Category: Richmond, VA

  • Reverse Carillon

    Yup….kick it back old school. Back when YHC could run 5 miles faster.

    0525ish……Routes explained.

    All PAX run down Grove, R on Malvern, L on Cary, R on Banbury, L on Dover, R on Portland to Douglasdale onto the Carillon…

    4 milers stay on Douglasdale, McCloy St to Cary. L on Cary, back to the flag.

    5 and 6 milers…..run to Carillon, up and around, back to Boulevard.

    5 Milers……L on Grove, back to the flag.

    6 Milers….L on Kensington to Patterson, L on Commonwealth, back to the flag.

    Numberama, Namerama,

    Announcements:

    Memorial Day Convergence Dogpile, 0700

    Bleeder’s Family needs prayers.

    YHC took us out!

    NMS:

    Marv is feeling better and ran 6 miles rather well.

    Chippendale, thank you for pulling me this morning. Last 2 miles were brutal and YHC should have stuck with 4 mile group!

    Prayers for Bleeder’s Family agonizing over loss of a young man in their family completely as a surprise.

    Mental Health is a daily challenge for more people than you would think. If you think they may need a phone call, they do! We have to communicate better and have more conversations! Life can be cruel, brutal, and unforgiving BUT you are not alone!!!

    Loud and Proud,

    Flatline

  • Early Start, Late Finish

    “It’s a nice gloom for a recovery ruck!” YHC thought as he arrived at 05:10. All this running on top of regular workouts is taking its toll. Sack Up and keep within proximity of the Flags for any arriving PAX. 05:30 presented no additional attendees, so YHC carried on with a bit of adventure. YHC found a really cool outdoor gym in which to do a few ruck sacked pull-ups.but more looking and appreciating took place than pull-ups. Continue on through a trail not yet traveled by the PAX and carry on to finish a solid 4 mile ruck at an overall 16:41 pace.

  • A Different Attila Q

    Post-birthday Q with a different Deep crowd.  A little change of pace at and opportunity to explore new territory.  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • SSH
      • IW
      • Ukrainian soldiers
      • Helicopters
      • Arm circles
      • DMH
      • Suzanne Somers
      • Merkins
      • LBC
      • Penguins
      • APD
    • Trip around the 1 mile+ loop around the Wellsley lake with a mini-Dora included in the 5 stops
      • 100 HRM
      • 200 monkey humpers
      • 300 LBC
    • Stop off at the basketball courts/hills for a 3x check
      • Hill run
      • H2H
      • Dips
    • Mosey back to the flag for COT

    I bet no one had running on their bingo card for an Attila Q.  Great to have some new faces and great fellowship. 

    Memorial Day convergence at Dogpile at 7 am. 

    Continued prayers for our brothers looking for, starting new or struggling in their jobs.

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • Frog Rings at the Forge

    17 of RVA’s finest SOJ members came out this morning to witness Señor Frogs first Q at The Forge.

    WELCOME FNG CHRIS WALLNER AKA HEADRUSH.

    COP- Introductions, Disclaimers & Waivers.

    Uphill fast mosey to the work truck to pick up a few shiny metal objects with no sharp edges.

    Long slow mosey to back of school stopping for some Don- Quixote, Deep Squat, LBC & Merkin.

    Mosey to tennis courts for some Balls to the Wall.

    Mosey to the foos ball field for Merkin & WW2 at Goal & 50.

    Mosey to big stone wall for some Balls to the Wall.

    Mosey to the stadium seating for a Dip.

    Mosey to the tennis courts for a Burpee.

    Mosey back to the Flag for Numbers, Names, Announcements & Prayer requests.

    Mole Skin: Thank You Last Call for praying over us this morning. Your words of wisdom were inspiring & profound. Pax disposition was 70* & Sunny. Mumble Chatter engaging. Cock-Rings functional. Welcome again FNG Headspace! Thank You for letting me lead this morning.

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    Weekly Forge Coffee + QSource

    5/16 0600 Dogpile Convergence for Flatline’s Deployment Q

    5/16 4pm NTB Farewell Family Potluck

    5/25 0700 Dogpile Memorial Day Convergence

    6/13 10-1 Latina Food Distribution (contact LWoods) 

    6/14 3p OTB Ruck at Sunday Park

  • Dodgeball

    A beautiful 70 degree morning to kick things off with Boys of Summer, The Yips versus Patriot Games. Today did not disappoint!

