Four miles, every four hours, for forty-eight hours.

(48 miles in total, for those doing the mental math)

In April, I completed the 4x4x48 Challenge created by David Goggins and put on by our base. Signing up on a whim, what followed was far from ordinary. No bibs, no lane drops, just a group of people who love a mental/physical/emotional challenge and put their lives on hold for an entire weekend to test their resilience.

Sporadic sleep and showers. Mental games like, whoa. One of my favorite races, ever.

Snippets from my Race Diary:

Leg 1 (4/22, 1800): Group kick off w/ headwinds. Set up base in my car.

Leg 2 (4/22, 2200): Run the flight-line(!) by the glow of a flashlight w/ Laura. Home at 23:20. Shower. Nap.

Leg 3 (4/23, 0200): Solo leg. Nap.

Leg 4 (4/23, 0600): Solo leg. Legs begin to feel like lead. Laundry. Shower.

Leg 5 (4/23, 1000) : Hills w/ Myra

Leg 6 (4/23, 1400): Hills(!!) w/ O biking ahead far faster than I could keep up. Shower.

Leg 7 (4/23, 1800): Solo leg. My legs are dead. Biofreeze enters the chat.

Leg 8 (4/23, 2200): Solo leg. Forget to charge tech and have a mild cardiac event upon realizing this fact. Compression socks join the party.

Leg 9 (4/24, 0200): Solo leg, Shower.

Leg 10 (4/24, 0600): Solo leg.

Leg 11 (4/24, 1000): Group leg at Schlosspark Biebrich. One.More. Leg to go!

Leg 12 (4/24, 1400): The final 4 (and change because OF COURSE I got lost) group leg - seeing family and friends gave me LIFE!

Counting the days until next year.