Category: Richmond, VA

  • It’s the 2nd Dover Left

    It’s the 2nd Dover Left

    On a picture perfect November morning, 25 dudes met up for what turned out to be a complicated route south of Cary Street. This isn’t the first, or even the fourth time that we’ve took a stab at the vaunted “Windsor Farms to Hillcrest” jaunt…and, much like the first few times, I’m not sure anyone completed it as it was planned out.

    Either way…here’s the ideal way to run this route…

    Head east on Wilmetta which more or less turns into Kingscrest. Up the hill on Kingscrest until it dead ends at Malvern.

    Right (south) on Malvern. Malvern crosses Cary and heads into Windsor Farms. You veer left on Canterbury which takes you around the backside of the neighborhood.

    If you take the left the first time you see Dover, you’ll end up on the Powhite Parkway. Don’t take the first left on Dover. Continue to go around past Agecroft Hall and Gardens and then you come upon Dover again.

    Take that left. That shoots you out to Locke Lane. You hop across an overgrown median and end up on Pocahontas. Take that until it ends on Hillcrest.

    Take a right (North) on Hillcrest and start up the namesake of the street.

    4s…exit Hillcrest (on Hillcrest, ironically) and cross Cary. Head west for about 15 paces to Oak. Go North on Oak, across Grove to Patterson. East on Patterson, south on WestMoreland, east on Grove, back to the flag.

    5s…take another loop around Hillcrest, then exit on Hillcrest and follow the path of the 4s.

    6s….take the same 2nd loop on Hillcrest but keep going back down the hill…go straight on Charmain, which ends up being WestMoreland. Hairpin turn at the end of WestMoreland (at Cary) back south on Locke. Take a RIGHT on Dover, then left on Berkshire to Cary. West on Cary and Circle MM back to the flag.

    I’m committed to having the PAX finish this without error…so YHC signed up to Q next Friday as well.

    It’ll be the same route.

    Prayer requests–Pray for Shakedown’s family. Oleander doing a 100mile run on the Capital Trail.

    Have a good weekend, guys.

  • Amateur Ride Day at RAMM

    Amateur Ride Day at RAMM

    Hello PAX! YHC will be wrapping us his our Tour of RVA next Friday the 13th at RAMM Gear. It will be an amateur bike ride and YHC can’t think of the last time he road a bike more than a mile.

    So find you closest road bike, mtn. bike or even beach cruiser and help me finish this thing with a BANG!!

    Date – Friday 11/13/2020
    AO – RAMM Gear
    Location – 211 Westmoreland St, Richmond, VA 23226
    Time – 5:30 AM
    Route – TBA

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • “That is because you are doing them correctly”

    A lucky 7 PAX broke free and started their chilly morning off with a bowl of Gumbo. It has been a minute since Gumbo has been spotted on the menu at Timberwolf. It was good to be back. 0530 time to mosey…

    Mosey to the front parking lot for COP (you will notice a theme today), including:

    1. SSHs IC, then 1 merkin OYO
    2. DQs IC, then 2 merkins OYO
    3. Imperial walkers IC, then 3 merkins OYO
    4. Russian Soldiers IC, then 4 merkins OYO
    5. Copperhead Squats IC, then 5 merkins OYO
    6. Helicopters IC, then 6 merkins OYO
    7. LBCs IC, then 7 merkins OYO
    8. Freddie mercuries IC, then 8 merkins OYO
    9. [something else] IC, then 9 merkins OYO
    10. Alternating Shoulder Taps IC, then 10 merkins OYO

    THE THANG

    11s – mosey over to the large parking lot and start at lightpole 1 with 10 merkins and 1 jump squat. Run to lightpole 2, 9 and 2. Run to lightpole 3, 8 and 3….continue around the lot until the 10th lightpole where you do 1 and 10.

