Tag: #SOJ

  • 16 Gloom Cats Meowing at the Full Moon

    A solid band of brothers converged to welcome an uprange Q and a local FNG. Here’s how these 16 gloom cats toured the spooky streets of Rountrey, meowing probably too loudly for the sleeping populace. 

    The THANG: 

    WARMERAMA: 

    • Mosey to the end of the lot and circle up
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • A wide selection of excellent Warm-up Reps IC broadening the minds of many newer PAX – yes, there IS more to F3!

    CULDESAC CIRCUIT:

    • Mosey around the hood (maybe 1.6 miles), stopping at x7 culdesacs, with the PAX completing the following at each stop OYO:
    • x5 Burpees 
    • x10 Jump Squats
    • x15 WWII’s

    ALONG THE WAY:

    • The PAX honored the Credo and stopped periodically to ensure the SIX wasn’t left behind
    • At one midway stop, the PAX were guided to complete Broad Jump Herpees
    • Also there were a few uphill slopes by which the PAX ascended via Bernie Sanders

    Mosey BTTF:

    • Elbow Plank for Review of the F3 Mission, Core Principles, and Credo
    • SIX MINS OF MARY – again, widely variable reps wowing the novice minds of many a young PAX

    COT:

    • Counterama # 16
    • Namerama – welcome DR MEOW
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer – Heist 2.0 Max, the death of Brady’s daughter, some back injuries

    NMS:  How many times does it take to EH a guy into F3 who you’ve known for many years? Well, in the case of my Pediatrician colleague Dr Mason, it’s been too many to count. But today was the day! And once he gave the HC last week, YHC jumped on the Q sheet to ensure a high quality beatdown welcome party. Today’s routine was a fun patchwork of many different exercises, easily modifiable, and simple to keep the PAX together regardless of fitness level. This was evident based on how chatty the PAX were, but YHC can attest completing all the exercises as directed was a wonderful sweatfest. Dr Mason lives a few doors down from the Rountrey Clubhouse but since that name was already taken, we went with his license plate moniker “DR MEOW” – so named for his love for cats. Ya’ll can imagine some other quite derogatory options were suggested. This was YHC’s THIRD FNG within the last week, probably just a combination of determination and lovely weather – BUT the encouragement to you all is to KEEP ASKING those guys in your circles – you never know when they’ll finally say yes. Yours AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • 10/25 Smoketree Zombie Run
    • ?1st weekend in Dec – Alamo Chili Cookoff

  • Countdown is on….

    3 weeks till Spartan, this is now a new phase. I have not done an OCR with less weight wasI probably 240-250 at all the other races before. I am at a much lighter weight so this will be the first time I can truly see how the changes feel. Yet today, 11 willing souls came out for a morning workout(the air turned fall real quick, I am not used to that quick change).

    A good warm up to start(SSH, DMH, Ukrainian Soldiers, Copperhead Squats) then added full court runner’s lunge with a twist, waking lunges, side shuffles). After that mosey over to the lot closest to the dog park for a 4 corner feast (25 plank jacks, 50 toe taps, 76 American Hammers, 100 Raise the Roof). Next to the concession area for a TC(People’s chair, tricep dips, Sprint down and up). Quick mosey next door 11s(Mike Tyson’s and Lt. Dan’s). Staying in the lot, Sprint uphill using Deep Dish as a chaser(last round turn after the sprint for BERNIE’S). Down to hear the flag 50 Merkins, 100 Flutters spilt into 2 rounds each. Finally a run around the park at each speed bump burpees starting at 1 and ascending up. We ran out of time so cute it a little short back to the flag for names, announcements prayer led by YHC to close Saturday. Have a good one, see you next time

  • Old men running fast

    At least that’s what it felt like… until we arrived back at the flag with fewer miles than expected.
    Next time we’ll be faster.

  • Living to fight another day

    Despite the early hour of 4am… two PAX in the predawn gloom in search of a few hours of miles for Big Rig, and 24 for YHC. We got a few laps in on some Brandermill paths. Some false starts and pit stops with bathroom trips and forgotten water bottles. Unfortunately YHC started feeling lightheaded and really out of it about 9 miles in. Pushed through and got in about 12. Decided to call it quits there and live to fight another day. Big thanks to Big Rig for continuing to stay with this broken down PAX. Also a TCLAPS to him for going out for one more mile to make sure he got in a half marathon.

