CHARLOTTE PEARL HARBOR MEMORIAL TOUGH 2021
Cadre Dan had also led by 50th event, which was the Independence Day Tough in 2020 during the start of COVID. Our paths would cross again in what was actually my 100th event. I had done the math incorrectly when I first figured that RWC was my 100th. I guess fate would have it that I would do my real 100th with him.
I had done one Pearl Harbor themed event before in 2019, with Cadre Dan (and Cadre Jonesey, who was new at the time, I guess, and who would later be the main PR and TSO tactical instructor). I don't have any memories of him, which I guess might happen if he's a shadow cadre at the time. That was a good and memorable event in Savannah, though.
It is convenient when events are in CLT, even though one of the big reasons I enjoy doing GORUCK events is getting to explore different cities on foot.
In the morning, I did PATHFINDER Compete PT test iteration 3, completing 50 PU, 83 SU, 13 squat cleans with 60#, 11 push presses with a 60#SB and 30#R, 4 GUs with a 30#R, and an 80s dead hang with a 30#R.
Before the Tough, I checked out Old Mecklenburg Brewery's Christmas Market. There weren't as many vendors as I was expecting, but there were a lot of people enjoying beer and the atmosphere.
I don't normally do this much physical work or activity right before events, but I guess I was feeling more confident in my physical abilities.
For this event, I broke out the Snow White Ruck again, since it was a milestone event.
We met at Seversville Park, which was a new start point. I got there early, to get a good parking spot. It is close to uptown. It gets difficult to remember the details of events one year later, especially if it's in CLT, because there are many other memories of other events that could get mixed in there, but I'll do my best to recount everything, using the GPS route logs to help jog my memories. Throughout the event, at various stops, we'd do a round of a workout.
Our first stop was Frazier Park, where we used the straps from Cadre Dan's kit bag to low-carry a log from one end of the park to another.
We rucked another mile over to a sand pit, where we were in groups, and did an SRT WOD with sandbags. It involved cleans and bear crawls.
We went around BOA stadium, and at a parking lot, we did some really fun and creative shuttle run relays. A sandbag starts at the far end, and you and your partner take turns bringing it closer to your starting point by 1 parking spot, while the other person holds some isometric position. The parking lot was surprisingly slick, somehow, like it was freshly surfaced. There was a porta potty at this parking lot, which was convenient. There was a water source, too, on the side of a building.
We went back to BoA stadium and did another couple rounds of the workout, and took the opportunity to take a team picture in front of the Christmas decorations.
We also went up a set of parking deck stairs, conveyor belting the coupons up and down.
We did miss a time hack, so Cadre Tye, who was shadowing to become a GORUCK Cadre, led us in some corrective PT. He had been one of the participants at
Bragg Apex Shooter. He was "bad cop".
We rucked about another mile to Bryant Park to do something that I can't remember, and then we went back to the start.
We covered about 8 miles in 10 hours.
It's fun when teammates go big on costumes!
CHARLOTTE PEARL HARBOR MEMORIAL BASIC 2021
What's really nice about CLT events is that you can go back home to shower and squeeze in a hint of sleep between events. It's always tough to wake yourself up and get out of bed, especially when it's cold out, and you're tired and warm. That's par for the course, though.
I drove back to Seversville Park, and was surprised that nobody else was showing up after a while. I then realized that the start point for the Basic was different from the start point for the Tough! I don't know that I've ever encountered that before. Fortunately, I had gotten to Seversville very early, and First Ward Park wasn't terribly far away. The big time suck, though, is finding parking in uptown. I found a garage, and then ruck ran over to the park. It turns out that there is a paid parking lot there, but I didn't know that. Either way, it's a pain, and an unexpected expense. Some parking garages are straight-up robbery.
At First Ward Park, I ran up there just in time. For the welcome party, we split up into two groups. The other group carried coupons in loops around the big southern field in the park, where the
giant bunnies had been. Our group did some sort of sandbag toss across the field, working in mini teams on different sandbags but still staying together as a big team. We switched places once our team had finished getting from one side of the field.
We rucked through uptown, to Frazier Park, where we moved the log with the straps again, so that it would be more out of the way.
We then did a special kind of relay, where we were in about 4 groups. Three of the groups would go through different sets of exercises of their choosing within their groups, while a fourth group dragged a skedco full of sandbags to the far end of a field. We got to remove sandbags on each trip. We repeated this, taking turns as the group dragging the skedco, until we we were done.
We then rucked back to the start for a team pic.
The route covered about 5.5 miles in 5:15.
CHARLOTTE SPRINT STAR COURSE 5K
The start point for this one was back at Seversville Park.
I didn't sign up for a 15K at the end of a TB, knowing that I would already have a lot of miles under my legs for the weekend. A 5K seemed reasonable, though. Worst case, I could go slow.
I was feeling good, though, and was in a competitive mood, so I teamed up with Melissa to try to go fast. It was Melissa's first time doing a Star Course, so before the event, we met up in my car to go over basics and best practices. She would be comms (picture taker), and I would be navigator.
We got our way points, plugged them into road warrior, and then set off.
We ran along the Greenway, and soon came upon Stewart Creek Greenway.
Next, we went down Woodruff Place and right on Thrift Road to Lucky Dog Bark and Brew, which I had been to before on the
Charlotte 12 Star in 2020. We snapped a quick pic (no stopping for beer and dogs this time).
We ran on to the Bette Rae Thomas Rec Center, getting past a bit of construction from a road closure.
The next spot took a little more seeking. It was a bakery called the "Batch House", tucked away on one corner of a shopping center.
The last stop was Blue Blaze Brewing, which was really close to the start point. It would make for a nice post-ruck brew stop for a ruck club event in the future.
We finished waaaaay before any other teams showed up. We asked if we could go for a 10K or 15K next, but Cadre Dan didn't realize that this was completely possible for us within the time frame at the time, so we didn't get to, but that's OK. 2.3 miles in 31:38.
We waited for some friends to finish, and then went home to get out of the rain and cold.
It was my first time doing a TBS. It was much more fun getting to do it with Melissa than it would've been to just race it alone.
