Tag: Spider Run

A Lucky Seven wet race horses rose to run in the gloom and try the new route.  There was an immediate hesitation as the Pax braced for the directions that would be known the Cardinal Run.  The directions were solid and no one got lost.

The Route:

Head west along the lake, up the route past the baseball field to the Robbins Center.  Ascend the hill by the stadium and up Boatwright to Three Chopt.  Cross Three Chopt and take Honaker to Patterson.  Cross Patterson and head east one block.  Take a left on Roxbury.  Roxbury to West Franklin.  West on West Franklin to Charles.

5s/6s take Charles north crossing Monument and go to Crestview Elementary.  Turn around and return to Charles/West Franklin.

4s/5s/6s – Continue heading west on West Franklin to Register Parkway and take a left taking it to Patterson.  All groups should be at Patterson/Three Chopt.

4s/5s head east on Three Chopt taking a right on Bandy Road until it turns into a bamboo trail and drop down the hill in the back.  Take the lit trail back to UR and come down and around the Robbins Center to the lake.

6s head west on Patterson to Westham Parkway.  Westham Parkway to Lakewood and go left until it ends at the lake.  Take a left on College and come around the baseball fields back to the lake.

YHC took us out.

NMS:

YHC was not certain of who would show up this morning as I arrived a little early.  The pull of the FS must have been strong for many, but Bleeder showed up and the rest quickly rolled in.

YHC missed the turn for Register Parkway, prompting Saab’s comments about the navigation abilities of a cardinal.  That might explain why you see so many year round.  As evidence, let it be known that the map states otherwise and a turn should have been present:

There you go!

Not too much discussion afterwards as the rain was soaking through.  Welcome the first day of Spring!

ABT,

Lockjaw

Nine intrepid runners were not deterred from the cold and ice for this week’s edition of Spider Run.

The Routes:  Devil’s Pitchfork – 5 milers did three peaks, 6 milers did 4 peaks.

Marv took us out.

NMS:

The roads were certainly not the slip and slide that we experienced back in January, but there was plenty of hidden ice.  Open pockets of clean roads with ice interspersed kept everyone on their toes ready to tuck and roll.  Shakedown was taken down on some of this treacherous ice, but without too much injury.

Announcements:

• CSAUP – 1 month to go!  Get a team and train.  For non-runners, Team Tuckahoe is in need of a couple of Pax to run the Hoedown party zone for a couple of hours.  Let me know if you want to volunteer.
• Great job on the Belmonte for Shakedown, Upchuck, and Honey Do.  Great accomplishment.
• Splinter’s basketball brackets are up.  See yesterday’s Hoedown backblast for details.

Time to Taper,

Lockjaw

YHC wanted to run the bridge this morning hoping to catch a sunrise over the bridge before the time change next weekend reverts us back to morning darkness.

The Routes – Over the river and downstream to appropriate turn arounds at Shirley (Shirley you must be kidding!) for the 5s, and beyond the quarry for the 6s.  It seems this RVA Pax is geographically challenged as most of the route overview was spent conveying which way the river flows.  A couple of the Pax, not naming names, need a compass.

Shakedown and I came across a group of about 30 or so runners with nearly identical running headlamps and reflective running jackets.  Who they were we may never know, but they were a sight indeed, and in fact the name of this backblast.  Upon our return trip over the bridge we could see them coming upstream next to the river with their reflection in the water.  Running with a photographer (Shakedown) with a good eye granted YHC awareness of the awe of what is visible, but not necessarily apparent.

Announcements:

• Congrats TYA on the 100 miler.  Quite an accomplishment indeed.  I hope your crew has a speedy recovery as well.
• CSAUP is upon us.  We need Tuckahoe nano-region non-CSAUP-runners (Pucker, Ronnie, TwoCan, Plush, Keymaster, and so on) to man our party zone for a few hours late night on the 13th.  See Lockjaw if a couple of you can do that.
• Good Luck for those doing Bel Monte (Upchuck, Honey Do, Flashdance, and Shakedown) this weekend.  Its going to be a great run.

