Beyond the Blog: The Carolinas CAN Ruck For Autism

Becky and I are here at Truist Field in Charlotte working on the details.. We had a great day planning our strategy for sponsorships and logistics.   This was my ruck yesterday at Dalton Park, in the pouring rain. Photo credit: Matt Bledsoe I'm only smiling because I'm done! Photo credit: Matt Bledsoe

  Elizabethtown, NC - This weekend was my little "reward" for carrying that rucksack the last few weeks...the Mission 100k Ultra in Elizabethtown, NC.   Being in eastern NC, I thought the course would be flat and easy, kind of like what you see in the picture.  In fact, it was really challenging, the entire 10k loop was switchbacks, moguls, and short stabby hills. 😫 100k = 62 miles +/-, and the course was 10 loops.  I was hoping to get in 40 miles minimum, but managed to squeak out 50 miles overall, or 8 loops.   I was totally destroyed by the 7th loop and walked most of it, but then I stopped at the car, changed sneakers, called Cheryl, and manned up for the 8th loop.  43 miles is not a number, after all! The winner finished in 11 hrs 30 minutes, the race had about a 40% completion rate, so I don't feel too bad about not finishing the entire course.   It kicked my butt, no doubt about it, but I will be back next year in ultra-running s...

  Concord, NC - Very quick update, as I am scrambling to get to school on time (I'm subbing for a phys ed teacher, so that will be fun.   For me, not the kids...) I did a test ruck on Saturday, the full monty of 25 miles.  It was exhausting, but it was capping off an 80-mile week, so that might have had something to do with it.   It took about 6 1/2 hours of rucking, 7 hours total.    I feel prepared but still not as prepared as I could be...since it is hard to imagine doing this every day for 30 days.   I guess I won't know until I get out there what the actual day-to-day will be like.   It's a little scary, TBH.

  Concord, NC - Training continues to ramp up (75 rucking miles this week) and the hours slowly tick away on the treadmill. My body increasingly is fighting me every morning somehow knowing there is a 5 to 6 hour workout ahead. When I'm starting out tired and grumpy at 4 or 5 am, of course I ask myself.....Why am I doing this?  The immediate answer, of course,  is to raise money for CAN and support families living with autism.  But I find my motivation comes from a deeper place, although I cannot always articulate what that place is.  Fortunately, the Universe is listening and I had two vivid reminders this week of the greater "Why", at a point when I was feeling physically and emotionally drained.    The first reminder was in my role as a substitute EC teacher for our school system....I love working with these kids and I'm in awe at how they see the world.  We could all learn from them and their teachers. The second reminder was when I took my so...

Concord, NC - Of course, I don't really hate this but I'm in the last two weeks of peak training and I'm exhausted, cranky, sore, and have a lot of stuff going on in the other parts of my life.  So when I'm looking at 5 hours of ruck training on Saturday and Sunday....yeah, I hate this.

  Me and Coach Jeff having a post-workout conversation at the 300 gym.  I really like the strength and stability work he is putting me through, its a great break from the miles. Concord, NC - Going to be a short one today as it's already Tuesday Feb 23rd.   Last week we bumped the mileage up to 20-mile workouts, which is taking me about 4 1/2 hours. Sometimes 5 hours if I need to take a break.   I'm having to break up some of the runs with bike work to keep my feet from hurting too much.  It helps a lot.   Another new twist is that I'm training with Slappy in my ruck instead of the 25 lb weight vest in the bag.  Slappy is BIG, as you can see from the treadmill pic, and very bulky.   He pulls back on my center of gravity and it is a lot harder to run or ruck than I imagined.   I've got to find a solution for getting the ball up higher on my back, because its kind of painful bouncing off my lower back.   My ch...

  Concord, NC - Finished this block of three 19-mile rucks but I am WIPED.   Today (Sunday) was a combo ruck-run-ruck with Ted and Charlie starting at 6:30.   Rucked 4 as a warm-up, ran 12 in the rain (each running mile is 1/2 of a rucking mile, in my own twisted calculus), then rucked 9.   The last leg was horrible...freezing rain and I completely bonked about 5 miles in.  I forgot to eat and need to remember how that creeps up on you.   Ted's wife Cyn took care of me with a plate of chocolate chip cookies, which are the closest thing to miracle recovery food that I know. Yesterday (Saturday) was more freezing rain so I ran on the treadmill, watched two movies and ran the last mile outside in the rain like a lunatic. Tuesday I almost cried when my alarm went off at 2:30.  That is an absolutely stupid time to wake up and run for 4 hours.   BUT, it was a nice morning with temps in the high 40's and by the time I got home at...

  Concord, NC - This week the mileage has increased to 18 miles of rucking 3 times a week, and the distance is starting to take a toll.    My pace has slowed down to about 13 min/mile so each run is taking almost 4 hours.  If I want to be home by 7 am that means a 3 am start!  In other whining news, my feet are starting to really hurt...its not planter faciitis, just general inflammation from all that pounding.   Cheryl had a great idea to interject riding with my running, so here I am during the SuperBowl last night, with my bike parked next to the treadmill.  1 hr run, 30 min ride, 1 hr run, 30 min ride...rinse and repeat.   Pretty boring actually, but I finally got to watch "Django" in its entirety.   Love that QT! We still need drivers for the event..anyone? Anyone? Please reach out if you are interested, we can't do this without a ride!

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 ...