The sun was shining, the weather was warm, my ruck was loaded, and I was ready to embrace the challenge of the Race to Robie Creek half marathon yet again.
The last time I attempted to conquer Robie (and got brutally dominated) was in 2011 with my mom. It was one of those runs that I hadn't properly trained for--it was my third half marathon and I hadn't trained hills... and Robie is one BIG, LONG hill--so it was one of my worst races to date. I told myself I'd never run another Robie, so when my colleague asked me to ruck it with him, I got all "Defender hooah" on him and said, "Sure, why not?"
Now, in case you're not familiar with the Race to Robie Creek, which has been hailed as the "hardest half in the lower 48 states," it's essentially 8.5-miles and 2200 feet uphill and then 4.6 miles and 2000 feet downhill. It's rough, it's tough, and it makes your legs and feet beg for mercy the entire way. That's why, when it kicked my butt in 2011, I said I'd never run it again. Here's a course map of Robie to give you an idea of the challenging route up and over Aldape Summit.
Now, despite not wanting to run Robie again, rucking is a different story. I've trained for rucks before, since we had to run a 6-mile course with a 35-pound ruck to graduate the Security Forces Officer Course (of which I took second place out of 35 students) so I was looking forward to this training.
I began training 12-weeks out with a combination of Hal Higdon's Intermediate 2 half marathon plan as well as throwing on my 35-pound training ruck and rucking either through the hills of Palm Desert while we were on vacation, around base on flat ground, or on varied incline settings on the treadmill for anywhere from 30-120 minutes 3x per week. I documented all my training on my AunieFit Instagram account. My goal with the training was to train the full running distance without a ruck and then to train up to a little more than half the time with the ruck on. The thing about rucking is that it makes my hips really freakin' sore, so I didn't want to overdo it and injure myself before the race. In addition, I really liked the half marathon plan I chose and have used it before, so I knew it could help get me to the running distance I needed, while still helping me work on speed for my shorter runs. I was nervous that the ruck training I did wouldn't be enough for this race, but it turns out that setting the treadmill on "random" at 3.5 mph and rucking for 1-2 hours is a pretty darn good workout and totally set me up for success on this ruck.
OK--so race day. My teammate and I were the only people who signed up to ruck, though we thought we might have had a couple more people join us. Robie is tricky because they only let so many people run it, so we were glad that at least we had been able to get bibs in time. We wore matching "Honor the Fallen" Defender shirts that we got from the Security Forces schoolhouse down in Texas. We rucked with the names of 14-fallen Defenders and rucking in their memory was the most amazing, humbling, incredible thing we could have done. They gave us strength to get through it! Here's a pic of pre-race flat Lt Rowe.
We met up at Fort Boise to start the race right around 1100. We had an hour before the race started so we chatted, got our rucks ready, and began to dread the impending doom ahead.
My husband came to see us off at the start of the race. He was very supportive during this whole race since he knew how much it meant to me to ruck with my coworker and to proudly wear the uniform of the Idaho Air National Guard. It's not every day you get to do something so cool and honor your workplace by doing so!
Sisic's ruck was 50-pounds and mine was 35. I had mine loaded with armored vest plates, water, and a change of clothes. He had a 45-pound sandbag, water, and clothes in his. They were all strapped up and ready to go!
The theme for this year was a "Space Odyssey" so there were all sorts of people in fun space-themed outfits and even an astronaut who ran along with us. We took this photo right before we headed to the start line at 1200.
The race kicked off promptly at noon and we were moving! We went right by the Veteran's Home and shook hands with all the vets outside--that was a really neat part of the race. We had originally started in the very back since we knew we'd be walking the entire race, and the back was where we stayed for the duration of the race. It was kind of funny--when we started out, I said, "I don't care about time! Let's just finish" and "Well, at least we know we won't get last!" It's funny because for a good hour or so during the race... we. were. last.
The thing about races is that you never know if you're going to have a good race or a bad race until you're out on the course. And it's always those days that are perfect weather, you have a buddy with you, and you feel just super-prepared that "bad race day" sneaks in and destroys the mojo. Well that's what happened to us that day.
We had anticipated to ruck at about a 16-18 min/mile pace and finish around 3:30. It was Sisic's fifth time rucking Robie, so he had a pretty good idea of what to expect. We were right on pace until mile 3 when cramps took over my poor colleague and ravaged him for the next 5-miles--all of which were uphill, of course. Needless to say, I felt pretty good (which is what always happens when one training partner has a bad race, the other one is like more fly than a kite), so I did my best to ensure we stopped for water and bananas at every aid station and then of course also made sure he downed some Gu's and my emergency stash of jelly beans. I knew I'd need them in some capacity when I packed them!
We trudged up the hill for 8-5 grueling miles (left photo is going up, right photo is coming down and you can thank those rucks for squeezing the crap out of our midsections in the pictures--ooh baby, so flattering). We stopped here and there for cramps and at all the aid stations, but kept moving slowly and steadily along. Most of the folks who run Robie actually RUN it, so it was no surprise that we ended up in last place for a while there. When cramps, rucks, and walking collide, you're bound to slow down and let the runners, joggers, and speed walkers pass. No biggie.
As we made it to the top of the hill, the Temptation Station called my name. I had waited all day for a stinkin' donut (I deserved that donut!) but they were fresh out... dangit! Instead, the gal at the top said, "We don't have donuts, but we do have shots of Fireball!" So I decided to compromise and indulged her shot of fireball instead of a donut. I think it even helped perk me up for the last 5-miles!
Heading down the hill really helped us out. We'd been going pretty slow on the uphill with paces of 16, 19, 21, 25, 29, and 39-minute miles (that last one was a KILLER, I tell you!), but as soon as we switched to the decline our pace quickened to 14-16 min/miles and we even managed to pass 15 or so people as we kicked it in to high gear. We were there, man. As we came to the finish, we began to shuffle our way toward the finish line and victory never felt so good. We didn't win any medals, but we finished and that was a win in our books.
While our original goal had been 3:30, we were happy when it was over and we crossed with a 4:40:74. Nope, it wasn't our goal time, but we did it nevertheless and were happy we didn't finish dead last!
The cool part about the finish was that since we finished so late, there was a HUGE line of 400-600 people waiting to get on the buses. They all clapped for us as we finished and said how neat it was that we had rucked the whole thing. We immediately dashed all feelings of being slow and felt like rockstars with rucks the size of small children on our backs. HOOAH.
We made it to the end and celebrated with a couple draft beers (two of their last!) and two dry deli meat sandwiches that the volunteers were nice enough to give us. The event normally has a really awesome catered array of food for finishers, but we kind of took too long and they had already cleaned it up. Whoops! So we sipped our drinks and ate two of the best ham and turkey sandwiches we'd ever had because after five hours of wearing our rucks and little to no food along the way--we were starving!
In the end, there was no "I'm never doing this again" that was uttered by either of us. We are both already planning to ruck Robie again next year, and hopefully with a few more Defenders by our sides. To ruck in honor of our past Defenders and to do it alongside each other encompassed a morale and espirit de corps that was too amazing. It was a humbling run, and one that I look forward to next year.
I'd like to give a huge shout-out to my teammate, TSgt Sisic, who was right there alongside me and put one foot after another all the way to the end. You're a bad-A, Sisic and I couldn't have been more proud to be your teammate from start to finish at this race. Thanks for inviting me to share this event with you!