Time to Taper,

Lockjaw

Ten noble steeds, including the one armed bandit, gathered in the pre-dawn for this morning’s iteration of Spider Run.  Splinter commandeered the Q from Lockjaw who had it for the past month.  Not surprising, Lockjaw wasn’t Q’ing so he didn’t post.  Route went something like this:

Rather straightforward 4 mile loop.  Run across the lake, meander up the hill to Keller and out the College Drive entrance.  Cross College, up Glen Pkwy and take a right on Westham.  Westham all the way to Patterson, right on Patterson, Right on Horsepen.  Cut through fraternity row, back by the baseball field and back to the VSF.

5 milers took a left on University and ran across Ridge and up to Ralston.  Turn around and come back to Westham and complete the loop.  Adding the long way around the lake to finish.

6 milers did the 5 mile route and took a right on Waveny, working down to Horsepen then turning around and heading back to Westham.  Follow the 4 mile route to Horsepen, left on Glen, right on Ridge Top, left up Chandler and back down.  Continue on Ridge Top, cutting through fraternity row and back to the VSF.

Moleskin
Marvelous morning for a run.  Light six mile crew this morning but conversation centered around all the positives of parents living vicariously through kids sports.  Everyone is injury free and gearing up for the CSAUP.

Great to see Wheelbarrow out there this morning.  Must be the pull of CSAUP training.  SoJ is looking strong and may be able to field 2 teams.  Keep recruiting.

Saab was a blur this morning.  Ran to the AO, ran around, then ran home.

TClaps to Two Can for keeping the PAX abreast of Gen Z lingo.  Parties aren’t parties anymore, they are kickbacks.

Keep kicking back gentlemen.  Crank up some Angus Young and enjoy the day.

Splinter out.

9 runners of the two legged variety and 1 four legged canine runner embraced spring like weather for a run.

We did the nameless route that we did a couple of weeks ago when it snowed.  Today we did it in reverse.

Here is the 5 mile variation of the route.  Six milers swing out to Marv’s house for a more true figure 8.

Marv took us out.

NMS:

Spring was in the air today not only in temperature, but with a chorus of frogs singing along the canal.  Speaking of creatures with habits, there was another Keymaster sighting about a tenth of a mile from where we saw him the other time we did this route.  Tuesday at this time, you can set your watch to Keymaster.  When we called out this time, he did reply quickly and clearly.  Now he just needs to explain to his other workout group what a Keymaster and Lockjaw are and what F3 is.

Post race conversation centered around CSAUP planning and motivational aides for running.  Among other things, part of RP’s strategy is to let Kenya run most of the CSAUP.  The trick is to lay dog biscuits along the route and at all turns, because you know dogs can’t read maps.  At least, not very well.

Finally, this route needs a name.  Ziontown, Old Westham, and Kanawha jump out to YHC as route names.  Or perhaps we focus on where Keymaster is from in Ghostbusters since we always seem him here: Gozer.  Pax, go ahead and name it in the comments.

Always Be Tapering,

Lockjaw

Ten Road Scholars showed up for this week’s Spider Run.

We ran the Honaker routes.  Up the main entrance and take Campus/Towana to the access road by Three Chopt.  Left on Grove.  4s turn left on Maple, 5s on Wilton (then left on Dillwyn, right on Seneca), and 6s on Wisteria.  Everyone takes Patterson west to Honaker.  Honaker across Three Chopt and down Boatwright.  Past the Robin’s Center, cut across the parking lot and down the lake.  4s and 6s take a left to the VSF and 5s take a right to go around the lake to the VSF.

Wedding Singer took us out.

NMS:

Pre-run, TYA went into CSAUP recruitment mode, enlisting Dutch and Bootleg for Team RP.  YHC got a hard commit from Taxi Cab for a West End team.  These week’s of training are paying off and he is getting ready.

Bootleg was lost in his tracks somewhere on the route.  The Pax sent a search party out for him afterwards.  Little did Bootleg know when he signed up for Team RP, that it came with TYA’s “lost runner insurance”.  He will cover the ends of the earth to keep his team fit for race day.  Hopefully, he will turn up.

Time to Taper,

Lockjaw

9 Descended to the Bottom of All Hills:  The start of Spider Run

The Routes:

4s, 5s, 6, all start and finish the same way.

Exit UR using the River Rd entrance near the intramural fields and go across the shopping center to pick  up Westham Station.  Climb the hill as it turns into Ridge and take the Country Squire jug handle to Westham Parkway.

