Tag: Sunday Funday

2 faithful posted for a morning trail run. Weather was rainy, dark and wet to begin and clear, sunny and wet to end.

The Thang:

Cross bridge to South Side of river. Take trail to service road along the trail. Run to and around Belle Isle. Back to the south side service road and across the river to the Pump house parking lot.

Moleskin:

Lab Rat and YHC embraced the wetness this morning. Every puddle and patch of mud that we crossed was attacked with vigor. 5 minutes in, our shoes were soaked and legs were muddy. Lots of thoughts going out towards Offshore as he tackles his marathon today. Cannot wait to hear how it went.

Unseasonably warm weather this morning. I wore shorts and a tshirt and was plenty comfortable the whole way. Lab Rat had a heavy long sleeve shirt on for the first half of the run. As we were approaching Belle Isle, Lab Rat peeled off his shirt and went bare chested the rest of the run. Thankfully he tied the shirt around his waste covering the worst of his 40+ “six pack”. “Oh, the humanity”.

Met up with Toga’s brother in law at the end of the run. For some reason, I cannot for the life of me remember his first name. I have called him so many things at this point that I really don’t know.

Announcements

BRR just around the corner…maybe not, but people are starting to commit. As I mentioned, I am shooting for two teams this year, a 12 and a 9 person team. Let me know if you are interested and I will pencil you in for a spot.

Two regular Sunday trail runners and a FNG showed up for a frosty trail run.

Thang:

Head east on the Northbank Trail until it ends under the Lee Bridge and turn back.  Take the Texas Beach exit along the river and return to the parking lot via the Pump House.

NMM:

The run started off dark and cold with a dusting of frost.  So much for the days getting longer….must be in the evenings.  It was great watching the sun come up over the city from our single track along the cemetery.  Texas Beach was perfect running along the river with a few hikers out on the trail.  We emerged at Pump House Park, paid our respects to Love Hill, and finished up in the parking lot.

At the beginning of the run we saw Cousin Eddie, but he had the full Northbank and Buttermilk loop in mind.  Maybe next time.

Welcome FNG Flipper who endured a fine run and counts today as the longest run of his life.  We hope to see him out for another workout soon.

Three men showed up for this morning’s scheduled trail run, but it is still too wet to be on the trails without damaging them.  Plan for this morning was to run across the bridge, slide down the hill to the river and catch the maintenance access road.  Take that to Bell Isle for a loop, then back the way we came.  Offshore called an audible on the way home, took us up the steps to Riverside Drive in an attempt to keep the shoes dry.  Riverside is a BEAST of a road…totally wiped out YHC.

In the end, we logged about 6.7 miles on a very humid and warm morning.  Fudd can pick  ’em up and put ’em down, easily keeping up with Offshore (who YHC already knew could run).  YHC struggled a bit with the humidity, but made up for it with a beefy fall that took a chunk of skin out of his palm.  Got to have something to talk about, right?  And Offshore….well that man is READY for Disney Marathon!

See Ya’ll in the Gloom,

Lab Rat

6 faithful, plus 2 future FNG’s showed up for a chilly but gorgeous morning run along the trails of the RVA this morning, here’s the down and dirty:  Leave from the Pump House parking lot across the Nickle Bridge to Buttermilk.  At Reedy Creek, take the service tunnel to Forest Hill Loop.  Around the loop back to Reedy Creek, then back the way we came (with a slight detour on “the spur”).  Ended up tallying up 7 miles and change on the GPS.  Toga was on a time crunch, so continued on down buttermilk to North Bank (taking potential FNG’s with him).  Bummer.

Notes from this morning:

-Toga teaches Sunday School (we prayed for the children.)  Also, Toga continues to bring a surprising number of new guys to workouts.  YHC believes he could sell ice to Eskimos.

-Saab has a busted headlight, passenger side

-Doner Kebab can pull off royal blue tights….who knew?

-Lockjaw’s running program would leave most mortal men crippled. YHC doesnt know how he does it.

-DO NOT bet against Oyster on a race across Nickle Bridge, that is a sucker bet.

-The guy that did the whale imitation in “Down Periscope” was Harland Williams.

Announcements:

Saab has the Q Thursday.  He is perusing the Exicon to put together a doozy.

Bleeder is the Q tomorrow at Punisher.  Bring a kettlebell if you got one.

No RAMM Friday for Christmas.

AYE!

Weather was 70 and time of day was Sunrise

Four Pax “braved the weather” for Lab Rat’s virgin Q, kicking off what has turned out to be Virgin Q week here in RVA, We were greeted to a stunning sunrise while heading across the nickle bridge. With Offshore in the lead, we headed down Buttermilk Trail and picked up Forest Hill Loop, then back home the way we came. This gave us a total of a shade over 7.1 miles total.

Nobody was in much of a rush this morning, and even the speedy Offshore seemed content to keep the pace at a comfortable level. TYA tried to do a little complaining to break YHC in to life as a Q, but it was half-hearted at best. Overall, it was just a great day for a run, and spirits were high.

Although some of the rocks and roots were sneaky slick, everybody managed to keep the blood on the inside this morning. Circle K battled thru a bum wheel, and YHC hopes that it won’t effect his Q in the morning. Wild horses couldnt keep me away from that workout.

Coffeeteria afterwards, where TYA and YHC were introduced to come Circle K wisdom: That stuff that goes on top of green bean casserole is called “french fries.” Thanks for the coffee and the laughs, Circle K.

AYE!

