Ep. 04 - Dawn Fontana - 2021 GORUCK Battle of the Bulge Tough (Orlando)

Ryan Burns: 0:11

Hey gang. Welcome to this episode of Under The Log the podcast where we talk to men and women who recently completed GORUCK events. In this episode, we talked to Dawn Fontana about her recent Battle of the Bulge tough, y'all. Dawn is no joke. I mean, you might be tough, but I'm gonna put my money on Dawn, she's probably tough. Listening, find out how this high school trombone player and grew up to be one heck of an endurance athlete. a ton of fun to talk to. And I think you're gonna love this episode. Hey, would you like some help training for an upcoming GORUCK event. We at the ruck and collective put together a free resource for the community at ruck dot training. on the site, we offer free training guides for the GORUCK heavy tough and light. Now basic. The guides can be used as written or modified to accommodate your own training needs and goals. Tons of men and women have used these guides to prepare for GORUCK events. And so if you'd like a free guide, visit us at ruck dot training today. With that, let's get on to our interview with dawn All right, well, Don, thank you so much for joining us here on the Under The Log podcast. You know I typically connect with people online you know I'll put out you know who's done an event recently and connected with you and on Instagram and was looking at your your headline there on your profile and it says says this it says Don't follow me. I do stupid and and with that, like there's a couple 100 people that were like oh yeah, I'm totally following this. This this girl. So if you could tell us I guess by way of introduction so we can get to know you a little bit. Have you always done stupid stuff? Or is this new? And like what sort of stupid stuff do you do? Sure, well,

Dawn Fontana: 2:24

the endurance stupid stuff. That's that's kind of new that's been in the past, you know, five or six years. I do everything from GORUCK events to Spartan events, ultra marathons, long distance triathlons, I've done many many GORUCK events. I participated in Spartan to Death Race. Back in 2019 though I did not finish I've done some survival events I'm really just all over the place a few Ironman distance triathlons took on the four 448 challenge for my birthday weekend last year so all sorts of stupid shit.

Ryan Burns: 3:07

Oh, the that's the four miles every four hours for 48 hours. Yes. How How'd that go?

Dawn Fontana: 3:17

The running was surprisingly not that bad. The second overnight was super tough. Yes, you have enough time to get a little bit of rest. But the second I think it was the second one that we did was was kind of brutal. That was the one we just we walk the whole time we didn't run that one. Okay, but it was a great experience. I would do it again. But probably not anytime super soon. It's hard.

Ryan Burns: 3:48

So I'm interested in all this stupid stuff like it because there's some overlap but there's definitely some some differences like a triathlon is is definitely different than just like an ultra versus a Death Race. Like have all these is there. Is there one that you would say is like, man that was that was straight up the hardest thing I've ever done?

Dawn Fontana: 4:16

Oh, the heart. Yeah. You know what their heart in different ways? Yeah, like I did an event that Spartan puts on, they haven't put it on in a few years called a Gogi. It's kind of a rucking slash survival event. And we were awake for about two and a half days for that. We started on a Friday morning and we finished on a Sunday evening and we had 15 minutes of sleep. So that was mentally and physically a super tough event. And and we didn't know when it was going to end.

Ryan Burns: 4:48

So Oh, goodness.

Unknown: 4:51

Yeah.

Ryan Burns: 4:52

That I don't even really have a category for that. That's you that all does just definitely qualify as a stupid stuff. So so like, What? What got you into this? Like? Have you always been kind of the type of person that's like pushing the physical envelope? Because I mean, that's, that's certainly what you're doing. Like is that, like, did you grow up playing sports and that was kind of your your mo or what?

Dawn Fontana: 5:23

No, believe it or not, no, I, you know, I played some softball when I was younger but throughout, you know, middle and high school I was in band, but I wasn't marching band, which is kind of physical. Yeah. Why would you play? It played the trombone?

Ryan Burns: 5:39

Yeah. Awesome. Okay, continue.

Dawn Fontana: 5:43

Yeah, so I played the trombone. But so for me, you know, I don't like to do the same thing everyone else is doing. So I think that's kind of what led me into the go rock and the Spartan and, and all the different things. I started running, probably about 11 years ago, and, and every time I did a run, I was like, Well, now what, you know, I ran a five K. So now what? Well, I ran a marathon. So now what? Oh, triathlon. Okay, let's do that. So I'm always looking for, you know, another way to challenge myself and push myself.

