Category: Richmond, VA

  • Was that Oval Ohs?

    Twelve accomplished gentlemen fought off the allure of a warm fartsack for today’s drizzling edition of Spider Run. Even though there were complaints offered on Slack last night, directions were spot on so off we went.

    The Route

    • 4s: Refuted impeccable instructions and went across the bridge and back
    • 5s: Up along the lake by the baseball field
    • Across the parking lot to College
    • Right on Campus
    • Left then hard left on West Bostwick to the parking lot and back
    • Up Bostwick proper back to Campus
    • Left then hard left on Old Mill to the end and back
    • Up Old Mill proper back to Campus
    • Cross Campus to Towana to Roselawn up to Campus
    • Back Roselawn to a left on Ridgeway
    • Left on Fairway and left on Tapoan to Three Chopt
    • 6s added a little more
    • Everyone else BTTVSF

    Numbers, names, YHC took us out.

    Moleskine

    After a few weeks of flatter routes, YHC was feeling spicy. With no one on the Q sheet after coming home from volleyball last night, YHC conjured up a perfect route for this morning.

    Lots of great mumblechatter amongst the 5s group. A particular highlight was Bodo’s recollection of his most recent concert, The Oh Hellos. Everyone else heard the Oval Ohs, which was close but not accurate. Either way, worth a listen!

    Have a great day everyone!

    Splinter out.

  • Waiting for Handshake

    Upchuck said he was coming. Look, he said, there he is. He pointed to a vehicle pulling into the bus parking area at St. Christopher’s.

    The vehicle made a U and pulled away.

    I do not believe you, I said. Did not Faceplant’s Slack post imply that Handshake was Qing elsewhere this morning, torturing others with his accursed, Apple Watch alarm-inducing Pencil Rolls?

    Look, Upchuck said, pointing into the Gloom. Here he comes now, walking with Faceplant.

    Silly man, I said, that is not Handshake; can you not see that is Applesauce?

    Wait, Upchuck said. He will come. I have even brought spare Implements of Whoa for him to use in strengthening his already prodigious muscles.

    At 0530, we performed a set of exercises in the manner of Tabata. We ran a lap on the track.

    Handshake did not come.

    We performed a second set of exercises in the manner of Tabata, this time using our Implements. Applesauce borrowed the Implements intended for Handshake. We ran another lap.

    Handshake did not come.

    We performed a third set of exercises in the manner of Tabata. We ran another lap.

    Handshake did not come.

    Surely, I said, Handshake will not come now. Even Hitchhiker would not show up this late to a workout.

    We performed a fourth, fifth and sixth set of exercises in the manner of Tabata. We ran four more laps around the track. Faceplant engaged in jocular discourse with a husband-and-wife pair of runners. He told disjointed story about Handshake being a first-year student at the Virginia Military Institute. We spoke of colleges with simulated airplane cabins and steakhouse dining halls on their campus.

    And then it was over.

    Shall we go, said Upchuck.

    Yes, I said. Let’s go.

    We went.

  • Bark!

    Three HIMs hit the gloom this morning and knocked out just over 3 miles. The mumblechatter was strong the whole way. Beaver’s getting back into the groove and heads into his first day back at work since the baby arrived. Dexter’s touring a new school for his little girl. YHC is grinding at work but grateful to be doing it local. Solid morning of miles and fellowship! Also waking up every dog in the neighborhood!

    Don’t waste the day!

  • Fine Wine

    Salt Lick brought an FNG. Chris Matthew (Not sure of the spelling) is an attorney winding down his law practice and looking to make a change in his life. His hobbies include wine and thus, his F3 name is Muscatel.

    We began with a short mosey to the corner parking lot and the usual disclaimer.

