Dog Vomit And One Bloody Nipple

As a high school World History teacher, I like to start off my class by going over what I call the "Ancient Proverb of the Day". What I do is have a proverb from some ancient civilization written on the board when the students come into my class. They are to write the proverb down while I take attendance, and then we discuss what they believe the proverb to mean. As a master of classroom management, I have found this to be a very effective way to begin class in an orderly and structured manner.

One of my favorite Ancient Proverbs that I use at some point in time every school year is from an ancient Hebrew text: : "As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." I don't really know why I like that proverb so much, but I go over it at least once a school year. The kids get a kick out if it, and the message is simple. You are a fool if you make the same mistakes over and over.

Like many people, I pride myself on learning from my past mistakes, and do everything I can to ensure they don't happen again. We had our first raining ruck this past Sunday. We have quite a few new people that are going to compete at the Mountain Man Memorial March this spring. They are mostly all CrossFitters, so they work out, but we still thought it would be smart to start off with a relatively short 7 mile ruck. No problem.

I am aware that I am a strong rucker. Not really a skill that is highly sought after in our modern civilian society, but I can put a heavy pack on my back and get after it. Last year when we did the Bataan Memorial Death March, me and my buddies from Comal CrossFit pretty much had it figured out by the time that race day came. Much of it was trial and error, but at the end of the day there wasn't much we didn't know about this type of physical activity. This training paid off, and we killed it at Bataan. (If you happen to be a new reader, check some earlier posts about Bataan)

My lucky Comal Crossfit shirt. Nipple blood visible.

Needless to say I wasn't real worried about the ruck as we all met at Brandon Bonser's house Sunday morning for the 7 mile ruck. I could ruck 7 miles in my sleep. When I arrived and we all began to mill around and prep the water for the turnaround point, I heard Mike Hoge mention something about taping up his nipples to prevent the awful chafing that a wet shirt can inflict on a man's nipples when he runs. We learned this lesson last year, and each man developed his own way to prevent the nipple chafe. You can use scotch tape, athletic tape, band aids, wear a tight fitting Under Armour type shirt, or many other things. Whatever works best for you. I had thought briefly about it the night before in preparing for the ruck, but for a measly 7 miler. Why even bother to mess with it?

Anyway, Jason Mosely and I drove down to the 3.5 mile turnaround point where I left my truck with all the water in it. I hopped in with Jason, and we headed back to the Bonser residence where everyone was stretched and ready to go. We shortly strapped on the rucks and away we went.

I felt real good and set a fast tempo, but it didn't take long to realize how humid it was. The weather felt good and all, but I was real sweaty after 15 minutes of running. By 30 minutes my favorite (and lucky) white Comal CrossFit shirt that I have literally rucked hundreds of miles in was drenched. I didn't care though because I was back to rucking with a great group of friends! Out in the Creation, and it was a fine morning!

I got to the turnaround point, slammed a Gatorade and water, then hit the road for the 3.5 miles back. My pace was real good, and I didn't want to slow down at all. I figure it was about at the 5.5 mile mark where I began to notice the discomfort of a sweaty shirt rubbing on my bare nipples. No worries though, only a couple of miles to go. I pressed on at a good clip, dealt with the increasing discomfort of my right nipple being chafed, and finished the 7 mile ruck in 1:12:38. Not bad.

Lucky shirt inside out.

I went ahead and took off my ruck where I could change into a nice dry shirt. As I took off my lucky white Comal CrossFit shirt, I noticed some bright red blood on it. I thought I must have chafed real bad on my back, but I didn't feel anything. Then I looked at where the blood was on the shirt. Could it be? My nipple chafed so much it was bleeding? Yep.

Moral of this post: Who was the dog that returned to his vomit this past Sunday morning? This guy. Lesson learned, and my nipples will never go uncovered during a ruck again. I should have known the Good Book was always right.

That One Hippie Song

I remember hearing some old hippie song that talked about there being a right time and place for everything. That there are cycles to life, and in due time what needs to happen will in fact happen. It's a pretty cool song. Well, I got to thinking about that song a while back when my friends and I from Comal Crossfit began to kick around the idea of doing another heavy marathon. That is, completing a marathon with a 35 pound ruck sack on our back. We had considered doing the Bataan Memorial Death March again, but we figured that we could all use a change of scenery.

The Smoky Mountains of Tennessee

After talking it over, a big group of us, nearly 20 in all, have decided to head east this time to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. There is a race there called the Mountain Man Memorial March. It's the same as Bataan in that it is a full marathon with a 35 pound ruck on, but it is held every year to honor a younger generation of Americans.

Anyway, my beautiful wife insisted that the old blog get dusted off and fired up again since I want to step in the Arena. I guess that time has rolled around once more. The season of rucking is here. There were literally dozens of people that read my blog last spring so what the heck. Here it goes again. I just wish I could remember the words to that old hippie song.

For everything there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die. 

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

A time to search and a time to quit searching.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace.