FNG-1 is actually TBone's 2.1, Matthew, A.K.A. "Messi".
It was mostly rain free last week in Huntersville. Which meant some of the greenway / trail areas near YHC's house in Carrington Ridge would be dry enough for some running. YHC asked Tantrum if I could Q at Excelsior to introduce a new route and he kindly said yes.
Separately, there was excitement from friends Frogger, Freedom, and Turncoat about all the Saturday happenings. It was a fun day with counts as follows:
0500 "The River Rat 10k": 8 PAX. Backblast here: http://f3lakenorman.com/backblast/a-separate-backblast-for-the-river-rat-10k
0600 "Excelsior": 7 PAX. See above for names and below for the workout.
0700 "The Estate": 16 PAX. Backblast here: http://f3lakenorman.com/backblast/couponing-at-the-estate
Here is roughly what went down at Excelsior on Saturday:
0600: We set off towards the southern most entrance to the Carrington Ridge neighborhood. Disclaimer given in route.
There were a few complaints about the lack of a "warm up" so we circled up at the start of the greenway for:
- ISTs x 10 IC
- Soybean Farmers x 10 IC
The "New Route" Thing:
- Run in the Greenway.
- At the first major "fork" in the path, we went LEFT. (Right simply takes you to the intersection of Beatties and McIlvaine…nothing too exciting)
- At the second major "fork" in the path, we went RIGHT. (Left simply takes you to a different exit point in the Carrington Ridge neighborhood).
- We took that Greenway all the way to Freedom's neighborhood.
- The route was mostly dry, however there were 2 muddy spots which weren't great for new sneakers. Not naming names, but our war Daddy complained his new sneakers got dirty.
- We were attacked by vicious horseflies on the trail. According to a quick Google search: Horseflies bite people because the female horsefly, like the female mosquito, needs a blood meal to lay her eggs. Like male mosquitoes, male horseflies eat pollen and nectar and rarely bite. Horseflies are called horseflies because they also bite horses, cattle and other livestock. Editor's Note: Horseflies are d**ks!!
We did a short loop at the end of the Greenway. Instead of running back through the Greenway, we ran out onto Bud Henderson and headed back to the AO.
While waiting for the 6, at various points we stopped for:
- Slow Deep Squats x 15 IC
- Burpees x 5 OYO
- Slow Deep Squats x 15 IC
Ran back to the AO, a couple of minutes late, apologies.
Recover, recover. According to Strava, we covered 4.3 miles.
The "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" Moleskin:
- So if you are scoring at home, Tantrum doubled down and hit workouts 1 + 2, Freedom and Turncoat doubled down and hit workouts 2 + 3, and Frogger with the rare 1 + 3 double down!! Well done! And Blackberry and YHC hit workouts 1 + 2 + 3.
- Speaking of Turncoat…poor dude got attacked the worst by the horseflies. There was much laughter as apparently Turncoat and YHC were waving frantically at the horseflies. "I'm on fire" was a popular phrase overheard, from Talledega Nights. YHC was trying to help watch Turncoat's back and shoo them off…but frankly Turncoat was running too damn fast and YHC was no help to him! Also, no idea how Turncoat had so much energy after this hot and humid run…but he smoked everyone as the Q at The Estate after this. #Beast.
- Speaking of #Beast…welcome Blackberry to the #TripleDown club! Dude ran fast at both 0500 and 0600 then crushed the workout at The Estate. Blackberry is going to crush the HTL in Charlotte later this month.
- Thank you Freedom for the navigational help on this route. We've been chatting about doing this route for a while and finally we did it. This route "might" be kept in rotation but the horseflies are really annoying. Also, this route is best in the summer months as headlamps would be needed for sunrises much later than 0615 or so.
- TBone gets the "D.O.T.D." (Dad of the Day) Award for bringing his 2.1 along, who was named "Messi" a while ago. It seems maybe that was a long while ago…since Messi had to be reminded WHY he was named that. (Due to his soccer prowess). TBone and Messi both crushed this run.
- Speaking of awesome Dad things…Tantrum had to leave before The Estate to get his 2.0 to a swim meet. Thanks for letting me lead buddy. And you left it all out there on Saturday…2 great runs on a very hot and humid day.
- 2nd F after all the Saturday fun was at the new coffee shop at LFC. There were some concerns over the cleanliness rating at our usual Saturday hang out…which YHC won't get into because YHC will be very sad if we stop frequenting that place…
Enjoyed it gents. Sorry for the late backblast.
Turnpike