AAR: GORUCK Tough Class #1988

It had been 3 weeks since my first event in Detroit, MI at the GORUCK Heavy when this event arrived this past Friday night. Months ago, THIS event was supposed to be my first event but Detroit jumped ahead of it. In just about every way, I'm glad it did because I took the knowledge and fortitude gained from the Heavy and brought it to this Tough event. I'm glad I did because in the end, just about every veteran of these events agree...this July 4th edition of the Cleveland Tough was more like a 13+ hour Heavy. Within the last week, GORUCK HQ added a cadre, Cadre Geoff Reeves who is well-known as being brutal and relentless. As a Navy SEAL, it's expected but truthfully, Geoff was fair. But yea, you best get your mind right before showing up to one of his events.

Being the sharing kind of guy I am, I invited my wife and two young daughters to the beginning of the event AND my parents. Looking back, I'm not so sure that was a good idea. Yep...it wasn't. I'm sure of that. The worst part is that I sorta, kinda roped my wife into joining me in Saturday's Light event in downtown Cleveland. When she saw how THIS event began, she basically spent the next 12 hours trying to figure out how to NOT do the Light. "Why would you pay for that?!" I didn't know it impacted her like this until after this event was over and I walked in the door to shower up for the Light in a few hours...but that's the next AAR. :) On to the Tough...

Instead of the Start Point being in downtown Cleveland as other events have been, GORUCK supported the idea of starting at a CrossFit gym that is also a GORUCK Training Partner as a means of support. It's also the same gym I've become friends with and did the Murph workout at back on Memorial Day. It's the epitome of what a CrossFit gym should be. Plus, they have all the toys the cadre could possibly want for the Welcome Party! I never put two and two together until it was too late. Molon Labe CrossFit ended up being the perfect setting for a ramped up Tough, courtesy of Cadres Aaron and Geoff.

As 9pm arrived Friday night, so did Geoff's jet black car, screeching around the parking lot. He and Aaron immediately set foot for the inside of Molon Labe. A few volunteers were grabbed and soon tires, dumbbells, sandbags, atlas stones and kettlebells were making their way into the spacious parking lot.

Cadre Geoff... once a SEAL, now a race car driver. (NICE ride, by the way!)

Let me save you some reading time at this point. This Welcome Party wasn't an hour or two. Instead, it was 3-4 hours. Because clocks are purposely avoided during events, I can't tell you when it all ended, but I'm guessing near 1am. In those glorious late hours of Friday, July 1st and Saturday early morning, we bear crawled, we crab-walked, we did lots of push-ups, we had a relay race that included hauling all of the aforementioned gear around the building many times, and we suffered penalty after penalty after penalty due to the inability of people to follow instructions. In GORUCK, it's all about team and if one person screws up, we all pay. The hardest thing I did was right as we were moving out. We had left one of our team weights behind and to get it, we all had to duck-walk back to the start with rucks on front. That was awful. (I still don't know why we had that bass guitar...we already had a team weight.) The most frustrating part of the Welcome Party was definitely the emptying of our rucks...and every bag within. It created a mess, people lost things, my dry bag buckle got stepped on and busted...it was a mess. So yea, they smoked us good for the Welcome Party. Comparing it to the Heavy in Detroit, it was about the same amount of time but totally different movements. In Detroit, we had huge picnic tables. Here, we had a rough parking lot that destroyed my gloves and we spent lots and lots of time on it and all over it. Here are some images to help tell the tale...

WHAT.A.MESS

We had a PT test to find out how everyone measured up against each other. Push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups on the rig.

One of the countless times we were dropped into push-up position for something "we" did wrong. 

The beginning of the Tough...rucks over head. Cadre Geoff leading the way. 

Me explaining to Cadre Geoff what I thought the purpose was of Team RWB

Our team weight(s)...there's that extra guitar. Jerry cans were used to carry water.

So what's up with the chain? Well, whoever wore the chains (there were two), they were the Team Leader and Assistant Team Leader. "Chains of Leadership" as they were so appropriately called. Here, I joined Stephanie for a few bear crawls back to the team. 

Crab-walkin' 

Gear inspection. That's my crap at lower right. Under cone is perhaps Chipotle...we're unsure. Either way, it was puke from the early moments of the Welcome Party. 

