Category: Richmond, VA

  • Enter the Pentagon

    75 and moist pretty much describes the setting for another edition of the Circus.  Here’s how it went down:

    COP: SSH, Russian Soldiers, Don Quixote, Scapula Merkins, Goblet squats

    Behold The Pentagon of Joy/Doom: 30 sec kb swings in center of pentagon, bear crawl to one of the five points for 30 secs of designated exercise, bear crawl with kb back to center and repeat for all five points with swings in the center each time.  Repeato x 2 with stations = Goblet reverse lunge rt leg, goblet reverse lunge left leg, alternating shoulder press, curls, tricep extension

    Mosey around circle and return to COP: lawn mowers, merkins w kb rows, wtd sit-ups, clockwise and counterclockwise kb passes, The Rosie (bridge, press, extend, return), wtd sit-ups, brief Turkish getup training

    NMM:  YHC assumes everyone has a morning ritual.  Without getting into the details, let’s just say that mine didn’t happen due to user error on the alarm.  YHC still made it on time to get the pentagon setup, but YHC felt things were amiss throughout.  Irregardless, the PAX got right to work and tackled the workout without complaint.  Come to think of it, there wasn’t much mumble chatter at all.

    Thanks for the chance to lead!

    COT:  Everyone gave a name of someone in need of God’s grace, and we humbly asked for him to watch over them.

    Stay Classy,

    Toga

  • #SOT Celebrates the 4th with Old Glory

    What better way is there to celebrate the 4th of July than with Old Glory?

    Three of the faithful gathered at #SOT on an unbelievably humid summer morning to experience Gloom at its gloomiest. Johnsonville (YHC) equipped a SF and lined the PAX up on the outside of the bus loop for an Old Glory tribute. This is what went down —

    Make two loops around the school carrying Old Glory. The loop, as we ran it, is exactly 0.51 miles, so the warm up run was just over 1 mile long in all.

    Commencing on the outside of the bus loop, do 20 merkins. Follow bus lane out to the front turn lane and run to north side of school. Inside the cross-hatched area by the double doors, do 20 jump squats. Continue counter-clockwise to parking lot behind school (in front of the new entrance). Do 10 burpees. Continue up slight grade counter-clockwise around school to area near basketball court. Do 20 WWII situps. Continue back to start.

    Rinse and repeat as many times as possible until 6:03. Convene at starting place and repeat the 1 mile mosey with Old Glory.

    COT (YHC with closing prayer).

    MOLESKIN:

    Rosie had been watching Twitter and knew what was in store. LugNut had not be watching Twitter, and did not catch wind of what was to come. Otherwise, by his own admission, LugNut would have slept in.

    Rosie completed 4 laps; YHC completed 3.5; and LugNut completed 3.0. Everyone shared the carrying of Old Glory.

    To my knowledge, this is the first time Old Glory has been run at #SOT. #SOT presents some interesting twists for several reasons. First, each loop around the school is nearly 1/10 of a mile longer than the #NoToll loop. Second, there is an incline along the stretch following the burpee area. That incline, though slight, makes things difficult.

    Everyone noted that they prefer having a bigger PAX for Old Glory because it pushes them faster and keeps them honest as to form. LugNut admitted that when he notices his form slide, he penalizes himself by doing extra LBCs after the WWII situps. Now that is integrity!

    Great job, Men! Thank you for the opportunity to lead this morning. Jville

  • Hey TYA, Did you get a Raccoon?

    4 runners posted, followed by 3 Gear Heads with bikes to the wednesday evening hill run that is the Hillcrest torturous loop

    THE THANG

    Run(bike) the Hillcrest loop in various designs of Jug Handles or Sans Jug Handle Loops

    Moleskin

    YHC arrived mid loop with the runners in full motion. YHC had two other cyclist of the younger in age variety(Offspring of YHC) YHC first encountered Saab as was setting a furious pace up the jug handle(Chariman Road) Saab was slightly Shocked to see YHC on a bike. YHC has missed one full week of workouts due to the left knee and YHC’s own stupidity. Today was the first day without limping, so why not try biking up a serious hill, it’s only a circle.

