Goruck Challenge - Boston

About 8 months ago, Husband completed the Goruck Challenge for the first time. Class #192 in Charlotte. Upon witnessing first hand the event and the connections he was able to make with the people in the class, I was drawn in to try it myself. So, shortly after the completion of his challenge I signed up for my first one; with the condition that some of his friends from Class #192 did it with me.

As most of you know, I am mostly inclined to doing triathlons. The type of sport that it just requires you to be with yourself for long periods of time; caring only about yourself and what YOU can do to move yourself forward. This would be a completely different beast. Time ticked away, some days faster than others; and all of a sudden the weekend of the challenge was right around the corner.

We flew ourselves up to Boston and upon arrival we met with a bunch of friends. Both the virtual and real kind of friends. I was hugged, kissed and assured that I would have a great time and rock the challenge. I was a bit skeptical (and scared). Most of the folks that were doing the challenge with me, spent the night prior to it awake; either doing the challenge or witnessing it. Understandably, they were all tired the afternoon preceding my challenge, and they all went to sleep. Me? Not so much. I started getting panicky.. thinking I was getting sick, that I would in no way be able to finish. Bad thoughts inundated my head.

The time passed slowly... I just wanted 10 PM to arrive, so I could just get going with it. When it was time to get ready, I did so quietly and trying to be methodical. I am not sure how successful I was, but I got all my stuff together. It was cold. Freezing. Layers were put on, gloves, beanie, two pairs of socks. We made our way to the start, stopping along the way to grab a bite to eat.

At 10 PM Cadre Lou (for those of you that do not know.. here is the definition of cadre from Dictionary.com) gave us instructions to go into formation. After roll call (there ended up being 44 of us, from the original ~ 70 that were signed up), cadre introduction (there were 7 of them) and ruck inspection (you are supposed to carry a ruck with 4 bricks if you are under 150 lbs, and 6 bricks if you are over 150 lbs), the "welcome party" started. This consisted of a set of physical exercises; push ups, bear crawls, low crawls, flutter kicks. The goals is to get the group to start working together as a team.

One of the exercises of the welcome party was what they call the inchworm push up. What is it you ask? Well, you stand in a line and upon assuming push up position one person in front of the other, the person that is right in front of you puts their feet on your back, and you put your feet on the back of the person behind you. This way everybody is "connected". My luck was such that I ended in the back of the line. My feet were the only feet that touched the ground. Doing push ups on my toes is challenging enough for me as it is; add a weighted ruck and someone's feet on top, and I have pretty much an impossible mission in my hands. I was doing my best when, upon being instructed to move backwards, I was not able to get off the floor on time and the person in front of me bent my back backwards. I heard it crack, and it hurt. Tears welled in my eyes and I held in a little scream (you are supposed to "suffer in silence"). I removed myself from the line and curled in a ball to stretch out my back. Cadre Jason came over and drilled me with questions. He first made sure I was ok, and then started asking if I would be able to continue: "Are you sure you will be able to keep going for 10-12 more hours? Without slowing down your team?" There was NO doubt in my mind that this was just a little hiccup. There was NO way I was quitting. I made that clear; and I was asked to get back in line. I did.

After a series of other exercises, they split us into 2 classes of 22 people. Here is when I realized... I was on the team that did NOT have my friends, or my husband. I thought about this and I knew without hesitation that if that is what needed to happen, I would STILL finish the challenge. Luckily, the other team realized I was missing and asked for the swap to be made. Relief.

Upon the splits, I was promptly selected as Team Lead (TL). Our welcome party continued. for 2.5 more hours. Being TL was difficult, I was confused most of the time. Trying to keep the group together while having your head down and doing all the exercises was rough. In the challenge the team must come first, and I found it very challenging to achieve the balance needed. I got called out a bunch of times: "TL this" "TL that"... More confusion. Worries. Husband got hurt. I wanted to help, but couldn't. I was TL. TL's lead. Get your head on straight. Keep going.

This is where I had my first weak moment. We were doing a running up/down exercise, and I was having trouble getting up fast enough. The weight was getting to me. I felt the tears well up and the desperation creep in. Luckily at this time, husband and I were paired up. I took a look at him and I knew I could push through and finish the task. Deep breath, focus, go. Give it your best, that's all you can do. Keep trying.

Finally, after we moved some snow from point A to point B, I was fired as TL and told to join the ranks. When cadre uttered the words, all I could say was "Thank you". I think he laughed. Finally a new TL was picked and we moved on to our first mission.

