If you were going to run 10k carrying rifle, pistol, ammo, how would you do it?

[LOKNLOD]

LJ - Sorry to hear that. I was looking forward to actually catching up with you this time. I hope the home front issues work out for the best.

[Default.mp3]

Whelp, that went exceedingly poorly. My shooting was... okay, I guess, managed to score top shooter on one of the pistol-oriented stages, but my rifle still needs work. Beyond that, my running was absolutely abysmal; I simply could not sweat, it seemed, despite pissing fairly clear multiple times throughout the course. I was hitting ~170 BPM for the majority of the course, and even after a ~56 minute rest period at one of the stations, my BPM was still ~110 (my resting heart rate is typically ~60).

It was good to see LOKNLOD and FOG again, just wished that I had performed better.

[LOKNLOD]

Hey man - now that I've seen the times, you tore it UP on the pistol stage. Nice work. That stage seemed to give everyone fits (self included). Way to make Pistol-forum proud

Good to see you, meet your buddy, and of course to see FOG too.

I ended up 16th out of 67 participants for the 5K -- 27th run rank, but 7th shoot rank.

A few post- run notes for posterity:

My gear worked out well, less gear related problems than last time. Belt rig was comfy and stable.

Heavy rifle is heavy (9.8 lb), but I was able to get it slung and secured a lot better and it didn't wear me out nearly as much as my shorty since I wasn't fighting with it the whole time.

Camelbak was a 70-oz, and I used most of it. Minus what I spilled when I knocked the bite valve off the end of the hose bailing out of the transport truck over to the start line, and accidentally drained down my front. At least I figured it out quickly.

I managed to lose my score card right out of the gate, and figured it out part way to the first shoot point, turned around, ran back to the start, and hunted for it. So I wasted some run time there. A guy found it and i got it back at stage 2, thankfully. The extra distance looking for it didn't help me any, but the psychological momentum kill was probably a worse result from the oops.

Shadowy, shady trees with varying light are hard to shoot in. Reddish orange painted targets also don't contrast as well as white ones. I had the foresight to wear lighter-tinted glasses (Vr28) due to the shade, but the reddish tint made the targets blend even worse.

I felt stupid because I missed the 300-yd target a couple times (barely high) before quickly pinging the 500yd target easily. D'oh. That was just dumb, I knew my zero and holds better than that.

My lungs must be made by HK -
I suck and they hate me. Fitness is still my weakest link, as the gap between my run and shoot scores can attest. My actual run time probably would have been 5-10 minutes shorter without the initial card-hunting tour, but still.

Carrying that box up the hill near the end is still my least favorite part. F- that thing. (I think it was a little lighter than in winter, but still).

I had tested a couple hotter/heavier loads for my pistol in hopes of avoiding the issues with plates not flipping that others had at the last run with 115gr cheap stuff, and settled for 124gr win NATO over some Remington 147s (what was available locally and relatively cheap) because it grouped better, but even with the hotter load I had trouble with the last pistol (hostage) target flipping. I had 3 partial activations before I gave up and switched to using my rifle and harsh language. Wasted quite a bit of time there. I should have just planned to immediate transition on the move to that target.

Lots to think about, lots to work on.

Overall, I did better than last time, so net improvement is good.


Also.... FOG, running two 8-mile "10k" back to back... I don't care if you didn't even carry a rifle, you're still a beast man.

[FOG]

Dang Default, you freaking smoked that pistol stage, top score of the weekend I believe! You looked spent by the time I saw you at stage 5.

LOKNLOD, awesome to see you again and yes, the ammo can hill is pretty daunting. I loved ROing that stage just to see how everybody approached it.

Personally, the 15 mile challenge was harder than I anticipated due to the sheer time it took to complete. All total, with reload time, wait time, 14 shooting stages and run time included, I was on the course for 6 hours with an average HR of 146 over that period. Fluid consumption was around 2.0L. We lost power at my house the night before so I wasn't able to eat much and the morning of the event I had two Kashi bars. The extra weight from the 308 bolt rifle and ammo made everything tougher. Shooting 170 rounds wore me out

At the 12 mile mark, the weight and lack of fuel and eloctrolytes had me laying on the side of the trail with dehabilitating cramps which I never get. The last 3 miles was beyond brutal and I had to walk alot of it which was dissapointing. when I finished, I was in bad, bad shape.

When I weighed myself 2 days later, the scale showed I was still down 10 full pounds and I looked like hell.

On my first run, my scorecard got destroyed in the waist deep creek crossing and the RO'S on the west stages didn't call in my wait time or scores like they should have but I wouldn't have won anyway.

But hey, on a positive note I did better than most on the pistol stage so I'm showing improvement on that front!

Hopefully Bratch, LJ and SLG can make it for the Jan event and we can all catch up.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

[Default.mp3]

You looked spent by the time I saw you at stage 5.

Ha. I was pretty much spent since getting off the road the first time; I stopped and rested to try and get my heart rate below 140 at least 6 or 7 times. I remain infuriated that I never managed to break into a real sweat; at least a quarter of the 3 liters I carried went into just being poured on myself in a desperate attempt to cool down (I polished off the last of my water during the last half mile, after the last bonus station); I just did a solo hike through the Guadalupes last month, and was sweating just fine, so I don't know what happened here.

How did you get into the 20k? I'd like to try that out for the winter; it'd be a form of redemption, I guess, and wouldn't mind ROing. It'd also be a good measuring stick of my performance at that juncture, as I'm hoping to do the heavy Bataan Memorial Death March next year.

[FOG]

Sign ups for the January event start this Saturday.

[SLG]

I'm sorry I missed this one, sounds like a great (challenging) time.

[littlejerry]

Can't wait! If the 20k is available I think ill sign up for it.


Just did a GoRuck 2 weeks ago and I'm feeling ambitious.

[Default.mp3]

I figure trying a 20k would be a good indicator for my road to Bataan, so I'm asking about that. Signed for the heavy division on Bataan because I'm stubborn.

I also have a Kahles K16i on layaway with CS Tactical, wondering if I should pay it off in time before the Run 'n' Gun. Hrm.

[MDS]

Sign ups for the January event start this Saturday.

Excellent! I'm reorganizing a few things in my life, I haven't been shooting or doing much exercise for way too long, not to mention hanging out here at PF. I think I'll sign up for the 5K as a first timer. Is the signup still over at okrunngun.com?