Charlotte was exciting because it was in the city where I lived. It would be a fun and new way to experience the city. You get to see parts of the city during Challenges, but I'm always mostly too distracted by dealing with coupons to fully appreciate where I am, or to keep track of routes. You'd think that I know it from driving around day-to-day, but I tend to only go to a few different places... the same grocery stores, the same shops, entertainment, work, church, etc. Even driving around, I don't get to know the streets that well, since I often blindly follow the GPS, which takes me different ways due to traffic, anyways. I've been in Uptown (CLT's version of "downtown") only a handful of times... once driving around before moving here, once to volunteer at a marathon, once to visit a park, and once during a GORUCK event. CLT's pretty big, and traffic makes it take a while to go from one place to another, so I don't know it as well as you'd think.
While doing DC, I had some fears that the CLT course would be really boring, in comparison. I couldn't think of any fun landmarks, definitely nothing near as notable or exciting as the ones in DC, but I can happily report that I was wrong, and it ended up being a really fun time, with lots of new discoveries and excitement.
TEAM FORMATION
I knew J from Spartan Endurance events, and I got to be part of his first Tough in July last year. He's been crushing it in GORUCK ever since, with a recent HTL finish. He and his buddy S had been part of the ATL 50, but a navigation error ended up cutting their event short. They were looking for a chance at redemption, and I also needed a team for CLT, so our team was born. We decided to go with the team name @icebathrubberyducky, an homage to their original ATL team @firebrethrubberduky, and which was inspired by a photo that I had taken of an ice bath that I had before the DC 50. Here's a pre-CLT version of that pic...
PHYSICAL PREP
I almost never do ice baths. There's some speculation that some forms of recovery inhibit necessary natural healing processes that benefit the athlete in the long term. I'm also almost never in a position where I'm really damaged from an exercise AND I have to quickly recover to be ready for more hard exercise. I'm usually very generous to my body with recovery days when I need it, and let the soreness play out naturally. If I do HDT ruck training in the future, that may have to change, but for now, that's what I do. Anyways, I pulled out the ice bath technique in the week leading up to help my legs quickly feel better. I didn't ruck a single mile since the 3 easy miles after the Brew Dash 6K Trail Race, but my feet hadn't been feeling 100% recovered yet, so I gave it all the TLC that I could. I think getting back on the trails for the race might've been what stressed my ankles the most. I haven't been trail running in months, and I haven't been running nearly as much, in general, since February.
Anyways, I was happy to have a rest week. Sleep wasn't perfect... I wonder if it's the longer daylight period that has made it more difficult. Every now and then, my sleep goes out of whack for a week, so maybe it's just one of those episodes, too. Who knows.
TEAM PREP
Our biggest challenge was that we didn't have support crew. A lot of our friends were doing the event, and I guess I don't know other people well enough that I'd feel comfortable asking them to agree to meeting me for an unspecified amount of time, for an unspecified number of times, at unspecified locations, for 20 hours. That was going to be a challenge. I learned how critical Support can be in DC, when having B there made our lives a million times easier, and made our ruck loads way lighter. I was mentally preparing to have to carry a bunch of extra water and some extra supplies. GORUCK doesn't allow drop bags, so it would either have to be on our backs, or we'd have to be lucky and come across stores or faucets when we needed it.
Fortunately, one of my rucking friends who was doing the event did have a support crew, and they kindly offered to help us, too! They went out and got extra water to take care of our team as well as their own, they gave me their contact info, and they took our Support vehicle gear bag at the start point. That team was also our allied team for checking the waypoint sequence at the beginning.
As far as strategy goes, S & J's was similar with what I did in DC... similar pace when breaks were factored in (20-22 min/mi), similar break frequency (though they preferred breaks that were half as long), their main goal was to finish, and they also valued sticking together while rucking and working closely as a team.
GEAR PREP
Since I wasn't a navigator, and because this was an inaugural event for CLT, I wasn't poring over waypoints and maps in the week leading up to the event, like I did for DC. I was intrigued by some of the speculation discussions around where the waypoints might end up being, and where the routes would take us, but that was it.
