Category: Richmond, VA

  • You Can Put Your Meat in My Freezer

    Image result for 9/11

    Thirteen gentlemen gathered flags and converged by the lake for a 9/11 themed version of Spider Run.  A few regulars expressed their frustration on the bathroom doors being locked.  Alas, instructions were given and off we went.  Those that had flags carried them for the run.

    The Route
    Everyone proceed up by the golf course, right on fairway and proceed up Iris to Three Chopt.  Right on Three Chopt and then left on Grove.

    4s – Left on Granite, left on Patterson, left on St Christophers, right on the access road, left onto Campus then back to the start.

    5s – Left on Roslyn which turns into Harlan, left on Patterson, left on St Christophers, right on the access road, left onto Campus then back to the start.

    6s – Left on Bunting, left on Patterson, left on Honaker, right jog to Boatwright, left on campus, back to the start.

    Numberama, namerama, wait for TYA then YHC took us out.

    Moleskin
    What a great morning for a run to reflect on what happened 17 years ago.  The run was mostly quiet this morning which provided ample time for personal reflection on the sacrifices people have made to provide for the freedoms that we take for granted.  Kudos to all that carried the flag today, either part way or for the entire route if your name is Swirly.

    Bleeder got the message last night and opted out of flag carrying and wore his c. 1997 Britches American flag rugby shirt.  Today was not a cool morning to wear a vintage rugby shirt.  Love the energy though.

    Announcements
    With the impending weather the latter half of the week, Shakedown suggested that we all use this group to support each other if someone is in need.  Shakedown graciously offered up a place to store your meat.  He indicated it was right beside his ammo store so don’t get any wild ideas.

    If anyone needs a generator see Kubota.

    Lots of CSAUP opportunities in the future.  9/22 Convergence, 9/29 Puppy Pile, 10/20 CSAUP, 12/2 Bear Creek 10 miler.

    Congrats to Lockjaw who posted his 200th time since #bigdata started collecting.

    #bigdata is watching

  • Dispelling Big Data Myths

    Dispelling Big Data Myths

    Having finally dug out and recovered from what was essentially a month of vacations for #bigdata (insert mocking comment here), YHC took the opportunity this morning to listen to the substitute podcast episodes 97 and 97.75.  Considering I get questions on how #bigdata works on a weekly basis, I figured now was as good a time as any to clarify exactly how it all works.

