0:11

Hey gang. Welcome to

0:11

Under The Log the podcast where

0:14

we talk to men and women who

0:14

recently completed GORUCK

0:17

events. Today we talk to Blake

0:17

Matthews about his recent Battle

0:20

of the Bulge tough. Blake's

0:20

first exposure to GORUCK was at

0:24

his local ruck club, what's up

0:24

Vice City, where they made him

0:30

get covered in dirt, dirt that

0:30

some guy bought from Home Depot.

0:34

And Blake still stuck around.

0:34

Clearly Blake is one of us.

0:44

Free. Sorry, I just wanted to grab

0:47

your attention because you

0:49

probably thought I was going to tell you to visit RuckingChallenges.com dot com

0:51

but nope, not today. Today I

0:55

want to tell you about a free

0:55

website. Ruckwod.com that's ruck

1:01

w o d.com. Every day we post a

1:01

new ruck based workout. Nothing

1:06

fancy just a daily dose of ruck

1:06

based exercise. No fees, no

1:10

commitments, just work. Check it

1:10

out at ruckwod.com. With that,

1:17

let's catch up with Blake. All right, Blake, man, thanks

1:24

for coming on the podcast.

1:28

Obviously, I am looking forward

1:28

to talking with you. All things

1:33

go wrong, and your experience

1:33

your recent event, your history

1:37

and GORUCK and all those all

1:37

those fun stories. But before we

1:41

jump into that, take a minute

1:41

and just tell tell us about

1:44

yourself. Your life outside of

1:44

GORUCK you know, like? Like who

1:48

is Blake Matthews?

1:51

Gonna start with

1:51

a deep question there. So, Blake

1:55

Matthews I live in Fort

1:55

Lauderdale, Florida. And what I

1:59

do when I'm not rocking is spend

1:59

time with family I have three

2:03

daughters and a son. So that can

2:03

that can keep me pretty busy

2:06

there. Definitely a motivation

2:06

for staying fit to keep up with

2:10

them. And I work at a private

2:10

school in the area and I do

2:15

their marketing and an

2:15

enrollment. So so I kind of work

2:20

with families on helping them

2:20

you know, find a school, see if

2:23

they're a fit for our school and

2:23

trying to recruit them into the

2:26

school.

2:27

Awesome, man. So how

2:27

old are the kids?

2:30

It's a K through

2:30

12 or my kids or the school?

2:32

Yeah, yours.

2:33

like is that I have quite a look. I

2:35

Look at you. You're

2:35

already like marketing like I

2:38

got a place for your kids. There

2:38

you go. Yeah,

2:40

Just a short

2:40

drive down 95 for you. Well, my

2:44

kids, my kids range from seven

2:44

to 26. We even I have four

2:50

children that are all about six,

2:50

six to seven years apart. With

2:55

my youngest like that he's

2:55

seven, I have a 13 year old

2:58

daughter, I have a 20 year old

2:58

daughter and I have a 26 year

3:01

old daughter, too.

3:04

So like I'm like

3:04

picking my jaw up off the

3:07

ground. For Kids all six years

3:07

apart. That's,

3:13

that's that's

3:13

impressive. It's great. It's

3:15

exciting. It's It's It's almost

3:15

like parenting through two

3:17

different generations. So it's a

3:17

it's a fun ride.

3:22

Absolutely, man.

3:22

That's, that's, that's really

3:26

cool. It makes me have to just

3:26

ask, like who have you suckered

3:30

into the older kids into doing

3:30

any GORUCK and things with you.

3:34

I am constantly

3:34

trying actually the the one I

3:37

can sucker in the easiest is my

3:37

son who's seven. Right? Now if

3:42

there's a doughnut rock, or the

3:42

pumpkin rock or something like

3:45

that, he's all in especially if

3:45

he knows other kids are going to

3:48

be there. So he's the easiest

3:48

one to get involved. I have

3:53

gotten everyone but my oldest

3:53

daughter and she keeps kind of

3:58

saying it, but there's always

3:58

something that comes up. So it's

4:02

always got that kind of pre

4:02

built excuse somewhere, but I

4:05

think I think we'll get her out

4:05

there soon too. But yeah, I've

4:08

even I've even gotten my my

4:08

sister and wife involved a

4:11

little bit too so Wow, man,

4:11

you're making it a whole family

4:15

affair there. Yeah, it is.

4:15

They'll uh yeah, they'll either

4:19

roll their eyes or say yes or or

4:19

come up with something else that

4:22

they had to do that they don't

4:22

even know when we're going yet

4:25

so

4:27

that's awesome. So

4:27

obviously you're you know, you

4:33

you threw out some of the the

4:33

rocks that you've been doing

4:35

like the that are common with

4:35

like rock clubs, so the donut

4:39

rocks and the pumpkin rocks and

4:39

all that stuff. So I'm I am

4:42

assuming that you're a part of a

4:42

rock club there and in South

4:46

Florida.

