle is in a boot.  Grateful to have the PAX committed to coming out on a rainy day.  T-claps to these men for their commitment and effort. YHC missed having those men on the turf field today.

    Great to have some old faces back today.  Nightcrawler, Bambi and Quest made their triumphant returns.  White Deer provided for an awkward start with his admiration of Quest’s physique.  Our brother has been MIA as his personal quest appears to have led him to an engagement.  A few of the PAX know his future M, and she is a catch.  Nice work Quest! 

    Solid work from the PAX today.  The turf field provided an ideal AO for wet weather. 

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • 20 Rounds — Almost

    The fist Dogpile of 2020 welcomed 33 of RVAs finest to the gloom!

    COP-

    SSHs – 25 for the Bills

    DQs x 10

    Imperial walkers x 20

    Copperhead Squats x 15

    Merkins x 10

    LBCs x 20

    Helicopters x 10

    Mosey to Ampitheater

    20 Rounds
    Each round do the exercise called on each step. The number called is how many reps on each step going up to the 10th row.

    Round 1 – Burpees

    Round 2 – Decline Merkins

    Round 3 – Incline Merkins

    Round 4 -Jump Squats

    Round 5 – Box Cutters

    Round 6 – Mountain Climbers

    Round 7 – American Hammers

    Round 8 – WWIIs

    Round 9 – Shoulder Taps

    Round 10 – Heels to Heaven

    Round 11- Arm Circles

    Round 12 – Monkey Humpers

    Round 13 – Calf Raises

    Audible – 20 SSHs in Cadence

    Back to the Flag!

    Numberama, namerama, YHC took us out!

    Announcements:

    Prayers for Ailse 5 as he continues to heal.

    Order your F3 personalized shirt, See DTH or previous BB.

    Kudos to Swirly son for being accepted to Duke Grad School!!

    NMS:

    Appreciate the indulgence of the ground and pound today fellas. A few weeks ago we went run heavy and it was brought to YHC attention he use to be a ground and pound guy so he brought it back to start the year! Strong work by all today men, love the enthusiasm to tackle the new. Has to be close to a record at ETs, two full rows of tables taking up the entire area, very impressive. Love to see this group grow and push each other. Go out and be that beacon of light we always talk about men! Make a great day!

    Duke

  • 1st Breakfast Club 2020

    8 warriors ran! Strong work men, way to start 2020 off the right way!

  • OddsMakers

    Eleven jubilant runners decided to brave the early morning rain to trundle around the Near West End on this, the third day of January.

    According to those that going around 5am, it was coming down pretty hard at Munford for the start of the rain. By the time the remainder of the Pax got there at 5:30 it had turned into a light rain and had cleared pretty much by the end of the Q. Temperatures were about a running-weather perfect 49 degrees.

    The Thang…

    Only 4s and 6s today…which actually gave the QIC a break because his 5 mile run was more like 5.45.

    Immediately head EAST right up Wilmetta and then to Kingscrest and on to Malvern. South on Malvern…across Cary and into the lovely Windsor Farm neighborhood.

    From there, bear left on Canterbury….take that all the way around, past Bleeder’s house, and then a left on Dover. Dover Dead Ends at Locke. Left on Locke.

    Take Locke all the way down to one Stuart Siegel’s property at the end of lock. Circle around his little entrance there and the 4s take Locke all the way back to Grove. East on Grove and then back to the flag.

    The 6s cut from Locke to Pocahontas and that deadends at Hillcrest. 3/4 of a lap around Hillcrest (2nd time this week for many) and then right on Charmian (for the 2nd time this week…if there’s a steeper hill in any Qs than Charmian, I’d like to see, but not necessarily run on, it).

    Charmian turns into West Moreland but somehow spits you out slightly west of Munford on Grove….running right by Bleeder’s church where there is a playground named after him. Right on Grove and back to the flag.

    Notes: The QIC used to run part of this route all the time prior to his F3 days (there should be a name for that, like B-F3…but something better than “B-F3″…maybe FartSackLandia or something.) Anyway, what the QIC never really noticed was that Dover stretched all the way across the lovely Windsor Farms neighborhood…so, unfortunately…many of the PAX took Dover when they crossed it the first time. That led to all kinds of confusion and an embarrassed QIC.

    Speaking of the embarrassed QIC, the 6s missed the turn on Dover and ended up, somehow, on Cary. QIC’s phone was in his heavily insulated pocket, so it had no clue where it was. From Cary they went west and then South on Locke to head down to Mr. Siegel’s. We will do this run again in the very near future so to get it right for the 4s and 6s.

    Somehow, we crossed paths on a few occasions with the boys that leave at 3:30am (Swirly, TYA, Lug). The odds of that are pretty small IMO. We haven’t run the lovely Windsor Farms route in awhile but we did, without communicating with the group that leaves 2 hours earlier…yet there they were, pretty much running a similar route. Relatively long odds, I would say.

    And I’m being serious…I want to know a steeper hill that Charmian.