It started with a special request last week on our 9RUN6 Facebook Page by Kaila, where she asked if we could do some stairs. So like any other workouts we like to help cater to the group.

So yesterday this photo came out onto our Facebook and Twitter post …

After the 5:30 and 6AM run groups, we met at the west steps and then headed over to the controversial steps at the Sacramento Convention Center that are closest to the loading dock area. The reason they are “controversial” is because sometime last year, we were kicked off the stairs and Brad 1.0 got a little heated ending our workout yelling the words to the guy who asked us to leave with “You’re a liability”.

The workout was simple in theory … 20 minutes of going up sets of stairs to just go back down them, then repeat. The first grumbling of the workout was by Kaila who asked for stairs … after some quick banter, the workout began.

At some point during the workout, she diapered, we thought maybe to get some Starbucks for the group, but that wasn’t the case. She just had to go do stuff.

We continued to go up and down, up and down the stairs until the 20 minutes were completed. With sore quads and calves, the crew made it back to the West Steps where we wished one another good jobs and have a great weekend.

If you want to know why running stairs is a good workout, check out this Runner’s World article from 2014. CLICK HERE.

 

At 9RUN6 we never say good bye, even on days like today when someone in the crew leaves to another city for work. Today we said “Until next time”, to Alexia who has been working out with us since 2014 after running her first half marathon in San Francisco at the Nike Women’s Run.

In honor of her moving onto a new job in Yuma, AZ we let her decide the workout. She got creative and drew up her own workout for the group. Today was one of those bust your ass workouts which was pretty tough. While some were able to finish, others didn’t, and some like myself cheated to get through the workout. Rather than writing a workout summary of today, I am going to change it up a bit to get a more appropriate “Until next time” post …

I (Chris) have had the honor to know Alexia for a very long time, I have seen her grow as a youth soccer player, where I first coached her in the Olympic Development Program when she was about 12 years old or so. Our paths then crossed when I was an assistant coach at CSU Stanislaus, where she was dynamic player for the women’s soccer team there. After a couple of seasons working there, our paths crossed again not as a player-coach relationship, but this time as fellow assistant coaches at Delta College in Stockton, where we both took on coaching jobs with the women’s soccer team there.

After leaving Delta College to pursue my professional coaching career with the Sacramento Republic FC, where I coach now, our paths crossed again as friends and fellow running enthusiast at 9RUN6.

Over the course of the last couple of years, we would run with the 9RUN6 group as well as schedule other runs on the weekends and non-9RUN6 days to workout. Those runs also ended up including conversations about career paths and life. During those runs we would talk about how to move up in the beautiful game which both of us are privileged to call a career. At some point in there we discussed about making moves when the game allowed us to in order to reach our goals and dreams within our careers.

I even had an opportunity to chat with the athletic director at her new college where she is going to be the head women’s soccer coach when they called her references. It is amazing how this fitness crazy group has allowed us to help one another stay connected and provide one another with opportunities to chat about career moves.

As a young adult, Alexia is far ahead of many people her age as she takes a major step in her career in Yuma, AZ. I cannot share how happy I am for her and how honored I am to have been a small part of the process.

Alexia, I know that the group is sad to see you move to another state, but we are all excited and proud of the leaps and bounds you have made over the last couple of years. I mean you worked in different roles through the course of your time when you started with 9RUN6 and you even finished your masters program while staying fit!

Oh and let’s not forget to mention the running badass that you have become crushing your half marathon PR and running your first marathon … not only did you run your first marathon, but you qualified for the Boston Marathon in that marathon to boot!

We wish you the best of luck in Yuma and expect to see you at a workout when you come back into Sacramento. So until next time, take care of yourself and continue to do awesome things in running and coaching!

During today’s morning workout, we had some fun and played while getting fit! We also celebrated Katie‘s birthday. We love it when members of the 9RUN6 fam make it a point to come to a workout as part of their celebration for their birthday.

We typically theme the workout around the age that someone is turning for our birthday workouts, however today was different for a couple of reasons. Katie doesn’t typically attend Friday workouts, due to work. However, this morning she made it a point to attend. With that being said we didn’t have time or the knowledge that she was going to attend until the last minute. I think this was done as a surprise so that we couldn’t configure some sort of difficult workout based on her age. For Katie it was a little different because she already has a workout themed for her. It is called the #ThanksKatie workout. The workout consist of a ladder workout where we start at 1 set of runs then workout up to 12 broad jumps and work back down with each number between 1 through 12 being a different exercise.

17 peeps came out to celebrate and join in on the fun. Along with the liquid awesome pouring aka sweat dripping, there was a lot of fun conversation and welcoming of new faces from the Fitfam6 crew, along with the regular David we saw his kids and wife (Paula) out there today. So Paula has earned her right to get a shirt tagged … now if she would only bring one. On a side note, we (I) question how much Paula really runs, because her shoes are so clean (see photo below) … jk …

After the workout, we headed over from the IMAX theater area to the nearby Starbucks for a cup of coffee and tea. Our time together is more than just working out it is a celebration on occasion because we do have fun and enjoy each others company.

During the walk back to where most people park their cars near the running group meet up location of 10th & N Street, the idea of having some brunch after a workout was thrown around … so be on the look out for an upcoming event called “Burpees, Beer and Brunch” … of course this event wouldn’t be limited to beer … I mean any beverage would be approved.

Awesome job today everyone! Good luck to everyone running a race this weekend. If you’re not racing, then enjoy your weekend with a run.

9RUN6 is more than just a fitness group or another running group. We like to have fun at our workouts and have created some long lasting friendships. We contribute to helping Sacramento a better place to live, work and PLAY. Yes, we like to play during our workouts. From running the streets of downtown with sub groups making excursions to trail running on the weekends and grabbing a beer at local breweries like Yolo Brewing Company, we enjoy what Sacramento has to offer.

