2011 Bataan Memorial Death March – I’ll be Ready!

I tested myself yesterday, to see what I could do. I’m happy with the results of the test. I set out with a solid goal of 12 miles with the 39 lbs. pack…that was my bottom line, I was doing at least 12. That said, I really wanted to see just how far I could go, i.e. what is my current limit? I still don’t know exactly what the limit is, because I probably could have done a bit more, but without the “competition adrenaline” of running in an actual event I believe I ended up very close to my max.


I completed 16 miles with the pack, in the snow. I’m not sure how much extra difficulty the snow added, but it was certainly at least a minor factor with a good 4 inches of the stuff still on the trail. Much of it was fairly well packed from snowmobiles and cross-country skiers (passed four different people on skis yesterday, even one going the same direction I was!)

I found that my two weak points right now are ankles and shoulders. That’s where I felt it the most between miles 12 and 16. Everything else was very strong. Next I would rate to be knees, as those are high on the “what’s sore on Jerry list” today, but I didn’t feel them at all on the run itself.

I may still end up hiking out the end of the March itself, then again I may not. I don’t know yet. I will be prepared for it though. My final pack will contain my hiking boots. According to most training plans, being at 16 miles 2 months out from the event is a good place to be for a strong 26 mile finish. We’ll see what the next several weeks of training has to say about that.

On that I believe that my final pack configuration, weighing 37 lbs. (without sweat), will be:

3 10 lbs. dumbbells

Cold weather overshirt*

Cold weather legs*

Empty water bladder*

2 pair wool socks

Hiking boots

Keys/wallet/various small stuff

This ensures that no matter what (even with drinking all of the water) my finish line pack weight will be above 35 lbs. In reality it’ll be quite a bit more as I learned last year due to the awesome amounts of sweat that soak into the rig on that 26 miles. My start weight last year was I think 38 lbs, and finish weight was 44 lbs., even with an empty bladder by the finish line!

*I will of course be beginning the March with a full 3.0 liters of water. I also learned last year that it’s pretty darn cold at start time. I’ll be wearing the cold weather stuff over shorts and “heat gear” Underarmor compression shirt underneath at start, then remove the outer layer as it warms up and stash that stuff in the pack. I’m okay with that conceptually because with the full bladder the pack is well over the 35 lbs. mark and there’s no way I’ll drop below that weight within the first 2 hours or so when I shed the outer layer and add it to the pack.

Despite the aches and pains today, I’m totally stoked and feel that I will be very ready for the event this year!