Tag: RAMM

13 fearless tackled RAMM in the gloom and here is how it went dow.

Old School route : 4 Milers Grove – Malvern – Three Chopt – back to Mary Mumford – 5 milers – Grove to Roseneath – Three Chopt – back to Mary Mumford – 6 milers – Grove to Boulvard – three chopt – back to Mary Mumford.

First off : Most everyone stayed in their warm vehicles until 5:27 this morning. Props to Honeydo, Saab, and Swirly for rocking the shorts – beast mode baby – what the heck were y’all thinking ?

16, 17, 18, 19 degrees – whatever it was cold out there dudes – great job to the pax for taking on old school this morning… Saab was freaken on fire running like a man on a mission he ran 6 and passed everyone that did the 4, 5 routes – dude way to crush it.. Shout out to Bleeder and No Tools for walking 2.5 in that weather – way to stick with that rehab Bleeder.. Sippy had a great run but his eye teared up and about froze shut on him – way to battle through Sip… What a beautiful cold morning for a run – way to push it fella’s …

There is sure to be some colder Friday runs coming our way – let’s see who sticks with the shorts… Everyone jumped in the car after ball of man – and yelled out – see y’all in the gloom.

Man that was fun! See y’all in the gloom…..

10 strong young souls posted this morning for a Friday morning shakedown run.  Here’s what’s up:

-Carillon Route:

• 6 Milers:  Grove to Boulevard to….run whatever you want, you know what’s up.
• 5 Milers:  Grove to Boulevard up the steps of the Carillon and return via Douglasdale over 195, then skirt Windsor Farms on Portland, finally making your way back to Grove and home to MMES.  GPS should have you at 5.25 miles, give or take.
• 4 Milers follow same out route to the tennis courts, make a loop around courts and bring Shepard back to Cary, then choose your own route back to Grove and MMES.  4.25 miles CONFIRMED.

NMS

YHC was hoping that his two lost souls from last attempt (Copernicus and Back Bay) would be in the mix this morning so that YHC could guide them thru what has become Lab Rat’s favorite Friday morning route, but alas, the siren that is the fartsack sings a sweet song…especially when the temperature starts to dip.  Lab Rat was still determined to be the last man in on the 5 mile option today, picking up any wayward sheep along the way.  But what good is a shepard  when the flock is a bunch of Sheepdogs?  All present were a bunch of grizzled veterans that know the city and route better than the Q, so YHC ran with Upchuck and we battled to get in the highest word count.  In the end, Upchuck once again out-paced the Rat in the motor mouth category, an impressive feat to say the least.

Word has it that the 4 milers had a great run, and the 6 milers did their own thing….which is perfectly cool with the Q, as long as all pax arrive back at the VSF in time for circles, which they did.  Well done!

Announcements:

• January 21st is the F3RVA CSAUP event, mark your calenders….preblast to come.
• Long distance mountain run in early planning stages by Lab Rat and TYA for the week between Christmas and New Year.  If you are interested, please speak up to one of the above and we will try our best to accomodate travel and work plans.  This will be weather dependent on when we go.
• Note to self:  Announements should be kept shorter to prevent pax from “drifting”.

A great energy by the pax this morning, and great to see Aisle 5 and Lug Nut punching out some miles!  Also, thanks to Saab for the shock this morning!  I will remember that quote for a long time.

Miley Lab Rat out.

Mid 30s and sunny for the start of a friday morning jog from MM.

The Thang:

St. Christopher’s loop: 6 miles down grove to Roseneath to Patterson to St. Chris Lane to 3 Chopt to Grove and back to the flag.  5 miles down grove to malvern to Patterson and back. 4.5 miles down commonwealth to Patterson and back.

NMM

The fast boys are fast.  They let the horses out of the barn today and easily made the 6+ miles in the 45 miles that were allocated.  Group included Sippy and Marv (the bronchitis crew), Saab and L O L A – Lola.  Fudd started out with them and hung with the group for a bit, then decided to slow things down a little bit and run with the rest of the crew.  He hit the jets to catch up with us and then backed things off for the rest of the run.

The rest of the crew opted for the 4.5 mile relaxed run today.  A few of the PAX are running the Bear Creek race this weekend and wanted and easy jaunt for this Friday morning.  Since we were all going 4.5, I convinced (or maybe just told) Aisle 5 to do the 4.5 miles with us.  He has been running a little bit on his own, but had not been out to a group run in a bit.  He kept himself moving and had a great run with the rest of us.  Swirly was like a caged animal doing the relaxed run,  He survived, but you could see that there was excess energy that needed to be released.  Fortunately Lab Rat had some of the PAX doing mini sprints (fartleks) during the run which kept Swirly, Back Bay, Lab Rat, Fudd and Taxi Cab ok with the pace.  For YHC it was awesome to just have an easy relaxed run (as an aside, the pace I did today used to be my top end speed before running and training with the group).