I spent most of my prep time on gear, instead. I liked my setup from DC, so I pretty much replicated that:
- 15L Bullet with a Greyman panel to hold up the 10# expert plate, with a blinker light, reflective bands, a carabiner, an unpadded hip belt, and mesh water bottle holders to dump stuff
- Kitanica large ditty bag to hold up my 1L nalgene (because thanks to the Support crew, I wouldn't have to carry a bunch of extra water!)
- Kitanica small ditty bag to hold up the power bank and cords
- Food items with diverse macro ratios and tastes, plus various supplements in the front pocket
- Extra Socks, Buff, Tissue, plastic bags in the inner mesh pocket.
- Cash and Credit Card, Mini Sunscreen, Blister kit, hair tie, and band-aids, and Pen in the inner top pocket
- Participant instructions in a plastic bag (for rain protection) free-standing in the ruck, with another plastic bag as water protection for the waypoint list
For my drop bag, I had an extra pair of shorts and shirt, I thought I had an extra pair of socks (more on that later), energy drink, big bottle of sunscreen, a long sleeve shirt that I planned to wear during the day, my wide-brimmed hat for the sun (switching out of my visor that I'd wear during the night, to keep my hair out of my face and for potential rain protection), sandals for after the event, lightweight minimalist shoes that could be used in an emergency, and extra food. My drop bag was 1/3 the size of the one in DC. I waaay overpacked there, and my DC teammates put up with me wanting to bring a carry-on full of stuff into the support car, haha. This time, I knew what to expect, I knew what I'd need, and I didn't feel like I had to account for a hundred possible scenarios.
PRE-EVENT
The start point ended up being at South Charlotte Crossfit, after a couple of false alarms of it being planned at various parks. They had limited parking, so we were encouraged to carpool or use public transit options. It ended up working out ok for people, since the public transit parking lot was closeby.
My teammates met me at my place, since I'm a little closer to the start point, and we went over together. We were early enough to get a spot at the Crossfit parking lot. We met up with other teams of GRT friends that we knew, plus our waypoint checking and co-support team partners. It was like a little reunion, seeing lots of familiar GRTs there. Everyone was excited for CLT's own Star Course.
The stated arrival time was 7:30pm. Some time after 8pm, the Cadres asked us to all gather on the grass in front of the Crossfit box. Maybe at 8:40, Cadres Brad, L DB, and Kevin E introduced themselves, gave the safety briefing, checked in the teams and handed out sealed waypoint packets, and checked ruck weights. A little after 9pm, Cadre Brad finished the briefing. The 20 hour clock only started once he started he gave us permission to open the waypoint packets and start plotting, so it didn't matter that it was slightly after 9pm when we started.
PLOTTING
There were 11 waypoints plus the Crossfit box waypoint, all on 1 page front and back. There weren't as many waypoints as in DC, which was 3 pages, but no matter what, you're covering the distance! There was one waypoint that was coordinate-based, because it was a statue on a university campus. The rest were pretty easy to enter. We used RoadWarrior PRO again. None of the addresses did anything weird, which was good. The only thing to note is that at the Airport Overlook point, the address came up in the middle of the road to the overlook, instead of at the end of it, so the actual course was 0.6 more miles than plotters might've anticipated.
We had our two navigators plotting, so that they could check against each other and have two copies of it. We also checked with our allied team, who was ready to go quickly. While they plotted, I was typing out the hashtags in my phone's Notes, so that I could copy-and-paste later, to reduce the risk of typos causing check-in issues, a trick I learned from AM in DC.
We got checked by the Cadre, we took another quick porta potty stop, and then we headed off. It probably took us about 15 minutes to do the points. It took much longer in DC (maybe 45 min?), because there were more points, there was more manipulation to get a route that took the C and O to avoid prohibited River Road, and the points were less straightforward. I feel like complexity exponentially increases, the more waypoints there are.
FIRST POINTS
We headed out at the same time that many other teams were heading out. From checking the #echeckCLT50 hashtags, there might've been 30-35 teams participating. Everyone that we were aware of seemed to be taking the counter-clockwise route, to get some of the longer stretches done at the beginning. Our thought was that those longer stretches can be demoralizing towards the end of the event, so we wanted to knock them out, first. Our allied team ended up choosing the clockwise option, which was interesting. Another friend team also took the clockwise option, which ended up being really helpful, since they helped us with recon on some shortcuts.