    1. It all begins with the backblast. Someone writes a backblast with the Date, QIC and the PAX list.  They tag a region and add a tag for the AO.  Nothing fancy here as this always happened.  If you don’t tag an AO than it isn’t in the AOs history.  The OCD in me hates this.  I often go back and clean up posts that don’t tag an AO.  Please tag an AO.  Yes, it should be a required field.  Blame WordPress for not making that as simple as it should be.
    2. #bigdata gets a update from f3rva.com as soon as a backblast is published.  It then takes the information from the backblast and creates a new “workout” in #bigdata, pulling out the Q, each individual PAX member, the AO and stores all that information.  Don’t ask questions like “why can’t you just read directly from the PAX line to get real-time updates?”  People ask me that question a lot.  Buy me a 2-3 high-ABV craft beers and I’ll explain it to you.  Saab may be able to explain it to you now as well since he has a fancy new degree.
    3. To account for inconsistencies in the PAX / Q names, there is an alias concept.  Every person that exists in #bigdata can have 1 or more aliases associated with that individual.  At this point, the alias association is manual (backlog item).  No, there are no machine learning algorithms in place (yet) to automatically associate a likely alias with an actual PAX member.  This is why I give Lockjaw so much grief for coming up with alternative spellings for Two Can whenever he feels like it.  Chuckle all you want but at some point I will get tired of linking aliases and then someone else will have to do it (or it won’t get done).  That is why I respectfully ask that people make a reasonable attempt to spell the name correctly.  I take time once a month to go back and clean up everyone’s misspellings, abbreviations, 19th century british literature equivalents.  No, it’s not the best use of my time.
    4. In the early days of #bigdata, that is all that happened.  As Honeydo put it, once the backblast was published, #bigdata was set in stone.  I had to intervene and make sure it was refreshed when there were changes.  Not anymore.  The backblast author has 2 days to make changes to the PAX list and it will still get updated.  No more complaining to me or texts during the day asking to refresh #bigdata, not necessary.  Don’t question why it is limited to 2 days.  I made a decision.  If someone wants to work with me on triggers in WordPress then we can eliminate the 2 day restriction.  Otherwise, it’s 2 days.  I consider this case closed.
    5. Epoch for #bigdata is 2017-03-19.  Why?  Because that is when I finished tested and released #bigdata to TYA and a few others.  Why didn’t I go back and add every previous workout?  Because that would suck.  It would be a tedious process that I wouldn’t even send offshore (sorry Offshore).  Could this be automated?  Sure.  I just don’t think it’s the best use of my time.  If someone is interested in taking this on as a side project I can make that happen.  Just buy me a few beers.  Preferably something that looks like orange juice so I know Swirly won’t drink it.
    6. Another myth debunked is that people that post pre-blasts get credit for a Q.  This is an absolute fallacy and was never the case.  In the early days of #bigdata YHC would clean up the data.  Basically this was me exerting my power to delete what I previously called phantom workouts.  TYA was a victim of this one time.  However, it was primarily used to delete preblasts from #bigdata.  This is no longer necessary as long as the author follows a simple rule.  Any backblasts with a date in the future get excluded from #bigdata.  So, if you are writing a preblast, put the date in which the event will actually happen.  Presumably that will be in the future or else by definition it would be a backblast and there would have been a Q and a PAX.
    7. Running Qs should count less than workout Qs.  I disagree with Honeydo on this one and it will remain equally weighted in perpetuity.
    8. The Q ratio was something I added as a humorous poke at Lockjaw when the joke was he was running near 100%.  He’s close.  Little known fact.  If you click on your name, your all-time q-ratio is displayed right above your graph.  The q-ratio on the attendance report is just your q-ratio for that period.  I love this stat as it reminds me when I haven’t Q’d in a while.

    I have a very short list of items currently on the backlog.  If you have ideas on how #bigdata can be improved, let me know.  Grab me in a workout, send me a note/text, whatever it takes.  I enjoy this as a hobby and may eventually get around to your request.

    Remember, #bigdata is watching.

    Splinter

  • Free From Any Other Master

    “Consider who you are.  Above all, a human being, carrying no greater power than your own reasoned choice, which oversees all other things, and is free from any other master.” – Epictetus

    6 spartan warriors rose to greet the dawn of a new day.  According to legend, it went a little something like this.

    Hot Potato Q

    Vinny

    COP: Mosey down hill.  IC helicopters, Willie Mays Hayes, etc.

    Grab a rock and circle up.  Putting one hand on the rock and one hand on the ground.  Complete two merkins and switch hands.  Do this all the way around the circle to the left, then do this back round the circle to the right.

    Goldberg

    Rock Solid Triple Check: Exercises are LBC, squats and burpees.  The partner who is running does so . with the rock over their head. Mosey to playground.

    3 round of 5 pullups while partner performs Hello Dolly.

    Sippy Cup

    Mosey to the pit of despair.  Bear crawl all the way around the perimeter. On the next round crab walk all the way around the perimeter. Mosey to service road.

    Headed downhill, hop on right leg for what seemed like a long time.  Then hop on left leg for what seemed like even a further distance downhill.  In a wild twist of fate, turn around and hop on right leg uphill then switch half way and hop on left leg.

    Hardywood

    3 rounds of 5 decline merkins, 10 incline merkins, 20 dips.

    Power of 10: Going up the hill rotate through 10 of the following till completion; bear crawl, crawl bear, bunny hop, lunge.

