March 12, 2021 • 26 mins
Larry Shaffer Jr. and Larry Shaffer III, aka "The Larrys" join us on this episode of Under the Log to talk about the 2021 GORUCK Bragg Heavy. Yes, this event had the option for a Double Heavy and, yes, if you know the Larrys you would think they'd be all about that. Well, towards the end of the interview they tip their hand a little bit about why they only signed up for the one heavy. They also let me know that both of them have recently purchased a GR2.
Among other things, Larry and Larry discuss how they got into GORUCK events and what it is like to do them as a father and son.
As we mentioned in the show, a great way to support this podcast is to visit RuckingChallenges.com and register for this month's event.
If you're feeling inspired to do a GORUCK event, you can find upcoming events right here.
Finally, we didn't talk about it in this episode, but if you'd like help training for a GORUCK event, check out these GORUCK Training Guides and our Ruck WOD website.
The Under The Log Podcast is part of The Rucking Collective, a collection of websites devoted to the sport of rucking.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ryan Burns (00:11):
Hey, gang. Welcome to another episode of under the
law, the podcast full ofinterviews with folks who
recently participated in goruckevents. In today's episode, we
talked to Larry, and another guynamed Larry.
That's right. We're talking totwo guys named Larry.
We're going to talk to themabout their recent goruck brag
(00:31):
heavy. In addition, we'll talkto them about what it's like to
be a father and son doing eventstogether. And they've done a
few, like somewhere near 50.
It's pretty awesome.
Before we get started, if youappreciate the podcast and want
to support us, this is oursister website,
(00:54):
ruckingchallenges.com and signup for this month's challenge.
Better yet, grab a monthlysubscription, you signing up at
ruckingchallenges.com helps toeep this podcast alive.
Alright, enough of that. Let'sget on to the interview.
(01:18):
All right, so Larry, and, Larry,I've done a few events with you
guys. And I have to say thatlike one of my, one of my
favorite parts is is during rollcall. So cadre is there. And
he's calling off the names andall of a sudden he'll he'll say,
you know, Larry Shaffer, whichis pretty much always followed
(01:39):
with both of you saying outloud, which one? And the CADRE
will usually say Jr, at whichpoint, Larry, the dad in this
situation will be like, Oh,that's me. And it never ceases
to amaze me. The cadre just kindof stares at you stares at the
stares at your son. And is justlike, I don't know what to do
(02:01):
with this information. Is Isthat pretty much what happens at
every event that you guys do?
Larry Jr. (02:07):
You I think it is nowadays that we've done enough
of these things. Most of theCADRE know us now but
occasionally no doubt. They sayLarry Larry and they get totally
confused.
Ryan Burns (02:17):
In all seriousness, like how am I supposed to do
this interview with you guys?
like should I should I addressyou is like Larry Jr. and Larry,
the third old Larry young Larry,like, like, how's this gonna
work?
Larry III (02:31):
Anything works for me. I've been called trip tray
three. Anything works. Okay, Iknow f f three causes old Larry
and young Larry which, you know,make some sense to. Okay.
Ryan Burns (02:44):
Well, I'll just say, Larry, and just see which one of
you takes it. Let you fight itout. So we're gonna talk today,
obviously, about the 2021GORUCK Fort Bragg heavy event
hat you guys both completedecently.
(03:04):
But I think I think I've justgot to begin at the beginning
with you guys. I mean, a fatherand son doing goruck events
together. It's an it's prettycool thing. And as you
mentioned, like I've done a tonof events like, like, How many?
How many events? Have you guysdone now?
Larry Jr. (03:25):
We calculated the other day, we've done over 40
events together? Holy cow, andthey've done some separately?
Yes. You know, Casey, we won'ttravel for a tough flight. But
we'll travel for the bigger oneswe've done. I think we've done
well. I know we've done fivehdls together. And then he's got
12 heavies under his belt. Ionly have 10.
Ryan Burns (03:46):
Just 10.
That's a
Larry III (03:50):
double heavy, the double heavy together as well.
Ryan Burns (03:53):
So yeah, that was that was that last year or the
year before?
Larry Jr. (03:57):
That was last year?
Larry III (03:59):
Yep. Okay, this is gonna happen. The whole podcast.
Ryan Burns (04:04):
Yeah, this this is my first time interviewing two
people at the same time. Soit'll be fun. So So you've done
you've done a ton of eventstogether.And separately, but I
guess I guess I'll start with,with older Larry, like how to
tell tell us the origin storyfor you guys. Like what is the
(04:27):
Larry and Larry gorakh originstory? How did y'all even get
into this?
Larry Jr. (04:32):
Well, you know, we started doing adventure races
way back when they were popular.
And then we evolved into OCRraces. We were doing those
together when he was stillliving at home. And he and
little area actually did thefirst goruck event. He did a
tough, a tough and then a toughflight. Then he calls me up says
Hey, Dad, there's this thingcalled go rock. You know, we got
to give it a try. Come on up toVirginia Beach and we'll do it.
(04:53):
So I packed up an old rock andsix bricks. And, you know, I did
a toughLight and enjoyed it. And, you
know, the second event we didwas an HTML. So at that point in
time, it was either very as mywife says, you know, you guys
are just stupid crazy. But it issomething that we've enjoyed,
you know, doing it together, youknow, go rock forges, you know,
(05:14):
camaraderie among people, theydon't even know each other. So
when you put a father and sontogether, it's been it's been a
lot of fun. It's it's been agreat experience. And I'm just
fortunate enough at my age andstill be in good enough shape,
be able to do it. And I workhard at it. But you know, it's,
Ryan Burns (05:33):
yeah, yeah, no doubt. I mean, I'm still a
little struck by the fact thatyour second event was an HTML
like, I don't I don't think Iknew that. So letting that set
in is that's eye opening. Imean, that's no joke. I wonder
you You said that Larry had donea tough light.
