Category: Richmond, VA

  • Return of the evening gloom

    A PAX of four posted for last week’s Punisher.  Scar, who recently relocated to RVA from the Raleigh, NC area, was on foot on the east end of Holton Elementary looking for evidence of F3 activity as YHC approached the AO.  We strolled back to the parking lot.  Krü arrived via vehicle moments later.  Offshore arrived, too, but on foot following a run from VCU.

    Startup COP under the trees and among the acorns in the front school yard with SSHs, IWs, DQs, Hillbillies, Cherry Pickers, and Arm Circles.  Short mosey to thicker, acorn-free grass for EMOM – 8 minute rotation to start with as many reps as possible (but at least 15 of each) within a minute for Merkins in the odd minute and Squats in the even minute.  Shifted to the bus loop for alternating exercises at each orange cone surrounding the loop – 10 Carolina Dry Docks at the first cone, 15 Box Cutters at the second cone, and repeat for 16 cones.  Return to the grass for another EMOM with Plank Shoulder Taps for the odd minute and Side Lunges for the even minute.  Remain in place for Mary.

    Mosey to the parking lot for COT and YHC took us out.

    Welcome Scar – nice job starting the EMOM with 50 Merkins. Good seeing Krü and Offshore, too.  Thanks guys.

  • Am I at the right place?

    Two eager men arrived for a beat down in the dark, beautiful cold morning of Batteau. What ensued goes something like this…

    Mosey to the Maintenance building for a quick warmup COP:

    -Don Quiotes, Windmills, SSH, Flutter Kicks, American Hammers, Merkins

    The Thang:

    Flange: Mosey over the steps for 11’s.  Hand release Merkins at top of stairs, dips at the bottom with the benches provided just for us.

    Faceplant has an idea: Mosey down to the Lake.  Perform an exercise at each light post, completing the full loop around the Lake.  10 WWII’s at each light post, alternating a run and lunges between each post…this took a little longer than we expected.

    Back to Flange: Run one more complete lap around the Lake, take a right up the paved hill, left half way up and back to the “flag”.  Five minutes to go…let’s do a curb crawl.  Start one side, bear crawl to other and do 1 Incline Merkin, bear crawl back and perform 2 Derkins, so on up to 10.  25 LBC’s, 25 Freddie Mercury’s.

    Circle up…uh face each other.

    YHC took us out.

    NMS: YHC arrived at 5:25 this morning with no others in sight.  Could I be in the wrong place…there’s the stone house!  Where’s Swirly or Vinny?  Surely, I’ll see Sippy Cup’s bouncing headlamp coming any second now?  5:27 and YHC sees headlights!  Faceplant pulls up probably expecting to see more than just YHC there, but with only a couple of minutes to spare and a brief conversation, we were off.  Our quick intelligence at 5:27 in the morning told us that folks had given all they had at CSAUP over the weekend and needed a well deserved Monday morning rest.  Congrats to those that crushed it over the weekend…much respect!  YHC and Faceplant were unable to join in the fun Saturday, so this morning presented a great way to start the week.  Thanks to Faceplant for offering some help today and allowing YHC to stay on target for his first official VQ this week.  Also, thanks to Faceplant for keeping me on pace and pushing each other.  Make it a great day, all!

  • Who is Saab and what will he have me do….?

    …two questions that YHC was asking himself during COP one year ago during his first F3 post.  YHC was thinking to himself during COP that if he could be in half the shape that Saab was after a few F3 workouts, then things would be ok.  After Slurpee and Keymaster made YHC run one mile from his house to the AO, YHC was already out of breath before the words “let’s mosey” were uttered by Saab.  Damn, YHC thought, I have already run/walked a mile (mostly uphill), I don’t think I can finish this workout!

    In our normal and ordinary life, it was 35 degrees and dark this morning at Tuckahoe Elementary, but in our other life (F3 life), it was 70 and Sunny.  A stalwart 15 descended upon TES for light calisthenics.  This is what transpired….

