The Stokes St. Patrick’s Day Massacre

“…we had 3 drops within the first half hour… the day 22 souls began in the evening and only 11 saw the light of day.”

[infobox] Michael Jason Dimaya embodies what can be accomplished when one commits themselves to change. After making a decisive transition from a sedentary lifestyle to a life of fitness and adventure, he turned his energy towards inspiring others. Michael has since helped organize a fitness club with some like-minded individuals, who challenge each other a bit more every day. GoRuck Challenge Class 454 was one of those challenges. Here is Michael’s account of how he soldiered through it with his team. [/infobox]

April 20th

April 20th was our original “season opener”. The Rise Fit Club formed in January with the intention of training all year and participating in various Tough Mudder events in order to qualify for the World’s Toughest Mudder in November. We would be the examples to our friends and families by breaking the mold. Redefine average. As we’ve often mentioned we are not athletes, and in fact are the stereotypical videogame/comic book/sci fi nerds, with one exception: we are on a journey to get in shape and test ourselves at various events.

In January Tough Mudder was our sole series of planned events, but through social media and connecting with some amazing individuals we found ourselves participating in a “Mini GoRuck” on January 26th and things escalated quickly. The GoRuck community fosters a sense of camaraderie that is second to none, and before we knew it we all had rucks packed with bricks. Good Livin’ was officially on the menu. We would hike with rucks every single week and somehow lure others to do the same. Why? Because we went ahead and signed up for a full GoRuck Challenge after the mini and needed to train.

We NEEDED to join the GoRuck Tough community (Those having completed a full GoRuck Challenge) and soon were on our way to the Princeton Goruck Challenge on March 16th. Everyone was excited and we were training weekly. Our numbers went from 4 on our first ruck training on the mountain to close to 20 in a matter of weeks. In fact 9 members of the Rise Fit Club would be in attendance at the Princeton GRC. This would be the first challenge event of any kind for some of us. On top of that, this would be a holiday weekend, and the reward would be a green variant of the Goruck Tough patch (the prize for completing a GRC) in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Rise Fit Club colors – Perfect.

A group of nine of us* would be the 1st members of The Rise Fit Club to attain GRT status – or so we expected. We were confident, as the Goruck page states “Despite the difficulty, we’re proud that the pass rate is over 94%”. While a few of us had no experience with endurance events a this time, we DID have a number of Tough Mudders on board, complete with what our US Special Forces Cadre Leader would describe as Tough Mudder Syndome: “How hard can it be? I have my orange thing on my head “

[evidence] *DireWolf, Tokyo, Pistol, NightHawk, Kdawg, Havoc, OldGreg, Poseidon, and NoDice. Nicknames, yup. Because we’re cool kids. [/evidence]

Personally I am in complete agreement with the assessment. Some people do have this syndrome. I am a Tough Mudder myself, and it is actually the event which helped push me toward a healthier lifestyle (check out my sappy “transformation” vid). Tough Mudder is a title which I will always associate myself with because of the impact the event has had on me personally, and I will always enjoy participating in them. That being said, I have witnessed others with Tough Mudder Syndrome. There’s more than one way to make it to the end of a Tough Mudder and get a headband. There are people with orange thing on their heads and there are Tough Mudders. Going into this GRC I KNEW this would be much more difficult than any regular Tough Mudder. I made sure our entire group was aware of this, and despite going in confident, we all knew there was that 6% chance some of us may not make it.

Enter the Soul Crusher

Seems our Cadre is a cool kid too, complete with his own nickname. We would find out that night that his nickname is well deserved. The Soul Crushing would begin almost immediately. 4 hours. 4 hours to decimate the class. I didn’t know when or how every member who dropped opted out of the challenge. All I knew was the Soul Crusher would call out for roll and there would be fewer and fewer each time.

And when I say “immediately” I mean immediately – we had 3 drops within the first half hour. This was how our first GRC would begin, and this is why our class, class 454, would be dubbed the “Stokes St. Patrick’s Day Massacre”. The day 22 souls began in the evening and only 11 saw the light of day.

The tone was definitely set early with a voice shouting from the darkness “I need 3 – just 3″. Havoc, Kdawg, and I would answer and found ourselves with 3 team weights. I drew the luck of the 45lb weight vest, Kdawg had Flava Flav, and Havoc had the ball sack. These were all in addition to our ammo can team weight. I decent haul for a full class. Something a bit different for ours.

The demons were definitely out that night whispering to each of us, and for one reason or another, some of us listened. The cold was definitely a factor and we would be in the water right off the bat. As a class member described it “It’s less frozen water and more recently melted ice”. I would say the lack of proper gear was enough to take souls, but we did have a finisher who wore shorts the whole time. I have been in cold water while training and at past events (28 degree water temp even), and I can say this was some of the COLDEST I have experienced. In past weeks we’ve gone out training and submerged in frozen ponds at lower temperatures than that evening but for one reason or another the cold REALLY got to me. Every time we submerged our bodies doing pushups my head would throb and I would feel disorientated. I came out of the water without full function of my body. Left foot – right foot….that was a chore. I couldn’t buckle my straps because my fingers would not move as directed. It made no sense. I’ve been in colder, but hey there it is. Next time I will definitely wear a hat and gloves.

