I have been in a weird arm-wrestling battle with motivation and focus for a couple of months now. This ebb and flow is nothing new, but what is new is how long mojo and its buddy, discipline, have been on a camping trip to an undisclosed location. These two powerhouses went off the grid, cut their cord to me and I have been searching for a way to get connected again.

There have been times when I have lost motivation but I could fake it for a day or two until it came back. From the sheer adrenaline dump of wondering where my internal drive had gone off to I could muster the energy to keep it going. Sound familiar? If you can’t get excited about something, you can at least work yourself up into a respectable worry-fest about it and then siphon off the adrenaline to get whatever it is you wanted to, done.

Welp, I used up that process pretty early in 2021 and I have been dragging. It’s an overall malaise, or ennui if you will. Ennui is one of those words that you don’t have a legitimate reason to use very often so when it presents itself, take it… twice.

About a week ago, John told me he watched one of the recent podcasts with Rich Roll and Adam Skolnick, called Roll On and he was sure he had a solution to my problem. I watched the first few minutes of the podcast and before long David Goggins came into the conversation. Then I knew I was so in for it. At that point I looked at John with contempt and a knowing smile. He had done it. I knew it even before I ever finished the podcast. 

This is the thing about my husband. He has a knack of dropping seeds for adventures wherever he goes and waiting to see which ones will grow. What’s ironic about this is that a solid 70% of the time he never participates in these fitness adventures. He just gets someone else invested in it. That someone is most often me. He’s a phenomenal cheerleader and even when you doubt you can complete the task, he has enough faith for the both of us. As Lowi, will tell you, he was able to keep me, her and our friend Mary focused to not only complete 50 miles, but also stoke the faith that we could, in fact, do it.

This latest resolution to my motivation lack went something like this:
John knows my fitness and enthusiasm is flagging
He finds out that David Goggins is hosting his 2nd annual 4x4x48 challenge the first weekend of March and thinks this is what Angela (me) needs.
And even though I know it’s going to suck and be so hard, I also intuitively know, it’s exactly what I need.

Here’s the challenge:
Every 4 hours for 48 hours, you run/walk 4 miles. If you can’t run/walk you workout in some capacity for 45-60 minutes.
This adventure begins 11 pm ET Friday, March 5 and ends 48 hours later. 

Are you scratching your head? Yeah, I did too. It takes a few minutes to let it sink in. But at the end of 48 hours, you will have run and/or walked 48 miles. Easy peasy, right?!

I’ve been around long enough to know that it won’t be easy. But I also know it is just ridiculous enough to be perfect. So I began my prep, running twice a day, getting myself used to breaking up my workout in 45-60 minute chunks a few times a day, early last week. It’s harder than it sounds.

Then over this past weekend, I decided to start at 7 am on both days and do 4 rounds. So I ran/walked at 7 am, 11 am, 3 pm and 7 pm. Friends, I am not going to lie, it was hard in all the ways you imagine and in ways you can’t until you try it.

This challenge is free, you don’t need to do anything except decide in order to participate. You can check out David’s challenge site here.

 If you want to raise money for a charity, you certainly can. If you are looking for a kickstart this may be just the thing you need. I think it may be just what I need. So far simply getting ready for it has given me a huge boost.

My mini simulation project over the weekend went well so I am looking forward to seeing how it all goes starting Friday night. What do you think? Are you in?

Sunshine & Sarcasm,
Lowi & G