Larry III (05:54):
Larry, was that the one that we did together? I
believe so. That was Richmond.
Yes. So that was my, I did onetough in Virginia Beach. And
then I did the Richmond one withyou. And it was a tough flight.
And then I called my dad, likehe said, and we did the Virginia
Beach again, the following year.
Man, that's really cool. Ididn't know that. That was my
(06:17):
that tough flight was my firsttough flight. And that was
actually my second event. Ithink so. I mean, I think that
was like, gosh, four or fiveyears ago now. almost five.
Yeah.
Ryan Burns (06:28):
That's, that's wild.
So with this with doing so manyevents, you know, some together
some some separate? Like,what's, what's the driver for
deciding events for you guys? Isit just like, hey, there's one,
you know, nearby? Let's go like,at 50 events? I mean, you've got
to just be cranking them outleft and right.
Larry Jr. (06:51):
Well, usually we won't travel unless it is a, you
know, a significant one, whetheryou know, whether that be we
went to we went to to France forthe 75th anniversary of
Normandy, which was phenomenal.
And then we'll do the HTL asalways together. And then if
there's a tough light that'sdriving distance in between,
they will just hook up there. Soit really is just a matter of,
(07:14):
you know, can we get there? Andof course, the big events are
the ones that we sometimes wehave to fly to. But, you know,
that's just money we spend.
Ryan Burns (07:23):
Yeah. So So what was the what was the drive to do? Or
the decision for doing the Braggheavy? Like, what? What? Why did
y'all decide to do this one?
Larry III (07:36):
Alright, so we did, we started Bragg back when drone
passed away. So that was thatwas going to be our first brag
heavy. And since we didn't getthat check in the block. This
one was supposed to be special.
We heard from cadre Dan, that itmight possibly be his last brag,
but obviously he's local. Now hethought he was going to get
(07:59):
overseas orders. But I wasbasically told my dad, it's now
or possibly who knows when sojust so happened that we decided
to do it. So
Larry Jr. (08:12):
nice. I will tell you going into it, though Ryan is is
both of us to say we're onlygoing to do the first one.
Because we had other thingscoming up in the future. We
didn't want to over overshootherself. So it was kind of
interesting that everybody'slike, Oh, I can't believe the
Larry's aren't going to do both.
I can't believe the Larry'saren't gonna do both. The good
news is I only signed up forone. So I do not feel bad
leaving. And I'm like, Can youmaybe ask I can tell you what
(08:35):
the hardest event is and themost miserable. And anybody who
was at Bragg this year, I wouldtell you that they will tell you
it was by far the most miserableevent ever. I mean, it was not
It was hard as all its heaviesare, but it was misery. It was
cold and it was raining theentire time. It's horrible.
Ryan Burns (08:56):
Larry, you can confirm. miserable and one of
the hardest.
Larry III (09:01):
Definitely most miserable. The first Cleveland
heavy. The double heavy was ourhardest. We both agreed on that
one too. But as far as miserygoes, Yeah, it was this year's
Bragg heavy for us.
Ryan Burns (09:12):
Okay. Wow. I mean, that's saying something because
you you've got some context toput that in.
Larry Jr. (09:18):
And then like, like Larry said, the most difficult
of all the events was the first24 hours of the double heavy in
Cleveland in August of lastyear. And it wasn't the coupons,
although there were plenty. Itwas it was Cowdray Dan and Qadri
bill. And as Qadri Dan said atone point time and his
vernacular, I'll keep it cleanwas I didn't believe I never
knew Cleveland had so manyhills. And we start we started
(09:43):
out on a ski slope. And we spentthe entire 24 hours on those,
you know, as Dan calls in thoseexpletive hills, it was a bear.
It was it was a tough one.
Ryan Burns (09:54):
Yes, if you're starting on ski slopes, it's not
going to be a good time. Heygang. This is the part of the
podcast where I shamelessly plugrucking challenges.com. You love
rocking. You love a challenge.
It's a match made in heaven.
Every month we have a newrucking challenge that you can
(10:15):
do on your own. Or if you're inone of them fancy rock clubs,
you can do it with them. Andhere's the real deal, since this
podcast doesn't make me anymoney. In fact, the nickels and
dimes I've spent are starting toadd up. You signing up on rockin
challenges.com convinces my wifethat this podcast isn't a
complete waste of time. So doyour part to help keep under the
(10:37):
log alive by signing up atrucking challenges.com today.
Alright, enough of that. Let'sget back to our chat with Larry
and Larry.
So I was just wondering likewith you guys, I mean, with so
(11:00):
many events, I mean, I know likefor my first heavy, like, I
trained my butt off. And, and,you know, I feel like I don't
train with nearly as muchintensity to do events. So like
when you've got a big eventcoming up like the Bragg heavy.
Like, like, do you ramp up yourtraining? or What does the
(11:22):
training look like for you guysthese days?
Larry III (11:28):
Yeah, we've, like my dad said, we've been doing
endurance events for years. Sowe've kind of had a leg up when
we even started to go wreckevents, as far as training, but
we focus a lot on sandbags focusa lot on just heavy miles, at
least I do. I do more heavymiles and actual miles. I think
for the Bragg heavy. For thecouple months leading up to it,
(11:51):
I may be rocked a total of 15miles. But I always had like 65
pounds in my ruck and a 50 or 80pound sandbag on me. And then
just throwing sandbags, liftingthem over your head, and
basically just getting ideasfrom previous events and just
going from there.
Ryan Burns (12:12):
What about what about you, Papa Larry?
Larry Jr. (12:14):
Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of that most of it is, you
know, in the old days, you know,I played football in college is
all about lifting heavy, but nowit's more functional strength.
So it's sandbags. It'skettlebells. It's a lot of push
ups, a lot of pull ups. Andthen, you know, as Larry said,
you know, you got to throw thatheavy bag on your shoulder every
once in a while and go out andjust crank out the miles.
Ryan Burns (12:37):
So when I go back for this interview, and do some
of the editing, I think at thispoint, I'll try and cue up like
some emotional music.
Because I want to talk aboutCharles relationship. And Larry
(13:02):
Jr, you you kind of hinted atthis earlier. Like, there's
something that happens when youdo a goruck event with with
people, people that you've nevermet. Like, you know, that
Richmond event that Larry and Idid together all those years
ago. I mean, I remember grabbingbreakfast with him between
(13:24):
events. And then I think we tooka nap in the car between events.
Yeah. And, and then, you know,like, we've done a few other
events together. But it's like,I totally feel like, you know,
if you were ever in town, or Iwas ever in your town, like we
totally hang out, grab a beerand just connect. And I feel I
feel that way with a lot ofpeople that I've done events
(13:46):
with. And so I just think about,man, what, what a it builds
these special relationships,what has that been like, as a
father and as a son, and Larry,younger Larry, I'll let you lead
off and then your dad can followhim.
Larry III (14:06):
Okay. It's incredible. I never thought that
we would be doing this together.
We've spent much more timetogether over the past few
years, obviously, since I'm inNorfolk, and he's in Georgia. So
we get to spend time togetherand do these events and struggle
under logs and figure out kindof what our breaking points are
and his strengths and mystrengths and weaknesses on
(14:28):
either end. But yeah, justspending 24 plus hours under a
log with your dad, it'll it'llget you get you know him a lot
better now. I guess. That wascool.
Ryan Burns (14:43):
Papa Larry.
Larry Jr. (14:45):
Yeah, you know, like Larry said, it is very it's a
unique situation. Occasionallythere'll be somebody at one of
the events saying oh, I hope Ican you know, do this with my
son one of these days you know,the Larry's that's so cool. And
it is it's it's a nice testamentfor us to be able to do it
together. There are times Youknow, where he I recall back in
Philadelphia doing an HTML whenhis feet were just shredded. And
(15:06):
then the father part comes outand he's like, Oh, I'm worried
about him. I'm worried about I'mnot gonna just say Hey, he's a
big boy. We're doing thesetogether. He was a sufferer. You
know, he's got to go but thereare times when as a dad you
think, damn, his feet look likecrap. You know. And you and your
I just never Philadelphia he waslimping like he'd been shot. But
he got it out, we finished butbut other than that it is it's
(15:29):
it's a unique situation to beable to suffer together, we have
a couple rituals. The nightbefore an event, we always will
get a hamburger, french friesand a beer. So it's like your
perfect rough beer. And it's inevery event. It's a hamburger,
french fries and beer. And we doit every time. That's pretty
cool. Man.
Ryan Burns (15:48):
It's fun ny that you brought up the the affiliate
event with with the feet becausethat that was another event that
I did with you guys. And Iremember at one point we were
on. We had this movement wherewe had to be completely silent.
And we get into this parking lotand and I was just waiting for
cadre to like try and trick usby like asking us a question or
(16:12):
something to get us to talk. Andand Larry, you were standing by
me and he he whispered somethingto cadre whispered something to
us, and you started to answer.
And he just totally just smashedon your foot
and says, look, you just lookedat me like Dude,
Larry Jr. (16:30):
what the hell did you just do?
Ryan Burns (16:35):
And man, it dawned on me that I was just like, Oh,
what a What a jerk. I couldn'tbelieve I did that.
Larry III (16:43):
I completely forgot about that.
Ryan Burns (16:46):
Yeah, that was that was a great event. I love that.
Um, so speaking of events, man,let's let's talk a little bit
about that brag heavy in thatmisery. You know, kind of kind
of talk me through some of thethings that made it so
miserable. I mean, justgenerally, I know the the
weather was was bad and cold.
But like, Talk Talk me throughsome of the misery that you went
(17:10):
through?
Larry Jr. (17:12):
Well, it started raining about an hour into it.
And it didn't stop for a full Iwould say 10 to 12 hours. And
there were times when it rainedreally hard. right at the
beginning there was this littleI call it a creek it's more like
a runoff. And I don't know ifyou saw the videos, but you
know, we were all leaning overthat doing push ups. And you
(17:33):
know, and flutter kicks and wewere getting wet enough and then
one of the CADRE had a brightidea to low crawl or to do the
tunnel of tunnel love throughthe water through the water and
it was cold. But the differencethe difficulty was you were wet
the entire time. We had oneperiod of time where we were we
were fortunate we came in realearly among everybody else and
(17:56):
and Jason said priorities ofwork you would normally you sit
down you take a load off thegrass or the ground was so muddy
and wet. We just stood therewith our other two partners for
like 25 minutes waiting foreverybody to show up just in the
pouring rain because youcouldn't move you did not want
to sit down and in the middlewell we had there were five
(18:17):
casualties you know, coldcasualties that he was that
Qadri Dan was concerned about.
But so he got real cold in themiddle of the night.
