Just curious who else is going. Bucket list item for me.

It's too late for me now, but this looks neat. Maybe I'll sign up for it next year. Would be fun to train for. I did a 16 mile hike last year, but less than 35 lbs load. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to win my division- maybe I could come in the top 25%?

It's only a 7.5 hour drive for me.

Sorry, just found this thread.  Don't usually read the fitness section.

I'm doing the March.  It'll be my fifth time.

Excellent, we are doing the individual heavy. We rented a nice airbnb in el paso and have a rental car. It's going to be a great day! We get in early Friday and going carb and water load.

So stoked.

I'll be in civilian light.  If you see me stop me and say hi.  I'm a heavy dude and I'll be wearing red t-shirt and an arfcom olive drab baseball cap with a bolt face logo.

 

It'll be really cold (mid 40s) during the pre-race ceremony, but it'll be upper 80s by the afternoon.  I usually wear a sweatshirt then take it off just as the race starts.

Take care of your feet, most dropouts are from blisters.  And pack toilet paper.  If you're going heavy you're going to be towards the back of the crowd (unless you're running 26 miles with a 35 pound pack?) all the portajohns are always out of TP.

And when you see Cowbell Guy, be sure to wave.  He's a nice guy who shows up every year to cheer on the marchers.

It's on Sunday, but it's in New Mexico on White Sands Missile Base.  That being said I for one would love to see pictures of anything historical from the original March.

We don't plan on setting any land speed records, we have been doing hilly trail 1/2's at sub 17min/mi pace. When we get there, the only plan is to go steady and break when needed.

We have been training in sub freezing temps thru the 60's with the winter we have had. On Saturday we trained a few hours at 18 degree's. Low 50's is t-shirt and thong weather!

We are rucking with with GoRucks, 40lbs avg weight. We'll have everything we need for our feet. Petty calloused now, but going to definitely keep them in mind.

Thanks for the heads up on the shit paper

Would love to meet you guys!

I'll post a pic of me and the two others as we set out from El Paso, so we know who we are looking for..Bib #'s too.

I AM SO FUCKING STOKED.

If you're training hard you don't need advice from me on how to do distance, but here's some specific stuff for the March:

1).  There's miles and miles of loose sand out there.  I'm sure you've heard of the Sand Pit (it's around Mile 21), but miles 2-8 and around 12-18 are on dirt roads/trails and there's lots of places where it piles up there, too.

2).  Don't forget sunscreen, and CHAPSTICK.  I forgot chapstick in my first year and my lips swelled up like sausages the next day, they were so blistered.  

3).  The opening ceremonies are on a soccer field, with the different categories all sectioned off.  I assume you're in Military Heavy, so you'll be in the military section near the stage, but wherever your category is for the start, during the ceremonies move as FAR TO YOUR LEFT as you can as you face the stage.  There'll be a barrier there, when the race starts they move the barriers and everyone files off the field en mass and marches counterclockwise all the way around the field to the starting line.  It's so tightly packed during this that you take a single step, wait a few seconds, take a step, wait a few seconds, all that way.  It can take like 20 minutes to move that 1/4 mile.  If you move all the way to the left you'll be at the front of your group when they take the barrier down, you'll get through a lot faster.  Survivors of the original march are waiting at the starting line, everyone stops to shake their hands, that's why it takes so long for the procession to move around the field.

4).  Sub 17 minutes is fast for this, especially in the heavy category.  As civilian light I finished in 7 hours 18 minutes my first year and placed in the top third (for civilian light, the heavy categories are obviously slower).  

Post or PM me if you have any questions I can answer for you.

I'm tagging this thread as I was talking to my wife this morning about doing this next year. 

I have a long way to go before then but maybe it's the goal that'll get me motivated. 

Kick ass man, thanks for the info! The three of us are doing the individual heavy. If it's OK with you, I will IM you my cellphone # and we can hook up for a picture and meet.

Good call on the Chapstick!

We have done MANY GoRuck events and OCR'd for many years. This has been a big bucket list item for us. We are so excited for this. It really is going to be great. We have been keeping tabs on IG, FB and Twitter feeds for adivce and info. Seems like the organizers have their shit wired.

