I've thought about it, but trying to figure it out. Obviously a long hike/obstacle course thing. But what's with them trying to make you buy their bag or equipment on the website?

They say nowadays that you can bring any bag you want and use it. But they recommend theirs due to the beating you're going to put on it. I talked to a guy who "shredded" (his term, not mine) a supposedly high-end bag trying to train for a GRC with bricks in it. He bought a GR1 and is still using it today as his EDC.

It lasts 8-10 hours+, covers 15-20 miles+, carrying a pack with bricks in it and the entire goal is to make everyone work as a team. The rest is just the side effect from what I've read. They will get you out of your element and test what you're made of. They'll get you wet, get you tired, and push you to your limit. And then past it.

From what the founder of it says on their website, that's the whole point. Taking you to failure and beyond. Shattering what you previously thought were your physical and mental limits.

Personally I want to do the GRC as a stepping stone to a Heavy (24 hours+), then a Selection (48 hours+).

I have a couple of close friends who have completed Selection or been some of the last to drop. You have all describe what a goruck challenge is very well and why its bricks not real world stuff. Mostly because the weight is consistent, easily found and cheap. I might do a heavy in 2014. I am doing Death Race in Vermont this summer so probably won't travel after that for races. Heavy were only created because a couple guys thought the regular challenges were to easy and started doing back to back classes. SERE Performance also does similar events and i find them very cool. Different cool.

Once I make it through Challenge, I plan on doing a Heavy by mid-2014 also. Then seeing how I feel about doing a Selection after that. They offer both in Atlanta which is really close to Birmingham.

Started training a couple of weeks ago. Mon/Wed/Fri it's 1/4 mile run, 3x15 pushups, 3x20 situps, 3x3 chinups. Tue/Thu it's 1.33 mile run on the treadmill. Sat or Sun I ruck at a normal hiking pace 5 miles or so depending on terrain with a 26.8 pound pack with 2 bricks in it so far plus water and stuff.

By December 14th, planning on being at 20x20 pushups, 20x25 situps, 5x12 chinups and 20x15 dips. Also extending my run distances by .33 mile every other week from now until then. Ruck distances by a bit more each time.

I'm already down from 187 to 178 pounds over a couple weeks.

Completed Class 417 yesterday. Easily the hardest GRC i have done. loved it.

That's good stuff. I have a long time to go until mine, so no-one else has signed up on the Facebook group for the event yet. I'm hoping some others sign up before long.

How far out do they usually issue a class number or do you have to wait until the day of the event?

Been pushing myself to do my running/pushups/situps/chinups on schedule. Have a little soreness in my right calf due to not being used to running, but working on it with ice, Aspercreme and stretching to get it worked out. Luckily it started right at the start a 3-day off from running period in my schedule.

I'm beginning to wonder if extending my long run days by .33 mile every other week might be too far or if I'm pushing too hard on increasing the pace. 1/4 mile one short run day was 3:20, the next was 3:07. Maybe pushing that a little too hard so far.

A guideline that works for me is to increase your weekly overall mileage by no more than 10%. I ran across that advice during my marathon-running days, but it worked equally well recently when I was taking daily walks to recoup from a medical procedure.

I don't know your physical fitness history, so just a couple general tips.

Especially if you're starting from a condition with not much running, particularly running with a load on your back, your muscles and cardiovascular system will typically improve faster than your bones and tendons/ligaments, particularly in the earlier phase of training.

So, just be aware that injuries like stress fractures or popping an Achilles could be more of an issue now than later on in your training, after your skeleton and connective tissues have had a chance to toughen up more. In other words, listen to your body and don't just look at a decreasing time as your indication to add mileage or push the pace harder. There's nothing more demoralizing than getting knocked out early in your training by some injury that takes weeks or even months to heal. As we get older, we just don't heal as fast as we once did. Once your body is more accustomed to hard training, you can be more aggressive in improving your performance.

Also, don't forget that your improvement will not be linear so don't be a slave to some gradually increasing workload. You'll go through phases where you improve quickly, improve slowly, or hit a plateau and not improve at all or even slow down. Just roll with it, maybe vary the workout in some way when you hit a plateau, and eventually you'll be on the upslope again. Good luck!

Yeah, I was afraid pushing from 1 mile to 1.33 on my long run days was a little big of a jump. Should probably cut that back to 1.1 for now and see how I feel. My right calf feels a ton better after a good bit of stretching, Aspercreme and icing it last night.

One runner I talked to said to ice it directly after running and see if that makes it better also. On strength training/short run days I've been doing 4x15 pushups, 4x20 situps, 3x3 chinups and then running 1/4 mile, but pushing the pace a little faster each time.

Also probably want to be more careful of how much I increase the pace and try not to overdo that too. Gotta stay healthy to be in shape by my GRC. On a good note, I'm down from 187 to 177.6 pounds as of today. Least I've weighed in at least 20 years and within 2.6 pounds of my target weight I've been shooting for (175 at 42 years old and 5'11").

Our event page did not have a class # for it or the next night. We shared the same event page. I didn't know our class number till the night of the class.

Focus on rucking with six bricks, water, etc for a minimum of a couple hours at a fast jog as you can manage. Then find something odd shaped and weighs 25lbs and carry that too. That will simulate the team weight. If no team weight trying, take another pack with six bricks and wear that on your chest as a second pack to simulate carrying a buddies pack.