Category: Richmond, VA

  • Tax Day – River Run Style

    5 River Run Regulars posted in the post-storm gloom to see what neighborhood or hill we would be conquering this morning, but YHC had a different kind of challenge in mind, it being Tax Day and all. Mosey down to the track to pay the piper. 4 laps around the track followed by the 15-burpee tax. Repeato as many times as you can until 0605, then we moseyed back to the SF via the extended route and paid one last marginal tax – 5 burpees.

    COT, Number-Rama, Name-a-Rama and YHC took us out.

    Announcements:

    • Don Draper VQ at The Forge on Thursday
    • Gomer Pyle is taking his show on the road and Qing all week
    • Some crazy guys hit the trails at 0400 this past Saturday and want to make it a regular thing…waking up when “3” is the first number is insane – even for Vinny. But way to push yourselves guys.

    Strong work today. Rosie destroyed the laps. Burpees were enjoyed by all I know. You’re Welcome.

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • Primordial Ooze

    5 Amphibians met to frolic in the primordial ooze, and forget about tax day, for a time.

    Here is how it went down

    Mosey to the second wettest spot for COP: 22 SSH; 22 HRM; 20 Mud Angels; 20 Australian Mud Angels; 20 Travolta Merkins; 22 slow Freddie Mercury; Arm Circles

    Triple Check. Iron Chair with Overhead Claps, Plank Jack (O.P.P. yah you know me) + 10m Army Crawl (extra credit includes the 5 inch puddle)

    Mosey to Derkin bars. Buddy up. 6+10+10 one leg Derkin.

    Mosey to drop off loop. Bottom Feeder – 5 x creature merkin (8 points) followed by 5x Curb Crawl (Bear Crawl, incline Merkin, Crawl Bear, decline merkin)

    Triple Check. Donkey Kick, Flutter Kick, drop off loop

    Round of Mary. Freddie Mercury, 6 inches, Back lifts, Flutter Kick, Mud Angel

    No announcements. Eager for Dogs and Kids.

    YHC took us out.

    YHC is always leery of the parking lot at the darkest and most dangerous AO in RVA, so I did include my headlamp in my PCI (thats Pre Combat Inspections, Lab Rat) , but failed to include my shovel flag. Always room for improvement.

    Handshake got it right that while rucksacks are a recent fad, crawling around in the mud never went out of style. Actually, I will give those puddles a 5 / 10 – wet but not really muddy. Muddy is when you are still getting mud out as pulverized dust 3 months from now.

  • Misty Morning Hop

    Four warriors stuck to the roads in a misty humid morning run. We ran the north route to Pottersfield and then South along Riverside. Bro code style for 7.5m.

    Welcome to FNG Boomerang. Boomerang comes to us from a Flying Head Lock from who we think was either, Bootleg, Lugnut, or maybe Upchuck – time will tell. Born in Richmond, Boomerang moved up yonder a piece where he ran the 800m in track. He regaled us with many “real history of Richmond” pieces in a way that rivals Ken Burns – his runner (heh) up F3 Name. Now that he is retired he moved back to Richmond and is getting back into running. BOOM! (erang!)

  • Early Risers is a thing now

    3 PAX disregarded the fartsack and weather to run in the very early morning gloom. With no rain at 4 we took to North Bank to Browns Island. We then chose to not push our luck, head up to Main street and head West to meet up with that other Pre-Dogpile group. 7 miles when we reached ETs.

    NMS- Running the trails in the dark was awesome this morning, as it always is. Thanks to Vinny and Shakedown for showing up for this first one.

    Next Early Risers will be in May. Come out to give it a try. Also great BRR/Colonial practice…

  • It Has Come to My Attention that We Aren’t Running Enough…

    17 track stars, including 1 FNG ACTUAL track star converged on the Carillon in this truly gloomy morning full of April Showers. Only the Q brought an umbrella….weird. Seeing that everybody was already wet, we might as well enjoy the morning and find ALL the puddles to run thru:

    -COP in the field next to the police officer memorial

    • SSH
    • 10 Richard Kimbles OYO
    • Imperial Walker
    • Saab’s iteration…arm circles and Don Quixote
    • Merkin

    Burpee Lake- 3 burpees at each light pole around the lake. Lunge up and down the hill for the six.

