They say that if you can walk, you can ruck – but if you can’t walk (or move, or even feed yourself, for that matter), a 26.2 mile ruck march through historic trails tread by Revolutionary War Minutemen sounds virtually impossible – and besides, who rucks for fun, anyway?
When Kimberly Mauro and her husband, Nick (1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment) arrived at Fort Drum nearly six years ago, a variety of auto-immune diseases, some not yet diagnosed, caused Kimberly excruciating pain and a host of other symptoms on a regular basis. While Nick served with 1 BCT at Fort Drum, daily performing highly physical activity as an Infantryman, Kimberly sometimes struggled to get out of bed.
“I was in so much pain all the time,” she said. “There were times the pain was so bad, Nick would have to carry me to bed, would have to feed me. I couldn’t take care of myself. And then the doctors would put me on these medications that had these horrible side effects, to the point where it was like I was drunk. I couldn’t function.”
Among her diagnoses were Lupus, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, Fibromyalgia, and Trigeminal Neuralgia – a condition also known as the suicide disease, as it causes so much pain that sufferers often take their own lives.
“Because of all these health problems, I went from 118 lbs at age 21 to about 170 at 24,” she said. “I kept hearing that the more you move, the better you’ll feel, but there were so many days I couldn’t even get out of bed.”
But, in March 2015, when Kimberly saw an ad in the paper announcing an upcoming ruck march in honor of veteran suicide awareness, she mentioned the event to Nick and they decided to do it together.
“We decided to do it. We only did the 3-mile event because I was still really sick, but I fell in love with it because I realized it wasn’t really a race,” she said. “You walked with meaning. You were carrying the weight of something bigger than yourself.”
And thus began an unexpected path to recovery. In conjunction with finally finding an endocrinologist who was able to better regulate her treatment, Kimberly began rucking and even running for sport, and lost more than 50 pounds in less than a year. As her health continued to improve, Kimberly got involved with the Fort Drum/Watertown Chapter of Team Red White and Blue, a national organization whose mission is “To enrich the lives of America's veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity.” Through her involvement with Team RWB, Kimberly continued to pursue physical activity that pushed her limits and kept her from regressing back into the more debilitating days of her chronic illnesses.
“I love rucking because it’s a social event that burns the same amount of calories if done properly, and actually helps with posture. It’s strength, endurance and cardio all in one,” she said.
Kimberly has now completed three marathon-length ruck marches and a half-marathon run, with no plans to stop. Her most recent rucking event – the Tough Ruck, which took place on April 15 - earned her a Boston Marathon finisher’s medal, and gave her a chance to honor fallen service members.
The money from the event went to the Military Friends Foundation, based in Massachusetts, which offers grant programs, community events, referral services and more to families who have faced hardships related to active service.
Though she rucked with a yellow ribbon for Marine 1st Lt. Brian McPhillips, she also carried with her memories of her grandfather, the late Al Brusco, who passed away unexpectedly only a week before the race. Brusco had served in the Navy and was passionate about serving veterans.
“I knew he was incredibly proud of me for all this stuff – not just for overcoming all these diseases but also for the way Nick and I are involved in non-profits that help veterans. He was always talking about how proud he was of that.”
Kimberly carried approximately 30 pounds throughout the course, which traveled through Boston’s Minute Man National Historical Park. While she rucked with her Team RWB gear and a full-sized flag, she and her rucking partner, Diane, also from Team RWB, cheered along military personnel and other civilians on the course.
“The course was on a loop, so you kept seeing the same people over and over, and you were cheering these complete strangers on and getting encouragement from everyone to keep going,” she said. “The last few miles were really tough, the wind had picked up and was whipping the flag around, and my feet were hurting pretty bad by then, but I kept remembering my grandfather and seeing all these military personnel around us, and we had to keep going.”
When she’s not doing marathon-distance rucks for fun, Kimberly acts as the Fort Drum/Watertown Team RWB Rucking Coordinator, putting together monthly 3-mile ruck events in support of the Watertown Feed Our Vets Food Pantry.
“Every third Saturday, we march to the food pantry, stopping for a little extra PT on the way, with rucks full of non-perishables. When we get there, we weigh the rucks and donate the food, and then spend some time volunteering at the food pantry.”
For Kimberly, involvement in Team RWB has been a literal lifesaver, allowing her a social outlet, a way to invest in veterans causes, and giving her the push she needed to pursue things she never thought possible. Membership to Team RWB is open to military personnel and civilians alike, with physical and social events scheduled regularly through the Fort Drum/Watertown chapter.
“I never would have thought I could ruck a full marathon, no less three, and run a half marathon, when just a few years ago I couldn’t even get out of bed,” she said.
“I do these things and post about them online because people who have these diseases think we can’t do these kinds of activities, and we can. Everybody totally can – you just have to start somewhere,” she said.
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 04.23.2017 19:42 |
| Story ID: | 231276 |
| Location: | NY, US |
| Hometown: | WOODBRIDGE, NJ, US |
| Web Views: | 705 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Crawl, Walk, Ruck: Fort Drum Spouse Finds Passion in Endurance Rucks, by SGT Liane Hatch, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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