Tag: Spider Run

With spring in the air, eight runners showed today to work some hills.

Head around the baseball field and up past the football stadium and ascend snake hill.  4s and 5s take a side street to cutover to Bandy Field to the Village Shopping Center.  Head west on Patterson and pick up Westham Parkway.  Run the length of the parkway and double back to the baseball field, down the hill, and around the lake.

4 milers cut short on Westham and didn’t have the lake loop.  6 milers didn’t get Bandy Field but had some quality distance on Patterson.

Bleeder took us out.

NMS:

This workout kicks in with hills from the start.  No warm up; just a nice sustained climb.  Bandy Field was a nice diversion with opportunities to sneak up on various wildlife (several rabbits and raccoons).

On our Westham cruise, the 5 milers were tempted to ring upchuck’s doorbell.  Hopefully he posted somewhere or next time he is fair game to persuade him out of the FS.

The Pax was moving today.  Singer continues to push the distance and pace.  Taxi and EF were cruising and ready to race.  The 6 milers did well despite a couple of days of hard workouts leading up to this.  Good showing all around.

Splinter was a ringer for the Sippy Cup look-alike contest.  Vest, visor, and sippy cup complete the look.

Several of us continued with some second F while watching the seals at work.  Some familiar faces may be our new FNGs.

Lockjaw

9 stallions posted for a Tuesday morning spider run.  70 and sunny as always

The Thang:

6 milers head up the hill to the main entrance and make a loop on campus.  Take the back entrance out of UR, through the shopping center, over the bridge, west on Riverside, 4 milers turn at park, all others proceed west until you hit Cherokee and turn back around and head back to the lake.

NMM:

1 year anniversary of Spider Run.  In my humble opinion this is the best road running venue we have in Richmond.  There are so many options at Spider run that we rarely do the same route more than a couple of times.  If we do, there always seems to be a twist to the run.  Today was no different.  The fast runners did a 8/10 of a mile hilly run before setting out to catch up with the rest of the PAX.  Every time a PAX member was caught, he owed 5 burpees at the finish.  YHC  forgot to do my 15 punishment burpees at the end, so pounded them out at the office this morning.

Great to see Circle K out for the first time at Spider run.  He and Pucker were leading the 5 milers for most of the run.  Circle K was really focused on making sure he had his headlight on this morning.  So much so that he did not focus on his keys.  Both his keys and his phone were inside the car so he was temporarily stuck.  He hitched a ride to his wife’s office so he could borrow her car and rescued his car via locksmith because for some reason, he does not have a spare key.  Much cheaper to pay $50 to unlock the key than to dole out the $1.49 for a spare key or two.  Just saying.

One modern day problem that he had as well was the lack of phone.  He had many phones to borrow to make a call, but because all the numbers are saved in the phone, the only one he knew was his spouses’. So, he couldn’t call his office or anyone else to help him.  Good lesson for all of us.  Learn a few phone numbers in case you ever need a lifeline (I still have not programmed Bleeder’s number into my phone for that reason alone)

Singer continues to hone his running skills.  When he asked me this morning about the five mile route, I kept giving him the directions for the four.  It took me until the halfway point to realize he was in fact going to do the five mile route.  He rocked it today, pumping in 5+ miles for the first time at F3?  He has the Monument Ave 10k on his calendar for the weekend.  Good luck Singer…..

Saab was flying this morning and lapped everyone…..except.  That is right, Bleeder.  He nearly caught up to Bleeder on the last stretch.  But once Bleeder saw him, he turned on his short stint jets and sprinted for the last quarter mile.  Dude has sprinting wheels.  Saab was on a mission.  He caught up to the five milers at the turnaround point.  Thats right he did 3.6 miles in the time it took us to do 2.7.  Ridiculous.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes for YHC today.  Humbled by the number of birthday wishes in person, tweet, email, and text that I received.  Great to have so many great friends out there.  Thanks.  P.S.  This will be my last birthday.  54 is far old enough!

TYA Out

9 Pax  including one virgin Spider Runner gathered for some hill repeats on a warmish March morning.

Route:  Nice and easy lap around the lake, followed by gathering at the bottom of Towana Rd.  Run up to the intersection of Campus Dr. and back down in repeat. The Pax was instructed to focus on running the downhills at good speed, but resting as much as possible on the ups.  Return to the start.

COT-YHC took us out.

NM:

Strong running today, gents.  We were missing a few of the regulars (Swirly who is in an air cast?!) and TYA who headed up to DaVille this morining.  But it was nice to see Wedding Singer, who has been working on his running lately, come out for the first time.  Be assured, Singer, this was not a typical Spider run.  Saab as usual crushed the hills, and Splinter made good use of his long strides on the steeper portions of the route.  The downhills presented a good challenge and a good quad-thrashing for all, including YHC.

This is a good type of workout to work in regularly as we head to BRR training season–it will help us be strong on the downhill parts of the course.