    Swirly

    Curb Crawl Pyramid of Success – Bear crawl and complete 1 merkin.  Crawl bear back and complete 2 merkins.  Up to 5 and back down to 1.

    5 Min of Mary – Cross leg lifts, flutter kicks, Alabama prom date.

    Numberama, namerama, Sippy took us out.

    News: 4 Year Convergence on 9/22 See Phonics, Puppy Pile on 9/29 See Marv, CSAUP 10/20 See TYA.

    Moleskin – It should come as no surprise that Swirly flipping ran to the AO after completing the BRR this weekend and running a personal best in the mile during one of his legs.  Way to go brotha!  Great to have Crossroads and Goldberg out for a little southside success.  Have a great week fellas!

  • Gravel Church… Wet shoes, horses with hats, etc.

    Dirt Church took an alternate form this week:  a lap of the Park’s fire road with the added bonus of the horse trails across Beach Road. This was actually planned last weekend to grant Profit’s b-day wish, since he’d never done a full lap of the gravel. Nope… none of that pesky singletrack to fly down this Sunday! Three of us brought exactly the right gear for the ride.

    You don’t know this, but I am and have been for about five years, an avid fan of cyclocross.  I am not fit enough to race standard-format ‘cross (45 minutes on the rivet would kill my old ass), but I do love to watch people “riding ten speeds in the dirt”, so I do my own version when I can.   Fendley Station Trail and the Bright Hope Trail make up most of the Monstercross race track.  I used to ride these every week back before the Swift Creek trails came in 2015 and I’ve even ridden these before work, and in the dark.  Saturday was always for dirt, and Sunday was always for gravel.  But it’s been a while…

    Profit’s yellow Kona Jake made a repeat appearance.  Jenny Craig showed up with one of the finest handmade Titanium wide-tired all-road bikes I’ve seen in real life, loaded for bear, and I brought my other bike.  We took the lap counter-clockwise, to postpone the inevitable seventy-foot creek crossing until we were only a mile from the car.

    Gravel, dirt, sand, a little rain, peace and quiet, great company, all on nineteen pound drop-bar bikes made for an absolutely brilliant two-hour ride.   We saw cross country boys training, cross country girls training, a pretty horse in a pretty hat, and about four other people all morning.  Hard to beat.

    Expect Hurricane Florence to do a number on us and shut down all the other trails, and that means next Sunday’s ride will be much like this one.  I hope.

  • Tomato Burst

    5 DaVillans arrived at a much needed cooler start of the week to get in some miles

    Routes were as follows:

    Mudface and No Idea headed out for their 3 Mile ruck. They did hit the trails which they mentioned later was a bad idea.

    Rounders, Mayhem, and YHC headed out onto Atlee Station and over the bridge. Mayhem got behind and decided to head back for a couple laps around the parking lot. Rounders and YHC turned back at the Bojangles, check on Mayhem, then headed for a loop around the schools and part of Honey Meadows to get close to 4.25 miles.

    We got a late start to due to MudFace being a LIFO but still managed to keep a 8:40 pace.

    Glad to have Rounders and Mayhem out for their first post at Tomato Run

    SPIT ON THAT!!

     

  • Back to normal at Hoedown

    Fifteen faithful found their way in the dark to Hoedown to find things back to the normal school routine:

    Cop – SSH, Don Qs, Scorpion kicks, Merkins, Flutterkicks, Hillbillies. Redskins tribute: 24 Burpees for 24 pts in their win yesterday.

    Mosey to Blacktop for 4 Corners: 10 V-Ups, 20, Hand Release Merkins, 30 Jump Squats, 40 WWII Situps. Partner up- Wheelbarrow width of blacktop, each man twice.

    Head to field- 2 sets of sprints up n back. Then 3 sets of PLTs. Partners head to wall. 3 rounds of altnerating Donkey Kicks while other runs field, 5 pull ups and back. Then down to drop off circle for Triple Check of B2W, Flutterkicks, and run loop. Finish with 30 American Hammers. Handshake took us out.

