So, I went all in, signing up for a T/L/L. Charleston, SC, happened to be the only city hosting an extra light on that weekend. Go big or go home! It wasn't an H/T/L, but it would be a nice first step. Unfortunately, the second light, which would've been held at 7am on Sunday, got cancelled Friday evening. Including me, only 3 were signed up. I have to admit that I felt a bit of relief with the news. For one, I had been scrambling to try to pull together a team weight and flag. Finding out that there were only 3 of us explains why nobody else on the facebook page had started coordinating anything yet. Also, less flack from my parents about how many events I do, haha. They didn't even know about my plans to do a T/L until I told them on my way down. Also, less pain, more sleep and family time.
The start point was at the Pineapple fountain at Waterfront park, just like the GORUCK Light Extortion 17 had been. I drove to Charleston straight from work, so I parked at the parking garage right by the fountain. My dad had dropped me off the previous time, but I didn't mind paying the $18/day this time, to have the benefit of my car there for being able to swap out gear from the Tough to the Light, and to have a place to rest before and after. I ended up being able to take full advantage of the 24 hours, too, and got my full $18 worth of parking time.
As usual, you run into others in the parking lot, getting ready for the event, like my friend Jen. We went down to the fountain, to find a fair number of Citadel cadets there. It's been a while since I've lived here, so I had forgotten that they were close by, and would probably be into stuff like this. They were doing this as part of a class project, or something. It was their first time at a GORUCK event. I haven't done an event with people who are training to be in the military, so it would be interesting. They were eager, and I was glad to have their physical strength and strength of will on our team.
It was my first time with Cadre Brad. It's fun to experience GORUCK with different Cadre... fun and always a little scary. You don't know how strict they'll be, or how much they'll emphasize and enforce different rules and aspects of the event. However he'd be, I'd be stuck with him for 2 events. He has a good sense of humor, but he also sure does bring the hammer down on PT and time hacks.
For the welcome party, to honor the 25th anniversary of Operation Gothic Serpent, we did 3 rounds of 75 reps of Squat Thursters, Rifles (raise your ruck up in the air, then down at chest level, then back up, then down in a 4 count move, all with your arms straight), pushups, and 4-ct flutter kicks. We split up into 3 groups to do these, and I thought our group leader must've misunderstood about the 3 rounds, but there was no mistake. It was brutal, and all I could do was do my best. The first round was ugly, and the third round was horrendous, in terms of my form. Most of the guys there were beasts, though, making it all look easy (and we didn't even have any cadets in the group), and we found out that one of them was going to become a cadre, and was doing his first Tough as part of his training and initiation. No wonder! They were all super nice and encouraging. Also, you'd be surprised how the sound of 75 4-ct flutter kicks could feel like such sweet relief after the other 3 exercises.
Then, it was time to start heading out on our first movements. Oh, that feeling of the first movement... you're going into the night. You're already thrashed, and the event is just getting started, and you have no idea what's in store, other than that it's going to be a long and hard night.
Our first movement took us to Brittlebank Park. That had also been the first leg of Extortion 17. That's also about the far point of Extortion 17, so it was a little scary to think that the mere first leg of the Tough was the far point of my previous Light in this city. For coupons, we had 2 things of water, 2x 5 gallon buckets with play sand, maybe 2 x 80lb sandbags, and the flag and team weight. We had about 24 people, so we were able to take turns on everything. I helped with the buckets for short periods of time as I could.
When we got to the park, we found out that we were 2 min 45 s late on our time hacks, so we had to pay a penalty of 75 4-ct flutter kicks, per minute we were late! Brad meant business. As we kicked them out, some guys saw shooting stars, but I was too distracted and missed them. We got a little history lesson afterwards. In my Pathfinder group, our CA had recommended that we read Black Hawk Down, especially since it was the 25th anniversary, and because a number of us would be doing related events, so I had some understanding going in.
Our next movement was to the Battery Park for more history. We had to pick a casualty, so naturally, I was a casualty. For anyone who thinks otherwise, it's not easy being casualty. Since I'm small enough, I was fireman carried like a sandbag, and I have to flex my core the whole time to keep my insides from getting jarred too much by shoulders. I gained an appreciation for guys who are broader and meatier, as opposed to bony. I also like big rucks to lay on.
After that, we went to Marion Square with a stop at a closed Walgreens for more water. Charleston is unique with the nature of the sidewalks you have to go through. They're narrow, with obstacles like trees and people and various kinds of poles to get around. I was impressed by how the cadets, especially the Marine Corps ones, would keep charging into the fray to rotate into the coupons. They'd work together and sacrifice themselves really well. These young men made me have confidence in the future of our military.
