Category: Richmond, VA

  • Accountability Partners

    when it’s 19 degrees outside and snowing..for many of us, it all comes down to those accountability partners expecting to see you in the Gloom. For me, with out them, anything below 42 and I will use my Joker to make up any reason to not get out of bed at 5am. Like: I’ll do it later, I have a gym for a reason, I need a rest day. Etc. I just ended 9 months of run training and wrapped up the race season this past Saturday. I knew this week would be rough staying motivated to get up with nothing scheduled. So in comes the accountability part. Sign up to Q and offer a ride to a pax. Now, not only would I catch grief for bailing on a Q.. but would also screw over a shield lock brother if I didn’t pick him up. Neither is a valid option.

    0530 at Pocahontas Middle school and snow is falling. I brief request by the PAX to drive over to parking deck. Vetoed by the Q. We have window shopping to do at Short Pump mall. Exit school to right on 3chopt. Right on Pump. Right into Dog park. Some dynamic stretching. Then off to Short Pump Mall

    The Thang: Window Shopping

    run the 1 mile around short pump Town center circle stopping at each stop sign to alternate between 10 jump squats or 10 Merkins. Easy enough. Now run back to AO.

    3.8 miles some stretching. Some Merkins, some Squats. No WW2 or LBC because YHC didn’t want to roll around in snow when it’s 19 outside. 🙂

    had fun running in the snow with my Accountability partners. See you next time.

    v/r

    John (Gypsy) Boles

  • Let it Snow

    3 DaVillians didn’t let a little snow stop them from getting a beatdown in.

    COP – mosey around parking lot then various exercises.

    11s – squats + deadlifts

    4 corners – lawnmowers, snatches, halos, tricep extensions.

    4 corners repeat – WW2s with pump, flutter kicks with pump, American hammers, boat canoes.

    Numbers, names, Yardsale took us out.

  • Ruckhenge 021925

    Seven intrepid gloom rangers gathered for this cool and breezy morning at Ruckhenge. Flurries started at 5am sharp and so did we. Into Larus with 2 headlamps between 7 of us, just for the challenge. Keeping it on the trails meant being out of the wind which had a bit of a bite to it this morning. We covered 3.6 miles and went a little long. Appreciated the company and the opportunity to discuss the Leave Right chapters, equipping and accountability at coffeerama. Till next time.

  • 11 to welcome the snow

    Eleven Disciples (Judas wasn’t there) arrived on dry roads to First Watch only to leave on slippery roads after. Once Handshake made the even group of ten turn into eleven (like he likes to do) off we went on a mosey around the church, stopping for speed bump burpees. Once we arrived in front of the church at the normal COP area, the wind decided for us to move to the eastern side of the church building’s brick wall.

    COP/11’s combo

    Perform 11’s of Carolina Dry Docks and Reverse Squats Crunches in between the normal exercises of a standard COP

    Mosey over to EF Hutton’s hill for a:

    Dora: 100 x WW2’s, 200 x Merkins, 300 x Squats. Timer up the hill to the lamppost and back

    Mosey a ways and settle down for 50 x LBC’s

    Mosey a ways and settle down for 100 x Single Count Flutter Kicks

    Partner up in and get back up the hill. One partner bear crawls, other partner does 10 Hand-Release Merkins. Catch your partner and swap.

    After a nice 20 count where we watched Hutton and Wojo continue the routine about a quarter mile ahead of us, the slower pax caught up to them.

    Partner up at the tip of the triangle for 2×20 PLT’s each partner

    Mosey back to the parking lot and circle up for a:

    Burpee Shuffle (a small mutiny was forming). About 4 Burpees were done before Hitchhiker called time. About 10 Burpees were done before the actual Q called time.

    Numbers, Names, Announcements and Wojo took us out!

    NMS:

    It was cold and everyone left right away for coffee. Lot of complaining about being on our backs in the snow. Also, the 200 merkins in the Dora. That’s why you partner with Last Call. Hutton and Wojo are still bear crawling towards the North somewhere.

    Thanks for coming out!

    Kubota

  • Frozen Figure 8

    6 runners took to the streets to find a few flurries, a couple small patches of ice, and some miles around Midlo. Route Midlo to Woolridge – 4 miles left on Coalfield left into the Grove – Mt. Midlo back to the flag with some extra credit around the school; 5 miles down to Charter Colony, left up Manders, through the Grove, left on Woolridge and right back home down Coalfield. Solid route with some hills – Woolridge 2x and Manders (or Mt. Midlo) made for some difficult work on the morning.

    Great to see Lugnut back out for some runs, and some solid chatter at Starbucks watching the snow come in.

    See Slack for coming info on the next CSAUP – The Century – the date is the first decision to be made and then more to come after that.

    Prayers for Draper’s friend going through a tough time and for Draper on setting boundaries for helping him out.

  • Mammoth OTB

    2 hockey enforces/violent gentlemen emerged from the gloom for more kettlebell action before the snow storm landed.

    Quick Warmarama – Stretches OYO and a brief mosey.

    Catch Me Dora

    • 75 Nolan Ryan Row 2 Ct.
    • 100 Goblet Squat arm extensions
    • 125 Wood Chuckers
    • PAX runs to the stranger lot and back or suitcase carries 30 lb KB to the 2 bush planter and back.

    Tabata

    • Lateral Lunge
    • Alabama Skull Crushers
    • 3 & 3 – Smokers to Heaven/WWII’s
    • Lunge Curls
    • Run to the stranger lot between each exercise.

    CoT

    USA v Canada for the 4 Nations Championship tomorrow night!!!