    NMS – School is back in session, 15 PAX at Hoedown, AO is dangerously dark, Saab talked about fallic symbols, Fudd was LIFO, and all is right with the world. 24 Burpees in the cop was a bit much bit HTTR!

    We had 2 BRR runners post with Saab and Gomer Pyle, Aye!  They both looked fine after their long weekend. Mumblechatter was more about the Kubota/Gumbo Dogpile beat down than BRR stories.

    Good to have Flange and Buttermilk out. And good words from Handshake at the end, can’t believe it has been 6 months. Time flies in the Gloom…

    Announcements – 4 Year Anniversary next Saturday 9/22 and Slurpee has Breaking Bread on 9/23. He could use some more hands.

    Have a great week men, Silent Assassin signing off.

     

  • The Big Dipper At River Run

    3 determined PAX posted at River Run this morning to log some miles and see what YHC had planned.  As Rosie accurately guessed yesterday, YHC signed up for the Richmond half-marathon recently and so YHC locked down the River Run Q between now and November 10 (Race Day).  Today’s plan was to generally avoid Twin Team and Ashwell hills and just log some easy miles.  So it was a 2.2-mile loop down to the river and around the high school that resembles big dipper a bit.  Do it twice and, if time allows, add some extra to get to  5 miles.

    https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/2238444394

    It was great to have LugNut and Sugar Sock out logging some miles.  I ran with Sugar Sock for the first loop and then we split up on the second loop.  SS is back out after an extended bout with a virus.  Great to have you back out and hope you have kicked that virus for good.

    Lug Nut is putting in the work.  Always great to have him out.  He gave us a quick rundown from BRR, but I can’t wait to hear stories throughout the week.  Great job guys!

     

  • Continue This Over Coffee?

    Tu-Pac’s rejected the warmth and dryness of The Fartsack and pushed forth into the cool morning rain showers that made up the latest rendition of Sunday Funday. The tatoo artists around Monroe Park will tell the story something like this:

    Route:

    Rain made for muddy trails, so the PAX stuck to blacktop and concrete. From Pump House Park…north on Park Drive…through the neighborhood and park to Robinson, north to Monument heading east bound. Monument becomes Franklin. From there, continue east until 5th St., then southbound at 5th St. From there, west onto Cary until Robinson, then south to the Park, keeping the VITA Trail to our right and back to the VSF.

    YHC lost count of his steps, and as neither Hardywood nor YHC was wearing a watch or other GPS-enabled device, there is no precise record of the distance. Google Maps says roughly 8 miles. Hardywood says 81 miles. Reality somewhere in between.

    NMS:

    Today was a fine morning to hit the streets and observe Richmond at its Sunday morning best. Modest foot traffic, pleasant drivers, and few, if any, cyclists. YHC continues to be amazed by the multiplicity of approaches the average citizen takes to seeing their fellow man jogging past on a cool morning…everything from complete aloofness to a pleasant wave and a hello.

    ET’s always offers some good conversation. Today, no different – thanks for the advice, buddy.  And, outside definitely trumps inside.

    Have a super Sunday.  And, if you are a Cleveland Browns fan, condolences.  Talk about snatching a tie from the jaws of victory.

    UpChuck spits the bit.

  • Tribute to F3RVA BRR Team

    22 of F3RVA’s finest posted at Dogpile this morning to honor the 12 runners and 3 support personnel that made up the 2018 F3RVA BRR team!  Gumbo and Kubota had been gathering input from the team members for the last few weeks of things they like to do at a Dogpile beatdown.  That input was then choreographed into the following beatdown:

    6:00am sharp!  Let’s mosey!  To the near traffic circle at the Carillon while the policeman watches us for:

    COP (short and sweet, we have a lot to accomplish):

    Invisible Jump Ropes x 10 (a Circle K favorite)

    SSH x 10 (a TYA favorite, though no one could perform them like he does)

    Imperial Walkers x 10 (Ollivander recommends)

    *****5 Minute Alarm!!!  5 Burpees for Rosie!!!***** (recurring theme. 5 Burpees every 5 minutes. 12 x 5 = 60! Thanks, Rosie, your the best!!!