THE Lab Rat

1 PAX posted for the Sunday morning trail run on the Buttermilk.  Wondered what was going on for a while….standing out in the cold all by my lonesome (cue Roy Orbison), and then was reminded by a fellow trail runner that passed me 1 mile in that the Bear Creek 10 miler was the same morning.  Figures that the first Sunday trail run I’ve done since July is the one where no one else posts.  No worries……it was a glorious morning for a run along the river.  The sun was burning the fog off the water, and geese and ducks were out in abundance. Mornings like this are why I run….the beauty of God’s creation compels me to thank Him for the privilege of enjoying it.  Ran east along the north bank, across Belle Isle, and back along the south bank to the nickel bridge crossing.  Total time 1:09, distance 6.45 miles.

Fudd

7 faithful posted for a sunday morning run. Weather 70 degrees and sunny.

The Thang:

Northbank to Belle Isle to Buttermilk. Optional jaunt through forest hill park.

Naked Moleskin:

Five of the faithful took the 7 mile option skipping the forest hill park options. Saab and TYA were the only takers for forest hill. Saab and I got a little lost during our run through the park and got and extra mile done for a total of 11 miles. Both options were good runs and should have us all ready for next weeks’ Bear Creek 10 miler.

Lab Rat took a spill early on today. Little shaken up, but no blood and generally not worse for the wear. Heard on the trail today “I remember when Chum and Jville used to do trail runs”. We do miss you guys out there. Come on back for a run.

7 posted on a crisp morning for a trail run

The thang:

Northbank trail Belle Isle, take outside track at Belle Isle and cross bridge to Buttermilk. 4 of the 7 went straight on the Buttermilk and back to the parking lot. 3 of the faithful took a single lap around Forest hill park and then back to the Buttermilk and parking lot.

Naked Moleskin:

Good to have Toga and Brain Tumor back out on the trail run. Toga brought his brother in law (?) Craig to the run. They had a church commitment so they went straight through to the end with no turnbacks to catch the back of the pack (TYA). Brain Tumor and Lab Rat skipped the Forest Hill loop and headed back to the parking lot. Not sure if there was a naming ceremony for Toga’s FNG? Base route about 7.1 miles.

Saab, Offshore and TYA took the Forest Hill loop. YHC was the only one that had run the loop in a long time so I was navigating. I admitted early on that I was a little unclear about the route at the end. We made it most of the way around with no issues. Had to ask directions at the end, but we were able to easily find our way back. With Forest Hill loop, the run is a bit over 10 miles.

Two weeks til the bear creek 10 miler. Come on out next week for a post Thanksgiving day run.

3 Veterans and two trail run FNG’s posted on a crisp fall morning.

The Thang: Cross over Nickel Bridge, Buttermilk trail to Belle Isle. Take outside loop around Belle Isle and back over to the Northbank trail. Northbank trail back to parking lot. 7.1 miles done by 8:20 am, COT and out into the day.

Naked Moleskin:

Splinter and Lab Rat posted for their first trail runs with F3. Both had great runs and enjoyed the trail experience. Splinter hung around at the front of the pack with Saab, and Lab Rat spent a good majority of the day with or in front of TYA. No rain on Saturday so the leaves were a little more forgiving. When we hit the Belle Isle bridge from the south side we found the ice/frost. As we took our first several strides on the bridge I look over and Saab was sliding down the new wood. We all quickly moved onto the middle/older section which had a lot more grip. The quick change allowed us to avoid any issues. We met oyster at the start of the buttermilk. He turned around and joined us for the run back along the northbank. Oyster got his usual 20 minute headstart on the run.

Lab Rat and YHC had quite a bit of time to converse on the buttermilk side. Lab Rat is very knowledgeable on the trails and had many great suggestions for add ons and options. He has spent a good amount of time on the trails in the past. We also caught up with each other and realized that we had a bit in common. Both of us have adopted girls from China, and they both compete at the same gym. It was easy for us to figure out who the others daughter was as they are the only two Chinese girls at the gym. Small world.

Long discussion after the run about a few subjects. First was Saab’s daily trip to Martin’s to pick up “lunch meat”. Only the northerners used the alternate “cold cuts” designation for deli meat. The other discussion was about preparing live seafood for eating. TYA admitted that he was uncomfortable killing fish/shellfish and is extremely happy not having to hunt and prepare other types of food. Both TYA and Saab admitted that they would probably starve if they had lived in a time that required the hunting and preparing your own food. Saab relayed a story about a friend of his that put live crabs in the oven for cooking. Wow…

Weather is perfect for trail running. Join us if you can.

4 faithful posted for a sunday morning jog.

The thang.

Head East on the northbank trail towards downtown. Cross over to Belle Isle. Head into the trails of Belle Isle for a loop. Head back across the river to the northbank and head back to the parking lot.

Naked Moleskin

Good to hit some new terrain today. Belle Isle is full of trails and we have explored just a few. YHC has yet to find a good map of the trails, so we explore and learn as we go. Total loop today was somewhere between 7 and 7.5 miles.

YHC slowed the guys down a more than a bit on the way back. Not eating before the run is not recommended. Apparantly I had enough energy to do the first half and Belle Isle. My pace was much slower on the way back.

Honeydo took a small spill along the way. When YHC asked him if he was OK, he quickly waved me off… it was just a small fall and he wanted no attention as a result. Saab and Offshore continue to set the pace on the runs. Great to run with these guys. They always keep me motivated to try to keep pace. Thanks for he inspiration along the way.