Aisle 5 took us out with an emotional account of the run and the value of F3 in his life.  Great to have you back out there today Mr. 5.  Keep taking your DRP (daily red pill)….it is much better than the medication the doctors try to give you….

Good luck to the Bear Creek runners on Sunday.  Aisle 5 will be on the trail run and could use some company for those that are not running Bear Creek.

TYA Out

5 RVA regulars and 1 from CLT – Huntersville posted to RAMM on a foggy and warm morning to jog of some of the Thanksgiving excess.  Temps were 50 degrees at the start.  Same route as last week.

5 Milers – Commonwealth to Monument, Right on Davis, Right on Cary back to MM.

6 Milers – Comm to Monument, Right on Allen, Cary back to MM

NMS – So YHC took Q again at RAMM hoping to put in some extra miles in preparation for Bear Creek.  Unfortunately YHC’s legs were not in agreement with this plan and neither were any of the other PAX interested in some extra miles past the 45 minute timeframe, excluding Sippy who jogs out & back anyways.

Glad to have Megaphone along for the run. He lived up to his name and made for good company for the 5 miles.  Even Lab Rat said he was chatty.  Hope to you can make it out to Dogpile tomorrow  while you are in town.

On Monument with the 2 other 5 mile PAX running on one side of the street we heard a loud crash on the other side of the street, right where TYA was running.  Believing he had finally spontaneously combusted we stopped to make sure all was right.  Turns out a large limb had fallen off a tree 50 feet in front of TYA on the sidewalk.  Who knew running on the sidewalk on Monument Ave is more dangerous than the RVA trails.

Sippy and Saab blew past YHC and Megaphone on Cary and made the 6 miles look easy as usual.

Ten tightless travelers came out to run on a beautiful morning. 39 degrees made shorts routes only needed so:

4 Milers:  Commonwealth to Monument, Right on Belmont, Right on Cary

5 Milers: Monument to Davis, Cary back

6 Milers: Monument to Allen, Cary back

NMS: None of the TLM movement were in attendance so the normal 456 routes were offered. Lugnut asked before the start the 4 mile route so he could arm himself with an appropriate weapon against those pesky Pinecones. He opted not to bring his shotgun or broom, instead chosing to run carefully. Good to have you back Lug! YHC forgot to ask if Lugnut opted for the Zamboni feature on his new ride to sweep SOT of cones.

As soon as the PAX hit Commonwealth Saab took off with the normal 6 Milers Sippy and Marv keeping pace. Saab mentioned he got a tune up this week and said his mechanic gave him the all clear for higher mileage. YHC supposes being of Swedish origin Saabs are designed to run better in colder temperatures.

Splinter left YHC, Rosie, and Swirly on Monument and got some extra mileage in.

All 10 made it back safely again today, taking the count of weeks since last directional incident to 2. YHC was somewhat concerned about BackBay but he made it back fine.

Announcements- 45Mom is a full hour on Thanksgiving, normal start time. RVA shirts are up on the F3 Mudgear site.

Let’s be honest, it isn’t always easy finding your way around the streets of the near west end when aren’t from the area.  As a Q, sometimes you spew off a few instructions which, in your mind, are simple left, right, left rights, but to those unfamiliar with the area, may as well be a form of Greek Google Maps.

Heck, we’ve been doing Tuesday Spider Runs for six months now and I could no more Q a run there (other than 10 laps around the pond) than I could a Q in Youngstown, Ohio.

Thus, last week, the unthinkable happened…we lost a pair of runners (almost).  Coming back from the Carrillon, Back Bay and Copernicus (who, ironically, got his name from finding us after we had started) became misplaced in Windsor Farms, a place, we’ve experienced, you don’t want to be misplaced in that early in the morning…or, really, ever.  Thanks to the homing beacon that is Lab Rat, we were able to safely return Back Bay and Copernicus to Mary Munford unharmed.

But it was a good lesson learned.

On Friday, we decided, just to be safe, that we were basically going to do a down and back.  The suggested route had the group hanging a left on Grove, a right on Westmoreland and then a right on one of America’s most famous running routes…Monument Avenue.  From there, the PAX was to run until 22:30 and then turn around and run back.

