ADR 027: Mark Guenther Interview (F3 Nation Rucking)

Podcast: Download (Duration: 51:02 — 47.2MB)

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Mark Guenther joins us in our second to last episode of the year! Not only has Mark has dome some incredible rucking events, including a double heavy, but he has a great story. If you’re looking for motivation to push you into the New Year then give this a listen because Mark went from Couch to GORUCK Tough in 30 days.

In addition to doing amazing events Mark is also the rucking coordinator for F3 Nation. He’s the guy who runs the F3NationRuck Twitter account as well as their F3 Nation Rucking Facebook Group.

Resources

• GORUCK & Rucking Glossary
• F3 Nation
• F3 Nation Rucking (Twitter)
• F3 Nation Rucking (Facebook)
• GORUCK Ruck Clubs

Podcast: Download (Duration: 51:02 — 47.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | How to Subscribe

What’s Next

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Podcast Transcript

Brian: I’m here talking with Mark Guenther, who has been a member of F3 Nation since 2013. He is currently the rucking coordinator for all of F3 Nation, and they just keep putting on incredible GORUCK custom events. I’m very excited to have him on the show to learn about how he got involved with GORUCK, and to talk about some of the upcoming customs they’ve got, as well as just some other awesome aspects of rucking and F3.

Mark, how are you doing today?

Mark: Doing great, Brian. Happy to be here.

Brian: Awesome. Glad to hear it. Just to start off, how did you first hear about GORUCK?

Mark: I first heard about GORUCK, or found it online I was actually – I got married, had kids, got fat and was looking for something that lit the fire for me to have a reason to get back into fitness. Was looking at OCR events and I think I saw the banner, the old Tough Mudder banner for the early days GORUCK events.

I looked into it and in those days there were a few events, and maybe one per state and there just wasn’t a lot going on. I couldn’t sign up for any of them without traveling a long distance, so I forgot about it. Then when I got involved with F3, shortly after I started we had the second F3 custom event with GORUCK and I went and watched the welcome party which was a North Carolina standards, a snow storm we probably got four inches, but it just happened to be on the day off and I went out and watched it.

It sparked that fire. I felt that thrill of competition and pushing yourself. I knew that I had to get onboard for the next one. That’s how I heard about GORUCK and got involved in doing events, the short story there.

Brian: That’s awesome. It’s not every day you talk to someone who found GORUCK back when the only real mention of them was off that Tough Mudder website. If you joined up F3 in 2013, that means you’re looking at GORUCK probably 2011, 2012. Like you said, back when there is only one event, they have the challenge and they would make one stop per year in each city. You definitely didn’t have opportunity that you have now where they come to cities a dozen times a year. It was one and done back then.

Mark: Yeah. It was limited availability. “I wish I could say that I was one of those people who did it back when the events were hard.” We get involved when we get involved.

Brian: Absolutely. The events were so hard. It’s via pill both ways in the snow scenario.

Mark: Yeah. I think that you have to be 70 now to say that you did a GORUCK when it was hard. It’s just like the grumpy old man saying that.

Brian: Yup. Too true. You watched that second F3 custom GORUCK event’s welcome party. That lit the fire. What was your first GORUCK event?

Mark: The first event was 707. I imagine not typical, so I actually right after watching that welcome party, my wife was very pregnant and I stopped going to F3. I told myself that I stop going because she got tired of me getting up early, but the reality was I just was not happy with my fitness and just fell out, because I get tired of feeling disappointed with how not fit I was.

I played division one college soccer, so I had at one point in my life a really good fitness base. To get back out and thinking I could do it like I did when I was 19, 20, 21, I was just so below the standard that I had. I’d quit F3, actually started going back out because my wife basically told me I was getting too fat. Like there is an acceptable fat and I had gone past that.

I was too fat, so I went back out. Then from there, we had the third F3 custom which ended up being class 707. I heard about it, all the thoughts of wanting to do an event came back. I signed up right away, and only had about 30 days from being too fat to event day.

