Tag: RAMM Gears

22 strong (7 on two wheels and 15 on two legs) attacked RAMM and RAMM Gears this morning.  5:26am and directions were given.  5:30am and BOOM! off we go!

THANG

Multiple distances were covered today including:

4.2 mile route: Grove West to Tuckahoe Blvd to Granite to Cary to Tempsford.  Go down and up the Two Hills of No Mercy!  Return the way you came.

4.9 mile route: 4.2 mile route but run to Malvern and back to Mary first.

5.7 mile route: 4.2 mile route but run to Thompson and back to Mary first

8.?? mile route: ?

Multiple miles for Gears: ?

3 Minutes of Mary at the Shovel Flag for those that finish early including Box Cutters, LBC’s and Flutter Kicks.

COT, Numberama, Namearama and YHC took us out

 

Announcements:

July 4th Convergence coming up on Wednesday.  7am at Tredegar/Belle Isle Parking Lot.  Hot Potato Q.  YHC will start and then toss it.  Have some ideas ready!  Breakfast/Coffeteria/Jump in the River immediately following.

Gumbo will be leading Dogpile tomorrow.  He will absent for a month after that so if you need to get your fill of Gumbo in, show up!  Have a safe trip, Gumbo and family!

Lab Rat is leading Dogpile next Saturday.  (Just throwing that tidbit out there so he will be happy)

Summer challenge is moving right along.  Will anyone catch Vinny while he is on vacation?  The ever-elusive Gridiron post is the only one he needs!!

Pick 2 and Fiancee are leading The Creek next Friday for his Wedding Rehearsal Day.  Nuptials the next day.  Congrats in advance!

Shakedown and Rosie are about to attack a 50k on Saturday.  Shoot them a text and cheer them on!  They GOT THIS!

 

NMM:

YHC sent a Pre-Blast out for RAMM yesterday but he had to call an audible at 5:25am this morning because it was not enough numbers.  So normal run it was.  The Challenge/Competition will have to wait for another time.  YHC’s routes were long for the 4’s and short for the 5’s and 6’s.  YHC apologizes, but everyone finished right around 6:15am so it worked out.  YHC took the Snake River route that Lockjaw devised in May (when it was flooded) and tweaked it some.  YHC wanted everyone to experience both Tempsford and Kennondale.  In YHC’s opinion, Kennondale may be more of a pain than Charmian.  Kennondale after Tempsford is just plain harsh!  Either way, hills were attacked after a nice flat warm-up jaunt and then a nice flat recovery run on the way back in.

Welcome to my friend and FNG Re-Run (Clint).  Re-Run is an avid runner and decided to join us this morning after he ran the same two hills yesterday morning.  He must love those hills!  Lab Rat gets credit for the FNG naming since that is his new thing.

YHC is not sure what the cyclists did, but it was great to see a large group of them out this morning.

Swirly and TYA crushed the early-bird long distance route.  Great job!

Have a great Friday all!

Kubota

keep posting

Fifteen of our finest stallions tackled today’s workout by foot and pedal with all distances covered.

Reverse Carillon route was called and off we went.  The water was thick in the air and deep on the ground and the pace was cruising.

We ran into the seals at the Carillon doing crabwalks and being instructed to keep moving by someone who was not moving.  Huh.

The backblast title comes from a critter that Labrat saw who gave him a salute with an opposable digit.  Labrat thinks it was a thumbs up while I think he was flippin the bird.  Regardless, that’s what made him awesome.

Loose Goose took us out.

Announcements:

• June 23 (tomorrow) – Puppy Pile at Carillon at 7:05.  Bring the 2.0s and a frisbee.
• June 25 – YHC will Q Punisher Resurrection – 1830 in the evening.  Let’s get some numbers out for this fine AO.
• July 10 – Ultimate Frisbee at Heartbreak Ridge

Time to Taper,

Lockjaw

Twenty three skaters (no healthy scratches) and 4 men of gears came forth from The Fart Sack to celebrate Lord Stanley’s version of the morning after party.  While what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, what happens at RAMM the morning after a CAPS victory in Vegas goes into the backblast.

The Thang:

Hockey Stick Route…Grove (the blade) to Malvern (the shaft).  Continue as Malvern becomes Westwood which in turn becomes Saunders.

Forwards (4 milers) turn around at top of railroad bridge
Defensemen (5 milers) turn around at Saunders and Laburnum
Long-shifters for the 6 milers…right on Laburnum to Hermitage (site of The Punisher).
Double shifters… (TYA, Swirly, any others?) put in eight on another route.  Well done.

Reverso back to the Flag.

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

Announcements:

June is TYA Clothing Drive Month.  No better way to give back than to help a brother in need.  Special focus on size-large shirts and shorts/cover-ups (NO NUT-HUGGERS).

June 15 at RAMM: Huffy Gears…bring your poor, tired, huddle mass of a bike…Huffy, Schwinn, Big Wheel…have an orange flag on a bike?  Bring it.  Have a playing card clothes-pinned to the spokes?  Bring it.

