The adrenaline got the best of me and I started off a little fast. With the fast start, I had a hard time catching my breath. I was breathing every 2 strokes instead of every three, which I would have preferred. I had a hard time feeling comfortable in the water and getting in a rhythm. I was passed in the last 100m by the guy who started a minute behind me which was a little disheartening. It just confirmed for me that I was struggling on the swim.

Next time, I will warm-up for the swim. I'll do 100m or so just swimming and then maybe another 100m of drills, especially DPS and shark-fin drills, IOT get my body "thinking straight." The biggest challenge was trying to find my balance in the water.

This T-time is slow because I was completely changing. I had to get out of my wet trunks and into ACUs which meant boots, boot socks, pants, t-shirt, and blouse. It wasn't just put on socks, shoes, a top, race belt and go. Given the standard, I think I went pretty fast. I tried to do what I could to make it faster: rolled my boot socks and stuck them in my boots, turned my t-shirt inside out to get it over my wet body easier, and rolled my pants open to jump in them quicker. I wanted to have as fast a transition time as possible given the extra requirements. After I was dressed, I grabbed my 35 pound assault pack and my guidon and started to trot toward the run course.

Try to do a better job of thinking through changing systematically. Think about the order of dressing and place the items in the necessary arrangement. I should practice this before a race if I ever do one this way again.

I started with a strong run, or so I thought. I was able to jog a decent pace even carrying a guidon and with a pack. I was able to run solid through a mile and a half and then I needed to take walk breaks. I wasn't overheating much; being #16 in the pool helped because I was running in the cool of the morning. My HR was through the roof and I just needed to take some breaks. I started doing some walk/run of about 2 min. walk and 4 min. run. There was water available at the 2 mile point and I had a small cup. It helped a bit. I was able to "airborne shuffle" the last mile or so without stopping.

I was passed quite a bit on the run as I expected. However, the encouragements that I got were worth it. A lot of people were impressed that I was out there in ACUs, boots, with a ruck and a guidon. Many Soldiers who volunteered to support the event also were very encouraging. I didn't do it for the recognition; I did it kind of as a reminder that there are some guys over here who do this every day. There was a time when going to war meant doing these kinds of activities almost regularly. Now, for those of us here at Anaconda, daily life is a bit more mundane. We have pools, gyms, morale centers, and a lot of other things to help us pass the time. Running with the ruck was a good reminder of how bad things could be over here.

However, I am really disappointed that my run was DFL and almost full minute slower than everyone else. The only thing that saved me from DFL overall was my swim time. I know that part of me should understand that a 35 pound ruck is going to keep me from being competitive but the competitive nature in me is having a hard time with it. To be honest, I thought I was going faster than 11:30 miles.

I guess the challenge before me is being competitive or carrying a ruck.

Well, I violated the "nothing new on race day" rule as I hadn't run with a ruck before. If I do this in the future, I'll have to have a couple of ruck runs before the race just to get used to difference.

Really, the big thing to do is decide how to compete the next time. Do I want to challenge the field or continue to challenge myself by trying to lower my ruck run time? That will take a bit of soul searching on my part.

Waited for our SPO and ran the last little bit with him. I also walked around and cheered my swim partner, CPT P. He put in a 26 min. swim but a 20:30 5k. I'll help him with my swim and keep working my run.


I want to say the ruck, but that's not quite fair. It could be a given of every race. Therefore, to be fair, I think I have to say my biggest limiter was lack of Time Under Ruck (TUR). I think with some more training, I could get the hang of it.


My mates in HHC did a fabulous job throwing this thing together. Kudos to them for the support!