Category: Richmond, VA

  • On pace for 7,621 miles in 2017

    4 stalwarts posted for a new years morning run.  Weather was 40 and sunny to start.

    The Thang:

    Long run was northbank to buttermilk and back, using the new bridge crossing.  Short run was northbankt to parking lot and back.

    NMM

    Despite all the prediction, TYA was not flying solo this morning.  I pulled into the parking lot to one car (not and F3 PAX).  Shortly thereafter, Offshore pulled into the parking lot, followed by Saab and Flipper.  Great to see everyone out there this morning on the first day of the year.  TYA and Saab opted for the long run and Offshore and Flipper headed back after the northbankt so they could make church (at least for Offshore).  Great to hear Flipper tell the story of his first posting at the trail run, thinking it was going to be a 2-3 mile jaunt and finding out it was a 7+ mile run…ooops.

    Since I got my new watch and have all kinds of advanced metrics, I have been getting more and more into the running metrics – as a lot of runners seem to be.  So, in that spirit, when Saab and I finished our 7.25 mile run at 8:20 this am, I decided to see what kind of yearly pace we were on.  So, if we continue the pace and put in 7.25 every 8 hours and 20 minutes of the year, we will cover over 7,500 miles (almost 2.5 times back and forth across the country).  Should be a piece cake.

    Great to run with Saab this AM and have some time to chat along the way.

    See you guys out there later in the year

  • You Can Learn Alot From Mariah

    Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier.”
    ― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

    A pax of one paid the price of a lactic acid party to greet the new year.

    COP:  3 mile run with the M.  Mosey to NBHS football field for a date with the Giant Ass Tire.

    100 Yard Tire Flip – Complete the following circuit until the Giant Ass Tire has been flipped end over end 100 yards, from one end zone to the other.  5 tire flips, run to opposite end zone, 10 merkins, 15 Thor Sit-Ups (combo WWII sit-up, American Hammer), 20 squats.

    100 Yard Burpee ladder – Start at one end zone and run to the 10 yard line and complete 1 burpee.  Back to the goal line and on to the 20 yard line for 2 burpees.  Back to the goal line and on to the 30 yard line for 3 burpees.  Etc. till completion of 10 burpees at the opposing goal line.

    Run Out The Clock – Do the following exercises until across the field until the other side is reaching.  10 lunges, 10 In Cadence Flutter Kicks.

    Numberama, namerama and Hardywood lead us out.

    Moleskin:  This sucks to do by yourself.  However, YHC was determined to do this workout and do it the right way. After watching Mariah Carey bomb her New Years performance, YHC took this as a lesson.  If you plan on faking it, you are better off just not showing up. Nothing good comes to those who mail it in. Also, a flesh colored unitard looks good on no one.

    Be super.

    Hardywood

  • Raised In The Lion’s Den

    “Decide what to be, and go be it.” The Avett Brothers

    A pax of 1 rose to the call of action for a sacrifical beatdown of gratitude for the year 2016.

    The thang

    COP: 4 mile run with the M.

    The Beast:  Exercises were Sippy Cup Merkins, squats, burpees, heels to Rosalita, Texas Hammer, Sippy Cup Merkins.  Starting at one end of the New Boston High School football field run to the 25, 50, 75, goal line, 75, 50, 25 yard lines (all the way down and all the way back).  At each yard marker perform six of the perscribed exercise over the course of 6 exercises.

    Cinco es Bueno:  5 rounds doing 5 reps of each of the following 5 exercises; flipping a giant ass tire, box jumps on the giant ass tire, dips on the giant ass tire, decline merkin on the giant ass tire, burpees and a short run.

    Homage to Swirly: On each of the 18 steps in the NBHS bleachers complete ascending incline merkins.  On row 1 complete 1 incline merkin, row 2 complete 2 incline merkins, etc to row 18 and 18 merkins.

    COT – Mosey to flagpole in front of school, namerama, numberama, Hardywood lead us out.