    Copperhead Squats x 10 (Swiper loves)

    Don Quixotes very slowly x 10 (Saab, need I say more?)

    Crunchy Frogs x10 (per Rosie, YHC hates these)

    mosey into Amphitheater for:

     

    Amphitheater Work:

    To honor Swirly, we performed 5 Incline Merkins on each step going up (90) and 5 Dips on each step going down (90).

    Nice, long, straight back, plank at the bottom and then go into (10) Alternating Shoulder Taps in cadence for Swiper.

    Perform 1 Box Jump Burpee (18) on each step going back up for Big Tennessee (OUCH!)

    Total of 208 reps to equal the 208 miles that our boys are running in the BRR!!!

    Trot over to the Carillon Field for:

     

    Proper Dora for Lab Rat who was actually running one of his legs at that very moment!

    Partner up and perform:

    100 x Merkins

    200 x LBC’s

    300 x Squats

    Partner runs the length of the field and back.  Flap Jack.

    mosey over to the Rusty Cage for:

     

    Rusty Cage work

    Partner up and perform 3 sets of 5 Jerkins each partner to honor (Screendoor, our brother from F3 Hampton Roads)

    Keep your partners and perform 1 set of 5 Burp-Up’s each while partner is performing WMD’s (Wide, Regular and Diamond Merkins) Thanks, Gomer Pyle!!  Brutal!

    recover run down the Pipeline trail to the Pumphouse Road for a favorite of a lot of the BRR Runners:

     

    Pipe Loop Triple Check

    TYA loves a Triple Check

    TYA, Saab, Swirly and Circle K love the Pipe Loop

    Partner One runs the Loop

    Partner Two Bear Crawls curb to curb and performs Incline Merkins on each curb (Bleeder loves his Bear Crawls)

    Partner Three is performing more Imperial Walkers for Ollivander

    mosey up the road to the grassy hill past Love Hill for:

     

    Partner Carries up the hill to the first stone building – This was to honor Shakedown, Lug Nut and Flipper who are the drivers, logistics and support team for our runners.  Those guys are figuratively carrying our runners on their backs, so we are going to literally do the same thing!  Our boys can’t run the BRR without them! 

    Run back to the flag just in time to end with the last Burpee Timer!  Thanks again, Rosie!

    COT, Numberama, Namearama, Kubota took us out.

    Announcements:

    Need a Q for PuppyPile on Saturday, September 29th.

    4 Year Anniversary on September 22nd at Dogpile!  6:00am Boot Camp followed by a 7:00am VITA course race followed by a cookout??

    Slurpee has Breaking Bread on Sunday, September 23rd.  If you would like to help, contact Slurpee.

    Watch out for Gumbo and the Ghost Flag!  It may be coming out soon!

     

     

    NMS:

    About six months ago, Kubota signed up for this Q not realizing it was during BRR.  When he realized that it was the same weekend, he decided to come up with some sort of BRR theme.  In going back to last years back blast during the same weekend, he noticed Gumbo had pretty much done the same thing, so Kubota didn’t want to take it away from Gumbo in case Gumbo just forgot to sign up for that date.  Either way, we decided to Co-Q it which worked out great.  The whole point was to honor our BRR team at the same time we were beating ourselves down.  This was definitely accomplished.  There was a lot on the big laminated weinke that we had to try to finish.  Most of it was done.  The Triple Check had to be cut short, but that was about it.