Relay time. That's a 70lb kettle bell in my arms. After each lap with our gear, we had to do 25 reps as a team of different movements. Let's just say they weren't easy. I won't spoil the details for any of you in the future that decide to join Aaron and/or Geoff for a fun night of activities.

So off we finally went into the night. With us for the journey was of course the TWO team weights, jerry cans filled with water, Old Glory on a 17lb flag pole, courtesy of Bryan, and 700 POUNDS of sandbags. Yea. About one mile into our ruck, we happened upon this wonderful, spacious parking lot:

At first, we appreciated the break and had some education on Old Glory and American history but then more PT. We probably spent a solid 30-45min here before heading off. Oh yea, we were carrying two full-size kegs...one of which was most definitely full.

Moving on, we constantly got chastised for being too loud in residential neighborhoods and even had a local police officer stop and tell us so...thanks to a call they received. I found this really frustrating. No matter how many times our team leader or cadre said to keep it quiet, there were some that wouldn't stop yelling. It's not rocket science...WHISPER! This, in general, is where I believe the Tough and the Heavy really differed. At the Heavy, it felt like we came together quickly, followed instructions, had each other's back and the inability to follow instructions tapered off pretty dang quick. That wasn't the case with our team. It really seemed to take the majority of the event for everyone to come around. It could've been the exhaustion or maybe even the switch finally got flicked, but it definitely was a sore spot for me. To combat that sour pill that I'm sure could be read all over my face, I kept reminding myself to smile. Kinda hard to be mad when you're smiling!

We continued on, heading clearly towards an area I know very well from my trail running days..the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Water, trees, logs, you name it...any cadre could have a field day with us down there. On the way there, we stopped alongside a cemetery. Here is one of the toughest physical things I've done. I don't recall what it's called but I'll try and describe it: We were told to find a person of similar size/weight. The guy I found was 220...I'm 205. First, he laid down with his ruck on his chest, legs straight. Then, I straddled him at his hips and I put my hands to either side of his head as to bear crawl. Then, he grabbed onto my ruck straps and I bear crawled...dragging all 220 pounds of him PLUS his ruck through the grass and he was strictly forbidden from kicking or assisting me in any way. That was NOT easy and came down to sheer strength, determination, and the mental fortitude to not quit. On the return trip when I had to lay down, he struggled quite a bit with me and nearly called it a night but he eventually crossed the makeshift finish line. Once we were all done, we shed the 700lbs of sand bags and kegs and continued on. Warning: if you shed that much weight, you should know something greater is coming.

We eventually hit the Towpath Trail along the Cuyahoga River that I have run on countless times at the Red Lock trailhead. We headed south along the Cuyahoga River towards the Boston Store. This is when the first glimmer of light appeared at the horizon, telling us 5am was near...our first confirmation of any time all night. Once we arrived at Boston Store, we took a right and continued on Boston Mills Road, past the ski resort. That road turns into a monster hill but since we weren't carrying much weight, we did pretty good. We were under a time hack so we kept the pace pushing. At this point, I figured we were headed to Blue Hen Falls to get wet and frolick in the water. Not so. We stopped just short of the Falls and instead turned into the maintenance area where a pond is and little known to us, a 1300 pound slab of concrete.

I was carrying the flag into this area and we walked right through the middle of that pond from one side to the other being VERY careful not to let Old Glory touch. We then formed up to hear instructions on how we would tackle the concrete below. 

We were broken into teams and told to brainstorm ideas on how to move it. We then came together to throw our ideas into a big 'ol pot and let the Team Leader decide on the way ahead. It was a consensus to use nearby logs and rope we brought to move it. This beast started along the trees, almost in the woods but we got it going. Luckily, we had some Boy Scouts on the team who knew how to tie ropes. We moved it a good 40 yards or so before moving it off the trail and leaving it. However, while we gathered up our ropes, half of the team disappeared around the corner. What emerged a few minutes later was a full length, heavy as (you fill in the blank) telephone pole.

This thing was no joke and we carried it down that monster hill, back to Boston Store, and the majority of the way back to Red Lock Trailhead...moving VERY slowly. Lots of moans and groans during this time! By this time of day on a beautiful Saturday morning, the Towpath Trail was bustling with activity, mostly bikes and runners. That didn't prove much of a problem but I'm sure we got our fair share of "What the....." by everyone who passed us by. Once we dropped the log, we were back to no weights but our team weights and Old Glory. New leadership was picked yet again and we were given 90min to get back to the Molon Labe CrossFit.

