Seven RAMMers debunked Debby by huddling in the non-lit parking lot waiting for instructions. Once they were given, and Upchuck proclaimed his prediction was accurate, off we went through the knee high fescue for an oldie but goodie route.
The Route
West on Groooove
Right on Three Chopt, right on St Christophers
Right on Patterson
Spot the golden arches
4s right on Westmoreland
5s right on Malvern then back on Grove
Numbers, names, YHC took us out.
Announcements
Kudos to The Bridge patriots for signing up a couple times a year. If you haven’t been (YHC included), prioritize it one weekend.
8/21 birthday celebration at First Watch
Pickleball tourney on 8/17
Prayers for Sippy as he recovers. See you out here soon!
Moleskin
YHC finished #bigdata last night and was surprised while reading through some of the early RAMM backblasts how simple they were (Inaugural RAMM). TYA always jokes about that but for some reason YHC didn’t realize how consistently simple they were. Always on Grove, generally with time at the end for a little Mary before the clock ran out. Today was a tribute to some of those OG routes, simple but effective.
The east wind made for a quick jaunt down grove, followed by stale air on St Chris before turning right into the belly of the beast on Patterson. Wind and a little rain was welcome as the tropics were in the air.
9 runners and 4 bikers convened for this week’s edition of RAMM and RAMM Gears.
The bikers planned their route and YHC reviewed the routes posted last night which consisted of several hills south of Cary before crossing back to Grove / Patterson and returning to the flag.
Three cycling professionals and 4 semi-pro runners gathered at RAMM today, hoping for just the right amound of rain but not too much. Cyclists were pleased, runners were not. After Offshore looked at Phonics and Phonics asked, “are we riding today? ok.”, a theme appropriate route was called and off we went.
The Route
Gears crew did their thing, crossing paths with the runners a few times. We will call their route the “Flock of Gnats” route.
Runners, after some discussion of what was forwards and reverse, did the Reverse Carillon route.
Numbers, names, no announcements before YHC took us out.
Moleskin
There was a lot of discussion this week about amateur RAMM gears so YHC was expecting a large crowd today. When I arrived at 522 to see nary a soul (except TYA wandering around on his bike), I began to wonder if I had the wrong day? Apparently the weather scared away the amateurs, leaving only professional bikers.
Since no one grabbed the RAMM Q, YHC sat for a minute or two thinking about an appropriate route to complement the (apparent lack of) RAMM Gears participants, I was reminded of a classic Marv incident that got Saab all riled up back in the day.
You see… there was a period of time where RAMM Qs got lazy. Someone would just show up and call out a well known route and off we would go. Saab, in his peak of youthful running shape, would go out early for a pre-run and then show up back at the launch (when someone actually had the Q), expecting a well thought out route that would possibly bring in virgin ground. At least something unique. When someone didn’t think of something unique, Saab would express his disdain and off he would go with the rest of the PAX. If words could describe his facial expression when this would happen, it would be:
Looks like I completely wasted my time coming back to meet up with these nincompoops. I should have just kept running by myself.
Saab. circa 2021
Which brings us back to the main part of the story. During an amateur RAMM gears outing a few years ago, Marv had signed up to Q RAMM proper. YHC texted him the night before and said, “ditch RAMM, find a bike, and let’s go ride.” So he did just that.
Marv, sticking with his MO, shows up about 2 minutes prior to launch, hurriedly getting his bike prepped, before sticking his head into the circle of runners and shouting two words. “Reverse Carrilon”. Given the context above, you can imagine how excited some people were. Trust me, read Marv’s backblast from 2021 and you will see my memory is actually pretty sharp on this one.
That that brings us to today. With very little time to plan a route and it being amateur RAMM gears day, YHC thought it would be a fitting tribute to call out reverse carillon. So that’s what we did. And it was kind of funny for a few seconds.
I don’t know why I felt like calling out Saab so much in this backblast because he actually wasn’t even there today. He will also likely not read this backblast so it will fall on deaf ears. But as Paul Harvey used to say,
Eight runners and an unknown number of bikers got an early start to a hot day. East bound and down is how we went.