    Lesson of the day was to take it easy during the week next time I have a long run planned for the weekend. That’s been difficult during ironPAX season. Thankfully that season is over just in time to taper.

  • Winning = 2 pounds and 1 year lighter

    Seven ruck studs embraced a cool morning to celebrate OC’s successful weight and age loss program. The secret to his success is simply believing he is a year older than he actually is for a while, and then DK reveals the best birthday present possible – “bro, you’re turning 49, not 50…” 

    The THANG: 

    YHC set an EMOM timer to go off every 5 minutes at which point all PAX stop rucking to complete x3 Burpees (ruck packs ON), and the #60 sandbag is passed to another HIM. 

    The PAX completed three loops around the Stony Point Business Complex, and stopped a couple times at the patio area outside Gelati Celesti for variable core reps and review of the F3 Mission, Core Principles, and Credo. 

    Variable mumble chatter included, but was not limited to, advice on how to survive Grow Ruck, making and breaking good and bad habits, and the weather. We enjoyed a lovely coffeerama at Einstein afterwards discussing chapter 3 of “Atomic Habits” and the PAX was fully satisfied with all three F’s being honored. 

    Yours AYE! ~DTH

    COT:

    • Counterama # 7
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Iron Pax at Timberwolf & Lumberyard
    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • 10/2 NOS Meeting, 8pm at DTH’s
    • 10/3-5 GrowRuck in Cary NC
    • 10/4 Handicap Ramp Build (see Gomer)

  • F3 Bon Iron

    The Birth of “W”

    The Pax: Scram, L Woods, Machismo, Machine Head, Spencer (“W”)

    FNGs: 1 (Spencer, named “W”)

    The Q: Machismo

    The Thang: 4 Corners Prostitute-Style, Curb-Work 11s, and a Glorious Wall Detour

    The gloom welcomed five men to Bon Iron this morning, including FNG Spencer, who arrived just in time to catch the final disclaimers—a perfect start to the F3 trial by fire. YHC (Machismo) was quickly reminded that for a new guy, the mental hurdle of seeing a humble water spot and deciding “this is where we execute the LBCs” is part of the beautiful misery we cherish.

    After the mission was stated, we moseyed to the Cancha de Riverside for a proper re-calibration.

    WARMARAMA: Court-Side Calisthenics

    The Pax worked through the non-negotiables to prepare the soft tissue for the abuse to come:

    • SSH (Standard F3 count)
    • Imperial Squat Walkers
    • Mericans (Standard Push-ups)
    • The ever-blessed Don Quixote (Arm circles, forward and back)

    THE THANG: The Road to the Wall

    We stayed on the court to kick things off with a brutal 4 Corners Prostitute-Style beatdown:

    1. Corner 1: 10 Merkins
    2. Corner 2: 20 Squats
    3. Corner 3: 30 LBCs (Making excellent use of the court’s puddles, indeed!)
    4. Corner 4: 40 SSH

    After sufficiently draining the gas tanks and, perhaps, Spencer’s remaining inhibitions, we moseyed across campus to the curbs near the pavilion for classic 11s (descending one side, ascending the other).

    • Dips (Starting at 10)
    • Step Ups (Double count, starting at 1)

    With the clock burning, YHC decided the standard route back was too dull. The final leg was an adventure: a Crawl Bear down the ball field hill and through the woods in search of the border. What did we find waiting for us? A great, beautiful, tremendous Wall (and yes, impersonations ensued). We honored the discovery with 20 Hoe Downs before the final, hard mosey back to the Shovel Flag.

    COT/BOM (Circle of Trust / Ball of Man)

    The FNG, Spencer, stood at attention, ready to receive his permanent name. Given his background in political campaigning and his initiation into the gloom both by men bearing W’s, he was christened: “W”. Win for the second FNG coming to the ranks through Bon Iron. Welcome to the fold, brother! Nice recruiting L Woods.

