Let’s start this BB with a couple of facts for ya:
Fact – Up until this morning around 6:14, YHC literally knew nothing about the actual art of Rucking other than the fact that a lot of good dudes do it. All I really knew was that you threw on a sack (insert immature manhood jokes here) drop the sack down (insert another immature manhood joke) a bit with some weight (preferably 30-ish lbs) and then ruck.
Fact – I had a plan (aka – note section on my phone) but had about 1% confidence that I would actually stick to it. I also planned out a nice little route on Strava that we mildly stuck to. AND, like any well-educated, tech-savvy millennial, I took to Google and did my research, using search terms like – “How do I ruck?” “What are good exercises to incorporate into a ruck work out?” “What is rucking?” “How big should a rucksack be?”. I guess you could say I was well-equipped to fumble my way through this thing.
So, without further adeiu let’s talk about said thing:
First Up: We pow-wowed in the TI parking lot. YHC then proceeded to ask the seasoned rucking PAX if we do some warm-ups or just get started. Sometimes you just have to swallow your pride and ask hard questions. In this case, the PAX weren’t super helpful, so we ended up doing Humpies and ATT. It kinda just felt right.
Next: We took off on our journey. First stop – Sally Fox Park. It was at this point I started asking myself, “What the ruck am I doing?” So to make it look like I knew what I was doing I called tricep dips (in cadence) on some random flower bed. We got to 10 and my triceps felt good, so we kept going. Somehow, we ended up on 25 reps in cadence. Evidently, that wasn’t a fan favorite as a hint of mumblechatter started (insert one gold star for the Q).
Then: We rucked ourselves across 127, and rucked some more to the hill behind the concrete beast at the ER (Note: At this point, I still don’t really know what I’m doing, but at least I had some sort of plan and did my scholarly Google research). Instructed PAX to drop their sacks. Then instructed that we pick our sacks back up, and rifle carry to the top of the hill. At the top of the hill – do shoulder presses in cadence. After that, rifle carry back down and drop the sacks again. Do this a few more times with squats and skull crushers at the top.
And thennn: We took off towards the square. Along the way, I was internally worrying that I wasn’t bringing enough pain station to this ruck with pain stations, so I stopped us at another random flower bed outside of some building. Here we did 10 incline merkins in cadence. After, Swanson said something along the lines of “Oh, you didn’t want to do 25 merkins here?” – Noted.
Moving on: Rucked some more with a goal of heading to Short Sales second home (side note: have you heard that he doesn’t actually know his way around Hickory? Maybe Patti Mayo should show him a thing or two about the city of Hickory before he tries to sell anymore homes). Found another area that was elevated, and called step-ups. This time we did 25 of em in cadence because Swanson wanted some more.
Sixth Stop: We made it to the front of Short Sale Realtors. This was really my main goal for going this direction because why not call Monkey Humpers in front of a fellow PAX’s business. YHC recorded for record-keeping sakes (and screenshot for BB sake) and then joined in with the monkey humper fun (and made up for my 5 missed reps).
Rucking good time: From here, it’s a little fuzzy. I know we rucked, did a few more stops, and then finally as we ran/rucked across 127 to avoid being hit by oncoming traffic, YHC called for the PAX to drop their sacks one last time and then rifle carry back to the flag with 1 minute to spare. At this time, Pump and Patti moseyed back in after their morning jog together and we COT’d it up.
COT: Community has been on my mind a ton lately. As someone who went rogue for about two years, I can fully attest to the importance of THIS community. Looking back on my time here in Hickory, especially now that it’s coming to an end as my family relocates to Apex, NC, I can truthfully say my biggest regret is making excuses and not being a part of THIS community.
Bonhoeffer states in his book, Life Together, “Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.”
I am grateful beyond words that you guys didn’t abandon me. I’m grateful that many of you, called, texted, and gave me so much crap over the two years that I found my way back (even though feeling like an FNG with all the new awesome faces that had since come along).
As I leave Hickory, I know that I am a better husband because of you. I am a better father because of you. I am a better man because of you.
I’m thankful that this F3 Foothills is a group of doers. A group of dudes who make things happen. A group of men who are dead set on sharpening one another.
Life surely is better together and I’m blessed to have shared life with you guys.
Here’s to community and that God created us to be together!
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