How are you spending your Summer?

I hope you're all enjoying your time away from the classroom whether that means spending extra time with your family or visiting new places with your friends.

Although my summer technically has not started (teachers are still to report to the building this week) I did get to kick off my time at the beach in different way than you might expect, especially if you still haven't read up on how your math teacher spends his free time. 

This weekend I got the opportunity to participate in the culminating event that was a fundraiser for the National Breast Cancer Foundation hosted by a group of people who call themselves Team Farm. 

Yup, you read that correctly. Just as the picture above suggests, the team is made up of individuals who wear animal masks during enduring challenges, like the GORUCK events that I've already told you about. And, just like, you - I thought the idea was pretty silly idea to try and complete an event in an animal mask. Were these guys trying to draw attention to themselves and expecting people to take them seriously?

As the months went by and I began to be more involved in the GORUCK community, I started meeting some members of Team Farm who ended up coming to the same events I happened to be participating in. They seemed like pretty normal people and I began to follow their activities on social media. Facebook friends? Yup. Instagram friends? OK. And then I found out that some of my friends attended a fundraiser that they held to raise awareness for Breast Cancer and my interest began to rise, especially since I know people who have suffered from one form of cancer or another. I looked forward to seeing them in some of my events. I realized that the masks they wore were a form of drawing attention away from their personal identities and rally around a cause in a fun and interesting fashion. Eventually I was invited to participate in the second annual fundraiser that would benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation and I could not resist the chance to join. 

Do Right By People. Not only is it one of GORUCK's maxims, it was part of this shirt I designed to help the cause. Photo courtesy of Joanna June

Participants were strongly urged to wear pink and raise money for the event. The goal was set to raise $10,000 and I felt very compelled to not only participate, but contribute my talents toward the fundraising effort by selling some patches and a few t-shirts that I designed specifically for this event.

The culminating event consistent of 50+ participants carrying rucks loaded with 25 - 30+ lbs of weight over the course of 13 hours in Long Beach Island, New Jersey led by two former special forces men. The event started at 9PM Saturday and lasted until about 10AM the next morning. What did we do that entire time? You'll have to ask me about it in math class - or, if you're old enough - sign up for the event next year. I will tell you that we spent a lot of time playing on the sand, building pyramids and laughing at a man dressed up as a mermaid. I'll also mention that throughout the event we encouraged residents and vacationers to participate in contributing to the cause by donating whatever cash they had on hand in exchange for either the entire class having to complete a physical challenge or a mystery challenge. Ask me about the mystery challenge I failed. That part was not as fun. Neither was being "killed" and being carried by a teammate like a casualty of war.

Can you name at least one interesting thing about this picture? Like I said - ask me later - just not while I'm teaching. Photo courtesy of Joanna June

I'll tell you what was fun - and this will be the last detail of the event I'll share here. Sometime after the introductions and near the beginning of our event we were given an individual test. Tests are fun for me. No, not the kind you need a pencil and answer sheets for. Those are boring. I like tests that promote character building and are more physically demanding than mentally frustrating. We were given a chance to complete as many push ups and sit ups as possible in two minutes, after which we had to run for two miles in the sand for time. You can ask me about my personal results later, but they were each a personal record for me. What I'm proudest of all is that after all of the contributions are accounted for we were able to collectively raise over $11,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. And I bet you thought I just played FIFA14 and watched the World Cup this weekend. 

Photo courtesy of Joanna June

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who followed us throughout the night - known in the GORUCK community as Shadow Company - most notably Joanna June, who has graced three events that I happened to be a part of. You can check out more of her work here.