Long Creek Adventure Race & Night Ops Gun & Run (Fall 2021)

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Sunday, Nov 7:

Co-hosted a Chad1000X workout with Cabarrus Ruck Club at Mountain Island Fitness, to raise awareness and funds to fight veteran suicide.  

The main goal is not the workout itself, but the meaning behind it.  It's meant to be inclusive and scalable, so you can split the reps with someone else, use a taller or shorter step-up box, use anything from zero to 45#, etc.  You also want to challenge yourself, too.  It's meant to be a grinder.  You think about how like with life, it gets tough sometimes, but you focus on taking another step, another day at a time.  It's about coming together with others who also care.  You're not alone, because your friends are there, too, grinding it out with you.  

Shannon and I both went for the 500X, since we had Rucking World Championships coming up and didn't want to burn out our quads.  I used a 20# plate and a 10-inch step.  I did reps of other exercises in lieu of the other 500 steps... 4x90s OH hold with the 20# ruck, 4x10 front raises with a 10# plate, 25 calf raises with 20#, 4x25 V-leg extensions, 10x22 10-in incline pushups half slick and half with 20#.

That night, I did 3.5 miles easy with a 30# ruck in Ballistic trainers.

Tuesday, Nov 9:

I did the PATHFINDER Compete PT challenge (first set) with 48 pushups in 2 min, 82 situps in 2 min, 16 push presses with a 60#SB and 30#R, 11 squat cleans with a 60#SB, 85s of dead hang with a 30#R, and a 2 mile run in 14:35 in the Adidas Boost Adios, early in the morning.

In the evening, I did the HDT coalition November workout, including 1 mile of rucking in 16:29, 2x15 min AMRAPs focused on legs then arms, and then a little sprint drill, wearing MACV1s.

Friday, Nov 12:

The USNWC had a free clinic on maps, where we learned how to plot points.  We already knew how to do this, but it was good to get a preview of the map that we'd be using the next day.  It was huge.

Saturday, Nov 13:

LONG CREEK ADVENTURE RACE

Shannon, Alicia, and I signed up for the 72 hour Sea to Sea Adventure Race, without ever having done an Adventure Race before, so we decided that it would be quite beneficial to at least find one adventure race to do prior to the Sea to Sea to learn more about this style of event and gain experience.

The Long Creek Adventure Race hosted at the USNWC ended up being a great introductory event for us.  We went for the 4-hour version instead of the 8-hour version, largely because we didn't want to burn ourselves out before RWC.  It still gave us a taste of the paddling, trekking, and biking disciplines, route planning, strategy, gear considerations, and navigation, though.

It turns out that we were allowed to leave gear at the pavilion where the event started and finished.  That meant that we didn't practice using our large packs (which were overkill for a race of this duration anyways), but we decided to take advantage of the freedom to do so and make it easier for ourselves.  

We plotted our points and double-checked our plots.  It turns out that the race would start with a mandatory run (no biking allowed) to the first waypoint, after which we could do whatever we wanted before crossing the finish line some time before the 4 hour time cap.  When we found out about that mandatory requirement, that changed our route plan, but that was fine.  It's interesting how one little twist can change your plans, though.

We didn't go all-out in the run (again, didn't want to burn ourselves out before RWC), but we put in a little effort.  We were fine with walking, too.  Going 100% for 4 hours straight would've been unwise.  Since everyone was going to the same first waypoint, it wasn't as hard to navigate there.  It was pretty much on the parkway, anyways.

From there, people started making different decisions about where to go next.  We chose to venture into the trail system for a control point not too far away.  The trail forks in multiple places.  Fortunately, we picked the correct fork to start, and used direction and distance to validate that we were where we thought we were on the map.

From there, we tried to rely on the map's rendering of the turns of the trail, and tried to use a seeming 90 degree left turn as a landmark for where we should turn off trail to look for the control point.  That strategy ended up not working out well.  Trails drawn onto maps aren't super accurate and are often not complete (as new trails are added to the physical world).  We considered trying to follow the contour lines, because the control point was supposed to follow the same contour that we were on, but we didn't see where this was happening in the physical world.  The contours looked different.  There were some extra trails in the physical world.  We followed one for a while until it seemed like we had gone too far.  We followed a different one.  We went off-trail in the expected direction, trying to look.  No luck.  There were several other teams there, too, and no luck for them, either.  