    Orangutan- At Rusty Cage, start at the bottom and climb up the bars as far as you can. Repeat times 3. 20 jerkins OYO

    Legs and abs Yoga- 10 minutes of some yoga concentrating on legs and abs. Yup.

    4 minutes of Mary.

    NMS

    With so much extracurricular running going on pre-Dogpile these days, I decided to give everybody more of what they are craving….running. It’s a long ways to and from burpee lake, and all the way back to rusty cage. I was really surprised to see Breakfast Club show up with 15 minutes to spare before Dogpile start at 0600….with the deluge going on, I would have thought you would want to keep moving. I shared an umbrella with Emoji and Shakedown. Rosie wanted to sit in the truck, which I told him he is welcome to if he could produce a dry towel. He could not.

    Once we got going, it became evident that Handshake was going to steal the show with his impressive 4th F game. He claims that it was from spaghetti, but I would venture there might have been low levels of rat poison involved as well.

    Apology of the week goes to FNG Tadpole, for the attempted disclaimer. I did my best to get thru it but was CONSTANTLY interrupted. I pleaded my case at Elwood Thompson’s that mumblechatter should have been out of bounds during the disclaimer, but was told from MULTIPLE sources (read as: everybody at the table) that I got exactly what I deserved. And for that,

    Lab Rat Apologizes…

  • 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.

  • 30 for 30

    11 warriors rolled into The Creek to take part in some ESPN festivities that went something like this…

    Slaughter start with 30 burpees

    Mosey to the other side of the parking lot.

    COP All IC – 21 SSHs, 13 HRMs, 2 copperhead squats, 3 imperial walkers – Repeat the sequence. Arm circles, don quixotes.

    30 for 20 (not enough time for 30)

    Mosey to the pavilion, partner up, one partner heads toward the church building, the other partner heads out into the field. Corner 1 – 30 merkins, Corner 2 – 30 LBCs, Corner 3 – 30 squats, Corner 4 – 30 mountain climbers. Go to the pavilion for 30 box jumps, 30 derkins, 30 heels to heaven, 30 alabama prom dates, head to the opposite location and continue the sequence until 20 minutes is completed.

    Mosey to the basketball hoops

    “The Play” – against Purdue to force overtime

    Stay with the same partner. One partner does jump squats while the other sprints across the parking lot to the cell phone tower and back. Switch.

    Mosey to the flag.

    Broad jump counterclockwise. Stop and do exercises when YHC calls them out – 5 merkins, 20 freddie mercuries.

    Numerama, Namerama, Announcements, YHC took us out.

    Announcements:

    • The Colonial 70 will be held September 14th. Spit is putting together a team. See link for the sign up sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qlLTi_alBQT6onzkAwtIjdrP0psyoJgAoB4pkfX0oC4/edit?usp=sharing
    • Let’s continue to pray for Wild Thing’s M as she begins treatment to push back cancer this week.

    NMS:
    YHC was fired up for this morning’s Q in light of a story that started over a year ago. YHC watched UVA lose to UMBC with a group of friends and some of them were VT fans. One of the Hokies said, “That loss will be a great 30 for 30” and laughed. Without missing a beat, YHC looked at him and said, “The better 30 for 30 will be when UVA comes back and wins the national championship next year.” He laughed… I repeated my statement…

    This morning’s beatdown was a chance to try out a 30 for 30 script about this.

    YHC began with 30 burpees to start the trend of 30 reps for each exercise. The goal was to help everyone feel like YHC felt after UMBC smashed UVA as the only #16 to beat a #1 seed in the NCAA basketball tournament. Groans abounded…

    The COP featured odd numbers of exercises. YHC later revealed that the 21st letter of the alphabet is ‘U’, the 13th letter of the alphabet is ‘M’, the 2nd letter of the alphabet is ‘B’ and the 3rd letter of the alphabet is ‘C’ (the last two are easier to recognize right away than the others). Hence, a little tribute to our UMBC friends up in Maryland.

    The original plan was to have 30 minutes of exercise sets with 30 reps. YHC audibled to 20 minutes due to time constraints. The PAX went after it and pushed through it all. Opus took the lead on YHC’s group and was clearly on offense this morning. The exercises under the pavilion were met with groans, especially the box jumps.

    Mumble chatter was light for most of the morning. A few of the Hokie fans woke up and Bulkhead fired up the “Go Hokies” cheers. YHC couldn’t resist a counter-punch by saying, “For the next exercise let’s run as fast as possible in that direction… like Buzz Williams running away from VT basketball to Texas A&M…” That was met by the predictable “Your daughters have never seen UVA beat VT in football” (which is true) and other statements that seem to convey a subconscious fear that Fuente is leading the program toward mediocrity in light of a 6-7 record last year and many players transferring away (to ODU?).

    The trash talk stopped as the PAX took off to the next exercise. Bulkhead called attention to Ty Jerome’s double-dribble and he was right in that it should have been called and UVA’s season ended.

    In the end, the PAX laughed it all off and remembered that we have much more in common than the differences in sports.

    We were all brought back to reality as we heard about Wild Thing’s M starting treatment next week to push back against cancer. We all need to come together to support one another and help one another in the real battles of life.

    Welcome to WOPR! Scrum brought him this morning. He shared about his work with computers and the reference to the 80s movie War Games came up and the computer (WOPR – War Operation Plan Response)). This isn’t a reference to Burger King but YHC is sure that others will think that at some point.

    YHC is grateful for the opportunity to be connected to all of you through F3 and our shared mission to reinvigorate male leadership through fitness, fellowship and faith. Let’s keep pressing on together!

    The Carpenter



  • MIA

    Spring is in the air, and so is the pollen. YHC explained the routes, but it really sunk in for several Pax based on proximity to gentleman club landmarks on route.

    The Routes

    East on Grove and left on Malvern to Monument and hang a right heading east.

    4s turn right on Boulevard, right on Grove back to the VSF.

    5s turn left on Boulevard, left on Moore, left on Rosneath, and a right on Grove back to the VSF.

    6s keep going on Monument to Meadow and hang a left. Meadow changes names to Hermitage and then take a left on Leigh. Leigh turns into Moore and pick up the 5s route from there.

    Upchuck took us out.

    The Moleskin

    Running with Upchuck and Shakedown is awesome. Not only do they keep a fine pace, but the conversation is always in healthy debate. So healthy today, that YHC got his first bunch-buggy hit on Upchuck. We are now 25-1 overall due to his preoccupation on conversation. Never a shortage of bugs in the van.

    We launched the search party for Saab who was a lone runner on the 6 route. Seems he missed the turn on Leigh and kept heading up to Northside. Wrong turn or perhaps he was intending to visit Punisher? Regardless, he course corrected at the Boulevard and made his way back to the AO.

    Announcements: Early risers trail run tomorrow at 4am. The start and end will be at dog pile. No ruck, but bring a light.

    Time to Taper,

    Lockjaw

  • Twin Team, is that the correct name?

    Double Digit numbers this morning at Twin Team. 10 Strong showed up to see what the “Hill” had to offer.

    COP

    SSH x 20

    Helicopters x 10

    Imperial Walkers x 15

    LBCs x 25

    Carolina Dry Docks x 10

    Arm Circles x 15 x Reverso

    The Thang

    40 Long Strides up Twin Team, Stretch your Stride as far as you can, mosey back down hill for 30 LBCs

    60 Strides then back down for 30 Merkins

    100 Strides, Stay at the location of fastest PAX member (Sorry Gumbo) then 50 LBCs

    Lunge 25 paces up the Hill then 25 back down.