I added a crash course on getting ready for my first GORUCK event, which is not recommended. It can be done. I always tell people it could be done, but you have to have a very serious plan for getting yourself fit in that amount of time.

Brian: Yeah, that’s not much time at all to train, especially going from what your wife would call an unacceptable level of fat. You’ve passed da bod into the next space. A lot of people try Couch to 5K in 30 days, but couch to GORUCK Tough, that’s a bit more of a commitment.

Mark: Yeah. I had no idea what I was doing. I mean, it was still in the days where there was not a lot of info. I mean, there were some AARs, but it was somewhat limited. There was the GORUCK training website that used to exist and I did some of that, but the rest of it was just me doing dumb stuff with a ruck on. Some of it worked and some of it didn’t, or should not be repeated, I should say.

Brian: Yeah, I remember training up for my first GORUCK event, I did a lot of running with weight. I know OBT and Dredd did that too, running with weight. There just wasn’t that much information out there. Kudos to you for finding out a decent training plan and making that work.

Let’s get into your event first. I want to come back to this couch to GORUCK Touch in 30-days thing. When you were at the event, how did you feel lining up at the very beginning? Were you questioning anything with your strength, or were you doing pretty good?

Mark: I questioned everything. I felt like I was the outsider already, because I didn’t know a lot of people in the event, because I was again relatively new to F3. I was the only person who didn’t have an F3 shirt, because I hadn’t bought one yet. I had this black, like running top that I wore. I had no idea if I would make it – actually off the whole thing.

I went through it. I always say that GORUCK events are like jeopardy. Sometimes, you can get a category that’s just easy and sometimes you get a category and you got no answer for. Luckily, we did a lot of things that were on my strings list. I got through the welcome party. Once I got through that it was just – my confidence was there and I knew I would be okay.

We went through it. We spent forever in just this disgusting creek that runs through Charlotte, where there is baby diapers and syringes and the bottom is rocks, because it’s man-made and it’s slippery. We spent three hours wading through this creek.

Then we humped it to a park. We did some PT. Then they asked for – the big guys to come with – there was Cadre Nikki who let us. We went running off down this trail and then we stopped. He shined his light into the woods and says, “I need eight big guys to get this log.” I just remembered thinking to myself, “How the hell did he find a log in these woods?”

It’s just off a beaten path. It’s just, “Where’d they come from?” We pull it out and the eight big guys and I was one of those guys, we’re moving it and going five steps and drop; you know the drill of you get it up. “This sucks. We can’t do this.” Maybe if we looked like a bunch of dummies, then they’ll just stop, which of course, they didn’t.

We bring it back to the parking lot where the rest of the people were and then they put us on a volleyball, beach volleyball court and had us throw sand all over each other. Then we had to move this log out. What had been the eight big guys then became like 16 to 20 people. We’d thought, “Let’s strap it and carry it,” farmer carry style and did that for a few miles. Then the straps ended up starting to break, so that I did carry it the rest of the way home.

I thought I was doing well, and then like towards the end – I’ve been kicked off the log, because I was taller than everyone who was there. I was just pushing the log to the side because I was trying to get under it and my butt is sticking out and it’s just awkward. The cadre actually kicked me off the log, which at that point in time I was more than happy to accept.

I’m carrying some coupons and then ended up talking to Nikki. Finally he says, “You know, your team is up there working and you’re talking to me. Do you think that’s the right thing to do?” Then there was like the lightbulb of like, “I suck. I’m just terrible.” I got no idea what the hell I’m doing. I think I’m doing good, because I haven’t quit. When in reality, I’m not doing anything of any real use.

That moment was actually the catalyst to me getting in and doing more events. Rather than just doing one and feeling like I was a Green Beret, because I spent 14 hours doing this. It pushed me to do more. That feeling of even though I had some success, I really had a level of failure in that.

Brian: That’s wild. That’s a really interesting way to look at it too, because you completed the GORUCK event, but it’s almost like completing it is what drove you to do more. When you finish that event did you know right away that you’re going to sign up for another one?