Ryan Burns: 6:15

That's awesome. I love that just, you know, you check one thing off the box. And it's like, you know, it's it's so easy, I think to say, Okay, well, now that's what I do. Like, I run five K's. But to look for that next thing, that next challenge, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. So obviously, go ruck has been a part of this journey. You know, I saw on Instagram that you've done some some heavies HTML. earned those bolts at extortion, 17 event? Like, like, how many events have you done? And like, what's the the gambit of those?

Dawn Fontana: 7:06

I've done 30 something GORUCK events? Probably 3334. It's kind of hard to keep count. Sometimes. You have the patch board going but I've got you know, this patch here and that patch there. But I when I started I started with the lights. I did like three lights in a row. And then I was like, ooh, what about a tough light? Okay, now, what about a heavy but I've done? I mean, pretty much everything. I got my bolts, of course. I got to do the second beta constellation several years ago, which was super cool. Um, I did immersion, the six of the 12 immersion.

Ryan Burns: 7:48

No, no immersion, like that has such a short GORUCK life. Like, gosh, but for those who don't know, and correct me if I'm wrong, immersion was basically like, we're gonna pretend that you were in a plane that like crashed over the ocean. And now we're just gonna, like, put you in the water for like, 12 hours? Like, something like that?

Dawn Fontana: 8:14

Yes. Yeah. It sure was. But, you know, immersion was super cool. The six hour event was more like you crashed in the ocean and you're in the urine there the whole time, the 12 hour event. We got to do some raft building. We did quite a big bit of, you know, first aid and safety stuff. But ultimately, yeah, it was like you had crashed into the ocean. We got taught how to make a flotation device out of our pants. Oh, yeah. How to make a raft out of our rocks. So it was it was really interesting. And we got super lucky at the event I did. There was the 12 hour There was only six participants, and we had three Cadre. So

Ryan Burns: 9:03

my gosh,

Dawn Fontana: 9:03

we learned so so much at that event. It was it was really cool. Yeah, it was literally cool, because I I kind of got hypothermia.

Ryan Burns: 9:13

Oh, yeah. That's not so enjoyable.

Unknown: 9:18

No, no, no.

Ryan Burns: 9:20

Yeah, I guess. I guess that's probably why it had such a short lifespan, when you can only get six folks to come out. And you got three Cadre that that's probably not gonna work out too well.

Dawn Fontana: 9:33

And the really sad part was it was only six of us and we were in Jacksonville for it.

Ryan Burns: 9:37

Oh, yeah. Like so.

Dawn Fontana: 9:39

Crazy.

Ryan Burns: 9:40

Yeah. Well, that's, that's fun to hear about. I actually haven't ever talked to anybody who did immersion. So that's cool to kind of hear a little bit about that. So, you know, having done so many events, you know, so many hard events. I mean, goodness Gracious in even just the challenges that you've put yourself through outside of go rock, like, like, what motivates you to sign up for? A GORUCK? Tough anymore? Like, a tough almost seems like yeah, you know, why not? Like, what motivates you at this point?

Dawn Fontana: 10:22

I really enjoy the people that I do events with both the people that I know, you know, this last event, several of us from our rep club down here in South Florida by city workers.

Ryan Burns: 10:35

Hey, by city, come on. Yeah.

Dawn Fontana: 10:39

And you get to meet a lot of new people. So you almost never leave an event without making a new friend, or two or three or four, you know, so that's, that's what always brings me back are the are the people and the Cadre as well, you know, not just the the teammates.

Ryan Burns: 10:56

Yeah, it's always so amazing. Like, I was, I was talking to a couple guys on another one of the podcast, Larry and Larry their, their father and son. And just talking about how this this really cool bond that you form with people that you do events with, like, you know, I had done an event with, with the younger Larry, up here in Richmond. And, you know, it's like, there's just this bond is formed. And so the next time I see him like, Dude, it's you Larry, like what's up? And and, and I just think that's really special about these events, like the the relationships that they form. And, and I think you have that advantage whenever you have folks that are nearby. Like the things like ruck clubs begin to form. Because you've, you've been through this adversity together and like this, there's just something that's forged there. And now you have a place to make that more regular. has that kind of been the experience with Vice City?

Dawn Fontana: 12:10

Yeah, vice versa has been around for a little while. But a big way we brought new people in was from the events that we had in the South Florida area, for sure. Nice. So for training, you know, they would train with us and then do the event, or we met them at the event. And then they became, you know, part of our group.

Ryan Burns: 12:28

Nice. So do you all have a pretty big ruck club down there?

Dawn Fontana: 12:33

Yeah, yeah, we, I mean, sometimes we'll get 10 or 15 people at a time, sometimes a little bit more, sometimes. A little bit less. We've got several ruck clubs down here now. So

Ryan Burns: 12:46

okay.

Dawn Fontana: 12:48

It kind of spreads out between all of them.