At Colonial Lake, we didn't have to get into the lake, which I've heard gross things about, but we did do modified Murph in pairs. It seemed daunting, but my awesome partner Rhett and I got through it together. At a baseball field, we did "I'm up, he sees me, I'm down" to practice advancing towards the enemy, taking turns with one person providing imaginary cover fire while the other one runs. We did it forwards and backwards, with rucks, then again without rucks. We had done a little bit of this in a big group before at a Light with Fagan, but it was nice to practice it more, and see what it's like when you're in pairs. It clicked more this time around.
For Team Leads, Brad would always have one newbie with one GORUCK vet, which is a good idea. The numbers worked out well for us, since we had a pretty even split of newbies and vets. It's also nice because newbies aren't thrown into it completely alone and struggling. Well, I became a TL for my second time ever, at this event. I kind of got volunteered by my friend, haha, since she was recommending me and said I had been good at the Operation Red Wings Tough in CLT (despite my inability at counting, and poor decision making under pressure).
It was a pretty straightforward movement, navigationally, fortunately. We hugged the waterfront most of the way, and we even worked out a small shortcut. I ran back and forth along the line of people, made sure everyone was good and swapping, I tried to encourage everyone, etc, and we made it on time. It was getting light by this time... if you don't volunteer to be a TL early in the event, you risk having to do it late at night or near the end of the event, when everyone is really tired and sometimes cranky. Everyone was tired, but fortunately not cranky. They pushed hard, and we had no issues making it.
Next, a special challenge... start with 1 casualty, and gain another every 3 min, until we get to our next pit stop. My body felt so bruised from the previous casualty movement that dreaded having to be a casualty again, but being casualty was the best way I could contribute to my team, so I sucked it up. There's strategy involved, with trying to make as much distance as you can early on, since it's going to get exponentially harder. And plan out who's going to be the next casualty, based on peoples' size. It's chaos, but it mimics real life when things start to spiral, and you just have to focus on pushing forward and completing the mission no matter what. We made it! After that, one last movement to the finish. I had been expecting a false finish, from what I had heard on youtube and others in the past, so the surprise for me was when we actually got patched at the finish, with no false finish. Phew!
So, Tough done! Now, I had about 6 hours to rest and refuel before it was time for the Light. I had to make the most of it. I didn't want to waste time trying to go to my parents' house, since there'd be the driving, losing time here and there. Instead, I opted for a rinse-off in the fountain that I used to play in when I was a little kid. It's like a power washer! It was slightly chilly, but refreshing.
Then, in the car, I sat around, ate, and realized how much chafing I had. It was painful. While it had been chilly in the morning, it started heating up fast. Even in the shade of the parking garage, it got pretty warm. The heat made it impossible for me to really fall asleep.
I debated in my mind so much about whether to just give up on the Light. Physically, my muscles felt ok. But the chafing made it hard to walk. Lights are no joke... it's still normally 6 miles, and it can sometimes be a very heavy 6 miles. I didn't want to set a precedent of DNSing, though,... and I didn't want to fail my first T/L. I also didn't want to let down my Course Advisor, especially since she knew I was going for this, and I had gone in with so much confidence.
I changed clothes, which helped me feel better. No more damp and gritty clothes. There was still the issue of chafing... I didn't have any kind of balm with me... noted as something to bring for next time. But, when I forced myself to just start heading out, and started moving again, the feeling kind of went away. Getting moving cured it.
There were like 8 of us from the Tough who were back at it for the Light. It was a little surreal seeing everyone again, in fresh clothes, looking like they hadn't endured the Tough with me just hours earlier. We were joined by about 16 others.
The Welcome Party consisted of bear crawls and lunges across the field. Coupons were the buckets (no more sandbags), plus a new team weight. We went to Marion Square for a bit of expedited Mog Mile history, then 3 sets of 75 4-ct flutter kicks. Then, Harris Teeter for more water. My old haunts. We went to Colonial Park in the daytime, knowing what we had done there the previous night. Then Hazel Park, then the Battery, then the final escalating casualty movement back to Waterfront Park.
We had even more strategy this time in the last movement. One of the light but strong guys started off carrying me, so that he could smoke himself before he himself became a casualty and wouldn't be able to contribute with carrying people anymore. And one of the guys from the Tough, with comfortable shoulders, I might add, took me after that. They were all pretty much running with me, to make good time while we could with fewer casualties. We blew away the task, getting to the end point in incredible time. They were so determined to not have casualties escalate too much. It was a great way to end the event, with a resounding success.
(TLers)
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