Ryan Burns (18:26):
And any idea what the temperatures were
Larry Jr. (18:30):
will drop right around I think you were saying
just around 3032 degrees so justaround freezing goodness. But
I've never seen anybody get youknow that cold where they kind
of lose their whole mind. Therewas this there was this lady
near Larry and I and she kind ofjust stood up and she couldn't
remember her name. She couldn'tput a sentence together. So we
(18:52):
rushed her into the situationand the CADRE took good care of
and they had ovens hooked up andthey had no blankets ready to go
but we lost five people within awithin an hour that's how cold
it gotten
Ryan Burns (19:04):
so so cold wet going through the mud you know
typically in those those heaviesyou know, the sun comes up in
the morning, you get a littleburst of energy. Like was there
ever any time where like, youryour spirits got lifted? Or was
it was it just kind of lowspirits the whole time? Yeah, it
Larry III (19:27):
was pretty low spirits. As far as the misery
goes. It did eventually come up,but it was within the last
couple hours. Not like themorning. So yeah, it was cold,
dark, wet.
Larry Jr. (19:41):
It was so miserable.
It was comical. There were timeswe were sitting there laughing
because it was just somiserable.
Ryan Burns (19:50):
Yeah, I mean, I guess that's a great question
like how, you know, in thisevent, obviously there's misery
but in the misery and pain likeI guess kind of question for
both of you like, how do you howdo you deal with with that
adversity? Like, I know that Itend to turn into like, I like
to just kind of like smartassjokes or whatever, which is
(20:12):
probably irritating foreverybody around me. But it's
just how I feel like I start tocope. Like, what? What are your
responses to to like that painand that misery and that
drudgery of just grinding onhour after hour?
Larry Jr. (20:29):
From my perspective is usually just I think to
myself, like, God, what the hellam I doing this for? This is the
dumbest damn thing I've everdone in my life. And I keep
signing up for it. You know, andsometimes a cadre will say
something to me, I say, you knowwhat, you're half my age, just
shut up. You know, but so thereare occasions where I just kind
of chuckle and I'm just like,what the hell is this all about?
Ryan Burns (20:53):
What about you, Larry?
Larry III (20:54):
Yeah, there's a lot of that. It's a lot of just kind
of looking over at somebody elsebeing like, you're suffering
too. So I'm just gonna keep mymouth shut and keep on truckin
and see what we can do and seeif we can get through this
together.
Ryan Burns (21:07):
Was Was there any, like one movement of the Bragg
heavy that stands out in yourmind is like, Oh, yeah, that was
that was the hardest part.
Larry Jr. (21:20):
We had, they had to, we had two teams to carry the
logs. Each log Pavlik. I mean,they were big. They were like
telephone pole logs. And we hada very dysfunctional team,
unfortunately. And there waslike, 20 people per team, maybe
15. And we had to do this onemile lap. And if you lost
obviously, there was hell topay. And we could not win the
(21:42):
save our lives. And we were justfunctional. I don't know what it
was. But there were 15, therewas one or two people there who,
you know, we're not having funat all. And they let it be
known. And I think, you know,Ken just brought down our team.
So although I don't know if itwas the most difficult
physically, it was certainly themost difficult mentally because
we just we got our asses kickedevery time around that mile
(22:05):
loop.
Larry III (22:07):
Every time was make individual logs, if you saw
that, too, that got interesting.
Just going to pick up a cut log.
And that was the CADRE like,that's yours now. So now you
can't suffer as a team, you'resuffering as an individual.
Ryan Burns (22:24):
So they made the whole team each have an
individual log.
Larry III (22:27):
Yes. Yep, there was a big pile of like chainsaw trees.
And they're like, just go pickone up. Okay.
Ryan Burns (22:39):
I'm actually encouraged to hear that y'all.
Y'all had logs out there, youknow, the name this this podcast
under the log, you know,hearkening back to all those
logs that I've been under withpeople and how you get to know
each other. But, you know, Ithink ever since, you know,
COVID and everything, like, theydon't do logs you don't do
(23:01):
partner carries and stuff likethat. So I'm like, you know,
does the title of this podcasteven make sense anymore? But,
uh, so it's good to it's good tohear that people are still
getting under the log together.
That's, that's nice.
Larry Jr. (23:13):
Yeah, I think that's that's a prime movement within
go rock that does a lot of goodteam building. We also had log
PT at the double heavy inCleveland as well. So that
Ryan Burns (23:24):
Okay, nice. Um, well, you know, I think that's
about it for this episode. Butat the rate that you guys do
events, I'm sure that we'll haveyou back on under the log before
the year is through. But beforeI close, you know, this, this is
(23:44):
probably the question that Ihave the most intrigue in. Will
there be a Larry and Larry teamassessment coming up?
Larry Jr. (23:59):
We knew that question was coming.
We knew Yeah. So it is under hotwhen I when I told Larry without
saying yes, it is under seriousconsideration. How
about that? That's awesome.
How about I bought a gr two.
Ryan Burns (24:18):
Okay, okay.
Larry Jr. (24:23):
We recently purchased gr twos because we found that a
gr one might not be big enoughfor some events.
Ryan Burns (24:29):
Okay, so just in case there is an event that you
need a bigger rock to pack alittle bit more stuff into. Man.
Have you have you actuallyfilled that rock full of gear
and dumped it on your floor yet?
That that'd be a good question.
Larry Jr. (24:46):
That's when I decided that gr one was way too small.
Ryan Burns (24:53):
Well, that's that's really cool, man. I look forward
to to hopefully, you know, maybeWho knows, seeing Larry and
Larry out there a teamassessment. But thanks a lot for
coming out on the show, guys.
And like I said, I'm sure we'llhave you back out to talk about
more events in the future.