Ryan Burns: 12:50

Okay. So let's talk a little bit about Battle of the Bulge. Tough that you did in particular. When when you when you look at the event, like you know, I think we can we can talk about things that are that are challenging, and that are tough, but I think I think more than just tough. Like, like, what was memorable, like whether whether it was a good memory or a bad memory, like when you look back and think on this event that you did like what really comes to the forefront and you say that's, that's what this event was about for me.

Dawn Fontana: 13:35

You know, a few things. So we did the Robbie Miller wad. Okay. During the event, and I don't know if you're familiar with Robbie Miller, he's a Medal of Honor recipients. But they're there go wreck was having a heavy in his honor, for a few years, and I was lucky enough to do it last year. But we so we did that WOD as one of the things we did during the event, and Robin is actually buried not too far from where our start point was. So a few of us got together after. And since I had I had been to his gravesite, when we did the heavy I was able to show them where it was and a few of us went out and paid our respects. So it was kind of nice, you know, Battle of the Bulge being you know, part of a different war and he he died and another one you know kind of bring in the past and more recent present, you know,

Ryan Burns: 14:36

yeah and man talk about a way to like really bring a connection to to something like it's no longer just a workout or a WOD that you do but like to be able to stand there and at the graveside of the man that you you honored I mean that's a that's a pretty somber, somber is not the word but Like, pretty special moment?

Dawn Fontana: 15:02

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Ryan Burns: 15:08

So, let's see, for you, like, this should be an interesting question. I feel like just because of the breadth of, of things that you do like, what is what is training look like for you like when you when you've got a GORUCK coming up? Like, do you dial back the running and focus more on rucking? Or are you just all over the place all the time, full throttle. Talk about your training a little bit. Hey, gang, so there are a ton of training programs out there for GORUCK events. I mean, Heck, even GORUCK has its own training program SRT. But none of these programs are free. Well, since 2017, the rockin collective has offered free training guides for the GORUCK, heavy, tough and light, which is now called basic. And we've offered these as a resource for the rucking community. So if you're looking for some help to get started with training for a GORUCK event, just visit ruck dot training today, and download one of our free guides and use it as it's written, or modify it to meet the needs that you have specifically for your training. Alright, with that, let's get back to chatting with dawn.

Dawn Fontana: 16:36

So when I'm having to go ruck events, I definitely do less running. And when it's you know, when I'm running focused, I'll run more when I'm traveling focused, I'll absolutely be on the bike and the swimming more. Right now a little more go ruck and OCR focus, I've got a couple other events coming up. So I kind of split the running and the rucking. So it's four days of running, and usually two days working, plus the strength training and the PT and, you know, mobility and that sort of thing. So I work out a lot. I love it. I have so much fun with it. So

Ryan Burns: 17:14

yeah, well, I think you have to at that level of commitment that you that, you know, with all the different scope and variety, like you've you've got to love it, or else gosh, that would be really miserable. Right with all that you're trying to do. If you didn't absolutely love it, it would be tough. Yeah, you

Dawn Fontana: 17:35

got a good point there. Yeah, I do love it.

Ryan Burns: 17:39

So as somebody who's who's got a breadth of experience, like if you were to, or even thinking about, like some of the newer folks at varsity ruck club, like they're they're looking at getting into rucking and maybe doing a GORUCK event like, like, what's your advice for them? Like, as they're getting started?

Dawn Fontana: 18:07

ruck, you know, put some weight in that in that bag and spend some time on your feet, you know, and it doesn't have to be anything crazy. No one's asking you to go out and ruck 20 miles at a time but you know, a couple times a week but that ruck on show up for you know, Saturday or Sunday when we when we host a workout. You know, get some push ups in some squats and for sure, but you know, don't overthink it. You know, pack what's on the packing list and show up. You're we're a team. We all work together.

Ryan Burns: 18:40

Definitely pack everything on the list. Like, yeah, good grief. Like the most basic of things, like so many events, like your roll call and they're like, Alright, get out your ID and you know, inevitably some some dudes like oh, it's in my car.

Dawn Fontana: 18:58

It's in my car. Yeah. Always. Oh,

Ryan Burns: 19:01

and now we're gonna start doing PT. Thanks a lot, buddy. Yeah.

Dawn Fontana: 19:07

ruck overhead hold the bottom of a squat.

Ryan Burns: 19:09

Yeah. Oh, goodness. So So speaking of ruck overhead holding the bottom of the squat, you know, GORUCK new theme for this year is seek pain. And so do you feel like that that seek pain? mantra was present in the Battle of bulge event that you did and like what what did seeking pain look like in that event?

