For those that don’t know, David Goggins is an ex-US Navy Seal who takes mental toughness to the next level. This challenge was born from Goggins wanting others to truly experience the importance of self-discipline.
The challenge is simple. Every 4 hours, on the hour, you run for 4 miles. You do this for a total of 48 hours. The prospect of running 4 miles for your average runner is not a lot. However they quickly build up, and after everyone, you’re left dreading the next. But it’s not the miles that make this challenge so tough. Having to run on the hour, every 4 hours means you need to have the discipline to make sure you’re out there on your start line regardless of what else is going on. It includes waking up in the night to go out and get a run complete.
I would have to block out my whole weekend to complete this challenge. I had to be selfish in how I spent my time. Every minute would go towards me. So I used this as an opportunity to add some additional themes or challenge to my runs that I was interested in.
A full weekend for myself.
Run One – 4 AM
The challenge starts when Goggins starts at 8 PM PST. In the UK that was 4 AM Saturday. My kit was laid out ready for my 3.30 AM alarm. I’m a morning person, with a daily 5 AM alarm, so getting up wasn’t too bad. Kit on I headed outside for the first run. No challenge for this one. I was just easing in and getting the miles done.
Running in the early hours of the morning was eye-opening. I passed only 2 cars as I ran amongst the darkness of the streets, head torch leading me around parked cars and other obstacles. Within 40 minutes the run was complete and I returned home for breakfast and to put my feet up and watch TV for a couple of hours.
Run Two – 8 AM
With gyms shut in the UK because of lockdown, my Saturday morning routine has been to walk to the local woodland and pick up a bunch of logs and pretend they’re barbells. It’s a part of my weekly routine where I have been able to go and do something different. I didn’t want to miss out on it, so decided I would run 4 miles around the woodland and a nearby quarry before heading to my stash of logs and doing some extra work after. In hindsight doing any extra exercise was probably a bad idea, but hey, I’m optimistic. This run would also have the most elevation and required me to climb over 3 barbed wire fences when I got lost. So yeah, probably was a bad idea.
Run Three – 12 Noon
I hung around in the woodland for most of the morning. I was meeting a friend for this run and he was coming here. A couple of hours sat outside looking out across the countryside was cherished. I’d normally be too busy to just hang around enjoying the view.
When my friend showed up at noon we just ran 4 laps of the main area of the woodland. This meant I didn’t have to think too much about my route, and it also avoided most of the elevation.
Run Four – 4PM
Run somewhere new. By the time I had got home from the earlier run, I only had a couple of hours until this one started. I debated for a while where I could go for a run which would be new. The problem was a month earlier I had completed the OS Maps Challenge and ran through 64km of my local area… there weren’t many new places left.
I opted to run my most used route instead. The lake at the bottom of my street. I completed 5 laps of the lake to hit 4 miles, and my girlfriend and our dog came down to meet me after for a cup of tea next to the ducks.
Run Five – 8PM
We were back to running in the dark again now. Although this early at night the street lights were still on, and the streets still bustling with cars. I put my headphones on and put on my running playlist. Just another 4 miles of running, no agenda.
I found this one tough. I’d pulled a muscle in my right leg in the morning and it had slowly got worse over the day. It was ok when I ran. It was when I walked that it caused a bit of pain. Throw in the fact I’d just eaten dinner and it was 4 miles I would quickly like to forget.
Run Six – 12 Midnight
This was the run I was looking forwards too least. Twenty miles already in the legs and after only 2 hours of sleep the alarm was going off to wake me up. As I lay in bed looking at the time on my phone, the thought of getting up and going running was genuinely making me feel sick (although it could have been all the food I had been eating).
A friend who was also completing the challenge was coming to meet me for this one, so at least I wouldn’t have to run alone. There’s a nice trail route from my house which includes 2 lakes and a nice scenic stretch along a bridleway, looking out into the fields. Of course, we didn’t get to see any of this because it was pitch black, but it was nice to know it was there.
The run went surprisingly easy and my legs felt good. The average pace was probably the fastest I’d had all day. A false sense of optimism didn’t last long when I left my friend 100 meters away from my house and realized I couldn’t walk because of the pulled muscle in my leg.