We started off fast, clocking the first 3 miles at around 15:35/mi. I think it was the excitement of kicking off the ruck, mixed with the pace of other teams around. When we found out that the pace being set was faster than anything one of the team members had rucked before, we throttled that down to a more sustainable pace immediately. As the timekeeper, I should've been announcing the paces more regularly, so that the person at the front would know whether that pace was reasonable and something they could hold for 50 miles. I shouldn't have assumed that if they were doing it, that it was a comfortable pace for them. I know that going out too fast is definitely "a thing" in running races, and I found out that it's "a thing" to guard against in Star Courses, too!
I know that I'm still not good at pacing for rucks, and knowing what an X:XX pace feels like vs. a Y:YY pace. So next time I'm time keeper, I should call out splits regularly, like AB did in DC.
My feel for pacing right now is the following:
- 20-21 min/mi: Coupon pace
- 19-20 min/mi: Leisurely Pokemon pace
- 18-19 min/mi: Faster Pokemon pace
- 17-18 min/mi: Moving with some purpose
- 16-17 min/mi: Moving with determined purpose
- 15-16 min/mi: Minor shuffling
- 13-15 min/mi: Shuffle as much as I can
That's a better understanding of pacing than I had 6 weeks ago, but I still have more honing to do. Before these 6 weeks, almost everything I did was Pokemon pace, with some Coupon pace during recovery rucks.
Our first waypoint was at 4.1 miles, at the Evans Tower in Queens University. Since it was the first waypoint, many teams were around, and we helped each other take pictures.
In the next stretch, navigation became more challenging, because we had to zig-zag on many streets for short distances on our way to the next waypoint. There were probably multiple viable options. We shuffled every now and then, when there were downhills. Shuffling not only lets you inject a little speed... it also gives your usual rucking muscles a free rest, and you and your ruck both feel magically weightless for a large proportion of the time when you're shuffling downhill. After the initial zig-zags, and an overpass above Independence Blvd, we had some longer stretches along Albemarle Road. We told stories, pointed out memories related to different things we saw along the way, etc. Along the way, we passed the 8 mile mark. That was when we had planned on taking a 5 min break, but everyone felt good, so we skipped it and went on.
There was an out-and-back on Lawyer's Road to go to the second waypoint, and we were surprised to see one of our friend's team coming the opposite direction early on. They had already hit the waypoint, and were hustling back! That team ended up getting first. I had been amazed by the smile on the guy's face... he looked like he was having a blast and wasn't phased by any of the mileage yet.
I found some trees to use to take care of personal matters along the way, and later on, we were joined by a random guy sparking up a conversation with J and walking around at 2am, for a bit. When we got to Sunset Memorial Gardens, there were many teams around. The Cadres had a truck there, too, although we didn't stop to see what they had, since our Support Crew had kindly met us there. We found out then that the other team had gone the other direction, which made it harder on the Support Crew, but they were good natured about it and didn't mind.
At the break, we took twice as long as planned, to take care of tightness and other issues. I think the early fast pace and/or skipping the first break might've contributed towards that. Lesson learned. Going forward, I wanted to make sure that we stopped stretched more regularly, to avoid that situation. Pay some now, or pay some plus extra later, in terms of stretching time.
THE LONG NIGHT
The way back on Lawyers Road felt a lot faster, maybe because we were familiar with that road already. We then moved onto a long portion on W.T. Harris Blvd, which would eventually take us to UNCC. Along the way, winds came in, bringing in a rain shower. One of them started during one of our now proactive stretch breaks. I wasn't expecting rain, based on what I had seen in the weather forecast. My teammates had brought raincoats. I didn't have anything, but I didn't really need anything other than my visor, to keep the rain out of my eyes, and I had that. I didn't mind my body getting wet, since it wasn't cold. The thing that I was most worried about was my shoes getting wet, since that would increase the risk of blisters, but even a rain jacket wouldn't help with that.
The rain stopped after 30 min, maybe. The impact of the rain would persist for many hours into the middle of the daylight morning, though, since the grass that I had been walking on whenever possible was now wet. Before, I had to worry about the camber of the grass, and how rutted vs. smooth it was. Now, I also had to worry about how wet the grass was, and how tall the grass was, since tall wet grass would get my shoes wet. I took asphalt or concrete more often now, but my feet were holding up fine so far, even with the harder surfaces, so it was OK.
