F3 New Orleans

Tag: Rarajipari

  • Celebrating the Six

    Conditions:  Humid and Partly Cloudy.  73 degrees, 100% humidity.  Wind 4 mph from the NW

    The Thang

    We divided up into nine teams to play some Rarájipari.  Teams of 4 or 5 kick a baseball as they run.  No real rules other than you have to kick it everywhere you go.  Today each team had to visit four landmarks to collect a playing card.  They could collect the cards in any order. First team to make it back with all four cards and the ball was the winner.  The landmarks were the Peristyle, The Dueling Oak, The Singing Oak, and the Rugby Pitch.  Overall mileage was roughly 3 miles for the efficient teams, over 3.5 for some of the more directionally challenged teams. 

    Cool Down

    As teams arrived back to the start High-Rise led as he took stretch requests and YHC closed us out with a little Mary before we sealed the deal.

    NMM

    • Chaos ensued at the start.  A couple of Pax went down with turned ankles and balls were lost.
    • We started with nine balls.  We ended with five.  Not sure of the specifics, but one team was rumored to have lost two balls somehow.
    • One team lost a ball off the Wisner Bridge.  That leads to a number of questions.
    • The teams that went to the Peristyle first had to weave their way through a Zumba class to get to the flag. 
    • This workout was much more compliant with Corona restrictions than what Papa Smurf did on Monday.  Although our pods were sharing the same ball, YHC was the only one without shoes.  CDC guidelines limit shoeless Rarájipari players to one per team.  In an abundance of caution, other teams shod all of their players.    
    • Some teams were looking for Dueling Oaks.  Just to clarify, the Oaks themselves have no beef with one another.  The Dueling Oak, singular, was the location of many a human duel back in the day. 
    • T-claps to Rudy, Boo-Boo, and Kuch for helping YHC put the flags out this morning. 
    • T-claps to Bushwhacker and Cowbell for making the trek from the frigid North.  Cowbell was showing off a strong sock game today.
    • Every Rarájipari team has a 6.  And depending on what group we are in, that could, for the most part, be any one of us.  The fast guys are usually controlling the ball up front and the 6 is keeping a consistent pace trying to keep up.  You may be falling farther and farther behind, but you keep running.  You keep plugging away.  Inevitably someone kicks the ball into the shrubs, or into a giant mud hole, or off the Wisner Bridge and you catch up.  It’s hard to overstate the importance of consistency in every aspect of our lives.  Keep plugging away – you’ll get there.      

  • Don’t You Wish You Had Mandals.

    15 strong at The Stomp for a rousing round of rarájipari. We divided into to 4 teams and YHC gave the obligatory disclaimer about the inherent dangers to your ankles. I then called out a destination that only a few were familiar with and the race was on.

    The Thang

    Two teams headed down Roosevelt Mall toward the museum and two headed the opposite direction. YHC gave the team of Screwtop, Shuffle, and Manscape some bad directions a couple of times which allowed our team of Bongo, Kuch, El Guapo, and me to catch up. Once we made it to the woods we could hear another team. After much wandering around in the Couturie Forest, the team of Tool, Fracsac, Rev Sox and Abacus made it to the top of Laborde Mountain first, where Tool being the HIM that he is, immediately started leading everyone in some Mary. After a couple of rounds of Mary there was still no sign of team four (Dirty Dell, Briefs, Room Service, and Half Nelson). Being up against the clock, YHC had everyone start race #2 back to the flag while I went deep into the forest to locate the Team Dirty Briefs. They were close. YHC led them to our city’s highest point for future reference and then we were off to the flag. When I caught up to the other teams, Team Screwscape Shuffle was nowhere to be found. They were about a mile ahead of everyone else. My team made the decision to take Marconi on the way back and we got to the flag with about 5 minutes to spare. Still no sign of the Screwscape Shuffle. We found them at 6:15 apparently running victory laps around City Park.

