CHARLOTTE T-DAY TOUGH
The T-day tough started at night on Friday. It started with a bit of drizzling and stayed that way for the first half, and the second half would be done in the pouring rain. I went with a thermal top and a rain jacket. Even if it wasn't raining, if the ground was wet, the rain jacket would help, since we'd inevitably be rolling all over the grass for PT and the welcome party.
We had a few friends who were shadowing. They watched as we did 50% and 100% runs across Thompson Park, interspersed with lunges, flutter kicks, pushups, ruck overhead squats, "beep beep I'm a jeep" / "clank clank I'm a tank", "on your belly on your back on your feet", and other Cadre Fagan favorites at the welcome party.
(photo credit: Shannon Bass)
The class was all guys except for me, but fortunately, SB was shadowing and taking pictures, and was also my battle buddy when the time came. We went to Fagan's truck and picked up the coupons, which I'd get to know intimately over the course of the night. You'd think that after many events, they might start to all feel the same, yet each one still ends up being unique in its own ways, and gives you new experiences.
(photo credit: Shannon Bass)
Fagan's events are different in that there's no pre-planned route. There are different waypoints, but you always have a random choice between three of them, from any given starting point. We criss-crossed all over uptown and the surrounding parks all night. Before the rain started, we did some PT at one of the parks, including really hard uphill and downhill bear crawls... the downhill ones were a real struggle.
(photo credit: Shannon Bass)
At some other park, we also did a variety of buddy carries. I paired up with a guy nicknamed Chicken, who was really impressive. He might've been the shortest among the guys, but he pulled like 2x his weight with coupons throughout the event. Cadre Fagan also likes to give us raw eggs to guard through the night, which is really hard... one under my care survived, while the other was a casualty of a buddy carry.
(photo credit: Shannon Bass)
It's also interesting how I mark some milestones in my life with GORUCK events. I remember at the Chapel Hill Independence Day Tough with J-Dub, people had gone around the circle during the welcome party, talking about people's jobs... I had one answer then. Fast forward 6 months, and I now have some new opportunities ahead.
(photo credit: Shannon Bass)
One really fun part about this event was that Christmas decorations were out, particularly around the BoA stadium, so we got some cool pictures there.
(photo credit: Shannon Bass)
I'd typically go a full evolution on one of the coupons. Slosh pipe stretched out your arms uncomfortably, but I'd alternate angles and ways of carrying it. The team weight I'd rest a little against my tummy. The large empty ammo cans I'd also hug in different ways. I didn't feel at the time like I'd be much help on the sandbags (although I'd find out during the light that they weren't actually that bad) or the stretcher, so I did what I could to go full-time on the lighter but more awkward coupons, so that the others could swap with each other on the heavier stuff.
The rain made it harder. I kept pretty dry for a long time, but over the course of the night, everything gradually got soaked. It was chilly, too. If we weren't moving and carrying heavy stuff, we would've been freezing. I remember feeling pretty miserable, even during the break when we got a chance to go under a canopy for a bit. They were long evolutions of awkward and heavy things, in the pouring cold rain.
There were even lessons in team dynamics. One guy had some medical challenges that didn't allow him to help much on the weights, although we didn't know it, so we thought it was a grey man situation. The info came to light, though, and I think we all learned from it. Communicate needs... it helps everyone work together better. It's also on us to ask, if we do see someone who may not be verbalizing stuff like that.
It was different going through weather like that. The bright lights of the skyscrapers in uptown lit up the fog and rain, so you couldn't tell when first light was coming.
At one pitstop, we played a T-day trivia game, where the team that answered correctly got to throw sand on the other team, although we weren't too hard on each other, seeing how miserable the weather already was.
My feet were feeling pretty shot. I don't know if it was the cold, rain-soaked pants against my legs causing the tightness, or if it was the miles and weight, but I was starting to straight-leg hobble at times. It turned out that we'd go 22 miles that night... no wonder! I don't think I've done that many at a Tough before. Most may be like 13 miles, and maybe 18 was my max.
Finally, we could tell that daylight was there. We made it back to the parking garage, sang our songs, and got patched. Since this was my 4th Fagan event and first tough with him, I earned my green Cadre Fagan patch. His lights are no joke, though... as tough as short toughs.
CHARLOTTE T-DAY LIGHT
After the Tough in the Charleston Mog Mile Event with Cadre Brad, I sucked it up and stayed in the car in between events to rest and refuel. I'd save time and parking money that way. After finishing the Tough though, I knew there was no way I'd make it in my car until the light. Too cold and wet. my only chance of making it to the Light would be to recuperate with a hot shower at home. I did that, ate, and even got in a 20 min nap attempt before heading out. I felt much better, though. No second thoughts about going to the Light. It's nice to live pretty close.
Lots of fresh legs joined in for the Light. We had a big class. I guess Thanksgiving is a good time for families to participate in active pursuits together, and most already have the days off. There were lots of newbies. There were many more people to share the load of the coupons. I tell you, though, although my mind was eager to help as much as usual, my body wasn't able to do as much as my mind thought it could. I'd volunteer to carry stuff, but I'd only be able to handle it for a little while before someone else would have to take over for me. Fortunately, my classmates were all great and were eager to help as much as they could. It was humbling to have to rely on them to help with the load, and I was grateful. They knew I (and a number of others) had done the Tough, and were super helpful.
We went to a different park for the welcome party, with similar activities as the Tough's welcome party. One bonus... someone brought gummy bears to share, and they were delicious. Something else pretty sweet was that Fagan wore a turkey costume! It was awesome. Light = fun.
Interestingly, I did start to feel stronger and stronger as the event went on. I guess I was gradually recovering from the Tough. We went until it was getting dark. I remember walking by some of the same places multiple times, since we were using that three-point style course design. At the end, we went into the fountain for final songs and patches. We hadn't gotten wet up until that point, but of course we couldn't leave without getting wet.
9 miles covered. 31 total!
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