Tag: RAMM Gears

On Friday July 21 Marv walked for the last time to Ramm – and no one has heard from him since… I believe he is in the process of a move to a temporary home  while he awaits his new  house to be finished. Word is it will be ready on Thanksgiving – (BT said of what year) …. He is just kidding of course – it’s looking good Marv… Anyway – hope the move is going well Marv.  Marv is famous for a few things – allow me to list a few : His golden broadcaster voice – prayers, running, skunk shoes, VCU, writing excellent BB’s – and not posting BB’s which is why Corporate had to jump in on this one :).

We ran Monument Ave last Friday – my apologies if I leave any of the pax that were there out – doing my best to remember that day…  But gotta get this posted – Big Data is for real !

The high humidity rendered this group of 12 just plain dirty by the end.

4 Milers – W on Grove to Libbie, to Patterson E, to Malvern S, to Grove W, to SF

5s and 6s – W on Grove to Henri to St Chris to Patterson.  East on Patterson.  5s turn at Malvern to Grove.  6s turn on Nansemond to Grove.  Grove to SF.

It was good to see Aisle 5 today and give him a good ribbing.  A disclaimer should be provided for those American Hammers to prevent injury.

BRR training was in full swing with Aisle 5, Wilson, and Honeymoon.  YHC showed restraint and did not provide guidance on proper taper form.

Announcements:

• HDHH Wednesday the 12th @ 6pm – The Answer on Broad St
• Upchuck has a golf tournament in early August.  The 7th perhaps.

20 pax showed up for a Q-less run/ride this morning.  Lab Rat knew about the empty slot and came prepared, calling the Carillon route.  Marv gave the flying assist calling for the Carillon route in reverse!  Splinter was maintaining the official clock, so when YHC turned to him regarding time, he said GO.

The reverse Carillon route is such a classic because it forces the 6 milers to commit the extra 3/4 of a mile right off the bat (5 mile route is actually 5.25).  This gives the route a bit of a fox v. hare scenario, where the 5 milers (hares) are wanting to stay out in front of the 6 milers (foxes).  Sometimes you win, sometimes you get eaten.  This morning, the 5 milers fared pretty well against the 6 milers, with a good majority finishing in front of MARV, who led the way on the long route this morning.  Splinter is recovering from losing 7 pounds somehow after getting his wisdom teeth pulled.  I didnt think you could shave 7 pounds of Splinter without removing a limb.

Awesome to see some old faces out again….Sippy Cup, Aisle 5, and Pucker.  Cake is visiting from Roanoke, and (smartly) brought his bike along to get in some miles with the GEARS folks.  BRR season is upon us, guys!  Great job to all this morning.

Lab Rat Apologizes…

13 foot-soldiers (no horseman today) reported for duty in sunny and 70 degree rain showers to splash a rectangular tribute to a fallen F3 brother.  Here’s how it went down:

All runners headed north on Westmoreland.

4 Milers took a right on Grace to Malvern
5 Milers took a right on Jacques, another right onto Dabney and then to Malvern
6 Milers took a left on Dabney, pushed forward two blocks and backtracked south on Dabney to Malvern

All groups headed south on Malvern to Cambridge, curved on Cambridge to Berkshire, and then home on Commonwealth to MM (except the Q, who took a wrong turn, caught up with TYA, and joined the handful of PAX to get lost in their own Q).

Mumblechatter:

We lost a brother this week, F3 name Cheech.  In place of the normal mumble chatter, Q encourages all PAX to take a minute to pray for his family, friends, and colleagues.  Part 2 of Q’s suggestion is to put down the phone, i-device, remote control, or keyboard…go hug your wife, kids, girlfriend, parents, dog (I hate cats), or whoever, and let them know you appreciate them in your life.  Thank them for making you better.  Q out.

Announcements: 

Last week of C’ville.  Be ready 5:45 a.m. Saturday for the clown car.  Contact Lab Rat or Honey Do.
BRR…T minus 76 days and counting…starting training now.
Speaking of which…Wednesday hill runs.  Go.  Run.  Grow.
VQ Week…sign up now.  This requires: 1) being able to count aloud to three, and 2) being willing to put yourself out there…piece of cake, get your first time behind you, and all the rest are easy.  You can do it.
Golf Tournament: August 7.  Augustine Golf Club, Stafford.  Clown car.  Fundraiser for Guadalupe Free Clinic.  Sign up with UpChuck (timnee@gmail.com)
Two Can reminds everyone…”Don’t deny the facts.”  The man can swipe right with the best of them.

12 Redwoods posted for a morning workout.

The Thang:

St. Chris’s loop for the runners.  6 milers take a right on Grove, Left on Roseneath, Left on Patterson, Left on St. Christophers, Left on Three Chopt, Lett on Grove and back to the shovel flag.  Five milers Left on Malvern, Left on Patterson …..   Raam Gears guys were led by Clavin on a morning jaunt.