  • 2:30 AM Wake Up = An Angry Q

    The morning of either an epic snowstorm or another epic bust, 7 HIMs showed up at the Green Mile to an empty Q sheet. YHC woke up at 2:30 AM for no apparent reason and couldn’t fall back to sleep with thoughts of lunges, merkins and burpees oh my! According to the 5 snow flurries we saw, this is how it went down:

    Warmup: Mosey to the bus parking lot for IC exercises: SSHs, Ukranian Soldiers, Deadman Hang, Old School Leg/Arm Stretches and Mountain Climbers. Temps/Wind Chills were chilly, so we started moving…

    COP 1: Chest/Back in the bus parking spots. Start at the beginning (spot 1) and run down to the end (spot 18) to perform 18 HRMs. Return to spot 1 for 1 Burpee. Run back to spot 17 for 17 HRMs and return to spot 1 for 1 Burpee. Repeat in descending fashion and performed HRMs for spots 18-14, Superman for spots 13-7 and then back to HRMs for spots 6-1 all with 1 Burpee back at spot 1. This ended up being harder than my 2:43 AM brain expected!

    COP 2: Mosey to the benches for a Legs triple check. P1 – Step Ups, P2 – Single Leg Squats, P3 – Lunges down the sidewalk and run back.

    COP 3: Mosey back to the front parking lot for a Abs Dora. 100 Butterfly Style WWIIs, 200 Double Count Flutter Kicks and 300 LBCs. Timer runs across the parking and back. When partners switch, perform 5 Plank Jacks/Jack Knife combo for the 100 count, 3 Plank Jacks/Jack Knife combo for 200 count and 1 Plank Jacks/Jack Knife combo for the 300 count.

    Perfect ending right at 6:15 AM, Numbers, Names, Announcements (SOJ SLT Meeting 3/11 at Heist’s 7 PM), Prayer Requests (Safety with pending snowstorm, patience for parents that work from home with kids out of school)

    Great work by all of you gentlemen. There was some grumbling from time to time and lessons learned that if YHC wakes up at such an early hour and takes the Q that his anger is being taken out on the PAX. Shoutout to TSG for planning to come out this am, but the 5-0 had different plans. I assume he/she had to know he was busting ass to get to an F3 workout, but that wasn’t enough to allow him to arrive in time. Way to go back home and do a self-ruck buddy! Pleasure leading this morning fellas. Have a blessed day and stay safe!

  • Traffic at the Portajon

    Pretty busy morning on Baldwin, just east of Westham for a group of hearty souls looking to get some exercise in the gloom. This one is going down as the Spotswood Run…here goes…

    Go through the parking lot by the baseball field to College. College to Lakewood to Wood to Baldwin. Cross Westham on Baldwin and take a left on Rock Creek if you are a 5…go one more to Stuart Hall if you are a 6.

    Head South to Spotswood…go into that pocket neighborhood. 4s & 5s go one lap of Spottswood, 6s go two. 4s come out of the neighborhood and head back to the flag as quick as possible.

    5s and 6s go Forest to Ziontown Crossing to University. 5s cross Ralston and stay on University and head back to the flag from there. 6s head down one more street, take a left and then head back to the flag.

    Be aware of women walking their dogs right next to a strategically placed porta-potty. Just sayin’.

  • Still Running Circles in Windsor

    Happy Valentine’s Day, boys!

    The 6ers and one 5 did YHC’s Windsor to Hillcrest route. It wasn’t the same without Bodos taking a wrong turn and then grousing a bit that the directions weren’t “run this straight line to this point then run back.”

    The tough part about the run is making that cut through from Dover, over Lock to Pocohontas…to be sure, if you aren’t looking for the two pieces of wood that separate Lock from Pocohontas it’s not easy to find. Once you are on Pocohontas you head to Hillcrest, do a couple of loops around that bad boy then head north to Patterson…east to Commonwealth then back to the flag.

    There is some concern that we lost Boberry as he was the only 5 and we 6s, admittedly, didn’t do a good job of keeping an eye on him. Our bad, Boberry…I do hope you made it out of the southside of Cary St ok. In all seriousness, I’ll take the heat on that one, I wasn’t prepared for only one 5 to show up and should’ve done a better job explaining the route.

    Anyway, I hope everyone had a special February 14th with their loved ones, whoever they may be.

  • Not It

    12 H.I.Ms. gathered for a burner of a workout at No Toll.

     

    YHC grabbed the Q late in honor of taking the initiative or just being the last person to say “not it!”

     

    Warmarama:  YHC lead the pax to the darkened courts if no toll.to do the following. SSH, DAS, UKS,  CHERRY PICKERS, MERKS, SHOULDER TAPS, Planjs Saw, A.Hs, F.M.s.,

     

    Staying in the pldimly lit courts the pax didn’t rounds of four corners burners. 

     

    Abs. 20,30,40,50. Scrunchy frogs, Freddie Mercury, American Hammers,  LBC

     

    Squats, lunge, ISWs, Lt. Dan, monkey bumpers

     

    Burpee, merkin, cdd, shoulder taps.

     

    Triple check with WW2 and donkey kicks.

     

    Leave the courts for a Dora.

    50 merk, 100 WW2, 150 shoulder taps.

     

    Mosey through the woods back to the flag. 

     

    Announcements. CSAUP coming up see Rosie for details.   Team Aye Aye looking for one more runner in the Ragnar race in April. 

     

    YHC took the morning yesterday to witness Belay’s naturalization ceremony.   We should be humbled by the commitment that immigrants intentionally take to make this country a better place.  YHC, a government major in college, was reminded in the ceremony that we live in a Constitutional Federal Republic.  Belay’s oath and our privilege is to serve the Constitution and not the President.  What an honor to serve a country where the founding ideas  and checks and balances in our Constitution reign. 

    “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”