    COP:

    Helicopters x 15

    Don Quixotes x 10

    Imperial Walkers x 15

    Merkins x 10

    LBC’s x 20

    …..and for the Redskin’s BIG win against the Cowboy’s….. x 20 Burpees OYO!!!  FIRST PLACE, Baby!!!!

    mosey over to and down Lindsay Ct for a round of Lindsay’s

    10 Merkins/30 Heels to Heaven

    high knees 50 yards up Lindsay Ct

    15 Merkins/25 Heels to Heaven

    butt kickers 50 yards up

    20/20

    carioke 50 yards up

    25/15

    backwards run 50 yards up

    30/10

    mosey to the field behind the school for:

    5 x Donkey Kicks on school wall, bear crawl 15-20 yards and perform 5 x merkins, run to other side of field and perform 5 x jump squats.  Repeato x 10, x 15, x 20.

    Mosey over to Asphalt Abyss for:

    Build-A-Burpee:

    Perform 1 x merkin, run halfway to fence and perform 1 x jump squat, run to fence and perform 1 x Burpee, run back to start.  Repeato x 2, x 3, x 4, x 5, x 6, x 7.

    Mosey over to Shovel Flag and partner up for:

    2 x 20 PLT’s each partner

    Two Minutes of Mary:

    Reverse Crunches

    Rosalitas

    One Burpee for the Redskin’s win against the Carolina Panthers two Sundays ago.

    TIME UP!

    Numberama, Namearama, Announcements and YHC took us out!

     

    NMS:

    Wow!  What a year!  YHC could barely make the mile up to the AO on the morning of his first post and then he had to run the mile back home after the workout.  YHC admits, he walked a lot of it back home and it was mostly downhill.  It would take YHC a week to almost recover so that he could post at Hoedown again!  For the first few weeks, it was only Hoedown for YHC, until he got a little stronger and found out about other AO’s that F3RVA had during other days of the week.  After a clown car of 5 River Road Hills PAX made it to a 45MOM post, YHC knew that he was locked into the F3 world!

    It only felt appropriate to re-play my first workout this morning.  Saab did a great job of beating my a*s, so I wanted to see how far I had come since that first morning.  YHC thinks he did a pretty good job of beating his own a*s this morning, too!  Who did the Q better?  I am not going to say because it would not be fair to Saab since he wasn’t there!!!  Safe travels for work, buddy!

    YHC does know that the following is true:

    1st F:  Like YHC wrote earlier in this post, he could barely run/walk the mile up and back during his first post, but he just ran over 10 miles last Friday at RAMM for a half marathon training run!  YHC would have to say that he is in the second best shape of his life at the age of 41 and it is all because of you, the fellow PAX members, that push me each morning!  Playing High School Football would be the beast shape he was ever in (Glory Days).

    2nd F:  YHC considers all of you his friends and family!  He has been on camping trips with PAX members, served food to the homeless with PAX members, gone out to eat with fellow PAX members, and his contact list in his cell phone has grown substantially!  This may be the most important of the three F’s if YHC had to rank them!

    3rd F:  YHC knows that he can post to an AO and someone else will be there to help YHC grow in his faith in others and in God.  Praying or speaking at the end of the workout is YHC’s favorite time of the workout!  YHC also knows that he has faith in the PAX to be there for each other in times of need.  FAITH, in general, is a strong thing and can mean everything to those that you come in contact with and share your lives with (friends, family, co-workers)

    After 180 posts and 40 Q’s in his first year, YHC would like to just say, “THANK YOU!!!!

    Life is good, but there is always room to make it better, especially for someone else!

    Kubota

    keep posting!

  • Who doubles back to the Six in the middle of the biggest hill?…

    The answer, of course…ROSIE.

