Category: Richmond, VA

  • A few days down south fills the cup

    The January Friends of Barnabas (FOB) team headed down to Honduras mid Jan. After an early flight and connection in Miami we arrived in San Pedro Sula at 2:30p. Passports and customs were a breeze, there are definite improvements in the airport. Traffic was heavy but we made it to our base in Pena Blanca by 700p CT. A long day given the 3am ET wakeup. Sunday was team building and prep for the week ahead.

    Each day during the week, we start at 620a with a devotion before breakfast and then again after dinner. When we head to the communities and arrive by 9a, we set up the pharmacy and the medical, dental, vision, and physicial therapy stations. Deworming, vitiamins, and height and weight for children are set up next to the intake area. We see an average of 40 families and are on the road by 4p and finished with dinner, devotions, and ARR by 8p.

    This time, because of the epic storm Fern (snow is still meltling nearly 3 weeks later) we decided that the team needed to return a day early to beat the storm and avoid being stuck away from home. This was a good call as several volunteers needed time to prepare for the storm once they returned, but it also heightened everyones anxiety and the distraction potentially impacted what we could gain from the trip for ourselves.

    NMS – this is YHCs 10th trip to Honduras and 9th as the team lead. While we seek to serve others, YHC cannot get over how much serving others serves us in turn. As Hardywood said once – its not a question whether the glass is half empty or full – the real question is what are you putting in your cup. On these trips my cup is overflowing not just for the good that we do as a team, but also the interaction with our steadfast FOB amigos en Honduras, and finally seeing the experience through the new volunteers we bring. Most are shocked and moved to see such abject poverty – not too far away. While we have poor in the US, we also have services available and its rare that a multigenerational family of 5 -8 are living in a house of sticks and mud with dirt floors and a few sheets of tin or tarps for a roof. We have everything available here and many are miserable. The special people we visit in these remote communities have nothing with respect to our standard of living, but they have the happiness that we do not. I challenge anyone to make this trip and return unchanged. Till next year.

    Let me know if you want to learn more or check out: www.fobf.org

    Prayers for all to give their time an treasure to serve the world in this way: Pigskin is co leading a team in July. As part of a different org, Try Hard is leading a team to Nicaragua soon.

    Gitty up!

  • Don’t Let That Kid Have Scissors

    5 Big Dogs got wild on the asphalt this gloom at The Lumberyard!
    This is what Choo Choo witnessed as he continued his ruck.

    Warmarama- Mosey to the diamonds.

    • SSHs IC
    • Copperhead Squats IC
    • Cherry Pickers IC
    • Toe Grabs
    • The Wives
    • Runner Stretch
    • Slow Merkins IC

    Perform a Variety of coupon exercises for the majority of the AO.

    Indigenous peoples run BTTF. pAX in the back performs 3 Merkins.

    Mary with Kettlebells to take her home!

    Numbers and Names

    Frozen Triangle next weekend at 6 AM Dogwood Dell Parking Lot

    Commando closed us out in an awesome prayer

  • Pre Lumberyard Ruck

    3 returning champions emerged from the gloom for a 3 to 4 + mile ruck (depending on arrival and ext times). We had the privilege to watch the sunrise under the moon in the process.

  • Nine of Hearts

    After an unseasonably long hiatus from Rockwood, YHC returned on bended knee, a dozen red roses in hand (frozen solid given the 20 degree temps) and asked the PAX “Will you be mine?!” Here’s how they said… YES! 

    The THANG: 

    WARMERAMA:

    • Step onto the BBall Court and circle up
    • Random collection of OYO exercises called while listening to YOU MAKE MY DREAMS COME TRUE by Hall&Oats
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • Next up in the Musical Warmerama – I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE – SSH’s to the beat, with a Burpee for every “I believe in a thing called love”, and deeply sensual lunges for “Touching You, Touching me”
    • Foreplay’s over, let’s GO!

    COP #1:

    • Mosey around the traffic loop back to the big parking lot
    • BROMANCE 4-CORNERS, with a nod to our hard working ladies of the night (AKA, Prostitute Style)
    • Partner up with your favorite gigalo to conquer these reps, bro code all the way
    • x10 Booyah Merkins
    • x20 Bromance Squats (back to back)
    • x30 Leg Fencing (x15 ea way)
    • x40 Yards of WheelBarrow each

    COP #2:

    • Continue mosey around traffic loop and stop near the nature center
    • Hit play on LOVE SHACK – Flutter Kicks to the Beat, Alabama Prom Date for every “Love Shack” …modify to other core reps as needed for this ridiculously long version of the song

    COP #3:

    • Continue mosey around traffic loop and step up onto soft new field to line up in plank for TUNNEL OF LOVE – x3 rounds through the tunnel listening to the horrendous Justin Timberlake song SEXY BACK