    Warm up

    • 20 SSH
    • 20 IW
    • 10 Don Quixote
    • 20 Copperhead squats
    • 20 Crunchy Frogs
    • Stretch

    Mosey to the upper parking lot for

    • 7 minutes of burpees
    • Stretch

    Mosey to the wall for

    • 15 People’s chair airpress
    • 10 BTTW hip slaps in cadence
    • 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    • 15 People’s chair Milkers
    • 10 BTTW Australian Mountain Climbers
    • 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    • 15 People’s chair Muhammad Ali
    • 10 BTTW Toe Taps
    • 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    • 15 People’s chair Lalannes
    • 10 Dirty Hookups
    • 15 Donkey Kix OYO

    Mosey to the railings for

    • 10 single count Bulgarian split squats: right leg back
    • 10 single count Bulgarian split squats: left leg back
    • 10 single count Derkins
    • Repeat above except 9 single count
    • Then 8 and so on down to 1

    Mosey to the playground for two rounds of

    • Partner 1 is the timer: goes to the pullup bars for 10 Pullups
    • Partner 2 does Dips and Step ups

    Mosey to the start for

    • 20 Heels to Heaven
    • 15 APDs
    • 60 second 6 inch leg raise

    Numberrama, Namearama

    Naming Muscatel

    COT

    “The struggles you face introduce you to your strengths.” Epictetus

  • Welcome to the Ala(b)mo

    On this chilly October dawn 15 men bravely humored me as I converted the Alamo to a Laboratory and experimented with a previously undiscovered Four Corners formulation. Here’s how it went down:

    Warm Up: We warmed up with a mosey followed by side straddle hops, Jazzercise, deadman hangs, merkins, and a variety of wives.

    Workout 1 – Four Corners Accordion Style: The Pax splits into groups of 4. At corner 1, the first man begins with LBCs while the three remaining in the group jog to corner 2. At corner 2, the Hims complete 10 toe taps on the curb before leaving man 2 to keep tapping while 3 and 4 advance to corner 3. At corner 3, both men perform 10 squats. Man 3 keeps squating while man 4 heads to corner for 4 and performs 10 burpees. Man 4 then returns to each corner and collects his team. Upon returning to corner 1, Man 4 begins LBCs while the three other men in the group head back out and advance to a corner they had not yet completed. Repeat until each man has completed each corner. This Morning the Pax performed the Accordion Corners twice.

    Workout 2 – Meets the Fellas: Accordion Four Corners taking considerable less time than anticipated so we headed to the tennis court to Meet the Fellas. The Pax Paired off for four rounds of fitness style Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS). Round 1 – Lunge to the center, partner clap merkins, RPS. Loser takes a lap. Round 1 – Bear Crawl to the center, partner clap squats, RPS, loser takes a lap. Round 3 – Lunge to center, partner clap WWIIIs, RPS, loser runs. Round 4 – Bear Crawl to center, partner clap merkins, RPS, loser runs.

    Workout 3 – Tennis Court Laps: At this point having severally under planned for the days event we finished the workout with about 7 minutes of laps around the tennis court. Side 1-lunge. Side 2-Kareoke. Side 3-Back pedal. Side 4-Kareoke.

    Ended with a circle of trust. Announcements: Chili at the Alamo and Father Daughter dance coming up. See Slack for details. Prayers for all preparing for RVA Marathon/Half and for all F3 men to keep coming out and getting after it.

    Thank you fine gentlemen for humoring me and the Accordion style Four Corners this morning. Its always an honor to lead you.

  • Breaking Bread! Pizza Party

    5 in respite, 1 Michael (staff) and YHC enjoyed the cheese, the pepperonis, the bread sticks, the garlic butter, the Greek salad and these slightly addictive cinnasquares.

    Oyster

  • Exploring the Deep West Coast

    We did some warmups, waited for Seymore, and then headed down to the West Coast. We partnered up for a Dora of 100 Merkins, 200 Squats and 300 LBCs. We then went to the bike shop and partnered up for some Freddie Mercuries while the timer ran back to the West Coast and did 20 dips and ran back. We then moseyed to the Stretch Zone. We some jazzercise for fun and then ten burpees to show their camera how to really work out.