    5 brave SOJers arose from the warmth of the sack this morning and braved the sub-40 degree temps (I mean, 70 and sunny, of course).  YHC called out the River Downs Roller Coaster with a bro-code twist – the rabbit (ROSIE) would double back for the six every 3-4 minutes and each PAX member would double-back with Rosie when passed, pick up the six and continue on.  Well damn near the top of the Queens Grant hill (a big one), what does YHC see but a headlamp coming back at him…OH SHIT, I thought.  You mean I have to turn around and go back and then do the steepest part again…and, right on cue, Bullseye (Kotters) says “who turns around on a hill?”  Well, Rosie does and since he is the rabbit = we do.  As Bullseye or Roper (can’t recall?) said, I guess that is our punishment for being slow!  Amen, brother.

    Great run this morning guys.  Look for another bro-code (i.e., Rosie Fartlek) style run again soon.

    Have a great day.

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • Craney That Island

    3 Davillians arrived to winter like temperatures for another addition of the Tomato Run.

    Mudface and No Idea did their 3 mile walk/ruck up and down the trails.

    YHC tried something new. Out across Atlee station rd up to the Bojangles. Cut across the Kroger parking lot and out to Chamberlayne briefly then right back onto old Atlee Station. Left into Craney Island Estates (the home of The Carpenter and Opus) then stop at The Carpenter house for 25 SSH’s. Loop up the neighborhood to Opus’ house for 25 Smurf jacks. Head back to Atlee station then back to the HS for 3.5 mile. Finish with 5 minutes of Sprints in the parking.

    It was good to get back for run either of it was almost freezing.

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • CSAUP

    Somewhere around 20 brave souls posted on a rainy Saturday morning for a running CSAUP. Please check the PAX list for names as I did not make a list and I am certain I missed several PAX.

    Sippy started at 5 and hit two laps before everyone else started.  He ran home at the 11am hour and therefore completed 7 laps.  He was the winner of the day.

    In second place was Bootleg who did 6 laps, but didn’t make the time deadline on the last lap.

    Four others did 5 laps and then went to the Barbecue.  Swirly, Saab, TYA and Vinny

    NMM

    Thanks to Circle K for laying out an impressive spread post race.  The party lasted till past 3 pm and lots of chicken wings, pork tenderloin and hot dogs were consumed.

    It was a fun and challenging event.  Will have to do it again next year.

    TYA OUT

  • Is it still Politically Correct to Say “Hobo”? Also, is the Female Version “Hoba”?

    A mighty 17 braved the rain to make their day count.  Here is how we did it:

    Warm up COP

    The Bronson:  48 of the following exercises, followed by a 100 yard sprint, a 10 yard army crawl, and a recovery run back to the start:  SSH’s, merkins, burpees, LBC’s, and jump squats.

    Add One:  4 teams of 4.  Line up so that 2 teams face each other.  A pax number says an exercise and both teams do one.  Another pax number says another exercise, then all pax does both.  Keep adding an exercise until two pax on a team mess up.

    Amphitheater 11’s (animal addition):  10 monkey humpers at bottom, 1 crunchy frog at top.  Rinse/repeat adding one at top and subtracting 1 at bottom until reversed.

    3 minutes of Mary, Goldberg style.

    Ok, so it’s Lab Rat’s birthday….48 years young.  I also forgot to mention that this is close enough to my 3 year anniversary to call it a done deal as well.  Yay me!  Bronson on my birthday is always a crowd pleaser.  The logs made another appearance today (from Wdog), even if they were merely used as lawn ornaments.  Goose made the astute observation that the field cones he keeps in his car would serve the same purpose and be easier to place.  Touche’, Goose, touche’…. The pax seemed to be entertained enough by them to carry them all the way to the amphitheater without my knowledge though.

    While in the amphitheater, a horny barred owl came over to make some mating calls….which spooked several of the pax to the core.  If you havent heard this sound, it’s understandable.  It sounds like a woman screaming, only for much longer.  Google it.  Im not sure Wilson still believes me or not, but that’s what it was.

    Props to the New Market GoRuck team for their pre-game and all the guys that did the CSAUP today.

    No apology of the week on my birthday.  Come on, cant I have one day!!!! Geez people….

     

    Lab Rat apologizes….

