Category: Richmond, VA

  • Hopkins Branch Way

    2 Monday warriors rolled into the mist this morning to make Tomato run a thing after staying up to watch the Mother of Dragons drop the hammer down. Plan was an out and back 4 miles, but Lab Rat still cant find Hopkins Branch Way in the light so we ran an extra half mile. Bro code run was awesome with Hustler, and if he tells me 4 more times, maybe I can remember all three of the places he has lived.

    Travel safe, Huslter, we’ll see you on Saturday.

    Apology of the week goes to the people of King’s Landing, because holy shit…

    Lab Rat apologizes…

  • Field Day Hangover

    Three Amigos posted for morning coffee at Batteau. Here’s what we ordered.

    Mosey through the lion cage and up the hill to the bottom of the farmers market parking lot. COP: Helicopters x 10. Imperial Walkers x 10. Hill Billies x 10. SSHs x 10.

    Flash Dance’s Coffee House Pop Up Shop: A Twin Team favorite sprinkled in to a Batteau beatdown. PAX choose between Crab Walk and Bear Crawl to descend to the bottom of the hill – stop at the shelter by the small lake / large pond when finished. When switching from Crab Walk to Bear Crawl, and you will switch at some point unless you’re Flipper, perform 10 WWIIs. Reverso, perform 10 LBCs. 10 lunges were available for 50 SSHs.

    Adventure Guides Triple Check: Mosey away from Burpee Pond and back out to the top of the hill to the swing sets. PAX 1 – Swing Planks. PAX 2 – Squats. PAX 3 / Timer – run to the Maple tree and back.

    Bob Ross: Six trees. Start at tree one and run to tree six. Perform 2 Merkins at 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 and 9:00. Run back to tree two. Admire it, then back to tree six. Repeat until all the happy trees have been visited.

    Frozen Mary: On your six. Hold V-up position for :60. Recover. Hold Russian Solider left leg for :60. Repeat with right leg.

    YHC took us out.

    Announcements: See the Field Day BB for all of them.

    Moleskin: YHC was curious to see how Flash Dance’s Coffee House would go over at Batteau. I was particularly curious to see how my boy Swirly would enjoy it. Unfortunately, his M is not feeling well so he had to miss today’s festivities. Don’t worry brother, it’ll come back out. I hope your M gets better soon.

    When we got to the top of the hill to start the downward climb, it was noted that only the Q had gloves. Sorry boys, the show must go on, and it did. Posh and Sippy Cup crushed it. Lunges were never even considered. Given that the descent only took about 15 minutes, instead of the 42 required at Twin Team, there was plenty of time for more pain.

    In honor of Orange Crush’s VQ on Friday, some frozen exercises were introduced to his brothers down river. Sippy – as expected – stayed frozen during the Russian Soldiers. Posh thawed out a little bit. Your boy Vinny was wet from start to finish, but the hip flexors got the message.

    Well done boys!


  • …And Then There Were Three…

    Three brave souls fought off the fartsack on a quiet Saturday morning.  As expected, the PAX was somewhat limited with 3 noble warriors representing F3 in an ultra marathon, some being out of town and White Deer’s chauffeur participating in the ultramarathon.  

    COP (IC):

    SSH – 20X

    Helicopters – 15X

    Arm Circles – 10X/5X/10X/5X

    Don Quixotes – 15X

    The Thang:

    The intent of the morning was for an “Adderall-style” workout in which each member would alternate carrying the 20-lb kettlebell for the entire hour.  That was abandoned rather quickly…

    We began with a mosey around the perimeter of the AO until we reached the pillars of pain.  Each member lined up aside a pillar and completed 5X LBC’s, 5X WWII Sit-ups and 5X Burps.  Variations of exercises were mixed in and burps were done with each set.  We repeated until 10 sets were complete.

    Next stop was the pavilion where we each completed 10 abyss merkins and 10 jump ups.  3 sets were completed.

    3 sets of 10 on the jerkin gym were next on the list.  The first set was done as three person team, with two members holding the arms of the third while he completed the set.  The last two sets were completed with the standard equipment.  

    Jack Webb in the parking lot was next with primary exercise being the merkin.  A ratio of 1:4 was maintained until we each completed the last set of 10 merkins and 40 arm raises.  

    The final exercise of the morning were lunges across the parking lot (3 sets).