Moving fast or even into a light jog is an area I excel in. However, that's not the case with the majority. In a GORUCK event, it's ALL about teamwork so while I would've loved to have run the majority of that stretch, we had to do it AS A TEAM. This, in my opinion along with the log carry is where we finally came together best in our 13+ hours together. The sun was really blaring at this point and Highland Road that we took to get into the national park is pretty much all uphill leaving the park. There's a reason they call it the Cuyahoga VALLEY National Park. As we passed the cemetery, you could see strips of flattened grass where we pulled each other along.

Back to that buddy drag in the grass, I vividly remember looking up at the stars while my buddy fought hard to pull me. In an event as grueling as this one was, that really brought a peace over me. It was so dark out there that the stars were vivid and neverending. They were beautiful. I remember just breathing deep the cool, damp air of the morning and letting the visual soak deep within. It was amazing.

So as we plugged along, some folks really started to hurt. Lightheadedness, bruised and beaten feet, and just depleted bodies. With less than a mile to go, we even had one that had to be carried but we gathered around her and did what we had to. With the gym within site, here is what we saw:

The Macedonia Fire Department, two outstretched hoses and evidence that they were charged and recently tested (wet asphalt). We were all hot, stinky and sweaty so a hosedown sounded awesome! We got back, formed up into ranks and it began...ice.cold.water.

Finished, right? Not quite. Cadre Aaron: "Take 5 minutes to go to the bathroom and fill up your water." Hmmm. Those 5min began and I finally saw the time...10am on the nose inside the gym. So we're 13 hours in to this baby, eh? We formed back up then were split into 4 groups at 4 cones around a circle. Cadre Aaron and Geoff told us about when we're down to the end of a fight, we never know when it's going to end and this "fight" we're about to have will be just like that. At each station, we'd spend a minute doing a particular PT movement to max effort, not as a team. When we failed, we'd pay the penalty by forming back up and doing even more PT. Oh yea, the firehoses began again.

... and then...


And so, Class #1988 was secured in our 14th hour. In the words of Cadre Aaron, "We wanted to make it a bit more intense for July 4th." Well, you did! Such a great experience, a grueling one, a growing one and another true test of what myself and others are capable of when working together as a team. The mind is a muscle, too...meant to be worked, grown stronger and used. This, like any GORUCK event, is a great way to work every kind of muscle, both mental and physical. And yea, it's kinda crazy, too, and you'll meet all kinds of new friends like I did.

Photo Credits: Many thanks to Darcie Seachrist, John Matthew, Mark Nolan and John Miocic for taking the photos in this AAR. Appreciated more than you know!

1 Week Post-Heavy and LOTS of Pictures!

So a week ago this morning, we were crawling through wet grass and fighting time hack after time hack, well past the half way point of our eventual 25 hour GORUCK Heavy endurance team event in Detroit, MI. I have recovered quite well but I will say different aches did linger a little longer than expected and overall "engine" power to give it all in my CrossFit garage gym really needed more time than I thought it would. I think it was Tuesday when I jumped on the Concept2 Rower for a quick 500m and it nearly gassed me. Today, though, I'm feeling awesome and in fact, have signed up for 3 more GORUCK events this week. Coming up over the July 4th weekend in Cleveland, I was already signed up for the Tough event on Friday night at 9pm but also picked up the Light on Saturday and fun-filled Scavenger on Sunday morning. Bonus? My wife is joining me for the Light for her first event! Looking forward to that big time. Also, GORUCK announced this week that they are giving away 20,000 free event entries to military and first responders. I used that to sign up for the Mogadishu Mile Tough event at the end of September in Cleveland.

So how about some pics? This is a follow up to my AAR (After Action Report) that I wrote regarding the Heavy event last week. I promised to share more photos when they came out so here they are. After you get through those, I have included a recap of last night's Sea/Land Ruck at Molon Labe CrossFit...another great time!

One of my favorite photos of them all. Sunrise on Friday before we got in the water for the Tunnel of Love.

Awaiting ruck inspection by the cadre. Each ruck is inspected to ensure we brought the required items like our ID, $20 in cash for a cab if we drop, headlamp with extra batteries and the required weight. They also weighed them.

