GORUCK Challenge: Long Beach, NY - Class 576, Team Bravo

Ok, so I told myself I would not post a summary of my Goruck Challenge from my perspective. It's been done before. In fact, one of my teammates composed a pretty concise and articulate reflection of her own and I encourage you to check it out if you're interested at all in a narrative of our 12 hour adventure. Yup, read that again. It was a 12-hour experience I will not soon forget. 

Rather than detail the "what and when" of my challenge, I'd like to spend some time describing the "how" and the "why" behind the event. In other words - questions like how did I pack and prepare, how did I cope, why did I pay to have this done to me could be answered by reviewing the following pictures. I think including pictures enhances the sharing and it's my hope that you'll be encouraged to sign up for your own Goruck Challenge soon. For more of my own historical context with Goruck, please see my previous post. Otherwise, continue on with this photo diary of sorts.

*Many thanks to Jeff Engler for shadowing the event and providing us with these lasting images. It is because of his efforts that I cannot wait to shadow an event for someone else this summer.

Here's what my own supply list included:

Clothing:

Running shoes

Toe socks + smart wool compression socks

Heat gear compression top/bottom

Running shorts

Dri-fit cotton tee

Windbreaker

Work gloves

Tac Hat

Gear:

Goruck Radio Ruck

3 Liter low profile water bladder

4 Bricks + 1 yoga brick (for stability and comfort)

2 morale patches representing our training camp (Get Tough Fitness)

Food:

6 containers of Perpetuem Solids

2 zip-lock bags of beef jerky

4 energy gels

2 packs of energy chews

1 full container of Nuun tablets in my water bladder

5 days prior to the event I also began a cycle of Race Day Boost, which helped prevent cramping

The welcome party began at 1AM and consisted of multiple physical exercises. Planks, lunges, duck walks, iron Mike's, burpee broad jumps, low crawls - the sort of stuff you can train for. Here's what few expected - the mental challenges. We were tasked with having two team mates consecutively correctly name each person on our team. Failure to do so would mean more exercises. The why became very clear, and it's a lesson I learned early on in my own training. This event wasn't about me. It was about the person next to me. The other interesting lesson seemed more directed to individuals who had already completed a Goruck Challenge. Each veteran of the challenge was assigned an egg that they had to carry on their person (not in their pocket nor in their backpack) and keep it intact for the duration of the welcome party. One of my teammates misunderstood the initiative and protected his egg for the entire event. What's the why here? Just because you've done something before doesn't mean you're as prepared as you think. It's a humbling moment to realize you're not as ready as you thought you were. 

I was privileged to carry the flag for the first movement. It was during this walk that we learned the importance of staying with your team. Any break in line would cause us to lose a shoe and be forced to walk uncomfortably for a bit (as if marching with bricks in your ruck wasn't uncomfortable enough). This was the start of a reoccurring lesson. There are soldiers around the world in less comfortable situations - men and women who have lost more than a shoe. Don't complain. Use this as a moment to think of them.   

What would a challenge in Long Beach be without actually being on the beach? I honestly don't know if this was a moment our Cadre devised for his own evil pleasure or if I was meant to think of how chaotic it must be to storm a beach. We were instructed multiple times to cover ourselves in sand, sprint to the water (and immerse ourselves). Sand, water, sand, water. Uncomfortable yet? Imagine being in this position while bullets came whizzing by your neck. The opening scene of Saving Private Ryan came to mind multiple times while we trekked along the beach. Was the water cold? A little but, but if you've read my previous posts then you know this is something you can train for too. I was actually quite comfortable - so much so that I even jumped into the ocean during a break.  

Some of the physical exercises on the surf included wheel barrels, leap frogs and generally consisted of transporting a variety of objects that varied in weight (3 cinder blocks, 2 partially filled kegs, a pallet, a sand bag, a fire hose and three pilings). I was too small to help carry the logs, the sand bag and the pallet so I tried  helping out by carrying the other items including other peoples' rucks. At some point, you stop thinking about how tired, how cold, how hungry you feel and you just become a machine. Contrary to what the picture above implies, I was honestly smiling for much of the time we were out there, thinking about how fortunate we were to just be simulating the training that our nation's heroes live through.

The Goruck Tough patch is never sold, only earned. To learn more about the origin of the patch - click on this link and scroll down a bit.

The most rewarding part of completing the challenge was being able to complete it with folks I've been training with for over a year now. Never more has the African proverb resonated in every fiber of my being: "If I want to run fast, I run alone. If I want to run far, I run with my team."