    A quick namerama and numberama closed out the morning!

  • Saab on the MTA

    Four stepped up for four on the Service Road and one hit the roads for today’s edition of Sunday Funday. Temps were sunny and 70 with 150% humidity and rain, according to Saab’s free app, scheduled for later.

    Number-am-a, Name-a-ram-a, Hutton took us out.

    NMS:

    Good run boys. Lots of chatter today about BRR, Field Day, summer heat, train crossings, and donkeys. You can ask, but YHC advises against it.

  • F3RVA: Field Day 2019

    FIFTY EIGHT (58) 4th graders at heart posted for Vinny’s Second Inaugural Field Day. The bell rang, we slammed open the double doors and hit the school yard. Scoring was explained, and teams lined up ready to fight for the Ghost Flag, the only way we know how.

    Crab Soccer: Two, five minute rounds. Winners and losers squared off in round 2.

    Wheel Barrow Relay: Teams lined up on the start line and partners wheel barrow-ed to the cone. Boo Yah Merkins x 10, switch wheelbarrow and return to start/finish line. PAX did Jump Squats while cheering on their classmates.

    Sack Races: Teams lined up on the start line and one at a time, hopped in the sack and raced out to the cone and back. First team across wins. SSHs for the PAX.

    Tunnel of Love: About 1/4 length of the Carillon Field. First team to have their entire team across the finish line wins.

    Merkin Egg Toss: PAX partner up and line up across from their partner. Toss the egg and perform various 10 count Merkins and 5 Burpees on the whistle. Teams could finish first, second and, third in this one. Once eliminated PAX moved to the side and joined in on the called exercises. Finalist were about 50-75 steps farther apart from where they started.

    Fifty Yard Burpee Dash: Teams line up on the start line. One at a time they sprint to the cone, perform 5 Burpees, then race back to the start finish line. American Hammers for the PAX.

    Tug-O-War: Round Robin style tug-o-war. Every nano region squared off.

    Back to the Flag – YHC took us out / handed out crowd pleasers in the form of Pixy Sticks and Hugs Fruit Barrels.

    Announcements: Of the many, these are what I can remember. HDHH next Wed. at Palani Drive. Breaking Bread needs volunteers. Please do this if you haven’t. It’s an awesome experience. You’ll get more out of it than they will. Ask if you don’t know what it is. Lab Rat’s M is in Phase II of her brilliant effort to prepare young adults with special needs for jobs. They are raising money for RAISE. See Lab Rat for details. Shakedown is shaving his head in June, I believe. See prior BBs or him for details. It’s for charity, not just some random Shakedown thing.

    Moleskin: WOW!!! What a morning. 58 guys, that’s awesome! As I was making my way to DP to set up, Kubota texted me to say that he just saw Swirly. Not possible. Swirly was in beautiful Blue Field, VA. He would have told me if he was back in town early. I wasn’t falling for that, especially after BT texted me yesterday to tell me he was out. Fool me once.

    05:45 Breakfast Club rolls in, and sure enough there’s Swirly. Sleep deprived and fired up baby! My man drove 5+ hours late night to post. Love it!

    05:50, Mr. Holland rolls in with a box of ox blood bow ties and cummerbunds for Team RCP (winner’s of the best dressed, going away).

    06:00 and grumblings from TYA, hey Swirly, what’s your watch say?

    06:01, teams finalized and off we went to meet head referee Bleeder, red and yellow cards in hand just in case. He was supported by Cliffhanger and Red Bird.

    The events went off as good as could have been expected. Tons of all out competition, and good fun. No serious injuries – Wedding Singer, get better brother.

    Special shoutouts to the Team Captains – Gumbo, Kubota and Spit. Great job recruiting and getting your teams fired up. As Handshake said at ETs, y’all were perfect class moms. T-claps to Bleeder, Kubota, Cliffhanger, Red Bird and, Shakedown for all of their help today. I was really hoping Bleeder got to use a red card, but all-in-all, we behaved ourselves.

    Congratulations to SOJ for capturing the Ghost Flag today in dominant fashion. Here are the official standings:

    SOJ: 14

    Tuckahoe: 10

    RCP: 9

    DaVille: 4

    I invite you all to add your anecdotes from today. Possibly my personal favorite was TYA in his classy F3 tux. That, and the awesome showing of brotherhood. Oh, and the team uniforms. They were fantastic!

