Category: Richmond, VA

  • Big Numbers at SOT…

    10 men of the gloom (including a returning visitor from Charlotte) descended upon SOT and with no Q on the sheet, YHC took the reigns for a hot potato that went like this:

    Mosey down the hill toward the dark parking lot for COP, including:

    • DQs
    • Helicpoters
    • SSHs
    • Merkins
    • LBCs

    The THANG:

    Gumbo Q –

    4 Corners  — On the track, using the lightposts at the 100 meter marks perform the following:

    1. Corner 1 – 10 merkins
    2. Corner 2 – 10 merkins, 20 jump squats
    3. Corner 3 – 10 merkins, 20 jump squats, 30 2-ct flutter kicks
    4. Corner 4 -10 merkins, 20 jump squats, 30 2-ct flutter kicks and 40 SSHs
    5. back to Corner 1 and plank for six

    Alternating Shoulder Taps IC x10

    Triple Check  – Partner 1 – merkins, Partner 2 – box cutters, Partner 3 – run up the steps and to the wall of the school and back down.  Three times through.

    Pass the Q to Sugar Sock

    11s on the big hill – 1 merkin at the bottom, run to the top, 10 captain thors, run back down +1/-1 at each until you get to 10/1.  Man that hill got ugly after about 5 sprints up.

    Pass the Q to DK

    Bearimeter  – to the Tennis Courts and partner up.  One partner bear crawls counter-clockwise while the other partner runs clockwise.  Swap when you meet.  Continue until you complete the bearimeter.

    Mary – Just enough time for 10 dieing cockroaches IC.

    COT, COR, NOR and YHC took us out.

    Announcements:

    • Marmaduke continues to collect coats and jackets for shelters.  Fill him up.
    • Vinny’s wife has a book signing party tomorrow evening at Ruth & Ollies see Twitter or other BB’s for details.

    NMS:

    Great to see big numbers at SOT.  Let’s keep the momentum.  Also, great to see Bobber back out and Mr. Roper apparently recovered from Monday’s run.  Bullseye and DK are posting frequently.  Always great having Wedding Singer embrace his SOJness and fly a little further south for a posting.  And Gatekeeper was back out.  All good men.  All good!

    Also, thanks to F3-Dana from Charlotte for joining us again.  You are of course welcome any time.

    Strong work by all this morning.  Particularly by Tobit on the 11s – I don’t know how you  had that much left in the tank man, but you crushed those 11s.

    Have a great day men.

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • You Need to Man Up or Stop Complaining

    Lockjaw’s 11 greeted a midweek post with nothing but maximum effort.

    The Thang

    Long jog down the road to the circle on the other side of the Carillon for COP.

    • SSH
    • Helicopters
    • Don Quixote
    • Russian Soldiers
    • LBCs

    Off to the main field for Lindsays around the field.  Merkins and Box Cutters.  Run the long sides and karaoke the short sides.  Russian Soldiers for the 6.

    Partner up for Wilson’s Clown Punching Cockroaches: 3 sets of 20.

    Position on the side of the field and partner up.  Wheelbarrow across and 10 Derkins.  Swap positions and return.  Repeat so everyone goes two times through.

    Back to the grassy circle where we started for Triple Check:

    • Partner 1 – Runs the long triangle (just under a quarter mile or so)
    • Partner 2 – Elbow Planks
    • Partner 3 – Flutter Kicks

    30 Merkins on your own.

    Back to the VSF where Swirly took us out.

    The Moleskin

    Well, that was the longest Triple Check in recorded history taking just under 20 minutes.  Lots of love for those abs.

    How does one get a workout group to stop calling an exercise after your wife?  Come up with an even better workout for adoption.  Wilson’t clown punching cockroaches made another appearance.  Works the abs and keep the rogue clowns at bay (and we had odd numbers today).

    Backblast title comes from Swirly, as an example of the motivational sayings he posts on “Swirly’s Board” on Twitter.  YHC thinks we need to start a parody Instagram account called “Swirly is Bored” with pictures of him watching soccer or perhaps looking curious, yet disgusted, at a bowl of tofu at ETs.  Regardless, keep the mantras coming!