    Mumble Chatter & Announcements:

    The haul to Riverside is a clock burner, and the baseball fields and parking areas near Bon Air offer plenty of future punishment potential. L Woods offered to take the Q on future occasions, but noted he’ll be Grow Rucking this coming weekend.

    Praises & Prayers:

    • Prayers up for Machine Head desire to have a baby.
    • Prayers for W and L Woods’ friend battling cancer.
    • Continued prayers and congratulations to L Woods and Erica on the pregnancy.
    • Kudos to Scram for outrunning his kids and getting out to keep up the intensity.
    • Prayers for a successful and challenging time for L Woods rucking next weekend.

    Always an honor to lead the men of Bon Iron.

    Aye,

    YHC

  • Welcome to “The Rock”

    Well, after the ruck and workout challenge down at Alamo and other locations. I had a slight feeling today was going to be light turnout(only 2). I decided let’s start Anna see what happens. A small venture over to the court in the mist (by the way at no time we did hide under anything that would be considered a cover. A warm up SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Ukrainian Soldiers a little dead man hang(I heard DTH put everyone thru the ringer Thursday). We started with a good basic 11s(Merkins and squats). Then ventured to the parking lot near the dog park(we had an audience of 3 look at us probably wishing they were with us and not in the fenced in area). 25 jump ropes, 50 ski Jumps, 76 American Hammers, 100 Flutters(a nice 4 corners to get into the groove). To the concession area next for a TC(30 second People’s chair, 20 deep tricep dips feet elevated, run down the steps up the grassy hill).

    Dropping the hammer a little bit with sprints, halfway up turn for Bernies then a light mosey back to the start(4 rounds). A little recovery, then over to the start for a semi DORA(100 Carolina Dry Docks split into 4 rounds of 25 then a little run, followed by 200 toe taps 4 rounds of 50 with 30 jump ropes. I had an idea I want to really brunt it and this will be the new Mudslide standard at the end: 2 laps around the park at spots ascending burpees 1-5, second lap descending 5-1. The goal is to do 2 laps but the total burpees numbers will be higher. At 3.5 total miles, we were done.

    i enjoyed today, yesterday though I needed to shut down yet it looked like I grew and the body really recovered where it was looking good after the rest. The park is starting to come around the baseball fields are going to look real nice once completed. For me, now on I will call RNR “The Rock” I like the name of by the way send some sympathy to a certain Richmond officer who’s a FSU football supporter(another big loss to UVA yet again). See you next gloom as Aerosmith would say “I’m back in the saddle again!!!”

  • The Things We Do For Beer

    ”You attract bees with honey” is a famous saying. Tonight showed you attract ruckers with beer! 12 (but then 13 after Cookie ate his pancakes and 14 after Ponch was told to get his ass out there) came out for what will be the first of many CSAUP Rucks!

    THE THANG

    Swoop kicked it off with ruckless 11s and ruck-on 4 corners around Alamo and we proceeded on our way. Crabgrass had a surprise for the PAX at the top of a dirt mound at a construction site where we found 6 sandbags waiting for us. Quick triple check with runner carrying sandbags + planks & SSH.

    We carried our 6 new sandbag friends with us as we made our way to Satans Hill. We split the group in half Team A) carry the sandbags to top of hill with rucks on and back. Team B) line up and do snake order merkins until Team A returns. Round 2 same thing but with jump squats.

    made our way to Old Hundred and Warby had a diabolical chart of exercises associated with letters. Spell your name and pay the price. Those with 5 or less letters had to spell their name twice!

    Began our 2.5 mile trek home to Alamo

    4 hours, 9.5 miles later we gathered around Alamo parking lot and began cracking open beers and enjoying some much earned guy time! Great work everyone, we pushed it hard today and no doubt each of us will be exhausted tonight and feeling it tomorrow, but we had smiles on our face the whole time and we all are glad we made it out tonight. One thing is for sure – we need more of these and there will be!

    THE HIGHLIGHTS

    1.5 miles in and Warby’s sole separates from his shoe. Thanks to some McGyver gorilla tape, we fix his “flat”. One mile later, his other shoe disintegrates and we need even more tape to get him back on the road. The fact that he completed another 7 miles in this janky setup is beyond words (see photo)

    Ponch’s daughter arrived home while we ascended Satans Hill and she was given a message to give her pops…”Get Your Ass out there”…and he obliged!!