Mark: Yeah. I had an idea. I mean, you get that high and you think that you’re great. You wear your patch everywhere, you tell everybody and it was the toughest event ever and the log was so huge. I’m a badass for doing this. Then you go home and you’re like, “I’m really not.” I wasn’t. I was a weak link.

Then I was like, “Okay, I didn’t do well by my own standards. How can I improve that?” Then I was like, “Okay, brag heavy is out there. It’s two hours away.” Brag heavy one was just a total disaster, where everybody is quitting left and right. I’ll do that. That will force me to get better, because I know the standard is high.

From there, ended up getting up hurt; about a month out, my ankle just started blowing up. I couldn’t really walk right, much less do an event. I pulled the plug on that. Then took a little bit of break from pondering events to get healthy again. Then the itch was still there to keep on doing them. I signed up for another F3 custom in Raleigh, and then we had the first F3 heavy the following year. That’s when it really became an obsession for me in doing events.

Brian: That’s awesome. Just to take it back quickly a little bit, this episode will be released in December, which means a lot of people are planning their New Year’s resolution. This will be the year I do something big, or get in shape, or finally sign up for whatever event I’ve been putting off.

You went from couch to GORUCK Tough in 30 days. What advice do you have for people who are listening and might be in a similar situation? I know a lot of people has seen this podcast when they’re out rucking, but they might be sitting on the couch and listening to it thinking, “I would love to do an event in February or March, but I’m just not in shape right now.”

Mark: Yeah, absolutely. There are people who’ve done light and don’t know if they’re going to do it tough. They want to, or take the next step. For me, I’m part of F3 Nation. If you’re within an area where there is F3 – F3 is men only. We also have a women-only group called Females in Action. That’s a perfect place to start. It’s no cost, it’s early in the morning, most places are Monday through Saturday.
You get out there early in the morning, you get your workout done for the day. It’s a great way to start changing your lifestyle into that mindset of fitness and GORUCK likes to talk about social fitness. F3 and FiA are huge founding ideas is just getting together and working out. The rest just falls into place. F3 and FiA if you can do that.

There is the Pathfinder Program. I know that you had Lionel on here. Lionel is a great dude. They have down to a science with the different levels. A lot of the pathfinder is actually geared towards people who are in F3, because the roots of teen spearhead are in F3, but they broke off, just have a little bit more freedom with what they do, but they’re very intertwined with how they go about things.

Those would be the best ways if they’re available. If you don’t have access to those, just walk out your door with a ruck on. I mean, you have the greatest gym outside your door. F3 is huge on always being outdoors, because there’s something that happens when you’re working out outdoors. It gets into your inner caveman.

Embrace that caveman, get out, do that, get some sandbags, put a weight on your back and just start doing exercises. I mean, for most events doing something is probably the best that you can do. The resources out there are pretty much unlimited for how to properly train. For F3 Nation Rucking, we have a Facebook page, we have a Twitter account, we have lively discussions mostly about rucking, but we get into some goofy stuff. Reach out to us. You don’t have to be an F3 to be a part of our group, and hopefully we can bring F3 to you sometime in the future.

Brian: Sounds great. I’ll post links to all of these resources in the show notes. If you’re listening, you can check those out. Check out F3 in your area. If you’re a female, check out FiA, F-I-A. If F3 is not in area, just grab a pack and go outside and start rucking. It sounds like you know what you’re saying Mark is the biggest thing you can do is just start – just start.

Mark: Yeah. I mean, your plan for parenting can’t be that – don’t just do something, sit there, plan. It won’t work. I mean, there are some people who can just show off and never done anything and finish the event, but that’s a loser strategy for most people. Getting out there doing something, preferably with other people and just knowing that it can be done. Doing the work and then visualizing yourself completing the event is a great foundation for doing your event.
Brian: I think I know the answer to this question, but again for those who are listening and are into couch shape right now and are envisioning themselves in GORUCK, lighter GORUCK tough shape, do you personally have any regrets spending those 30 days getting in shape?