Larry Jr. (25:12):
All right. Thank you, Ryan.
Larry III (25:13):
Thank you, Ryan.
Ryan Burns (25:18):
Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of
under the log. If you'd like tosee shownotes links to stuff
that we talked about or atranscript of the episode, visit
us at under the law.com. Whileyou're there, you can find links
to all our social mediaprofiles, and we'd love to
connect with you. And if youhaven't already, please
subscribe to the podcastwherever you get your podcasts,
(25:41):
you're digging the content, it'dbe really cool if you'd leave us
a positive rating. And finally,if you've recently completed a
goruck event and want to chat,drop me a line at Ryan and under
the law comm or hit me a messageon social media. And we'll get
you on the calendar for one ofthe next episodes on Moodle. Ah,
well, that's it for me. We'llsee you next time on Google.
Hey, gang. Welcome to another episode of under the
law, the podcast full ofinterviews with folks who
recently participated in goruckevents. In today's episode, we
talked to Larry, and another guynamed Larry.
That's right. We're talking totwo guys named Larry.
We're going to talk to themabout their recent goruck brag
(00:31):
heavy. In addition, we'll talkto them about what it's like to
be a father and son doing eventstogether. And they've done a
few, like somewhere near 50.
It's pretty awesome.
Before we get started, if youappreciate the podcast and want
to support us, this is oursister website,
(00:54):
ruckingchallenges.com and signup for this month's challenge.
Better yet, grab a monthlysubscription, you signing up at
ruckingchallenges.com helps toeep this podcast alive.
Alright, enough of that. Let'sget on to the interview.
(01:18):
All right, so Larry, and, Larry,I've done a few events with you
guys. And I have to say thatlike one of my, one of my
favorite parts is is during rollcall. So cadre is there. And
he's calling off the names andall of a sudden he'll he'll say,
you know, Larry Shaffer, whichis pretty much always followed
(01:39):
with both of you saying outloud, which one? And the CADRE
will usually say Jr, at whichpoint, Larry, the dad in this
situation will be like, Oh,that's me. And it never ceases
to amaze me. The cadre just kindof stares at you stares at the
stares at your son. And is justlike, I don't know what to do
(02:01):
with this information. Is Isthat pretty much what happens at
every event that you guys do?
Larry Jr. (02:07):
You I think it is nowadays that we've done enough
of these things. Most of theCADRE know us now but
occasionally no doubt. They sayLarry Larry and they get totally
confused.
Ryan Burns (02:17):
In all seriousness, like how am I supposed to do
this interview with you guys?
like should I should I addressyou is like Larry Jr. and Larry,
the third old Larry young Larry,like, like, how's this gonna
work?
Larry III (02:31):
Anything works for me. I've been called trip tray
three. Anything works. Okay, Iknow f f three causes old Larry
and young Larry which, you know,make some sense to. Okay.
Ryan Burns (02:44):
Well, I'll just say, Larry, and just see which one of
you takes it. Let you fight itout. So we're gonna talk today,
obviously, about the 2021GORUCK Fort Bragg heavy event
hat you guys both completedecently.
(03:04):
But I think I think I've justgot to begin at the beginning
with you guys. I mean, a fatherand son doing goruck events
together. It's an it's prettycool thing. And as you
mentioned, like I've done a tonof events like, like, How many?
How many events? Have you guysdone now?
Larry Jr. (03:25):
We calculated the other day, we've done over 40
events together? Holy cow, andthey've done some separately?
Yes. You know, Casey, we won'ttravel for a tough flight. But
we'll travel for the bigger oneswe've done. I think we've done
well. I know we've done fivehdls together. And then he's got
12 heavies under his belt. Ionly have 10.
Ryan Burns (03:46):
Just 10.
That's a
Larry III (03:50):
double heavy, the double heavy together as well.
Ryan Burns (03:53):
So yeah, that was that was that last year or the
year before?
Larry Jr. (03:57):
That was last year?
Larry III (03:59):
Yep. Okay, this is gonna happen. The whole podcast.
Ryan Burns (04:04):
Yeah, this this is my first time interviewing two
people at the same time. Soit'll be fun. So So you've done
you've done a ton of eventstogether.And separately, but I
guess I guess I'll start with,with older Larry, like how to
tell tell us the origin storyfor you guys. Like what is the
(04:27):
Larry and Larry gorakh originstory? How did y'all even get
into this?
Larry Jr. (04:32):
Well, you know, we started doing adventure races
way back when they were popular.
And then we evolved into OCRraces. We were doing those
together when he was stillliving at home. And he and
little area actually did thefirst goruck event. He did a
tough, a tough and then a toughflight. Then he calls me up says
Hey, Dad, there's this thingcalled go rock. You know, we got
to give it a try. Come on up toVirginia Beach and we'll do it.
(04:53):
So I packed up an old rock andsix bricks. And, you know, I did
a toughLight and enjoyed it. And, you
know, the second event we didwas an HTML. So at that point in
time, it was either very as mywife says, you know, you guys
are just stupid crazy. But it issomething that we've enjoyed,
you know, doing it together, youknow, go rock forges, you know,
(05:14):
camaraderie among people, theydon't even know each other. So
when you put a father and sontogether, it's been it's been a
lot of fun. It's it's been agreat experience. And I'm just
fortunate enough at my age andstill be in good enough shape,
be able to do it. And I workhard at it. But you know, it's,
Ryan Burns (05:33):
yeah, yeah, no doubt. I mean, I'm still a
little struck by the fact thatyour second event was an HTML
like, I don't I don't think Iknew that. So letting that set
in is that's eye opening. Imean, that's no joke. I wonder
you You said that Larry had donea tough light.