    Lockjaw finished several loops and declared that he is all in for the BRR and has not missed a run since July 1, Wait isn’t today the 6th?

    TSB was cranking up the final hill just ahead of TYA. TYA looked as if he managed to include a lap across the Rivah when he arrived back at the top of the hill.

    Post-Run festivus at TYA’s humble abode included several fine crafted beers, one could only describe as Grapefruit oriented( although pricing was in full debate of said beer) As the group discussed the finer points of Hover-boards, the BRR history, the TYA/Bleeder vs OBT/Dredd BRR mountain Goat battle Royale and TYA family selection of pets or rabid animals.

    Peace out,
    Bleeder on TYA’s Machine. No, Bleeder using TYA’s… No, Bleeder pounding on TYA’s Keys.. Damn it… you get the idea.

  • Hills and a cooler

    Wednesday afternoon hill run on Hillcrest. Bring a cooler with your desired cold beverages and we can have a little second F on my back patio. 5:30 for the run, Second F to follow.

    TYA Out

  • Apparently Rats Like Merlot

    This morning 12 brave and fearless men met at W Dog for a little hump day fun.

    The Thang:

    COP – Mosey over to circle and perform the following 20 SSH, 20 LBC, 20 Merkin

    Cut The Air – Run up and down stairs of monument to complete 10 incline merkin, bear crawl to star, 20 (2 count) mountain climbers.  Complete 4 rounds

    5/10/15 – Teams of two rip through 5 pull-ups, 10 dips, 15 WWII Sit Ups.  Complete 3 Rounds

    Love Hill – Teams of two complete a long stretch of love hill.  While one is running to the top gate, the other completes the prescribed exercises making progress to the top of the hill.  Team members complete each exercise after their run is done then move on to the next exercise.  As follows – Broad jump burpees, lunges, Polar Bear (5 step bear crawl with a merkin thrown in every 5th step).

    Swirly Homage – Start at the top of the amphitheater.  On each of the steps perform an incline merkin. Work in descending order.  On the 18th step, 18 merkins.  On the 17th step, 17 merkins. Etc.  All the way to the bottom.

    Mosey back to flag and COT.

    The air was thick and heavy my friends, thick and heavy.  YHC is pleased at the volume of work that got done in 45 minutes.  You all should be damn proud.  Toga laid down the hammer early and was out to send a message to the pax.  This crew dominated the pull up station.  5 has become the comfortable number and it is in the opinion of YHC that we will have to start increasing the volume very soon.  With 8 minutes to go we started Swirly Homage.  The pax was focused and purposeful.  Flipper is so good at the incline merkin, he will soon be releasing a how to video.

    In a testament to the intensity level of today’s workout Shawshank spilled the merlot pre-COT.  There’s probably no better way to put it.  A triple hate VMI keydet pushed the limits, and the limits pushed back.

    As men of a certain age we all have very full plates and obligations.  Often this leads to a very busy internal dialogue and heavy hearts.  That weight can some times seem unbearable.  But then you come out to a workout like this, with men like those who circle our flag.  You push through and hold on.  Not always you think you can, but out of respect to the others who are clearly putting out a max effort.

    For YHC just about everything I learn in the gloom, I can apply in some other part of my life: Do the work, help others and when it gets really hard and normal men would quit, double down and push through. My gratitude runs deep.

    Well done gentlemen.