    15 HIMs came out to dodge, duck, and dive their way through madness. The odd numbers required a gentleman’s duel to see who got the advantage. Warby > Rudy

    Game 1 – Classic Dodgeball rules. Get out once, 5 burpees, twice – run the field and back, three times – have a seat. Winner: Yips

    Game 2 – King of the Castle. Each team nominates one player to be the king, and like chess, when your king goes down, you lose. Festivus vs McGruff. Winner: Yips

    Game 3 – Kick the Can. 3 cans stood on each side, first to knock them all down wins. Winner: Patriot Games

    Game 4 – Hefty Lefty’s. Classic rules, but you can only use your non-dominant hand to throw. This was a very entertaining battle, most HIMs have a wet noodle for a left arm. We shrunk the battlefield to speed up the game. Winner: Patriot Games

    Game 5 – Kick the Can 2.0, Patriot Games game of choice (since it doesn’t require them to knock out the Yips to win). closely contested match, had to go to double overtime that involved several rule changes that led to chaos. Eventually though, a dart from either Futon or Pad Thai ended the match, right at 6:15…just as YHC planned.

    ***Editorial note: YHC could see that Rudy was taking the gentleman’s duel loss pretty hard with his team going down 1-0, so YHC gave them the 1-man advantage to lift his spirits. Rudy, find a way to pay it forward today, buddy.

    Patriot Games are up 1-0 on the Yips after week 1. The Yips are proud to welcome Meatball and Pad Thai to our team, and Patriot Games are pumped to have McGruff! Big Rig’s little rig was not harmed today

    Next week: Ultimate Frisbee

    Prayers for Meatball as he looks for a job, Big Rig and his mom’s scans, continued support for Christian.

  • Another Trip Around…Godwin

    Another trip around the sun merits a trip around merits a symbolic trip around Godwin.  18 strong came to celebrate 51.  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • SSH
      • IW
      • Ukrainian soldiers
      • Helicopters
      • Arm circles
      • DMH
      • Suzanne Somers
      • Merkins
      • LBC
      • Penguins
      • APD
    • KB march around the school with 17 reps of an exercise (up to 3 at each stop).  Finished with:
      • 51 lawnmower pulls each arm
      • 51 high pulls
      • 51 curls
      • 51 tricep presses
      • 51 sit ‘n presses
      • 51 KB FK
      • 51 overhead pulls
      • 51 presses
      • 51 sumo squats
      • 34 right leg lunges
      • 17 left leg lunges
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    A great way to start the day.  Thanks to all my PAX brothers for coming out. 

    Memorial Day convergence at Dogpile at 7 am. 

    Continued prayers for our brothers looking for, starting new or struggling in their jobs.

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • *TRYHARDER TRAIL* …or as some say “The Tryhard Trail of Tears”

    Quad Squad at The Crossing for an off the beaten path beastmode sweatfest. Some almost died, but none were left behind…

    The THANG: 

    WARMERAMA: 

    • Hard Look Straight Talk Disclaimer implemented to ensure all PAX could only blame themselves for participating in the following madness
    • Mosey over to the wooden rail fence for JUMPOVERS – really more like carefully climbing then hopping over the fence, on repeat, one for each section all the way down
    • Mosey around the field to the stack of hefty telephone pole cabers for CABER FLIPS – deep squat to loft one end of pole then hefted forward to flip over – repeated many time to progress across field and back
    • Plenty warm, let’s GO

    TRYHARDER TRAIL:

    • Swing by the truck to grab an F3 seat cover and run down to the bottom lot, through some gnarly bushes to a low wire fence. Seat cover over the fence, and PAX traverse without injury. Run a bit through no-mans woods and out into a suuuuper fancy neighborhood. Smile and wave at the nice lady looking at us with great suspicion then drop for loud IC reps.
    • PAX then followed a 1.5 mile neighborhood loop, stopping at every intersection for reps, and ensuring no man was left behind
    • In the middle of this grand parade of pain, one intersecting road was named “APRIL Lane,” and in old BLIMPS fashion the PAX completed IC reps for: APD’s, Plank Jacks, Rosalitas, Imperial Squat Walkers, and LBC’s. 
    • With the hoity toity feel of the neighborhood YHC blessed the PAX with a charming and exuberant posh accent in calling cadence, encouragement, and greeting to the dog walkers. Neither the PAX nor the neighbors seemed overly thrilled by the DTH show. 
    • The PAX completed the 1.5mi circuit on the pain train with 15 minutes still left on the clock

    YOU VS YOU:

    • After getting BTTF, the PAX were directed to choose their own movement or exercise when either was called, and this the PAX slowly circuited the upper parking lot

    PLANKORAMA REVIEW:

    • The PAX held plank while each took turns reciting the F3 Mission, then the 5CP’s, then the Credo. 
    • There were a fair number of repeats until it was repeatedly correctly, but no man, or recited component, was left behind.