Larry III (05:54):
Larry, was that the one that we did together? I
believe so. That was Richmond.
Yes. So that was my, I did onetough in Virginia Beach. And
then I did the Richmond one withyou. And it was a tough flight.
And then I called my dad, likehe said, and we did the Virginia
Beach again, the following year.
Man, that's really cool. Ididn't know that. That was my
(06:17):
that tough flight was my firsttough flight. And that was
actually my second event. Ithink so. I mean, I think that
was like, gosh, four or fiveyears ago now. almost five.
Yeah.
Ryan Burns (06:28):
That's, that's wild.
So with this with doing so manyevents, you know, some together
some some separate? Like,what's, what's the driver for
deciding events for you guys? Isit just like, hey, there's one,
you know, nearby? Let's go like,at 50 events? I mean, you've got
to just be cranking them outleft and right.
Larry Jr. (06:51):
Well, usually we won't travel unless it is a, you
know, a significant one, whetheryou know, whether that be we
went to we went to to France forthe 75th anniversary of
Normandy, which was phenomenal.
And then we'll do the HTL asalways together. And then if
there's a tough light that'sdriving distance in between,
they will just hook up there. Soit really is just a matter of,
(07:14):
you know, can we get there? Andof course, the big events are
the ones that we sometimes wehave to fly to. But, you know,
that's just money we spend.
Ryan Burns (07:23):
Yeah. So So what was the what was the drive to do? Or
the decision for doing the Braggheavy? Like, what? What? Why did
y'all decide to do this one?
Larry III (07:36):
Alright, so we did, we started Bragg back when drone
passed away. So that was thatwas going to be our first brag
heavy. And since we didn't getthat check in the block. This
one was supposed to be special.
We heard from cadre Dan, that itmight possibly be his last brag,
but obviously he's local. Now hethought he was going to get
(07:59):
overseas orders. But I wasbasically told my dad, it's now
or possibly who knows when sojust so happened that we decided
to do it. So
Larry Jr. (08:12):
nice. I will tell you going into it, though Ryan is is
both of us to say we're onlygoing to do the first one.
Because we had other thingscoming up in the future. We
didn't want to over overshootherself. So it was kind of
interesting that everybody'slike, Oh, I can't believe the
Larry's aren't going to do both.
I can't believe the Larry'saren't gonna do both. The good
news is I only signed up forone. So I do not feel bad
leaving. And I'm like, Can youmaybe ask I can tell you what
(08:35):
the hardest event is and themost miserable. And anybody who
was at Bragg this year, I wouldtell you that they will tell you
it was by far the most miserableevent ever. I mean, it was not
It was hard as all its heaviesare, but it was misery. It was
cold and it was raining theentire time. It's horrible.
Ryan Burns (08:56):
Larry, you can confirm. miserable and one of
the hardest.
Larry III (09:01):
Definitely most miserable. The first Cleveland
heavy. The double heavy was ourhardest. We both agreed on that
one too. But as far as miserygoes, Yeah, it was this year's
Bragg heavy for us.
Ryan Burns (09:12):
Okay. Wow. I mean, that's saying something because
you you've got some context toput that in.
Larry Jr. (09:18):
And then like, like Larry said, the most difficult
of all the events was the first24 hours of the double heavy in
Cleveland in August of lastyear. And it wasn't the coupons,
although there were plenty. Itwas it was Cowdray Dan and Qadri
bill. And as Qadri Dan said atone point time and his
vernacular, I'll keep it cleanwas I didn't believe I never
knew Cleveland had so manyhills. And we start we started
(09:43):
out on a ski slope. And we spentthe entire 24 hours on those,
you know, as Dan calls in thoseexpletive hills, it was a bear.
It was it was a tough one.
Ryan Burns (09:54):
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(10:37):
log alive by signing up atrucking challenges.com today.
Alright, enough of that. Let'sget back to our chat with Larry
and Larry.
So I was just wondering likewith you guys, I mean, with so
(11:00):
many events, I mean, I know likefor my first heavy, like, I
trained my butt off. And, and,you know, I feel like I don't
train with nearly as muchintensity to do events. So like
when you've got a big eventcoming up like the Bragg heavy.
Like, like, do you ramp up yourtraining? or What does the
(11:22):
training look like for you guysthese days?
Larry III (11:28):
Yeah, we've, like my dad said, we've been doing
endurance events for years. Sowe've kind of had a leg up when
we even started to go wreckevents, as far as training, but
we focus a lot on sandbags focusa lot on just heavy miles, at
least I do. I do more heavymiles and actual miles. I think
for the Bragg heavy. For thecouple months leading up to it,
(11:51):
I may be rocked a total of 15miles. But I always had like 65
pounds in my ruck and a 50 or 80pound sandbag on me. And then
just throwing sandbags, liftingthem over your head, and
basically just getting ideasfrom previous events and just
going from there.
Ryan Burns (12:12):
What about what about you, Papa Larry?
Larry Jr. (12:14):
Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of that most of it is, you
know, in the old days, you know,I played football in college is
all about lifting heavy, but nowit's more functional strength.
So it's sandbags. It'skettlebells. It's a lot of push
ups, a lot of pull ups. Andthen, you know, as Larry said,
you know, you got to throw thatheavy bag on your shoulder every
once in a while and go out andjust crank out the miles.
Ryan Burns (12:37):
So when I go back for this interview, and do some
of the editing, I think at thispoint, I'll try and cue up like
some emotional music.
