Category: Richmond, VA

  • Take that hill! Hill 341′

    13 warriors braved the last humid day of 2020 to take a little jaunt to the published top of Henrico Shire according to: https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=23150

    4 milers: around baseball field, College, Lakewood, Wood, Baldwin, Rock Creek, Forest, University, Sawmill, Coleridge, Ridge, Sunset, Westham, Glen, Keller – or just go do what you want.

    5 milers: 4 mile route but stay on University to Henrico (not Glendale), Ridge, Lakewood, Westham, Glen, Keller

    6 milers: 5 mile route with no charge extras: add Arlington off University, add Glendale + Julian (instead of Henrico). add Lindsey off Ridge (instead of Lakewood), then Crenshaw + UR Drive (instead of Keller)

    NMS –

    Prayers for healing and recovery today.

    Good to be back at Spider Run after a IPC sabbatical – YHC realized its been quite some time. Swipers beard is so full, we had to do a double take – its like a mine is missing its forty niner. TYA then rolled up saving the planet with his pedal powered conveyance, Saab, BT and Swiper ran in – Gents the Lorax thanks you. We would love to see the extra credit route that Singer and Shakedown took – is ten minutes the extra credit record?

    YHC was curious if Mount Henrico really was – top researchers confirm that the highest point in Henrico is 340′ in a few places around the county, with hill 341 shown on ridge in the pic above. There is something about the little slog up Henrico Ave that takes it out of you on a humid day, then you turn left on Ridge and there is just a little more. We came, we saw, we conquered.

    Gitty up!

  • No BRR, lets run (and bike) anyways

    The pandemic has played havoc with a lot of our lives and traditions this year and one of them that it interfered with is the BRR. For the first time in 5 years F3RVA did not field a team. So….we still need to keep our bodies moving and have some fun. But do it in a pandemic friendly way. For that reason, we are going to do a CSAUP event, but not get the whole group together at once.

    When: Weekend of October 23. Starting window opens at 12 noon on Friday and ends midnight Sunday night.

    Where: Capital trail, out and back from Shiplock Park to Jamestown. Total miles ~ 103.

    Teams: Running or biking teams. Running teams of 1 to 8 and biking teams of 1 to 4. I will publish the transition areas for the relay the week before the race. The legs will be approximately 4 – 8 miles per leg for running and 10 – 15 for bikers.

    How: Get your team together, decide on a starting time, run the race and post the times. There will be prizes (both good and bad).

    I am sure there are a million questions, so I am reopening my office hours. Should you have a question, complaint or any other comment, I can be reached on my cell phone between 9:00 and 9:01 GMT every other Thursday.

  • Autobahn

    Three early birds ran off into the gloom on a drizzling morning and back to the ET. Total distance including DogPile is 6 miles.

    GomerPyle shared out his life in Germany while he was in a military.

  • Believe it or not…

    Four gloom warriors made their way to Satan’s Hill to start the week off strong. Wilson came in at the last minute as we began to mosey. After a short mosey we circled up.

    COP- SSH’sx30, DQ’sx10, Dead man hang, Cherry pickers x10, Imperial walkersx10 Russian soldiers x10, Helicopterx10, CH squats. warm up complete and away we went. Mosey up Satan’s Hill

    4 Corners-big boy style (.8 mile according to my calacualtions)

    Round 1 20 WWII’s, 40 Merkins, 60 Mountain climbers, 80 squats

    Round 2 – 20 WWII’s, 40 Merkins, 60 plank jacks, 80 jump squats

    Round 3 20 WWII’s, 40 Merkins, 60 LBC’s , 80 monkey humpers

    Mosey BTF. Time for some abs, 6 inch holds. Finish with the greatest American Hero (which Boberry nor Florence knew?). Youth is wasted on the young.

    Numberama, Namearama, YHC took us out in prayer. Prayers to Florence’s Mom’s recovery and M in searching for new career. Great work today PAX and always an honor to lead a fine PAX.

  • Jets su&k, flickering light and other random thoughts

    13 capable cadets came out on another morning of the darkest AO in Richmond. There was hope that the COP would have an early boost of light at 5:31 but after coming on it for a minute and then came back on for a minute and so on. Anyway, the routine went like this:

    COP: Mosey to front of school led by two handsome bald lads, 20 SSHs, 10 DQs, 25 FMs, and 15 ACs each way.

    Exercise 1: Curb crawl with merkins near bus loop. I did not realize that the curb was a few feet from traffic which was more than expected for 5:30. That scared a couple of pax. Mosey to one of Bodos’ many parking lots.

    Exercise 2: There were 8 parking spot lines. Do 2 burpees per line. Rest then do 3 burpees for the same 8 lines. Total equals 40 burpees. Not too shabby. Mosey to front of school.

    Exercise 3: 3 sets of 9 bike rack merkins with 3 sets of 28 box jumps. Today is 9/28. I am so witty. Mosey to wall near horseshoe.

