Early Retirement Extreme Forums

This Saturday we held the first ERE [death] March in Elk Grove, IL.

See viewtopic.php?p=271382#p271382 for details.

We walked 24km/~15miles each rucking weights in proportion to the size of our respective egos whether that was realistic or not. In my case it was not. I ended up with ~6 square inches worth of blisters, a new personal record.

Two elks were spotted.

A good time was had by all (nobody died) so we plan to do it again sometime in October or December.

Feel free to join.

Flexible guidelines, subject to change:
Two rounds on a paved bike trail (12km loop). No elevation gain. Ruck weight is as much as you want (zero is acceptable, also helium). We stay together as a group for the first round (pace ~ 3.6 mph or 10 min/km) and split according to individual pace for the second round. It's possible to bail after the first loop. Restrooms every 3-6km depending on the season. Duration ~ 4hrs. We'll wait for everybody to come in at the end.

It was a great time! No blisters for me thankfully, but my calves and hips are still a little sore. Interestingly, my left hip is much more beat up than my right. Seems like a slight imbalance in how I was carrying my load really compounded over such a long (by my standards) distance.

For the next one I might try a ~20lb weight vest instead of a ~40lb backpack. I will see how my ruck training progresses these next couple months.

It would be great to meet more people at the next one. The time felt like it flew by because I was engaged in interesting conversation the whole time.

Good times for sure, and looking forward to the next few walks!

Had some inner leg chafing the the day of the walk, and been having some slight feet soreness the last couple of days, especially the left foot. Minimalist footwear side effect?

I'm also considering what I want to do with the weight going forward. I'm considering selling my weight vest and weights, in which case I'd either go weightless or carry 2 7.5-10 lb dumbbells . Like @Smashter, I plan on reducing the weight if I do the full length March next year.

Strong agree with @Smasther's point that it would be awesome if more people came! I had the same experience of the walk absolutely flying by because of fun conversation.

Hope we see some other folks the next time.

Ha, for over a decade I carried around at least 40 lbs of kid/gear everywhere I went. I never thought of it as rucking but I guess it was lol.

Do you guys carry the weight in the front or back? Or do you use one of those harness things to distribute the weight?

@jennypenny:
Yeah, I remember one time during those years I walked someplace without a kid on my back or pulling 3 in a wagon, and I felt like I was floating down the sidewalk. The other members of my pre-school co-op were mostly much older and more affluent than young-hippie-mom-me, so they actually offered to chip in and buy me a double stroller, because my DD at age 2.5 was in the 99th percentile for height and weight, and I would trudge along through the snow or whatever with her on my back.

Ha, you two are expert ruckers for sure. I am more used to being around parents who push their children in strollers whenever possible. And that continues until age 4 or 5. I am always really tempted to encourage the kids to walk, or to offer to hold them, but I don't want to seem like I am imposing my values on the parents.

Dave wore a weight vest with the weight evenly distributed between front and back. Jacob and I used backpacks.

My backpack had a hip belt but I didn't end up using it because neither of the other guys had one and I decided to suffer alongside them.

For the next one I think I will use my weight vest and see how that goes.

Round two planned for Oct 1st 2023 at the Fullersburg Forest Preserve in Oak Brook, IL.

We'll be walking as a semi-together-group for 1-2-4-6 hours staying together for the first couple of hours and then splitting up/returning to start/sitting down according to individual preferences.

PM if interested.

Many parents do things all the time that fitness junkies compartmentalize and glamourize . Rucking heavy kids and gear around, clean and jerking kids from ground into air, isometric arm holds for 60+ minutes, sprinting to a yelling kid. Definitely a more form of integrated fitness/physical health, WoGs and all that .

I ended up selling my weight vest and plates, so I'll be doing this walk carrying dumbbells, 10-15lb/hand.

jacob wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 22, 2023 11:17 am

Round two planned for Oct 1st 2023 at the Fullersburg Forest Preserve in Oak Brook, IL.

Route: A 6km loop on a wide well-maintained mostly unpaved trail in the woods. Sneakers/joggers are fine. Elevation gain is limited but it is not flat. We'll be repeating the loop 4 times or until everybody has had enough. This strategy allows for walking 6k, 12k, 18k, or 24k.