Run Seven – 4AM
Trying to go to sleep at 1 AM after you’ve just been for a run is tough. Adrenaline is still working its magic in your body and you feel wide awake. It took me a while to get to sleep, so when the alarm went off again at 3.30 AM I’d slept very little. I felt like a zombie at this point.
My legs felt beaten. My head was heavy. I was drained of energy. At points, I could have walked faster than I was running. It was at this point the mental battle really took over. At least it would be light for the next run.
Run Eight – 8 AM
The early morning sun brought a sense of optimism. I was over halfway, the sun was shining and my legs were feeling fresh. The injury in my right leg had even gone. It’s all downhill from here I thought.
I’d watched Sean Conway litter pick during a run on one of his challenges and I had been meaning to do it myself. Now would be a better time than any. The 2 lakes I have mentioned before are so close to my house that I run or walk around them several times a week. They’re beautiful natural area’s that unfortunately are not as appreciated by everyone as they are by me. I was going to run both of them and clear away all the littler. I put on some work gloves, folded a bin bag into my waist bag and set off.
I decided to get a couple of miles in early before arriving at the first of the lakes. It had actually been litter picked the weekend before by some locals, who had cleared away bags of litter. Unfortunately, despite this, I still managed to fill my one bin bag up quite quickly. The bag was full before I’d even made it to the second lake.
Run Nine – 12 Noon
This run was ‘Run & Write’ so I ran 2 miles to the lake and sat down to write.
I’m on my 9th run in 36 hours. So far I’ve covered 34 miles of running.
I wanted to stop on this run to take a moment and write. It’s midday Sunday and as I sit on a bench overlooking the lake near my house, the sun has just come out, its warmth washing over me. It’s a mental boost I needed since my alarm went off 12 hours before to signal it was time to get up and run through the night.
As I sit here watching the ducks and swan glide across the water I can hear distant calls of workmen and the gentle hum of machinery from the industrial estate. It is a foreign noise and yet it doesn’t seem out of place at all.
The good weather has brought more people to the lake and there are families walking dogs scattered around the perimeter of the lake. A group of children and their grandmother approach the water next to me to feed the ducks. The smallest child makes a game of throwing bread to the ducks she likes the most. This causes a moment of chaos as ducks, gulls and swans push to the front to reach the food.
As the children leave, the birds calm and go about idly floating about the water. This allows me to watch them more closely as they go about their lives.
It’s a reminder of why I run, to be outside in nature, and perhaps that I should slow down more often to enjoy it.
Run Ten – 4 PM
Film a run.
Run Eleven – 8 PM
I’m getting close now. My legs have held out and I know that I can finish this challenge. I’ve nothing planned for this run so I put on a Joe Rogan podcast with a special guest… you guessed it, David Goggins. I have no reason for this run to last longer than it needs to so I am straight down the road to the industrial estate until my watch hits 2 miles. Turn around and go home.
Run Twelve – 12 Midnight
Four miles left, that’s it. I’m so close to finishing and yet it doesn’t make it any easier when that final alarm goes at 11:30 pm. I’ve planned to meet my friend again who is doing the challenge so that we can finish together.
At this point, I’ve run 44 miles. More than any distance I’ve ever covered in such a short amount of time. Yet my legs feel ok and the excitement of finishing has given me a shot of adrenalin.
The run would be another out and back up the Weddington Walk, finishing back at the car. I’m not sure if it was the thought of finishing or because I was running with someone else, but this was my quickest run. It was tough, but it did not beat me. I finished the challenge, tired and mentally exhausted, in a layby at midnight. No adoring crowd, no glory. Just a sense of accomplishment that I had done something most people would take one look at and think ‘fuck that’.
Looking back on the challenge it’s clear it wasn’t the physical challenge I thought it would be. At times it hurt and I wanted to stop, but I never doubted that my body would break and stop me from finishing. However, every run was a mental battle. You tick the miles off one at a time, counting down until the last. Constantly questioning ‘Can I actually run 48 miles?’. How am I going to finish this? Am I going to give up? Over and over again I replayed the words of David Goggins in my head.
“When you think that you are done, you’re only 40% into what your body’s capable of doing. That’s just the limits that we put on ourselves.”
Stay hard.
Get Up Go Outside 