    Moleskin:

    Remember the scene in Castaway where Tom Hanks finally starts talking to himself with no one around but a volleyball?  It’s getting to that point for YHC.  YHC is calling out reps, shouting encouragement and making all kinds of weird breathing noises.  YHC is ready to be back in the friendly biosphere of the RVA mothership.

    “Raised In The Lion’s Den” is a line a Grateful Dead song, Minglewood Blues.  The flag pole at NBHS is surrounded by Lion statues, as that is their school mascot.  It seemed appropriate at the time.

    News:

    Seriously, start getting ready for the January 21st CSAUP.  See Swirly for details.  Those who can afford a day off on Monday to recover should schedule one.

    Be super.

    Hardywood

     

     

  • Pre-blast: Trail Run Monday morning Jan. 2nd

    With school in session for the kids and a day off from work for some there will be a trail run heading off from Pump House at 9:00 AM on Monday 1/2. Tell your M this is a required run for Belmonte if need be.

    All are welcome to join.

  • Happy New Year!

    22 brave pax made it out this morning in the cold gloom to celebrate the final day of 2016 – and celebrate we did!!!

    Warm Ups: LBC’s, APD’s, Flutter Kicks, Windmills, Helicopters, Imperial Walkers, SSH.

    Steps : Partner up – wheelbarrow up the steps – lunge across the top – jog down. Bear crawl up steps – polar bear across top – jog down. Merkin each step – Russian Solder across the top – jog down.

    Rusty Cage : Sandbag 5 curls, 5 overhead presses – 5 merkins – 5 overhand pull ups – 5 underhand pull ups. Repeat 3 times! Shoulder to shoulder assembly line – stack the sand bags.

    Triple Check : Teams of 3 – partner 1 runs the field and back – partner 2 – Captain Thor ( WW11 situp with an american hammer)- partner 3 – squats. Repeat 3 times.

    Amp Theatre : Dips ladder down steps = 18-1 – Incline Merkin back up 3 incline merkins each step.

    Circle : Burpee Shuffle and Ring of Fire

    First let me say Happy New Year to each of you and thanks for coming out this morning it was a pleasure to lead this fine group. Great job ! Curve ball at the start with the LBC’s instead of SSH – also thanks to Honeydo for reminding me that this was not WDOG but Dogpile this morning 🙂 We jumped right into it attacking the steps – well done.. YHC enjoyed the sandbags from WDOG so much that they made a brief but powerful appearance at the rusty cage this morning. (Great call on these Honeydo – love it brother).. The mumble chatter began during the triple check. Fudd told Dory just run as far as you can and come back and Saab and Toga jumped allover that saying that’s what your dad does….. Toga was wondering if we should call 911 because when Wilson ran down the field he seemed to never come back – it was dark out there we didn’t know if Wilson just decided to lay down and take a nap?? Toga also asked where the mouth of the south was this morning ?? We missed you LabRat.  We seemed to have lost Winston’s during the mossy from the field to the theatre – he twisted his anckle and tapped out. Hope it’s better real soon Winston’s sorry about that bro – not sure why Lockjaw pushed you and Gumbo didn’t yell Goldberg?? Flipdog ripped through the dips ladder with lightning speed short burst dips – atta baby Flipper.. Dory (FNG) crushed the merkins during the ring of fire – well done Dory glad you joined us today! Anybody else see that dad running with his kid this morning – that was awesome we gotta EH those two… Unfortunately Circle K was not feeling well today – YHC had a little surprise for the pax in the form of Cirlce K’s tire – oh well I’m sure that will make it to an AO soon….. Feel better Circle K we missed you out there brother.

    2016 comes to a close in the next few hours. Let’s remember to be thankful for the many blessings we have received. Let’s go into this new year striving to be a better man, better husband, better father, better friend, better boss, better employee. Let’s remember those less fortunate and do what we can as individuals and as a group to make this world a better place. Let’s have a positive YES attitude, let’s choose Love over Hate, and let’s pray that God will help us be the men that he has called us to be! I know one thing I’m gonna give every second of every day every freaken thing I got – cause the way I see it – that’s what living is! There is no way I could do this on my own and so I say thank you to each of you for what you mean to me and the blessings that you are in y life – I am truly grateful and inspired by y’all each and everyday. I look forward to F3RVA 2017!