Four mentally-questionable men ran today
The duck stares
Five mile circle to honor Pi day
The duck, never cold, still stares
Green flashes light up the airways
The duck still stares
Post-run huddle under the archway
Those armor piercing duck eyes still staring
How much does a post-run BT weigh?
The duck, walking backwards, still staring
Does the commons have a bidet?
Duck, we have no bread, why the constant stare?
Time to disperse and go conquer the day, aye!

Announcements
– No HDHH this month @ Splinter’s.  See BB for replacement venue and acknowledgement of disappointment.

Splinter out

Nine runners strong, not quite a flock of seagulls, including 2 Spider Run Kotters convened at the base of artificial lake Westham for this week’s iteration of Spider Run.  Having signed up prior to Saab’s bedtime, YHC took the reins and dusted off one of our more well established runs for a mosey up Mount Henrico.  Some slight alterations were made to facilitate fewer instructions:

– Mosey around the lake and up by the baseball field, across the parking lot
– Pass through fraternity row and take a left on Hampshire
– Hampshire turns to Baldwin.  Stay on Baldwin through various jogs until you hit Rock Creek.
– Left on Rock Creek
– Slight left on Forest, immediate right on University
– 6 milers add the Arlington circle loop both directions
– Right on Glendale, left on Julian
– To the top of the mountain and back
– Lap around the lake for those who wanted more

YHC took us out, battling through various distractions from our sea-faring mammal relatives.

Moleskin

YHC waiting until about 7:30 last night to sign up as Q was still open.  Saab was just settling down for a long winter’s nap and YHC knew he needed to sign up before bedtime to avoid any confusion.  Thanks for the mumblechatter on the run today, YHC enjoyed every bit of it.

After our route, upon returning to our lair, spring was clearly evident.  Birds chirping, sun rising and the rare sighting of the great migration of the Atlantic seal, back to it’s warmer weather fishing grounds.  The seal, surprisingly absent this winter, has begun it’s re-emergence.

Speaking of fishing, two of Fudd’s favorite indulgences were spotlighted on the cover of this month’s iteration of Blue Ridge Outdoor.  Fly fishing and tomatoes can result in very compelling journalism.  Clearly transforming the sport.

Speaking of tomatoes, TYA clearly has a way with the fairer sex.  A warm exchange of pleasantries was attempted post COT.  Unfortunately for TYA, the pleasantries were only exchanged one way.  Couldn’t blame it on the tights this week and no audible ‘F’ bombs were witnessed.  Still ISO the cause of the aforementioned one-way exchanges.

Glad to hear Sippy did his research and found that YHCs claim that Patterson/Parham is the highest point in Henrico is not false.  There may be other contending high points but this is one of them.  Hopefully we can work in Mount Richmond one of these days.

Annoucements

– Toga is still searching for a volunteer to sleep in his tent with him for the Ragnar.  You may even get your own tent.  See him for details.
– Still need a few folks that want to gather in the great smokey mountains to inhale some spring pollen and run a little race.  See Swirly or TYA if interested
– HDHH next Wednesday snow or shine.  http://f3nation.com/2017/02/27/preblast-march-hdhh/

Splinter out.

Take the bat cave entrance, cross the shopping center, and down Westham Station Road (WSR).

Take a right and ascend Panorama, then down.

Continue down WSR to Old Bridge Road – go up and ascend Highland at the fork.

Back down to the fork and ascend Old Bridge.

Return to WSR.  4 milers head back to the SF.  5 milers climb Panorama and back.  6 milers continue out WSR and climb South Ridge Road to the top; then return to the SF.

Sippy Cup did a fine job taking us out.

NMS:

YHC was contemplating a Mardi Gras themed run on this fine Fat Tuesday but the thoughts of how this Pax may elect to earn their beads caused some concern.  I decided to stick with a straight hill run beatdown.  Trace the run on a map and you can see why it has earned such a respectable name.

Not much mumble chatter on the run as we were all business hitting those hills.  Post run discussion included:

-How TYA passes his time.  Best of luck to you and your recovery.

-Reminiscing about the first Splinter HHDH.  An event that led to the very brief, yet memorable, epoch of RVAF3 history – the kinder, gentler Toga.  I wonder what life changing events will come of this upcoming event?

-Talk of the upcoming races.  Spots open for each include non-runner support positions.  See Toga for Ragnar and Swirly for Smokey Mountains.

-Local news was filming in our vicinity perhaps background filler video.  Maybe we will make a cameo.

8 Strong posted this morning @ Spider Run and this was the route…

Run out of  campus – through TYA’s bat cave – up and over the bridge down the ramp to rock falls road – back up the ramp over the bridge through the shopping center – through campus and back to the flag! The 6 milers added a nice new hill to this route which I’m sure the 5 milers will get the opportunity to experience soon:)

Mumble Chatter : The Corporate truck was full of laughter this morning. YHC and TYA noticed Saab running in the gloom towards the truck and he joined us as well as Splinter. Once Splinter arrived we had a quorum and the corporate meeting could begin.. The topic was Saab and his 1% body fat – TYA said Saabski’s member is what made up the 1% and as you can imagine things escalated from there !!! YHC was thrilled to see EF Hutton post @ Spider run and he did a fantastic job for his first time out – well done dude – come on back.. TYA is in the best running shape I have ever seen him in – dude looked like he could have run another 20 miles this morning – keep it up TYA – awesome work man!  Bleeder left the pax instantly as he sped away on his bike saying to YHC – don;t wait for me bro I gotta get some miles in – atta baby Bleeder! Not sure where my buddy BT was this morning but never fear corporate will find out 🙂 The 6 milers crushed it this morning even finding a new hill to run thanks to Splinters GPS…