    See y’all May 16th 2020.

  • Only 15 More Miles to go…

    13 strong hit the streets for the Pre-Field Day Breakfast Club run. Several flags flying including the VMI flag (Ra VA Mil!)

    2 miles there/1.5 miles back.

    Some thought Swirly’s truck had been stolen and an imposter was driving it.

    Highlights of the run were the gentleman on the sidewalk yelling “Only 15 more miles to go!” and the family eating breakfast at Can Can watching us from the front window run back to ET’s looking like we had just played in wet, red clay.

    Nice run and time fellas!

    SYITG!

    Kubota

  • 5 – 10 Fun

    The call to friendship and fun went out on Facebook last night and 13 crazy warriors responded by storming the parking lot for a 5-10 party that went something like this…

    Mosey around the parking lot and then around the corner of the building to a COP location.

    COP All IC – 50 small arm circles, 10 large arm circles, 25 don quixotes, 50 SSHs, 15 hand-release merkins (HRMs), 20 imperial walkers, 10 small arm circles, 5 large arm circles

    Mosey to back to the parking lot

    5-10 Parking Lot Crawl

    Bear crawl across the first half of the parking lot, 5 HRMs, crab walk across the second half of the parking lot, 10 HRMs, turn back, bear craw across the first half of the parking lot, 5 HRMs, crab walk across the second half of the parking lot, 10 HRMs.

    Mosey around the parking lot… REPEAT.

    Mosey to the pavilion.

    5-10-15 Pavilion Punch

    Partner up.

    First partner runs across the field to the far corner around the light post and back. Second partner does 5 sit-up jumps (WWII sit-up followed by leap to try to touch the cross beam of the pavilion), 10 box jumps, 15 derkins. If the first partner arrived back early, then do SSHs until the second partner finished. If the second partner finished early, then do SSHs until the other arrived.

    Repeat until each partner does 5 sets of the 5-10-15 exercises.

    Mosey to the flag area.

    1 arm circle IC…

    Numberama, Namerama, Announcements (Field Day tomorrow), YHC took us out.

    NMS:
    YHC has been reflecting on the topic of friendships recently. He reviewed a book from many years ago that included research for how relationship/friendships oftentimes are formed and flourish. The research spoke of 1. Availability 2. Frequency 3. Spontaneity 4. Shared Meals 5. Proximity. I would add 6. Outdoors in light of F3…

    We experienced these in F3 and YHC continues to gain an appreciation for what F3 means to him and so many others.

    Now onto the fun…

    The PAX showed up ready to engage this morning. Spit changed the parking setup a few months ago and we haven’t gone back to the old way. The new setup allows for the parking lot to become a war, I mean exercise zone.

    The mosey around the parking lot elicited immediate mumble chatter as YHC took the PAX “the wrong way.” Creatures of habit we are…

    YHC brought a different approach to the COP this morning. Extended arm circles and don quixotes left no excuse for anyone to say that we were not allow to stretch out before starting the other exercises. The quick move to SSHs brought all kinds of DaVille antics as the PAX moved all around. Spit started the madness by coming a little too close to Mudface for everyone’s (at least the YHC’s) comfort. Others followed and the SSH insanity continued.

    The 5-10 parking lot crawl provided ample opportunities for the PAX to shine. Spit took off like a bear toward a dumpster full of steak and sped his way through the parking lot. Gigawatt, who made a return visit today, stayed near the front of the PAX and showed that he is a force. The HRMs seemed to keep everyone honest. T-claps to the PAX for encouraging the entire group and coming alongside those who were still completing exercises.

    The time in the pavilion with the 5-10-15 exercises went according to YHC’s plan. The non-stop movement and variety of exercises kept the PAX in full work mode. Once again, YHC witnessed significant encouragement by the PAX with one another, especially in the running back & forth across the field.

    Why 5-10? Today is May 10th (5/10). Some of the exercises used those numbers but not all of them. Nothing more than that… Spit shared that he graduated from college 11 years ago. That led to a countdown of 11 at one point from Bulkhead but otherwise there wasn’t anything super special or significant about the 5-10 number.

    The morning was another glorious F3 morning that was full of new memories and challenges. I can’t thank God enough for F3 and all of the PAX who goes to work every morning in the gloom!