Theoretically, it didn’t matter if you followed the route or not…as long as you turned around and came back at the 22:30 point, then you were ok.

Fortunately, everyone made it back safely to Mary Munford…including Sippy Cup, who, honestly, probably ran a sub 43:00 10K.  He was going to beat his time that it took to get to the 22:30 mark, and by the looks of how quickly he finished, he did just that.

Enjoy the weekend, group, and enjoy this nice weather and best of luck to anyone that ran in the races around the Marathon.

And always run in pairs.

10 people started a bit of a roll your own workout for today’s edition of RAMM.  Here’s how it went down:

Turn left on grove and run at a leisurely pace for 6 minutes then turn around and meet back at the corner of Westmorland and Grove.  Mosey to the main soccer field for 16 100’ish yd sprints with 45 secs rest in between each.  Line up on Westmorland for indigenous peoples’ run back to the parking lot.  Using the small field by the lot, high knees down and back, butt kickers down and back, Russian soldiers down and back, and one pass at slow, knee to the deck lunges.

We think TYA ran a lot on his own, and Lab Rat searched for him a little.

NMM:  YHC had been thinking about the 16 sprints for some time and even asked for the Q from Lab Rat just to give it a go.  The backstory is that the University of Alabama football team does 16 sprints at the end of practice every week, sixteen sprints for sixteen national titles.  YHC thought that was pretty powerful stuff.  Without giving this drop the mic moment some time to sink in, Splinter immediately said, “Who cares?”  Apparently JMU is not impressed.

On top of this lack of wonder at such an awesome achievement, YHC really didn’t know how hard the sprints would be.  It sounded pretty awful, but the PAX rolled right through and stayed on pace throughout.  You should have seen the wheels on TwoCan!

Re TYA and Lab Rat, I’ll need them to tell their own stories.

Stay Classy,

Toga

A lucky crew of 13 men braved the almost perfect 50 degree weather to trundle down one of the country’s best running routes–Monument Avenue.  Truly, the largest question looming was weather or not a long sleeve shirt was necessary as the temperature was at that sweet spot of being good for short sleeves or long sleeves.

During the first week of April, tens of thousands of people spend upwards of $45 to $50 to run on Monument Avenue in the Monument Ave 10K.  This was the first year that I actually ran it, and really, only because a buddy of mine had a free bib because his friend bailed on him at the 11th hour.  I always regret not running our phenomenal city’s signature running event, but then I realize at any point in time I could put on shoes and run it for free…much like we all did this morning.

It was a relatively easy route, comparatively speaking to the other routes I’ve led us on in the past. To quote Saab (who was sorely missed), “it’s a effing square people.”   Four milers went from Mary Munford to Sauer, to Monument to The Boulevard to Grove and back to Mrs. Munford’s fine elementary school.

Our hearty five mile crew took Boulevard to Cary and got to enjoy all that the CaryTown run has to offer…which is mainly the free smells from Can Can.

The six milers actually went to the Columbus statue at Byrd Park (or Bird Park if you are mapmyrun.com) and went around the lake, headed towards City Stadium (looking oh so pristine…in the dark) then to CaryTown and back to Commonwealth.

Speaking of Columbus.  Raise your hand if you knew that Columbus never (EVER) set foot in America.  That would not have been me until Monday.  Seriously, google it.  Not only did he not step foot in America but he also was pretty much a tyrant and war monger…killing a massive amount of indigenous people in Bermuda.  It’s true.  I mean, I don’t want to compare him to a Hitler or anyone on that scale…but he’s a lot closer to those guys than he is, say, Ricky Bobby.

Yet this week is Columbus week in the first grade at Mary Munford.  Poems, word finds, necklaces, coloring books…the works.  For a guy who was truly an awful person and is known for something he didn’t come close to doing?  Crazy, huh?   The weirdest thing about it is that on Saturday, if you would’ve asked me who discovered America, I probably would’ve said “Columbus.”  Talk about my own Age of Enlightenment.

Either way, I guess the moral of the story is that it’s not a terrible idea to question things.  Or at least surround yourself with people who question things. You may learn something new.  (Seriously, does it bother anyone else that they teach this to our kids?  It. Isn’t. True.)

So here’s to saving $45 on the run, on top of the $100 from other opportunities that are out there for early morning workouts.  Have a blessed weekend, gentlemen, enjoy the sunshine and feel free to give your condolences to Sippy who had to endure my Columbus questioning as we circled the lake.

MARV