NMM:

Ok, first things first.  Take a look at the PAX list and the QIC part of the backlist.  What is wrong with this picture?  Two things to start.  One, YHC was the Q today, not Lockjaw.  After a four month string of Q’s,  Lockjaw was not signed up (I think I might be able to remedy that) so I took the lead. Second and most importantly, No Lockjaw in the PAX list.  For those of you who have wondered (or even asked) why I took it upon myself to sigh Lockjaw up to Q for so long, now you know why.  NO Q, NO POST for Lockjaw.  Was he out of town?  I don’t thing so.  Was he injured or ill.  Not that I know of.  there seems to be only one way to make sure Mr. LJ posts and that is for him to be the Q.

It was a little sticky out there this morning.  Although in reality it was 70 and sunny, it felt more like 95, 100% humidity and sunny.  The PAX was drenched post run.  Poor Saab (and the gears folks) during the COT.  The PAX was soaked and Saab was relatively dry …. until the COT.  He mentioned as he was leaving that although he didn’t sweat that much, his shirt still stunk from the hugs from the other PAX members.

Marv had to take a little detour pre run.  Seems his alarm did not go off on time and he did not have time to take care of business.  Luckily he lived close enough to the AO to head back home and meet the folks along the way for the rest of the run.

There was one angry lady this morning out on the route.  As we approached Patterson and Grove, the five milers heard quite a commotion.  An elderly lady was yelling at someone (not sure who), with and expletive laced diatribe.  Seeing a group of runners pass, she quickly redirected her ire towards us.  She is apparently not too enamored with runners, and she made that very clear.   I was a bit worried that when Swirly came upon her an altercation might ensue.   Swirly seemed fine, not sure if the lady is still ambulatory…

TYA OUT

16 pax showed to a beautiful morning with the Strawberry Moon shining bright to get in some miles by bike or by shoe.  Here is what went down, from the shoe point of view:

Route:  Carillon route in reverse.  The lone 6 miler (MARV) had to do the extra loop first before catching up with the pax.

NMS:

Snookie and Lab Rat were quite comfortable acting as sweepers this morning for the first half of the run, until all hell broke loose.  It started with TYA without his spectacles taking Flat Line and Swiper on an extended route.  We saved Taxi from the same fate.  We were then looking for Swirly, and it took a little bit to figure out he went back the way we came out.  MARV caught up to the tail end of the 5 milers around this point, and Lab Rat did his best to hang with him for a bit, but lost the pace on the hill up Grove.

Saab rolled out of the Rover this morning limping.  He tried out the leg, but it didnt go his way.  Heal quick, man.

So, the title came from an altercation the pax had with a grumpy cyclist.  This guy decided to start yelling at us to get on the sidewalk after what seemed like he was going to try to thread the needle between MARV and Lab Rat.  “Angry Cyclist” was answered with many explatives from the pax….led by YHC, by the way.  Probably better ways to handle it, but at least we didnt knock “Angry Cyclist” off his bike and SHOW him the sidewalk….so we got that going for us, which is nice.

Apology of the week goes out to Angry Cyclist.  I’m sorry you have so much hate, and I’m sorry that I told you to F*** off….kinda.

Other than Saab not having the runs and meeting Angry Cyclist, it was an absolutely stunning morning for a run/bike.  Everybody go out and have a great day!

Prayers of healing to Saab and Circle K’s father.

Lab Rat apologizes.

West on Grove and take a left on Wilton.

Wilton to the end at historic Wilton House.

Double back and take a right on Kenmore.

Left on Ampthill and cross Cary where it becomes Stratford Crescent.

Cross Cary again onto Hillcrest.  Take West Hillcrest and briefly up East Hillcrest with a right on Charmian.

Charmian turns into Westmoreland Place.  4 milers continue on as the road turns to Locke Lane and take it to Grove and home to the SF.

5s and 6s break through the tree line and merge onto Dover.

Dover a ways and a left on Banbury.

Banbury to Cary.  Cary to Malvern.  Malvern to Grove and home to the SF for 5s.

6s continue down Malvern to Patterson.  West on Patterson to Westmoreland and back to the SF.

NMS:

I think only four people covered the actual route as described, but all put in some good miles.  Lot’s of turns today.  Speaking of turns, Wilton House was featured in the TV show “Turn”, which is one of YHC’s shows of interest.  Today’s route will be named “Setauket” in honor of the home of the Culper Sky Ring on Long Island.

A clean dozen showed today for high visibility and low humidity run.

East on Grove to Sauer; Take Sauer to Monument and head east.  4s turn around at Boulevard, 5s at Alison, and 6s at Lombardy (Stuart Circle) for an out and back.

YHC took us out, keeping in mind what is important in celebration of Memorial Day and also closed with some obscure Pink Floyd to remind us to go forward and be our best.  These are the days we will look back on.

“The memories of a man in his old age, are the deeds of a man in his prime.”

Good running condition with equal part 6 milers, 5 milers, 4 milers, and bikers.  Everyone had someone to run with.

YHC has a custom of naming his routes, at least the classic ones such as Haiku and Carillon.  Typically, Marv will provide a prerun critique of the course such as “out and back – too simple”, “too many turns – too complex”, or “people were shot there recently”.  YHC finally laid a route that met Marv’s seal of approval.  So going forward this route will be called #42, paying deference not only to Marv, but the Dave Matthews song-naming style of which Lockjaw is a fan.