    The Carpenter


  • Joys of clover

    Three of us assembled for this week’s Punisher. Although we’ve noticed more activity around the school since we moved our start time to 6:00 PM, it was especially busy around the school this week.

    We completed a short mosey into the grassy area adjacent to the parking lot, triangled up, and began with some of the usual, including Invisible Jump Ropes, Imperial Walkers, Russian Soldiers, Don Quixotes, and Arm Circles.

    We stayed in the school yard for three AMRAP rounds. First round had a total time of 10 minutes and we completed as many rounds as possible of Merkins x 10, SSHs x 10, Squats x 10, jog across the lawn and tag a tree then return, and LBCs x 30. Second round of 10 minutes with Carolina Dry Docks x 10, Mountain Climbers (two count) x 10, Lt. Dans x 10, jog with tree tag and return, and Flutter Kicks x 30 (two count). Third round of 8 minutes with Wide Grip Merkins x 10, Burpees x 5, Step Behind Lunges x 10, tree jog and tag, and American Hammers x 30 (single count). Finish with a few minutes of stretching in the deep clover under an oak tree. COT in the parking lot and done.

  • Warm Weasel

    A beautiful Thursday awaited 4 mighty KB warriors.  Damn the fart sack!  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • 10 BOYO
      • 30 SSH
      • 15 Russian soldiers
      • 15 cherry pickers
      • 15 helicopters
      • 10 2x merkins
      • 30 2x LBC
      • 10 Donna Summers, each leg
    • Lucky Bus Loop – farmers carry to the four quadrants of the bus loop, perform 15 reps of a certain exercise, adding a new exercise for each quadrant, with a total of 8 at the end.
      • Lawnmower pulls – each arm (8x)
      • Halos (7x)
      • Sit ‘n presses (6x)
      • KB swings (5x)
      • High pulls (4x)
      • Weighted squats (3x)
      • American hammers (2x)
      • Skull crushers
    • Run the bus loop
    • 10 clean ‘n presses – each arm

    Mosey to the parking lot for COT

    Welcome back Chum Bucket!  Good to have our herculean brother back in the fold.  His mumble chatter was spot on with his reference to a “warm weasel” following one of White Deer’s epic anal outbursts. 

    Aside from the normal clip boarding from certain members of the PAX, there was some talk of hot moms and the best “damn the gluten intake” dining establishments.  Thanks to the PAX for putting up with YHC constant yawning. 

    Godspeed to all participating in Vinny’s field day tomorrow.  Just remember, check yourself before you wreck yourself!

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • Hold It, No Bouncy House???

    Orange Crush decided to end his free loading days and contribute to F3 with his VQ. In support, a worthy PAK showed up at Twin Team this morning with a twinkle in their eye and hope in their heart. To build excitement for his VQ, promises of a bouncy house were thrown out earlier in the week…sadly…it did not materialize. OC could not get the legal waivers required. Wilson told me he was so excited he could barely sleep last night. Sorry buddy.

    After a brief mozey…warm ups began and consisted of:
    • SSH
    • DQ
    • Helicopters
    • Merkins
    • LBC’s

    The Q’s questionable cadence sent out distress calls for Nancy Lopez as some thought I would have been better served with a “F*** it…SSH” cadence but the PAK overcome this obstacle and the muscles were ready for HOLD IT.

    HOLD IT

    As a group, complete each exercise 5 times, holding each exercise for 25 seconds, resting 5 – 10 second between reps. In between each set, run ½ a lap. Exercises were –
    • Frozen Elbow Dips (Hold at 90 degree angle)
    • Frozen V-Sits
    • Plank (Lifting Right and Left Leg)
    • Frozen LBC’s (Hold at the top)
    • Frozen Squats (Alternate lift of right and left heel)
    • Frozen Russian Soldiers (Hold leg out as close to 90 degrees as possible)

    Those with daughters were haunted by the word Frozen. I guess they’ve seen that movie one too many times. LET IT GO! Sorry…I couldn’t resist.

    After the completion of HOLD IT, the group mozey’d back to the Flag for a quick ring of fire with your favorite 10 count Merkin.

    COT, Number-rama, Name-a-Rama with OC taking us out for the day.

    Thank you men. I’m glad that you are part of my life. I’m better for it.

    For those disappointed…there will be free T-Shirts and a puppy on my next Q.