Some instruction by Cadre CT prior starting a long period of picnic table PT/overhead presses...continuation of the "Welcome Party"

The "Tunnel of Love." I won't lie. It was awesome and sucked all the same.

Tunnel of Love

During our first time hack and my stint as Team Leader. We beat the hack. The team did AWESOME.

A better view of the litter we had to carry full of heavy sand that I spoke about in my AAR. Of course, led by Old Glory.

Heavy Class #121

As a team, we had (4) 40lb sandbags and (1) 80lb sandbag to carry throughout the event with exception of the final 12 mile ruck. This was one of the 40lb ones.

Mid-80s, blazing sun and Class #121 completing the 12 mile ruck 100% as a team. There was nothing easy about this.

I tried to carry Old Glory as much as I could during the 12 mile ruck. It was a weighted pole and so many were hurting on the team. It was something I could do and drive the pace at the same time.

A good shot at our team in the latter half of that 12 miler.

Mid-Welcome Party getting a drink from the 3L bladder on my back.

So that's it for the Heavy photos. Last night, I got the ruck out again and headed out to Molon Labe CrossFit for a Sea/Land ruck workout. What a fantastic time! There were experienced folks to people who had never done anything like this before. It was great to meet some new friends and sweat a little, too. We started at the box, did some PT then rucked out to the local rec center, carrying Bryan's new 17lb weighted flag pole along with the 25lb team weight for next weekend's events and (3) 60lb sandbags. Once at the rec center and some more PT, we headed into the pool...with our rucks on. Sweet! Here are some photos from the night. I even got in my first buddy carry near the end. I had tried that during the Heavy but failed. That was a nice little confidence boost.  After the ruck, 12 of the 17 who showed up headed out for dinner to carry on the conversation about rucking and whatever else. Looking forward to the next one! (Photo Credit: Jason Shaffer, CF L1 Coach at Molon Labe CrossFit)

Mini-Welcome Party to kick off the evening...and more push-ups towards the Push-Up Challenge! #winning

So one guy sits on your feet then the other does sit-ups...but under the water. That's me in the center top on my way back up. Hint: blow out on the way back up unless you want to gag on pool water.

"Cadre Bryan" imparting wisdom to all and bringing the joy.

Nice view of the Team Flag for next week's festivities around Cleveland

Some upward presses out of the water with rucks on

As if 1701 flutter kicks wasn't enough in Detroit last week! GET SOME!

Blurry shot of my first buddy carry as we returned to the box.

Have a great weekend, all!

AAR: GORUCK Heavy Class #121

For years, I've been writing "Race Reports" after my marathons and ultra marathons. Today, I "pen" my first "AAR" or After-Action-Report which is essentially the same thing. For many, "rucking" is totally foreign to them and a GORUCK event even more confusing. So real quick for my "regular" readers who are starting from square one:

WHAT IS RUCKING? RUCK•ING [VERB] - “To put weight on your back and go for a walk. More weight or more miles equals more results, more friends and more time together equals more fun.” –GORUCK

GORUCK is a company that was founded by a former special forces guy whose goal was to sell indestructible rucks and photograph people putting them through their paces. What grew from it was a community as people rucked and then official events began forming...but always wearing the rucksack with weight. These events are led by current or former special forces members, e.g. Navy SEALs, Green Berets, Delta Force, etc. The participants, however, can be anyone and many are not veterans even though the events have a very military/patriotic flair to them. These events, in general, fall into one of 3 levels: the Heavy, the Tough, or the Light. The Heavy is 24+ hours, and 40+ miles. The Tough is about half that and the Light is 5-6 hours and has a lighter weight requirement. Guidance from GORUCK says that if you can run a 5K, you can do the Light. This AAR is my recollection of my first ever GORUCK event, the Heavy on June 16/17 in Detroit, MI. Putting all 3 together, the Heavy-Tough-Light, is called the "HTL" and that was my goal going into it all, starting at 6pm Thursday night. The starting time for each event was as follows:

• Heavy: 6pm Thursday
• Tough: 9pm Friday
• Light: 2pm Saturday

I read a few AAR's from others in preps for this and I have participated in a few group rucks in the Cleveland area with the Cleveland Area Rucking Crew (CARC). So, I wasn't going in cold...well, not totally cold, and I have my ultra-running/100 miler experience to call on. Footcare, nutrition, being up well over 24 hours...I have been there before but not under load, only via a 100 mile trail race. A HUGE difference between running a 100 miler or any race and a GORUCK event is individual effort vs. Team. It is all about team in a GORUCK event. It is impossible to finish an event solo. You must figure out how to work together and accomplish the mission. So after reading and knowing how my body has done in the past under stress and no sleep for well over 24 hours, I laid out my gear, along with a full 3L water bladder and 30lb plate and double, triple, quadruple checked my gear and went over my plan in my head. Cash/ID were required items in case we quit and had to call a cab. A headlamp and extra batteries were required. An added requirement was to write down a military mission and be prepared to talk about it. That's the manila card in the middle. We were also required to have the reflective bands on our ruck along with a carabiner. Since I had no patch to go on my ruck, I slapped my American flag on there from my Afghanistan deployment in 2011...seemed very fitting! For fuel, I took four Hammer Gels, three 5hr Energy bottles, half of that bag of jerky, and some M&Ms. I also took some motrin and a baggie with a bunch of Hammer Endurolyte Extremes which are AWESOME. They are essentially 3-in-1 and are very good to help introduce some electrolytes and sodium back into the body when you are losing so much. There was no way I'd be able to keep up with the loss but this would help combat it. Also, I took an extra 3L water bladder (just-in-case mine got broke or even someone else's), a clean dry shirt, an extra pair of socks, BodyGlide, and an extra pair of nip guards. Chafing can end an event FAST! :)

I left for Detroit Thursday morning and arrived early afternoon at a friend's house who is a GORUCK veteran and whose parents live 30min from the start. Much thanks to Bryan and his family for the hospitality! It was enough time to decompress a bit and also get hyped up a bit before leaving. We arrived in plenty of time (like 90min early!) but even then, we weren't the first people there. It is not adviseable to ever be late to a GORUCK event. As 6pm neared, everyone gathered beneath a pavilion as the rain hadn't yet stopped. 6pm arrived and so did our cadre for the Heavy, Cadre Heath and Cadre CT. Before I get into this AAR anymore, I want to put out one disclaimer: I'm not going to give every groovy, dirty, juicy little detail. Some things, in my opinion, are best left out on the trail...or roads...or in the water. They are reserved for those who experienced them and the mystery of these events is also part of the allure. Every cadre certainly has flexibility in what they do and have us do so no two events are exactly the same. Further, how the team actually becomes a team will have direct influence on where the event leads. So it began...

Cadre Heath and CT introduced themselves, took a roll call, went over flag etiquette and inspected our rucks for the required items and weighed them. For me, being well over 150lbs, my weight had to be 30lbs or greater, plus a full water bladder. That made it 37lbs plus those extras I showed you up above. Then began the "Welcome Party" which begins every GORUCK event. It always involves all kinds of physical exercises and really has no limit. For the Heavy, there is an added dimension...a PT test. Officially on the website, it states a 12 mile ruck plus a max push-up effort in 2 minutes plus a max sit-up effort in 2 minutes. We all knew about it but when it would happen was a mystery. So for about 3 1/2 hours, we had all kinds of "fun" and to be perfectly honest, it was during this time I had my first thoughts creep in regarding quitting. Specifically, we were holding our rucks over our heads and told to squat and hold. I just couldn't do it. Ironically, at only a few hours in, that was the one and only time "quitting" got some real estate in my brain. Here are a few photos that were taken during this time, courtesy of Sarah LaBarge. That's me in the red shirt:

Overhead presses. 8 people to a double-sized picnic table. Many, MANY, many of them. 

Old Glory was never far and always led the way when on the move.

The Inchworm...until we did it as a team.

Dips, step-ups, and flutter kicks. Yea, did you know that the birthday of Detroit is the year 1701? None of the 41 of Class #121 will EVER forget that. We found out very quick that we'd be doing 1701 flutter kicks over the course of our 24+ hours. If that sounds like a lot, it is! But, it is far better than what almost happened...1701 burpees...with rucks. No thank you! As night began to set in at some point in the 9 o'clock hour, we prepared to head out of the park. No watches or phones were permitted so time elapsed and remaining was always a best guess only. Prior to leaving, we filled 4 GORUCK bags with 40lb of sand each and 1 bag with 80lbs. These would be carried from this point forward as well as a 50lb team weight. It would be up to the Team Leader (which rotates thoughout the event) to rotate people carrying these items. GORUCK events are also known to include picking up random logs from the woods...or even telephone poles and taking them along for the ride. Remember the "team" concept I told you about? Hopefully, that is making more sense now. Impossible to be an "individual" and be successful in this environment. So the Welcome Party ended (and that's all the detail I'm going to give!) and we headed out...but no PT test. Hmmm....

