First Step Fitness: January - what the ruck?!?

What exactly is rucking? Simply put it's when you put weight on your back and go for a walk. A "ruck sack" in the military is the backpack soldiers wear to carry their gear; in training scenarios soldiers can carry upwards of 200 pounds for over 25 miles. Well as I'm no longer in the military I'm not trying to carry 200 lbs around. The personal reasons I ruck are to honor our military and for fitness.
My really good friend, Alyssa, is a fan of rucking and has gotten me hooked. It's helped fill in the void of running. I carry 20 lbs in my little ruck. The weight I use is individually wrapped bricks and they sit on a yoga block to help distribute the weight.
Alyssa and I were in the middle of a ruck back in November and we stopped for a coffee break. She jokingly mentioned doing a 24 hour ruck at the Destin Ultra in February. Well she joked with the wrong person because now we are all signed up to do it! I've been loosely following a half marathon training plan during January to prepare for the ultra.
I met another good friend, Rebecca, at the Big Lagoon State Park for a ruck on Saturday, January 9th. We ended up doing 6 miles that morning.

It's a really nice place to hike. The boardwalks are great and take you across the lagoon. The worst part of hiking here is the amount of sand on the trails (but that's a common thing for Florida trails in this area). A good portion of the trail is actually just thick sand that's hard to walk through which just adds to the fitness aspect of this hike.

It also has a nice overlook that has great views of the gulf.

On Thursday morning's I meet some mom friends at the seawall on NAS Pensacola. Most of my mom friends push their little ones, but since mine are in school I just wear my ruck. The seawall is a great little path that follows the water. Round trip it's 2 miles. One Thursday this month is was eerily foggy, and it was awesome! I've never seen fog like that and it made for such an enjoyable morning.

The ship looked so cool out there!

Just such a neat view.

I know my photos just don't do it justice...

The ship docked at the turnaround.

With the Destin Ultra coming up I knew I had to get a few rucks on the actual beach in (the ultra takes place entirely in sand). I did most of them at the beach on NAS Pensacola. Here's a shot of my ruck:

Always little treasures along the way

I had some pretty great weather for my beach rucks

Seawall ruck's are enjoyable because of the view. It's just so pretty along the water. It's probably one of my favorite spots in Pensacola.

You also never know what you'll see along the seawall. Herons are a common site as are dolphins and pelicans.

At the end of January I met another good friend, who also happens to be a veteran, at the Naval Live Oaks Preserve for a ruck. If you want to learn about what it means to ruck this is your guy! His stories and his motivation will inspire you. It was a beautiful morning for a 3.3 mile ruck.