    Wall time – mosey over to the school and find some wall. 3 rounds as follows:

    1. 10 donkey kicks; bear crawl to the curb; 10 burpees
    2. 20 donkey kicks; bear crawl to the curb; 20 2 count flutter kicks
    3. 30 donkey kicks; bear crawl to the curb; 30 APDs

    Lightpole Alley – mosey to the beginning of lightpole alley. There are 10 lightpoles. Starting at lightpole 1, do 10 merkins OYO, run to lightpole 10 and do 1 burpee, then run back to lightpole 2 and do 10 merkins OYO and Al Gore for the Six. Continue this pattern all the way to lightpole 10 always with 10 merkins to begin and 10 merkins to end. Exercises in the middle included various counts of: box cutters, SSHs, American hammers, hello dollies, rosalitas, crab cakes, WWIIs, and others.

    Mary – with 1 minute left, flutter kicks in cadence.

    COT, Number-rama, Name-a-rama and YHC took us out.

    Announcements:

    • Thanksgiving convergence at Mary
    • Black Friday Run-a-thon at the market at Batteau – see TYA for details
    • The merkin challenge is on, get on board – 300 merkins today at Timberwolf all in increments of 10. Large things done in small batches!
    • Prayers for Tobit’s grandmother and family, for Marmaduke’s MIL and family and for Boberry’s brother-in-law and family.

    NMS:

    There was little nip in the air, but Wilson did not sport the Bills Starter Jacket. He is saving it for the Super Bowl!

    Great being back out at Timberwolf. Great PAX – lots of mumblechatter – and even some talking. Most of the mumblechatter came in the form of noxious fumes from Wilson…powerful stuff!

    Line O’ the Day (and title) came during the 11s. As Tobit and Nancy and I were at about lightpole 8 or 9 doing jump squats, Tobit says “man, these jump squats hurt.” And, Nancy immediately responds: “yeah, that’s because you are doing them correctly”. Hysterical! Gotta know when to modify gentlemen!

    Way to work and thanks for coming out.

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • REMEMBER REMEMBER

    An even eight honorable HIM’s escaped the fartsack to give the Forge something to remember. Wearing nothing but a Guy Fawkes mask and his M’s black neglige, Dr Tryhard led the rebellious colonials into treasonous history – as follows:

    The THANG:

    COP #1:

    • Mosey to Culdesac
    • Welcome & F3 Disclaimer
    • SSH, DQ, CSquats, RSoldiers, Merkins, DRW, The Kim Special

    COP #2:

    • Mosey from Culdesac back up around school front via TRAVELING ELEVENS: 
    • Stop at every light pole alternating Groiners (1-10) and Heels-2-Heaven (10-1)

    COP #3:

    • Mosey to the Amphitheater 
    • TRIPLE NICKEL: 
    • x5 Decline Merkins
    • Box Jump up
    • x5 Dips
    • Jump back down
    • Complete x3 Rounds

    COP #4:

    • Mosey to school front loop
    • BEARMUDA TRIANGLE:
    • Bearcrawl between three corners
    • 1st Round – x11 WWII ea corner
    • Plank for the SIX then Hold Plank x1 minute
    • 2nd Round – x5 Burpees ea corner
    • Flutter Kicks for the SIX then Variable Protractor
    • 3rd Round – x20 Squats ea corner
    • Lunges to close

    COP #5:

    • MOUNT CHAPLAIN: Run top to bottom, completing x5 Merkins ea hardtop traversed, then reverso return to knoll top, completing dealers choice Mary for the SIX

    Mosey BTTF for Final COP:

    • PUSHERAMA DRILL: High knees, drop on command to complete x5 specialty merkins:
    • x5 Drivebombers
    • x5 Chuck Norris
    • x5 Werkins
    • x5 Ranger
    • x5 Staggered Left
    • x5 Staggered Right
    • HOLD DEEP HELIX x1 MIN

    COT:

    • Counterama # 8
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Comments)
    • YHC took us out in Prayer

    NMS:

    • In celebration of the Guy Fawkes Nov 5th holiday, the PAX performed a lot of 5’s and 11’s. For those counting, it also appears we completed 135 merkins. Missing the animated wit of both Bone Thugs and Hardywood, it was a quieter PAX focused on achieving F3 greatness. BUT, YHC was personally uplifted by the presence of SPIT, traveling DAYS to reach our beloved domain to check off the Forge as he nears completion of ALL AO’s within a month! (Or something like that) YHC mused about the meaning of the Guy Fawkes history and where Americans have stood as rebels in the history books while now faced with our own terrorists and rebellions in many forms. We closed in prayer for our country – may we grow stronger together through this tough season instead of being torn apart by divisions. May we as F3 HIM’s be a light of reconciliation, setting the example in selfless acts of love. Thx for permitting me to lead brothers. SYITG, YHC, DTH

  • Friendship > Politics

    13 of Richmond’s finest showed up for a Mary beatdown on a beautiful morning. Here’s what transpired:

    COP: Mosey west on Grove, hang a left on Lock and gather in the First Pres parking lot. Deadman hang // Helicopters // DQs // Cherry Pickers// Imperial Walkers // Alabama Prom Dates // LBCs // Crabcakes // Merkins // Mountain Climbers // Merkins // Peter Parkers // Merkins // SSHs 21s (count to 5 in Candace, to 21 silently in our heads, all stop at the same time. A couple dudes messed up so we did 5 burpees).

    Triple Check: P1: People’s Chair // P2: Plank // P3: Sprint to end of lot, Bernie Sanders back. Mosey back to MM. Stop midway for some Lt.Dans.

    Dora: P1 run to the end of the courts and back. Escalating Sets of Excercises increasing by 50s: 50 Burpees // 100 WW2s // 150 Merkins // 200 Squats

    Final COP: Pickle Pounders // Flutter Kicks // LBCs

    Mosey back to the Flag. Numberama, Namerama, YHC took us out.

    NMS: A professor of mine said that the only basis for healthy democracy is friendship. As silly as it might sound, F3 demonstrates a model for the healthy functioning of democracy, because the foundations of our friendship run deeper than our diverse political views. In a moment when nearly everything is reduced to political categories, F3 models a way to put the brotherly love and mutual respect of friendship above political reductionism. Let’s model a better way.

    Here’s prayer written by a pastor friend that we used to close out the time today:

    Lord, we pray for our nation. Our country is hurting. Families are torn apart. Friends have turned into enemies. Lord, may we see how morally inconsistent we are. How self-righteous we can be. How fear has deeply poisoned our hearts. How the lust for power has blinded us to the gospel. Lord, deliver us from evil. May we all repent first. Before we can pray for unity, we must personally do the hard work of unmasking our own duplicity. Forgive us when we demonize another. Forgive us when we speak truth without love. Forgive us when our moral outrage is simply a facade covering our need to be right. Forgive us when we reduce love to sentimentality while we ignore the cries of injustice. Forgive us when we sin against another. And may we learn to forgive when we are sinned against. Teach us to be salt and light. May our speech be always filled with grace seasoned with salt. Teach us to put our hope in you; to properly discern our civic responsibilities, and to live from a non-anxious place. Lord, before we speak, may our lives be marked by silence. But guard us from silence when you call us to speak. Lord, you are always at work, making all things new. Make us new people with new hearts who can join you in this project of restoration. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

  • Potatoes for Everyone!

    YHC met with two other spud loving PAX members for a cool morning in one of the City’s finest parks, with the best work out facilities. Oyster started us out precisely at 5:30 AM. We moseyed on over to the circle for the COP.

    Mix of merkins, Don Quixote’s, LBCs, side straddle hops, and more. YHC’s memory is failing but we did get in a good deal of merkins. Next Oyster moseyed us on over to the cage for a good ole’ fashion cage match. It went down like this: three rounds, three people, three exercises, timer runs to the fire hydrant and back, one does pull ups, and the other does inclined merkins. Repeato three times and then we were done.

