Three pax were all running late to start a double-counting 12-mile time hack challenge but were equal to the task of making the time slightly past midnight Friday in Crown Point.
Who was there? What did we do? What did we learn?
Who was there?
PAX: Scarecrow (Roster #19-658), Editor (16-276), Optimus (Roster TBD). Three brothers starting Pathfinder Class 019 as auspiciously as they could.
What did we do?
Met up at Wheeler Middle School, headed down Court Street, across Franciscan Drive, up Main Street, back through that neighborhood south of Crown Point High School, then up Main Street, through the Taft Middle School parking lot, to my house for a brief bio break (make water, drink water, kiss the family goodnight, though Optimus and Scarecrow graciously declined the last part), down East Street, quick left on Greenwood to connect to Main, past the sweet smells of Lucrezia Ristorante, past one of my best friends’ wife leaving Provecho, down to Goldsboro, down toward the Erie-Lackawanna Trailhead through to 91st Avenue stop sign and back around due south. We hit 12.0 a little bit before the gas station on West Street and stopped the timer and tracker to revel in making the time hack. We gleefully walked to the Wheeler parking lot, humbly not counting the fractional mileage, took a few selfies, warmed up our cars and took off around 12:15 a.m. temporarily satisfied with our effort.
We started the night hitting unshoveled sidewalk after unshoveled sidewalk but instituted a Star Course hack I like to call the New-Mile Shuffle. Every new mile you run for 30 seconds. We only did this like four times, but we hit the first 5.5 in about 90 minutes. Eventually we want to be able to run 50 consecutive miles in rucks like the legendary coach Andrew Shih instructs his pupils to do.
Total time: 3:21:52 for 12.01 miles.
What did we learn? (Highlights)
Optimus’ dog has more Instagram followers and international strangers sending it Christmas cards than the rest of us have combined.
Scarecrow once raided the back stock of a certain shoe and athletic apparel store on Route 30 when new management gave him a veritable shopping spree for $40.
Wind at your back beats wind in the face, however weak the wind is. Also, 11 degrees is much warmer than minus-22 but still kind of cold. If only we made it to the sunny morning Ranger Panties ruck in the balmy temps
Fonzie’s Class 017 Advanced patch showed up on a day he was complaining about it taking so long. My Class 017 Endure patch, a brilliant blue beaut, showed up on the day I bought Class 019. Eight-week delay is selling it short.
One of Scarecrow’s co-workers called in sick on Wednesday from his car … while clearly parked in the employee parking lot.
Optimus grew up in Grand Rapids and went to Michigan State University but chooses to see the Spartans in West Lafayette whenever possible to save travel time.
For me, this was my first time doing all 12 miles of a 3.5-hr time hack (fourth overall) in a group. Not surprisingly, my times are better when there is no snow and no one around to dodge my rambling.
Casey’s stock took a hit because we did not visit and uphold tradition.
Optimus lived in Park City, Utah, for two years and loved celebrity spotting when the Sundance Film Festival was in town. He saw Paris Hilton getting a burrito at a Taco Bell at 1 a.m. once, ran into Val Kilmer at a bar and watched Christian Slater rent the house next door for a week.
My new shoes held up well and got more acclimated to my feet as the night progressed, while Scarecrow had a worn-down heel that was a magnet for ice patches.
Scarecrow was the least flatulent he’s been in many rucks.
Friday nights are good practices for Toughs since most are on Fridays after a full work day. I used to cover a ton of basketball but really downshifted my involvement to emergency-only this season. Free Fridays are a general rarity in my life, so of course I fill them with CSAUPs whenever possible.
Scarecrow is binging Game of Thrones and just plowed through seasons 3-6. It’s fun to live vicariously through someone seeing great art for the first time. Shoutout for reading the books.
GORUCK Operation Anaconda events are six weeks away. Be prepared. We are betting on Atticus, based on his Tough page love, to really get into the fun with strangers at the Light.
Scarecrow has worn used expensive cold-weather tights for six years now.
The genius of the mile-a-day challenge is once you get dressed up, will you really stop at 1 mile daily? I mean, you’re all dressed up with the accoutrements, so go get some PT and some real miles most days. Also, there’s no point being scared of adding more weight each week. It’s how rucking is supposed to work. You build up tolerance and advance rather than plateau.
Scarecrow’s proclamations on your feet building up a tolerance to long distance running or rucking are pretty spot-on. Optimus will get there one day. For now he’s playing it safe
After a few weeks of 20 pounds in the ruck, it’s back to 30 almost in perpetuity for me.
The end game pain of rucking is easier to endure with other people because you can just talk through it.
One of the reasons Scarecrow was able to post nearly 35 times in January is because he has gone “Office Space” at work and shows up when he feels like it because they can’t really say anything to him. Rumors are that his “Office Space” epiphany came from 45 and Bert knocking on his walls to yell, “Turn on Channel 9. Check out this chick.”
MOLESKIN
Three pax made for a nice little rucking and conversational weave. It was nice to sync up the end days of the GORUCK Ruck Club Callout and the first day of Pathfinder, for which we also earned a coveted challenge credit for the 12-miler right from day 1 of 89. We had a strong debut in this class, especially Optimus, who set a career high for miles rucked and is already one-fourth through his Pathfinder challenges for Forward.
Props to everyone who demolished the 12-mile challenge brought forth by GORUCK to earn their free patch. It’s never easy to do, and this time of year adds a huge layer of additional difficulty through the climate. I know The Mick will post a backblast of this morning’s adventure, but we really should be happy that our little ruck club earned 16 of these patches, 17 including Ansel’s effort today in Portage. Everyone needs to keep pushing and keep tackling challenges via these highly intriguing, challenging and fellowship-building CSAUP events. A couple more weeks and we’ll have another.