Speed: Expectation is 1 hour per loop. (This is fast relative to the average person.) We'll stay together as a group for the first loop. After that, the group splits up and people can walk according to their own speed. (Last time, we kept in touch over group SMS.) The trail system is pretty flexible, so if anyone wants to bail, it's possible to walk but a single kilometer ... or skip the last 2 km on a given loop. E.g. slowpokes could walk 4k, take a 10-20minute break, and then latch onto the lead group again.

Rucking weight: Some will be carrying weight. Some will not. The size and shape of the weight is optional. Plates, dumbbells, rocks, encyclopedias... For those opting to carry a small child, please bring your own.

Facilities: Toilets at the starting point. Also free wifi. Much of the route contains benches or gazebos which I've never seen anyone actually use. We could establish a base camp at one of the gazebos in which case we'll pick it out on the first round. Alternatively, the starting point is also a pretty nice place to hang out.

Water: Only out of the toilet sinks as far as I know. I'll bring a water brick for refilling people.

Temperature: 68-75F

How to get there: Only by car as far as I know. Lots of free parking is available. No entrance fee.

We just finished our second ERE Dreadmarch.

Four of us---one more than last time---walked loops of 10+6+6 = 22km (13.6 miles) briefly stopping at the parking lot to refill (waters and sugars) after completing a loop.

This time, no wildlife observations but a few random onlookers commenting how we---wearing weighted gear and passing everybody along the way---appeared to be "serious" and/or "stupid" respectively, both of which we laughingly agreed with. Indeed, this "sufferfest" of ours was not readily comprehensible to the common everyman, but also something that we readily owned.

As also noted in the EREFest thread, this once again showed how supposed introverts are happy to talk continuously for 4+ hours straight (or more) as long as there's something interesting to talk about and someone interesting to talk about it with. And in-between EREmites, there usually is.

Join us for round 3 sometime in December. Route to be determined. We can repeat a previous route or do a new one. Suggestions are welcome.

jacob wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 01, 2023 1:55 pm

This time, no wildlife observations but a few random onlookers commenting how we---wearing weighted gear and passing everybody along the way---appeared to be "serious" and/or "stupid" respectively, both of which we laughingly agreed with. Indeed, this "sufferfest" of ours was not readily comprehensible to the common everyman, but also something that we readily owned.

Ha, yes, @Dave walking while holding 12lb dumbbells in each hand (and sometimes curling them just to show off ) seemed to raise the most eyebrows.

jacob wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 01, 2023 1:55 pm

As also noted in the EREFest thread, this once again showed how supposed introverts are happy to talk continuously for 4+ hours straight (or more) as long as there's something interesting to talk about and someone interesting to talk about it with. And in-between EREmites, there usually is.

I sweated through three shirts and got a blister but would have gone even further because it was such a quality hang session. Looking forward to the next one.

Definitely another great time, +1 to the thoughts of introversion melting away in the presence of similar minds. Good new scenery today, really nice. It was also really great to have another forumite join us!

Smashter wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 01, 2023 4:43 pm

Ha, yes, @Dave walking while holding 12lb dumbbells in each hand (and sometimes curling them just to show off ) seemed to raise the most eyebrows.

After deep analysis of my WoG, I decided carrying dumbbells is more homeotelic with more yields (calories burned, strength in the legs and core, but as opposed to vests/packs dumbbells also strength in the forearms and fingers) while also converting physical capital (i.e. vest + weights) into high ROI financial securities and freeing up additional space in the garage . I'll keep you guys posted of the wisdom of doing so tomorrow when I'm carrying my son and my fingers lock up...

Looking forward to another one in December. I come back up on December 16th, so I'm available December 17th and later!

Smashter wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 01, 2023 4:43 pm

... would have gone even further...

Effortwise, a heavy half-marathon distance = a light full-marathon, so we could drop half the weight and go for ~7 hours instead next time.

For the virtual event, the website still says TBH, but as far as I can figure out, it runs from 3/16 2024 + 7 days.