We got a bit of a respite from the water to do some PT. Thank god, an opportunity to get warm. The relief would be short lived as someone’s bricks fell out during pushups. “Somebody un-f*$^ this bag!”. Turns out Old Greg would cost us another dunk. Back in water! and if I thought it was cold the first time…NOW this was cold. I could still hear Cadre’s voice “DOWN!” then a vice on my head squeezing and uncontrollable shivering. Just as I would wipe off my face and get some kind of orientation as to where I was “DOWN!”. Fun stuff.

We stumbled out of the water again and lined up. This is when NoDice whispered something next to me. What was that? “This is not for me”…“This is not for me”. “No brother” I told him “it’s all in your head you’ve got this”. “You can make it just focus”. I don’t know if he heard me – looking at him I don’t know if he knew I was even talking to him. We all did a set of jumping burpees but they were piss poor so we had to line up again to restart. Except when we lined up NoDice was no longer there. 4 down. The floodgates were open now and we would see another 7 in the next hour or so disappear from our ranks.

“Pain, an unpleasant sensation, occurring at varying degrees of severity, is a consequence of injury, disease, or emotional distress. When you feel emotional distress, you need to smile, because that’s the only way you’re going to make it tonight”
– Cadre Stokes

NightHawk was the next casualty. He had a labral tear going in and was doing physical therapy before the ruck, but he insisted on taking part. A stubborn one but his injury seemed to tower over his stubbornness and he dropped soon after another member and was the 6th man out. Fireworks in his shoulder. Having gone through the whole GRC myself, I don’t know how he would have made it save us carrying his ruck the rest of the way and him just walking alongside – an option he did not want to entertain. I know he will be back, but this night his soul was crushed.

The next few drops, I had no idea what happened. People were just gone. I did catch Havoc before he left. He was among the last 3 who left our band. The cold was the factor. We entered the woods and were set to crawl through more water and that I believe is what did him in. That was the tipping point. A cotton thermal is a nono for cold water ops and it doesn’t help he was wearing knee high socks and shorts. No worries, as Havoc would have his day just 7 days after his soul was crushed. March 23rd Philly – He would be back to get some redemption cake and I’d be joining him!

We began around 1:30 and by 4:40 we we’re down to 11. For the next 5+ hours it would be on us who remained to shoulder 4 team weights and various coupons along the way. We even had the distinct pleasure of pulling out a log from a ditch and carrying it through til morning. I gotta say, despite having all that weight I am pretty sure everyone was smiling as the sun came up. Once everyone stopped dropping and we were left with those who would end up finishing, it was no longer a matter of IF you carried extra weight, only a matter of how much. There were so few of us by this time that we all had extra weight above and beyond our rucks at all times. One of us even ended up getting injured to a point where he could no longer carry anything more than his ruck. He powered through and still finished.

We began around 1:30 and by 4:40 we we’re down to 11. For the next 5+ hours it would be on us who remained to shoulder 4 team weights and various coupons along the way. We even had the distinct pleasure of pulling out a log from a ditch and carrying it through til morning. I gotta say despite having all that weight I am pretty sure everyone was smiling as the sun came up. Once everyone stopped dropping and we were left with those who would end up finishing it was no longer a matter of IF you carried extra weight only a matter of how much. There were so few of us by this time that we all had extra weight above and beyond our rucks at all times. One of us even ended up getting injured to a point where he could no longer carry anything more than his ruck. He powered through and still finished.

The Final Push

For our final mile we were told we sustained 3 “casualties”. From that point til the end, 3 of our 11 HAD to be buddy carried, leaving 3 extra rucks with the remaining 5 who were not part of the buddy carry team. 4 rucks (one ACRT ruck), 4 team weights, and the flag were shared between 5 members of our class as 3 of us were carried by a partner. Everyone now had well over 100lbs of extra weight and some over 200. How did we finish? STRONG. We marched to the end point heads high, backs straight, and shouting cadence all the way to our Cadre who went ahead and was waiting for us. We did it. We fought our demons as individuals and completed our mission as a group. There was no way we would have finished if weren’t a team. None. And so we EARNED our patches. Greg, Eric, Mark, Kevin, Jim, Tom, Matt, Keith, Pete, Carl and me (Mike) – Class 454. There was no way around it but to earn it every step of the way.

Pistol may have had a few more painful steps than most of us as he twisted his ankle getting out of the water right in the beginning of the challenge. As soon as he took his shoe off after the ruck his ankle blew up. Crutches were his friend a day or two after. Welcome pain for a hard fought victory. Other than that there were no lingering injuries except some soreness here and there – oh and poison ivy. Apparently a few of us somehow got poison ivy. GRC Princeton – the GRC that keeps on giving!

Now that we were GRT we had a new mission: to invite noobs to become GRT and grow the family! That would start in a few days. I would be returning for more Good Livin’ with Havoc on his road to redemption and a new Rise Fit Club member to the GRC world – Winchester. GRC Philly here we come!

I would like to thank our Cadre, Chris Stokes, aka the Soul Crusher, and Class 454. Every time I looked at any of those ugly mugs I knew I was in the right place and that my soul was NOT going to be crushed that day. I couldn’t have picked a better bunch to embrace the suck with on my first GRC. “Thank You”…oh and some words from the master himself: