On March 17th, 2018 a group of roughly 75 individuals converged near the Woodland Park Zoo in North Seattle for the St. Patrick’s Day 2018 GORUCK Light Challenge.
Event Stats
- Cadre: Ed Hall, Handsome Mike, Monty
- Event Type: GORUCK Light
- Location: Seattle, WA
- Special Event: St. Patrick’s Day
- Time: 3 Hours
- Distance: Roughly 3 Miles
The Gear
I used this event as an opportunity to try the Rucker 2.0 as well as take one of the new All Day Ruckoff Ripstop Cotton Hats (in Black) through an event. Both performed very well which is always a big plus!
Apparel
Here’s the apparel that I wore to the GORUCK Light event:
- All Day Ruckoff Ripstop Cotton Hat
- GORUCK Challenge Windbreaker
- GORUCK Rucking Shirt
- GORUCK Challenge Pants (Review)
- Mechanix Gloves (Review)
- Running Socks
- Hoka Run Run Shoes
- ExOfficio Give-N-Go Boxers
Everything worked out very well. The shoes were a little small but I’ve worn them to a number of GORUCK Light events and knew that going in. At this point I’m just abusing them at Lights until they break down and I need to throw them away.
Event Gear
Here’s the gear that I brought to the GORUCK Light event:
- GORUCK Rucker 2.0 (Preview)
- GORUCK 20 lb Expert Ruck Plate
- 3L Source Wide Hydration Bladder
- HK Quick Clip
- ITW GrimLoc (Review)
- Nalgene Bottle
- Pelican 1120 Case
- Foot Care Kit
- $20
- ID
- Credit Card
- Various Protein / Kind Bars
Post-Event Gear
Here’s the gear I brought to help celebrate at the end of the GORUCK Light event:
- GORUCK 32L Kit Bag
- Drink Hard Ruck Harder Shirt
- Flip Flops
- GORUCK Sweat Pants
- Protein Bar
- Battery Charger
- Water Bottle (Filled)
- Protein
- Beer
The Actual AAR
This was the second event I took part in during the 2018 season with the first being GORUCK Constellation 12 Class 029. There were also dogs at this event which only brings out additional smiles.
There was a huge contingent of TRVLSQD members and F3 Nation showed up in force as well which is just the best.
Ruck clubs are amazing (probably because they are filled with ruckers) and it’s great to see so many people excited to have some fun.
I got the start point roughly 45 minutes before the event started and there were already easily 40 people there. A number of them were friends I haven’t done events with in ages and it was nice to see their smiling faces.
Five to ten minutes before the event started we rounded ourselves up and got into a fairly decent formation.
Cadre Ed entered first and gave the speech that he notoriously gives at the end of events. It was still as moving as when he gave it at the Halloween Light he crushed souls at.
We had a special guest cadre that Mike introduced who was a 12 year old (almost 13, which he was very excited about) cancer survivor. He had a phenomenal attitude and him being there definitely added a different level of enjoyment to the day.
After a brief admin (without gear check) we were split into 3 teams of relatively equal numbers. I was on team two which was the best team. First the worst, second the best, right?
Each team was given at least one team weight (I think there were five total) as well as at least two sandbags.
Some of these sandbags were literally bags of sand and the team weight that shocked me the most was this giant wrench.
From the grass we headed out to a truck where we got a boat and then rounded up some logs that we’d carry for the entirety of the event.
Between the numerous team weights, the sandbags, the canoe, the logs, and whatever else we had we carried a lot of stuff during this event.
I started out carrying a sandbag but was quickly switched over to log duty because my height aligned better with the people over there. I worked the log from that moment to the end of the event (except when being a casualty) which was a blast.
I know everyone has their own reasons to show up to these events and I was really just hoping to carry a lot of heavy stuff for a long time.
It took some finagling to get this weekend to work since the kids are still so little and I knew my wife was taking one for the team staying home with them.
If you follow me on Strava you know my workouts have been fairly short (and fast) recently due to time constraints and finding this much time on a Saturday to dedicate to something wasn’t easy.
We made it work, I got to do the Light, and I wanted to make every second at the event count. It took me back (on a smaller scale) to when I interviewed Chris Way and he talked about getting the most out of events.
You blocked time out for something, you traveled to the event, so you should make the absolute most of it.
The weather was absolutely wonderful and I was having an absolute blast out there with my team. Everyone gelled together nicely and the team meshed surprisingly well.
After a scavenger hunt (with some wonderful PT penalties)…
… a decent amount of rucking…
…and an impromptu welcome party near the end of the event, we ended up in the parking lot where we started and had the patch ceremony.
The company was phenomenal, the weather was amazing, and the amount of weight carried was on point.
This was one of those events where if you want to help the team there’s no shortage of weight to carry.
My only complaint about the event was the length and distance traveled. At 3 hours and 20 minutes (including admin time) the event was much shorter than any other GORUCK Light I’ve done. My GPS watch tracked us at 4 miles but if you dig into the data you can see a lot of back and forth movements due to times where we were awaiting instruction. I use a Garmin Fenix 5X which doesn’t do as well as the Suunto watches for tracking standing still.
Even though the event was short I still feel lucky having the opportunity to spend that time with TRVLSQD, F3 Nation, and everyone else who came out.
Questions? I’ve got answers… just leave them in the comments below!
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