Never Run Alone

Never Run Alone

10 or so bundled-up PAX launched from the Vine Restaurant in Ballantyne on Tuesday morning with a particular mission in mind – don’t run alone.  Here’s what they accomplished.

The PreBlast:

http://f3nation.com/2016/11/21/preblast-accelerate-and-cruise/

The THANG:

• 0500 – 7 or 8 Swift and Bagpipe PAX head out for some 2nd F running.  Weird when 0500 seems like a sensible hour…  Do some exercise and warm-up drills in front of the Vine to confuse all those passing by.
• 0515 – Long Haul rolls into the parking area so we can depart.  10 PAX leave to find the Brixham Green about 0.25mi away.
• 0520 – short instruction about things you should have read in the PreBlast – continue with a 15min Threshold Pace around the 0.5mi Brixham Green, or keep moving into a 15min Acceleration Run where you pick up the pace every 0.25mi.
• 0535 – Let’s mosey to do some exploring in Ballantyne.  Easy 2nd F pace up Ben Nevis to Old 521 and back to the Corporate Park captured the better part of 20 minutes.
• 0555 – 15min Threshold Pace run around the loop of https://www.strava.com/routes/6972020
• 0610 – Regroup along Ballantyne Corporate and head back to COT

The MoleSkin:

• First sub freezing temps of the Fall.  As soon as everyone had hats and gloves on, or realized like Frasier that they were underdressed, we headed out.  When the 20 degree temps come in a few weeks, we’ll either be acclimated or frozen like rocks.
• Frehley’s Comet backblast (excellent and timely I might add) tells me that PigPen was a Swift FNG today.  Alas, we didn’t have PigPen, but we did have Outback.  Not sure that you can confuse the two, so probably just how we mixed it up during COT or FC’s memory clouded by all of the orange-out.
• WildTurkey is not a NASCAR fan.  YHC takes him for more of a FormulaOne or Rally car racer if he’s actually into that stuff…and there’s nothing wrong with that.  The dude doesn’t like to run in circles, and could be seen backtracking on the Brixham Green during the opening 15min.  HE was holding a respectable “outer lane” in the reverse direction, and YHC has no problems with that.  Running 4 to 5 times around the 0.5mi course without a break was about YHC’s limit as well.  If it hadn’t been for the amazement of Frasier not breathing through his mouth the entire time, or wondering when the sprinklers would come on to make it an ice skating rink, it would have been a pretty boring loop over and over.  Normally, that’s why we try to make the loops either with short intervals to break up the monotony, reverse the direction sometimes, or extend the loop.  NASCAR is declining in popularity, at least among the Swift PAX, perhaps among the general population, because no one likes to go around and around and around unless there’s a pot of gold at the end.
• TigerRag has been popping his head into Swift a lot more regularly, and seems to be transforming before our eyes from more like a football player with a number in the 50s to a number more like in the 80s.  Never far from his rolling orange foam stick, he’s also dropping T-pace bombs all over the place now.
• Outback and StumpHugger had a great partnership in the gloom.  Outback has been increasing his mileage quietly for months now, and can be tracked on Strava hitting long runs most weekends. StumpHugger is finding that rhythm again and getting in more consistency.
• Was it Bunker complained when we headed toward Ben Nevis (hill on Ballantyne Commons westbound toward Old 521)?  The same Bunker that leads the Area51 PAX in mileage run this year?  What’s a little hill going to do to you?  It’s not like we’re running Threshold Pace up the thing!  That’ll be next week when Frasier takes the Q at Swift and decides that the workouts haven’t been hard enough….The only PAX that consistently likes hills is Long Haul.  He downshifts and hits the throttle every hill – no matter if it’s warm-up or workout.  Somebody get that man a Mountain Goat BRR leg!
• One Niner, who’s all in to the running thing these days, was seen stalking Tiger Rag and Bunker on the opening Threshold Pace run.  Never let them out of his sight, this trio were flying out there and will probably show up to the Joe Davis Run with the intention of getting JRR Tolkien to do 100s of burpees.
• Someone said that Tuck was at Swift the entire time today.  Wild Turkey even ran next to him most of the morning.  Then how come when the PAX wondered aloud while running if he was actually there we got no response?  Ears muffled by hats?  Tuck was using his Force abilities (my 2.0 says he resembles Kylo Ren)?  He was still working out the logistics of getting the PAX to move his piano to Union County?  No one knows, but he was there, he did run fast, and he did run over 8 miles.  It’s all on Strava so it has to be true – https://www.strava.com/activities/782379208
• Why do we get up a 5:15, 5:00, or 4:30 to run?  So we don’t have to do it alone.  YHC is thankful for the Swift PAX that have been there every week for almost 2.5 years.  There was probably one day in the beginning where there were only a few, but now there are many PAX to join in the suffering (and frequent elation) of running hard, running long, running laps, running hills, or just plain running.  F3-Swift is a great way to show that you never have to Run alone, may we take that to other areas of our lives and “Never Walk Alone”.

SYITG,

Bratwurst