4:47

Yes, part of a I

4:47

would say it's pretty active

4:49

rock club. We do something at

4:49

least once a week. You know

4:52

COVID put a damper on that for a

4:52

while but you know, once we

4:55

figured out a way to do it, you

4:55

know socially distance and all

4:58

that stuff. We got kind of back

4:58

up and running. pretty quickly.

5:01

And they really range the gamut.

5:01

Some of them are very family

5:04

friendly kind of first time,

5:04

hey, come out and try this out.

5:08

There's some other ones that are

5:08

just absolute beat downs. In

5:13

fact, there was someone that I

5:13

think adapted a, I don't know

5:16

the whole history of it, but I

5:16

think they adapted a CrossFit

5:19

workout and now it's kind of

5:19

become our annual thing.

5:21

Sometime in December, we do

5:21

something called The Nightmare

5:24

Before Christmas. And it is it

5:24

is a nightmare. So it's been

5:31

between two and three hours of

5:31

just constant constant PT and

5:35

then something going on. So

5:35

dude, and Wayne really,

5:39

what's the what's the real club?

5:41

Vice city ruckers?

5:43

There you go Vice

5:43

City, what's up Vice City,

5:46

Miami and Fort Lauderdale area. So

5:49

so so you're you're

5:49

currently actively involved in

5:53

this, this rock club? So how

5:53

long? Like when did you get into

5:59

rucking slash? GORUCK? Like,

5:59

like, tell us that story? Like,

6:03

how did this How did this even

6:03

begin? Sure. So

6:05

um, it was

6:05

actually July of 2019, I guess

6:08

you would say would probably be

6:08

more of an official entry. about

6:11

maybe six months before that. I

6:11

think I came across, I think it

6:16

was a website, I think was the

6:16

Art of Manliness or something.

6:18

And somehow I got onto

6:18

something. And it was kind of

6:21

like, you know, cardio for

6:21

people who hated running and

6:24

that kind of thing. And, and I

6:24

was like, Okay, I probably

6:27

should do something, you know,

6:27

my job's not a super active job.

6:31

So, you know, trying to find

6:31

that thing that keeps you active

6:34

and stuff like that. And so I

6:34

kind of heard about working

6:38

there and I was like, Okay, that sounds interesting. I got a backpack, I'll throw you know,

6:40

barbell or something in there

6:43

and tried it a few times. And

6:43

you know, this is gonna sound

6:47

like a salesperson here. But the

6:47

pack I was using just ripped it

6:50

destroyed. And I was like, okay,

6:50

that didn't work. And you know,

6:54

life goes on. So you don't really do anything for a while. And I kept looking into it, and

6:56

things kept popping up. And

7:00

then, you know, the timing, just

7:00

kind of everything came

7:03

together. And it's like, Okay, I

7:03

need to do something and then

7:05

you start seeing stuff, you

7:05

know, that time had no idea what

7:08

it was, but you know, what, this Christmas in July sale or whatever, so, looked into that

7:10

and like, Hey, you know, let's

7:13

see what they got there. And,

7:13

you know, picked one up. Okay,

7:15

so So now I have a record.

7:15

Alright, what do I do? Okay,

7:18

let's see here. What? Oh, they

7:18

got clubs. What's this thing?

7:23

So, first time I showed up for

7:23

something, it was actually a

7:26

club call out. It was a mud

7:26

rock. So I thought, this sounds

7:32

interesting. I'm like, Okay, I'm

7:32

up for it. Gonna give it a try.

7:34

Let's go for this. Now the

7:34

interesting thing in in South

7:37

Florida and course, after I've

7:37

seen pictures of other mud

7:39

rocks, is South Florida's more

7:39

sand. So. So the first thing is

7:45

I get there, and you know, I

7:45

show up a little bit early and

7:48

stuff like that. And you're kind of like, okay, so where are these people going to be? Who

7:50

are they going to look like, of course, first thing you see is a

7:52

big American flag. You're like, Hey, this is cool. And you're

7:54

kinda like, are you with? Yeah,

7:58

you know, and so you make the

7:58

connection. And so here's the

8:01

funny thing, we actually did

8:01

this down at a beach that has a

8:05

kind of a little creek that kind

8:05

of comes in, so it's like

8:08

brackish water parks on water.

8:08

Park fresh. And, but again,

8:13

you're not going to get good

8:13

mud. It's all sand. So the guy's

8:16

got his stuff in his trunk of

8:16

his car, and he's pulling out

8:19

some buckets. Okay, I've seen

8:19

people carry buckets, I figured

8:21

that's gonna be part of it. And

8:21

he had stopped by Home Depot and

8:24

got a couple of bags of topsoil.