    Hardywood

  • Post-Fireworks Smolder

    10 Brothers gathered in the humidity to prove there were still some fireworks to light.

     

    The Thang:

     

    COP

     

    • SSH IC X 30
    • Front Arm Circles IC X 10 little X 5 big, Reverso
    • ATMs – In plank, Alternating Shoulder Taps IC X 15; Tempo Merkins IC X 10; 10 fast Merkins OYO
    • American Hammer IC x 20
    • Mountain Climbers IC x 20

     

    Doracides (with partner)

     

    • One Pax does three-point suicides on the basketball court with 1, 2, then 3 burpees on the last stretch
    • Meanwhile partner Pax works through Squat X 100, LBC X 200, SSH X 300

     

    Ring of Fire

    • All Pax in a circle, hold People Chair
    • One Pax does 10 Werkins and then holds Six-Inches, then next Pax does Werkins until all Pax in circle are doing Six-Inches
    • Then one Pax does 10 Reverse Crunches followed by People Chair, around the circle
    • Final round is 10 Mexican Jumping Bean Squats followed by Six-Inches

     

    Indian Run around all three schools and then back to flag

     

    MOM

    • Superman
    • Flutterkicks

     

    COT

     

    BOM – The Carpenter took us out.

     

    NMS

     

    After a drenching couple of days, this morning felt like the muggy July it is supposed to be in DaVille. Lab Rat brought the shovelflag for YHC to plant. Grabber biked in as others arrived. Emoji woke us all up with his inspirational attitude and international orange shirt.

     

    The Pax seemed to breeze through the COP, even the ATM pusharama. This impressed YHC considering the brutal upper body beatdowns of late. Mumblechatter picked up at Doracides with a mix of groans and encouragement. Lab Rat and Stewardess engaged in a military style domestic dispute throughout the morning. The result was clearly positive motivation as Stewardess put on the afterburners during suicides. Considering Stewardess’s determined and less-than-pleased game face, YHC was grateful he was not in the cockpit of an F-22. The ROF elicited more groans, but all pushed through the challenge. TYA muscled through some straight-legged reverse crunches. The PAX must have appeared a proud, if ragged, team cruising through the Indian Run home. During Superman, Lab Rat reminded us that together we could all be the Greatest American Hero.

     

    Announcements

    Emoji shared that his bride is battling breast cancer. She has a crackerjack medical team and social support. They are poised to overcome this. He asks for thoughts and prayers. We are with you for anything you need, brother.

     

    Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing group of men.

     

    Gratefully,

     

    Blue Balls

  • 4 after the Fourth

    4 fought off the Fartsack after the Fourth, opting for their DRP instead.  Things were back to normal as the rains from the day before made the fields water-logged as we’ve all come to know and love. It went down like this:

    Mosey to parking lot for COP- 25 SSH, arm circles – forwards and backwards, 20 LBCs, 15 Flutterkicks, 20 Hillbillys. Mosey to benches, partner up.

    15 shoulder presses – wheelbarrow 10 yards then 15 Derkins. Switch partner to go back. Repeato x3.

    Mosey to new fence. 20 PLTs, switch partner. Repeato x3.  Stay with partner for Donkey Kicks. 1 oes DKs, while other runs to shelter to do 5 Box Jumps and run back. Switch and Repeato x3.

    Hold elbow plank for 1 min at end as PAX. Run lap around field, do 5 burpees each corner. Then mosey to Basketball court for:

    Suicides. 1 set just running, 2nd Set 5 LBCs, 3rd set 10 merkins, last set just running. Square up for Mary – 1 min plank, 20 IC Hello Dolly, 10 R and L leg lifts.

    NMS: Small but strong PAX, YHC was glad to see Ricky Bobby arrive to make it an even 4. Strong showing by Trojan Drone on his 2nd posting. There was discussion as always on how hard Shoulder presses get when they start out easy. YHC wanted a lot of core work today to fight off the excesses of the 4th. Think that was accomplished. The PAX was not a fan of the elbow plank, we need to do much more of that. Wilson is definitely getting faster with all his running.

    As a bonus the PLTs made sure to get complete grass coverage all over, including face and eyes.

     

     

     

  • Let’s all give thanks for the Bikini

    5 showed at UR today for a moderate impact run around Westham. Using a derivative of a route Bleeder led a few weeks ago, we went up Westham parkway, down to the canal via Ridge, and then back along the golf course to the commons.

