An iron PAX warrior, a DTH-pipeline FNG, a ruck-virgin Birthday Boy, and your humble correspondent. 45 minutes of awesome conversation rucking a couple miles around Rockwood, finished off with 10 minutes of Mudslide Broga. GREAT way to start the day gentlemen, and a Happy Birthday to Banksy! Yours AYE! ~DTH
5 gazelles clocked nearly 4.5miles for the first Iron Bridge Morning Wood (now dubbed – “Goyne Hard”). About 1 mile in we all realized the group was GrowRuck veterans. We spent the next sweaty miles reminiscing about the toughness and teamwork exhibited at that amazing event. What a pleasure to get some extra credit with these guys before the big Iron Bridge kickoff! Nicely done men.
Eight pathfinders jumped into the Gloom in the latest edition of The Dogpile. Temperatures were 70 and sunny. According to the couples admiring our form on the Vita Trail, the following might have happened:
Mosey towards the normal circle, then veer 90 degrees to the small field in front of the green / muraled storage unit for the COP.
Little baby crunches (to start!) x20
Flutter kicks
WWIIs
Hand release / Da’Shawn Watson Merkins (no hands!)
SSHs
Let’s mosey to the small triangle where the road into the park meets the small parking lot next to the Grand Field. Not a place we usually use. Partner up for Touch-a-Tree.
Rounds of 4, 6, and 8 trees. Ab exercise while the runner runs.
Mosey to the Street of Despair. 5 merkins at every lamp post. Unless you want to do them on the sidewalk, in which case 6 merkins. On the grass, 20 merkins per pole. Circle up at the former Police Statue circle. Find a different partner for an oldie, but goodie.
Partner 1, WWIIs.
Partner 2, climb the hill adjacent to the water storage pond (under construction).
The grass was cut, and therefore only 3-5 inches deep, much deeper than it looks. PAX will keep us informed on whether Vinny’s Poison Ivy makes an appearance.
Mosey to the VITA Trail.
Bro-code run, stopping at each exercise apparatus. Actual equipment only. Birdhouses and just-a-sign do not count. 3 finger-tip or diamond merkins plus 3 WWIIs at each stop.
Halfway through, the PAX found some shade and an audience for fire-hydrants (look it up). Much fun was had by all.
Continue the circuit, but switch to 3 Chuck Norris merkins and 3 V-ups.
Trot across Park Avenue to the four yellow boulders along the entrance driveway. The PAX moseys past these regularly, but rarely uses them. Today, we did. Partner up (with a new partner):
Partner 1: Mosey to the tree / port-o-potty.
Partner 2: Alternating rounds of either 10 incline merkins or 10 decline merkins plus a Dealer’s Choice ab exercise until Partner 1 returns. PAX felt like this was 10 rounds. Close.
Mosey BTTVSF. 50 burpees called, but time, so sadly, no burpees.
Numbers, names, and Oyster took us out.
Announcements:
Hopefully, a successful launch at The Iron Bridge today. Looking forward to hearing how that went.
Monday, The Alamo, 5:30 a.m., our Brother Wildcat will run us ragged in advance of his next doctor’s appointment. Be there for the man.
Summer Tour continues. Let’s do it.
July 4, Convergence, Batteau (meet at the Stone House), 7:00 a.m. City Proper hosting?
August 21, First Watch, join me in celebrating my father’s 100th birthday. River Road Church, Baptist. 05:00.
Late September, F3RVA’s 10th Anniversary workout. Convergence. Dogpile. Please reach out to Gomer or Rosie. We need guys to contribute their time and energy for this effort. Lots of options for helping. Turn off your phone, put your clipboard to the side, and lend a hand. Let’s go!
NMS: YHC arrived to an unexpected sight – a lone Kia abandoned at Dogpile by a grey-bearded 45/6ish year old gone for a pre-run. Nice work, Rosie.
James River Heating / Cooling showed up, and promptly did nothing to make the temperatures more pleasant.
The US Army showed up to explain how 2 really equals 4. Go figure. But, always nice to have an actual shovel flag, so boom. Board shorts, flip-flops, and a shovel flag. Nice start.
Honeymoon brought another Kia, so now we have two.
Nancy brought a beast of a car. Vrrrooom, vrrooom.
Oyster arrived thinking YHC had tossed him the Q, and Hitchhiker quietly rounded out the PAX after dropping off his mother in law at the tanning salon.