Dawn Fontana: 19:38

Well, I'm gonna say absolutely. So, as I mentioned, we did the the Robin Miller award, which is quite a workout in and of itself. Immediately after, our next evolution was something called a called prison burpees where We split into teams of three. And you picture a baseball diamond. At home plate, you had to do one burpees. And then at first base, you had to do a burpee. at third base, you had to do a burpee got back to home plate, you had to do two, and then to at first and to third and three, and then four, and we went up to eight teen burpees. And for those that don't want to do that math, it was 685 burpees. With our rocks

Ryan Burns: 20:35

on,

Dawn Fontana: 20:36

and then to make it a little a little more painful. Each of our teams of three had to carry 100 pound sandbag to each base every time. Hmm. Yep. So if you want to seek some pain, that that is how you do it.

Ryan Burns: 20:53

I got I got tired just thinking about that. Like that is an insane amount of work.

Dawn Fontana: 21:01

Yes. Yes.

Ryan Burns: 21:04

Like, I can't, I can't even I don't I don't want to do that dawn.

Unknown: 21:09

No, no, you don't.

Dawn Fontana: 21:12

Oh, and then you know what we did? So at the very end. We might have even been patched at that point. I'm not sure we did. 15 more burpees. Just so we could say we got the 700. And

Ryan Burns: 21:24

oh, yeah, yeah, I mean, you got I mean, at that point, who cares anymore?

Dawn Fontana: 21:29

Exactly. Exactly.

Ryan Burns: 21:32

Like, so. Like, mentally? I think it's always interesting to hear how people face that. Because, I mean, that's, that's just a ton of work. And and so how do you approach that? And I guess it makes sense. I mean, you're you're used to doing things that last a long time and are painful. So So what's your what's your approach to like, enduring all this long pain?

Dawn Fontana: 22:02

So for me, I just focus on what's happening right now. So whether it's mile one of an ultra or burpee number one from that 18 times three. You know, I look at it as this is your life now. Now you have to do a burpee. And then the next one, now you have to do one more. And I only worry about what I'm doing in that moment. Because if you look and say, Oh my gosh, I got to do this X number of times, or I still have to run 35 more miles are not gonna be done until, you know, two o'clock in the afternoon. You'll just bury yourself with that.

Ryan Burns: 22:44

Yeah. Yeah, like, I like that. And I feel like I try and apply that. But I also like, I can't shut the part of my brain off. That's like, Yeah, but like, like the whole eat the elephant one bite at a time, like staying in the moment looking right in front of you. But in the back of my mind, I still know like, yeah, there's still just a crap ton of work to do. So for you, like you're like, does that in the middle of it? Like does is that popping up in the back of your head? Or is it literally like, just Alright, what's next? Oh, 10 burpees. Let's go.

Dawn Fontana: 23:31

So when that kind of creeps in, that's where I use my mantra of this is your life now.

Ryan Burns: 23:37

Okay,

Dawn Fontana: 23:38

this is your life. Now you're gonna do burpees until it's done. it's eventually going to be done.

Ryan Burns: 23:43

But this is your

Dawn Fontana: 23:44

life now. And I use that all the time. I tell people that all the time. I I stole that from a blog. I read it before I was even into these really long events that I thought that was fantastic. You know, your feet hurt. Okay, well, this is your life now.

Ryan Burns: 23:59

That's good. I like that. And as you said that, like it even reminded me, I hadn't really noticed while I was doing it, but I think that's it like, you know, like running in the gym. Like, I'm a tall lanky dude. I'm like, built to run. And I just hate it. But I can, I can do it. And I can do it pretty well. And at the gym, sometimes when we have like mile runs or whatever. Like the mantra that has just appeared recently is this is what you do. Like, you run long and hard and it hurts. Exactly like this is what you do.

Unknown: 24:41

Right?

Ryan Burns: 24:43

I don't think I've ever applied that like in in the moment of like a GORUCK event or something like that. So I'll definitely have to pull that one. Pull that one out next time. Yeah, this so what was this? What was yours? It was, this is your life. This is your life now.

Dawn Fontana: 25:06

sandbag is heavy. This is your life now.

Ryan Burns: 25:08

Oh, I love it. There's there's such a simplicity and a beauty to it like this is it. This is life. Oh, that's so great dawn, thank you for sharing that. I'm just looking at some of the questions that I jotted down. This is actually something I haven't asked anybody yet. And I was like, man, I should be asking this more. Like when it comes to GORUCK events, because I'm like, I have some some answers. And so I want to hear what other people have. Like, is there like, an event food that you will pack? 100% of the time? Skittles, Skittles,

Dawn Fontana: 25:48

Skittles or gummy bears, I always have either Skittles or gummy bears on me.