    The Skinny
    • Mandals are freaking awesome for playing rarajipari. It’s as if the game was invented by people that wear them. Just ask Kuch about my sandwedge ability to get the ball out of the rough
    • T-claps to me, Bongo, and Kuch. We were on a team with El Guapo and he didn’t run off and leave us. Maybe he could have, but I’m going to believe that we hung with him out of our own improvement
    • Marconi is definitely the fastest way to Laborde Mountain. We will have to outlaw that route in the future.
    • T-claps to the Lakeview Krewe as they continue to successfully EH every man in the greater New Orleans area. This is Hall of Fame type EHing that we are witnessing by Screwtop et al., a la Reluctant Yankee 2015-16, 2017 Triple Shift, or the HNJ Flood of 2018.
    • T-claps to Rev Sox for rocking the tank on an unofficial Tank Top Tuesday.

  • Bacon Rarajapari with a slice of ultimate burpee bacon

    It’s my birthday week so indulge me and let me do what I want with this beatdown. 70 degrees cool and beautiful outside. Showed up with my bucket of baseballs, and a frisbee. The pre-beatdown chatter focused on the Bourbon Rodeo on Monday night – total FOMO from me. I had a great B-Day with the fam but totally jealous of the food and booze beatdown hosted by Sandbar, Squeal, and 86.

    Started off with grabbing some baseballs out of the bucket. We ran to the parking lot in front of the zoo. SSH x 20. Imp Walkers x 20 and Morning Glories x 10. Drop your ball and run to Audubon Statue.

    At Audubon we did around the clock merks x 15 at 3,6,9,and 12 – That means inclined merks, right arm raised merks, decline merks, left arm raised merks.

    Drop the ball and run to the FLY beach playing Rarajapari with partner – only rule is that you can’t kick the ball twice.

    At the FLY beach we did Monkey Humpers x 20 and Mtn Climbers x 20

    Drop your ball and run the big hill with your partner and your ball – finish by kicking your ball over the hill.

    At the FIELD we played Ultimate Frisbee. We divided teams based on F3 shirts. 2 burpees for a change of possession. 7 burpees for a score. Final score was 7-3. So my team did 49 burpees and the bad guys in F3 shirts who enjoy ruining birthdays did a mere 21 burpees. Not including turn overs.

    Some observations–Angie’s List is the Honey Badger of ultimate – knocking frisbees out of peoples hands with reckless abandon, Bones used to play professional ultimate – he even knew the correct terms for different plays,etc. If you ever need a ringer call Bones. Nip Tuck has a ridiculous wingspan – he was pulling out some crazy plastic man long arm catches. Peaches can sail a frisbee – his first kick off was two football fields away–guess I made the field too small for him, G-Spot has Drew Brees like accuracy with the frisbee – he landed 2 kickoffs on the goal line, Quarterpipe also may have played ultimate in Division 1 – punk, King Kong got attacked by the wet grass monster – I hope your knee and your groin are OK, he is not afraid to dive and finally Wipeout is a post up beast. Just throw it up in the air and he will come down with it. Nice TD. Sorry to the guys who didn’t get a mention.

    Rarajapari back to Audubon Statue. At the Statue LBCs while you wait. Also had a minute for Low Country Crab x 20. It wouldn’t have been my beatdown without them.

    Finally back to the FLAG with some Rarajapari. Careful crossing Magazine. Got back 30 sec early so we did MISSION IMPOSSIBLE to finish.

    Thanks for allowing me the chance to lead. Always a pleasure. In the prayer I asked everyone to BE THE BACON. Be the thing that people look forward to in everything that you do.

  • Rarajipari on WPM

    I took the Q this am bc I have been dying to try some Rarajipari after Hawgcycle told me about playing it in City Park for the 610 Stomp.

    We showed up for a hot 68 degree AM in the gloom.  We had a FNG – (CHIHUAHUA) named after the province in Mexico that is home of the Tarahumara people who invented this game.   He was wearing a Bulldawg shirt so clearly this is a man of great taste and pedigree.  Thanks to Brown Bag for EH’ing him!

    We gave the disclaimer and headed directly to Wolfpack Mtn.  I picked up a bucket of balls on the way.