Mark: Hell, no. F3 and GORUCK have other than my family been some of the biggest life-changing things in my adult life. I mean, GORUCK is about building better Americans, F3 is about building male leadership in their community. Between those two things, I have had a radically different mindset day-to-day and have really removed a lot of limitations as to what I think I can do in my life.

There are some things that I wouldn’t have done, like the ruck running. I did a ton of ruck running. Just I’m going to go out, I’m going to run 5 miles with a ruck on. That’s just dumb, unless you’ve done it before. Sometimes even if you’ve done it before, it’s still dumb. Ruck running, would not recommend, unless you’re already a really good runner and have good form.

The couch to event training plan, I would take ruck running and throw it in the dumpster. But ruck PT, overhead stuff, running in general, rucking in general, those are your foundational items that are going to lead to success, and getting F3.

Brian: There you have it. I love that advice. If there was any advice I wish having given to me when I was training for my first GORUCK event it would be, “Don’t run with your ruck. Just ruck with your ruck.”

Mark: I mean, some of us still do dumb stuff like that. We had a – have marathon in Charlotte at rucking division and ruck-ran most of it. About 8 miles in it was just like, “This is so dumb. This is dumb.” I mean, I was that far so I had to finish. Afterwards, it was just one of those things, “I’m not going to do that again, unless I do.”

Brian: That’s wild. That’s a one and done self-thing. Well, at least as a race aspect you might set up for the race again. It’s not something you’re doing every morning, because everybody can handle that in one-off situations, but just that perpetual pounding on the knees from weight, especially the amount of weight people are rucking with. That can be rough.

Mark: Yeah.
Brian: Moving further into F3 Nation Rucking, how did you become the rucking coordinator for all of F3 Nation?

Mark: By accident. I opened my big mouth. I coordinated an event last year, and then afterwards I talked with some people upper levels of F3. I mean, we don’t have a real fine structure, but there are people who are at the top and said, “There should be a support system for people who are doing these events, because F3 has a lot of custom events.”

We started out to get events to where the people were. Then it’s broadened out to some of our areas that are not in major metros, getting them events. Now it’s branching off into getting events that are not offered by a GORUCK.

I started talking about that. Thought it was going to be one of those, “You know, that’s a great idea, and nothing ever happen.” Then it happened. OBT is one of the founders and you had them on and said, “Hey, we want to create this position to grow and support rucking within F3, because it’s a huge thing for F3 members where we call them packs, to do.” It just keeps growing and growing.

We spread through a new area. The next thing you know, rucking becomes a thing. It was like, “How did that happen?” “Well, it just did.” They wanted someone to be able to help those areas continue to grow it, support people who are doing events and really just build rucking overall to support the wants and needs of people in F3.

As F3 operates, basically the guy who’s willing is the guy who’s qualified. I ended up in the position. Didn’t really asked for it, but happy to have it. Here we are. I mean, I got social media up and running, just so we could have a point of contact amongst the people. We’re 500 and closed it on 550 people who are following on Twitter. We have a Facebook group that’s over 300.

We have a lot of people who are just conversating around it. Now I’m trying to figure out the best way to support it, because I can’t realistically as a part-time job support every single person. Going to look at some of the closer to ground people in some of the regions to have a local point of contact for it and we can just support it that way, so that not every single person who wants information has to wait for me to respond to them. But have a better ground operation.

It’s funny, I’m not big on institutions and setting up rules and hierarchy, but it just happens that way. But anything to grow rucking within F3, to track people to F3 with rucking – there are thousands of guys who have had their lives improved, because of being part of F3 and/or part of rucking. We want to really keep that alive and grow it and push people to new levels and give them the events that they want, in places that they want. That’s how I got there and hopefully I can have a long reign over F3 rucking kingdom.

Brian: That’s great. It really is a double-edged sword isn’t it? You’ve experienced a lot of success with F3 Nation Rucking. Because of that, you have a lot more work to do.

Mark: Yeah, we term that problematic when you have too many guys for workout. Then it’s time to split it up and grow some more. I mean, it’s the good problems.

Brian: Absolutely. Speaking about 2018, as the rucking coordinator of F3 Nation, what are some of your goals?

Mark: Really, I just want to get events to people who want them to get some of the smaller regions involved in rucking. We have the GORUCK events that we’ve been putting on that is a weekend event that supports relatively young F3 regions and bring them together and having an F3 grow school, which is teaching them to grow their region, bring new guys in; guys who have gone past that acceptable fat to too fat, getting them fit.

Then in conjunction with that having a GORUCK Tough to build relationship with people. You know the bonds that are built. My three best friends have been met through F3 and GORUCK. A lot of guys unfortunately when they get older, have kids, start losing friends and they don’t even know that they miss them until they make new friends, and F3 does that.

We really want to grow that, because it’s a great incubator for guys getting together and doing guy stuff. Also, got a big push to get people to heavies. We have two custom heavies that are already on the books. There are whispers of a couple more that may happen, but there’s a lot that has to come together for that.
2018 is kind of a year to heavy for F3, but we also do have some tough and lights, and then there are probably at least four GORUCKs that will happen in 2018 in various locations. Really growing that and getting people what they need to be successful in their events.

Brian: That is awesome and pretty ambitious. I’m very excited to see all of that happen, because it’s just so cool. It is so cool to see rucking continue to expand like that. You mentioned pushing people to heavies, you mentioned the custom GORUCK events that are coming up. We’ve already seen a number of custom F3 GORUCK events announced for 2018. What are some of the events that you’re most excited about?

Mark: I mean, all of them. The grow-ups, I don’t do. We have somebody else who works on getting that off the ground. I don’t have all the inner knowledge of – even though it’s with Cadre Danny and I’ve done an event with him before.

I mean, I always get really excited for heavies. I think that anybody who’s done a heavy knows that heavies are just the best events. They’re all great, but there is something that happens in the 24-hour period, just the additional together, the additional stress, the additional work, that everybody is pushed a little bit further, gets a little bit more afraid and then comes together.

I’m really excited that F3 guys are in bigger and bigger numbers coming to do heavy events. Because I feel like it’s the next step for our F3 guys who are into rucking, of pushing themselves forward, they’re getting to know each other better, getting those stories from a heavy.

I’m really excited about the heavies that we have going on. I have a tough and a light that are happening. They’re coming to cities that are not – they’ve never had events in them before. That’s really exciting in itself, but the heavies are exciting. We have one beach-heavy and one mountain-heavy. Whatever a person wants, they can get. It is going to be unique. I know that the mountain-heavy is going to be really, really unique, unlike any event that GORUCK has done before. I’m signed up for that one. The beach one is going to be great, but I did beach last year, so I’m doing mountains this year.

Brian: There you have it. Almost no excuses. If you don’t like the water, then head to the mountains. If you don’t like the mountains, you’ve got to be trio. That’s great. Well, I can’t wait to hear how both of those events go. I have to do a little follow-up call after the mountain-heavy, because it sounds like it’s going to be a little interesting and quite a bit different.

Mark: Yeah. I’m really excited for it. I’ll probably have two heavies in the beginning of the year that I’m doing. Hopefully some good stories with that.

Brian: Absolutely. It’s exciting that there is even more F3 heavies coming, because GORUCK is great for introducing members of F3 Nation to rucking and GORUCK events. It sounds like things are really expanding for the F3 Nation members who are – have already started rucking and are looking for that next step. That’s very exciting.

Mark: Yeah. In F3, we have a term called a bat-flipper, which is basically your hard charger, always pushing the envelope, likes to beat their chest and tell everyone how great they are. Creating these bigger events, the longer events to accommodate those bat-flippers and hopefully the events won’t disappoint that guys come through, get patched and they keep on pushing.

We’ve had some people who have gone on to attempt selection. Haven’t had a finisher yet, but I feel like there are some people who have the capability, but the stars have to align for them. We’re going to keep on pushing them and supporting them wherever we can.

