Matt in TN

There have been lots of questions about the mud pits. The good(?) news is that the pits were completely dry yesterday when I ran the course, so there should be no worries about unsafe conditions or bore obstructions. We'll be knocking down some of the cockleburrs and briars before match day, and adding a rope to assist in the all-but-impossible climb up the inside of a smooth slippery tube set at a 30° upward angle. Guys with large packs may have some more trouble than those travelling light, for a few different reasons. And NO - you cannot climb over the top of the tubes - I tried that too and it was much too easy. :-) No promises yet about the barbed wire. Here's a video to give you a better idea - excuse the water drops on the lens, as it was raining (of course!).

Be warned: Kentucky has hills! Here's an elevation map of the course:

In! How many heavies will we have this month???

Just FYI: Get yourself a cool shirt at the 3G4V Run N Gun Presented By Rockcastle (5k Biathlon) on March 18th and support our Veterans and your sport at the same time! All inventory of shirts and hats will be on site for purchase. If you wear it during this match and tag us in a post, you will be put in a special drawing during the prize ceremony. http://www.3gun4vets.com/3g4v-swag-store

38 rifle and 33 pistol. The AK ammo will be provided.

Great match - it was awesome to see all the heavies come out to play!

I am honored to announce a new title sponsor: 3GUN4VETS. This is an amazing company that helps our returning vets learn of a new brotherhood through 3-Gun. You'll be seeing some picture and name changes in the near future as I update various sites with their info, but in the mean time please check out their website and give them your support. Their generous sponsors will also be adding a significant load to our prize table! http://www.3gun4vets.com/3g4v-run-gun-presented-by-rockcastle

Dang. I broke out my gear tonight to see if I can remember how to load a shotgun, and it was ugly! All I've been doing for the last couple months is running and gunning, and completely ignoring the shotgun. It's a good thing I have a few more days to practice before I have some real heavy competition...

What's a "Super Bowl"? ;-)

Holy cow - I clicked on Squad 3 before I saw that Alan is also shooting Heavy??? The awesomeness is spreading...

OK - I had to get back from Oklahoma with no injuries and make sure I had enough ammo left over, but I do and I'm in! Can we squad all the heavies together, or is that too much awesomeness in one place?

Sorry man - not yet!

I had someone not even attending the match send me a couple mag pouches they were no longer using as a donation for the prize table yesterday. Which got me thinking - I have a whole bunch of that kind of stuff I've tried over the years that for whatever reason I'm not using any more and really isn't worth selling, so I'm going to put it on the prize table too. I'd encourage eveyone to dig through their "MOLLE drawer" and bring with them anything they'd like to donate. You can clear out your junk drawer and give newer folks a chance to try perfectly good gear without having to spend a ton. Please don't bring actual "junk", but Run N Gun related items - mag pouches, holsters, belts, harnesses, chest rigs, etc. We'll do a random draw prize table so the newer competitors will have a good chance to look through gear and get something they can really put to use. And if you have a $3,000 rifle you aren't using that you want to donate, we'll take that too of course! ;-) Thanks for your consideration!

I am thrilled to announce we picked up another stage sponsor! Carolina Smoke and Guns will be sponsoring Stage 5: Make the Shot When It Counts. They are donating a few Aero Precision lowers and possibly a pistol for the prize table. Be sure to visit and like their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/S2FCLLC/?hc_location=ufi or their webpage at http://starttofinishllc.com/ , thank them for their support, and give them a hard look if you're in the market for firearms, class III stuff, suppressors, holsters, accessories, or training! We still have three other stages available to be sponsored, and several obstacles. There's also some serious talk about a new obstacle that will be the most challenging yet: The Siren's song: 2/3 - 3/4 of the way through the course, when everyone is exhausted and really questioning why they do this to themselves (probably near the top of the big hill coming out of the cave), have a group of guys and pretty girls sitting around drinking beer/coffee/hot chocolate - heckling the people running by and trying their best to get them to quit. "Why are you doing this to yourself? If you'll just stop, you can sit down here, have a beer, and then we'll give you a ride back to the lodge where you can have a nice hot shower and good meal." Remember: in response to any ugly heckling including the words "fat", "slow", or "old", I've given the shooters permission and encouragement to issue a buttstroke to the offender. The whole point here is to encourage the people to quit, not to make them feel bad about themselves. What do you think???

And I take this for granted so I forgot to make it clear - but NO M855/SS109 green tip, or any other "penetrator" type ammo will be allowed at this match. We will be using lots of steel targets and don't want to damage them. If a magnet sticks to your bullet or you have any doubt, don't bring it.