    COP #4: 

    • Continue mosey around loop and circle up in the well fertilized turf adjacent the dog park
    • Partner up for Buddy WWII’s, ankles locked and high fiving at the top, while playing LET’s GET IT ON
    • Switch to PLT’s for second half of song

    COP #5:

    • Mosey around loop BTTF
    • Circle up and play AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH 
    • Mountain Climbers to the Beat, Merkin for every “Mountain” or “Baby”
    • 3 MIN’s of stretching to close time

    COT:

    • Counterama # 9
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer

    NMS:  Chilly morning for a ruck & bootcamp combo-Q but YHC was thankful for an awesome group of brothers to share it with. L Woods supposedly slept in and missed Bon Iron, but YHC saw right through this facade to the deeply loyal DTH-love. Yes L, I will be yours. 🙂  The PAX were duly appreciative of the Valentines-themed songs, and YHC confessed plagiarism of a 2020 DTH Valentines Q at NoToll. This stuff is too good to only ever do once. Yours AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Weekly Forge Coffee + QSource
    • 2/21 Part 2 of Frozen Triangle
    • 3/7 10am Latinos Food Bank
    • 3/7 NOS OTB RUCK 
    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • SEPT 26 GROW RUCK!

  • I LOVE YOU

    A frosty foursome gathered for the Valentine’s Rockwood Ruck and enjoyed 3 miles of solid bromantic conversation. We also toyed with a little Garmin spelling bee, and won first place!  (see Slack for Garmin image)  

    It is true my beloved F3RVA PAX, I love you. Yes, ALL of you (whether or not you like it).  But I’m truly thankful to have reciprocated love from so many of you. F3 is a powerfully unique brotherhood, but like everything else in life, you’ll reap what you sow. Keep pushing past the status quo – iron sharpens iron. ~DTH

  • 15 is the loneliest number

    Seven of cutest couples from the west and their lonely therapist spent an hour on Saturday working things out.

    After some warmups, we split into two groups. They faced each other and some thought they would be competing against the other group. But instead, they found their match made in Pouncey Track and spent the next 50 minutes getting to know each other better.

    The first session was at the courts and three rounds of partner wheelbarrows with ten derkins. That was followed by a ladder where the partners rotated with burpees while the other watched and did squats. 10/8/6/4/2 burpees. Partners watching commented on form and the lack of communication. I was by myself…

    We then went to the gridiron and got a little kinky with couples partnering with another couple. One couple ran to the sideline and back while the other did booyah merkins. We did this 3 times. I was able to join a threesome so got some action for once.

    We then moseyed to the lower field and I tried to motivate the couples to get closer. It only worked for Piglet and Fireman Ed. Each couple was given the option of a partner carry to the sideline and switch coming back, or run to the sideline and do ten burpees. One couple made the brave choice. No one asked me to carry them.

    Couples need to learn to fight through the storm. We hit the parking lot and did an eye of the storm with the only caveat that the partners needed to stick together and had to decide who would do the 5 burpees in the middle each time. Exercises were mountain climbers, jump squats, HRM, PLTs. Negotiations for burpees were calm and progress was made. I glommed onto another couple. Not sure I was welcome.

    But, now the real couples challenge came. At the front of the school, I broke up some couples so we could do a triple checks. There were no tears but definitely some shock. Triple check was balls to the wall, WW2 and the timer ran around the soccer goal and came back. Three-ways worked best for me today.

    I let the couples all get back together and I led all by myself. There may have been an embrace or two but not for me. We then went back to the Gridiron and did the most popular F3 couples dance: a Dora. 100 merkins, 200 WW2 and then time was called before we could do 300 flutters. I sort of did this by myself.

    But we had 5 minutes to circle up and do flutters, APDs and ended with 14 merkins. Happy Valentines Day!

    We had a FNG Matt who is from Harrisonburg and Piglets brother-in-law. He works in radio construction and is now WKRP. Half the group knew what that was from, the other half has some research to do.

    Frozen Triangle next week!

    Maybe you and me
    Were never meant to be.
    Just maybe think of me
    Once in a while.
    I’m at WKRP in Cincinnati.

  • “This is completely made up isn’t it”…Yes!

    A lucky 13 (including one DR visitor from NOVA) posted to Dogpile this morning for brisk start to their Valentine’s Day Saturday, and an extra serving of Gumbo. This is what was in the pot today (or at least what I can remember)…

    Mosey to the COP circle and around a few times, then circle up for typical COP including various exercises, then off to do our THANG.

    Amphitheater:

    Mosey to the bottom of the steps – almost all the way – down to where the ice was. Make our way back to the top with 3 incline merkins and 3 dips on each step. Luigi killed it and came back for the SIX.

