GORUCK Tough - Battle of the Bulge - Savannah, GA

I drove my mom home to Charleston on Friday night.  We arrived at 10:30pm, and I went to bed at around midnight.  I had to wake up at 3am to drive down to Savannah for the Tough.  I had told my mom that I had an event on Saturday, but I didn't tell her where, haha, so she probably thought it was in Charleston.

This event was going to be different in a couple of ways.  First, it was going to be a day-time event.  That was a big plus, since I'd actually get to see and appreciate the city we were in, more.  I've been to Savannah a few times before, but hadn't gotten to explore it as much as I wanted to, yet.  It's a sister city to Charleston, and it's known for having a nice waterfront area, plus many green parks that dot the city.  Second, it was an integrated Tough/Light event.  Normally, the Tough event kicks off at 9pm and finishes 12 hours later.  The Light normally starts a few hours after the Endex of the Tough, at 1 or 2pm.  This time, the Light would be joining the Tough halfway through.

There were questions about what prompted this special setup.  Was it to try to minimize the impacts of lower signups?  Was it to mimic how the real Battle of the Bulge had a turn in tides when reinforcements were finally able to come in after a few days of the US getting pummeled by the Germans?  We'd find out!

It was still dark at 7am.  I arrived an hour early, as usual, and prepped my gear and relaxed.  Fortunately, parking was free and easy to find for me.  I had a buddy from the Green Beret Challenge Behind Enemy Lines event who was doing her first Tough that day.  My ruck buddy from the 20.19 on Jan 1st was also there.

The Cadre was Justin.  He had done his "initiation" as a participant with me in Charleston for the Mog Mile Tough in October 2018, and he had shadowed at the Light the day after as a Cadre-in-training.  I liked him a lot, and was glad to get a chance to see him in action as the lead Cadre.  

We started off with a ruck around the park to get to know our teammates.  Then, we started some evolutions around the city.  At the waterfront, we had our welcome party, with 4 sets of 3 exercises with 16 reps each, to commemorate Dec 16, when the battle began.  We did pushups, thrusters, and lunges, in smaller groups.  Next, broad jumps and bear crawls.  Then, low crawls while pushing rucks and more bear crawls.  

We had a random "shadow" join, who later said that he was a homeless vet, but it was kind of an odd situation, since he tried participating and had a backpack.  On another evolution, we picked up one of those square-shaped logs that are used to make guard rails for flower beds.  

At Daffin Park, we did 2 rounds 4-man log lunges and 2 sets of 10 overhead ruck presses with that log.  That was mixed with PT in stations (squats, thrusters, planks, flutter kicks).  Afterwards, we picked up 4 railroad segments that were pretty heavy.  We brought those back to the starting point, where we'd meet up with the Light class.

Back at the start point, we got to reload on water, use the restroom, and refuel.  Daytime events, especially Toughs, are challenging when it comes to finding appropriate bathroom stops.  Parks often have porta-potties, though, which is good.  

The light class was as big as the tough class, so we were 23 + 22 strong.  By now, Forsyth Park was much more lively.  It seems like an MLK event was happening, so there was music, and families, and many people enjoying the day.  I hope we didn't come across the wrong way to anyone, as we marched through the park with the flag in the lead.  The presence of the log and the railroad pieces probably helped.  

It took a couple of evolutions for us to figure out how to manage the 4 railroad pieces, 1 logs, and 2 team weights in our big group.  We made it back to the riverfront, for a second welcome party, which included more bear crawls and jumps.  

The weight strategy that we settled on involved the weights being at the front, and people taking turns on it, dropping back to the end of the line after they took their turn, until they made it back up to the front of the line with the weights.  The idea is that everyone will get their turn, and you just go for as long as you can manage, even if it's only a short amount of time.  I know it can be intimidating, especially for newbies or people who haven't built up the confidence yet, but all I can say is try it and do your best.  You'll find out that you're stronger than you think.  It's hard for everyone.  It hurts for everyone (not an injury type of hurt, but a discomfort as the weight smashes down on your shoulders).  But something special happens when you give what you can to the team, and in turn, find willing help from your teammates when you need it.  

We took the long journey back to Daffin Park, where we did a relay race, Tough vs. Light.  Competition is fun.  

We happily dropped off the coupons, and went back to Forsyth Park for the Endex.

I drove back to Charleston, and the next day, I got to meet up with 2 former roommates for some good catching up, before going back to Charlotte.  

Following the event, something unexpected and remarkable happened.  One of my fellow Tough GRTs posted on the closed-group GORUCK Tough Facebook group, singling me out for my contributions that day.  And then, people who I know by name and some that I don't know by name from events over the past year jumped in and added their own testimonies about me in the comments.  It was so touching and encouraging, and I was overwhelmed.  

I'm someone who believes in leading by example, whether it's at work or at events, and it's hard to know whether it's having any positive impact, sometimes.  It can be demoralizing at times.  The kind words of my friends and teammates provided such encouragement.  It's something I really need right now with some personal challenges I've been going through, so the timing of all of this kindness is kind of perfect.  Like I said, with teams, you give what you can to the team, and the team is always there to boost you up when you need, too.