Phonics took us out.
Announcement: Next Friday (7/12), we will have the annual amateur RAMM gears. Dust off those banana seats, add the tassels to the handlebars, and get your baseball cards in the spokes! All types of bikes. All types of people. All types of fun!
Beautiful morning for a run yesterday. This is more or less the route the 8 PAX executed.
Out on Grove headed East, back on Floyd til it ends left on grove
4s at n meadow
5s at N Harvie st
6s take grove until it ends, take a right, follow park avenue until you get to more park, loop it until you take a left on Floyd
most pax were close to 5. Great work by all. Faceplant held himself back since there were no other sixes. Great run fellas! Always a good time to run in the city with some great company!
12 runners/walkers and a 5 bikers strung themselves together in the latest edition of THE Run at Mary Mumford (RAMM). Air, land, and sea conditions held constant at 70 and sunny. According to the pack of tomatoes running on Grooooove, the following might have happened:
Parking lot south on Commonwealth to the gravel track / dirt track / quarter mile loop / whatever any PAX member calls it. Run 1/2 of the loop to Westhampton. North on Westhampton to Grove.
Left on Grove. Left on Lexington. Choose your own adventure going either left (Lexington) or right (Albemarle) and complete the loop back to Grove. Right on Grove. Right on Westhampton.
Left onto the gravel track / dirt track / quarter mile loop / whatever any PAX member calls it. Return to Westhampton and repeat the above loops back / forth for the 45 minutes.
Finish at 6:15 at the parking lot.
Numbers, names, (cyclists return), more names, and Marv was gracious in taking us out.
Announcements:
Summer Tour. Get out there. Meet some new guys. See some new places. Learn to navigate Hutton’s spreadsheet.
Prayer requests:
We have at least two guys whose loved ones are fighting tough battles with challenging diseases. It can be easy to rattle off names, but let’s think hard about how we can help our friends and their families. Fudd’s sister is going through a second battle with breast cancer. Splinter’s mom has just 2 weeks ago been diagnosed with leukemia. Leadership is about helping other people. For those who remember Inky Johnson, “It’s not about you.” Let’s get after it and support our pals.
NMS:
Yo-Yo Route today. T-claps to Wedding Singer and Hitch for remembering the greeting.
Good chat after the run with some guys about appreciating what we have and learning that a lot of modest things can be overcome and make us stronger.
A magnificent 13 wanted to run Oyster’s favorite route. Let’s Go!!
Left on Grove Left on Three Chopt Right on St. Andrews Circle around the Culd-a-sac and head back to Grove. 4s: Back down Grove, stop at Mary 5s: Back down Grove, Go 1 more block past Mary and circle back. 6s: Back down Grove, go to Nansemond, circle back to Mary.
Numberama:Namerama: Announcements: – The Tour – Whitesnake has a gig on Saturday – see slack – SOJ – Picnic on Sunday. See Slack – Rosie – 9-year anniversary Q at Rock and Roll. – Honeydo – Swipe Right Q at Dogpile – Pickleball Mondays at Batteau (Forest Hill Park)
Bodo’s PTO request was approved by Corporate, so YHC took us out! Sending prayers of protection for all the children as they embark on their summer adventures. Keep Safe!
Thanks for letting me lead today and sharing my favorite route.
Just over two months ago we showed up at a Q to RAMM and no one was there to lead it. I can’t remember if someone ghosted after signing up or it was just left blank. Either way, YHC took charge and told everyone to run for 22 1/2 minutes and then come back the same way. I then took over recording the people that were there only to make the post two months (and change) later. No excuse, really…just some forgetfulness and procrastination. Thanks to Upchuck for passive agressively (passively agressive) nudging me to do it for the last 66 days. Here you go, Upchuck…for the world to see.
Seven by foot and about that many on bikes converged on the OG of running AOs. A nice little venture seeing new streets with shade, peace, and conducive to a great run.
