Getting Miles in a Pickle Bucket

Today was foggy and cloudy. The temperature was fair and the Sky Q held off the rain until we finished announcements. 3 men posted for EC at 4:45 and the decision was made to put in some miles. 2.2 miles later, we explored some less traveled paths and were back to pick up the rest of the crew. 9 men in total carried the load today, including two new green pickle buckets loaded with #35 of dumbells, two kettle bells, and the #40 Iron Maiden.

The Thang: We started with a Welcome party of 7s with Burpees and Squats. The pax stayed at it and finished almost at the same time. Then we loaded up with the 5 coupons and headed off to explore the backside of Wintergreen. The mumble chatter was interesting as always with talk about the long iron pole that Tater liked to carry or the fact that if you stuck your head in the pickle bucket, it smelled weird. The chatter did not always start with YHC, which made it more interesting. We double-timed it a couple of times as we got close to the flag and ended with a Q Sprint. We sprinted to the far end of the field and when the Q yelled to turn around everyone did. This allowed everyone to run for the same amount of time and allowed the thoroughbreds to go faster if they desired. We put in another 2.33 miles, so it was a great way to start the Good Livin’

BOM/COT: Brad Lanier, a friend of Cracked Corn for peace as he enters the home stretch with his battle with cancer. Duff’s Uncle passed away on New Years, so prayers for his aunt. Carol Keech and her cancer battle. Steamy returned to the Gloom yesterday and as always Papa Smurf as he battles a cold. For the lesson that Rucking teaching us – when we carry a heavy weight in life, our job as brothers is to ask to take the weight for our brothers.  It’s a burden taken rather than given away.

Announcements: Always Be Headlocking #ABH, esp as we enter the new year.

Moleskin: It was great to see Cracked Corn out this morning without his brace. That man has been battling and leading in other ways, including being the Gear Q recently. He has more in mind and YHC is looking forward to it. Hagar came back out this morning. Luckily, YHC attended his first workout at the Good Fight and when he stumbled with his name, thinking it was a Viking name, there was a free pass. However, my friend, if you forget your name again, you will be called “Soggy Pickle”. Me thinks that Psycho’s return to the Ruck Ready was something worth waiting for. During the first double-time that man seemed like a father determined to get his little girl one of those egg thingys that was all the rage at Christmas. Don’t get between that man and his girl. Duff came out to the EC this morning. It was great to get a chance to talk with him and to have a partner to listen to Mellow Johnny’s stories. The conversation went from the smell of my pickle buckets, to the pickle drop, to Mt Olive being the largest pickle producer in the world, to…wait, we talked a lot about pickles. My friend MJ makes Rucking worth doing. Sometimes in life you have to see a man with passion to know what’s possible. Past Due continues to get his body ready for some Good Livin’. That #40 Iron Maiden seemed right at home on his shoulders. Tater is continuing to make plans with the GrowRuck team – be prepared to hear from him if you have not signed up yet. Cold Cut and YHC got teamed up during the 7s and got to share Christmas Stories. It was a good morning.

The final lesson from today is that when it comes to Rucking and Coupons, just look around. The coupons from today came from 1) a walk in the woods over Christmas and finding an old cast iron pipe (don’t lick the inside); 2) two 5 gallon pickle buckets with dumbells in them (those things sucked worse than imagined); and 2 Kettle Bells thanks to Tonka’s recent mass order for the region. The bottom line is that it doesn’t take much. Just some heavy stuff and good men – we had both today – an a good pickle bucket to sniff…