    Announcements : LBC challenge starts tomorrow – spreadsheet is up! CSAUP – Jan 21 – see  Sippy’s pre blast for details. Circle K is looking for volunteers to man the cookout station/prep the food/drinks/fire if you don’t want to participate in the full workout.

    Thanks to Saab for taking us out this morning. ET’s was a blast – we are taking over that place – love it!

    Happy New Year.

  • Meet in the Middle

    “I Start Walkin’ Your Way, you start Walkin’ Mine, we meet in the middle ‘neath that old Georgia pine.  We gain a lot of ground when we both give a little.  Ain’t no road too long if we meet in the middle.”  — Diamond Rio

    16 strong (including one FNG) gathered for my VQ this morning —

    Started with the Slaughter Starter (Thanks, Upchuck!) — 20 burpees on our own

    Brief quick run around the church to the other side of the parking lot.

    COP

    • x30 — SSH
    • x30 — IJR — PAX was encouraged to come up with creative ways to jump rope today and they did not disappoint!
    • x30 Heels to Heaven — thanks Helix for the reminder!
    • x20 — Dollys
    • x20 — Rosalitas
    • x20 — American Hammers
    • 1 ATM — 15 3 count shoulder taps, 10 tempo merkins, then 10 fast merkins with no stopping

    I lost my Weinke along the way, so there may have been one exercise I missed on the BB.

    THE THANG

    Mosey over to the field for the next segment called Meet in the Middle — for F3 purposes, we shall call it MIM. 🙂

    I created this section because I love partner exercises and I love the Diamond Rio song of the same name.

    Everyone partnered up and headed to opposite ends of the field and proceeded to do the following

    1. Billy Idol Lunges (complete with fist pump) till partners met up in the middle, Booyah Merkins, then run back to your own side.  Rinse and Repeat — 10x, then 15x, then 20x on the Booyahs
    2. High Knee Run to partners in the middle, then Partner Leg Tosses, run back to own side (again 10, 15, and 20)
    3. Bear Crawls to partner in the middle, then Partner Derkins (one partner in plank the other does Derkins).  In the interest of time, we did 5, then 10, then 15.

    We finished up with the Tunnel of Love.  More on this later in the Wrap up.

    Mosey back to the flag

    COT/NAMEORAMA

    MOLESKIN

    What can I say about my first time out as Q?  I have to be honest — I was nervous from the moment I decided to take that step until the workout started this morning.  And then, I was fine and had a ton of adrenaline to push me through!  If I can do it, anyone can do it!  Make it a New Years Resolution to Q in 2017!

    We had a very friendly PAX this morning — no surly faces, at least not that I noticed in the gloom.  After we enjoyed the 20 burpees to get us warmed up, we hit the Circle and got ourselves moving.  During the IJR’s I saw some really good jump rope moves and even some guys going double time with the rope.  Impressive.  Could they do that with a real rope, I wondered…  I wish I had hit the ATM one more time in the circle, but I moved on to make sure we had time for Meet in the Middle.

    The hardest part of “meet in the middle” was the actual meeting in the middle since it was so dark out in the field.  I heard PAX members shouting out their partners names trying to find them in the gloom.  It actually added an element of fun to the whole thing.  I almost stepped on a 2.0 at one point — that would have left a mark.  Looking back, I think I would have done more reps of the meet in the middle exercises, but not knowing how much time anything would take, I think it turned out okay.

    There was definitely a slowdown in the tunnel today as we crawled our way through.  Part of the reason might have been the unexpected sharp turn in the tunnel as people made their way through to the end.  We rectified the situation eventually and the back up in the tunnel subsided.  We headed back to the flag and finished up!  Why was I so nervous??

     

    Announcements:

    • CSAUP Saturday January 21st. 9 to 10 mile run with short AO in between. 3 to 4 hour with cook out afterwards. See Circle K and more Pre-blast for details
    • LBC’s Monthly Challenge – January. 10k is the Goal. See link below to sign up!