Because I want to talk aboutCharles relationship. And Larry
(13:02):
Jr, you you kind of hinted atthis earlier. Like, there's
something that happens when youdo a goruck event with with
people, people that you've nevermet. Like, you know, that
Richmond event that Larry and Idid together all those years
ago. I mean, I remember grabbingbreakfast with him between
(13:24):
events. And then I think we tooka nap in the car between events.
Yeah. And, and then, you know,like, we've done a few other
events together. But it's like,I totally feel like, you know,
if you were ever in town, or Iwas ever in your town, like we
totally hang out, grab a beerand just connect. And I feel I
feel that way with a lot ofpeople that I've done events
(13:46):
with. And so I just think about,man, what, what a it builds
these special relationships,what has that been like, as a
father and as a son, and Larry,younger Larry, I'll let you lead
off and then your dad can followhim.
Larry III (14:06):
Okay. It's incredible. I never thought that
we would be doing this together.
We've spent much more timetogether over the past few
years, obviously, since I'm inNorfolk, and he's in Georgia. So
we get to spend time togetherand do these events and struggle
under logs and figure out kindof what our breaking points are
and his strengths and mystrengths and weaknesses on
(14:28):
either end. But yeah, justspending 24 plus hours under a
log with your dad, it'll it'llget you get you know him a lot
better now. I guess. That wascool.
Ryan Burns (14:43):
Papa Larry.
Larry Jr. (14:45):
Yeah, you know, like Larry said, it is very it's a
unique situation. Occasionallythere'll be somebody at one of
the events saying oh, I hope Ican you know, do this with my
son one of these days you know,the Larry's that's so cool. And
it is it's it's a nice testamentfor us to be able to do it
together. There are times Youknow, where he I recall back in
Philadelphia doing an HTML whenhis feet were just shredded. And
(15:06):
then the father part comes outand he's like, Oh, I'm worried
about him. I'm worried about I'mnot gonna just say Hey, he's a
big boy. We're doing thesetogether. He was a sufferer. You
know, he's got to go but thereare times when as a dad you
think, damn, his feet look likecrap. You know. And you and your
I just never Philadelphia he waslimping like he'd been shot. But
he got it out, we finished butbut other than that it is it's
(15:29):
it's a unique situation to beable to suffer together, we have
a couple rituals. The nightbefore an event, we always will
get a hamburger, french friesand a beer. So it's like your
perfect rough beer. And it's inevery event. It's a hamburger,
french fries and beer. And we doit every time. That's pretty
cool. Man.
Ryan Burns (15:48):
It's fun ny that you brought up the the affiliate
event with with the feet becausethat that was another event that
I did with you guys. And Iremember at one point we were
on. We had this movement wherewe had to be completely silent.
And we get into this parking lotand and I was just waiting for
cadre to like try and trick usby like asking us a question or
(16:12):
something to get us to talk. Andand Larry, you were standing by
me and he he whispered somethingto cadre whispered something to
us, and you started to answer.
And he just totally just smashedon your foot
and says, look, you just lookedat me like Dude,
Larry Jr. (16:30):
what the hell did you just do?
Ryan Burns (16:35):
And man, it dawned on me that I was just like, Oh,
what a What a jerk. I couldn'tbelieve I did that.
Larry III (16:43):
I completely forgot about that.
Ryan Burns (16:46):
Yeah, that was that was a great event. I love that.
Um, so speaking of events, man,let's let's talk a little bit
about that brag heavy in thatmisery. You know, kind of kind
of talk me through some of thethings that made it so
miserable. I mean, justgenerally, I know the the
weather was was bad and cold.
But like, Talk Talk me throughsome of the misery that you went
(17:10):
through?
Larry Jr. (17:12):
Well, it started raining about an hour into it.
And it didn't stop for a full Iwould say 10 to 12 hours. And
there were times when it rainedreally hard. right at the
beginning there was this littleI call it a creek it's more like
a runoff. And I don't know ifyou saw the videos, but you
know, we were all leaning overthat doing push ups. And you
(17:33):
know, and flutter kicks and wewere getting wet enough and then
one of the CADRE had a brightidea to low crawl or to do the
tunnel of tunnel love throughthe water through the water and
it was cold. But the differencethe difficulty was you were wet
the entire time. We had oneperiod of time where we were we
were fortunate we came in realearly among everybody else and
(17:56):
and Jason said priorities ofwork you would normally you sit
down you take a load off thegrass or the ground was so muddy
and wet. We just stood therewith our other two partners for
like 25 minutes waiting foreverybody to show up just in the
pouring rain because youcouldn't move you did not want
to sit down and in the middlewell we had there were five
(18:17):
casualties you know, coldcasualties that he was that
Qadri Dan was concerned about.
But so he got real cold in themiddle of the night.
Ryan Burns (18:26):
And any idea what the temperatures were
Larry Jr. (18:30):
will drop right around I think you were saying
just around 3032 degrees so justaround freezing goodness. But
I've never seen anybody get youknow that cold where they kind
of lose their whole mind. Therewas this there was this lady
near Larry and I and she kind ofjust stood up and she couldn't
remember her name. She couldn'tput a sentence together. So we
(18:52):
rushed her into the situationand the CADRE took good care of
and they had ovens hooked up andthey had no blankets ready to go
but we lost five people within awithin an hour that's how cold
it gotten
Ryan Burns (19:04):
so so cold wet going through the mud you know
typically in those those heaviesyou know, the sun comes up in
the morning, you get a littleburst of energy. Like was there
ever any time where like, youryour spirits got lifted? Or was
it was it just kind of lowspirits the whole time? Yeah, it
Larry III (19:27):
was pretty low spirits. As far as the misery
goes. It did eventually come up,but it was within the last
couple hours. Not like themorning. So yeah, it was cold,
dark, wet.
