This is a multi-disciplinary, endurance event that takes place up at and around, the NRA Whittington Center, near Raton, NM.
Our participation was an unexpected opportunity that practically fell in our laps and we would never have been able to participate in this event, if it hadn't been for the incredible generosity of a few individuals and companies, that were kind enough to help us out with gear. With that being said, I'd like to express my gratitude for the help from Belleville Boots, Triple Aught Design, and SBL Tactical Consulting.
I'll talk some about this gear and the companies as this article progresses.
We were initially offered the slot a mere 29 days before the event. That put us in a bit of a time crunch when it came to getting gear and fitness squared away. Frankly, both of us were in need of improving our readiness for this, so to a large extent, this event became my own impetus to get back on track with my fitness.
My approach to this involved mostly HIIT-type work, using my backyard gym.
An example workout would involve loaded carries and sprints. I have a pair of 70 pound watercans. These are Reliance brand watercans that I picked up at the local Wal-Mart. They hold 6 gallons of water, and each one has been filled halfway with playsand and then topped off with water, for a total weight of 70 pounds each.
My workout area is covered in approximately 3 inches of gravel and I have a roughly 70 foot long stretch of it. So, pick up watercans, one in each hand. Carry from fence line to fence line. Set down cans, sprint back to the fence, turn around, sprint back to cans, pick up, carry the other way, rinse repeat, ad nauseam for 15 minutes.
I'm not sure the last 3 minutes or so, your sprints really qualify as sprints... More of a stumble.
Of course, in the interest of developing more specific fitness levels, hikes with a heavy pack were also in order. I typically loaded up to about 70 pounds, heavier than my expected load for the Survival Trial and did relatively short, but fast hikes.
I can't honestly say that it provided a huge advantage, but I don't think I hurt my performance at all. It is simply limited what you can accomplish in less than a month.
When it came to the gear, we strayed some from convention. If you've read my blog before, you know that I'm a huge proponent of minimalist shoes, such as Fivefingers and the Belleville Mini-Mil boots.
As a matter of fact, we decided that we would be the one team in something minimalist, namely, the Mini-Mil boots from Belleville and the Belleville team stepped up to the plate and sponsored us with a pair each. As always, their response and turn-around times were just fantastic. I've been extremely impressed with how responsive they have shown themselves to be as a company. That kind of attitude towards their customers and the quality of their boots has made me a life-long customer!
The Mini-Mil is admittedly -according to Belleville themselves - not meant as a boot for heavy loads. At least not according to conventional wisdoms when it comes to boot selection.
But, in my opinion it turned out to be a fantastic option. Being extremely lightweight and low to the ground, I felt personally that it helped me perform better and prevented injury, as it is very difficult to roll an ankle in a minimalist shoe.
I used a relatively thin sock, going with the lightweight WrightSock double-layered socks. It turned out to be a comfortable choice, as my feet - other than being tired at the end of it - remained blisterfree for the duration. They also wicked well and seemed to keep my feet mostly dry. All in all, I was very happy with my footwear choices.
My partner had a bit of a worse time at it. We both attribute this entirely to sock selection, as his typical choice - the REI brand merino hiking socks - simply failed to perform satisfactorily, resulting in some rather bad blistering. More on that later.
Triple Aught Design, out of San Francisco, was also instrumental in getting us outfitted. They sponsored us by outfitting us with their Force10 AC cargo pants, their classic design but made from their Amphibious Cloth, a DWR-treated lightweight nylon canvas. Again, this gear proved to be a godsend as they were extremely comfortable, and kept us relatively cool in the high-80 degree temperatures we encountered.
One particular feature that I really liked - other than the fact that the pocket layout is symmetrical - is that TAD Gear had the forethought to put the leg cuff drawstrings on the front of the pant leg, instead of on the side. This made it possible for me to tie them off to my boots, a favorite way for me to ensure that the pant legs stay in place and to keep crud out of my boots. Stay tuned for a full review of the TAD Gear Force10 pants in the near future!
Lastly, several people stepped up to the plate and helped us out by lending us gear, including rifles, so that we could get our packing list squared away. I am not - here - going to name names, but know that your efforts in this area were simply invaluable and we can't thank any of you enough for your generosity!
Several other folks stepped up with offers of gear and while we didn't take them up on their offers, their generosity is also vastly appreciated! We couldn't have attended this event without the help and generosity of numerous people.
Anyways, on to the event itself.
My partner and I arrived at the NRA Whittington center at approximately 1700 on the day before. We found our camp site and decided to eat in Raton, where we ended up at the Oasis Restaurant, which turned out to be an excellent choice for some good, greasy-spoon type food. I'd definitely recommend that place again. We turned in fairly early, at around 2000, for our wakeup at 0200. Not that I managed to actually sleep much at all, but oh well.
Up at 0200, wrap up the camp site, and then off to the Shotgun Center building where our next hard time was at 0300. That turned out to be more like... 0320... And that was somewhat of a pattern for the event itself.
Registration and such out of the way, all the teams loaded into trucks and vans to be driven to our start point, off the side of US 64. That was also where we did our equipment layout.
See, there's a packing list for each ST event. And if you don't have everything on that list, you get punished. With a 20 pound lead weight added to your pack.
We were pretty motivated to have our packing list squared away...
All the teams pulled out their gear and the evaluators went down the line, checking the gear.
I believe one group managed to get punished with the 20 pound weight, largely because of their choice of "precision rifle".
Our team, however, were good-to-go.
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| Gear Layout at 0500. |
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| The sky was absolutely gorgeous. |
With everything packed back up and all the teams ready, each team was fitted with a GPS unit and then we were given our safety and arena briefs.
Maps and a listing of co-ordinates were handed out and then... Well, we were basically off.
We spent the first hour plotting our points on the map and planning a course.
Once we had our points plotted, we set off across the plains, towards the lands on the other side of I-25.
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| A couple of the other teams that decided to work together. |
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| Eagle Tail Mountain in the distance. The long-ramge shooting stage was up on the mesa at the very base of the mountain, an elevation gain of almost 700 feet. |
We eventually made it to our first point, which turned out to be a scenario that involved building a flood dam out of sandbags.
We had to hustle pretty quickly as the allotted time was rather short and we managed to get a decent score out of the exercise. Including "karma points", which basically boils down to being rewarded for having a good attitude.
Then, about half a mile down the road, we ran into the 'Sault Shaker.
This is a restricted combatives challenge. You get to pick how you want to go about it: Decline, and forfeit 300 points. Engage, potentially win 300 points and lose no points. Decline to engage, sit down for 45 minutes and lose no points.
I chose to engage.
Rules were simple enough. Get the 'Sault Shaker into a bearhug, pinning both his arms to his sides. No punching or kicking. 'Sault Shaker wears boxing gloves, you wear headgear.
I'll admit to not really having my head in the game, but I managed to do well enough and we got our 300 points out of it.
It WAS a hell of a lot of fun!
We made our way to the next point on our course, which turned out to be a long-range shooting station.
You were issued 5 rounds of .308 and there were three targets at varying ranges setup for us.
Somewhat annoyingly, and unlike previous events, there was no spotting scope available. Since one was also not mandatory on the packing list, we didn't have one with us.
We were also somewhat plagued by really bad winds and we managed to not hit any of our targets. Given that the first time either one of us had actually shot a precision rifle was less than a week prior, I'm not too broken up about that one.
By this stage, we were definitely starting to feel the fatigue.
We had made the mistake of attempting to make shortcuts across the terrain, instead of following the roads, which - while it might have saved us miles travelled - cost us a lot in energy wasted negotiating the broken terrain. I suspect that it probably also made my team mate's blisters worse. And the toll they were exerting on him was rapidly mounting.
After approximately 16.23 miles, we decided to forfeit. My partner was in an atrocious amount of pain, to the point where it was affecting his mentation. And in the interest of not incurring permanent physical damage, we stopped.
Neither one of us was happy about it, but at that point, we had to choose between attempting to continue and very possibly causing permanent harm to my partners feet, or admitting defeat. So, as much as it stuck in our craw, that's what we did.
Looking back, we made several mistakes.
Focusing on the mandatory points, while it would mean a significant points bonus, the mandatories are scattered all over the arena and would require a slightly ridiculous amount of travel.
Cutting across the terrain instead of sticking to the roads, slowed us down and cost us far more energy than we really had to spare.
And rest. We simply didn't rest enough. We were operating under the assumption of this being somewhat of a race, and thus, time was of the essence. So we hustled. That cost us quite a bit, in my opinion.
And lastly, good socks. My god, good socks make all the difference in the world!
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| A group of evaluators keeping an eye on us. |
Now that it's over, I find myself thirsty for more. I was expecting this event to be something that would let me find my breaking point, but I never did find it. Not for myself, at least. So, there's really only one thing for me to do. Go back and kick its ass.
With more prep time, better gear as far as packs and such go, I think we could do much better.
That being said, considering that we had all of 29 days to prepare for this event... I think we overall did ok.
I was initially disappointed about our mileage, but when I was able to look at the other teams' performance, I was a bit less dis-satisfied.
I will say that I thought organization of the event could have been a lot better. Communication before the event was extremely spotty as well and it was difficult to get a straight answer to a great many things.
Also, oversights like not having spotting scopes at the long-range stations, but not making it a mandatory packing list item, or even advising teams that these scopes would not be available, seemed rather lax. Tightening up the organization of the event would make everything run a lot smoother.
I am STILL not happy about the outcome. I want more. And I am going to take more.
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