    Continue Mosey up the hill, Stop 25 incline Merkins, More mosey, 25 Decline Merkins, Mosey to top of hill to mailbox – then 100 LBCS

    1 Burpee at the top for UVA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!

    Mosey back down the hill, Lunges, then 80% to the bottom and hit another 100 LBCs, Plank for Pax, Honeymoon threw a burpee in the 20 Count.

    Mosey to front of school

    Partner Up – 20 Pole Smokers while parter does burpees, 2 Rounds

    Bus Loop – 5 Burpees run a lap, 4 Burpees run a lap, modified at 3 laps to complete….Burpess with the PAX to complete

    Back to the Flag – 3 more Burpees….Wait add one more for UVA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!

    Numberama, Namerama, YHC took us out

    Announcements:

    Some Craziness occuring at 430am tomorrow, see a previous BB

    Prayers for Flatline Family

    Prayers for Goose’s Brother

    NMS:

    As YHC mentioned yesterday about having the Q, it was named Twin Team for a reason, so conquering it today was the goal. Even though as YHC arrived there was a conspiracy leasd by Gumbo that the named had been changed to The Swamp and we should head to the football field…Nice Try! Strong work and welcome to Mouse Trap, taking on TT on your first post is not easy, but you stayed with it and rocked it, good stuff man! Strong work by all, and even better mumblechatter. This group continues to amaze me, whether it be how fast and strong each of you are or just the sheer fact that you are all an amazing group of men that i’m honored to call friends. Thank you guys for allowing me to lead, have a great day, and reach out to someone you may not have spoken to in a while, it could change their life!

    Marmaduke

  • I GET KNOCKED DOWN…

    Eight gloom veterans and 3 WEAG FNG’s posted in balmy temps for our second FORGE experience. Here’s how DTH kept the PAX moving as a team:

    The THANG:

    Mosey to COP #1: (Remain in 1st Lot)

    • Chumbaburpee – musical warmerama with a Burpee for every “I Get Knocked Down”, and other to-the-beat exercises in during verses – Imperial Walkers, Russian Soldiers, Ball Dippers
    • Total of 24 Burpees

    Mosey to COP #2: (2nd Lot)

    • DQ’s x10
    • Cherry Pickers x10
    • Dancing Bears x20
    • Angle Grinders x20

    Mosey to COP #3: (Rails)

    • Circuit: Complete x3 sets of x10 Dips & x10 Incline Merkins at the top end of the rails, with x10 WWII’s 50 yards away back at the bottom of the ramp
    • Captain Thors & Pankercises while awaiting the Six

    Mosey to COP #4: (Hills)

    • Burp Back Mountain – Partner 1 starts 100 count Burpees at bottom while Partner 2 bear crawls up the hill, completes x10 Heels to Heaven, then runs back down to switch with Partner 1 …early finishers teamed up to complete the Six’s Burpees.

    Circle up for COP #5:

    • Flutter Kicks OYO x1min awaiting the Six
    • Freddie M’s x20
    • APD’s x20
    • Dying Cockroaches x20
    • Protractor variations
    • Scissors/Flutters variations
    • Wilson’s ab stretch
    • No Cheat Merkins x10
    • The DTH Circle Merk x3

    COT at the ShovelFlag:

    • Counterama #11
    • Namerama (x3 FNG’s)
    • Announcerama (see Comments)
    • YHC took us out in Prayer

    NMS: 

    • Beautiful morning to celebrate our freedoms among F3 brothers. Very happy to introduce a few more WEAG brothers to F3. Thomas Lord’s favorite hobby is making sweet love to his wife – welcome TROJAN! Tim Hughes (age 59) plays keys for his band – welcome PIANO MAN! And Vik Karunakar sings for the same band and enjoys watching Cricket – welcome JIMINY CRICKET! YHC thought the Chumbaburpee warmerama was a fun way to get things started, and will be considering some other songs for future Q’s. Keep posting fellas!