    Announcements:

    • Handshake’s VQ is next Tuesday at Heartbreak.  It seems that his end of year performance review was going to suffer unless this was completed in 2018.
    • Vinny – There is a reception for his wife’s childrens book at Ruth and Ollie in Carytown.  Tomorrow 4-7pm.  Snacks.

    Time to Taper,

    Lockjaw

  • Just like Old Times

    20 hardened ironheads landed at No Toll looking to get muddy.  Luckily for the pristine fields, it was an Old Glory day and the majority of the activity was confined to the perimeter.  Here’s what went down:

    THANG:

    YHC grabbed the Flag and away we went.  No FNG’s, so a quick disclaimer was given on the fly.

    Start with a 1 mile run around the entire soccer field complex (2 laps).  Then, loops of 4 stations at the corners of the AO:
    Station 1:  20 x Merkins
    Station 2:  20 x Jump Squats
    Station 3:  10 x Burpees
    Station 4:  20 x WWII Situps
    Complete as many loops as possible before 6 am, then gather together for another 1 mile run around the complex.  PAX planks until the 6 reaches the Shovel Flag.  Merkin ROF, then AMRAP merkins until the final four finished the round.  Head back to the parking lot for COT.  YHC took us out.
    ANNOUNCEMENTS:
    – Marmaduke is still collecting coats for the holidays.  Get them to him soon.
    – Courtney Sievers, the lovely wife of Vinny, will have a book signing and release party at Ruth & Ollie’s in Carytown from 4-7 this Thursday.  Come by to pick up some art, the book and some FREE beer.
    – Movember is in full effect.  Rumor has it Gumbo is not going to cut his hair or shave his neck.  Cap’n Caveman, baby!
    –  Something else, but I must have paused the recording by accident.  Labrat apologizes for that.
    NMS:
    Nothing like Q’ing an Old Glory at No Toll after a long hiatus.  Felt like putting on my favorite old pair of jeans, if they were soaked through and covered and mud.  Really, the weather was nice and the rain gave us a nice window to get some work done.  It has been almost 3 and a half years since YHC borrowed Old Glory from Charlotte and brought it to No Toll, and that first edition only had 6 PAX.  Good to have Wilson as one of the originals there for the reunion (although he probably doesn’t remember it).  Rosie in typical fashion killed it, and Labrat was especially spry rocking the Bedrocks in unfavorably cold and wet conditions.  Aye!  Good to meet those of you that I had not met before, and thanks for letting me back SOJ to lead you fine men.  Also, an extra thanks to Honeymoon for hanging back with me while I nursed a bad wheel.  Make sure to log your loops on the Google Doc so you can benchmark your progress.  See you all in the Gloom!
    -BT

  • Plan B

    6 Brave souls dared the elements this morning to hopefully come out stronger for it.  YHC had a plan.  And then he didn’t.  This is about the Plan B’s in life.

    Circuitous run around the parking lot.  Come back and circle up.
    COP — IJR, Plank Jacks, Butt Kickers, American Hammers, Crunchy Frogs, Dying Cockroach

    Get out the Phone and the bluetooth speaker for some fun, but wait what is that annoying popping sound?  Waited only a few seconds for it to correct itself, and then decided to scrap the songs and go with Plan B.

    The Beast in the Lot
    Exercises —
    V-ups
    Merkins
    WW2 situps
    one legged merkins
    freddy mercuries
    burpees

    Run to the poles behind Atlee
    On the way do two sets of ten merkins
    Hold poles, one dude does leg lifts, everyone else at 6 inches
    Reverso — gas pumps and everyone else at 6 inches

    Back to lot for doracides
    100 — Smurf Jacks
    200 — jump squats
    300 — oops — look at the time!  Back to the Flag.