We spent more time than we normally would've wanted to, trying to find this point, probably because this was the first ever point we had really tried to find in our first ever AR, and we didn't want to start off with a did-not-find.  We had given up and had started going back, when we came across other teams who had found where it was, so we followed them and found it, far off from where we had been looking.  After the event, we had realized that using the topography of a nearby peak (which I had tried to do when we were in the middle of bushes, but far away from the actual peak on the map), would've been the most reliable landmark for knowing where to turn off trail.  Lesson learned.  It sucked up way too much time, but we had found our second point, and had learned a good lesson.

After getting this point, our next priority was to hit the kayaking portion, because it's not often that you get a chance to practice that discipline, especially when it comes to navigating and finding locations by boat. Biking and hiking, you get more opportunities to do.  We also didn't want to run into a situation where there would be a backlog for getting into the boats, or mismanage our time on boat, since that's where we felt like time management would be list predictable, with currents and our overall newness to paddling.

I had kayaked in the area before at TuckFest 2018, so I at least knew about the island around the corner of which our first waypoint could be found.

That one was pretty straightforward, but the next one was not.  It looked like the next one was at the tip of an island that you could get to from either the inland side or the main waterway side.  We went along the inland side but got landlocked.  Who knows if the water levels had changed over time since the time that the map was created, or if something else happened.  

Rather than backtrack, we got creative and portaged to the other side of the land.  My foot slipped while I tried to lift the boat onto land, and my feet got wet, but at least I got it over with, so I didn't mind being the designated wader after that.

When we did our portage, we discovered that we seemed to be in a park area, and there were other kayaks docked there.  We had just gotten there a different way.  We realized that we were more upstream than expected, and that we were likely not far away from the furthest control point.  It was different from the one we had been shooting for, but since we were there, we might as well go for it, and we decided that it might be faster if we tackle the remaining distance by foot, since we were already on land.  We noted the manmade rectangular features on the map, and made our way to what turned out to be a bridge that you could get under either by foot or by boat.  That's where we found the point.

We ran back to the boat and headed down the river again.  We found the control point that we had been looking for originally.  After finding it, we decided on a codeword we'd use to signal each other if we spotted a point, as to not tip off other teams.

There was one other water-based point, but it was really far away, and seemed to require navigation through marshes with creek branches that could become a maze, and potentially low water level areas that would be tough to paddle through.  We decided to skip it, return the kayak, and run back to the start, to pick up our bikes.

We biked down the parkway and left onto Belmeade Drive.  We had the map wheel to estimate distances on the map, and watched our travel distance on our bike computers.  We stopped at the creek, on the side that we had plotted the point on.  I spotted the flag on the opposite side of the creek, though, so we backtracked back to the other end of the bridge, and SB made her way down to get the point while I watched the bikes.  I was pretty sure that I had plotted it accurately, so I'm guessing the water might've moved?  That was another good experience to have.  Water can move (as we learned with that "island" that wasn't an island anymore, too).

We continued down Belmeade, trying to be safe and staying far to the right to avoid cars.  I was looking for a road on the right that was the pre-stop for our next point.  There wasn't actually a road!  Fortunately, I spotted the flag hanging off a tree in someone's yard, so I rode in, and we got the checkpoint.

We still had plenty of time, so we decided to go for the far bike point, which we hadn't originally planned to do.  We tried to use side roads of neighborhoods where possible, to avoid the most heavily trafficked roads.  At times, we had no choice but to be on the busier roads, though.  We rode down to what ended up being a mini cemetery, and found the point.  Quite interesting!

On the way back, it looked like there was a shortcut option that would've required a bit of bushwhacking but would've saved us distance.  We tried it, but ran into a private road that prohibited outsiders.  We ended up having to backtrack, but that's the nature of route choice and strategy.  Sometimes, you have to take risks.  Sometimes, it works out in your favor, and you save time.  Other times, you end up wasting time when it doesn't work and you have to backtrack and complete your originally planned route.  I think some experienced AR people have rules of thumb to help you make these decisions with some kind of consistent rule, so that there's less time used up on debate or second-guessing... like needing a 4:1 savings, or something.  It was a good thing to consider, try, and experience, though.

We got back with about 30 minutes to spare.  We got 8/9 checkpoints, which we were happy about.  There were only two in the all-female 2-man division for the 4-hour race, but we did get first in our division!  There was another newbie team there, too.  It's fun to see all kinds of people come out for this fun and whacky event format.  

In all, we covered about 4 miles of running/walking, 2 miles of paddling, and 11 miles of biking.

It was a great first AR experience, and even in such a short event, we learned some great lessons.

