GORUCK in Review

I am certified.

No, not crazy.  Although I think I've proven that already.  I'm GoRuck Tough!

Instead of drinking myself into oblivion like many people do on St. Patrick's Day, especially in Boston, I completed a GoRuck Challenge.  I guess technically GoRuck was the day before St. Patty's, but it wore me out to such an extent that I didn't celebrate on the 17th because I was too sore and sleepy.

So anyway, what is this madness?  GoRuck is a team-oriented endurance event run by former Special Forces guys.  Each person on the team carries a ruck containing bricks.  The number of bricks is determined by your own body weight.  Team sizes vary per the number of people signed up for the Challenge, but ours was approximately 30 people of all shapes, sizes, and abilities.  Lastly, each team has at least one "team weight" which must accompany them for the duration of the Challenge.  It can be anything, as long as it weighs 25 lbs.  (Case of beer!) 

The Original in Review

In late September 2009, I conceived of a brilliant idea.  Well, perhaps it would be more accurate to say I remembered a brilliant idea that I had conceived of and subsequently forgotten months earlier.  When I first moved to Europe in 2008, I decided that I should definitely run my first marathon while I was there, and that first marathon should be none other than the original course from Marathon to Athens in Greece, a race which takes place every November.

Time passed.

I didn't completely forget about this plan.  On my first trip to Greece in February 2009, I was in Athens and stopped to see the Olympic Stadium, which is where the race ends.  I took a photo at that stadium.  The label on the photo says, "One day I will finish a marathon here."

More time passed.

This brings us back to late September 2009, when I suddenly realized that it truly was now or never!  I was moving to the U.S. in the summer of 2010, which meant that the 2009 Athens Classic Marathon was the one I had to run!  And it was less than two months away!