Brian: Awesome. That’s very cool. Very, very cool. I just can’t wait to hear how everything continues to shape up with all of these. For those who are listening and didn’t listen to the OBT and Dredd episode, I’ll post a link too in the show notes, but those are two founders of F3 Nation who put on the GrowRuck event that I took part in Seattle.

They’ve got a really cool thing going. If you’re listening to this and you’re in an area that F3 is a part of, which you can check out the F3 Nation website. Again, I’ll put that in the show notes. You should definitely consider checking it out, because it will help you get into the shape that you want to be in and that you deserve to be in. Then you can take part in all these awesome events that Mark is talking about here, because I’m just listening to it today and I’m really excited about what 2018 is bringing.

Mark: Yeah. Right now, so GrowRuck for 2018 we have events in South Carolina which is the Columbia area. That’s going to be men only. We have Greenville, North Carolina which is going to be women only. We have an event that’s going to be coming in, the exact location hasn’t been determined. Then we have one in Toledo, Ohio which we – Toledo has been the miracle by the lake. Instead of a mistake by the lake, it’s a miracle by the lake. Toledo loves some ruck. We have a GrowRuck that’s coming there. As of today, there is 55 people who are signed up. It could be over a 100 by the time it’s all set and done.

Then we also have ruck in Harrisburg, Concord, North Carolina; that’s one event. We have one in Greensboro, North Carolina. Then the Wilmington heavy and the mountains heavy. We are close to a lot of people in the Ruck Nation. Reach out to myself, or F3 in general and we can connect to you if you’re interested in participating.

Brian: For reaching out if you’re on Twitter, that’s f3nationrucking?

Mark: Yes, that is correct.

Brian: Perfect. There is also a very active Facebook group called F3 Nation Rucking. As Mark said, if you’re in F3 Nation and want to get started with rucking and join it, and you also mentioned if you’re not in F3 Nation but want to be and are interested in rucking, can those people join as well?

Mark: The only real criteria with F3 is it’s just men only. It’s nothing exclusive to keep women out. It’s just giving men an opportunity to be men. I mean, a lot of married guys that get in there, we become domesticated and the world’s better for it, but the world also needs to have guys being guys. F3 allows people to do that.

We get nicknames, so you can have this F3 persona where you can let your hair down and you don’t have to worry about what your wife might think so much. You just get to be a guy. For the Twitter, anyone can follow. For that Facebook group, it’s going to be men only. We have great discussion and we’re always talking about gear, training, events; both our custom events and then public events. F3 is very present in public events.

We’re always there to be helped out. We want to be good teammates who were just part of the community. Have you seen an F3 in an event, come up and introduce yourself, hopefully we introduce ourselves before that and let’s do some work.

Brian: When you’re talking about the 2018 events, I mean we just mentioned that F3 it’s all males. But for 2018, there is a FiA GrowRuck event, correct? It’s GrowRuck light, I believe.

Mark: It is FiA. It’s women only. The details I don’t have all of them, because it’s the GrowRuck, yeah there’s a different team of guys that handles it. The principles that are taught in GORUCK and F3 and FiA workouts, they apply to everyone. We like to say we don’t have the solution, we have a solution. For a lot of those things that are going on in the world, people just getting together and getting to know each better makes a huge difference.

We started to do some events with women in given opportunity to do a women-only event. We got that first event that is going to be coming. It’s going to be great. I mean, I’m excited. I’m a huge advocate for women and events. My last time, I think women outperformed the guys because they have something to prove. We’re really excited about that.

Brian: That’s awesome. I’m excited for that too. I can’t wait to see how the FiA GrowRuck event turns out. Hopefully once that is complete, I can have someone on the podcast who either took part in that event, or helped form that event because it would be great to have that second aspect from FiA. Very cool.

Mark: Yup. We’re really excited about it.

Brian: Awesome. Yeah, I’m super excited. Are there any shout outs you want to give? Is there anything else you want to promote on here while we’re chatting?

