I spent the weekend of March 14-16th at Ft. Bragg in Fayetteville, NC. This event weekend is known as the "King of all rucks" and is considered to be a next-level difficulty from any other similar event. I've done a few Basics before (~5-6 hour challenge events) but this event was to be my first Tough (~12 hour challenge event). I'm not sure why I decided to pick a
really difficult Tough to be my first one... go big or go home, I suppose??
Anywho, I only signed up a few weeks in advance and I knew I would be under-trained for the event. Most of my Q1 2025 focus has been on the Greenville Half Marathon, so it's been all about miles and speed. Strength work has been all but nonexistent and ruck miles have been minimal... usually paired with a casual dog walk. So, all that being said, I was hesitant to show up knowing I wouldn't be at my strongest.
But I showed up anyway.
BRAGG TOUGH
14-MAR-25 2200H
I took the day off from work on Friday so I could drive up to Fayetteville (~4-4.5 hr drive) and it turned out to be quite a pleasant, uneventful drive. I allowed myself several hours of buffer time, planning to arrive mid-afternoon to an empty Air BNB that I was sharing with a half dozen other participants who were all doing the HTB (Heavy, Tough, Basic) that weekend. The Heavy wasn't scheduled to finish until 5 or 6 pm that evening, so I had a few hours to relax, nap briefly, take a walk around the neighborhood in the beautiful sunny 70-degree weather, and stretch the legs after the long drive. I ordered pizzas for the house so they'd have food when they got back and have a couple hours to regroup and be ready for the 10pm (yes, overnight) start of the Tough.
I'll be honest, I was nervous as heck. I couldn't relax, couldn't really nap. I packed and repacked my bag several times. Changed my mind about what I was going to wear, what shoes I was going to use, how many layers to bring.
The other participants in the house were all carpooling, but they did not leave early and we arrived with about 5 minutes to spare before the event was to start (YIKES). Still, gave me less time to stand around and be nervous on the site... just kind of had to show up and jump right in.
I won't go into a lot of detail on the events of the night, but suffice it to say there was a LOT of heavy sandbag carrying and many many miles of rucking. We got divided into 12-person teams early in the night and from that point on we were in that team for the rest of the event. I had some really strong team members, including
Allison ("08") who was incredibly kind and encouraging and helpful. I went through some dark "I don't want to do this anymore" moments in the 2-4am range, but once we finished a particularly difficult challenge, I had a 5 minute nap by the bonfire and the sun came up, I felt somewhat renewed. The best (??) part though was, after a few hours of doing trail work as our morning service project, we were gathered in formation and thought we were about to receive our patches.
Cadre Chuy: *walks in front of formation with a stack of patches in his hand*
"Who's ready for some patches?"
*a few half-hearted "woo!"s from the group*
Cadre Chuy:
*throws stack of patches on the ground*
"Psych. Follow me!"
And off we run around the complex behind a building that conveniently has hoses nearby. PT ensues (pushups, flutter kicks, dive-bombers, side-straddle hops) with hosing and cursing and such. The finisher? SUGAR COOKIES. Now that you're nice and wet, go roll in the sand piles and get covered head to toe. Leave no inch uncovered.
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| The side-straddle hop! In cadence! |
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| The flutter kick! |
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| The pushup! |
And NOW it's patch & beer time.
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| Not only completed the Tough, but received my "V" (five) Patch from Cadre Barbarossa for completing five events under his direction, one of which had to be a Tough. This dude is one of the real Cool Cats! |
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| The Tough class |
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| Patches & Beer |
So, covered in mud/sand/sweat and arriving back at the Air BNB, I had just enough time to shower aaaaaand then...sign up for the Basic (which was to begin in approximately 90 minutes).
BRAGG BASIC
15-MAR-25 1300H
So, having just rinsed all the sand out of my hair and dirt from my feet, I put on a fresh set of clothes, grabbed a few slices of cold pizza, packed my ruck back up, and headed back to the compound. The sun was out and it was warming up, but still a solid breeze kept the actual temperatures on the lower side. I'd been cold overnight, very thankful for the combination of polartec jacket and windbreaker, but this time opted for just a long sleeve tech shirt. It was just the right amount of coverage.
To begin with, right off the bat, we go from standing in formation doing introductions/admin stuff to "everybody run into this pond and do pushups".
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| Listening to Cadre Dan in the People's Pond |
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| Running out of the pond around the helicopter. |
The rest of the afternoon was an interesting assortment of individual, partner, and team challenges. One of my favorite parts was actually just running a loop (~1.2 miles) with the rucksack. I felt super strong during this and was 17th out of 100 people to finish!
I struggled in the later parts of the event with just being totally depleted strength-wise, but thankfully the team and partners were able to pick up (literally) whatever I couldn't. That's the great thing about these events, there's a team you can count on!
By the end of the event everyone was happy to get their patch and beer and settle down by the fire for War Stories & Beer (and pizza!).
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Swamp Fox Ruck Club, represent!
(Greg, John, Cadre Fagan, me) |
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| A weekend of hard work |
I don't have any grand closing thoughts right now, but there will be more.
