RAW Running

RAW #660.

Six hundred and sixty workouts later, we have finally accomplished something almost as difficult as running Woodmont:

We built a new website.

Go look at it: www.raw.run

It has workouts. Maps. directions. unnecessarily detailed RAW history. And, against all odds, it appears to work.

Please click around aggressively and tell us what we broke.

Now to tonight.

WOODMONT RELAYS.

Teams of 2.

One person runs a ~1000m loop around Woodmont / Exposition while the other person recovers, provides unsolicited coaching and starts doing increasingly dishonest math about how many reps remain.

Then switch.

A group:
5 loops each = 5K of hard running

B group:
4 loops each = 4K of hard running

The beautiful part of a relay workout is that you are never suffering alone.

The terrible part is that every time your partner appears around the corner, your recovery is immediately over.

6.45p — meet at Mean Eyed Cat
7.00p — announcements
7.05p — warmup leaves
7.20p — party time at Woodmont
8.20p-ish — back to Mean Eyed Cat

First timers: sign the waiver at the BRAND NEW, BEAUTIFUL, DEFINITELY-NOT-BROKEN www.raw.run

Everyone else: go to the website anyway so we can justify the amount of time spent building it.

Hydrate. Bring water if you signed up. Tip your bartenders. Don’t drink and drive.

RAW #660.

New website.
Same questionable Tuesday night decisions.

See ya tonight. Go .

RAW #659.

PLOT TWIST.

We told you this morning we were doing the Zilker Fartlek tonight.

We are not doing the Zilker Fartlek tonight.

Why?

Because it’s ACL season, which means Austin has taken the best park in the city during one of the very few times of year when existing outdoors starts becoming enjoyable and turned it into a construction site.

Very cool. Love that for us.

So Zilker is closed and RAW #659 is relocating to:

PEASE PARK — RAINBOW BEND LOOPS.

Yes, we literally just did this workout a few weeks ago.

F**k it. It’s a good workout. We’re ripping it again.

2–3 loops.

Hard up the hill.
Jog easy.
Left on Rainbow Bend — .
Right on Windsor — easy.
Right on Parkway — all the way back.

Repeat until morale improves.

6.45p — Mean Eyed Cat
7.00p — announcements
7.05p — warmup leaves
7.20p — workout starts at Pease
8.20p-ish — b**rs

MEETING US THERE / BRINGING WATER:

1100 Kingsbury St.
Austin, TX 78703

Please do not go to Zilker.

If you arrive at the volleyball courts tonight and find yourself surrounded by fences, forklifts and people assembling a 90-foot stage, this Instagram post was your warning.

First timers: [www.raw.run](http://www.raw.run)

Hydrate. Bring water if you signed up. Tip your bartenders. Don’t drink and drive.

ACL gets Zilker.

We get Rainbow Bend.

See ya tonight. Go .

RAW #658.

Look at these three extremely happy people.

This photo was taken inside Mean Eyed Cat, which is important because none of them look like this while running up Rollingwood.

Tonight we’re headed back over the river for Rollingwood Hills.

The workout is a 540m hill.

That sounds manageable.

Then you do it again.

And again.

And again.

And potentially two more times depending on how much empathy the people leading the workout are capable of demonstrating.

So: 4–6 repeats.

Why 4–6?

Because committing to an exact number before we get there would suggest that RAW has some sort of organized training philosophy, and we cannot have people getting the wrong idea.

There’s also a shorter option, so if you’re newer, coming back from something, or simply possess better judgment than the rest of us, you’re covered.

6.45p - meet at Mean Eyed Cat
7.00p - announcements
7.05p - warmup leaves
7.20p - hills begin
8.20p-ish - return to Mean Eyed Cat and immediately begin pretending the workout was fun

First timers: sign the waiver at www.raw.run.

Hydrate before you show up. Bring water if you signed up. Tip your bartenders. Don’t drink and drive.

The hill does not look that bad.

This is how the hill gets you.

See ya tonight.

Go .

RAW #657.

Everybody point at the person who said “one more.”

Tonight is the F**k It Workout, which is named after the exact thought you will have approximately 600 meters into your fourth 800.

We are NOT going to the track.

We repeat:

WE ARE NOT GOING TO THE TRACK.

We’re going to the trail, finding a partner and doing 800m repeats.

You run an 800.
Your partner runs an 800.
While they run, you recover.
Then you switch.

This sounds incredibly reasonable until your partner is fast and suddenly your “recovery” is 2 minutes and 47 seconds.

Choose your friends carefully.

If you’re driving or bringing water, park near the track and meet us at the boat ramp. Do not stand alone on the track at 7:20 wondering where 100 people are. We have explained this now.

6.45p - meet at Mean Eyed Cat
7.00p - announcements
7.05p - warmup leaves
7.20p - 800m-related poor decisions begin
8.20p-ish - b**rs at Mean Eyed Cat

First timers: sign the waiver at www.raw.run.

It is still hot because apparently September in Austin is just August with better branding. Hydrate. Bring water if you signed up. Tip your bartenders. Don’t drink and drive.

And remember: your partner’s recovery is your responsibility.

So if you love them, run fast.

If you hate them, run faster.

RAW #657. See ya tonight. Go .

RAW #656.

Look at this beautiful group of people who have absolutely no idea how many times they’re about to run up Rainbow Bend.

Tonight we’re headed back to Pease Park for one of the RAW originals: Rainbow Bend Loops.

The official description says 2–3 loops.