Ryan Burns: 25:52

Okay, those those are kind of different though. Like you know, the the Skittles are they kind of make your mouth all full of that like thick saliva and everything. And the gummy bears are just going down. So that's interesting that that you got to kind of go in two different directions there with the with the snack.

Dawn Fontana: 26:10

Well, I do it more for something to share.

Ryan Burns: 26:13

There you go.

Dawn Fontana: 26:15

Lots of Skittles, you know, people are kind of getting down and you want a handful a candy.

Ryan Burns: 26:20

Yeah. So yeah. Somebody had, somebody had said that idea. Like, you know, I always share whatever I have. But somebody had said something one time about like, they had packed like a pound of cooked bacon, and took it with them. And so I was like, dude, that's the most fantastic thing I've ever heard. Like, that's, that's caring for your team right there. And so I had done it for an event. I cooked up a pound of bacon, put it in my ruck, you know, and we're in the middle of the night and everybody's all tired and grumpy and whatnot. And I was like, this is it. This is the moment. And so I busted out I was like, Hey, who wants bacon? And it was like crickets. Like,

Dawn Fontana: 27:08

oh my god, really? Yeah,

Ryan Burns: 27:10

I could. I couldn't believe it. I was like, there was one dude was like, oh, I'll have a slice or a piece. And I was like, Okay, I gotta, I gotta find what that magic snack is to

Dawn Fontana: 27:22

hold you for some bacon.

Ryan Burns: 27:24

I know. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. But I guess I was with a bunch of vegetarians or something. I don't know. I don't know. That's, that's fun. That's fun. Yeah, I love the taking a snack to share? Like, I think, yeah, I look back to one of my early events. And there was a moment, you know, real low moment, and somebody was like, Hey, man, you want some some m&ms. And I mean, they were the best freakin m&ms I've ever had in my life. But you know, it's about that that Karen for for your team, you know, the team of love yourself. So, so there you go, folks. Make sure when you pack your snacks, they're not just for you pack snacks for everybody. Cool. Any other tips that you have for somebody looking looking to do an event? You know, they're on the fence and they're like, I don't I don't think I can do this. Like, you know, this. This just maybe isn't something that I can accomplish? Like somebody in your ruck club, you know, maybe they've done a couple of lights and they're like, Oh, no, I could never be like you dawn I couldn't you know, you do the Death Race. Like I can't, I can't do what you can do. Like what what's your what's your word to that person?

Dawn Fontana: 28:45

Well, I will tell them I'm not very bright, obviously. But you know, people don't realize a lot how much of a team event it is and it's not your team. It is a team you don't need to know anybody when you show up the first probably eight or nine events I did I didn't really know anybody but I remind them how much of a team event it is and you're not always going to be carrying that sandbag and you know you can always ask for help and look to your left and your right and see people who are going through the same thing you are and to not overthink it you know just show up with the with the gear this but show up

Ryan Burns: 29:26

just do it that's awesome. So final question that I'm now after talking to you for a little bit super intrigued in like, what's what's like the next thing so you you said at the very beginning like you were always looking for the next thing it was a five K and then it was a 10 k marathon next thing you're in a Death Race. like where do you go from here dawn like what is that next thing for you?

Dawn Fontana: 29:54

So for me, the next thing is to complete 100 mile ultra Oh I attempted it in December, I made it 45 miles and got really, really sick and couldn't finish. So I'm looking at November for my completion of 100 miler,

Ryan Burns: 30:14

that is frickin awesome. Well, I wish you all the best in that and all your training and everything that's going to go into that all the sacrifice that you'll you'll make and and, hey, you know when you get out there, it's just your life now.

Dawn Fontana: 30:32

Exactly, exactly. Thank you.

Ryan Burns: 30:35

Awesome. Well, Thanks a ton for coming on the podcast. And, and I'm sure we'll talk again someday. Hey, y'all. So I was right, right. I mean, Dawn's pretty much a beast. For me, it's so inspiring to talk to folks like dawn, genuinely makes me want to go and find and do really challenging things. So Thanks a ton for that. If you'd like to see some show notes or a transcript of the episode, and maybe some links to things that we talked about, you can visit us at Under The log.com. If you've haven't subscribed to our podcast on one of those fancy services that lets you leave reviews, it would mean a lot to us. If you dropped a positive review in there, we'd appreciate that. Finally, if you want to connect on social media, visit us at Under The Log calm and you can find links to where you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, all those different places. So we'd love to connect with you over there. Well that's it for me gang. I will see you next time Under The Log