GORUCK JULY 4TH TOUGH
In the days leading up to the July 4th Tough, I was getting excited about doing my 50th event. I debated about whether to break out a brand new Snow White 20L Rucker, the way one would open up a special bottle of champagne for a special occasion, and even get people to sign it, or if I should use the Ranger Green 25L Rucker, so that I could get used to it before Team Assessment and have extra space in my ruck for a likely 10# bonus sandbaby for the Cadre Dan event. I polled PATHFINDER Class, and most people suggested that I go the Snow White route, although many were fans of Ranger Green.
I was excited about getting to do an event in Mooresville, since I wasn't familiar with that city. It was a smaller town, which would have a different feel from our usual Charlotte events starting at Freedom Park, which would typically go through Uptown at some point. The leader of LKN Ruck Club had worked hard to get an event in his city, and we wanted to make it a success.
We met up in a parking lot. It was the first event back with a bigger group of GRTs that I know, so it was like a reunion. I had seen a few at the D-Day Tough in Sanford, but that was a ways away from CLT, and the mood there was a lot more reserved, since it was the first COVID era event.
We met up at a gravel parking lot in the downtown area, a block away from Liberty Park, our starting point. Looking back, that was a very fitting name for our SP! It was good to see the group again. I got people to sign the ruck. I typically don't have beer before events because I don't want to have to use the bathroom a bunch early on, more than I already would.
Near start time, when it was time for her to change out of her crocs, SB realized that she had brought two right shoes, since she had multiple sets of the same color and model of shoe. That was not going to work. That must be one of the most sinking feelings in the world to have. She had maybe 30 minutes to address the situation, which was about the amount of time needed for a one-way trip back home, or a halfway and back trip, if someone was home and able to meet her halfway. She drove off, and the rest of us got ready. I kept waiting at the parking lot for as long as I could, but eventually, it was time to walk to the park.
We saw Cadre Dan, and I gave him a heads-up that SB was taking care of a situation and was on her way. We started off circling around, for Cadre's self-introduction and administrative briefing. During the roll call, SB came running into the park, after the "Bs", but before we got to the end. All was good. Everyone introduced themselves. There were quite a few from the military here. One guy kept his ruck on the whole time, even though we were allowed to keep them grounded, and it turns out that he was Mark Klemm, finisher of Selection Class 018. With a non-GORUCK backpack and a new face in the area, one could've mistaken him for a newbie. Selection finishers get free events for life, or something, but it's rare to see them at one, so this was pretty cool.
Cadre Dan had an array of coupons laid out, including rope, a med bag, empty sandbags, jerry cans, hammers, a foldable litter (which was unfolded to help carry heavier objects like the jerry cans full of ice, which was reserved as a precaution against heat injuries), and a variety of flags. He somehow found out that this was my 50th event. He mentioned it, and then told me that the 25-30# handled weight plate (probably a former team weight) would be my coupon for the night, which nobody else would be able to carry. It's not a bad coupon, and I've carried it before at other events, so I knew what I was getting into. It is heavier than it looks. There were more 10# sand babies than people. I was told not to get a sandbaby, and at some point, the supply of sand babies ran out, so not everyone ended up having to carry one. There may have been about 36 in the class, and 7 people without sand babies? The class had time to arrange all of the coupons and apply straps from Cadre Dan's kit bag, so I put straps on the handles.
The military people were the first set of TLs and ATLs. They wore reflective vests for extra protection. Cadre Dan had brought a giant container of sanitizer, plus a spray bottle, so that people could mitigate the risks of COVID. There was also a group of people who trained at a gym with JB, I think. It looked like it was going to be a strong class, overall. We headed up the stairs out of the park and through the city. MS had arranged for a special photographer (Doc Ethridge) to be there, which is how we got all of the great shots pictured in this blog.
Our first destination was a park. We got a break, and then we got a history lesson under a pavilion. I decided to sit on the ground on the edge, rather than be at a picnic table in close proximity to a bunch of other people. Cadre Dan started going explaining the Declaration of Independence. You may remember it as a boring subject in school, but he is able to bring any history to life and make it really interesting. He would go through each section of it in detail, over the course of the night.
After the history lesson, we walked over to one of the baseball fields for some PT. Our task over the course of the night was to memorize the preamble to the DoI. To help us do that, Cadre Dan gave us a WOD where the movements had some relation to the phrases, and we repeated that a number of times. We did these WODs around the baseball diamond, but I was fortunate to get a spot on the grass, so my ruck didn't get too red from the dirt.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident" = 10 ruck swings
"that all men are created equal" = 10 OH ruck presses
"that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights" = 10 4-ct flutter kicks
"that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" = 10 ruck jump-overs (1-way)
We were also asked to come up with our own WOD that would commemorate 1776, and we had a choice on how to do that... monarchy (1 leader decides), democracy (everyone has an equal say in figuring it out), or republic (designate representatives who would decide). I think that a republic makes the most sense, because one random leader could be incompetent and make bad decisions that make life miserable for the class. A democracy would be chaos with such a large group. With a republic, you'd get people who could keep each others' ideas reasonable, and have few enough voices to come to a decision pretty quickly. Fortunately, enough people had the same thought, so we went with a republic. That was really clever of Cadre Dan to mix history plus a workout plus leadership lessons.
Before we left, Dan asked us to split into four groups to search for sand to fill up the sandbags. Since there were baseball fields, there could be a pile of sand somewhere. Fortunately for the team, there was none to be found.