June 16 at Dogpile.  Field Day workout.  Wear a shirt relevant to your elementary school experience.  See Vinny for details (or see the Pre-Blast).

June 23 Puppy Pile, Part Deaux…BYO 2.0s.  Sippy Cup has the Q.

July 4 Convergence at Tredegar at 7 a.m.  Kubota leading…

Summer Challenge…visit every AO between the Saturday prior to Memorial Day and Labor Day.  Bonus points for hitting the Convergences.  Double-bonus points for posting to an out of town AO.  Triple bonus points for Nomad / Down Range with at least one non-family member.  Note: there are no official Bonus Points.

Get your BRR training started…hit a running workout.  Sunday Funday, Wednesday Hill Run, RAMM, or any workout with the words “Twin Team” in the title…

Moleskin:

Great morning for a run.  Perfect weather, with even the humidity mildly cooperative for YHC’s Second Anniversary with F3.  YHC has been with F3 so long and he’s now so old that he even botched the facts of his own first post today during the COT.  Why wait to get old to tell stories incorrectly when YHC can start now?  For the record, first post was a W-Dog with Bleeder having the Q, and Hardywood nursing YHC back to the Flag with the age-old question,”How you doing, pal?” on the run back….  With apologies to both Virginia Slims and Fatboy Slims, YHC has come a long way, baby.  Thank you, fellas, for pushing my mind, body, and spirit.  It’s been a pleasure to have you all as role models.

As for the route, rumor had it that YHC’s beloved Washington Capitals exorcised their demons and won Lord Stanley’s Mug last night.  YHC is not creative enough to design a Stanley Cup Route, so the Hockey Stick Route will have to do.

As many are aware, YHC basically gave up watching CAPS hockey on TV due to stress, anger issues, superstition, hair loss, and biting of finger nails.  Other than that, YHC loves the CAPS.  Some of YHC’s fondest memories of growing up are of listening to the CAPS on AM radio with his brother, who introduced him to the team when the family moved to the DC area in 1982.  Don’t get YHC wrong, he is happy to have a full Capitals Bandwagon…but here are a few things YHC remembers from the days of old…why Yvon Labre’s jersey is retired, #5, Bobby Carpenter getting pummeled while covering his head on the ice like a baby, Mike Gartner’s mustache, Dale Hunter trying to kill another player well after the game ended, losing to the Islanders in like 27 overtimes, thinking Jagr was the savior, watching three of the best players on the team get shipped out for sexual misconduct (then watching some of them win the Cup elsewhere), Ron Hextall, Pittsburgh, the Rangers, Martin St. Louis (think: Bucky F-ing Dent), Filip Forsberg, being up 3-0 or 3-1 in the playoffs, owning the President’s Trophy, losing every overtime playoff game ever, and, of course, being tweaked by Kubota and Vinny this year for being a Nervous Nelly.

Prior to last night, there was exactly ONE stellar Washington Capitals moment…YHC’s first real date with his M was to a CAPS playoff game.  Because the CAPS have been able to foul up any situation, why stop on that evening?  The Penguins eliminated the CAPS from the playoffs that night with Darius Kasperitis even returning to the ice to give the whole stadium the bird.  YHC’s M is not a big hockey follower, yet considers herself a Pittsburgh fan because of the civic spirit of the community and how good a guy Mario Lemieux is.  Seriously.  It’s been a living penance.

YHC has managed three times to watch games, or portions of games, alone, usually in a hotel, often with a piece of plexiglass installed between the TV screen and YHC.  (No actual screens were harmed in the creation of this back blast).

So, with that, YHC is really darn happy today.  And, YHC hopes BT’s tits feel better.

And, Big Data wants to know if 6 milers get to count today as visiting The Punisher.

Seven by foot, two on wheels, and 1 taperer arrived at Munford, ready to cut through the humidity and tackle today’s edition of RAMM.  Huddle up and question who had the Q before YHC gave the following directions:

West on Grove.  Left on Oak.  Cross Cary to Hillcrest.

4 milers:  3 Hillcrest loops
5 milers:  4 Hillcrest loops
6 milers:  5 Hillcrest loops

Everyone return the same way.

Numbers.  Names.  Marv took us out, giving thanks to topography.

Moleskin
Flatline contacted YHC yesterday afternoon indicating he was planning to fartsack and needed someone to cover.  His excuse was his M had secured tickets to see Faith Hill and Tim McGraw last night.  The closest theme YHC could come up with on short notice is for us to put our faith in our abilities and tackle hills today.  Thus the idea to celebrate Faith Hill by running loops around Hillcrest.  You can thank Flatline for the result today.

The air was thick this morning.  Sorry for slowing you down today Marv, YHC wasn’t quite feeling it.  Fudd was in his prime having consumed a few scotches and a few glasses of wine.  That’s akin to spinach for Popeye.

Great to see everyone today.  YHC can only assume the lower RAMM numbers were due to the PAXs desire to see Faith Hill or to drink Flashdance’s coffee at Twin Team.

Enjoy the day.  Splinter out.