    COT:

    • Counterama #4
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer

    NMS:  YHC enjoys breaking new ground maybe more than any other thing in all of F3. It was a fantastic tour of the lovely neighborhood behind WEAG church, and I’m suuuuuure all the PAX would tell you just how much fun they had this evening. Until next time…in a few hours at the Forge, I am humbly yours. AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Weekly Forge Coffee + QSource
    • 5/16 0600 Dogpile Convergence for Flatline’s Deployment Q
    • 5/16 4pm NTB Farewell Family Potluck
    • 5/25 0700 Dogpile Memorial Day Convergence
    • 6/13 10-1 Latina Food Distribution (contact LWoods) 
    • 6/14 3p OTB Ruck at Sunday Park
    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • SEPT 26 GROW RUCK! (Registration Link:

    https://event.freedom-ops.fit/gte-74)

  • Projectile Dysfunction II – trigger control

    Seven men showed up in the gloom for what has quickly become one of the Woodshed’s favorite highly questionable traditions: . . . running around before sunrise launching glowing arrows across the AO. Because apparently normal burpees aren’t enough anymore.

    We opened with the traditional strategically slow mosey, followed by stretching and a quick class on:

    • how to shoot a bow

    • how NOT to shoot a bow

    • and several reminders not to accidentally turn the AO into a medieval crime scene.

    The disclaimer and safety briefing included:

    “Range is hot.”

    “Range is cold.”

    “Please stop pointing loaded bows at each other.”

    Nobody seemed overly concerned.

    The Teams

    • Futon & Crabgrass

    • Trespass & Gotham

    • Warby, Snooki & Globetrotter

    The first volleys launched and glowing chem-stick arrows immediately began streaking across the AO like tracer rounds.

    The mission:

    • Fire

    • Sprint to impact

    • Three Burpees

    • Recover arrow

    Fire again until target is hit. 1st team = 1 burpee. 2nd team (AKA first place loser) = 3 burpees. Last team – five burpees

    Simple in theory.

    Absolute chaos in execution.

    Notable Events

    Gotham & Trespass came out HOT

    They stacked a couple quick target wins early and Gotham immediately began talking trash…while holding his bow completely upside down.

    Confidence remained high despite several concerns from the observing community.

    At one point PAX were forced to navigate a busy street while launching arrows across the street. 

    Nothing gets the heart rate up quite like:

    • moving traffic

    • darkness

    • and grown men chasing glowing projectiles playing Frogger across intersections.

    Search & Rescue Operations

    Warby, Snooki, and Globetrotter spent an unreasonable amount of time conducting what became a full-scale arrow recovery operation. At one point the missing arrow was discussed like:

    • a lost child

    • government property

    • or buried treasure.

    Globetrotter delivered the undisputed shot of the morning: absolutely drilling a mailbox from a completely stupid distance which would have been awesome if he was actually aiming at it. 

    Lessons learned

    • Trash talk is more effective when your bow is facing the correct direction

    • Busy roads increase cardio output significantly

    • Finding arrows burns more calories than shooting them

    • Brotherhood > accuracy

    • Glowing arrows make bad decisions easier to track

    Takeaway

    Most AOs spend Wednesday mornings doing merkins and SSH. The Woodshed spent the morning preparing for the collapse of civilization armed with glowing arrows, tactical confusion, and a stupid amount of burpees. Honestly… felt pretty efficient.

    Closed with Countorama, Nameorama, announcements, and prayer requests.

  • Ruckhenge 051326

    8 men and a baby met at Einstein for the most recent edition of RH. We saddled up with our rucks, a sandy (and a baby) before heading out for the hills of SP. Goal was for the man under the sandy to accumulate 40 reps (10 x squats, lunges overhead presses and upright rows or alternates) before switching out. We also attempted to move as quickly as we could at each hill we came to or changed it up with a Bernie to hit the quads a little differently. DTH was briefly excited as we came to a dead end street that looked like an entry way into the woods. Next time.

    Announcements: Farewell bash for the NTBs at DTH’s Casa Saturday 4pm.

    Flatlines Q and Bon Iron to take place at Dogpile this Saturday @ 6am.

    Latinos in VA Empowerment Center: food distribution and community resources Saturday, June 13 10am-1pm. See slack for additional details.

    Prayer requests: Rodeo Clown’s friend recently passed away in a climbing accident in Nepal. She will be missed by friends and family, but was “doing what she loved” RIP.

  • Befuddled Yogi

    With Last Call mixing up the AM/PM, YHC stepped in to fill his massive shoes and took a lot of heat for using a kneeling pad on top of my usual mat. When you’re on your knees as much as YHC, you need a little padding. Wait, I mean when you’re as old as YHC. Shut up losers.