A few of the local law enforcement
 folks to greet us after some flutter kicks!

The rain had stopped and the skies totally cleared up to reveal a nearly full moon. After spending a short period on the roads, we began miles and miles and miles on either dirt trails or cinder bike-n-hike trails. Getting away from the manmade light of the streets, combined with the illumination from the moon really had headlamps not very necessary at all, with exception of the heavily overgrown areas of the trail that blocked the moonlight. It wasn't more than an hour or so (maybe 2...I'm really not sure!) that we came upon a cider mill and big open parking lot. Lining the parking lot were HUGE telephone pole-looking logs. The first thing I thought was "we're picking those up." Not the case. Little did I know, there was a river flowing nearby and it was time to work off some flutter kicks...in the water. We split up into 4 teams and went down into the cold water, arms locked, and repped them out. I was in the last group and we got held up for a few minutes due to "something" going on up in the parking lot. Soon, Cadre CT returned to the water to tell us to do the flutter kicks but keep the rep counting (read: chanting) super quiet as we're in a residential neighborhood. Safe to say, the previous groups were NOT silent, in true GORUCK fashion. After finishing, we took our soaked selves up to the parking lot and 6 police cars surrounded us all...no pretty, flashy red/blue lights, just their headlights. I guess things weren't too busy in the area so as to afford us the pleasure of such an audience. We basically picked up our team weights, got back into formation, and got moving. Oh yes, we were also carrying two, very floppy water bladders. They would be used to refill us as needed. We left without incident and never looked back.

As the night progressed, we took our guesses at the time of day and how many hours until First Light. From time to time, we'd take a 5min breather on the trail and gather around Cadre CT. Cadre Heath left us with him for the nighttime ruck and would re-join us at sunrise. During these short breaks, CT would take questions regarding his special forces days, talk about leadership, and also cycle through team leaders. As each team leader (TL) and assistant team leader (ATL) was "fired," we'd hold a short AAR and talk about what went well during the last movement and what could've been better. This was an open and frank discussion to help each other be better and gel as a team. Then, a new TL and ATL was picked and we were off again. The moon was setting so less moonlight provided the assist but prior to sunrise, we found ourselves back on city streets with street lights...and our first time hack. Time hacks are basically this: you have "x" distance to cover and "y" time to get there. Fail and casualties will be assessed. That could be added weight or literally carrying a team member along with their ruck. As we moved along the straight stretch of road to an alleged beach (oh yea, we knew what that meant!), we passed a bank with a clock on it. It was just past 4am. That made sense, too. The skies were getting that first inital lining of light at the horizon. We eventually reached a local metro park that included a lake. At this point, we were in desperate need of water. Our two large bladders were totally empty and most personal bladders dry. It was a priority, for sure. Luckily, there were faucets perfect for filling everyone up. We got a solid 10-15min to do just that, grab a bite to eat and maybe just sit down for a few. At this point, the sun was clearly rising so the 5am hour was upon us...about 11 hours into the Heavy...and Cadre Heath showed up.

Our break time was up and to the beach we went. We didn't go out too far, the water felt awesome, and we got some serious PT in. Ever heard of the Tunnel of Love? You can do just about any PT in the water but this was the PT of choice by Cadre CT before he headed for a nap and Cadre Heath took over. Imagine this...take 41 of us and put us shoulder-to-shoulder facing out...feet just into the water. Now, everyone goes down into pushup position but arches their butt up to a peak. Now, one person at a time crawls through the "Tunnel of Love"...all the way to the other end then gets back up into position to keep the tunnel growing on the other end while it shrinks at the beginning. I scooped a LOT of sand into my pants! (found it in my washing machine last night, actually) Once we were done, we threw a little bit of sand around (literally) and got back up into formation to hear from our cadre. I thought for sure we'd be rolling in that sand but we didn't. What I wanted to do was to go for a swim for 5min and wash all the sand out from INSIDE my clothes! Up on the grass, the TL and ATL were fired yet again and a new one selected...ME.