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-L8e9W24ygnU0suaGyKxzi1PgPqY1CBd57hLrKTZI-g/edit#gid=656233322

    • Order your Focus Prayer Books by paying Abacus $20 and going to this link and filling out the form – – – http://www.paracleteanswers.com/material.html
    • Emoji’s M had surgery this week — please continue to pray for the family!

     

     

     

     

  • An End To A Taper…

    17 strong came out this morning for perfect running weather.

    4 Milers – East on Grove, Left on Boulevard, Left on Monument, Left on Westmoreland

    5 Milers – East on Grove, Left on Meadow, Left on Monument, Left on Westmoreland

    6 Milers – East on Grove, Left on Harrison, Left on Monument, Left on Commonwealth

    YHC took us out.

    NMS

    There was great turn out today with some regulars, a few visitors, and 2 FNGs, all with the purpose of covering some end-of-year miles.  YHC planned routes with the intent of bringing everyone down Monument to take in the holiday lights and decorations, but alas there were few to be seen.  Either everyone is using timers or Monument has moved past the holidays.  Time will tell.

    Beyond the usual discussion regarding tights vs no tights, TYA pioneered the use of very pale skin colored tights opening yet another dimension to the debate.

    Personally, today marks the end of a running taper that extended way too long.  It was good to be back on the road once more, injury free and ready to tackle 2017’s challenges and goals.  The end of a year provides time for reflection of the ground we have covered both as individuals and as a Pax.  Countless personal goals we have all individually realized (100 milers, weight loss, commitment to fitness) and the achievements as a team (expansion, leaps, BRR) are only a part of the F3 experience.  Friendships, both new and old, are the fabric that ties us together through the good times and the challenges.

    As Swirly and J-ville close out the 2016 chapter tomorrow, I look forward to next year’s adventures.

    Lockjaw

     

  • Soar Like an Eagle

    5 pax plus 1 FNG showed up on a raining morning during this week between Christmas and New Years.

    This is what transpired:

    COP

    Chatter and Fellowship as food orders were taken.

    Reading of Isaiah 40:31 –  …but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

    A Daily Prayer:

    • God, I offer myself again to you. You are in charge. I am your agent. Whatever you have in store for me, let me accept it and do with it as you would have me do. Your will be done, not mine. Please use me to be a help to another suffering sinner today.

    After the prayer we moved into our main workout which today was a Singlet – a study of a single verse.  This was an audible as the attendance was light.

    THANG

    Singlet of the day – Isaiah 40:31

    Broke the verse in 2 parts – What is the “IF”?  What is the “THEN”?

    What does it mean to “hope in the Lord”? Divot read out of another version and it said “wait upon the Lord” and Elmer stated that his notes say that to hope is to trust in the Lord.

    What does it mean to “soar on wings like eagles”? YHC mentioned how this could mean that we can reach new heights or go further. Fast Food talked about seeing more clearly. Elmer talk about not being tossed around by the world but being in control.

    What does it mean to “run and not grow weary”? Discussion around if you in life and worn down, most likely you are not in God’s will. Yikes!

    What does it mean to “walk and not be faint”? Discussion centered around endurance and consistency.

    NMS

    The Pax started arriving at The Shinning at around 6:25.  The Pax was light so we all gathered around in one table.  Given the numbers YHC modified and changed the workout from the next Headliner around Love to a Singlet on Isaiah 40:31.  This was the verse of the day in the Bible App…  After reading the verse Mud Face arrived and YHC took the opportunity to read the verse again.

    After the read we talk about “hoping in the Lord” and read some other versions.  Worm, being the book worm he is, brought us to verse 26 of Isaiah 40.  From there discussion really start flowing from the pax.

    The majority of the discussion centered around the what it means to “hope” / “trust” in the Lord. Then YHC shared how when he is upset with timing that he is not looking expectantly to the Lord and out of the Lord’s plan.  At the end of study YHC shared his action step was to go to the scriptures when he finds himself out of God’s will and to surrender on his knees daily. YHC challenged each man to make their own action step and do it!