During the event, J had a good strategy of using Siri to make notes and set reminders of things to address later in the event. That was a great idea, since it minimized the need to type while rucking in the dark.
During the event, J had a good strategy of using Siri to make notes and set reminders of things to address later in the event. That was a great idea, since it minimized the need to type while rucking in the dark.
I was having concerns about the overall pace, and the trend of the pace. Although it's not an easy topic to bring up, I needed to bring up this concern early as part of my role as time keeper and TL, so that we could take action towards addressing it before it became too late and an unfixable issue. We did start moving faster, although I know it was hard. I was concerned because the early part of the event is when we're the freshest, so signs of slowing paces this early aren't promising. Also, it was supposed to be in the lower-to-mid 70's then, and the temps would go up 15-20 degrees and the sun would be out once the daylight came. This was supposed to be the easy part.
I think this portion, especially the long ways we went after the rain, was the most challenging for the team from a morale perspective. When things get quiet and people go inward, that can be a sign. J was pumping himself up with death metal on his headphones, checking back on us periodically, and S was quiet. Looking back, distractions through stories, or a bluetooth speaker might've helped there. I don't have a lot of stories to share, but I could've arranged for some music.
With the rain came foot issues. S's socks were wet, but I had an extra pair in my pack. One principle that we were good about sticking to was taking care of issues immediately, so that they wouldn't get a chance to become exponentially worse and escalate into a DNF. We stopped for the sock change and then went on. I discovered that when you're a TL, you feel a responsibility for everyone on the team, and you'll do whatever you can to help them. My socks were damp, and I had been looking forward to putting on the fresh ones later, but S needed them more, and the team needed S to have them more at that point.
J was looking forward to the daytime, when we would get to mark many waypoints off the list. While I'm not good at encouraging people since I'm someone who's more task-oriented, J was able to help give pep talks to S, especially since they're close friends.
We had another quick stretch break under an overpass, where there would be zero chance of getting hit by any of the raindrops that were still coming down every now and then. A little while later, there was a car who went off from their lane and into the little easement that we were walking on. I don't know if it was a distracted driver, or one who was drawn by the light of our headlamps, or if it was just someone who got thrills from intentionally scaring pedestrians (like I've heard people do to bikers sometimes). I was too surprised and then grateful that nobody got hit, to get too angry at the driver.
More walking... J was familiar with the area, so he took us through a shortcut through a shopping area's parking lots. We ran across more teams, at last, on the out-and-back to/from the Norm Niner Miner statue at UNC Charlotte. I took another potty break as we went into the campus. We noticed some other teams up a hill, and that route ended up saving a few steps, too.
It was starting to become light, when we got to the statue. We took our pic at mile 25.5, and then took the time to fix up feet. S's blister stickers weren't sticking, but the GORUCK Blister Kit that I had ended up working well, and included a needle that she used to lance her blisters. None of us had really knew how to use blister kits (when I have had blisters during OCRs in the past, I'd just poke it after getting back home or let it reabsorb, and do nothing else), but we followed the simple instructions that came with the packet, and it seemed to work.
I did some calculations, and I had some concerns about our time and what we still had to cover with the distance. It took S some time to get reasonably mobile again, after popping the blisters, but she did her best to make forward progress.
We came across more teams. It's fun to see people you know from events. We crossed paths with our allied support crew team near the entrance of UNCC, too! I was happy to see M in good spirits there.
J started making plans on how we could address risks and make up some time. We'd try to find some Ibuprofen that S wanted. We had considered getting his friend to drive a long ways to bring us food, but we decided that we'd just meet our support crew at mile 30 and pick up food along the way. We tried asking other teams for Ibuprofen, but they didn't have any. Fortunately, our support crew had some, but our planned meetup still 5 miles away. S would manage until then, but J and I looked for shops along the way to get some as soon as we could. We came across some gas stations, often with GRTs, so I was able to shuffle ahead to pick some up while they kept moving.
J and I decided that this would be a good time to do some ruck sharing, too. My TL in the ATL 26.2 had helped me carry my ruck for a while after our last waypoint, when I was still moving forward, but really slow and stiff after being too sedentary during my breaks. I was more than happy to pay it forward. J and I took turns on it. It was hard, but it's not so bad when you have someone to share the load with.