Mark: I mean, F3 I can’t say enough. I mean, people who listen to this obviously are family with GORUCK, but they might not be familiar with F3. F3 is a difference maker in the lives of a lot of guys. I mean, guys getting together and building relationship just like you do at a GORUCK event. But basically, we get to have a little sample of that every single day. In the morning, you get together with your friends, with new people, you work hard, you joke around, then you go your separate ways. You get to find out about people and how their lives are and why work sucks and how marriage and parenting can be challenging. F3 is a huge thing. If you have F3 close to you, come and check it out.

We want to give a special thanks to OBT for trusting me to not screw this up. We’ll see if that’s actually the case, but given the opportunity. For GORUCK for putting on kickass events and pushing me to my limits, and still doing it and making really expensive gear that I spend a lot of money on. Thanks for all those things.

Brian: That’s awesome. As someone who found GORUCK first and then found F3 years later myself, I would say that the communities are very similar and there’s a lot of overlap. It was really fun stumbling upon these group of guys, because it’s like a community aspect. I think I said this in the OBT and Dredd podcast, but going to F3 workouts, it’s like the community aspects that you build at GORUCK events, but it’s free workout and they happen weekly.

If you’re listening to this and it’s December, or even early January and you’re finally getting around this episode and you want to make a change, you’re a guy, just check out F3 Nation, because they will definitely give you the tools via the workouts to make that happen. If you’re a female, then check out FiA.

I don’t have any personal experience with FiA, because I’m a guy, so I’m not allowed there. I do here very good things about the FiA community, at least local to us, the one that’s down in Tacoma, Washington. Definitely give that a check.

Mark: Yeah, we’re everywhere. We’re growing. I mean, F3 has expanded to Austin, Texas, the Chicago metro, St. Louis, we have some in Minneapolis, St. Paul. We’re everywhere. If you want F3 to come to you, reach out to F3 or me and we’ll get it in place and see what we can do as far as some expansion, because there will be a day where F3 will be close to most everybody. I’m really excited about that and the expansion of that. Then we’ll keep bringing GORUCK events to those areas. We’re really excited.

Brian: Well, I’m excited too and I’m just so glad I have to say that Mark, you’re really F3 Nation Rucking coordinator because I feel like it’s just going to get that much better. More custom events. I know you guys have had some amazing ones in the past, like a double-heavy that OBT mentioned when he was on. I know you took part in that. Maybe we’ll have to have an upcoming episode as well, talking about prepping for a double-heavy or a similar event that is more challenging than your standard line of GORUCK challenges.

Mark: I love it. Would do it. Just let me know.

Brian: You got it man. Is there anything else you want to talk about before we wrap this up?

Mark: No. Not at all. If any of the events that I listed off were in your area, just reach out and we’ll see if we can get you onboard. If you’ve never been to an F3 workout, don’t let that stop you. We have lots of people who get involved in our events, who it’s their first event with F3 and they get their F3 name there, then they get plugged in the community. Just reach out through the Twitter, Facebook group, whatever you want to do we’ll get you plugged in however you want. My tough, heavy, heavy, heavy selection, we’ll support you however we can.

Brian: I love it. No cost to go to F3 workouts. That’s not a barrier either.

Mark: Never.

Brian: Awesome. Mark, thank you so much just for taking so much time out of your day to talk to me about F3 Nation Rucking, how that started, where it’s going in 2018 and just all the exciting events that you guys have lined up, as well as how people can get off that couch at the end of December or early January, get in shape and sign up for what I’m sure is going to be a ton of amazing events in the future.

I am super excited about all of it and I’m so thankful man that you just took the time out of your day to chat with me about this.

Mark: Happy too, Brian. Maybe 2019 we’ll finally do our custom selection that we talked about. That would be great, so that you could have two of them for people to do nothing over a weekend.

Brian: There you go. We’ll see 2019.

Mark: Yeah. Yeah. All right, well thank you Brian. It’s a privilege.

Brian: Thank you. Take care, Mark.

Mark: All right. Bye.