    Exercise 4: 3 sets of 9 and 28 again with donkey kicks and WWIIs, chicken peckers – 2 count and 2 count flutters and donkey kicks and heels to heaven. Mosey to wall near field.

    Exercise 5: Triple check with balls to the wall, crabcakes and 9 pullups. Mosey around blacktop twice to cool down with 28 2 count American hammers, DQs and cherry pickers (for very low cherries).

    Closed in prayer.

    Announcements: Retreat on 10/3 in Amelia, Study of Job Tuesday at 8 p.m. – virtual – invite on Slack and collecting shoes for Homeward organization. See Honeydo if you are in the West End and have gently used shoes to donate.

    Jets are not good this year. When the Colts score more points with their defense than your offense, you just entered the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes.

    Let’s do great things this week for the one who makes all this possible.

    Sincerely,

    Fireman Ed

  • Wokeberry and the Goat

    19 warriors of the pre-dawn gloom arose ready to attack the day. Apparently it was a day of celebration. Given the title of this backblast they may have been trying to watch a lesser known 80s sitcom. According to the overly friendly runners in the area, this is how it went down.

    5:30 hit, everyone grabbed a block or two and then mosey to the corellian, circle up for:

    COP #1

    Nancy Kerrigan’s, Michael Phelps, Jazzercise, Hairy Rockettes, Collard Pickers, Pretzel Twists, Hello Dolly, Rosalita, Nolan Ryans, Hand Release Merkins. Pick the block back up, Mosey to the Ha’ Penny stage for:

    THE THANG #1 (Club Boberry)

    Hit the lights and que the music, its Tabata time! 1 min on, 15 seconds off, Cusack Squats, WW2s with the coupon, Chest Press, Lion King, Man maker merkins, American Swingers (x2)

    THE THANG #2 (The Wilt Chamberlain)

    Put away the blocks, keep the music going, run to fence and back, 100 LBC, run to fence and back, 100 Squats, run to fence and back, 100 Flutter Kicks, run to fence and back, 100 Lunges.

    THE THANG #3 (Welcome to Biscuitville)

    Mosey to long field for a 2 pack of Boberry Biscuits, mosey on short sides, run on long sides. 10 burpees. (x2).

    THE THANG #4 (The Doozy Special)

    Mosey to the amphitheater for the aptly named Mankillers. Then did incline merkins, start with 2 at first step, add 2 each step going up until time was called and we went BTTF!

    Numbers, Names, Announcements (see below), YHC took us out.

    NMS

    Mumble chatter was very strong today! “all kidding aside, go f yourself”, “this is the least straight thing we’ve done”, “we can’t call it that, it has to be gender neutral” were some highlights….

    It was an honor to lead today on YHC’s 1 yr F3versary. F3 has had been a life saving force in YHC’s life. One can only hope that this positivity can be continued to spread to others through friendship, shit talking, and being there for our brothers. YHC is blessed to be a member of this fine group!

    Also don’t understand why everyone was going nuts over the baby goat. Maybe that’s because YHC hasn’t hit the silent decade yet.

  • Uneven Cadence

    8 warriors braved the mighty drizzle of Short Pump to brave a workout from Fireman Ed. The workout went something like this:

    COP: 15 SSHs (for some reason my body went faster than my cadence causing a near uproar from the geriatrics who prefer predictability and order), 10 DQs, 20 FMs, 15 ACs (each direction) and 13 Cherry pickers. Mosey to curb near track

    Exercise 1: Curb Bear Crawl and Crawl Bear up to 5 merkins. Rest and go 6 to 9 merkins. Mosey around track (with Jville splashing in the puddles like a good country boy).

    Exercise 2: With the theme being 9 26 (cause that’s what today is) we did 9 donkey kicks followed by 26 WWIIs, then 9 chicken peckers and 26 2 count LBCs, then 9 donkey kicks and 26 2 count flutter kicks. Mosey around school to get some cardio.

    Exercise 3: 1 burpee at each pole, 13 poles; then 2 burpees at each pole for 13 poles. Mosey around school to benches near swampy field.

    Exercise 4: 9 merkins then 26 bench kicks (probably wrong term), 9 HRMs then 26 2 count steps, and 9 diamond merkins then 26 calf raises on the bleacher steps (with two of us almost falling). Mosey to pavilion

    Exercise 5: 9 derkins 26 squats, 9 derkins 26 jump squats, 9 derkins 26 2 count mountain climbers. Mosey to famous Gainesville chin up bars.

    Exercise 6: 9 chin ups, 26 dips, 7 chin ups, 13 dips, 5 chin ups, 13 dips. Mosey to parking lot after 2 rounds around the parking lot

    26 2 count American hammer, round of Mary with merkins, DQs and rotten cherry pickers.

    Closed in prayer.

    Announcements: There is a gently used shoe collection for an organization called Homeward. The POCs are Gypsy, Honeydo (West End), Spit (Daville) and TryHard (SOJ). Please give the shoes that you no longer wear.

    Field Event in Amelia on 10/3 (next Saturday). I am guessing other backblasts will have more details.

    I am glad to entertain with the uneven SSH cadence. It proves some of you were paying attention.

    Help those in need.

    Fireman Ed

  • The Q is always right.

    6 of RVA’s finest posted at Currahee on a beautiful Friday morning for a brisk jog (pronounced “yogg”)

    4/5 miles, bro-code style. Up Pump Road from the school, left as Pump Road changes and continue to Broad Street, hang a right and over to John Rolfe and another right and back to Pump and down to Godwin. Honeydo and Greenbow took a shortcut through Short Pump Park. 4.5 and 5.3 miles respectively for the group.

    Announcements: F3 Offsite Convergence (not “retreat” according to Gomer Pyle” Gypsy has the 3rd F Q this week.

    NMS: It was a nice morning with the crew. We talked about Gypsy being a lightweight and loving White Claws. Gomer commented about us running too slow. Spit was the Visitor of the Week and told us about the Daville Relay (congrats to that crew). Backblast title comes from a comment from Gomer Pyle about YHC and others parking in the “wrong spot” of the newly re-located meetup location at the Godwin parking lot. YHC parked where he saw other cars. It worked out too, Greenbow and Honeydo chatted with the other guys we saw in the parking lot on the run back, apparently they meet on Fridays to run. Hopefully Greenbow and Honeydo will be able will be able to EH the rando’s.

    YHC is really enjoying the mix of larger “more established” AO’s as well as the smaller tighter-knit AO’s. This has been a really good 6 months for YHC. It took a long time for YHC to fully meld into this crew, and YHC enjoys random texts and shit talking in group messages. Thank you all for the opportunity to lead.

  • You wanna sit on Santa’s lap?

    Only 3 months till Christmas! Our own version of Santa showed up today — the Mudface beard is strong.

    Father Christmas (best Christmas song ever) — plank for the instrumental parts, verses are mountain climbers, chorus is merkins, bridge is AST’s

    COP — a few exercises including Helicopters and other stuff I don’t remember right now

    Reindeer Games
    Dasher Dancer — Dancer runs sprints, while the Dancer does hillbillies (repeato 3x)

    Prancer Vixen – Prancer skips or leaps around the basketball court, Vixen does APD’s — repeato 3x

    Comet Cupid — Comet lunges up to the school Cupid does pull ups

    Donder Blitzen — Donder means thunder, so he does merkins. Blitzen is bear crawling up to the school

    Rudolph run — like a native american run, but with reindeer.

    A couple stretches at the end.

    Names, Numbers, Announcements

    NMS — YHC loves a good themed workout. Watching Yardsale prance around was priceless. Always a good time at the creek with meaningful deep conversations 😉

    Peace

    Opus

  • Ringing in Year 3 with Orange Pussy and Bone Rubs

    Two years ago, Don Draper and Dr Tryhard showed up to NoToll without an invitation, welcomed by a huge PAX enjoying Ollivander’s VQ. Today, the happy couple announced their two year F3versary and happily applied a 3000 volt cattle prod to the PAX in the following manner:

    The THANG:

    COP #1:

    • Mosey back to BWE bball court
    • Welcome & F3 Disclaimer
    • The Dynamic Duo took turns with variable warmerama – highlights were Draper bringing back Hillbillies and DTH introducing Bone Rubs.

    COP #2:

    • Mosey to Playground
    • MORNING CALL:   PAX hold incline plank along edge of playground, and complete x5 merkins as each man took a turn to complete x5 merkins (total merkins x55)

    COP #3:

    • Mosey to the Swamp
    • BEAST LAPS: Six stops around track, Six Laps completed with the following exercises called – Burpees, WWII’s, LongJumps, BoneRubs, Monkey Humpers, CDD’s

    COP #4:

    • Mosey long way BTTF for COT:
    • Counterama # 11 + Cooper
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Comments)
    • DRAPER took us out in Prayer

    DTH NMS:

    • There has probably never been a better kick off in F3 history than Orange Crush renaming himself Orange Pussy. Throw in some Hillbillies and Bone Rubs and BOOM, great mumble chatter. Draper and YHC have been exceptionally blessed to call F3RVA our home the last two years. No finer brotherhood can possibly exist. Here’s to year #3 and MANY more! SYITG, YHC, DTH

    DON DRAPER NMS:

    • A message from Don Draper, a man of few words:  Large milestones have the ability to catch you off guard. That incremental step in the plethora of evolutions that led to that exact moment. Today is a celebration, not of the day itself, but to each and every moment that the brotherhood of F3 has pushed us to be just a little bit stronger, a little bit wiser, a little bit more humble. We’re thankful for each friendship and memory already built and those to come. Thanks to you gentlemen – we look forward to seeing each of you in the gloom.