    Names, Numbers, Announcements

    NMS — YHC had a really cool themed beatdown that included some fun music.  Last night when YHC tried his bluetooth speaker out it was making a weird clicking/popping noise.  So YHC knew there was a chance that a Plan B would have to happen.  Tried the sucker out in the car this morning and it was fine — until YHC got it out to use it at the beginning of the beatdown.  Click, click, click, pop, pop, pop.  I was ready with a Plan B though so the PAX went through the rest of the beatdown without a hitch.  Nice work, gentlemen!  Helix rocked the beastly burpees this morning!  Alas, YHC did not.
    Sometimes, life throws us a curve ball.  One of those moments in time that we just didn’t see coming.  Do we have a plan B at the ready?  Are we willing to go with the flow and turn things that could be seen as awful into something good — a plan B that might have actually been better than the plan A we had for our own lives?
    A quick story from YHC’s own life — When YHC graduated from college the first time around, he was ready to go out and start molding young children’s minds.  Unfortunately, that first year of teaching was miserable for YHC (for numerous reasons).  A total disaster.  YHC quit after the year was over and went back to school to get his music degree.  YHC loves his job now and is in a great school — YHC needed to remember what his passion has always been and seek it out.
    Feel free to share your plan B stories below!

    Opus

  • Democratic Process

    5 brave Americans posted this morning at Heartbreak Ridge for a choose your own adventure, democratic style workout.  PAX members had the opportunity and responsibility to select by majority rule from predetermined choices each evolution for the morning (today also happens to be 1 week from last Tuesday, election day, when Garbage Plate mistakenly thought he was on to Q… #recycle).

    Started out with a mosey to a perfect COP spot for 20x SSH, IW 10x HC, MK warmup.

    Election #1 – Heartbreak Ridge prevailed:  3x up Heartbreak Ridge – Bernie, Lunge/squat, Regular style

    Election #2 – Over Under took a narrow victory: 3x each on the inclined walkway of crawl bear uphill, 20x Copperhead Squats, railing crawl down, 20x MH’s.

    Election #3 –  Roxanne beat Dora in a tiebreak election:  3:07 of Roxanne Burpees intermixed with jog in place, emceed by our friends Sting & the Police.

    Election #4 – Dry 11’s was the clear favorite: 11’s on the covered porch side of Quioccasin MS with Carolina Dry Docks & 4 count Flutter Kicks at each end.

    Election #5 – Special Election took the final morning slot:  curb crawl 1 to 5 to 1 Merkins followed by 20 PLT’s

    A traditional Native American saunter back to the flag for announcements and closure.

    Great work to all getting out on an awesome drizzly Tuesday!

    GP

  • Cat Burglar of Westham

    An industrious nine checked the weather and realized the heavy stuff wouldn’t be down for a while.  On for a run.

    The Route

    Up the other hilly road to the main entrance.

    4s – Take a left and then a right up Boatwright.  At Three Chopt, jog to the right and take Honaker to Patterson.

    5s/6s – Take a right up the hill to Three Chopt and hang a right.  5s take a left on St Christopher’s.  6s go to Grove to Granite and hang a left to Patterson.

    4s, 5s, and 6s are now on Patterson.  Head west to Westham Pkwy and hang a left.  Take the Pkwy to University Dr.  Drop down until it hits UR and cut through the wooded trail picking up the lake coming in via the gazebo.

    YHC took us out.

    The Moleskin

    It turned out to be great running weather today.  A little cool at points and I think we all agreed that the long windy climb up Patterson to Three Chopt was universally everyone’s low point.  Running down Westham was great.  Total darkness and just the sound of the brook making its way down hill, and ultimately back to the UR lake as were we.

    TYA demonstrated this season’s fashion forward view: all black long sleeve/pant running suit.  Literally, nothing was visible except his head; floating body-less in the darkness.  Fashion over safety on a dark, rainy, morning.

    It was fun as always chatting with EF Hutton.  Good pace.  Good conversation.  Good times.

    Happy Birthday to Saab and Bootleg who both celebrated a birthday yesterday.

    Time to Taper,

    Lockjaw

  • Perfect weather for a run

    Three stalwarts posted on a Sunday morning.  It was the day after the Richmond marathon so I was expecting a light showing and that it what we got.