    YHC was beginning to prepare for a lone-run this morning, but the PAX eventually all arrived at about the same time. The route chosen had fewer hills and less distance than prior options due in no small part to the difficult weekend YHC and others experienced with regard to F3 workouts and other running excursions. While we all worked to stay together, the decision for the pack to run up westham station and back down – with the intent to catch up with Lugnut turned out to be a slight miscalculation. As we worked to track him down we did not see him on the return route…YHC feared he would end up lost similar to TYA’s experience a few months ago. Fortunately, despite taking an alternate entrance back into the university, Lugnut was able to find his way once he came upon the chapel where he first entered the world of marital bliss. Otherwise, chatter centered around the July 4 beatdown at Batteau (Hardywood), and “where’s Lockjaw?” (per his stated commitment to step-up his running beginning in July).

    Just a word about the title…on this day in history in 1946 the bikini was first introduced in Europe.

    Saab out.

  • Back Blast from the Past

    9 Pax came out in the calm after the storm to cover some miles.

    We took a new route into Scott’s Addition.  4 milers turned around at Ardent, 5 milers came back on the Boulevard to Elwood to Grove, and 6 milers came home on Hermitage to Grove.

    NMC
    Power loss and vacation provided delay in the getting the back blast out.  However, YHC believes its better late than never to chronicle our post.

    It was a nice change of scenery to venture north into Scott’s Addition which was vacant at that hour.  Perhaps we should do it 12 hours later in the day and do a tour de brewery.

    Several trees were down on Grove including one on a car.  The Boulevard showed signs up high winds with some signs in disarray.

    Hardywood provided a tourism PSA for Austin, TX.

  • Batteau Beatdown – July 4th Spectacular

    16 brave and fearless men showed up for the July 4th Batteau Beatdown in Forest Hill Park.

    The Pursuit of Happiness

    • Mosey down to Reedy Creek for COP:  20 SSH, 10 Burpee, 20 LBC, 20Merkin

    Suck It King George

    • Pax to large pile of rocks.  Each man grabs a rock of considerable size.  Not heavy enough to throw like a football, not too heavy that you can’t lift it over your head.
    • Native American Run from Reedy Creek to Forest Hill Pond with each member of the pax carrying their rock.

    Continental Congress

    • Teams of two complete the following – 50 burpees, 100 squats with rocks, 200 merkins, 300 two count American hammer, 400 side straddle hops.  While one person is ripping through the exercises, the other is running a hill circuit.  To make this a little more fun, the hill circuit was completed with rock in tow.

    Move Over John Hancock

    • Run up the hill of despair.  Start with five burpees at the first light post, add five more at each succeeding light post finishing with 20 burpees at the final post.  Mosey back to the flag.

    NMS – Let’s start with a huge shout to Kudzu for dominating today’s workout and to Fudd for raising a damn fine young man.  We could all be so lucky. Saab came off of another monster week of miles.  He is the gold standard in fortitude.  There was idle chatter amongst the pax during COP.  Once the stones of success were gathered, mum was the word.  The celebration libation provided by Lab Rat signaled the transition into the days festivities.

    Make no doubt about it, this was a really hard workout.  YHC had been thinking of something like this since the day Swirly mentioned this could be a good place for an AO.  The motivation of YHC was two fold. 1) To do something unique and creative that would make for a great story. 2) To have it be just hard enough that doubt made a small appearance.  One of the most valuable things this pax does is learning how to respond when life gets uncomfortable and overwhelming.  This is a damn fine skill to learn and there may be no better place to forge it.

    It is a great privilege and honor to lead this group today.  Thank you for the trust to put a big challenge before you.  An even bigger thanks for putting your best effort forward.  This is an amazing place to find one’s voice.

    Big cheers to you all and happy 4th of July.  See you in the gloom.

    -Hardywood