Great job this morning guys – what a beautiful morning and a great way to start the day… Big thanks to Saab for taking us out…

Announcements : Splinter has the March HDHH – stay tuned on details for that ( Splinter usually sends out a spread sheet – and you know he loves to explain the instructions 🙂  it’s sure to be a good time- big thanks to Splinter for hosting! There are some runs coming up and you can still participate if you have not signed up for an event yet please do so – we have Bel Monte – Smokey Mountain Relay – and Ragnar…

See y’all in the gloom – Swirly out…

8 motivated and fleet posted for a morning spider run.  Weather was 70 and sunny, no humidity.

The Thang:

Warm up lap around the lake, mosey to bottom of hill from lake.  Pair up (with someone of differing skills).  We did a circle loop (approximately .85 miles).  One pax runs the hill one way, other pax the other way.  Meet in the middle and turn around. Repeat 2x then switch directions and repeat two more times.  Keep going until 6:15.

NMM

Today was essentially hill repeats with a partner.  For the slower partner (me, since I was with Marv), distance was a little bit less, but since the top of each run was relatively flat, you got the benefit of just as much of the hills.  I was having a “wilson” moment before the run as I was really stressed out about having an odd number or runners because I would have had to adjust the plan.  Thankfully, 8 showed and all was right with the universe.

I was grumpy coming into the run today due to a not so stellar day yesterday.   Posting to the run definitely helped in a couple of ways.  First, just exercising is always good.  Running puts some good endorphins in your body and sets your mind straight.  Second F always helps at the end too, just hanging out for few minutes just BSing makes the small issues fall away.  Finally, hearing someone else’s struggles and issues tends to make your’s minor.  One of the new PAX members talked about a challenge he and is family is currently facing.  They were clearly attacking the issue with some vigor and a positive attitude.  Inspirational and a reset to what a real problem looks like.

Happy Valentines day everyone.  Someone suggested that Sippy and Marv should hold hands skipping up the hill on their way back to St. Stephens (I did not pass them, so no confirmation whether they heeded the advice).  For advice on marital bliss on or around Valentines day, see Saab.

Announcements

Happy hour Wednesday at Ardent 530pm.

Lot of running events happening in April.  Two, Ragnar and Smokey mountain Relay, are team events.  Toga and Swirly have set these events up in anticipation of folks participating (and with expressed interest by a lot of PAX).  Now that it is time for the events, they are having trouble getting enough participation.  Let’s not leave our brothers holding the bag…..

It was a cool yet comfortable 50 degrees as 10 PAX arrived for the day’s run around UR.  Some arrived by car while others arrived on foot.  YHC arrived with a route that was accompanied by little instruction nor variability to accommodate alternate distances.  Not to worry, TYA jumped in and took the lead on a route for those in the PAX who were looking for slightly shorter mileage.

Since YHC was offering little in terms of useful directions today, initial conversation pointed toward everyone’s ability to wear lighter clothes in such balmy weather.  Corporate, pulling a page from Wilson’s playbook, was hearing none of it.  Outfitted in double layers and a wool hat, Swirly promptly reminded the PAX they were a bunch of morons and it was February for cripe-sakes…duly noted…

Other Considerations:

• If you ever show up late to a Q you best hope to have TYA there who will either back you up or wrestle it from your hands.
• Bleeder’s biking outfits are beginning to resemble the discount table at Peter Blair
• Exercise caution when dealing with a PAX who carries a concealed weapon…just sayin’

Announcements and Contacts:  Suicide Prevention Fundraiser (Fudd).  Smoke Mountain Relay (TYA).  Ragnar (Toga), Tapering-to-Win (Lockjaw)

Saab abides

Four regulars returned for this week’s iteration of Spider Run.  Quick exchange of pleasantries then off we went.

Route

Head south and exit UR via the River Road entrance.  Cross the shopping center and head across the bridge.  Exit via ramp, route under the bridge and head downriver.  4 milers looped back up and over the bridge back to the start.  6 milers proceeded past the ‘Z’ dam until our watches dinged then turned around and headed back.

Moleskin

This route is one of the rare Spider Run routes that do not require a weinke.  While it may have few turns, it is still challenging crossing the bridge with a stiff breeze coming at you.

Not much mumblechatter opportunity for TwoCan today as there was only 1 taker on the shorter distance.  Glad to hear that his focus in now on speed, not distance.  Regular Spider Run hills run attendance will definitely help with speed.  Keep it up TwoCan.

Much baseball talk today as the 6 milers live vicariously through their son’s sports.  It’s almost February which means hardball is right around the corner.

Thoughts are with those in the PAX that are recovering from various illnesses or injuries.  Time heals all wounds.

Splinter out.