Honestly, I do not remember what the missions were. Even though I was lucid and never felt tired/sleepy, I was just focused on getting through the task at hand and for some reason I have forgotten the details. The way it works is you are given a task and a time to complete it by. Even though I do not remember what most of our tasks were, I am pretty sure we missed most of our time hacks.

At one point we arrived at a site that held a bunch of extra things for us to carry around. A log, some construction materials, a ladder. There were so many things that everybody in the group was carrying something, at least 10lbs more than the weight of your ruck. We trudged along. We made slow progress.

We climbed stairs, crossed bridges, we walked and then walked some more. All of the sudden we arrived at the shores of a body of water (I think it was the Charles river? but I am not sure). We all knew what was coming. "Put your rucks down, take off any clothes you don't want to get wet and go in the water, knee level". Freezing water! Once in the water we did squats. Low enough to get our butts wet. We squated to the tune of the Spongebob Square pants song. And then we were allowed to get out. I promptly slipped and my hands ended up in the water.

"Put your clothes on fast". One person had completely stripped down, completely naked. It took him a while to get dressed... And we were getting cold. Mountain climbers. Move, move, move. Get warm. My shoes were wet, my toes hurt from the cold, and I was starting to lose feeling on my fingers. Get in formation and move out. At this time I got a hold of the flag and started setting the pace. I didn't last long, as holding the flag meant I had to leave my fingers still... No circulation = no feeling in fingers. I passed the flag to someone else and moved to the back of the line.

We ran some more, we got dry along the way and warmed up some. We did more up/downs. We "took" a monument, and then we rested. Penguin huddle to stay warm. Feet still hurt, a lot. Change gloves, put on an extra hoodie. Eat some food. Drink some water. Get in formation, move out.

We arrived at a "hill" where we had to do buddy carries. This is where my lowest point of the whole challenge would come. Husband was carrying me, ruck included. And I started to feel sick. I could not breathe, I thought I was going to throw up. Daylight had arrived, so I knew we were more than half way through. "I have come this far, please do not let this happen now" I was angry, I was worried, I hated thinking that the team was getting punished because of me. And I hated myself for that.  I was allowed to sit down and compose myself. I fought the tears, focused on the breathing and did not allow the bad thoughts to take over my head. As soon as I was feeling well enough, I got back in it. Determined to not let this get the best of me. I grabbed the flag again, and when cadre saw me, I think he gave me a nod and a wink of approval. I felt a weird sense of accomplishment. I had overcome. Win.

We continued to move at a steady pace. Sometimes faster than others. At some point we reached a small baseball field. And I think that might have been the only time hack me made all night. Once we climbed over the fence we played a little "game". I won't go into the details, but I am going to say both my knees are bruised because of it, and I got the "easy" end of it. Guys got it a LOT worse.

After the game ended, we headed out of the field, we walk some, we shuffle some, moving forward as a unit being the #1 goal. Next thing I know the streets start to become familiar, and we are headed to the start point. This can only mean one thing... we are about to be done. We reach the park, we get in formation. And are promptly given another mission to complete. We head out, and at this point I can't tell if spirits are high or not. I am definitely tired, but I know we are close to the end. Hang in there, hang in there. More push ups. "Give us five good ones and you can be done with them". We do. Get in formation again. Move.

Climb down more stairs, cross over muddy pit. Stay together, stay together. We reach the park where we started and are given 30 seconds to reach the monument at the top of the hill. The end is close. I can smell it. We start running. I fall behind, I can feel the weight of the pack, my legs can't go any faster, my stomach is all in knots like it gets when I do a very hard effort. I want to walk, SO bad. But something inside tells me... NO, the team will NOT suffer because of you. Push. Push. We reach the top. Get back in formation. I am the last one to join the line.

Cadre Adam steps atop a bench and announces we have completed the Goruck challenge. Tears flood my eyes. I did it. I finished it. I look around for husband and he is on the other end of the line. I need a hug STAT. Jen, Chris, Jim... they are all there. I get my hug. Husband appears. More hugs. Next thing I know I am being pushed to the front to get my patch. This is so surreal. Shake hands, get patch. Look at Cadre Jason... "Aren't you the one that asked me if I would be able to continue 10-12 more hours when we were doing the inchworm pushups?" "Yes, that was me" "Well, it looks like I did"

To all of Class 461-A... I am glad I got to do my first challenge with you all. To my AH family: I love you to pieces. Thank you for being there for me, even if you weren't physically there. It meant the world.

I am Goruck Tough. F*ck yeah!