We had a member here, I will find the threads, where he documented it..I think it was last year or year prior..We have been training heavier and faster than what we intend. We are getting in early Friday and going to walk the 1000 step park thing and just hydrate, carb load and law low. No booze or caffine starting Friday morning AFTER we leave. I work until midnight tomorrow, so I will need coffee at 4am when my ass waked up to hit the airport for a 6am flight to DFW.

Of course, man, send me your # and I'll give you mine.  I'm flying into El Paso Saturday around noon, staying in Las Cruces, flying out of El Paso on Monday.

Training heavier and faster is a great plan.  The high altitude and thin air out there make things harder, over training can help with that.

How did the march go? 

Everyone completed it right and what we're your times?

It's not til Sunday.

That's a very good point. 

Eta: I forgot, my weekend=/= weekend in the real world. It's my Monday tonight. 

The race is in about 2 and a half hours.  I'm about the leave the hotel and head over there.  During inprocessing yesterday they had a display where people could drop off challenge coins, I dropped an AR15.com coin.

Good luck. I always wanted to do this when I was stationed at Bliss, maybe I'll make a trip back for it.

It's Monday now!

Yeah it is.  Heat was brutal, hottest in fifteen years, and it really kicked my ass.  Plus my training regimen of getting fat and not exercising much didn't help.  But I finished.  Nine hours my worst time.  I did it faster with a sprained ankle but that heat just sucked the energy right out of me.   This was the first time I ever worried that I wouldn't be able to finish.  

Yup it was hot as fuck..No way to prepare for it. We just SIU'd and pressed on.


Few pic's from the day and the route:



Friday, 4am, Detroit.



Friday 1pm, El Paso.



Met Dave! Hung out a bit prior to the start. Always a pleasure to meet fellow ARFCOM'ers. Got to chill a bit on the airport on the flight out of ELP.



My crew prior to start. Dude in the middle, PT stud. A few dozen marathons and ultra's and my OCR and GoRuck go to guy. We have many of events under our belts with each other. Solid guy, good friend.





Few from before opening ceremony.



Getting ready to step off.



Flag was the starting gate, timers, etc..There were survivors from Bataan along the start, some were sitting, some were shaking hands, one was talking mass shit to us. "This aint nothing, if you think so, you're a pussy." Dude earned the right.



Big ol' heat tab coming up..












Few miles in, we ended up hooking up with the Operation Enduring Warrior crew we know.


The only real flat part of the course..first 4-7 miles or so.



Around mile 9 or so, right before the long miles uphill.





Few leading up to mile 11..



Pop, cover, press.



13 mile marker.



Pop, cover, press.




Us white guys gotta lube up to protect from the sun.







Few more along the way..



My darkest time...the sand pits.



My ruck..









Coming home..



After finishing, rucks got weighed. 35lbs requirement for our division...My ruck finished at 42lbs.



Done. 26.2 miles of remembrance and perseverance of what the men of Bataan went through 75 years ago..The day wasn't for us, it was for them.



Pedicure time.



Few take-a-way's:

1- No way to truly prepare if you never have been. Going from 18 degree temps with snow to 91 degree's was tough as fuck.

2- No whining

Fantastic event. Heard ZERO negativity there, every one we met was kick ass. I appreciated being around men and women who were salty as fuck to boot as fuck. We have a good generation of replacement vet's in the works.

Wow, 91 degrees is brutal with a 35+ lb pack. I'm gonna have to get in wicked shape for the march next year- hope it's cooler haha.

Oh, it was unseasonably warm here too on that same day. I was up over 9,000' in the mountains, snowshoeing, in shorts and a T-shirt.

That's not normal.  Typically when we get there it's like 45 degrees in the pre-race ceremony.  People are huddling together for warmth and sharing blankets.  This year it was already 65 degrees at 4:30 AM.  We knew it was going to be REALLY bad and boy was it ever.  With the thin air from the altitude, and the lack of cloud cover or any breeze, it was positively brutal.  Three years ago I sprained my ankle in the first 100 yards.  Finishing this year was still harder.