8:24

Yeah. So. So we basically rocked

8:29

to the creek and did our best to

8:29

make mud. And, you know, here we

8:34

are making it and then we're like, okay, you know, we're, we're gonna get ready to do

8:36

photos. And you have to look

8:39

muddy. I mean, if you did a mud

8:39

rock, and you're clean looking,

8:41

and so we're literally like,

8:41

crawling through the mud, like

8:43

trying to cake it onto us. And I

8:43

still think if you see the

8:47

picture, you'd be like, did you

8:47

guys do anything muddy? But, you

8:52

know, brilliant. That was a, you

8:52

know, like I said, you do have

8:55

to work out some things in South

8:55

Florida. But that was a that was

8:59

that was creative. And I was

8:59

like, you know, once I did that,

9:02

I think, you know, almost

9:02

constantly started coming back

9:05

coming back. And, you know, they

9:05

had all the different call outs

9:07

and stuff. And All right, so

9:10

let me let me get

9:10

this straight. You You're like,

9:13

you go to Art of Manliness,

9:13

you're like, Okay, rocking, you

9:15

know, throw some weight in a

9:15

backpack. That sounds cool. You

9:18

know, I've seen that article it

9:18

has, it has links to go rock.

9:21

And so maybe you go to that site, and you check it out. And you're like, Alright, so you go

9:23

you, you bust up your backpack,

9:27

and you're like, man, whatever.

9:27

So then you get some marketing

9:32

email, probably from GORUCK

9:32

about the the sale and you're

9:35

like, you know what, I'm getting

9:35

one of these fancy backpacks.

9:38

You get one of those you stumble

9:38

across by city. And the very

9:43

first thing you go to a bunch of

9:43

a bunch of folks are like, hey,

9:48

roll around in this brackish

9:48

water, and we're gonna like,

9:51

throw some dirt on you. Like,

9:51

I'm totally coming back next

9:56

week. Oh, yeah.

9:57

Yeah. And that's it. And that's it. And of course, You know, this is all in

9:59

July, which of course in South

10:03

Florida, it's like a sauna. So

10:03

it's like, I'm kind of glad I

10:05

started with a when I did, I

10:05

started nice, you know,

10:09

something easy and cool weather

10:09

and then it kept getting harder.

10:11

And I don't know, maybe it'd be

10:11

different, but definitely jumped

10:13

in with both feet.

10:15

That's, that's such

10:15

a great story. So so you're

10:19

you're obviously your, your

10:19

GORUCK material here. At what

10:26

point do you kind of like, hear

10:26

about events? And, and like, do

10:31

your first event like, how's that rollout?

10:33

So so it didn't take too long. So that was that was July 2019. So first event

10:35

was, let's see, July, we got

10:41

August. Yeah, first event was

10:41

August. That was an extortion

10:45

17. And I, you know, signed up

10:45

for light. And, again, I think

10:52

this was kind of probably at the

10:52

prodding a little bit of like,

10:54

you know, hey, you should do an event with us. There's, you know, and all these things. And

10:56

so you do that, and you're like,

11:00

Okay, light, okay, let's give

11:00

this a try. And, and the one

11:04

thing that I, you know, in

11:04

hindsight of everything, I still

11:07

gotta tell you, I think the

11:07

lights in the daytime in South

11:10

Florida in the heat. There's

11:10

definitely an added, you know,

11:16

just pain factor there, if you

11:16

will, but I'm sure, but yeah, it

11:20

was, you know, so did the first

11:20

event, extortion 17. You know,

11:24

just loved the whole, the whole

11:24

concept of, you know, the event,

11:27

the working out the, you know,

11:27

of course, that was like one of

11:29

their Memorial events to So, you

11:29

know, you take a story from

11:34

someone who passed away from

11:34

that particular thing that

11:36

you're memorializing. And I just

11:36

thought just the way all that

11:40

tied together was was just, you

11:40

know, it's like, Okay, that's

11:43

it. I'm, I'm, I'm in, I'm

11:43

completely sold. So.

11:46

So that was a lot of

11:46

fun. And and have you done? So?

11:52

You've done some events since

11:52

then. Because today, we're

11:56

talking about the eventually

11:56

talking about the the Battle of

12:00

the Bulge event that you did the

12:00

tough. Have you done events

12:04

after the extortion?

12:06

Yes, so so what

12:06

I did is, let's say extortion.

12:08

17. Now they had had three

12:08

events and actually had four

12:12

events in South Florida. So I

12:12

went from extortion, 17, which

12:15

was in August, that was in Fort

12:15

Lauderdale, Miami area, and then

12:19

the Mogadishu mile, it was

12:19

October. And that one, that one

12:24

was brutal.

12:26

It was a light, you

12:26

did that it was still

12:28

still brutal. So

12:28

I did three lights. After that,

12:31

chronologically, there was a

12:31

constellation and it was I think

12:34

they were kind of calling it a

12:34

constellation beta. So it was a

12:36

new format. But we did that. And

12:36

that was, you know, completely

12:41

different, you know, than the

12:41

rucking part. But that was a

12:43

really incredible event. They

12:43

actually did it at the Miami

12:46

Dade Fire Rescue, like training

12:46

center. So I mean, it was a

12:50

really, really cool event there.

12:50

And, I mean, it's, it's just

12:54

something you like to come into

12:54

work, you know, on Monday and

12:56

say, you know, what you do this

12:56

weekend? Well, I, I tied a fire

12:59

hose around my waist and jumped

12:59

out of a four storey building. I

13:02

mean, you know, it's like, Okay,

13:02

what do you do?

13:05

And then you made a,

13:05

you made a gas mask out of a two

13:09

liter coke. And that's

13:11

absolutely. And,

13:11

and thankfully, I'd have to say

13:15

I did, I did a good job. Those

13:15

that, that that did, and I

13:19

really felt for there were some

13:19

people there's, you know, make

13:22

sure that thing seals. But that

13:22

was a great event too. And then

13:28

that led into the, in December,

13:28

Pearl Harbor, which I was on the

13:32

fence about a light are tough,

13:32

they're already registered for

13:35

the light. And, you know, I kind

13:35

of had a little bit of lagging

13:38

pain, I think the Mogadishu

13:38

mile, I think someone's favorite

13:42

thing was to have rocks or

13:42

something overhead a lot of the

13:44

time. And so I kind of was kind

13:44

of feeling some pain with a

13:48

shoulder and I said, This is me

13:48

kind of getting into all of

13:51

this. So. So I was like, Okay,

13:51

I'm gonna stick with the light

13:54

for Pearl Harbor. And, but that

13:54

was a great event as well.

13:58

Okay, so you did,

13:58

you've done a few lights, and

14:03

the constellation. And so now

14:03

like, like, What makes you say,

14:11

you know what, I'm ready. I'm

14:11

ready for a tough What makes you

14:15

say you're ready for that tough

14:15

and why in particular, this

14:20

tough Battle of the Bulge.

14:24

So probably a

14:24

best best way to summarize would

14:26

be positive peer pressure.

14:26

Definitely, when you're in a

14:29

group, you know, they're like,

14:29

hey, okay, you did that now do

14:32

this. I had one. It was

14:32

technically called a tough it

14:36

was in between it was the GRT

14:36

reunion, which I think I think

14:42

they can kind of refer to that

14:42

later on. It is really like a

14:45

cloverleaf beta. So that was in

14:45

the middle, but then, you know,

14:50

that was definitely something

14:50

that was designed around. What

14:53

can we do during COVID as well,

14:53

so it was, you know it, it was

14:57

different than a normal tough in

14:57

that you weren't doing things So

15:00

much as a team, we're doing

15:00

things together, but not so much

15:04

team. So, so the Battle of the

15:04

Bulge, you know, part of its

15:08

proximity Orlando's, just a few

15:08

hour drive away. So this was a

15:13

good one to, to jump into. And

15:13

again, a lot of people from Vice

15:17

City records said, you know,

15:17

they were going to so it's

15:19

always good to go with, you

15:19

know, kind of, again, positive

15:22

peer pressure there. So, so

15:22

jumped into that sign signed up

15:26

for that, and, and was like,

15:26

Okay, let's, let's give this a

15:30

try. And, and it was a great

15:30

event as well. You know,

15:36

challenging in different ways.

15:36

It was nice, just number one

15:40

that time of year and being

15:40

overnight, you weren't dealing

15:43

with the heat. So So in that

15:43

respect, it was like a, there

15:47

were some elements going for you

15:47

versus the lights that I had

15:49

done in the summer.

15:51

Yeah, yeah, that's a

15:51

good point. Like, I was just

15:54

about to ask, you know, what I

15:54

was gonna ask, What stood out to

15:58

you is different in the events

15:58

between the lights that you've

16:00

done, but I mean, that's a great

16:00

point, like lights. And in the

16:05

middle of the day, in the summer

16:05

in South Florida, like that's,

16:07

that's super brutal. Like I've,

16:07

I did a light in Richmond here,

16:12

maybe a couple years ago. And,

16:12

you know, it was over the

16:16

summer. And it was the I mean,

16:16

it was, you know, 97 degrees, or

16:20

whatever it was, and 1,000,000%

16:20

humidity and the folks that came

16:24

out for the light, just, I mean,

16:24

they were not ready for that

16:28

heat and humidity. I mean, that

16:28

was the biggest challenge that

16:30

we faced. And so I think that's

16:30

interesting to look at going

16:36

from a light in the middle of

16:36

the day in the heat of South

16:39

Florida to, like, much cooler or

16:39

more temperate temperatures. And

16:46

been overnight like that's, in

16:46

some ways like it, I guess it

16:51

takes away that particular

16:51

challenge. And it replaces it

16:54

with others, right. Oh,

16:55

yeah, definitely. Especially for me being you know, the first tough

16:56

there were definitely some different challenges. But yeah,

16:58

the, the heat, it just takes a

17:01

lot out of you. And, and and

17:01

it's kind of weird to like, you

17:05

know, the idea of like, you

17:05

know, it's the Battle of the

17:07

Bulge and the course synonymous

17:07

with that. And even on the

17:09

patch, you see the snow and you

17:09

know, you read the stories about

17:12

what, what the soldiers went

17:12

through there and that cold

17:15

weather and, and here we are

17:15

doing it in Orlando, and it's

17:18

like, you know, 60s, it's like,

17:18

perfect weather for us. And you

17:21

see everybody else's pictures up

17:21

and they're freezing,

17:24

which I did live

17:24

outside of Orlando for a little

17:27

while. And and I mean, when it

17:27

hits 60 down there, y'all y'all

17:31

start breaking out some some

17:31

pretty hefty jackets.

17:34

That's true. That's true.

17:37

So talk me through

17:37

some of those things like like

17:40

looking at, you know, this being

17:40

your first tough like, was, was

17:46

it harder than you expected?

17:46

Easier than you expected? How

17:49

does it compare with the lights?

17:49

Like what what was that

17:52

experience like for you? Yeah,

17:52

so that's free roquan.com

18:01

website that I mentioned at the

18:01

top of the show, that's just

18:04

another website put out by the

18:04

rucking collective. We've got a

18:07

number of websites all devoted

18:07

the sport of Raquel roquan calm

18:12

is our attempt to provide a

18:12

daily ruck based workout for the

18:15

rucking community. There's no

18:15

charge, and there's a new

18:18

workout that we post every day.

18:18

Use it, change it, share it with

18:23

your friends, or people that you

18:23

hate. Whatever you do, at least

18:26

check it out. That's roquan.com

18:26

are you see kwod.com? With that,

18:35

let's get back to talking to Blake.

18:39

I think the

18:39

lightspeed a good background, at

18:42

least to what kind of the format

18:42

of the event would be like I

18:45

mean, you kind of knew what sort

18:45

of things would be expected. So

18:49

you weren't like in total, like,

18:49

shock mode of things. Obviously,

18:54

the duration certainly made it

18:54

more challenging. I think

19:00

probably the one of the toughest

19:00

things about this one was just

19:04

the, you know, the amount of

19:04

constant PT. And I know that

19:08

that's kind of an GORUCK theme

19:08

this year is you know, seeking

19:10

pain. And so I don't know, if

19:10

it's a little bit of the

19:13

combination of the Sikh pain,

19:13

we're going to do more PT, which

19:17

is always a big part of it. Or

19:17

if it's, you know, also it

19:21

allowed for a little bit more

19:21

social distancing. I mean, you

19:24

know, some people have different

19:24

comfort levels of where, you

19:27

know, again, we kind of came as

19:27

a group, so we all knew each

19:30

other pretty well. But I can see

19:30

where that might have been a

19:33

factor as well, but it was

19:33

really the PT and this one was

19:38

just it felt like it was never

19:38

ending. And of course, part of

19:42

it was was the Robbie Miller

19:42

workout. So okay, with which,

19:47

you know, that that'll crush you

19:47

and we did these things, and I

19:52

believe someone called them

19:52

prison burpees I hadn't heard of

19:55

them before. Okay.

19:56

Really, as to what that is.

19:58

Yeah. If Well,

19:58

I'll explain what we did, I

20:01

might have the naming wrong, but

20:01

okay. So this is kind of the

20:06

latter part of the morning. So

20:06

you know, you've already gone

20:09

we've done a bunch of things.

20:09

And this was kind of like, Okay,

20:12

this is this is just gonna beat

20:12

you down. So we went to a park

20:17

and we kind of mapped out what

20:17

would be like three, three

20:20

bases, if you will, that you go

20:20

between. and you got a groups of

20:24

three. And every group had

20:24

100 100 plus sound sandbag, you

20:29

know, it's 80 pound sandbag, but

20:29

when it's completely full with

20:33

wet sand, I don't know what it weighs.

20:35

It weighs a lot,

20:36

you know, the

20:36

little ad is on there to make

20:38

you feel good, but whatever it

20:38

was. So you have that that you

20:42

have to carry to each one of

20:42

these points. And so what you

20:46

did is you started out and as

20:46

you move to each one of these

20:49

bases, so you're at let's, let's

20:49

call them, base 123. So at base

20:52

one, you do one ruck burpee

20:55

mm hmm,

20:56

no problem based

20:56

to one ruck burpee base three,

20:59

one ruck burpee, then you come

20:59

around to base one, and now you

21:02

do two, then you go two and two,

21:02

and you keep building up. So we

21:06

did up to 18. And we must have

21:06

had a mathematician in the group

21:11

or something. But I think they

21:11

had some formula and figured out

21:14

something like 513 of these ruck

21:14

burpees as you move around. And

21:19

that sounds like fun.

21:21

You know, yo,

21:21

yeah, it was, you know, I don't

21:23

know at what number, but there

21:23

is definitely for me a number

21:27

that what I was doing was no

21:27

longer probably recognizable as

21:31

a burpee, but you somehow stood

21:31

up, maybe did a little jump and

21:36

fell to the ground and backup or

21:36

something. But that was brutal.

21:40

I think that was about four

21:40

hours. And it just, and the

21:45

psychological impact of you

21:45

know, at the time not having any

21:50

clue how many you're doing. I

21:50

mean, I don't know that you told

21:52

me to do one through 18 and

21:52

build and then three times, I

21:55

mean, you know, that's I'm not in the mood for that kind of math that like, whatever, two

21:57

o'clock, three o'clock, four

21:59

o'clock in the morning, whatever

21:59

it was. And so you're just like,

22:04

you know, and then you get there, and you're like getting up to nine, and you're like,

22:06

Wait a second, that's not

22:08

anywhere near halfway done. They

22:08

just seem to never, never ending

22:13

there.

22:14

So how do you how

22:14

did you deal with that

22:18

adversity? Like, I'm always

22:18

interested to hear about, like

22:21

how people push through those

22:21

mean, just, I mean, that is that

22:27

sounds like a horrible grind.

22:27

It's just never gonna end. And

22:31

you're just gonna keep going and

22:31

do more reps. So like, how do

22:34

you? How did you push through

22:34

that?

22:38

I think that,

22:38

and I don't know, this could be

22:40

part of the plan. But the idea

22:40

of grouping us in, in the groups

22:43

of three. So you know, so you're

22:43

there with two other people.

22:46

And, you know, sometimes it's

22:46

not good to look to your left

22:51

and your right, you just want to

22:51

keep doing something, but but

22:53

this was something good. And you

22:53

know, you cheer each other on

22:56

you push each other. So I think

22:56

I think having the groups there

23:02

together, made that more doable.

23:02

I think if somebody sent me out

23:07

to a field and said, go do this,

23:07

you know, there might be a

23:11

quitting point there, you're

23:11

just like, this isn't happening.

23:14

But you start looking to your left and your right, and you're like, No, I'm gonna keep going,

23:16

I'm gonna keep going. And they're going and

23:20

so so was it more

23:20

like? Like, they're doing it? I

23:25

can do it? Or is it? Or was it

23:25

more like, they were, you know,

23:31

cheering you on and saying, Come

23:31

on, and spurring each other on

23:35

or like, what what about that

23:35

person to the right and left was

23:39

was really helping you? Well, I

23:42

would, I would

23:42

definitely view the the two

23:44

people that I was paired up with

23:44

as probably, you know, being way

23:47

ahead of me, as far as in the in

23:47

the fitness area. So, you know,

23:51

it wasn't like, Oh, yeah, it's

23:51

easy for them. I could do it.

23:53

But it was, you know, I think

23:53

it's definitely Hayward. It's

23:56

kind of that we're all in this

23:56

together thing. And then, you

23:59

know, some of the best advice

23:59

scores. Yeah, I find a lot of

24:02

the advice you get fits

24:02

perfectly on a bumper sticker,

24:06

or patch in this case. But, you

24:06

know, it's just the idea of, you

24:10

know, just think about the next

24:10

round. The next the next thing

24:13

you know, you know, we're not

24:13

doing however many we're doing,

24:15

we're just at this time right

24:15

now. We're doing 12 burpees.

24:19

Okay, we're done with that one.

24:19

Hey, all we're doing is walking

24:22

over there with the sandbag, you

24:22

know, another 12 burpees. Yeah,

24:26

and just breaking it down piece

24:26

by piece. But

24:29

yeah, cuz if you get

24:29

if you get to down the road,

24:32

you're like, yeah, I mean, it's

24:32

just Alright, what's next?

24:36

Alright, walk over there. Good.

24:36

All right, I guess we're doing

24:39

burpees. Again, here we go. So

24:39

I'm gonna throw this one out

24:44

there and I'll kind of let you

24:44

interpret it however you want,

24:46

and we'll see where it goes. But

24:46

what from this event just

24:52

impacted you the most

24:55

biggest impact

24:55

Well, I have a post Didn't one

25:00

but I mean, we think about the

25:00

during event,

25:03

you can you can, you

25:03

can throw a post event, I take

25:05

whatever you got.

25:06

So I'll throw

25:06

the the post event one. And is

25:09

really, the tie into the event

25:09

was the the Robbie Miller

25:13

workout. So so that's part of

25:13

the event. And basically, and I

25:18

didn't know this beforehand, but

25:18

but some of the people who had

25:20

been in that area before did

25:20

which was really cool. So you

25:24

know, so you, you get through

25:24

the event you survive, you know,

25:28

of course, you're looking for a place, okay, all right, we're gonna go, we're gonna go eat

25:30

something. And, you know,

25:33

someone brought up the thing, he

25:33

says, you know, I'm Ronnie

25:37

Miller's gravesite is only a

25:37

couple miles from here. And I

25:41

didn't realize that. And so we

25:41

took a side trip. And again,

25:45

this is after the event. And,

25:45

you know, again, somebody had

25:49

been there before, so they were

25:49

able to guide us and, and, you

25:51

know, it was just something, you

25:51

know, a lot of times we get

25:55

caught up in the workout to the

25:55

memorials and things like that,

25:57

and, you know, you have the

25:57

name, and maybe you know, a

26:00

little bit of story of what

26:00

happened. And it just really,

26:04

you know, made that experience

26:04

kind of full circle. I mean, you

26:08

do a workout and honor someone,

26:08

you're remembering their name,

26:10

you're doing all that, and

26:10

that's great. But it was just to

26:13

do that, you know, just hours

26:13

before put all that in. And then

26:17

you know, something about a grave site, you're, you're just standing there, of course, you

26:19

know, they've got Medal of Honor

26:22

recipient and all the things and

26:22

but at least in my mind, you

26:26

know, again, you think of the

26:26

hero status, you think of all of

26:29

those things, but being at that

26:29

grave site just made me think

26:31

about, you know, like, it's

26:31

family. I mean, you know, what,

26:35

you know, we're distance from

26:35

it, but but right here at this

26:38

site, you know, that the loss

26:38

they felt, and all the things

26:43

like that. So it was kind of a

26:43

sobering moment, but it was, but

26:47

I mean, just a really, you know,

26:47

that that's something that's

26:52

something that you don't get at

26:52

every event. And like I said, it

26:54

wasn't directly part of this

26:54

event. But But afterwards, that

26:59

that's something that'll, you

26:59

know, that sticks with you and

27:01

make sense.

27:01

Yeah. And, you know,

27:01

I love, I love what you said,

27:06

like, if we do these things,

27:06

even even the Battle of the

27:11

Bulge event itself, you know, I

27:11

know that y'all were probably

27:15

carrying names of folks that had

27:15

fallen or whatever, in Battle of

27:22

the Bulge. And those those have

27:22

impact. Like, I'm still impacted

27:28

by Lieutenant Commander, David

27:28

Williams, who I carried at the

27:31

911 heavy, and that was like

27:31

three or four years ago. So

27:36

those things but but, you know,

27:36

the Robbie Miller wad and, and

27:41

like to have that experience,

27:41

and to go after the event, and

27:45

to be at that graveside, and

27:45

like, like you said, like, the

27:49

reality of something that was

27:49

just part of an event, like,

27:54

like, the rubber hits the road

27:54

more. Oh, absolutely. That's,

27:58

that's, that's really

27:58

phenomenal. And like you said,

28:00

that's, that's not something

28:00

that a lot of people get, like,

28:07

like, I think, for me, like, you

28:07

know, with with that 911, heavy,

28:14

like, we ended at the Pentagon

28:14

Memorial. And so everybody that

28:21

was lost to the Pentagon has

28:21

their own little bench with

28:24

their name on it, and like to be

28:24

able to go and sit on his bench.

28:30

And and, I mean, like, what you

28:30

said just resonated with me,

28:35

like thinking about his family.

28:35

Yeah. And and the loss that they

28:41

suffered. Like, man, that's,

28:41

that's super impactful, man. I

28:46

can't that's really cool to hear

28:46

like the y'all were able to go

28:52

and actually be at his his

28:52

gravesite and, and have that

28:57

moment, after all that work

28:57

he'll put in that's pretty

29:00

awesome.

29:00

Yeah, that was,

29:00

like I said, it's one of those

29:02

things that, you know, and this

29:02

is not to, in any way, downplay

29:06

any other workouts, but I just

29:06

know that next time I do the

29:09

Robbie Miller workout that it's

29:09

going to bring all that back,

29:12

you know, even though Yeah,

29:13

yeah, absolutely.