    At the base of WPM  SSH x 20 IC,  Dying Roach x 20, Imperial Walker Squats x 20, and Mtn Climbers x 20

    Partnered up – got a ball and started to play RARAJIPARI on our way up the MTN.  At each end of the garage we did 10 merks.  Congrats to the winners Sandbar and Saban who won the race up the MTN.

    At the top of the MTN.  We circled up for Peter Parkers x 20, Flutters x 20, Parker Peters x 20 and Hip Dips each side x 10 each.

    Then we got a new partner and went down the garage with 5 squat jumps at each side.  This in hindsight was probably a bad exercise choice. –  Most of the PAX did their jumps with their  back to the balls still rolling down the MTN.  A couple of near missed ankle injuries – as far as I know – no injuires occured.

    Congrats to Mariah and Peppa for winnning the race down.  It certainly helped that their ball plummeted over the edge to the bottom floor from 6 stories up.

    At the base – we put the balls in the bucket and ran to the benches.  At the benches we did x 20 shoulder taps x 20 power ups left and right, and x 20 dips.

    We sealed the deal with x 15 low country crab in cadence.

    Then we hustled back to the FLAG.  If you got to the FLAG before the 6 each PAX knocked out a  BLIMP or as far as he could get.

    Announcements:  Tree sale at HNJ tonight!, Lycee is having a Christmas Market Saturday

    Thanks for letting me Q – I’m looking forward to a Flaming Lips beatdown next Friday!

     

  • Rarajipari at the Stomp

    El Guapo:  When Hawg sent the message on GroupMe last night that we would be playing Rarajipari at the Stomp, I knew I had to be there.  I’m running the Blue Ridge Relay in September and I’m taking every opportunity that I can to train.  I also thought it would be a good opportunity to see how Hawg’s training is going.  Truthfully, I’ve been a little concerned.  He set up a June challenge for us on MapMyRun.  They idea was to run at least 70 miles in the month of June.  86 and Swampcock are already over a hundred.  Everyone else on the team is around 50-60.  Hawg has run…..11.  Eleven miles.  that’s about a third of a mile per day.  A third of a mile per day.  He also looks a little overweight.  Well, maybe more than a little.  I’m not sure he’s training.

    Rudy:  You have met Hawg right?  What about him made you think he knows what training is?  I didn’t even know he was still doing F3.

    Da Parish:  Hawg made a burpee bet with me on the LSU – Arkansas series this year and then went double or nothing on the SEC tourney.  He owes me 66 burpees at the Mothership, and I haven’t seen him since.

    Hawg:  I got a lot of family commitments.

    Stubhub:  Now that school is out, I’m glad to be back to working out with the guys.  I’ve been back for a while, but Hawg kept making a big deal about my “kotter” today.  I just let him go on and didn’t say anything.  My kotter was a month ago.  I’m not sure the last time he posted.  When he taught my girls in high school my wife and I used to talk about how we weren’t real sure he knew what he was doing.  Seeing him operate at F3….my opinion hasn’t really changed.

    Bongo:  “We gotta get out while we’re young, ‘Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run..”

    Triple Shift:  Hawg pulls up, at 5:30 mind you, with a couple of baseballs.  We are supposed to be playing Rarajipari.  They actually make balls for that, but he’s going to use baseballs.  What kind of Mickey Mouse operation is this?

    Stubhub:  So as soon as we take off, my calf starts acting up again.  I injured it last week.  Let’s see…what was I doing when I injured it?  Oh yeah, I was at an F3 workout.

    Hawg: So Stubhub pulls up lame right out of the gate.  I felt so bad for him.  His first day back in a year and that happens.

    Stubhub: ….

    Cornbread:  T-claps to Stubhub.  He stuck around and got some work in and met us for the COT.  A lesser man would have gone home.

    Tool:  I was excited about the team I was assigned to – Me, T-Shift, Rudy, and El Guapo.  We are all strong runners and I can get to Laborde Mountain in my sleep.  I’ve actually done it a couple of times after one of our block parties.  At least, I think that’s how I got there.

    El Guapo:  We came out of the gate with the early lead, but we start to hear heavy breathing around Diagonal Ave.  We knew JV was out of town, so it had to be Hawg.