I made it out. Really enjoyed meeting everyone and having the ERE conversations in person. It's hard to overstate the value of IRL social proof. It makes what we're doing here feel normal. Mundane even. That helps to sustain change and promote further growth.

The rucking - it looked tough. I opted for no weight and bowed out towards the end of loop 2. My Garmin says 9.5 miles. It was a smart choice, as I'm walking a little funny today anyways. 6kmph is a slow jog for me, hah. Having a better grasp of Jacob's marching goals, a couple decades of ERE living keeps the body strong.

December looks feasible for me as well. Dunno about making it 7 hours though. If anyone's interested but hesitant about keeping pace - I'm open to shortcuts, rest breaks and meandering. Jacob did a great job of offering a flexible route, where people could dip in and out.

Sounds fun. I wish I was in the area so I could join. I've spent countless miles and hours carrying a ruck, to the point that it still feels like home to cinch down those shoulder straps and move out.

If you are looking to add another layer, you can practice your pace counts and get your distances locked in. Comes in handy when walking to keep track of your precise location without GPS: https://sofrep.com/specialoperations/ba ... ace-count/

If you want to increase the suck, you can also carry a sledgehammer or other similarly sized/weight object to mimic the weight of a rifle.

Sharing a meal after the ruck is good for (tribal) morale purposes and could also provide the opportunity to test some primitive/camp cooking skills. It's easy to see how you can implement more bug out preparation for a not-unrealistic SHTF situation similar to Ukraine where you might have to walk for a few days to get to a safer area. Might as well get your packing list and tools straight if you're going to be carrying all that weight.

The pro tip with preventing blisters is to cover the hot spots before they turn into blisters. As soon as you feel some rubbing (heat), cover the spot with moleskin or even just a band aid depending on the location. It should prevent it from turning into a full-blown blister.

Smashter wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 01, 2023 4:43 pm

I sweated through three shirts and got a blister but would have gone even further because it was such a quality hang session. Looking forward to the next one.

This is why I like the synthetic athletic fabrics because I've found that they absorb much less sweat, which means more will evaporate. Less sweat means less chafing. The rucks with frames provide airflow to your back which is also important. Having said that, almost all of the rucking I've done has been in 2 layers of shirts because that's how the uniform is set up, but I wouldn't recommend that if you can avoid it. I've rucked in 110F+ RealFeel but I have an unusually high heat tolerance and witnessed 2 near death heat strokes from others in similar conditions.

white belt wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 02, 2023 10:04 pm

The pro tip with preventing blisters is to cover the hot spots before they turn into blisters. As soon as you feel some rubbing (heat), cover the spot with moleskin or even just a band aid depending on the location. It should prevent it from turning into a full-blown blister.

Leukotape works wonders and can be put on in advance if there are spots on your feet that regularly get hotspots/blisters. Otherwise it can be applied in the same manner as mentioned by @whitebelt above. The stuff is way better than any other tape as well in that it stays on if it gets wet. I've had it on before for over a week even while fording rivers etc.

theanimal wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 03, 2023 9:15 am

The stuff is way better than any other tape as well in that it stays on if it gets wet.

This has always been my problem and why I have avoided taping hot spots as they happen---the tape ends up somewhere else inside the sock doing damage. For a 2+ day march, taping it up in the morning works, but I have not found a way to make it work midway through.

I came across a book called fixing your feet when trying to sort my blister issues. It seems to be an ultra running Bible of sorts:

https://www.amazon.com/Fixing-Your-Feet ... 643590634/

His premise is blisters result from shearing forces on the skin. Remove the friction, prevent the blister.

Not playing at your scale, so the advice to smooth callouses, trim nails and lotion has been enough for me. But he's big on these engo patches as a preventative tool:

https://www.amazon.com/Engo-Blister-Pre ... 003URZNW0/

Supposedly better than mole skin. Lots of information on in the moment repairs as well, complete with absolutely disgusting pictures.

I don't want to be a buzz killer but should we really be encouraging ERE meetups when it's just going to encourage long distance travel and more carbon emissions ?