We would like to emphasize that “2–3” is an estimate and RAW management reserves the right to make poor decisions once everyone gets there.

Here’s the loop:

Hard up the hill.
Jog easy.
Left on Rainbow Bend and go .
Right on Windsor and chill out for a second.
Right on Parkway and go again until you’re back at the start.

Then, incredibly, you do it again.

And maybe again.

6.45p — meet at Mean Eyed Cat
7.00p — announcements
7.05p — warmup leaves
7.20p — workout starts at Pease Park Conservancy
8.20p-ish — back to Mean Eyed Cat to discuss how the hill was “actually not that bad” after spending 45 minutes complaining about it

If you’re driving directly there or bringing water:

1100 Kingsbury St
Austin, TX 78703

First timers: sign the waiver at www.raw.run.

It is September in Austin, which means summer has technically ended but nobody has informed the weather. Hydrate before you show up. Bring water if you signed up. Tip your bartenders. Don’t drink and drive.

Pease Park is home turf. We’ve been running here forever, donated $10K to the park because apparently we occasionally behave like a legitimate organization, and tonight we’re going to continue the tradition by repeatedly running up a hill for no financial compensation whatsoever.

See ya tonight.

Go .

RAW #655 and somehow Carlos Jaramillo still looks exactly the same as he did when he first showed up to RAW approximately 400 years ago.

Carlos is a RAW OG, former Univision newscaster, sub-3 Boston Marathon guy and apparently the beneficiary of some sort of anti-aging technology he has refused to share with the rest of us.

He used to report the news.

Now the news is that tonight we’re doing The Deibel and it’s going to hurt.

5 x 1200m on Possum Trot.

We start every 8 minutes, which means the faster you run, the more recovery you get. This is a beautiful system designed to reward fitness and absolutely punish poor decision-making.

The first one feels great.
The second one feels manageable.
The third one begins negotiations.
The fourth one is where you start blaming Bryan Deibel personally.
The fifth one is between you and whatever higher power you believe in.

It is very, very fun.

6.45p - meet at Mean Eyed Cat
7.00p - announcements
7.05p - warmup leaves
7.20p - workout starts
8.20p-ish - back at Mean Eyed Cat wondering why we continue doing this voluntarily

If you’re driving directly to the workout or bringing water:

2372 W 12th St
Austin, TX 78703

First timers sign the waiver at www.raw.run.

Hydrate. Bring water if you signed up. Tip your bartenders. Don’t drink and drive.

And if tonight gets difficult, just find Carlos Jaramillo and follow him.

He’s run sub-3 at Boston, he’s been doing this forever and based on photographic evidence he cannot die.

See ya tonight. Go .

RAW #653.

livfenneken birthday was recently. Is it her birthday today? No.

Are we going to continue celebrating it anyway because we have a photo of her standing in Mean Eyed Cat next to an open flame? Obviously.

Olivia is a former D1 runner from Kent State who escaped Ohio, moved to Austin, found RAW and apparently decided that after years of collegiate running what she really needed in her life was to spend Tuesday nights doing 1Ks with people who drink b**r afterward.

Great judgment.

Tonight: **WOODMONT RELAYS.**

This one is simple enough that even the people who completely ignore the announcements should be able to figure it out.

Find a partner.

You alternate ~1000m loops around Woodmont / Exposition.

A group: 5 loops each = 5K of hard running
B group: 4 loops each = 4K of hard running

While your partner runs, you recover.

Which means you get roughly four minutes to:

* breathe
* question your pacing
* tell everyone you “felt controlled”
* watch your partner come screaming around the corner
* realize you have to do it again

The goal is for everybody to finish around the same time. The actual outcome will depend largely on whether someone goes completely insane on rep one.

6.45p — Mean Eyed Cat
7.00p — announcements
7.05p — warmup leaves
7.20p — workout starts
8.20p-ish — b**rs and continued celebration of Olivia’s no-longer-current birthday

First timers: sign the waiver at [www.raw.run](http://www.raw.run).

It’s August. It’s Austin. Hydrate before you get there. Bring water if you signed up. Tip your bartenders. Don’t drink and drive.

And happy birthday again, Olivia.

We intend to keep saying that until at least September.

RAW #653. See ya tonight. Go .

RAW #652: **Rollingwood Hills**

Tonight’s workout is very simple:

**hills, hills, hills.**

We’re headed to Rollingwood for one of RAW’s classic lies:
“it’s just one hill.”

Yes, it is one hill.
No, that does not make it easy.
In fact, this hill is 540m of pure dishonesty.

We’ll hit it **4–6 times**, which is intentionally vague because RAW has always believed that numbers should feel more like suggestions than promises. There’s also a shorter option, so if you’re reading this and already trying to negotiate with yourself, relax. We have something for everyone.

Schedule:

6.45p — Meet in front of Mean Eyed Cat
7.00p — Announcements
7.05p — Warm up to the start
7.20p — Workout starts
8.20p-ish — Back to Mean Eyed Cat for b**rs, lies and selective memory loss

First timers: sign the waiver at www.raw.run
Everyone else: hydrate before you show up, bring water if you signed up, and prepare to learn that “deceptively tough” is just polite language for “this hill is .”

Also, let the attached photo serve as an important reminder:
**drinking out of your shoe is not required for tonight’s workout.**
It is, however, apparently part of RAW’s broader cultural heritage.

See ya tonight.
Go HAF.
Tip your bartenders.
Don’t drink and drive.