At the University Dr intersection, 4s take a right and do a lap and a half around the lake.  5s and 6s, turn left and head west.  Dogleg right at Ralston to pick up University again and take until it turns into Ziontown.  Take Ziontown to Ridge and cut behind the church to Forest.

5s continue across Forest on Lakewood, dogleg at Westham Parkway and down University Dr to the lake and SF.

6s head north on Forest, right on Rock Creek, right on Baldwin, right on Westham Parkway and left down University Drive.

Clear?  Its really just the same roads that keep changing names.

YHC took us out.

NMS:

It was good to see Taxi Cab who has been Kotters.  YHC e-mailed him regarding the CSAUP and said if he didn’t come back out, we would run to his house and do APDs in the front yard.  Needless to say, he came to us and then crushed 5 miles like its nothing.

The snow was a nice touch today.  Unlike the slip and slide several weeks ago, this is the winter weather YHC does not mind running in.

While on Country Squire, we intersected another running group coming from the other direction.  One looked like Keymaster, but he didn’t respond to his F3 name.  Keymaster, was that you?

Announcements:

• CSAUP – F3RVA Century Classic – Teams are forming.  Join one or start your own.
• Thoughts go to Bleeder today as he gets his bicep repaired.  Buddy, you gotta hold back putting up eight plates on bench!  In all seriousness, it wasn’t the bench and we hope you have a speedy recovery.
• Thoughts go to Toga and his knee surgery which will hopefully bring him back to top running form and back to F3 soon.

Time to Taper,

Lockjaw

Eight moist, yes I said it, spider runners gathered under the drive through in preparation for a run in the rain.  We waited, and waited and waited until 5:29 when YHC threw out Plan B.

Route was over the river.  Take the normal route out the south UR entrance, across the shopping center, across the bridge and downriver to various turn around points.  Loop around the half cloverleaf for 4 milers (no takers today).  Turn around at rock falls for 5 milers.   6 milers pulled an audible and turned right just past rattlesnake creek and meander our way up to Cherokee.  Everyone turned around and made it safely back to the start.

Moleskin
YHCs streak of impeccable instructions continues.  Today’s route was familiar.  Instructions included go across the bridge and go downriver.  Turn around where you see fit and come back.  Singer looked slightly confused but was working it out in his head and confirmed with:  “if you are coming across the bridge you go left, correct?”.  Correct.  Someone else retorted with “go under the bridge”.  Saab attempted to clarify the instructions by telling everyone to go west which was incorrect.  Whichever your preference, Singer’s, the retorter’s or my original downriver instructions would have been accurate.  West, unfortunately, was inaccurate.

Great run today.  It was nice to have a headwind at the start so it would follow us home.

Announcements
– CSAUP.  Everyone is excited.  Team captains starting to emerge.
– BRR.  Only hard commits accepted.  See preblast

Splinter out.

Twelve Spiderlings gathered by the commons to witness a series of perfectly clear instructions.  The majority were able to follow (including Fudd), were you?

Route
There was a basic 4 mile loop with two offshoots, each one adding an additional mile.  4 miler loop included navigating out the south entrance, towards the bridge, right on Westham Station, up south ridge, across to Westham, right on Baldwin, right on Wood, left on Lakewood and back to the start via a pass by the baseball field.

5 milers were <<supposed>> to add on Ross.  Half-way up S. Ridge instructions were to take a left and go to the bottom of the hill and come back up.  Only 29% of the 5 milers followed directions, the others followed Lab Rat?

Six milers first took a right on Old Bridge then right on Hillside.  Up to River and back down.  Then also do the Ross hill.

Moleskin
Fudd reveled in the clear directions this morning.  Hitting every turn (1) correctly.  Others need some self reflection on this realization.

Marv inexplicably consumed mexican, wine and Stella Artois last night and thought that would go well on his run this AM.  Saab forgot his banana which will likely screw up his entire day.

Great to see Sugar Sock on his first Spider Run jaunt.  Don’t be discouraged by your fellow runner’s inability to listen to instructions.  There are some good routes around UR.  Complicated but good.

Announcements
– Double dip opportunity for the CSAUP for those that want to run the monument 10k.  Run your 2 legs early and be primed for the run up and down monument

Splinter out