My stepkids,

have a great sense of humor, and a fairly cruel stepmom.

At 0610, I climbed out of bed, thinking, what a nice morning for a hike! I need some company!

Because they are children, and not very wise, all three got up and agreed to a happy trudge.

Six miles (1:48, with 50lbs of crap) later...I took them out to breakfast (getting them out of bed had required bribery), and they turned to some serious napping. They're just now starting to roam around again.

Heh.

I have to admit, I was impressed. Number One Son often accompanies me on jogs and trudges, and so I wasn't surprised that he hung in there (and considering that he's carrying only a 2-quart canteen, there's no reason he shouldn't have). Number Two Son and Girl Child, however...really wanted to stop after the first three miles, but kept going. Then they really wanted to turn around at the point that would have made for five miles, but they had the stopwatch and CamelBack, so they just kept tromping. Good on them.

I have got to get Number One Son to stop thinking it's moto to run the last couple of blocks, though. Maybe if I give him the pack and vest for that part...

Just because

I don't have anything to say doesn't mean I shouldn't blog, I guess. Because then the bar starts creeping up in my own mind, and then I'm not posting because I don't have anything important to say.

Ha! As though anyone comes here for important.

In recent adventures...

It came to my attention that an upcoming Army evolution will involve a timed trudge with gear. One of my comrades remarked that he was buying a new set of boots for this trudge (which is 6.2 miles). He will be buying the shiny high-speed-low-drag Oakley boots, which he has never had before, and which are just-recently-authorized for wear.



I came home and remarked to the Mister that buying a new pair of boots that one has never had before, shortly before and specifically for a hump (that's Marine for trudge - in the Army it seems one "ruckmarches" or "rucks") seemed like a recipe for blisters. And, I concluded, silly. Because c'mon, it's only 6.2 miles.

The Mister agreed, then made a shockingly insensitive observation.

It's not very far at all, he said. But, Abby, you haven't done that stuff since you left the Marine Corps. It might not be easy anymore, because now you're 30.

Hmmm. Could be true. So I busted out the trusty 20-lb weighted vest (close enough to body armor, I figured), and my awesome-but-not-sexy Belleville boots.



(just as a side note, for any deploying reserve or Guard types I might have, they will often issue these boots during your mobilization. Snatch them up if you get the chance, or request them if you can see them on the shelf at supply)

I took off in the evening with Number One Son and a three-mile course ('cause, you know, a three-mile course done twice is a six-mile course). We should, I told him, walk briskly. Really awesome performance would be 15-minute miles, the sucky minimum we would accept would be 20-minute miles.

So we trudged. And trudged and trudged, and sweated a little, and drank some water. As another side note - taking a teenage boy with you provides not only someone to carry the water, but provides extra incentive to not be a slow wimp.

We finished at 1:37, for 16:15 miles, which I felt was pretty respectable. The vest did kick my ass - I highly recommend it if you feel the need to suffer more. Walking with it wasn't rough at all, but it did limit any running to a very slow shuffle. I knew that would suck, but when we got close to the end I really wanted to see if we could hit 1:36, hence the hustle. Alas....

I was feeling pretty good about myself until the next morning. When I woke up and...couldn't move. I'm almost recovered now, and we'll be doing it again with a little more weight either tonight or tomorrow.

After that (of course), I finally got the standard we'd be trudging to in the upcoming event.

• 55lbs. or a third of your body weight (whichever is less) to include IBA, Weapon, LBV and Ruck
• 10 Kilometers = 6.2 miles
• 3 Hours or less
• Go / No-Go grade
• Mostly flat surface

I'm not overwhelmingly concerned, but I figure I'll dry run it a couple more times just to ensure I don't suck when we do it.

Civic obligation MET!

Well, that was a bit of a disappointment. Went down, checked in, got assigned to a district criminal court.

Had lunch, drank coffee, was ready to go in for the voir dire part, and...case settled (or something), no jury required. Thank you for your time, here's $6, have a great day.

[sigh]

I was number 52 of 60, so I probably wouldn't have made it on the jury anyway, but I was hoping for a little more of a learning experience in return for a day of my time.

Civic duty

Remember the jury duty notice I got before I went to Court Licks? Yeah. Well, I got it postponed, but because I really kinda at least want to go see what this is all about, I did not request an exemption.

And that postponement...well, it was good for about a month.

So off I go today, with a vague and crappy map of the downtown area. What fun.