    Al Gore for the Six out by the circle, followed by the Honeymoon Suite of pickle pounders, APDs and Diamond Merkins.

    Carillon:

    Mosey over to the bricks in front of the Carillon for a Triple Check – bear crawl to steps (or to ice) and mosey back. PAX 2 doing merkins, PAX 3 doing Freddie Mercuries

    Hill Work:

    Mosey over the far COP circle and down to the bottom of the hill for some hill work. Jacob’s Ladder starting at the bottom with 1 jump squat, 1 monkey humper, 1 Carolina dry dock and 1 LBC, run up the hill stopping in the middle for 2 of each – to the top for 3, middle – 4, bottom – 5, middle – 6, top – 7, middle – 8, bottom – 9, all the way to the top for 10. Yes – this was complete made up and I appreciate all the feedback.

    Field Work:

    Mosey to the field for 4 corners – 10 HRMs in corner 1, 10 HRMS + 20 deep squats in corner 2, 10 HRMs + 20 squats + 30 2-ct mountain climbers in corner 3, add 40 SSHs in corner 4.

    Regroup at Gomer who was going reverso and Native American Run BTTF.

    3 Minutes of Mary

    Numbers, Names, Announcements (THE Frozen Triangle next Saturday 0600 at Dogpile, and GTE up in NOVA in September – early sign-ups are open), and YHC took us out.

    NMS:

    Great to have a large group. It was looking like only 6 at 5:53, then 9 until about 30 seconds to go and 4 more came in HOT. Personally, I love the #13, but it sure can screw up a bootcamp – no good pairings but we made it work.

    A fair amount of mumblechatter today, but it got quiet during the Triple check. For me the bear crawl to merkin combo was brutal. I don’t think the hill work as a big hit – and I got a lb of sand in my shorts – but hey, we weren’t cold after that.

    Thanks for coming out. Always a great start to the day!

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • Good times at the Tunnel

    Four warriors showed up for some fun and games at Tunnel Vision on Friday morning. Everybody led a round of exercises. Gomer and Handshake engaged in some spirited trash talk and good times were had by all.

    Gomer got us started fast with a flurry of high rep movements.

    Burpees, Mountain climbers, Don Qs, Helicopters JJs, 4-5 different variations of the Murkin, Crunches, Leg lifts, Flutter kicks, and a couple Ab movements Gomer made up on the spot that were tough.

    The group took a jog (soft j) down the hill and through the tunnel where we each paid the Troll Toll (1 burpee for every light in the tunnel).

    Tater led the group through a 4 corners at the tennis courts. 25 Murkins, 25 Dips, 25 Squats, 25 lunges. 5 burpees inbetween each corner.

    Handshake took over and moved the group to the grass bleachers where we did 3 rounds of step ups, dips, and feet elevated murkins. Gomer wasn’t listening and Handshake didn’t like it. The trash talk ensued.

    The group headed back through the Tunnel and paid the toll. Borat led the group to the playground where we did three rounds of 20 step ups, 20 side lunges, and 6 pull ups.

    Finished with a COT and prayer.

  • That’s not my handlebar

    RAMM. No Q on the sheet. No master plan. Just men showing up in the gloom and choosing movement.

    It was decided let’s run towards U of R

    Sippy Cup and Marv headed toward campus to send some good juju toward the Rams.

    Chippendale, YHC and Swiper followed also toward University of Richmond, though we didn’t complete the full stadium loop. Swiper rolled out with us for a bit before dropping back, hope you’re good.

    Saab walk out for a walk, but we saw him running back!

    TYA was the lone biker — no pack, no draft, just grinding solo. Respect.

    One of the best parts of the morning was the conversation with Chippendale. Miles make space for real talk. We covered family, vacations, world travels, stories about his dad, and the complicated, humbling reality of parents aging. It was honest, reflective, and exactly why these runs matter. The miles were slow, the conversation was better.

    Notable moment: As Chippendale and I trailed Marv and Sippy Cup, we noticed a lone stranger standing on a corner. Looked like he was cheering them on… until they passed and he started jogging behind them. Protective instincts engaged. We eased back to keep eyes on it. Situational awareness at its finest. In the end, no incident. No headlines.

    We regrouped and closed out together.

    Praises:

    TYA shared gratitude for all of us showing up and putting in the work. Early mornings don’t happen by accident.

    Prayers:

    For Marv’s wife.

    For Marv’s friend Allison.

    Marv took us out with thoughtful, kind words that grounded the morning in purpose.

  • The Spackle Master

    As the ice of snowmageddon was reaching a melting point of runability…. 3 warriors of the gloom met to hit the streets of Midlo. 4 miles were achieved, no one fell, and we even got in a few hills. Topics of conversation were concerned mostly with the joys of homeownership. Frozen triangle rescheduled for the 21st. SYITG!