    Tool:  Things were going well, until Diagonal Ave.  Rudy and El Guapo must have gotten spooked and they took off….fast.  As Cornbread caught up to me and Triple, I could see Rudy and El Guapo crossing Harrison.  They were heading into the Couturie Forest using the path on the right.  Ironic as it is, the path on the right is wrong, but they were too far gone to hear me.

    Da Parish: Our team entered the Couturie Forest with Tool and Triple, but Rudy and El Guapo were already in there.  Laborde Mountain is only few hundred yards or so.  Having gone to Nichols, I’m familiar with losing and this had loss written all over it.

    Cornbread:  So kicking this baseball down the street is pretty easy, but once you get into the woods it gets a lot harder.  That’s when Hawg tells me and Da Parish, “I’ll run ahead and make sure we are going the right way.  You guys take care of the ball.”  …. Thanks Hawg.

    Da Parish:  We got to the top of Laborde Mountain and there was not a Rudy or El Guapo in sight.  We won!  I knew those Basin Runs would pay off.  Have I ever mentioned that there’s a run every Thursday night at The Basin?

    Hawgcycle:  Given the ISI this month, I thought we would do some merkins while we waited for the other team to straggle in.  Knowing that Triple Shift was there, I counted the cadence very slowly, making sure everyone had time to do them in perfect form.

    Tool:  Bongo and I split up to look for Rudy and El Guapo, hoping to find them in time to still win.  When we got to the top, the other team was there.  Wait, where’s Bongo?

    Bongo:  “All by myself, Don’t want to be, all by myself…anymore.  All by myself, Don’t want to be….

    Triple Shift: So Hawg finishes the merkins and proudly exclaims “That’s 50 more toward this month’s challenge.”  If he has done the rest of his merkins the way he did those 50…. I’d say he’s done…..zero merkins this month.

    Tool:  Hey guys – we need to go get Bongo.  No man left behind

    All:  No Man left behind!

    Stubhub:  ….

    Cornbread:  Unfortunately finding your way back from Laborde Mountain is easier than finding your way there, even for Rudy.

    Hawg:  We had lost sight of El Guapo and Rudy, by the time we passed the Foundry.

    Rudy:  I lost sight of El Guapo by the time I passed the Foundry.

    El Guapo:  Okay.  I’m certain Hawg’s not training.

     

     

     

     

  • A Hidden Tribe of Super Athletes and the Greatest 610 Stomp The World Has Ever Seen

    The Natives gathered in the gloom awaiting the arrival of  El Caballo Blanco.  In true Islenos fashion, he rolls in hot just after the disclaimer and instructions had been given.  The natives were excited at his arrival, believing he would provide the beacon of light they needed to reach the mountain that morning.  Alas, once again, they were disappointed by El Caballo Blanco, as they quickly noticed he had no light to shine.

    Before his arrival, the natives had counted off and assembled themselves in two teams, one comprised of even numbers, the other of odds.  One of the natives accurately surmised that El Caballo Blanco is odd and pointed him to his team.

    The Thang

    A Rarajipari race to Laborde Mountain.  One team of two (Tool and Hawg) vs. a team of three (Smooth, Frac, and Da Parish).  Each team must kick a baseball all the way to Laborde Mountain in the Couturie Forest (approximately 1.75 miles).  First team to get their baseball to the top of the mountain wins.  Once at the top we completed Monday and Tuesdays ISI challenge, then it was a race back to the flag.  Each team decided to take different routes out of the forest.  Tool and YHC took the long route and fell so far behind the other team, we weren’t sure if we were behind them or ahead of them.   We were definitely behind them.  We picked up our ball and took the Marconi shortcut to find the victors sealing the deal with burpees.

    NMM

    This was a fun one.  As Da Parish remarked, it didn’t feel like we ran 3.75 miles.  The pace was pretty good too for kicking a ball the whole way.  Tool and I were about 9 minutes/mile on the way to the mountain.  This has CSAUP written all over it.  Need to figure out a long path…ten to 15 miles where we could race without worrying too much about cars.