- Water moves, so don't be surprised if water is in a different place than where it's drawn on the map

- Trails are not drawn accurately, and may not be complete

- Topo is more reliable than anything else

- Portaging is a nice tool in the toolbox during paddling

- Use of the codeword for spotting CPs

- Biking safety

- Risk vs reward in route gambles

GUN RUN NIGHT OPS

As if that wasn't enough fun, we had another event scheduled that day, in Old Fort, NC, near Asheville.

We checked in for the safety brief, but we were scheduled to be the last runners to step off, so we had time to kill before it was our turn.  Just like at USNWC, it was the prettiest time of year, with the leaves as colorful as they come.

We went to Black Mountain to get dinner.  The Mexican place we originally planned to go to was packed and had a long wait, so we found a different place that ended up being amazing.  Goldfinch had no wait, was really cutely decorated inside with hippie decorations, and they even checked for vax cards for people wanted to dine in.  It was nice to be inside and warm.  The menu had so many options that I wanted to try, but I settled on a BBQ jackfruit salad, since that was unique.  They had spiced nuts as the table snack that everyone gets when they come in.  That was a nice experience, and and it was more filling than expected.

After dinner, we went back to VODTAC, where we took a nap in the car before our run time.  It was chilly, but not terribly so.  We had done a lot that day already, so we were tired.  We were even feeling like we just wanted to get this Gun Run over with so that we could go home.  This was to be our first Night Gun Run... little did we know that our minds were about to be blown by how much fun the event would be, though.

We started with a rope climb, with full kit, in the dark, and then we ran to stage 1.  There, we had our choice of rifle or pistol, and we had to go through an outdoor shoot house of sorts (a series of tunnels and more open areas), to hit the 6x bad guys with 2 hits each, while not shooting 2x good guys.  I went slowly, to make sure I was positively IDing the good vs the bad guys.  If you fail to shoot any of the bad guys enough time or shoot a good guy, you DNF the stage.  I passed this one, and there was a 68% pass rate.

We ran down the trails, following led lights that marked the path.  At one point, near a series of buildings, it wasn't super clear where to go, but fortunately, I figured it out.  

At the second stage, there were rifle shots downrange, with some shoots and some no-shoots, and you had to distinguish between the two.  I passed, and there was a 68% pass rate again. 

At the third stage, we weren't allowed to use lights, so my night sights on my pistol came in handy, and there was enough ambient light and stage-provided light to see and hit the rifle targets.  I passed, and there was a 78% pass rate.

The fourth stage was a long distance shooting stage.  There was a lot of far shooting to do in a short amount of time, and I timed out.  Smoke obscuring the view was an unexpected factor.  Afterwards, someone gave a tip that stepping to the side of the smoke would help you get away from it.  This one had a 47% pass rate.

We had a nice run in the woods after this, to get back towards the start area.  I remember how I felt running through the woods with the gun and a headlamp, and it was exhilarating.  There was one part of the trail where maybe the marking lights had gone missing, because it was't super clear where to go.  I tried to look for blazed path through the downed leaves.  I eventually found it, and carried on.

The fifth stage was also hard, with lots of pistol shooting to do in a short amount of time.  It wasn't too far, but my pistol shooting wasn't great at the time, so I missed more than I should.  There was a 42% pass rate on this one.

We had one last rope climb after this, before we ran into the finish.  

I had so much fun with this.  I can see why people really love the Night version of GunRuns.  It's definitely a unique experience, running through the woods with a gun at night, and encountering different kinds of shooting stages in that environment.  It feels different.  The weather is chilly, too.  Overall, I finished 44th out of 59th.  After we finished, we were so glad we got to do this.  It was such a cool experience.

GORUCK ASI-P/FIGHT/Car[break-in]/PSD 2021 in MB

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Monday, Nov 1:

After a good range day with SB:

Did a 15 mile overnight ruck around the neighborhood at 9:30pm.  Instead of doing the same loop repeatedly, I tried to cover as many different streets as I could.  I took 30# and wore the Salomon XR Missions.  I did switch from using cheap and rough Under Armor socks for much better Darn Tough socks after 6 miles when a hot spot developed on my outer left pinky toe.  I'm glad I was close to home, so that this was an option.  I ate an Rx bar and drank some diluted tart cherry jjuice at mile 9.  It was 50*, and even in a t-short and shorts, I still sweat a little.  

Tuesday, Nov 2:

HDT IR17-18.2.1 (lower and core) in 39 min, felt good.  Followed by HDT "SIAS" 15 min SB AMRAP with 40#, completing 5 rounds, to start getting back into moving sandbag weight.

