Rucked 6.23 miles in 2:07 yesterday, then found out my wife ordered me a Coyote-colored GORUCK GR1 pack today. I'm super-happy and will be swapping my bricks over to it as soon as it arrives.

Little update on the Goruck Challenge. I have since also signed up for a Goruck Light event they announced here in town (4-5 hours, 8-10 miles).

Rucked 9.4 miles Sunday in 2:56 and felt great at the time. Only one stop for about 5 minutes at the 7.5 mile mark for a Clif Bar.

Afterwards, my right foot started swelling a little on the outside edge of the sole and it got really tender. Went to the doctor yesterday morning and had x-rays taken.

Doc said nothing obvious without taking an MRI. Told me to ice it, take anti-inflammatory prescription they gave me and stay off it for a couple of days.

Back to training in a few days when it's all better. 39 days until my Light and 221 days until my Challenge. Better shoes are en route right now also.

If I may -

Try intervals to build endurance/speed. We used to jog the straights, sprint the corners on a track to start, then sprinted the straights and jogged once we were in better shape. For mileage, find a road with phone poles and start sprinting X and jogging Y. Then increase X over time.

Update on training. Been rucking 7 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays (2 hours flat on Tuesday) and did 11.5 on Sunday in 3:20. Current ruck weight is 37 pounds fully loaded. Shooting for 13 miles this Sunday.

My Goruck Light is coming up in 10 days then I can shift focus to Challenge which is on December 14th.

Feet are doing great except for a couple of blisters, but that's to be expected I suppose when you go from nothing to the deep end of the pool this fast.

Finally got into drinking plain water and taking Hammer Endurolytes capsules to keep from having to mix anything in my hydration bladder. After drinking flavored water for years, plain water took some getting used to.

Figured I'd give a little update.

I got my tail handed to me during the Welcome Party at Light due to poor cardio and conditioning and dropped out - a mistake I will NOT be making at Challenge. I'm bringing the pain train to Challenge this time and kicking butt every day I train.

I'm up to rucking 3x per week right now as I'm 56 days out from Challenge. I ruck 7+ miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays and long distances on Sundays.

Today's ruck was 20.7 miles with 5:25:19 time in motion. Current training ruck weight is 47.5 pounds (added a 10-pound steel plate, extra water and stuff). Added in 160 pushups for extra fun.

I try to stay consistent with what days I ruck but things come up so I had to ruck Friday instead of Thursday. Did 8.3 miles in 2:06:55 with 110 pushups thrown in. On short days I also hit a few laps up a steep hill to a park and back down with no rests in between for some elevation change.

I carry Clif Shotbloks in my pocket for an on-the-go snack and take 2 Hammer Endurolyte electrolyte pills every hour. I carry a 3-liter Source hydration bladder and generally try to stay well hydrated. The Source bladder is fuggin' BOMBPROOF, love that thing. I've rucked it well over 250 miles so far. I ordered the last of my gear a few minutes ago from REI (pants, jacket, another bottle of Endurolytes pills and a Petzl Tikka 2 headlamp).

Gear list consists of:

GORUCK GR1 bag
6 bricks wrapped in foam and duct tape
Mechanix Fastfit gloves
boonie hat
Merrell Moab Mid hiking boots (Columbia Drainmakers just didn't work well for me with the low tops)
Swiftwick Aspire 2 socks
Powerstep Pinnacle insoles
Pelican case for my iphone
Under Armour Heatgear t-shirt and shorts
Columbia Rebel Roamer pants
REI Windstill jacket
snacks (cookies and stuff)
photo ID, $20 cash
BodyGlide on feet/shoulders etc...
spare socks (x2)

The gear I've selected is good stuff, no doubt, but gear will only get you so far. Attitude will carry you farther than you ever thought in an event like this. The $20 cash is for cab fare back to your start point if you don't make it. My $20 will be a piece of paper that says "I OWE ME $20". I have no intention of needing or using cab fare, NOT gonna happen.

After Challenge on December 14th, I'm planning up doing a Heavy (24-hour version) in March or April with another guy who's about to do Challenge. They don't have those everywhere so not sure yet where I'll have to travel to do that. Got another guy coming to ruck Tuesday with me who's in for December, wants to see where he stands.

Thanks for the update. Very inspiring!

My banged up knees ache just reading about it...

Passed GRC class 871 Saturday in Birmingham. Good God, the cadre put a royal beating on us. Our group was supposed to be 8 people, only 4 showed up. So this meant we ALL got something to carry. Flag, 25-pound team weight, or one of two chunks of concrete.

All total, we put in 10 hours, roughly 20 miles, and a large chunk of that was in monsoon-type rain. Almost none of the photos taken by the guy shadowing us to take pics are worth a darn due to all the rain.

We ran more flights of stairs than I can remember, I got to actually sit down once the entire time and that was for about 10 minutes. I tried to quit a few times but the cadre and my teammates would have none of it.

We did have one guy quit about 2/3 of the way into the event. I felt so bad for him as we had come so far already. I've been taking Motrin and covering myself with Aspercreme ever since I got home Saturday, also been in the tub with epsom salts.

I'm darn sure not 18 years old anymore like I was in boot camp back in 1988.

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!!
You da' MAN!!
-Blast

I'm feeling like the "really OLD man", lol. I had already signed up for their 24-hour version in February and can honestly say that is out of my range. I have emailed to see if they will allow a transfer to a lesser version like Light (4-5 hours).

Found out the other day why I was having elbow issues that made me want to throw in the towel. I have an avulsion fracture which has partially torn the tendon loose at the elbow. Going Tuesday to have an ortho specialist have a closer look at what it'll take to fix it.