22 of RVA’s Finest Road Scholars came forward to tackle distance with speed.  Four early bird runners, and six bikers did their thing, and the remaining runners did the following routes:

• East on Grove and North on Hamilton.
• Hamilton to Westwood and take a left.  Westwood turns into Malvern.
  • 4s take Malvern to Grove and home.
  • 5s and 6s head west on Patterson.
    • 5s take a left on Lexington and a right on Albemarle.  Left on Grove to the VSF.
    • 6s take a left on Seneca and a left on Grove to the VSF.

Marv took us out.

NMS

Perfect weather for top speeds this morning.  The 5s set a nice pace with Shakedown doing so despite this being his 4th straight day of running.  BT dropped it in low gear for the last half mile using Grove as his personal passing lane.  Offshore and Swiper make running fast look effortless.

YHC note:  Google brings back quite a few meanings for “doubel deuce”.  YHC was referring to the quantity of Pax in attendance today, however one member may have provided an additional interpretation with two Fudd’s en route.  Nice.

Announcements:

• Memorial Day Convergence – Be there!
• Summer Challenge begins tomorrow.  See Phonics backblast on the matter.
• YHC and Shakedown are going to meet our summer challenge with an amateur bike ride RAMMS.  Dust off the Schwinn and stay tuned.

Stay safe this weekend, have fun, and appreciate good friends and family.

Lockjaw

Eleven of RVA’s finest left the fartsack for what was certain to be a wet day.

We did the Kingpin route from Tuesday’s Spider Run, except we launched from the Mary.  We headed west on Grove to Granite and a left on Granite to Cary.  Dogleg left and take a right heading down Tempsford.

• 4s take the left fork and retrace their steps back to Grove to the AO.
• 5s do the left and right forks and then Granite to Patterson to Westmoreland to the AO.
• 6s do the left and right forks twice each (!) and then Granite to Patterson to Westmoreland to the AO.
• The three amigos showed up early and did a longer route.

YHC took us out.

NMS

A few observations:

• I have never seen so much standing water on Grove before.  Ran a bit down the median to take higher ground.
• In the dark on the Kennondale hill, I could hear whitewater rapids in the ditches.  If I had a creek boat, I could get to the bottom a lot quicker.  Also, one had to keep a lookout for tripping hazards (someone’s driveway spilled into the road) and cross currents similar to riptide running across the road.
• Sippy Cup suggested that this route could be aptly renamed Snake River since there is both a river and a fork.  Plus there is a bite to the hills.
• There was some deep water on Patterson.  Prior to today, I have never described my running style like a displacement hull.  I wonder if you can hydroplane while running?
• At one point, I waterboarded myself breathing in through my nose.

Announcements

• Puppy Pile is tomorrow.  Water, mud, and kids.  Its going to smell like a wet dog.
• Golf tournament today.  The heavy stuff probably won’t come down for some time so they are good for a few holes.

Time to Taper,

Lockjaw

17 men were almost rudderless with Lockjaw not manning the Q.  A few jumped on their bikes with the remaining (15?) taking off toward the Carillon or thereabouts…

• Welcome to Hitchhiker on his virgin RAMM.  According to Goose, he really enjoyed it…but apparently not enough to stick around for the COT
• Shakedown wants to join the ranks of the hairless for a very worth cause.  Let’s show him both our love, and our desire for him to stop having to ask:    https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/984556/2018
• See BT on how to properly apply a merkin (not the exercise, but the device used to cover one’s dong)

Saab abides

Twelve smugglers attempted the Kessel Run today.  Three more runners opted for extended distance pre-workout and another four were on bike.

Here is how we celebrated this “May the Force” edition of RAMM.

As a group, run a warmup through Windsor Farms for about 2.5 miles.  The route roughly resembles the Millennium Falcon in shape.

As we return to the VSF, the Kessel Run commences from the corner of Commonwealth and Grove.

4 milers – Head north on Commonwealth to Augusta and back for 1.7 miles.  Target a 11:20 pace or better.

5 milers – Head east on Grove to Belmont and back for 2.6 miles.  Target a 8:20 pace or better.

6 milers – Head west on Grove to Three Chopt and back for 3.1 miles.  Target 6:45 pace or better.

Labrat took us out.

NMS

With the Solo movie coming out and a RAMM Q on May 4, how could YHC pass this up?  It was good to run the first portion as a group.  Pax who never run together on a normal day did so today.  The 6 milers got the full Labrat experience.  Windsor Farms was perfect this morning.

The tempo work impressed me.  The 5s were 8:00 or less for their run.  6s dominated their route and I am certain the 4s crushed it as well.

Announcements:

• See Shakedown’s prior post for information regarding children’s cancer and his fundraising activities.  Wheelie has a similar effort (feel free to share that information here) involving biking many miles in June.
• Labrat mentioned something about drinking beer and being cornholed for money.  On his second pass at an explanation, it sounded more like a F3 corn hole tournament at his house in which teams would put in few dollars as the winner’s purse.  He would also brew some beer for the event.  Sounds a little different now, doesn’t it?
• The Ghost Flag will be at Hoedown on Monday, May 7.  Any challengers coming to take it?

Always Be Tapering,

Lockjaw