    We then moseyed to a big lot and did some abs work until Attila crapped himself. We quickly ran to the opposite side and did some more, ran back to the start and did some more. The smell and stain was gone by then.

    A quick run through the townhouses, then a bear crawl up some steps, and then we ran between houses in an unexpected marsh. All of this to end up at the top of the hill. We finished up with sevens of HRM and Burpees–6 HRM at the top and burpees at the bottom.

    Taking us away from the grounds is needed every once in a while. We did almost 2 miles and I remembered my watch for the first time in a week, including a few Qs.

    Enjoy the week!

  • Dude, Where Are My Keys

    We’ve all been there, trying to rush out the door for a workout and the keys are nowhere to be found. Doozy sent the 5:15 AM text to YHC as he frantically searched the house. Figured he’d catch up with Bullseye and I so basic directions were provided and sure enough, after keys secured, the River Runners met out on the route. 4 miles achieved around River Downs. Today’s topic of conversation – medical procedures.

    -Singer

  • Birthday Boy Beatdown

    A triple B workout was in order this Saturday at DaPile so here is what went down:

    COP

    YHC has some music, jump rope, bands, kettle bats (10#) and pickle ball paddles and balls…what is in store for this morning? Well we mosey to the tennic courts and Opus helped with thurning the lights on. While they were warming up here is the warm up: 10 4ct SSH, 10 DQ, 10 helicopters, 10 figure 4 Indiana leg lifts left leg, repeat with right leg, 20 LBCs and 10 American Hammers.

    THANG

    YHC sets up 5 stations and 1 person on each side of net with the Pickle ball paddles and ball. The pickle ball players are the timer with hitting 5 hits in a row over the net and keep going. The highest was 52 hits over the net with YHC and Mustang(almost 59). The other 5 stations were – Station 1 – Dealers choice merkins (Drydocks, Hand release, Ranger, diamond, etc.), Station 2- Dealers choice abs (flutter kicks, LBCs, Freddie Mercuries, etc…), Station 3 bands – Dealers choice arms, Station 4 Jump Rope and station 5 dealers choice Kettle Bats (squats-swings, halos, arm lifts, etc.

    We rotated stations for 45 minutes then mosey back to flag for numberama, namerama.

  • Anyone seen the bridge?

    Ten men emerged from the early morning mist ready to push themselves and each other to be better than they were the day before. According to the curious woodland creatures hiding just out of sight in the tree line, this is what unfolded.

    Per request the AO was kept to the asphalt . Start off with a warmup lap counting each of the corners returning to the top of the hill for COP.

    COP: SSH, Helicopters, DQ, IW, Copperhead Squats, Merkins, LBC, APD, Planks, all IC

    To start of the morning YHC had strategically placed cones at 25/50/75 % of the asphalt for perennial favorite – The Beast: 6 rounds of 6 exercises performed 6 times at each cone down the “field” and again on the return trip to the top of the hill. The exercises: Merkins, Jump Squats, Carolina Dry Docks, LBCs, Arm Circles.

    After slaying the Beast it was time to revisit the corners which had been counted earlier, first corner 10 merkins and plank for the six, mosey to the second corner for twenty LBCs and hug a tree for the six, shuffle over to corner three for thirty jump squats and hug another tree and on to the fourth corner for 40 SSHs.

    From there it was time to touch some trees ( or objects of similar shape) – partner up and do three rounds of tree touching, 5 different each time – Exercises: LBCs, monkey humpers, burpees.

    Finish up with Mary, stretches and savasana – listening to and taking in the beauty of the world around us for a short time.

    Numbers and names. OBT took time to share his story with the group and reinforce for all the residents of The Bridge that once they get a name they are part of F3 and always will be. OBT took us out.

    NMS: It was great to see some familiar faces from our trip to The Bridge in August and welcome FNG Green Thumb who seems to have worked everywhere in and around Charlottesville, including a stint taking care of a greenhouse for the booking manager for Dave Matthews Band (not sure the exact connection to DMB but there was definitely a green house involved). Welcome Green Thumb!