Reposting from the Facebook Event Page just to be sure everyone sees this: There will be FOUR trophies for this match: First, second, and third overall - and the "Mule" trophy for the person who carries the most weight (as a percentage of their bodyweight) and FINISHES the course. Run time and shooting score do not matter to the Mule, just the raw determination to NOT QUIT no matter how hard it is. In Oklahoma I saw a guy run the course in full SWAT gear, including balaclava. Another guy did it with a full plate carrier just to see if he could. And a third did it with what I would call a "bug out bag" on his back, with everything you could think of INCLUDING a grappling hook. They were not the fastest, and not all of them even finished the match - but that's not why they were out there. So I wanted to have some way to recognize the craziest of those folks. The "Mule" trophy was the best I could come up with. We don't have many sponsors since this is the first match of its kind, and I'm spending 99.99% of my time making sure the match goes well and 0.01% of my time chasing sponsors - so the prize table will be small. At the moment I'm thinking we'll give away what prizes we do have by random draw, but that may change if we suddenly have a huge growth in prizes. Everyone feel free to contact me at mstennett@twlakes.net if you'd like to sponsor the match or donate anything to the prize table.

Wow - sold out in twenty minutes. I am humbled and will do my best to do this right for all of you. I guess we have proven that there is demand for this kind of match on this side of the US. Now to see if I can really do all that bull$hit I said I could...

Registration is now open - go get 'em! https://practiscore.com/rockcastle-run-n-gun-5k-2017/register

One last reminder - registration opens tomorrow (Saturday) at 10:00am at the above link. Get in while you can!

It's time. Registration will open on Practiscore two weeks from today, on Saturday December 17th at 10:00am Central Time. I've expanded this to 60 total competitor slots. Please only register if you are very serious about attending. Registration is extremely limited and if you register and don't attend you'll be taking a slot from someone else who really wants to go.Here's the link: https://practiscore.com/rockcastle-r...-2017/registerI'm not sure why it says "registration will open in one week" - the date is set for December 17th. RO's and sponsored shooters will be preregistered by me, and you will receive a notification email from Practiscore probably this week.We still have some sponsorship opportunities available - if you're interested in sponsoring an obstacle, a stage, or the match please email me at mstennett@twlakes.net for details.

This match is not about beating other people, it’s about beating yourself. And your Self is the toughest opponent you will ever face. Start training. If you sign up, show up, and just START the match you’re ahead of every other “internet couch warrior” out there. If you FINISH the match, no matter how long it takes you, you win. One thing I can promise you – is that NO ONE will make fun of you for getting out there and trying. You will only hear words of encouragement and support*, pushing you to keep going and finish this thing. *Marines and Army Drill Instructors have their own special way of giving encouragement and support, and I have a few as RO’s. If they yell at you, know it’s because they love you. They are the only exemptions from this statement. If some lone douchebag tries to prove me wrong on this and makes fun of you for struggling, being too fat, too old, or too slow - give them a swift buttstroke to the side of the head with your rifle and just keep going. As you trample over their crying body, tell them "Matt says hi".

Here's the full course map to give everyone a better idea of where they're going. The red line is the 5k course you'll be following. The other color coding is just to give you an idea of what kind of surfaces you'll be running on:

Leave the powerline cut and run south on Club House Rd. Turn right onto Park Mammoth Rd, run past the pistol bays, and climb over the tire obstacle. Bypassing the obstacle will zero your entire run score. Then begin Stage 5 (0.3 miles). Stage 5: Make The Shot When It Counts Location: Pistol Bays A bad guy is holding your spouse hostage, and only his head is exposed from behind your spouse (a white "no shoot" target). Shoot the bad guy once in the head. Run to the next bay and shoot the plate rack strong-hand only. Run to the next bay and shoot the plate rack weak-hand only. If you hit your spouse you ZERO the stage, but still have to finish the rest of the shooting with that failure on your mind. In real life you cannot stop just because bad things happen. Yes, the penalty for a no shoot is stiff. What would the penalty be if you really shot your spouse??? Leave pistol bays on Park Mammoth Rd, turn right into Lodge parking lot, and finish at the Lodge overhang. (0.3 miles - 3.5 miles in total)

Time for Stage 4 - this one is deceptively simple...if you can make your hits! Leave cave and run south along gravel road to Stage 4. (0.7 miles) Stage 4: The Rifleman Location: Powerline Cut On the buzzer, get two hits on the 100yd target from standing, two hits on the 200yd target from kneeling or sitting, and two hits on the 300yd target from prone.

Remington 870. Old School. ;-)