Tag: Sunday Funday

3 Field Day victors and 4 other runners hit the trails for a variety of distances on Father’s Day.  YHC and Shakedown launched at 0600 and did the Carillon route and made it back by 0700 to meet up with 5 other dads.  A few, Flatline, Hardywood, and Upchuck?, had already hit OTB to make it a Sunday Double Dip.  Lots of discussion prior to starting about the distance and route.  Let’s get started and figure it out on the way.  Start out on North Bank, all the way to Brown’s Island where Hardywood turned around to make it back for some Father’s Day festivities.  The remaining 6 hit the pipeline to the Flood wall and Buttermilk.  Lab Rat was the only one to make a stop for a dip in the river.

A quick COT and then Flatline, Upchuck and YHC took off for another mile or so to hit some nice round numbers.  Flatline and Upchuck got a half marathon with the Double Dip.  YHC got a little jolt of adrenaline near the end when a tree fell about 10 yards in front of me coming down Pump House Road to the parking lot.  Luckily the dog walking tomato ahead of me and YHC heard and saw it and were able to get out of the way before it hit the ground and powerline.  Vinny was a little worried he would get left behind but he pushed through and realized that no man left behind is the F3 way but especially on the trails.

Thankful to be a father and have a couple of wonderful kids.  Happy Father’s Day men!  Give your kids some extra hugs, give your own father some love, and remember those that have lost their fathers.

7 two legged and one four legged beast posted for a Sunday morning run. Route was across to the buttermilk, forest hill loop and then back on access road.

NMM

Great day for a run in the RVA.  Vinny continues to push himself to new and higher heights every week. He found out this week that Forest Hill is a little more challenging than the normal buttermilk, northbankt loop.  But persevere he did…the guy is a beast.

Great to have Lab Rat back out there today after a little hiatus from the trail run.  Also good to have a college classmate of Offshore’s Lt. Zika out there.  He is a commander in the Health Services and works of the CDC.  Nice guy and a good runner.  Today was his first day out on the trails.  He did well.

We all stopped at the river on the way home and took a quick dip in the water.  The stop was about 1 mile from the finish.  The water did a good job of cooling the body down, and with the breeze coming back over the bridge, I was almost completely dry when we got back to the car.

TYA OUT

 

5 brave souls ignored the forecast and hit the roads this morning for Sunday Funday. Rosie and Shakedown started early and ran across the bridge, down Riverside, across the flood wall, down to Great Shiplock park and then worked their way back to Pumphouse Parking lot where they had their spirits lifted by seeing Saab, Hardywood, and OffShore who had done about an hour of shirtless road running. Rosie and Shakedown had some more to do so they pounded out three more for an even 15 – just under half of what they are gonna do at the NightTrain 50k at the end of the month. Slower hopefully ?

Great to see all you guys this morning if only for a second. Have a great Sunday!

Six strong posted for a Sunday Morning jaunt on the trails.  The route was north bank to buttermilk  and back.

NMM

Sticky morning today, was drenched with sweat five minutes into the run.  YHC opted for the bike shorts and no shirt to start out.  I know that it is not a good look, and I would much rather cover up my 55 year old body…but, the weather dictates the outfit.  The rest of the PAX started with shirts on, but finished the day shirtless.

Saab’s M has been hitting the trails for the past several months.  He finally convinced her to give it a go with us.  After throwing up upon seeing my outfit, she did well.   She has run the full monty of the trail several times now and is improving every time.  She got the name tourist as she spends a good amount of her time noticing everything along the way.

Tourist broke three cardinal rules today.  YHC didn’t call her out on it as it was her first time, but can’t resist here.  First, she took a short cut.  We never, ever take short cuts.  Walking is fine, declaring a different route at the beginning is fine, taking shortcuts is never fine.  Second, she didn’t declare her shortcut, so the PAX was temporarily unaware of where she was.  Saab did a long back run until he realized what she had done.  Always tell someone if you are going to divert to a different path.  We leave no-one behind, but finding you is difficult if we don’t know where you are.  The third rule is while you are on the trail, you are to take in the ambience of the trail, see the scenery, and let go of the outside world.  About 2 miles from the finish she got a text and actually stopped and answered the text.  A reminder to everyone here, she is Saab’s spouse.  WHAT THE HECK, he gives me crap for listening to my iPhone on a 100 miler to distract myself.  A 7 mile run and your answering text’s?

Ok, having said all that it was a pleasure to have her out there with us today.  The trail run is open to any and all comers or any skill or ability.  Come one, come all….it is a blast (and we will teach you the rules along the way).

TYA OUT

 

Four squeegees emerged from the Fart Sack to squeeze out a Dry Foot / Wet Foot Sunday Funday run.  The morning went something like this…

6:40 YHC arrived at Pump House Parking Lot.

6:41 YHC alone.

6:42 Same.

6:43 Same.

…fast forward to…

6:58 YHC still alone.

6:59 YHC considering whether to run alone.

6:59:22 Three cars pull up.  TYA, Vinny, and a player to be named later (YHC would say “No Idea who the other guy was,” but No Idea is a real guy.  YHC still does not know who the third car guy was.)

7:00 Chatting…

7:01 Chatting…

7:02 Chatting…

7:03 Start walking.  TYA ran 21 on Saturday, and he wants to walk up Pump House Hill.

7:04 Walking / chatting…

7:05 Walking / chatting…

7:06 …same…

7:07 …same…

7:08 …same…

…fast forward to…

Trio makes it to top of hill by Maymont.  By now, 7:45. (This is poetic license – Suspend your disbelief).  Trio starts jogging.