Quickly, Cadre Heath pulled us aside as he showed us a map on his phone and said "you have 2.28 miles to go to this point on the map. How much time do you need?" I replied with "an hour." He says "Perfect. 40min." Alrighty, then! He told me to brief the team with our objective AND to take the green Army duffle we were carrying and fill it 3/4 full with sand from the beach. Yep...we were taking on a huge, new dead weight that would be carried "litter" style, with 4-6 people at all times. Once filled and ready, we headed on out. As for that navigation, this area was of course, totally new to me. I remembered the best I could from looking at the map on his phone with how to go and major landmarks, like the golf course we were passing. I was allowed one look at the map en route and no more. I used it once and that was definitely the right call as I was about to make a bad decision. Back to that 40min time hack: If we didn't make it, we'd be assessed a casualty every 3 min for going over...a team member to carry. I struggled at first leading the team and rotating out, on the fly, all of the team weights. We had 5 sandbags, a team weight, two water bladders, and 5 people on the litter carrying the monster sandbag. Bryan, who I mentioned earlier, gave me advice on throwing in some bursts of running..or shuffling to get us moving. What I came up with was doing 15sec or 20sec bursts of running without ever stopping and continuing to rotate out everyone smoothly. I was running all over the place, yelling out motivation, making sure no one was about to die, and kept the press ON. It sucked, no doubt. The sun was very much in the sky now and the thermometer was already on the rise. BUT....WE DID IT. We made the time hack and I really don't think Cadre Heath expected us to. We legit did it. Where we found ourselves now was in a wet, grassy field. It was "training" time. Being in spec ops for 23+ years, Cadre Heath has a ton of experience. We did all kinds of training simulating being in a firefight while trying to advance on the enemy. We worked on carrying each other, too. I can't tell you exactly how long we spent training but it was awhile. I can't begin to name all the evolutions, either. I just can't remember what they were called. No matter, though. If you ever get Cadre Heath, maybe you'll find out! :) Before long, it was time to get fired as TL and a new one picked and we headed out again.

This time hack didn't go so well and before we got to the next point, it was mid-morning, the sun was blaring and we took on three casualties. Luckily, we had five ladies on our team so we, of course, used them as casualties as they weighed the least. We filled up water bladders until we ran out after that time hack and played a little "game" of Cadre Heath's. Haha...what a game! (it was a short, little PT session with some childhood humor swirled in to put smiles on everyone's faces) The bad part of it is that one of our own passed out. As someone with vasovagal syncope, I knew what I just saw. Once he woke up, we all gathered around and got him in the shade. He was hard-headed as heck! We forced him to give up his ruck and just walk with us...and to keep hydrating as best he could. The downside to this event is that unlike a race or ultra-marathon where electrolyte drinks are served at aid stations, there is nothing but what you're carrying and anyone who knows much knows that you never put those drinks inside bladders as it ruins them. So, outside of electrolyte tabs and maybe some Hammer Gels, there isn't much to do to keep up with hydration. It really is a losing battle. You just have to be as smart as you can and make the best decision you can at the time and with the information you have. We all carried on as a team.

Let's just say that the "suck" was getting worse now by the moment. The sun was raising the temperature quickly and people's feet were taking a serious beating. No matter how long it had been since leaving the beach, our feet never really dried out due to sweat. Add on the weight of our rucks and the added team weights and we had people with no issues to others with popping blisters making just walking painful. Eventually, we found ourselves on a traditional cinder bike-n-hike trail as we hovered around the early afternoon time, I think. We had some more training on building a litter to carry wounded using tree limbs and a tarp. Cadre Heath also did some training on rappelling. This was a nice time to ground the weights and take care of any issues anyone had. As we loaded up to go again, he told us we had 15min to go ONE mile...with all the weight. You want to talk about coming together as a team?! WHOA! We did...and we crushed it in 14:30. The carrot we were chasing was that if we did it, we could shed all of the sandbags. Now, we had no idea where we were in relation to the end whatsoever.  But, being able to shed hundreds of pounds of sand was awesome.  We did that, got more water, and had nothing but our team weight left. Cadre Heath thought this was also a fantastic time to knock out more flutter kicks so we lined both sides of the trail and did so. After that, it was story time as heard about one of Cadre Heath's experiences in Afghanistan.