    Next YHC after much cajoling was tossed the potato and off to the hill we headed. YHC may botch this explanation but it went down like this. Three people, three different exercises, the timer is at the bottom of the hill going through 100 burpees, 200 air squats, and 300 side straddle hops. Second person hangs out at the top of the hill doing a series of ab exercises, and the third person runs up to the top of the hill and changes place with the person at the top. We can call this one bringing down the person off the top of the mountain or just a plain old hill workout. To complicate it even more, the runner ran up to one higher tree along the hill each time. Confused, YHC is too, but we finished just a few minutes shy of the end time.

    Moseyed on back to the flag with a few merkins along the way back and finished out with a nice plank. YHC is probadly missing some things but the big data gods will be happy that YHC at least got the names right.

    Numbers and Names and Oyster took us out with some thoughtful words on considering others.

  • This will be FUN!!

    YHC rode down Satan’s hill to find a PAX of one (Rosco), but fear not Rosetta and Hermie soon joined. Hot Potato Q. YHC pulled the last shift. YHC was not happy as he knew he would have to write BB and knew he had not time. Hence the lateness of BB. “I don’t feel tardy”. According to the white Tesla here is what went down.

    COP- We did several exercises and stretches.

    Hermie- Mosey to front of the HErmie mansion. Grab pumpkins. Perform exercise with said pumpkin while partner ran up and down “Deadman’s Hill” Deadman’s hill is other side of hood and kid’s in hood have given said name. 5 sets of various exercises including curls, overhead press, pumpkin copters, etc. Scramble for Q. Again I wanted it so I did not have to write BB. Rosetta stated “I have something Fun!”

    Rosetta- Jacob’s ladder up previously mentioned hill with Burpees on the ends starting at 1 ending at 5. That was not fun ROSETTA!!.

    YHC- Mosey back starting at 5 and moving to 10, 15 , 20 etc. PAX calls out exercise and perform escalating number of exercise at each mailbox. We hit 85 on th last box and time was called.

    Announcements and prayers: It seems like eon’s ago and I do not recall.

    Way to work several days ago! Make today Awesome!

  • Masks Required on Campus!

    Masks Required on Campus!

    Seven strong attended and conquered the latest edition of First Watch. Chilly temps awaited the PAX, but it didn’t take long to warm up into a nice sweat.

    Hot Potato Q was the call and EF Hutton started us out with:

    Mosey east on River Rd and stop at Saab’s driveway for Deadman Hang x 15

    Continue down River and bust through the hedges onto the UR practice field. Circle up for:

    COP:

    DQ’s, Copperhead Squats, Jazzercizes, SSH’s, Freddy Mercury’s, Hand-Release Merkins

    Stay circled up for:

    Hutton Humpers:

    1 x Jump Squat/4 x Monkey Humpers

    2/8, 3/12, 4/16, 5/20

    12 Merkins in cadence

    6/24, 7/28, 8/32

    5 Burpees OYO

    9/36, 10/40

    Mosey over to the shot put/discus circle and partner up for:

    Decline Merkins on bleachers while partner runs/switch up

    Dips/Run

    Incline Merkins/Run

    Dips/Run

    EF Hutton tosses potato to, none other than, Splinter. Splinter realizes he has been tossed the potato two weeks in a row now and doesn’t really know how to react. He gathers his thoughts and emotions and has us mosey into campus(without masks) to a parking lot.

    Grab your favorite pebble-filled parking spot and plank walk-right, crawl bear, plank walk-left, bear crawl around your parking spot four(!) times.

    Staying in your parking spot, complete windshield wiper merkins back and forth in your spot. Forgot the total.

    Starting in your spot, Polar Bear, 4 Mt. Climbers, Polar Bear, 4 Mt. Climbers, Polar Bear, etc, etc.

