2 SOJ runners met up at Rockwood Park to get some miles in. Boberry got in 6 or 7 then had to get back to go to work. YHC did a long tour of the surrounding neighborhoods, while fine tuning hydration and refueling strategies for his upcoming marathon. Somewhere early on 2 bananas fell from his pack.
Steamer was spotted running around trying to find Tin Man and Pierogi for RocknRoll. Word has it there was a hot potato.
The color of Dealer’s truck is predicted to be the hottest debate topic of Spring 2025. As early mornings in the gloom continue to mask parking lots in darkness it will be hard to verify if his truck is dark grey or the olive green he claims. That was just about everything we discussed during the beatdown because the boys got after it this morning!
Six lean and mean HIMs moseyed down to the backside of the football field for warmarama and then a triple check against the snack bar compiled of people’s chair and donkey kicks while the timer ran. With our legs awake we set out on a journey down light pole alley. We lunged, bear crawled, shuffled, and sometimes walked, between poles where we added a burpee at each stop. After 45 burpees we regrouped in the lower parking lot for a few trips up and down Mt. Chaplain. After 5 merkins and WWIIs we ran from the lower parking lot to the top of Mt. Chaplain, then back down to the next closest parking lot for 4 merkins and WWIIs. We continued that cadence until all parking lots were merkined and then we caught our breath at the top of the hill.
We finished off the morning with cliff hanger holds at the top of the hill (on your six, facing downhill, hold feet of the ground) and then a plank ring of fire at the flag!
Announcements
Prayer Requests
11 grown-boys ran around the parking lot at Satan’s Hill today. With songs from American PIE playing in the background, here’s what went down…
COP #1 – EMOM with coupons. QTY (3) exercises with a run length of (14) parking spaces.
COP #2 – Ring of Fire
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRAYERS/WINS
YHC had a lot on the mind this morning so things may have been a bit scattered. Still managed to get the juices flowing and enjoyed being able to lead y’all!
Two pre gloom zombies got in some miles at the latest edition of the graveyard shift. Work was as follows: 2 mile warm up, 4 miles with Easter mile faster than the last, 2 mile cool down. We managed to hit those marks despite some uncharted road and unexpected uphills. TCLAPS Big Rig going strong in his training for the Roanoke Marathon!
6 HIMs came out for a new rendition of grown men doing grown boy things – Capture the Flag
Rudy led the pax to the front parking lot for a warmarama. Then split the group into teams of 3.
Round 1
Team Blue headed to basketball courts, Team Black to the front of the school. YHC headed around to the bus loop and surprised the piss outta Rudy, spooking him into the 1-2 combo of a Dumar Hermey defensive trap. With the advantage we pressed to the flag. McGruff is really good at hiding in bushes and gave YHC a good chase. Hermey and Crabgrass couldn’t find the flag and eventually were tagged out. Dumar and McGruff were locked in to a draw. Lesson learned, don’t hide the flags and condense the field of play
Intermission – BLIMPS on the hill
Round 2
Team Blue in the bus loop, Team Black at the Tomahawk Creek sign. Both teams felt the best strategy was to loop around from the street. Aisle 5 and McGruff struck early, grabbing BLUE flag but Dumar turned on the speed and recaptured the flag. Hermey knows that you attract bees with honey, and he gave Rudy some honey to look at. Enamored by Hermey’s fluid movements, YHC maneuvered along the tree line and made a move in the flag. A quick snatch drew Rudy’s attention and the race was on. Rudy forgot YHC got some new shoes and never stood a chance – smoked him! (YHC reserves the right to embellish)
BTTF for a ring of fire Squat style.
announcements and prayers and we were out. Prayers for Dumar’s dad and celebrate Rudy’s recent victory with his job search.
Was fun out there today. There may have been some uncertainty of what Crabby and Rudy had in store, but we all walked away with a big smile on our face today.
A swarthy seven were kind enough to wait for a last-minute NTB arrival for this week’s rendition of Ruckhenge! YHC launched out of bed late (really need to check the alarm settings) and that same rush of adrenaline to get to the AO on time set the tone for our fast pace through the forest and around Stony Point mall. We returned to the parking lot where we narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by a Karen who was eager to get her bagels before us even if it meant running us over.
Announcements:
Prayer Requests
Four Horsemen came out to The Bermuda Triangle, for the hottest potato Goyne Park has ever seen.
Hard to remember everything, but there was a vicious version of arm circles from Pool Boy, a trio of ab exercises from Posh, a leg circuit in Pole Alley from YHC, and a merkin mosey from Broadway.
Great time with the Bermuda Boys. Looking forward to some warm weather.
3 Amigos did some extra credit on the playground at Ecoff Elementary. The usual pull ups, dips, jerkins, and I think I saw Posh doing some calf raises?
Many important topics of conversation. Left me wondering… What’s the difference between a Dude Wipe, and a baby wipe?
17 HIMs came out to workout and help YHC celebrate his one year F3 anniversary! Shortly after joining F3, I read The Comfort Crisis and became inspired to ruck, do GORuck events and take on challenges I had not previously in life. I listen to the authors Two Percent podcast and have incorporated some of his workouts into F3 Qs
I’ve been thinking about what workout I wanted to do for my one year, and I hadn’t landed on anything, but then this week the head of F3 joined Michael Easter on his podcast to talk about what F3 is. Afterwards, he sent Easter an F3 workout, Kool Aid, and he posted it on Friday. To have the two things I have leaned on heavily in my fitness journey to intersect ironically at my one year was incredible! Funny how life has a way of doing that from time to time. So today, we did Kool Aid (Extra Sugar)
Complete that circuit, take a quick breather, then do it again in reverse. Finished up with a few seconds to spare!
Whew, gonna feel that one tomorrow.
announcements and prayers and YHC took us out.
I want to thank everyone who has been a part of this journey since I started a year ago. The truth is, every time I chose comfort over effort, I was making a choice to settle. I chose to ignore things in my life, but eventually came to the realization that I had every opportunity to change, but yet I chose to stay the same. That’s a burden that no amount of time will change.
The best time to plant a tree was 25 years ago, but the second best time to plant a tree is today. It doesn’t matter what you did or did not do yesterday, you can make the choice to change things at any time. The hardest part about F3 is showing up. If you can commit to getting out of bed, the rest is easy. I made the commitment to myself that I wanted to be better and I haven’t looked back since. Thank you for all the support, it’s meant the world to me!
Enough sappy talk for one day, let’s get back to complaining about how much YHC made us run today…
2 Premature Accelerators took to the trails and streets in and around Rockwood Park for a nice easy 7 miler this morning. Final mile was a good push to finish strong. Great conversation with Broberry as usual. We both headed home to pick up our 2.0s for Bo and Rubble’s Co Q of RocknRoll