River running very high today, so the route went through Byrd Park and Randolph Neighborhoods.  TYA peeled off at Belvidere.  Vinny and YHC continued through Gambles Hill to Pottersfield Bridge to Riverside.  Reconnected with TYA and Saab in the 2000 Block of Riverside Drive.  Then, in the spirit of Brotherhood, the foursome split into 3 groups for the return trip.

YHC and Vinny took Riverside to a detour back to Riverside to Reedy Creek.  Then, the Access Road through the James River (flooding) to the Access Road to 42nd Street Bridge to Riverside to Boulevard Bridge and back to the VSF.  About 7.5 miles.

TYA and Saab, being wiser men, went home by other routes.

NMS

YHC was thrilled with the slow pace today.  After missing several Sundays, moseying seven plus was perfect.  YHC would have been happy to run all day at this pace.  Shout out to Vinny for good company and conversation.

ETs was a blast as always.  Shout out to TYA for merely threatening to take his socks off.  Always good to catch up with Snowden.  Also, ETs crowd included EHing “Jeff with family who does F3 in Greensboro.”  He looks like he needs an F3 workout about as much as Usain Bolt does.  BOLO for him this week…

Footnote: if you find your adult child(ren) sexting with TYA, there is a hotline you can call for help.  673-SAAB.  Trained volunteers are standing by.

3 rested and ready posted on a Sunday morning for some fun on the trails.

We went buttermilk to northbank this morning, crossing back over on the T. Pottersfield bridge.

NMM

Vinny is a beast.  Today was his first posting at the Sunday trail run for a 7 mile jaunt and he slayed it.  I am not sure what Vinny’s longest previous recent run was, but this was further than he has gone in a little bit.  He was rock steady the whole way, just punching in the miles, staying steady and moving forward the whole time.  I love when existing F3 guys come out to the Sunday run and punch in 7 miles when they haven’t done that in a while.  The best part is that in a months of so, they are keeping up with the PAX and have no problem with the trails.  It is impressive….Go Vinny!!

Speaking of Vinny, he made us do 7 merkins in cadence following the run today in honor of his seven on the trails.  There was already a group of women looking at us curiously because they thought I had just got back from a swim (no kidding, they asked me), the merkins only added to us as an oddity.

Great to run with Shakedown this morning.  He slowed his pace to accommodate both Vinny and I.  Despite the heat, the trails were a pleasure this morning.  It seems that every man in Richmond (except the 3 of us) took care of the family this morning.  This left the moms open to hit the trails.  And hit the trails they did.  There were a lot of folks on the trails and most were female.  As Vinny or Shake accurately assessed, most of the women that run on trails are in pretty good shape.

TYA OUT

8 fleet footed men and a puppers hit the trails on this fine morning. Most of us ran 8 ish miles well paced by Pyro who made his second F3 posting this morning and in strong fashion brought a FNG – John Cassily, 51 (respect) who runs Fleet Feet on Patterson which earned him the name Foot Locker. Welcome Foot Locker (sorry ?)and we hope you come back.

Lab Rat was already out this morning and was disc golfing by the time the PAX made it back to the parking lot

Pyro suggested th start a little different this morning so we headed through Pump House Park and we’re hoping to cross the tracks but there was a coal train (headed east from hauling away mulenberg county) and we’re forced to run the tracks a bit. Sally didn’t like the trestle we had to cross one bit. Sally’s pretty smart. Offshore was lagging behind and took a wrong turn once back on the trails but as he encountered fresh spider webs he realized he was going the wrong way, we scooped him up a few minutes later and we’re off down the trails.

If you’ve never been to Foushees Mill near TX Beach you should go check it out. Looks like a good place to take the 2.0s

Pyro is a professional race pacer and he read us well. Paced us around 10:42 and we stuck together (pushing it) almost the whole way. Well done men.

Great having Gumbo out this morning. TYA was notably absent – out of character, hope all is well. I’m sure it is. Saab’s been absent all week, special assignment I hear. I’m sure these guys will be back soon.

Numberama, namerama, YHC took us out. Have a fantastic Sunday gentlemen.

Ghost Flag at Hoedown tomorrow. Let’s get that thing SOJ!!

If you like long winded tales, ask me sometime about my short career as a hobo

6 men of honor and a faithful canine companion hit the trails this morning, one a little earlier than the rest. Basic loop, south to north. Rosie, Saab, and Shakedown added The Lariat. 7ish miles. TYA did more.

We pushed the pace a little this morning and it felt good. 2nd F was a hoot  thanks fellas

Don’t forget – Off Shore needs fluids

I included the link to St. Baldricks. I don’t really want to shave my head but I’m gonna ao whadda ya say?

Three trail dogs and one actual dog converged at the trail head for a spring time run.  YHC called the route and off we went.

The Route:

Across the nickel bridge to buttermilk.  Cross Belle Isle via the Lost Trail and pick up North Bank.  Take Texas Beach up to the pump house and back to the parking lot.

NMS:

Its been a long time since YHC has been on the Sunday trail run.  As we were about to take off, Saab concluded his run early morning run.  Although TYA’s car was in the parking lot, we never crossed paths with him.  After the COT, he emerged.  Perhaps he had been hiding out in the blue convenience huts all this time or on a wicked long run.  Either way, he made the Pax list.

The trails in Spring are a time of peace and reflection.  Complement that with two primo running buddies and its a great time.  Advice was exchanged as we discussed the finer points on possession makes law and the corollary that while good fences make good neighbors, bad neighbors make bad fences.

It also turns out Upchuck is pretty smart.  He let me take lead through the Texas Beach jungle sweeping the trail for face level spider webs.  I picked up my quota making the coast clear for others.

ABT,

Lockjaw