Larry Jr. (19:41):
It was so miserable.
It was comical. There were timeswe were sitting there laughing
because it was just somiserable.
Ryan Burns (19:50):
Yeah, I mean, I guess that's a great question
like how, you know, in thisevent, obviously there's misery
but in the misery and pain likeI guess kind of question for
both of you like, how do you howdo you deal with with that
adversity? Like, I know that Itend to turn into like, I like
to just kind of like smartassjokes or whatever, which is
(20:12):
probably irritating foreverybody around me. But it's
just how I feel like I start tocope. Like, what? What are your
responses to to like that painand that misery and that
drudgery of just grinding onhour after hour?
Larry Jr. (20:29):
From my perspective is usually just I think to
myself, like, God, what the hellam I doing this for? This is the
dumbest damn thing I've everdone in my life. And I keep
signing up for it. You know, andsometimes a cadre will say
something to me, I say, you knowwhat, you're half my age, just
shut up. You know, but so thereare occasions where I just kind
of chuckle and I'm just like,what the hell is this all about?
Ryan Burns (20:53):
What about you, Larry?
Larry III (20:54):
Yeah, there's a lot of that. It's a lot of just kind
of looking over at somebody elsebeing like, you're suffering
too. So I'm just gonna keep mymouth shut and keep on truckin
and see what we can do and seeif we can get through this
together.
Ryan Burns (21:07):
Was Was there any, like one movement of the Bragg
heavy that stands out in yourmind is like, Oh, yeah, that was
that was the hardest part.
Larry Jr. (21:20):
We had, they had to, we had two teams to carry the
logs. Each log Pavlik. I mean,they were big. They were like
telephone pole logs. And we hada very dysfunctional team,
unfortunately. And there waslike, 20 people per team, maybe
15. And we had to do this onemile lap. And if you lost
obviously, there was hell topay. And we could not win the
(21:42):
save our lives. And we were justfunctional. I don't know what it
was. But there were 15, therewas one or two people there who,
you know, we're not having funat all. And they let it be
known. And I think, you know,Ken just brought down our team.
So although I don't know if itwas the most difficult
physically, it was certainly themost difficult mentally because
we just we got our asses kickedevery time around that mile
(22:05):
loop.
Larry III (22:07):
Every time was make individual logs, if you saw
that, too, that got interesting.
Just going to pick up a cut log.
And that was the CADRE like,that's yours now. So now you
can't suffer as a team, you'resuffering as an individual.
Ryan Burns (22:24):
So they made the whole team each have an
individual log.
Larry III (22:27):
Yes. Yep, there was a big pile of like chainsaw trees.
And they're like, just go pickone up. Okay.
Ryan Burns (22:39):
I'm actually encouraged to hear that y'all.
Y'all had logs out there, youknow, the name this this podcast
under the log, you know,hearkening back to all those
logs that I've been under withpeople and how you get to know
each other. But, you know, Ithink ever since, you know,
COVID and everything, like, theydon't do logs you don't do
(23:01):
partner carries and stuff likethat. So I'm like, you know,
does the title of this podcasteven make sense anymore? But,
uh, so it's good to it's good tohear that people are still
getting under the log together.
That's, that's nice.
Larry Jr. (23:13):
Yeah, I think that's that's a prime movement within
go rock that does a lot of goodteam building. We also had log
PT at the double heavy inCleveland as well. So that
Ryan Burns (23:24):
Okay, nice. Um, well, you know, I think that's
about it for this episode. Butat the rate that you guys do
events, I'm sure that we'll haveyou back on under the log before
the year is through. But beforeI close, you know, this, this is
(23:44):
probably the question that Ihave the most intrigue in. Will
there be a Larry and Larry teamassessment coming up?
Larry Jr. (23:59):
We knew that question was coming.
We knew Yeah. So it is under hotwhen I when I told Larry without
saying yes, it is under seriousconsideration. How
about that? That's awesome.
How about I bought a gr two.
Ryan Burns (24:18):
Okay, okay.
Larry Jr. (24:23):
We recently purchased gr twos because we found that a
gr one might not be big enoughfor some events.
Ryan Burns (24:29):
Okay, so just in case there is an event that you
need a bigger rock to pack alittle bit more stuff into. Man.
Have you have you actuallyfilled that rock full of gear
and dumped it on your floor yet?
That that'd be a good question.
Larry Jr. (24:46):
That's when I decided that gr one was way too small.
Ryan Burns (24:53):
Well, that's that's really cool, man. I look forward
to to hopefully, you know, maybeWho knows, seeing Larry and
Larry out there a teamassessment. But thanks a lot for
coming out on the show, guys.
And like I said, I'm sure we'llhave you back out to talk about
more events in the future.
Larry Jr. (25:12):
All right. Thank you, Ryan.
Larry III (25:13):
Thank you, Ryan.
Ryan Burns (25:18):
Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of
under the log. If you'd like tosee shownotes links to stuff
that we talked about or atranscript of the episode, visit
us at under the law.com. Whileyou're there, you can find links
to all our social mediaprofiles, and we'd love to
connect with you. And if youhaven't already, please
subscribe to the podcastwherever you get your podcasts,
(25:41):
you're digging the content, it'dbe really cool if you'd leave us
a positive rating. And finally,if you've recently completed a
goruck event and want to chat,drop me a line at Ryan and under
the law comm or hit me a messageon social media. And we'll get
you on the calendar for one ofthe next episodes on Moodle. Ah,
well, that's it for me. We'llsee you next time on Google.
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