     

     

  • Dictator Q at Circus

    We did not have a volunteer Q for Circus Maximus this week. There was talk of a hot potato Q, but YHC (Johnsonville) seized it and would not yield to others (at least until 3 min left). This is what went down, sort-of:

    Rapid-fire warm-up with about everything you can imagine, including, but not limited ssh, don quiotes, cherry pickers, burpees, arm circles, etc.

    Elevens starting with 10 KB snatches per arm on one side of the circus maximus; run to the other side and do 1 mountain climber; continue around the circus maximus to the start. Note that the mountain climbers started out as 2 count, but I changed them to 4 count in order to achieve better symmetry (for downtown guys, that word means “correct or pleasing proportion of the parts of a thing”). Rinse and repeat 9/2, 8/3, 7/4, etc. to 1/10.

    Bearimeter around the circus maximus with 1 person doing death crawl, a wing-man doing normal bearcrawl, and the PAX doing either plank or wall sit until the death crawler fizzles out. Then rotate, and continue until PAX completes 1 full revolution

    5 minutes of Mary, including White Deer doing his famous boat/canoe routine (Hey you in the blue pants!), and ending with a ring of fire.

    YHC took us out.

    Prayers and healing to Ms. Chum Bucket and to the whole Chum Bucket family. Prayers and healing to Earthworm.

    Thanks for letting me lead! Jville

  • “…he always does this…”

    Apparently YHC has developed a reputation of sorts.

    If, come 10pm on a Thursday, the Q sheet has a blank next to Twin Team, Mr. Holland has a tendency to sign up and give his compatriots a beat down they won’t soon forget – that part’s true enough. But just because today (and maybe one of the days last month) that beat down was a Sisyphus sighting, that doesn’t mean it’s always the default setting! Holland takes umbrage with Rosie on this point…though one must admit that today doesn’t provide much ammunition for Holland’s grievance.

    The plan *was* to be a variation on a previous “you vs the next five minutes” timer-based morning. But when YHC saw so many cars in Bettie’s lot, and so many Sisyphus newcomers, it was just too much to resist, and an audible was called before the car door opened.

    Sisyphus
    Mosey to Twin Team summit -dropping cones & flower pots along the way up- with a brief, dark, and forgettable COP up top. Mosey down to each marker, perform the prescribed exercise, then return to the summit before going to the next one.

    1: bear crawl back to summit
    2: 30 uphill-facing WWIIs
    3: 30 downhill-facing merkins
    4: two-man triple check: one runs back to marker 3 while partner does (1) mt. climbers (2) LBCs, and (3) alternating merkin/5 count plank
    5: 20 burpees

    The PAX finished in record time, with five whole minutes of Mary to end things.

    MOLESKIN:

    I’ve never really enjoyed a hot potato morning. There’s a sense of anxiety over my turn possibly coming up and what I might call that I never experience with even a last-minute Q signup, and even when I skate by, there’s just no substitute for a well thought-out beatdown. I’ve always got this one and one or two others in the back pocket, and much prefer their predictability to their alternative.

    This being the biggest crowd at Twin Team I’ve seen in quite a while, it seemed only reasonable to introduce my brothers to my favorite beatdown at my favorite AO. Having Rosie & Gumbo join in after a mile warmup was icing on the cake!

    Sisyphus will rest for a little while, but he’ll be back.

    YNWA

  • CSAUP Preview/Wednesday Hill Run

    One Upper Middle-Ager, One Lower Middle-Ager and One Very Young attacked most of the CSAUP loop at Forest Hill Park for the Wednesday Hill Run/Roller Coaster.

    TYA was playing tour guide, YHC was rucking with 30 lbs sack and Husky ran/walked the 3 mile loop!

    This was YHC and Husky’s first time at the Forest Hill Park trail and it was amazing!  YHC thought it couldn’t get any better than North Bank/Buttermilk, but FHP is so much better.

    YHC thinks that TYA was getting his game plan ready for CSAUP, studying the trail, looking for advantages and setting booby traps for other contestants.

    Good luck to all at CSAUP!

    Kubota

    keep posting!