So, after scanning in a bunch of old Star Course materials for OCR training, I figured why not toss them up here, too?
(Broken into four parts because while I was originally going to just cram it all into one post, I figured that at least three of the bits were distinct enough to warrant their own things and the fourth was… not so much really, but by this point it was halfway in-between two of those bits, so why not just go for it? And totally not because of anything like this… And oh yeah, maybe in honor of our getting 4th? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) So!
(And just to clarify for those too lazy to click on the link to Post 4 above [or, well, an inch or two ago], or the “Read More” below – the event was great. The stream-of-consciousness-profanity is about, well… let’s just say that if you didn’t sign up for the event when it was first announced in the middle of 2019, you would have had no idea that it was held this past weekend.)
Continue reading “(RWC 001) 2020̶1: The AAR Itself&Proper (4th)”
So, I’m not planning on adding a bunch of pictures here eh fuckit there’ll be some pictures, because this AAR has taken way too long to finish already, because the Speed Rucker doesn’t seem to be available anymore, and because I’ve already got several in-depth ruck posts in the queue. That out of the way –
Wherein I go on and on about the formats of the Star Courses and Rucking World Championships, talk about how they’re the same, how they’re different, what I like or don’t like or simply prefer about each compared to the other, and – unless you’re super into that sort of thing – come off as a cross between Abe Simpson
and Jeff Albertson.
Just to be clear, the event itself was awesome, as’ve been all the GORUCK events I’ve done. (I’ve done somewhere between the median and the mean, I’d guesstimate.) Lots of fun, very nicely organized (even the parts that we initially thought were a bit iffy turned out to be actually quite solid) and a great – and tough – field. And, despite our occasional quibbles with particular pieces of gear, GORUCK makes very nice stuff – there’s a reason everyone in the family has a ton of it, from OG discontinued stuff like the Man Tie up to the latest pants and rucks.
I’ve also gotta give a special, specific shout-out to Cadre Mocha Mike – from chatting with him afterwards about differences between the Star Courses and the RWC, and the various considerations taken into account when planning the event, to how he went above and beyond the week afterwards, it was all a top-shelf class act, just amazing. (Seriously – he spent the weekend doing the event, then spent his birthday with his family, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, and the very next day he’s reaching out to all the participants with the spreadsheet of official finishing times and all of the photos and videos he took.)
That said, the handling of this event by HQ – specifically whomever’s responsible for social media, publicity / promotion, and general coverage – was abysmal. Correction, would have been abysmal, if it – the handling of it – had in fact existed at all, in any form whatsoever.
… and, fittingly enough, 3 months late!
Overall mileage was down about two hundred and change from the year before (a big chunk of which was due to the week I spent in Phoenix coughing blood and fretting about a pulmonary embolism), but similar race plan as 2018 – focus on bigger, funner races mixed in with some “training runs” and sentimental favorites mixed in.
Continue reading “Running Recappening Redux AKA Part 3R for One-Nine the Gritty Reboot”
A’ight, so my brother and I ran the GORUCK Star Course 50-Miler in Philly over the weekend. Team Sloth, @teamslothgoruck on Instagram. Here’s the rough timeline of relevant stuff, with miscellaneous asides thrown in when relevant, way more memes than are in any way necessary, and a random blurble of semi-related stuff at the end. Steve’s stuff is again in sky blue.
(And in case you’re thinking, “Hey, this intro looks a lot like this one, and even more like this one“, then spot on.)
After performing acceptably at the Philly Star Course last year, it was kinda inevitable that we’d do it again this year, especially after our poor performance in DC. Due to this being our 3rd Star Course, our preparation was a bit more relaxed than usual. For example, I wrote our navigational website AstroNav for Philly 2018, and then made a new version for DC, but I didn’t bother with a new one for Philly 2019 (I started on one, but only worked on it for a few hours before abandoning it). The 2018 version worked just fine, and the one minor feature I added to it ended up not even being necessary.
A’ight, so my brother and I ran the GORUCK Star Course 50-Miler in D.C. over the weekend. Team Sloth, @teamslothgoruck on Instagram. Here’s the rough timeline of relevant stuff, with miscellaneous asides thrown in when relevant, way more memes than are in any way necessary, and a random blurble of semi-related stuff at the end. Steve’s stuff is again in sky blue.
Not every race is a gold-mine of gif- and meme-worthy happenin’s. Some of them are just… about as exciting as you’d think from “I ran for this many hours.”
Or I just can’t remember the details – since some of ’em were almost a solid year ago by now – and will be in no way bothered to look them up.
Continue reading “Running Recappening – Part 2: Electric Boogaloo AKA Fresh for ’18”
A’ight, so my brother and I ran the GORUCK Star Course 50-Miler in Philly over the weekend. Team Sloth, @teamslothgoruck on Instagram. Here’s the rough timeline of relevant stuff, with miscellaneous asides thrown in when relevant.
But first, here’s Steve with his intro – he had to fly out to London for work 8AM the morning after, so we’re going back and forth writing this over email:
Big picture background: Who are we?
Ahem.
Don Norum 