    TSB and TYA did a 5 mile northbank out and back.  Pert Plus his the full seven (at least).

    TYA OUT

  • Night blindness

    Before the next one, here’s the last one – from the first Monday evening after the changing of the clocks with evening gloom re-emerging.  From a parking lot full of cars – primarily for parents attending parent/teacher conferences, we began the evening with some quick words and then a mosey to the grass.

    COP with mostly favorites – Invisible Jump Ropes, IWs, DQs, Russian Soldiers, Helicopters, and Arm Circles.  Move across the yard to the school wall for Triple Check – People’s Chair, Arm Plank, and mosey to Laburnum and back.

    Head around the corner of the school to the bus loop for Merkin Ladder – completing 21 rounds of Merkins starting with one rep and adding one each round to 21.  Hit the curb for 11s with Dips and Hello Dollys.  Remain in place for additional Mary and some stretching.  Jog back to the parking lot for COT and YHC took us out.

  • 14 in Subaru Wagon and hemorrhoids…..

    4 SOJ regulars posted to River Run for a YHC Q. Thankfully no rain!

    5 mile and 4 mile routes were simple out and back route. Both routes up Twin Team and R on East Brigstock Road. 4 miler ran to Kentford and back to Betty Weaver. 5 milers ran to Netherfield and back to Betty Weaver.

    Number-ama, Name-r-ama, Announcements = 0.

    YHC took us out.

    NMS- Mr. Holland, Lug Nut, Mr. Roper, great to see you men this morning  Mr Roper took us down memory road this morning by reminiscing about his time at Randolph Macon and recent trip to H-SC to visit his son!! Than, down Twin Team…BOOM Mr. Roper’s back quit. Hope you are ok buddy.

    Gentlemen, reach out to a veteran and say thank you!! God Bless!

    Loud and Proud,

    Flatline

  • Big thanks to our Veterans

    On a beautiful Veterans Day morning, 12 freezing weather loving PAX and I made the sacred pilgrimage from Hoedown headquarters at Tuckahoe Elementary to Kanawha Recreation Association (KRA).

    Warm up (in front of three spectators):

    15 Side straddle hops, 10 helicopters (in honor of the Jets score against the mighty Buffalo Bills, one better than the Richmond Spiders), 10 Don Quixotes and 10 front and back arm circles

    First exercise:  For Veterans Day we did army crawls from the end of the school grounds to the flag pole and back.  I think I was one the last ones to finish which isn’t a good start.

    Mosey to KRA by doing what I call a Merkin run.  For some historical context, my first F3 a little over two years ago was at Mary with Flipper as Q.  At the end, he had us run together and drop and do 10 Merkins, etc.  So I decided with this Merkin contest and my unexplainable desire to be at KRA, why not honor the great Flipper?  So we did ~80 merkins on the way there.

    At KRA, we did a Dora with 100 Carolina Dry docks which I am told do not count as Merkins (sorry), 200 2 count mountain climbers and 300 flutter kicks.

    After that fun, I tried to do elevens with WWIIs and jump squats.  Unfortunately I grossly underestimated the time it takes to go up and down KRA’s parking lot so we stopped about 2/3 the week into it.

    We finished with the run and another ~80 merkins having to look out for cars which keeps things interesting when most of the PAX wear dark clothing.

    Concluded with announcements (1.  There is an event that is listed on the backblast that Handshake mentioned at Ruth and Ollies in Carytown this Thursday at 5:30.  Handshake I had trouble logging in to the app so if can pass along details that would be great.  2) Marv mentioned a Thanksgiving day football game for under 14s.  Details for this are also on backblast)  and prayer.

    Lastly I want to give thanks for all of our veterans.  They have done and continue to do a lot for our country.  When I take a step back and think about all of the freedoms we have (voting, religion, etc.) and the prosperity we have in America, I realize how lucky I am to be an American.   After Hoedown, I went to Tuckahoe Elementary for a Veterans Day assembly because my bro and law is a Marine and my younger daughter goes there.  It was a really cool ceremony.