    Special shoutout to Focker who answered a 10pm SOS call for some size 8.5-9 shoes for a ‘vagabond’ barely surviving.

    Thanks DTH for cranking the tunes even though one PAX was concerned the ‘house in the woods’ would be awoken by Bittersweet Symphony and seek revenge. Crank it up!

    14 HIMs have never had a beer that tasted so good. It’s so good when it touches your lips!

    Thank you to those who organized and thank you to those who supported. A great night for F3 RVA!

  • Seven Sweatfest Years

    A robust PAX of 18 celebrants posted to the Forge in support of DTH completing Seven Years in F3. Their reward for posting was, as expected, a one of a kind ride on the pain train mixing pure sweatfest brutality with a theme of sevens, a nice tour of the AO, lovely background beats to keep the energy flowing, and generating a little Garmin sketch with our movements. Here’s to seven years! 

    The THANG: 

    WARMERAMA: 

    • Mosey over in front of the school and circle up
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • Warm-up Reps (always x7 reps IC)

    SEVEN OF DIAMONDS:

    • Stops for the usual ascending/descending  reps were seemingly random, but in fact drew out a Garmin image shown below
    • x7 Burpees at 4 Points
    • x14 WWII at 4 Points
    • x21 Ball Dippers at 4 Points
    • x28 LBC’s at 4 Points
    • x21 Sumo Squats at 4 Points
    • x14 Hand Release Merkins at 4 Points
    • x7 Burpees at 4 Points
    • Mosey BTTF

    SEVEN MINUTES OF MARY:

    • Variable core reps IC usually to some number divisible by seven

    COT:

    • Counterama # 18
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer

    NMS:  Whew! First time in a while YHC felt the bile rising and a little light headed as we concluded the Seven of Diamonds. Appeared all PAX present were soaked with sweat and the mumble chatter had died about half way through the sets, hence the confidence in this sweatfest making into the F3RVA annals of all time toughest beatdowns… well, maybe under the subsection of anniversary workouts, within the chapter of DTH… Haha, anyway, thank you to Beaver and Choo Choo coming all the way out from New Kent, and Handshake/SF/Gaudi coming down from the West End. Very much appreciate all you guys! Seven years down, 37 to go? AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Iron Pax at Timberwolf & Lumberyard
    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • 9/26 Night Ruck CSAUP
    • 10/2 NOS Meeting, 8pm at DTH’s
    • 10/3-5 GrowRuck in Cary NC

  • Frogs and Hoes

    9 strong at the latest edition of the FORGE! Here a brief summary for your viewing pleasure:

    Mosey to the lower circle for Warm Ups: Ski Jumps, Ukrainian Soldiers, Overhead Claps, Shoulder Taps, Double Tap HR Merkins, Alabama Prom Dates, Freddy Mercuries, Knee Pulls, Karaoke, Mummy Kicks.

    To the Tennis Courts for Exercise One: 4 Corners: Big Pimpin’ Edition. Basically, a double 4 corners prostitute. When you get to the last corner, you return to that corner on the second half – or something to that effect.
    Exercises included 10 Merkins, 20 Bobby Hurley’s, 30 Plank Jacks, 40 double ct. Flutter Kicks.

    Exercise Two: Elbow Plank Ladder. Everyone lines up and gets in elbow plank. Man in the back hurdles each PAX, then planks up at the front of the line. Made our way up the hill.
    Note to self: Use the sidewalk or grass next time.

    Mosey to the base of Mt. Chaplain for exercise 3:
    Deconstructed 11’s. 10 HR Merkins, 1 Crab Cake. Normal 11’s pattern, but no running. Upon completion – 11 hill repeats. We ran out of time and ending up finishing 4 or 5. Big Rig and I had discussed trying this on Saturday. BTTF.

    YHC took us out

    Final Thoughts: Excellent effort by all of the PAX on this misty morning! Lots of cool events coming up, including the Convergence and SOS Ruck event. As always, check Slack for details.

    SYITG