29:13

Having having done some lights,

29:20

now, this is your first tough

29:20

this is, you know, you've you've

29:24

made the transition. You You You

29:24

took that next step. Any any

29:33

like advice for somebody who's

29:33

like, you know, their, their

29:36

thing, they've done a couple lights, or maybe they've done one light and you know, they've

29:38

got some good friends, just like

29:41

you've got good friends that are

29:41

like, Alright, come on, it's

29:44

time to do a tough like, like,

29:44

what words of advice might you

29:47

have for those folks?

29:50

I'd say it was

29:50

worth it. You know, I think I

29:53

mean, you have to know yourself.

29:53

I mean, if, you know, I was kind

29:56

of hanging out in in light

29:56

territory, you know, especially

30:00

That that Pearl Harbor one, you

30:00

know, it's kind of toying with

30:03

it. And, you know, I mean, I

30:03

might have been fine shoulder

30:07

maybe was, who knows, maybe that

30:07

was an excuse or something. And,

30:10

you know, if that isn't one of

30:10

reregister whatever, I don't

30:12

know, but but I would say, you

30:12

know, if you're constantly doing

30:18

things and and again, that's the

30:18

thing, once I got it started

30:20

with this, I mean, pretty much

30:20

out at least every weekend with

30:23

the rock club, and then a couple

30:23

times a week, just doing

30:26

something, you know, it made it

30:26

made the tough something that

30:32

you could do. You know,

30:32

obviously, somebody's doing

30:35

nothing to jump into a tub. But,

30:35

but if you're progressing, I

30:39

would strongly encourage someone

30:39

to, you know, to take the next

30:43

step, to go up to the next one.

30:43

Now, I'm going to say that and I

30:45

don't know, like, in six months

30:45

or a year, someone's going to

30:47

try to talk me into a heavy

30:49

and say you got a

30:49

next step. Yeah, I

30:51

was gonna say

30:51

there's always a next step. So,

30:55

so I gotta be careful what I say

30:55

here. Someone's going to use it

30:57

on me. But,

30:59

but I will Yeah, by

30:59

city by city. You heard it here.

31:02

Yep. What? Blake's Blake's ready

31:02

for that next

31:05

day, they're gonna keep it for the sound clip and play it back to me sometime

31:07

I can see it, but um, you know,

31:10

it is, is there's always

31:10

something something else out

31:12

there. And it's just

31:12

interesting, you know, they, you

31:16

know, not to get too cliche

31:16

here, but people always say

31:18

that, you know, if you look at

31:18

the people that you hang around,

31:20

that's kind of who you become or

31:20

whatever. And I look at some of

31:23

the people that that I hang

31:23

around and I'm like, the they're

31:26

they're very inspirational and

31:26

some of the stuff the workouts

31:30

that they do and the craziness

31:30

you know, it's like yeah, if I

31:35

if I stay here and you know, my

31:35

I'd be the slowest guy in this

31:38

pack, but this pack is pretty,

31:38

pretty tough. So you know, and

31:43

you do then you start to look for Okay, what's the next challenge? What's the next thing

31:45

you know, so GORUCK kind of

31:49

makes it natural you know, you

31:49

go from light or now basic to a

31:53

tough and you know, I definitely

31:53

feel like I probably need a few

31:58

toughs under my belt, but but

31:58

there there, it could be a heavy

32:02

in the future. I should say more

32:02

definitive, there will be this,

32:07

see.

32:08

Well, that's, that's

32:08

awesome, man. I wish you all the

32:12

best in that journey. Get a

32:12

couple more of those toughs

32:14

under your belt and I look

32:14

forward to having you back on

32:19

when we talk about you.

32:19

completing your first heavy

32:22

that'll be a fun episode.

32:23

There you go.

32:25

Awesome. Well,

32:25

again, man, thanks for your time

32:27

today. And we'll see you out

32:27

there Under The Log.

32:31

Alright, sounds good. Thanks.

32:38

I absolutely love

32:38

that Blake's introduction to

32:40

rucking involves being told to

32:40

roll around and some dirt and

32:43

water. And he's like, I'm

32:43

totally coming back next week.

32:48

He's our kind of people, y'all.

32:48

With that. Thanks for listening

32:51

to this episode of Under The Log

32:51

with Blake Matthews. If you'd

32:56

like to see shownotes transcript

32:56

for the episode or links to

33:00

stuff that we talked about,

33:00

visit us at Under The log.com.

33:04

And while you're there, you can

33:04

find links to our social media

33:07

profiles. We'd absolutely love

33:07

to connect online. And if you

33:11

haven't already, you know,

33:11

subscribe to the podcast

33:13

wherever you get your podcasts

33:13

from. If you are enjoying the

33:17

content that we're putting out,

33:17

we'd be really appreciated if

33:20

you left us a positive rating.

33:20

And you know, that's it for me.

33:26

I guess we'll see you next time.

33:26

Under The Log.