We got to the next waypoint, which was a sign for Historic Rosedale Plantation right on the street. There were many more GRTs along this stretch of road, so we got help with our picture.
We came across more teams. It's fun to see people you know from events. We crossed paths with our allied support crew team near the entrance of UNCC, too! I was happy to see M in good spirits there.
J started making plans on how we could address risks and make up some time. We'd try to find some Ibuprofen that S wanted. We had considered getting his friend to drive a long ways to bring us food, but we decided that we'd just meet our support crew at mile 30 and pick up food along the way. We tried asking other teams for Ibuprofen, but they didn't have any. Fortunately, our support crew had some, but our planned meetup still 5 miles away. S would manage until then, but J and I looked for shops along the way to get some as soon as we could. We came across some gas stations, often with GRTs, so I was able to shuffle ahead to pick some up while they kept moving.
J and I decided that this would be a good time to do some ruck sharing, too. My TL in the ATL 26.2 had helped me carry my ruck for a while after our last waypoint, when I was still moving forward, but really slow and stiff after being too sedentary during my breaks. I was more than happy to pay it forward. J and I took turns on it. It was hard, but it's not so bad when you have someone to share the load with.
S took her ruck back as we moved another mile to our Support Crew meetup spot, a Bojangles. Our team originally bonded over Bojangles. At the Bataan Light, J had requested Cajun Filet Biscuits for his push for the HTL. We had already planned to be teammates by then. We all ate one before the Light, and it was so good. I've been hooked on those ever since, and I pretty consistently always eat one before or after my GORUCK events now... sometimes, I have one even when I'm not doing an event.
I shuffled ahead to go in and put in our orders. The Support Crew were there and ready to help us again. After getting the food, I started my priorities of work. I was looking forward to changing into fresh socks... but they were nowhere to be found! I must've either left them at home by mistake, or I had figured that I had the extra pair in my pack already, to use as my second pair and didn't feel the need to bring a third pair.
My socks were wet, and my shoes were muddy, so I was in no mood to put those back on. I let my raisiny feet dry out while I changed up other gear. I put on a long sleeve tech shirt to give me protection from the sun (I want to avoid sunburn at all costs). I swapped out my visor for a wide-brimmed hat. I dumped the headlamps, since they were no longer necessary and only added extra weight. I refilled on water. I went to the restroom in the Bojangles.
While I didn't have another pair of socks, I did have minimalist shoes (Saucony Hattoris). They're kind of like Vibram 5 Fingers, except without the toes. There's not much cushioning, but they are very lightweight. I do ruck in them sometimes, after workouts at the gym, so rucking in them for a while wouldn't be too foreign to my feet. The lack of cushioning did worry me a little bit, but it seemed more appealing than putting the wet socks back on, at least for now. They're kind of sock-like... glorified slippers, so it felt OK going sockless in them.
I tied my old socks up on my ruck (which was easy because they're knee-high), and I attached my Salomon XR Missions to my ruck with a carabiner, so that they all could dry in the sun. The sun was out now, so I figured that they'd dry quickly. I put on sunscreen really quickly before it was time to head out again.
We had some time to make up, so we ate the Bojangles while we rucked. I also had a cup of coffee. I only drink coffee before or during big events where I need the boost. That food seemed to perk everyone up. We were moving faster and were all happier now. The difference was quite noticeable.
With the minimalist shoes and lack of cushioning, I had to minimize impact while keeping up the pace by taking many fast steps. I couldn't take the normal-sized steps because it put more load on my already-used feet. The sidewalk was under construction in parts, so it wasn't the most friendly terrain to traverse in minimalist shoes, but I was happy to give my feet a chance to dry off.
We made our way into Uptown at last, which was pretty exciting. Our first stop was the Queen Charlotte statue. I kept sipping on my coffee. It was nice having that as something to do, and to keep me occupied.
Next, we did a little unplanned detour. It only took us maybe half a mile off track, so it wasn't too bad. What's important is catching it early, if it does happen, and stopping and checking as soon as you have any doubts. On the plus side, we got to see some cool murals.... out,... and back...
We were back on track on our way to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. We saw more GRTs in the area.
Next, the Firebird statue.
It was mile 36.6 now, and I had gone 3.5 miles in my Hattoris, so I was ready to switch out of them and back into my damp socks. Contrary to my expectations, my socks and shoes didn't really dry out. S and J went ahead to keep forward progress, while I quickly switched back into the Darn Tough socks and Salomons. I do believe in not leaving people behind and staying together, but we had to keep making forward progress, it would be easy for me to find the BoA stadium on my own, and I knew that I could catch up. Worst case, we had phones and could contact each other.
The dampness wasn't that bad, and it did feel good to have the sturdier shoes on again. I hustled to the stadium, running across a 26.2 mile team that wondered at first if I had been running the whole 50. I told them that I was just catching up to my team.
We met at Panther Stadium, where we took a pic with the Panthers. I remember this stadium. The last time I was here was in the middle of the night at a T-day tough with Fagan. That was a challenging but very memorable night. There are actually multiple sets of panthers at the stadium, which I hadn't realized, so my teammates picked a set that was on the way to our next destination.
We ran across more teams. Some of them remembered seeing us during the difficult stretch on North Tryon, and they were glad to see us doing much better and moving along now. We were all in good spirits at this time. We had finished the Uptown portion and were making our way through the final phase of the event. We felt like we could make it now.
Next up was a 7 mile walk to the airport overlook. That's the next spot where we planned to have support, since it would be the 40 mile mark. That stretch felt long. I drive along that stretch sometimes to go to work, so it was familiar territory, but we were now covering it with a very different means of transportation.
The heat of the day was kicking in, and there wasn't much shade along the way. Even from afar, though, my DC TL was reminding me to stay hydrated! We came across more teams. It was a little like a Death March, although we were all still moving forward. We came across a big barking fenced dog that looked very much like a bear. We decided to keep pressing on, so we only had a couple of quick stretch breaks along this segment of the route.
We started to see the planes taking off from the airport, so we knew we were getting closer. We were seeing more teams. It might've been 26.2ers, based on the direction they were going, their freshness, and the time of day. Soon, we were nearing the airport overlook. It was hot, but relief was coming in the form of our support crew.
The airport overlook is my 2nd favorite place in Charlotte, so I was excited that this was a part of the Star Course. This would be our last planned support crew stop, so we used the time to take care of everything we needed before the final push. I didn't want to take too long, since we still had a ways to go. Because the overlook parking lot was 0.3 miles further than RoadWarrior dropped the pin, that added a little bit of distance, as did the natural course of events in the previous miles, so we still had 10.3 miles planned to go, even though we had already covered 44.3 miles.
We found out that our allied team only had about 6 miles to go, which was amazing. They were crushing it, and I was so happy for them. Our support crew brought out some towels drenched in cold water, which was the most amazing thing at this point in the event. That's something to remember for my next hot event. They were a perfect color for our ducky team, too.
There was a porta potty at the overlook, which was convenient. I finally got to put up my feet for the first time the whole day, and did that for about a minute while sipping on cold water. After that, we started getting ready to move. There was supposedly a shortcut somewhere around here that involved parking lots, so I tried to look that up as we got ready.
It was hard, but we headed out again. We didn't have a lot of time to play with. There were a couple of routes we could take. Google Maps recommended one long route that would take us back onto Wilkinson, but we hadn't seen other teams going that way. We phoned a friend (who had gone clockwise) and got some tips on which way to proceed, and we cut through some parking lots. More ruck sharing, cuz sharing is caring, and we had a mission to complete no matter what it took.
We continued on through the shortcut, when an opportunity for another shortcut came along. S had wondered whether there might be an opportunity to drop down in elevation to a road we wanted to be on below. We saw an F3 supporter going into the woods, and he pointed the way to some creative navigation.
This part was a lot of fun for me. It felt adventurous and trail-blazing, similar to what we did at the Expedition Extra with DS and Fagan. Another team soon came along behind us. Interestingly, crab walks came in handy here, as did the rugged nature of GORUCK bags. It was steep, so we all went down crab walk or slow & controlled slide-style.
We all moved up behind the Charlotte barrier sign. As happy as I was to physically go on that little adventure, I was even more elated to see that we had saved 1.5 miles through the use of the shortcuts. We went from being in a very tenuous situation to a far more manageable one.
We hiked up the big spirally road to the Carolinas Aviation Museum. This meant that we only had 6 miles to go! We took one more medium break. I put my feet up again. I was a little dirty now, from the adventuring. I would also notice later on that my shoes are Panthers colors, so they were a great choice for Star Course CLT.