Prayer Request: Hitch is becoming a parent again (x3!) sometime this week. MIL in town for 3 weeks. 3 weeks. THREE weeks. Prayers for peace, patience, love, kindness, etc.
Prayers for Wildcat, his family, and every PAX member who attempts to keep up with him on Monday. LFG!
3 of us headed out to ruck around. Looped the football field before headed to the back 9 of the disc golf. Made our way through the neighborhood and back to the park. Finished out with some Bernie’s up the hill by the football field. The FNG later named Choo Choo came prepared for the ruck, and House party and myself filled him on what to be prepared for. Great morning fellas. All in about 2.5 miles
Last week we did ironPAX. It was so terrible we decided to do another one. With Hardywood kicking ass and taking names, here is how it went down:
Here’s the WOD for Premature Acceleration. No running to be found! Let’s go!
Week 3 – Meter’s 43
5 Pull-ups
10 Dips
15 Burpee Coupon Jump Overs
20 Coupon Curls
25 Coupon Squat Thrusters
30 Gas Pumps (reverse crunches)
Rinse and repeat for 43 minutes
Brutal. Thanks for the push fellas. Great work! Rumor has it the wheel of misfortune will be coming back soon 🤫
A very lucky 13 beat the heat running, walking, and riding. We even had a visit from Phonics, who is speedy as always.
Hitchhiker asked for prayers promoting harmony and peace.
Phonics took us out.
I called an audible at 525 in my head. I had an idea for something that had been in my head for a while yet with the number of people we had, it was best to save it for another time. 8 came out swing what I had in store for today. According to my Garmin, today’s workout was more recovery yet if you were there, it was 42 minutes intense and the last 3 chilled. Here we go:
A little run down to the stop sign and back, then WARMARAMMA time(SSHs, Jazzercise, Imperial Walkers, Ukrainian Soldiers, Cherry Pickers, Merkins, LBCS, Alabama Prom Dates, then a little hip back stretch time to take off
First up….a triple check with 8 we split into 2 4 man groups at the circle. Run up to Wilson’s place(I should have added 10 Monkey Humpers there), dorm at the bottom hand released merkins and reverse lunges. If we had more, from there we would have gone straight but at the intersection turned left
The classic: DORA(100 Merkins, 200 squats, 300 LBCs) everyone was in high gear at that point it didn’t matter speed wise, we were putting in the work.
A new thing I tried and will add it to future workouts there. Take the individual numbers on the mailbox, total it and do that exercise. From the top to the flag, there are 4 mailboxes so the 2 on the right(plank jacks) on the left(calf raises).
To the coupon areas grab your rock of choice: we rotated the rocks doing a variety of exercises: presses, goblet squats, skull crushers etc. Nancy put it out there “off anyone calls burpees, there will beat rock in a windshield). No one did so the other half was up to the bars, 10 jerkinsn then back. With about 3 minutes left, back to the flag for a little broga, then a rarity where at 45 minutes we were done. Names, numbers, and a little prayer highlighted by Futon’s mom starting a new drug trial led by YHC to close things out
I will put it out there… If you get winded or the heat is too much during a Q, please say something. we can take a little break or go to an area close by that will allow you to rest. If you need to take water or an electrolyte drink with you bring it. Remember, each time you come out it’s a journey for mind, body and soul. Have a good one see Slack for the latest news I will see you next time
Ten SOJ titans rolled out of the fartsack to see if the McRib was still on the menu at Twin Team. According to the cleaning lady at Bettie Weaver Elementary, here’s what went down.
Warm o rama – Mosey from parking lot of BW to cul de sac at bottom of Twin Team
Mosey to 13609 Twin Team Ln
The Thang
Mary
Burpee shuffle
Numberama, namorama,
NMS
We came, we saw and we absolutely conquered Twin Team Hill this morning. I have done quite a few workouts on that hill, but never had done a Love Hill until this morning. It was about as fun as expected, and thankfully no spilling of merlot occurred.
Today marked the official anniversary of my very first workout, which was 6/21/16. I have taken a hiatus or two, when life got busy and stressful. In hindsight, I regret taking those breaks and not realizing how important it is to get up and do something hard to start each day. Also, it is important to lean on fellow F3 brothers when time gets hard and use the time together, in the gloom, to get through it.
Thanks to those that indulged my antics this morning. It was a pleasure and honor to lead.
Leave no man behind…Leave no man where you found them.