    Kubota, Gumbo and Slurpee arrived to the AO early, but not “Swirly Early.”  We left his parking spot open to see who would dare take it.  Well, here comes “Little Blue” and there goes “Little Blue” parking in “Big Blue’s” spot.  Only fitting that that would happen!  The Burpee Timer that Rosie recommended was a big hit and seemed to strike at the best of times!  It went off during the Box Jump Burpees, it went off during the Burp-Ups, it went off during the Partner Carries, if went off every freakin’ 5 minutes!  That was so much fun, we should do it at every workout from now on!  It was awesome that we were able to time Lab Rat’s Proper Dora at the same time that he was running one of his legs at the BRR.  Shakedown had texted us before we started that Lab Rat would be running during that time frame.  Also, Shakedown was able to companion run with Lab Rat during that leg.  I wonder if there was any Mumble Chatter during that run???  We think Shakedown ran with Lab Rat so Lab Rat didn’t have to talk to the trees while he was running alone.  Also, all the Mumble Chatter during the beat down was dedicated to Lab Rat (actually, there was little mumble chatter due to low oxygen levels and no rest or 10 counts.)  Helix and Malpractice were smoking the run during the DORA!  Box Jump Burpees in the Amphitheater are a new fan favorite, right?  Wilson loved the tour of the AO and the running in between to get from one place to the other. It was great to see JTB (John The Baptist) back out in the gloom.

    The PAX this morning killed it and rolled through the exercises and routines with a lot of hard work and stamina!  Way to work, guys and you are better men because of what you did this morning.  Be thankful for all that you have and the opportunities you have been given.  Everyone is proud of our BRR team and your representing F3RVA!  Stay safe and don’t consume too many colbeers on the way back!  Have a great rest of the weekend, gentlemen!

    Kubota                                              Gumbo

    keep posting!                                    no more Gumbo for you!

     

     

  • Fan Fiction VQ, Hills, and Tire Time

    10pm Thursday night, Twin Team had no Q. This time one week ago, YHC knew exactly what to do, and Sisyphus dominated the hill. This time both Mr. Holland and Sisyphus stayed on the sideline, and a 3-man PAX ended up with a hot potato.

    TOBIT: YHC gave Tobit the first leg, offering an avenue out of Twin Team Hill. Given that we had an AO newbie, Tobit wanted to introduce him to the namesake nonetheless. After a brief (and apparently forgettable) COP, we attempted a Hill Beast. Tobit prescribed 4×9 rather than 6×6 per round, and we embarked on a dark and daunting endeavour. After two rounds (merkins, then WWIIs), Tobit realized we’d not finish, and relinquished the Q to YHC.

    HOLLAND: In order to prove to Rosie that the PAX can hit both the Hill and JRHS in one morning, we moseyed over to the tire pit. By then, we had about five minutes, so each man grabbed a tire and flipped it for five minutes. At the timer, mosey back, a quick Mary, then out with numbers, names, and ‘nouncements.

    Shoutout to the BRR crew – we did our best to run in the dark and do unpleasant things in your honor! Also, Mr. Holland thought this was potentially Tobit’s unintentional VQ, and had composed the backbone of a brilliant backblast accordingly before finding out he’s Q’d several times before. YHC is not one to waste good material, however; so below you’ll find a piece of fan fiction, what would have formed part of Tobit’s VQ, had that happened today:

    It’s a tale as old as time: friends meet in the dark, their roles unclear. After a bit of awkward back-and-forth, Tobit takes the lead, and the friends head off to see what they can find. They begin to fumble around in the dark, spurring one another on along the way. Tobit stumbles from time to time, but that’s how these things always go. Time passes – more time than anyone realizes, and everyone gets invested in what’s going on. Before anyone really understands what’s happened, Tobit’s had his first time.

    Suddenly, the outside world comes calling. Each one remembers his commitments in life, and has to exit the world they’ve just created. Tobit emerges, proud of what happened, but also wishing it could have been as he’d imagined it before. Everyone leaves a bit wiser, and contemplating their role in life.

     

     

    YNWA