Wednesday, Nov 3:

Horizon "The Girls Can" Core WOD in 32 min, followed by 11 min of 2x(25 Superman arm sweeps, 2 min 30# ruck OH hold) to work on weaknesses.

Friday, Nov 5:

GORUCK ACTIVE SHOOTER INTERVENTION 

Cadre Burl, who had been a competitor at Apex Shooter, was being brought onto the Tactical Cadre team, and this was his shadowing event.

We learned 

• Parts of the gun
• Bore axis, comparing different brands and models of guns that people had brought, to see why the Glock is superior, haha
• On the draw, grip high on the backstrap, drop your elbow, have your support hand ready to receive, and punch out.  Practice so that even when you do this and your eyes are closed, you're still on target.
• The Wall and Trigger release 
• Diagnostic target - scored 171, with a my misses going left

• Pivoting
• Multiple Targets
• Mag changes

We did a neat drill to test your confidence in your shooting, where you had to hit a pie plate representing a hostage taker, and then you stepped back a yard or two at a time and try again, until you either miss and hit the hostage, or you decide to stop before you do that.  

FIGHT

Cadre Burl led this one.  It was different than usual, because we got hands-on with some grappling.  If someone grabs you from behind and tries to pick you up and take you away, get low, try to hook a leg behind them.

Saturday, Nov 6:

CAR (but not the FAD kind)

I left my car at the range overnight and carpooled to the hotel.  In the morning, I found that my car (and also the range's pro shop) had been broken into.  The thieves used a golf club to smash the passenger front door window, which triggered the alarm, because they opened my hood and ripped out the battery cables to stop the alarm.  They took my one-of-a-kind double-sided velcro interior Shooter Ruck with everything inside.  The irreplaceability of it, and the insurance company's under-valuation of my stuff, was hard to swallow.  

My classmates were incredible, though.  We went on with the class after the cops came and I gave them my report.  After class, they helped me cover and tape up the window with a contractor bag to both protect the car from the coming rain, and to help me get through the 3+ hour drive home, and also managed a temporary connection to the battery.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to leave at all.  They all contributed in different ways, by offering supplies, helping with glass cleanup, and pulling out their handyman skills.

I guess I was lucky that it wasn't worse.  No firearms were taken.  They took some stuff but not everything, and they left some other high-value items.  It was odd.  Maybe their hands were already full of stuff from their shop break-in.  It was odd that they went into the trunk with the privacy cover to dig into, too.  Only one window was smashed, and Compton's Automotive Repair was able to fix the battery connection (since I had to pay for those repairs myself).  They never caught the thieves, but since the shop had also been broken into, there were other items taken, some of which were found strewn along a road later on.  My stuff wasn't found, though, and those thieves probably just think it was a normal cheap backpack.  The whole ordeal with insurance and the repairs was a giant time suck and headache, too.

PSD

This was my first time taking PSD, and it was the last requirement I had to fulfill to earn the Mind/Might patch.  

We learned how to get our VIPs out of the danger area with the bump technique (step outer foot a little in front and outside your VIP, then insert yourself in their original place while bumping them back and out), the throw (pull/push straight back near shoulder) technique, and the rip technique (pull far shoulder to spin them behind you).  The VIP puts their left arm around the torso of the Protector, who hooks their support arm around the VIP's arm and pinches it tight, so that they can move as a unit.  The VIP can look for a clear path for egress and guide the Protector to that place while the Protector continues to shoot with strong hand only.

We worked in groups, to mimic larger details, where multiple bodies could be put in front of a VIP.

We did forward moving and shooting, diagonal moving and shooting with straightly walking, non-criss-crossing feet feet but turretting torso.

For the drive back, I was glad to have ear pro from the class, since it helped make the percussive wind effects of the window more tolerable, especially when the contractor bag tape came undone during the drive.  It was a chilly drive, too, but I'm used to being in cool temps with just clothes to keep me warm.

Rugged Maniac NC II 2021 & GORUCK Apex Volunteering

Apparently, I've retired and become a professional volunteer...

Monday, Oct 18:

PATHFINDER Beginner 30 min Madness workout, plus 3x (50 4ct flutters, 25 ruck swings) to fill out the time, with a 30# ruck.