Announcements:
Prayer Requests
YHC Took us out
Til next time…
McRib
6 quarter horses trotted up to the paddock for the latest edition of Currahee. Conditions remained constant at 70 and sunny. According to the guy shooting hoops at Godwin, the following might have happened.
Route(s):
Part A: Right on Pump. Left immediately onto Old Prescott. Run to the end of the Cul-de-Sac and back to the VSF.
Part B: Run to the trail at the back middle of Godwin HS (up the steps). Exit onto Maremont. Immediate left onto Willowick. Right on Avenham. Right on Raintree. Left on Maremont (which loops around to Raintree). Right on Raintree. Left on Maremont back to the VSF.
4 milers: Do Part A 1x and do Part B 2x
5 milers: Do both Parts A and B 2x.
6 milers: Do Part A 3x and do Part B 2x.
Run in any order you choose. The PAX chose to stay together, except for Pigskin who was sighted on the Maremont loop lugging kettlebells.
Numbers, names, and YHC took us out.
Announcements:
Tomorrow, lots of options. First and foremost, there is a new AO launching. The Iron Bridge. Goyne Park. Chester, VA. See Slack for time. State Farm has the Q. Be prepared to bring it.
If you don’t fancy hanging with cool dudes at The Iron Bridge, you can always hang with Gypsy and the Expendables / Disposables / Despicables at The Gridiron, Redwood Original, F3RVA’s first (and therefore oldest, pun intended) AO. Wear your vest, and show your bottom rocker. Jax Teller has the Q.
Or, trot yourself over to Les Dogpile at 06:00 where ole’ UpChuck will lead a set of slow stretching exercises for the hour. Rumors that the PAX will migrate to The Early Bird Biscuit Company at 06:30 are not true. They don’t open until 7.
Monday, Davey Crockett himself has the Q at The Alamo. Come celebrate Wildcat’s birthday. Be there. Bring your Summer Tour passport. Special room rates at the Residence Inn Rountree.
July 4th. Convergence. Forest Hill Park. Pickleball paddle not required, just a good set of gloves and preparedness for a sweat fest.
August 21. First Watch. Come celebrate YHC’s father’s 100th birthday. Should be a hoot. 05:00.
YHC believes there is a kid’s workout at DaPile this weekend as well, but double check with those fellas.
NMS: Good chatter this morning across the 5 runners. Man, those are some good dudes. Special thanks to Mr. Rogers who clearly has a gift for listening. It will surprise no one that YHC did 90% of the talking, and Mr. Roger’s did 100% of the teaching. Super thankful for this line, “When do I get to be first?” (If you just thought, “yeah, what about me?” then you have missed the point.) Do things for other people. It’s not about you.
July Challenge: what are you going to give up? YHC suggests…embellishing, bs’ing, changing things to fit yourself. This group is about being humble enough to ask for help, give help, and build through mutual help. If someone takes the time to give you help, chances are you should take it. If someone thinks, “Man, I don’t really need help,” that might be a good time to consider whether your colleagues would agree.
BRR….still time to sign up for one of the biggest challenges F3RVA has to offer. Spend 2 days with your pals. Make friendships. Conquer many, many mountains. Grow yourself. Contact TYA for details. When he does not respond to your texts, ask for help.
BTW, YHC is usually the winner with the answer to the Back Blast title at 15 years. But, not with this crowd. Two dads of these hombres clock in at 19 years older than Momma.
UpChuck spits the bit.
Given the option of a traditional beatdown vs. some stupid fun, the answer was obvious. Six men did the following.
Mosey around the PCES parking lot and out to the soccer field.
COP
Mosey to the basketball court US map
Stupid Fun # 1
Bottle Flip
Mosey to the playground
Stupid Fun # 2
Buckethole (Various exercises between turns)
Mosey over to the baseball diamond
Stupid Fun # 3
Home Run Derby (On Deck and In the Hole rotate exercises)
Collect all equipment and mosey back to Flag
Numberama, Nameorama, COT
MOLESKIN
As YHC posed the question for a traditional workout or some games, Blue Moon was the lone holdout for traditional F3, while the majority was all in for some fun. Due to the PAX’s ineptitude many merkins and squats were performed, nonetheless. YHC isn’t much of a pitcher so the homer tally was few, but kudos to Trout and Spit for showing real power. Anyone know the precise measurement of water for a regulation bottle flip? Asking for a friend. Thanks for the warm welcome. Keep touring.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
2.0 workout at DaPile tomorrow 0700
The Tour ’24 continues