Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday, 12 August 2011 I joined 26 others who enlisted to challenge themselves to become GORUCK TOUGH. This is my review of the challenge:
Preparation
I ensured to work my legs and turn them into steel. That was my main priority because my legs have always been weak. Priority number two was as simple as full body strength and conditioning. I did workouts to improve my endurance, strength, metcon, and agility. For more information on workouts that I did just review all prior blog postings here.
Arrival
My two friends Nick and Matt joined me on this trip to Raleigh. We arrived after the pre-ruckoff which is simply a trip to the bar with everyone the night before the challenge. We didn't mind really because that meant we could go to bed after a 13 hour drive. The day leading up to the challenge was pure anxiety. All of us were prepared (or so we thought) and just wanted the clock to hit 1800 so we could start. Then it did...
The Challenge
As a disclaimer, I honestly don't remember a lot of the challenge so the summary will be short. We dedicated our challenge to the 31 who had fallen in the recent Taliban attack on a NATO helicopter. When we arrived at the start point everyone put a name of one of the fallen on a beer can and placed it in their bag. At the end of the challenge we would dump the cans out in remembrance. We ended up starting at about 1830 after signing our death waivers and loading up our rucks. The three of us were just pumped to finally have these bags that we've waited so long to even see. But, it was no longer about the three of us, it was about the 27 of us. Lou, our "tour guide" joined us and we started off.
We started off doing a whole lot of calisthenics in memory of those who have fallen. We took a few very brief breaks to run over to the closest fountain and jump in it. This ended up being a win/lose situation but that will be reviewed in the "Scars" section. After that we ran a lot, did a lot of tiring movements, and watched the sun go down. I also acquired a 5th brick because someone couldn't fit all 4 of theirs into their smaller ruck. I quickly realized it would be a long night...
Skipping a lot of the monotony I'll jump to the log. She was a good sized log but apparently Lou wasn't that impressed with her because he continually told us that we should have seen a log in a prior challenge. It was big and heavy though. We carried it around a lake. However, it felt like we carried it around the lake 10 times. Eventually, the log actually broke so we had two teams carrying the sections. The only plus to it breaking was that it was easier to maneuver through the woods. We finally got it to our destination which luckily wasn't the starting point that was a hellish 5 miles away. This log brought us together and when we were done boosted the overall morale a little bit but it was at this point quite low.
After we finished with the log we were told we were almost done. Turns out, we still had 4 hours to go. When we finally reached the end we had worked for 14+ hours. Overall, it was seemingly hellish but I also realized that although it was incredibly physically exhausting, it was actually all mental like GORUCK claims.
Scars
As I finished up I felt like I wanted to die. My shoulders felt raw, my feet were raw, my back just hurt so badly, and my legs in entirety were rubberized. However, after inspection I seemed to be okay. My feet had some blisters on them because of the fountain in the very beginning, although it probably saved us all from heat exhaustion. Getting my feet wet right off the bat really set them up for pain. I would like to say though, I changed my socks after we carried the log and it was the happiest moment through the entire event. My shoulders hurt from the ruck and the log. The extra brick did some work on me. Not only the extra weight but the way that it sat in my bag created some problems for my shoulders and back. The worst pain however was in my knees. Also, my calves were so tight they were pulling on my knees and I couldn't straighten my legs. Continuing up my legs, my hips and hip flexors were just shot. Good news is that my quads felt good. I succeeded in making them steel.
Now that it's been a little over 48 hours since I finished I feel really good. I don't have a limp at all and I can actually wear a backpack. I could probably hit the gym if I wanted to but I really would love to not workout for a week.
Closing
In closing, I'd like to say that this challenge is amazing. It gives you a taste of hell which really helps you be more realistic with life. I define pain in a whole new way now. I will most likely do another one but more importantly I'd like to step it up and do some of the events that only GORUCK Challenge alumni can do. I suggest doing it and earning that Tough Patch, it looks good.
Bonus
http://www.mapmyrun.com/workout/61651664 - a rough map of where we ran, although I'm quite sure I'm missing quite a bit.
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