Beyond the Blog: The Carolinas CAN Ruck For Autism

This weekend was the annual F3 Gremlin Event, a 5 hr sufferfest to honor our brother Rick Pinto.   Gremlin was an F3 Mint Hill Pax member who passed away after a running workout in January 2018 due to a heart attack. He is survived by his wife, Tonya, and three beautiful  daughters: Sophia, Gabrielle and Alina.  This CSAUP (Completely Stupid and Utterly Pointless) event, will be in his honor and forever memorialize his name. We will also be honoring several of our other brothers from the greater F3Nation and FiA PAX who left us too soon. It will be the toughest thing you will ever love to do with 100+ of your closest, sweaty friends.   I ran 17 miles on the treadmill today (Sunday) because it was totally crappy out but at least got caught up on a few movies that Cheryl won't watch with me (any horror movie, any war movie, any dystopian dark movie, all of which I love).   This wednesday we up the mileage to 18....so far, so good!

Training Update II Concord, NC- Just finished this weekend's set of 16 miles Sat/Sun.   Yesterday (Sat.) was Charlie V.'s birthday so we celebrated with a 7 am cupcake before heading out.  Charlie, Ted and I have been running together for almost 20 years, and friendships like that are worth celebrating in their own right. When I do a combined run/ruck, I count 2 miles running for 1 mile rucking.  So yesterday I rucked 7, ran 12 (=6 ruck), then rucked 4 for a total of 17 rucking miles.   This morning I was tired, slept in until 8, and then did 14 on the treadmill and finished with 2 fast miles outside.  At least I got caught up on Netflix... Stability Stability is something I don't have.  Coach Jeff has a comprehensive routine to help me address the imbalances in my biomechanics.  From one-legged squats to pistol squats, we are working on getting my core balanced.   Today was fun, doing one-armed thrusters on a bosu ball, which I've ...

  Concord, NC - Some of you have asked about my ruck sack, so I thought I'd share some of the details of my very close friend here.    Okay, actually, none of you have asked about my ruck sack but I'm still gonna share details because it's cool. I use a modified 5.11 tactical ruck, meaning it's designed for heavy use in the field.  Its reinforced at all the seams and designed for quick on and off.    It's not the only ruck out there, but until someone sponsors me, I'm not going to name them off.   Anyway, I like this one alot and I've added a few modifications: * Quick release chest and waist strap (amazingly, these were not part of the original gear) * Front and back flashing lights * Zip-tied phone carrier  I need to add an accessible carrier for liquids.   The ones on the side work well if you are hiking, but when I'm rucking they are just out of reach and I look ridiculous flapping my arms to the side trying to move the bottle u...

  I've decided to count down to May 1, our launch date, so we are at 15 weeks out!  That's not to say I have only 15 weeks to get ready, as I've been training for a few months already.  But its good to have a counter to keep that sense of urgency.   My big challenge right now is not the training itself, it's finding the time for training.  Today, I had to get up at 3 a.m. in order to get in 15 rucking miles, which takes me 3 hrs of movement and 20 minutes for nutrition and potty breaks and gear/clothes changes.  This photo was taken just after my return at 6:30: Still fitting in strength and mobility training to address the imbalance in my legs.  Coach Jeff has me doing some surprisingly tough movements, such as doing leg kicks on the balance ball, which seems to get everything: arms, shoulders, core, and legs: That's all I got for now.   We are making progress with logistics and planning, and I'm close to finishing with the new route t...

Concord, NC - This weekend was a 14 mile/day ruck for 3 days in a row.  But the Afton F3 guys were hosting the Mt Afton Challenge on Saturday, and I wanted to do well, so I saved Friday for a Coach Jeff workout and jumped into the fray early Saturday for the race.  It was an awesome event, well organized and benefiting a local family who is challenged by their son's medical condition.  The event was a 2 hour "run as far as you can" on a 1 mile loop, with the loop circling up to the top of road winding through the neighborhood and local shops.  Its a whopping 70 foot climb, so the "Mt Afton" is somewhat tongue-in-cheek. The race started early and temps were in the low 30's, maybe even high 20's, but with the right layering, it was fine.  I ran with my friend and competitor "Kojak" for the first hour (he's in the blue cap) but actually felt stronger the second hour, especially as it was warming up. There were runner and rucker divisions for t...

  Me and Ted at the start of our virtual Frosty Fifty. Do not, repeat, do not compliment him on his shirt.  It will just encourage him. We do the Frosty Fifty every year, it's one of our favorite races.    The 50k (31 mile) course loops several times around Salem Lake in Winston-Salem (NC).   Always run on the first weekend of the new year, its a very chill race with a good vibe.  Literally, it can be very chill.  A few years back it was about 10 degrees. This year, of course, everything is different and the race is virtual, meaning you could run the 50k wherever you wanted.  Ted convinced me that driving up to Winston-Salem to run around a muddy lake may not be the best choice, and he was right, so we ran a few loops at University.    General hilarity ensued until about mile 22, when we started gassing out.   Ted finished at 25 and I stayed on the course to finish at 4:51:33 run time, 5:05:33 total time. I'm happy with th...

Sunset Beach, NC - Amelia, Daniel and I spent New Years at Sunset Beach while Cheryl and Claire headed home the day before (they both had to work).   We had a really nice, relaxed day..I spent most of it getting a 20 yr old tattoo wildly upgraded.  I really like how it came out: I had a 5 mile tempo run today on the first day of the promising new year, averaged 7 min pace, so that felt good!   One day rest, consisting of stability work with Coach Jeff, then its the Frosty Fifty on Sunday, 31 miles around Salem Lake in Winston-Salem (4 laps) with Ted.