In the middle of our next movement, Cadre Dan stopped us at a parking lot. It wasn't a big enough of a parking lot to have a full-on PT break. Did the team earn some kind of penalty for breaking a rule? He had us stand in formation, and then shifted us around row by row for a while until we were arranged to his liking. I wondered what was going on. A car slowed down, probably wondering the same thing. If they had asked us, like many passers by do when we're at events, I would've been able to tell them that I didn't know what we were doing, either! After some final adjustments, he told us to do downward dog. It turns out that we were in the parking lot of a yoga studio, and he thought it would be funny to send them a random picture of us doing the pose in the middle of the night.
After going through some commercial areas, we turned onto a long connector road. One of the participants said that his house was close by, so we could stop there to reload on water. Lots of miles. When we were nearly there, one guy ran into a sign at a gas station. A cop (soon followed by more of his fellow cops in other cars) stopped us to check on us, and reminded us to stay off of the roads for safety. We got to the front yard of the participant's house, where SB sanitized all of the coupons, the women went in to use the restroom, and everyone topped off on water from the garden hose. After another mile of rucking, we arrived at Cornelius park.
After covering the next section of the DoI, we repeated the exercises to reinforce it. We searched for sand again, but with no luck, fortunately. We considered possible routes to our next destination, and it was decided that we'd do some off-roading. Cool. We went into the forest behind the park. There were some steep sections that were more difficult for the stretcher to navigate, but overall, it was a matter of finding a path of least resistance through the brush. That meant that we did some winding around, but after a final climb through some thorns, we made it back into civilization! During the final ascent, I did drop my personal coupon onto my hand, but since I was going uphill, it didn't have too far to fall, so nothing was broken.
When we were exiting the forest, that's when I figured out that Mark was who he was, because he must have mentioned something. We walked and walked, past some race car support buildings. This area was actually quite hilly. We finally approached a gas station that would provide our next break. Some people went in for resupply. I stayed outside, and just enjoyed not having to carry the personal weight for a while. I was carrying it the same way the whole time, with the weight on my ruck, with me pulling on the added straps in front, to help it stay up. I don't think the straps were rubbing my neck, but the pressure was constant.
It was finally starting to turn light outside. We were originally headed towards Hyde Park, but Cadre Dan rerouted us back towards the start, thankfully. Teammates kindly offered to help me take the weight for a while, but we were close, and it was bearable, and I wanted to finish this thing with it. Cadre stopped us in a church parking lot, to let us recover a little bit before the final push. I think he saw that we were worn out, or at least I was starting to wear out and drift farther to the back of the formation.
As we neared Liberty Park, Cadre Dan noticed some wall art that featured a bunch of angel wings, and thought that it would be a cool class photo, so we stopped there for a pic.
Once we got to the park, we weren't quite done yet. Cadre Dan started by having us take off our shoes, to check our feet. He gave a quick lesson on the importance of foot care. Then, he had us walk into the grassy field barefoot (nice grass, fortunately), for some final PT. We did the Preamble exercises, and we did our 1776 WOD. Then, we had to prove that we had memorized it. A certain number of people had to successfully recite it as individuals, or else we'd keep doing the Preamble mini-WOD.
After a few tries, we got through it! We took some post-Tough pictures, and then dispersed to maximize our break before the Light. Cadre Dan told me after the event that he gave me the weight to carry to make my 50th special, which it was!
GORUCK JULY 4TH LIGHT
Between the two events, I got in a shower, which always helps. Some people opted to stay in the parking lot. Not as pleasant on a hot day. I went with a new long sleeve and hooded shirt that I hadn't tried before. I figured the hood would provide additional protection against sunburn. The fabric was thin but quite warm. Good thing I tolerate heat OK.
We did our admin under the shade of the band shell. There was one guy who showed up for his first event, and was missing a number of items. Fortunately, there were people there who could help him out with what he needed. Dan had to take care of a self-inflicted blister issue, anyways, so it was OK.
There were enough sand babies to go around this time, and we had the litter with the ice jugs, plus all of the flags. No personal weight this time, though! I started off on the flag. I was glad to have something other than the personal weight!
We went to North Main Park again, chatting along the way.
Now that we were at the park at daylight, I was praying that we wouldn't suddenly discover a giant pile of sand that we conveniently missed. Fortunately, there really was no sand.
We got another Cadre Dan DoI lesson, and then we did the Preamble mini-WOD. We had part 2 of the history lesson back in the shade, and then did the 1776 WOD interspersed with some laps around the baseball field. Before we left, those who wanted to got to make use of the ice.
On the ruck back, I finally got a taste of the litter, which probably wasn't so bad after the ice got used. Again, it was nice to have something other than the personal weight! It is a different feeling to do a partner carry coupon, too. You feel like you're more part of the team.
We stopped at a gas station on our way back, for someone who needed to get a cold drink. It was a hot day. We made it back and did our final WODs with rucks and sand babies only, and Preamble recitations, this time with shoes. Some of the boys had a little too much fun with the sand baby swings.
Before we finished our 5.5 mile event, Cadre Dan gave all of the represented ruck clubs a chance to introduce themselves, which was really great. We had 5! LKN the OG, Cabarrus, Mooresville, Osprey (the newest at the time), and CLT. I think the less I speak, the better, haha. It is cool that each ruck club has its own flavor and specialty. Each one brings something special to the table.
We finished with beers and celebrations. It was a great weekend to celebrate our country, spend time with my rucking family, and finish my 50th event with my CA.
The ruck only had some minor baseball field red clay stains. More than that, it gained a bunch of signatures! I did discover that my car window had fallen down some time during the Light, so that was a unique drive back home.
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