Our First Ruck Challenge of 2024
My wife Sonja and I set out for our first 12 Mile Ruck Challenge of 2024 in San Antonio on Saturday, January 6th. These are wonderful experiences to challenge yourself in so many ways. According to GoRuck's website, “Rucking is just walking with weight on your back. It’s a great way to build muscle, burn calories, and it’s three times easier on your knees than running.” The benefits outweigh your rucksack or backpack because studies have shown how important it is to carry and lift weight, especially as we age. We ruck several times a week for multiple miles to get outside, do something different from our regular workouts, and spend time together.
Rucking was on our list for a few years to get involved, and in 2021, we started with short distances from one to four miles at a time. Our average low-mile days now are around seven to nine miles, depending on how much time we have to hit it. As we started gaining mileage and confidence, our goals developed into challenging ourselves with some of the events that GoRuck sponsors. Their Ruck Course Challenges range from 12, 26, and even 50 miles. Last year, they only offered one 12-mile course close to us in Dallas, Texas, whereas this year, they have a calendar stacked with multiple mileage options all over the country for anyone to plug into!
As we began our calendar planning for the year, we noted every challenge for 2024 in the hope of aiming for several 12 milers to build us up to the 26, and eventually, the end goal, a 50-mile course. We were excited that the San Antonio would be our first one for this year to get us started as early as possible.
Each course is hosted differently by the Cadre on sight, so you don’t know what to expect for waypoints, goals, or directions. When you arrive, they go over the main rules, and just before you start, you are issued a series of waypoints that you must reach. You may use any mapping or route planning application on your handheld device to choose the route for your course. Once the start time begins, you have five hours to complete the course. You are guaranteed a minimum of the miles listed on the challenge; however, you can go over that based on the objectives, mapping software, and how you or your team decide to accomplish their waypoints. As you embark on your journey, there is typically one or two people in charge of navigation and at least one in charge of communication. The bonus over the challenge itself is that the waypoints offer amazing sightseeing in the area you are rucking, and one of your goals upon arriving at a waypoint is to take a selfie to show the Cadre that you have found it. These also serve as great memories for later and amazing team bonding.
In Dallas, we created a loop to get to each waypoint and finished with nearly 14 miles trekked. San Antonio was a different beast because the Cadre made three out and back legs from our start position. This course would force us to return to the starting position at the end of each leg to check in with the Cadre before moving to the next leg. For us, it also meant we hit just over 17 miles in total. We chose to tackle the longer leg first, which was over nine miles of historic sites, including the Alamo. The last two legs were far shorter but offered longer gaps between the starting point and their single waypoint objective.
We faced four challenges in San Antonio. First, it had been a year since we practiced using the routing application. Second, we had only ever plotted a loop navigating, not multiple out and back legs. Third, the out-and-back format was more of a mental strain than you would think since we traveled the same roads repetitively. Without fresh sights, your brain starts to wear down because you are on the same path each time. Lastly, the day before, we kicked off a new training regimen and made the mistake of doing a super set workout that included two-thirds legs and multiple sprints! After about nine miles, our legs and feet started to feel the pain more, and at one point, we weren’t even sure if we would finish.
As we sat on a bench, not far from the beginning of our last stretch, legs cramping and feet numb, we faced the fact that we might not have enough time to finish and whether or not we should call it a day. That’s not how we roll, so we got up and back into the game. We finished with a tie for fifth place time and a tie for first place with the most mileage. We learned a lot, including to play more with our mapping application in different formats and to rest a day or two before because you never know how long the route might be during your course. Thank you to GoRuck for making great gear and hosting awesome events. We were challenged, overcame it, grew individually and together, and met new friends. We can’t wait until the next one!
#ComingForYou2024
#YearOfTheDragon
#FightTheGoodFight
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Guro Larry, Sonja, Lauren & Tori St. Clair
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