All of us work here in the Sacramento area, we all live here in the region and we come together on Wednesday and Friday mornings and sometimes on Saturdays and Sundays to PLAY.

When Wednesday and Friday mornings come around there are a few times where the snooze button is hit, we look forward to getting out with our friends at 5:30AM, 6AM and 6:25AM at the corner of 10th & N Street, the West Steps or some other various locations around the downtown Sacramento area.

This morning was one of those mornings where we gathered and played … Again … yes, running and working out it playing for us!

The workout this morning was a new version of deck of cards. Each card had a various movement on it from traveling burpees, to lunges to the oh so dreaded Bojan. When someone pulled a Bojan, everyone stopped their current movement grabbed a partner and did 10 under and overs while the other person was going from downward dog to push up position.

So I challenge all of you who have not come out to a workout or a run to come out and PLAY with us. Give it a chance, if you don’t enjoy yourself then it is on you 🙂 because we love to have fun.

Be part of something here in Sacramento that makes our beautiful city a better place to live, work and PLAY.

Oh and today’s workout was so awesome that one of Katie’s contact lenses decided to pop out of her eyeball to join in on the workout.

 

Okay It’s July 1st, can you believe that the year is half way complete? Well we can’t either.

Alright let’s start with the first shout out of the 2nd half of the year. The dude that post the “Set your alarm and #BeThere” stuff on Facebook and Twitter failed to just do that … ME!

Apparently, I was really tired … not an excuse, but a moment to be called out on Social Media, Strava and via text … I anticipate more call outs for this missed workout … Looks like the new workout that was planned for today, will be saved for next week, if my dumb ass can get up on time …

 

Luckily, Brad 1.0 took the lead today. Taking the group through a 55 to 5 workout. So THANK YOU BRAD! Also a shout out to McRunner for taking the photos today.

Don’t forget Monday is a donation / free 5-miler in the beautiful River Park neighborhood. If you missed that post CLICK HERE.

Today was another one of those challenging workouts that we have visited before. The ones where partners are selected and workouts challenge each person, while working as a team.

After the 5:30 and 6AM groups got their run on, it was all about the West Steps and getting through the workout. We welcomed some young faces to the group today, since it is summer break 1/2 of the FitFam6 crew came out to represent, while others who have been coming out consistently pushed one another through the workout. It was short of half assing it through a workout, everyone busted their bottoms to get as much of the workout as possible.

Also some folks got their new gear tagged, which has been long overdue. The 9RUN6 logo is like a badge of honor, when someone feels the time is right to bring some gear out to get the logo spray painted onto their gear, then it is earned. We as a group have not set a rule of such, but rather each individual sets their own standard of earning their 9RUN6 logo.

aWEsome job everyone! Continue to kick ass the rest of the day like you did this morning!

New faces and old ones joined us this morning for one heck of a workout! A workout that made Brad 2.0 say “My life hurts”. Another DID NOT FINISH FRIDAY. Some groups got close but still the challenge was set and folks tried to complete the workout which was located across the street from the West Steps at the circular road between 9th and &10 Street on Capitol Mall.

This morning we were also treated with a photo shoot by Moments Captured <— GO FOLLOW HER ON INSTAGRAM! So along with the kick ass workout you could only imagine the faces that glowed while the camera was snapping some photos.

The workout after the morning runs looked like this …

Round 1 – Partner A: Bear Crawls , Partner B: Push Ups

Round 2 – Partner A: Traveling Burpess, Partner B: Sit Ups

Round 3 – Partner A: Lunges, Partner B: Jumping Jacks

Round 4 – Partner A: Sprints, Partner B: Squats

Each round was repeated 3 times, before moving onto the next. The workout was legit and it seemed like it took forever to get around the little circle around some rose bushes where the workout was stationed.

Everyone kicked ass this morning, so carry that onto the rest of your day and weekend!

We are more than just a casual group of people who workout together, we are friends who also like to celebrate birthdays through our workouts.

Today we celebrated Kaila’s turning of 24 years of age … we love it when our peeps celebrate birthdays that are under the age of 30 … here is why … we use how old someone turns as our rep count for that workout … today it was 24 traveling burpees, push ups, leg lifts, jumping jacks, bear crawls, lunges and step ups …

Then it was the return of sprint it out Wednesday … today we did 8 rounds around the West Lawn … since 2 times 4 is 8 that is how we got to that number …

The workout was awesome and challenging … some people even mentioned that they love the new style of workouts that really push them … but the key is showing up more than once every few weeks to see some true gains … the motivation and support was amazing as always as no one is left behind … but it might be more awesome to be some of the back of the workout folks because they get all the cheers and glory from the chumps who make it a race.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

It’s one of those destination Friday type of days. You know where we still meet at 10th & N Street for the 5:30AM and 6:00AM groups, but when 6:25AM rolls around the West Steps are just a gathering spot, not so much the workout spot.

Today we ran over to the Sacramento Convention Center stairs on the J Street side closest to 15th Street. There we did a variation of the #ThanksKatie workout but rather than 1 set of 10 sprints we did 1 set of 10 stairs (up being 1 and down being 2). This was a ladder up to ladder down workout, with various workouts that built up to 12 sets then down to the 1 set of 10 stairs at the end. The actual workout looked like this … see the photo below …

As folks started to finish off their workout this morning, it was time to cheer one another on until everyone finished off. Big shout out to David aka @FitFam6 who brought out one of his kids for, his second workout! Yup it’s summer time so its about bringing the kiddos along … get the kids out of the house and working out with us!

Happy Friday everyone and have a fantastic weekend!