At this point, NO ONE had dropped and the Heavy events, per GORUCK, have about a 50% finishing rate. But what's missing from the Heavy? Remember the PT test? We had done plenty of PT, already, but the infamous 12 mile ruck loomed. We had but one final movement...the 12mi ruck. However, instead of it being individual as it often is, we had to finish as a team. With 41 people, we had good to awful in terms of condition...both physical and mental. It was hot and 12 miles is a LONG way to go in our condition. The standard is 3 1/2 hours to cover this distance. Alone, I've covered it twice. Once in 2hrs, 12min and again a few weeks ago in 2:11. This was totally different, though. We'd all been up for well over 24 hours, were beat down, and feet issues plagued many people. Moving quick as a team was going to be hard. The time began and we headed out with only our 50lb team weight and the weighted flag pole, in addition to our rucks. 

Wow, wow, wow....pure guts and teamwork during the next 4 hours. We fought, some shed tears, some carried each other's rucks, but we never quit. The idea of "quit" was certainly looming in many minds but through a few awesome team leaders and others reaching out to those around them, we kept going...and going. Honestly, it seemed like we'd never get there! Here are a few photos from this final movement.

10 miles in, Cadre Heath pulled us aside and stopped the clock. We had started the 12mi on pace to kill the time standard but we fell apart in the last 4 miles. He talked to us, inspired us, but kept it real. He told us what we needed to hear. He was brutally real...as a leader and teacher needs to be. He has led many GORUCK events and has never had a class where no one dropped. With 2 miles to go...no one had...yet. He laid out one final time hack: Cover the last two miles in 30min and it's all over. Out we went....MOTIVATED AS HECK!!! We stuck together, carried other's rucks as necessary and kept throwing running shuffles in there as we could...but left no one behind. Nothing but guts and sweat and pure determination to not quit and finish strong AS A TEAM.

So there we are...arriving back at the start point. We got back into two ranks but guess what? We still owed Detroit 201 flutter kicks so we proudly paid them. 1701 flutter kicks done! With that, Heavy Class #121 was finished and with a 100% completion rate. NO ONE QUIT. The final moments were spent hearing from Cadre CT and Cadre Heath. It was surreal...emotional...incredible.

In most half marathons, marathons, ultra-marathons, etc., you get a medal, a t-shirt, or something like that. With GORUCK, it's all about the patch and "patching" is all that remained. A strong handshake, the patch, and a hug wrapped it all up.

So that's my first GORUCK event and by default, my first Heavy event. But what about the goal of HTL? It was now 7pm or later and the Tough was starting at 9pm and was about a 30min drive away. My situation was this: I hurt...just like many did. My #1 concern was my right foot. It felt like rocks were in there but in reality, two big blisters were forming beneath my skin in my forefoot. It hurt just to walk and this only got worse over those 12 miles. I made the decision to not continue towards the HTL. Cadre Heath talked to us about this before this all began. He made it clear that the HTL is not an event in itself...more of a goal...an achievement. He said to finish a Heavy, one should be very proud in that and then assess the situation afterwards and make a decision. There is no shame to not do all 3 events. To quit the Heavy is one thing...or to be med-dropped. To decide to take on the HTL another day is quite another. That was my final decision and even now, I have total peace in that decision. I'll get mine...just not this time around. I had an incredible time, experience, and am stronger through it all. I met some bad@ss people along the way, too. My team of 41...WE DID IT. WE....Detroit Heavy Class #121 did it together!

"Comfort is the enemy of achievement."

I'd like to thank Bryan and his family for the awesome hospitality, Bryan's mentoring all year long as I prepared for this, Cadre CT and Cadre Heath for being awesome human beings and leading us through this, and all of my teammates. A special shout out to a new friend, too...Kevin, who was the one who passed out. Hard headed as ever, he refused to quit. You should be proud, brother! Recover well and I'll see you again!

Myself, Bryan and Kevin

One last shout out...to the "Tenacious Ten"...those who did all 3 events and earned their HTL patch. So incredibly AWESOME!!! Well done!! (yes, those are tutu's...)

I expect to see many, many more photos soon from the Heavy event and will share them on this blog so come on back or subscribe for future updates. In addition, thanks again to Sarah LaBarge and Erik Rambo for capturing all of these photos and sharing them. Much appreciated!