    After announcements Fast Food took us out in a prayer.

    Announcements:

    • F3 tomorrow AM at “The Creek” – New Highland Baptist church – Opus will have his virgin Q!
    • Order your Focus Prayer Books by paying Abacus $20 and going to this link and filling out the form – – – http://www.paracleteanswers.com/material.html

  • No. White. Flags.

    “That’s what dads do.  They past the best of themselves on to their kids.” – Steve Gleason

    After nearly summer time Texas temps yesterday, the winds of the plains came back with a vengence.

    The thang:

    COP – Four mile run with the M.

    Worlds Worst 11s – The exercises were an Air Bud Merkin (both hands off the ground at the top of the merkin) and a weighted Texas Hammer.  This is a WWII sit up with a 10 lb weight, at the top of the sit up, perform a one count American Hammer.  10 Texas Hammers/1 Air Bud Merkin, 9 TH/2 ABM, etc.. 1 TH/10 ABM. A short run was included between rounds.

    Fantastic Fours – The exercises were SSH, merkin, weighted Texas Hammer (10 lb), weighted squats (35 lb) followed by a short run.  There are 4 rounds total.  On the first round do 10 of each exercise.  Round 2 do 20 of each exercise.  Round 3 do 30 of each exercise. Round 4 do 40 of each exercise.

    5 Minute Burpees – Starting the timer at 5 minutes complete 5 burpees in the first minute, 6 burpees in minute 2, 7 burpees in minute 3, 8 burpees in minute 4 and 10 burpees in minute 5.

    Namerama, numberama, Hardywood lead us out.

    Moleskin – YHC must reiterate doing this by yourself is the worst.  Today’s title came from one of the finest examples of a man to ever walk the earth.  If you don’t know the story of Steve Gleason , drop what you are doing and get familiar with him.  While a star special teams player with the New Orleans Saints he was diagnosed with ALS.  His story is a lesson for the rest of us.

    My theme for 2017 just might be NO WHITE FLAGS.

    Be super.

    Hardywood

  • 3, no 4 runners on the AT

    3 hardy souls took the trip to Waynesboro to hit the AT and put in some trail miles.  One stalwart headed out on his own to the same trail to put in a few miles.

    The Thang:

    Drop the car off at Blackrock Gap and take a shuttle back to Rockfish Gap.  Hit the AT and traverse our way back to the car (a reported 18.7 miles).

    NMM

    After about an hour into the trip, we ran into the Whittler who had just turned around to head back to Rockfish Gap.  Since he had an aborted trail run on Monday, he was worried about going the full distance so was going to put in 10+ on his own.  We pleaded and cajoled him into joining us and making the remainder of the trip to Blackrock.  Great to have four of us out there together to make this trip.

    The first three or four miles of the trip were uphill and rocky and provided very little opportunity for actual running.  The terrain and vegetation took a quick turn thereafter and was much more runner friendly.  This section of the trail saw some major elevation changes.  We climbed just over 4500 feet and descended about 4100 feet, gaining just over 400 feet for the trip.  Also along the way we crossed the road 4 or 5 times.  After a while, once I saw a road, I was pretty unhappy because each road signaled a major climb on the other side.  For the trip, Lab Rat had us logged in at just over 20 miles, while YHC had us at 19.4.

    More people on the trail today than our last trip to the AT.  We saw one hiker that was covering out route today and an older gentleman from Colorado who was one segment away from finishing the 105 miles in the park (later in the spring, his wife is going to join him and traverse the whole trail).  We saw this gentleman hitchhiking back to his car at the end the day and Upchuck turned his vehicle around and gave him a ride back to his vehicle.

    An obligatory stop at Bodo’s on the way home saw each of the PAX ordering enough food to feed several people.  Bodo’s is always good, but after miles on the trail, it is exceptional.

    The trips to he AT are long days, but incredibly fun and challenging.  Nothing like the hills you get on the AT to train you for a long distance jaunt.  Also, running the trails of the AT brings a whole new appreciation and understanding of the challenges or trail running.  YHC, incredibly, was the only one to take a fall today.