Follow the Pink Arrows

13 runners and three bikers posted for a morning workout on this lovely Friday morning in RVA. Weather was 70 and sunny with the full moon to the light the way this morning.

The Thang:

Grove to left on oak, slight left onto cary and right onto hillcrest. Right onto west hillcrest, left on east hillcrest. Repeat the hillcrest loop as many times as possible. TYA will announce when it is time to head back to the shovel flag. Follow the same route back to the shovel flag.

Bikers headed across the river to riverside drive for a loop around the city and back to the shovel flag.

NMM:

This was the second attempt at the Hillcrest loop for a Friday run. Much more successful the second time around. The first time only a few runners actually did the assigned loop. This time around, YHC marked the course with painted pink arrows on the road. To my knowledge, only one runner got lost today. Oyster missed the right onto Hillcrest, but YHC and Opus were just behind him and redirected him to the route. I am not sure that the pink arrows helped, I suspect that the fact that half the PAX had run Hillcrest before made a big difference in everyone staying on route.

Swirly was having issues this morning. Unlike Dogwood Dell, Mary Mumford and todays route do not have big blue convenience boxes at the AO. As a result, Swirly contributed to the compost pile near the garden at MM. Unfortunately that did not completely solve his problem, so the extra weight and discomfort slowed him down considerably this am. I wonder if they will have these blue boxes at the BRR? I hope so, because doing like a bear does is strictly against BRR rules!!

Lots of talks about animals post run. Sippy conveyed a story about a run he had early morning on the trails near Belle Isle. As he was running along, he saw a deer coming across his path. As it approached, Sippy crouched down to brace himself for the impact. Fortunately, the dear leapt over him right before impact. Sippy and Saab both have owl stories. I have not heard either of them, but just wonder if the owl attack on Saab’s head impacted his receding hair line?

Lug nut got an early start this morning. As YHC was marking the route, Lug was on his way to the hillcrest loop. He had a “glow stick” on that Saab speculated wasn’t a glow stick at all. The theory was that in his quest to leave early in the morning, he merely picked up a cylindrical item from his bedside table that he thought was a glow stick. When he turned the light on, he was pleasantly surprised that it not only provided light, but game him a back massage during the run. Wonder what Saab though it might be?

Fingers crossed for Sippy. On one of his loops he, phonics and a few others attacked the Chairman Hill. On the hill he tweaked his knee a bit and walked back to the shovel flag. Thanks to Circle K for picking him and getting him back safely and to Swirly for giving him a ride home.

Welcome to Opus, a Friday run new guy (FRNG). He did a great job today. We always have a variety of run distances on Friday to accommodate any pace or mileage requirements. Thanks for coming Opus.

Bikers were flying this morning. The PAX had a great pace going coming back into the AO. YHC heard that Fudd did a great job leading the pace line and that Ricky Bobby was a beast on the hills. No tools reported that he left it all out on the road the morning. Great job guys!

Announcements

Reese strong 5k coming up in September. See Phonics or Lab Rat for information. There is also a kids training team for the run. Phonics has the details.

BRR is 7 weeks away (8 weeks if your are Saab).

TYA Out!