Tuesday, Oct 19:

I joined Cabarrus Ruck Club for their Tuesday evening workout, which consisted of a Chad100, a 60x40 and 60x20 (using the SBs that were available), Rucklympics Week 11 with 2 rounds, and another Chad100.  Brandon even did the 60x20 with a beer in his hand, after he joined us at the very end of the workout!  That's doing it with style.

Wednesday, Oct 20:

Yoga for Uncertainty with Adriene.

Saturday, Oct 23:

RUGGED MANIAC NC FALL II

Still keeping up that podium streak!

On the ride home, the changing colors of the leaves were pretty to look at.  It was nicer in person.

I also picked up some dedicated paddling gloves.  I got the white ones.  They're long, so it provides good wrist coverage.  The lighter color will help beat the heat, too, when I'm exposed to sun for hours on end in the kayak.

In the evening, I met up with Charlotte Ruck Club to do the Ashley White Hero WOD, which has become an annual tradition ever since I read the book about her and the other CST members - Ashley's War.  Highly recommended, for anyone, man or woman.  It opens your eyes to what that group of amazing women was doing to support and enable missions during the War in Afghanistan.

Also learned some cool history about the nearby town!

We covered about 1.5 miles during the 45 min workout.

Sunday, Oct 24:

Beginner Drills (slick), then 2 miles in the Altra Torin Plush with 20# in 18:08 in the speed rucker for the relay that wouldn't end up being counted and was all for nothing, then dinner, then Rucklympics week 12.

Tuesday, Oct 26:

Halloween Ruck with Cabarrus Ruck Club using 30# in the speed rucker, wearing MACV1s with my Spartan costume.  We rucked along a road with houses known for going all out with decorations, and it didn't disappoint!

We ended at Southern Strain brewing.  While we were enjoying post-ruck beverages, they announced a costume contest.  I happened to be the only adult wearing a costume in there, and it was because I had used it on the ruck, so I won, haha.  That was a fun surprise.  I'm glad I wore it into the brewery, in spite of how odd it kind of felt ordering beer at the counter.

Wednesday, Oct 27:

20# in the Speed Rucker in the Altra Torin Plush for the relay at 5:41pm.  Belly felt full of stake and candied ginger in the second mile, but I still managed a 17:07 time.  A random walker yelled "good job, you're almost there" when I was chugging up the hill in front of my house after my first tenth of a mile.  It was funny.  Oh, looking back, I guess she meant that I was almost at the top of the hill.  That does make sense.  It was nice encouragement, regardless.

I did a second leg for the day at 10:46pm, in 17:47, after going to the range.

Friday, Oct 29:

APEX SHOOTER VOLUNTEERING

SB and I headed out to The Range Complex to volunteer for GORUCK Apex Shooter.  It's the bigger brother of GORUCK Alpha Shooter, which I competed in back in May.  

To help with setup, SB and I took on the job of hanging up the flag, which required climbing the rope while carrying the flag and zip ties, then somehow using our hands to ziptie the flag up there, while not falling off the ground.  I had just recently taught SB how to climb a rope, but she volunteered to go up with me, because 2 people had to climb simultaneously to keep the flag stretched out and able to connect to both sides of the rope climb.  I was surprised, but she did it and crushed it with confidence!  It was tough, even for me, but we did it!

During the event, we were responsible for recording scores, and then I consolidated them in a spreadsheet to track rankings.  It required a lot of focused, and super accurate work.

At one point, I coordinated the distribution of competitors coming in from their run, to spread them out among different bays that they'd have to shoot.  I had to make sure there was no backup at a single stage, while making sure everyone hit every stage.  Different people go at different paces, so there's some unpredictability about it, too.  Fortunately, it went fine.

We also helped to set up the targets and equipment for the stages.  We had full use of the complex, so we worked across a number of bays.

The event includes shooting, physical challenges (strength and endurance), tactical decision-making, and KIMS games.  There were also some head-to-head competitions where they could win bonus points.  Hits mattered the most.  Time mattered second.  Penalties could hurt.

There was even a shoot house evolution, which we got to observe from the catwalk, which was cool.

It's a 48-hour event, but unlike at Selection or TA, the cadres make sure that the participants get some reasonable rest, because you want everyone to shoot safely.  The volunteers therefore got some good rest, too, while the participants rested.  No 3rd shifts for the volunteers this time!

There's often a lot of "hurry up and wait" or "wait" in volunteering, but having done big events before, where volunteer support was critical to making the event run so smoothly, I know how important and under-appreciated their help is, and it is fun to volunteer alongside other dedicated people, too.  It's also nice to have the opportunity to watch good shooters shoot, too, and learn from them.