    Enough of this craziness. Splinter tosses the potato to YHC. Mosey down Crenshaw toward Westhampton Way stopping along the way to look at a hill that YHC wanted to Bernie Sanders a few times. YHC and Hutton learn the hard way that there is a swamp at the bottom of the hill, so change of plans.

    Mosey down the roads, back to toward the flag, performing a travelling Lindsay consisting of LBC’s and Carolina Dry Docks. Complete last set in Saab’s driveway. Now it’s time to molest Saab’s driveway with Pickle Pounders, Alabama Prom Dates and some Suzanne Somers.

    Back to the flag for:

    Numberama, Namearama, Announcements and Last Call took us out!

    NMS:

    A few of us thought that Splinter was going for Burpee 11’s again when he received the potato, but it wasn’t to be thank God. Maybe in 12 months when he gets the potato tossed to him again. Hutton has an exercise named after him now which is his favorite version of Jack Webb’s. It was nice to be on the cold practice field again after a long absence. The parking lot work was brutal to YHC’s shoulders, then YHC prescribed a shoulder exercise within the Lindsay(why not?)

    Nice morning to be out and to get our day started on the right track. No UR students gave us evil looks for being mask-less. Evidently, that wasn’t the story at Spider Run.

    Enjoyed it, men! Have a great day!

    SYITG!

    Kubota

  • Hot Potato at SOT

    Gumbo started us off in Gumbo fashion with COP and triple check, then Wedding singer made us curb crawl and ANOTHER triple check, then Nancy took us to the track to do a FULL ring of fire (had to be there – almost seemed like Vinny returned for a hot minute), then with minutes to spare (10) passed to Wilson. Now, I realize the pass was to avoid writing the backblast. I get it. Nancy still has one to write from a few weeks back. It is a PAX responsibility to get the information out AND #BIGDATA (just saying). So – YHC brought out some SPRINTS. Yup, no ground and pound, actual running. Back to the flag for some Mary.

    YHC tooks us out. Keep Boberry’s family and Tobit’s family in your prayers. Keep our nation in your prayes as we have an undecided election. Similar to 2000 (for those alive).

    Announcements: TYA is still trying to convince the PAX that Massachusetts help the first Thanksgiving, so he is the Q at Mary for his annual argument. It is ALSO Gumbo’s birthday! Rosetta said something about a 5k on Thnksgiving Blah, Blah, Blah…………… Wedding Singer anticipates the Earth Day 5K free t-shirt for $10 will hopefully return. The old fellas are laughing right now.

  • Polls open in 3..2..1..

    8 Davillians arrived at the polling place ready to get this Election Day started with a little theme beatdown

    This how it went down

    Mosey place the Atlee district polling place (in Atlee HS) to the a grass area for the COP

    COP (ALL IC except Merkins) – 13 Merkins OYO, SSH, 13 Merkins OYO, DQ, 13 Merkins OYO, LBC’s, 13 Merkins OYO, Arm Circles, 13 Merkins OYO

    THANG

    Mosey to the tennis court

    Re-elect Dora – (435 congressmen up for reelection + some extra) 105 Merkins, 210 2ct flutter kicks, 320 SSH. Partner runs loop around tennis courts

    Mosey to the fitness center

    Senate Race – (33 senators up for reelection) In any order, complete 33 pull ups, 33 WWII Sit-ups, 33 Lunges

    Mosey to a wall behind the school

    Donkey vs Elephant – Partner up. One partner does Donkey Kick Merkins while second part does Elephant walk x5. Rinse and Repeat for 5 sets

    Mosey back to the SF

    Merkin Ring of Fire

    Numberrama, Namerama, Announcements, YHC took us out

    MOLESKIN

    Election Day has become a traditional Q for YHC. This morning was with a group of Davillians getting after it. Helix showed as always how it done when it comes to pull ups. Everyone pushed hard and added some merkins to the challenge as well.

    SPIT ON THAT!!