When we stepped out, we knew we had some physical challenges ahead of us. The intensity of the event, and probably the heat, were kicking in full force. J was as determined as someone can be, though, willing to sacrifice whatever he had to to get it done. And we were determined to deal with any challenges that came along and work together as a team to overcome.
It was a mentally long trek along Billy Graham Parkway. There were many teams making their way down this stretch. We encouraged each other, and looked out for each other with the ramp crossings.
There was a decent-sized shoulder on the road, and the grass was smooth enough to walk on, most of the time. It was just long and a little monotonous.
Finally, though, we reached the library. Many teams were assembled there, taking perhaps a last break before the push to the end. Fortunately, the sign for the picture was close to the road, so we didn't have to go way in for our pic.
We had 2.3 more miles to cover, and about an hour and a half to do it. We could've taken a break, but I didn't want to risk having anyone stop and stiffen up, which is a bigger risk, the later on in the event it gets. Since everyone was still good to go, we moved on.
We were so close now. Just another tiny ruck left. It was slow and hard, but we kept going. Most of this stretch was along Billy Graham. It took us into a part of town with more traffic, towards the end. I had been really happy that the sun finally got covered up by clouds. It gave us some relief from the heat. And, we didn't have many more street crossings to contend with, like I had encountered in the last part of DC.
The nice clouds turned into dark clouds.
A few minutes later, the winds went from zero to crazy. Then rain started getting mixed in with the wind.
The wind was so strong that I feel like it was able to blow me along towards the finish. We made the turn at the Bojangles onto the final 0.5 mile stretch. I might've been more afraid than my teammates, because I wanted to run more than they did. Someone in a building on the street was calling out to us, inviting us to seek shelter in their building. It was a very kind offer, but we had some place to be.
Not long after we had passed the Billy Graham Library, I noticed that GORUCK had sent us a PM telling us Congrats, and to go back to the start point. When the storm was rolling in, I realized that the storm might've been the reason behind that DM.
We stomped through deep water and made it back to the start point, where we took our final pic.
Maybe 30 seconds later, the heavens opened up and released 6 months of rain in the matter of minutes. The streets became rivers. Lightning and thunder started rolling in. With the wind blowing debris and even sheet metal, I put on my sunglasses for protection.
The wind was so strong that I feel like it was able to blow me along towards the finish. We made the turn at the Bojangles onto the final 0.5 mile stretch. I might've been more afraid than my teammates, because I wanted to run more than they did. Someone in a building on the street was calling out to us, inviting us to seek shelter in their building. It was a very kind offer, but we had some place to be.
Not long after we had passed the Billy Graham Library, I noticed that GORUCK had sent us a PM telling us Congrats, and to go back to the start point. When the storm was rolling in, I realized that the storm might've been the reason behind that DM.
We stomped through deep water and made it back to the start point, where we took our final pic.
We got our patches. It was a bit of a frenzy then. The parking lot was flooding. Our support crew was still there to meet us, even though their team had finished a while ago, and M was waiting patiently in the car.
We congratulated M, got our support gear and our rucks loaded in the car, jumped in, and started the drive back. Fortunately, the storm had calmed way down again. It had come and gone so quickly. The rain lingered on, but it was nothing like what it was at the beginning.
We went back to my place to shower, eat, and decompress a bit. Mission accomplished.
It was not easy, but we made it through together. 19:19 was our official time. That shortcut could've made the difference. There's not only the pure rucking time, but the exponential increase in difficulty of each mile towards the end of a long event. We might've needed some extra break time to deal with an extra 1.5 miles. We would've also been caught out in the storm for longer. So that was big.
Another huge thing was the support crew. I can't imagine having to carry all that extra water and gear, if it hadn't been for them and their generous team. Another thing that kept me going was the virtual support crew that I had, in the form of friends on Insta and Messenger. That was also very comforting.
Many thanks to my teammates, for never giving up, for pushing through challenging circumstances, for making up for my weaknesses with their strengths, and for sharing this epic adventure with me. I still can't believe that we literally walked all over Charlotte. I always feel like I have to muster some stamina to even drive to IKEA because it seems so far, but we walked there and so many other places that day. I'll never look at my city's familiar streets the same way again, or a map of Charlotte the same way ever again.
