The Goggins Challenge
During the weekend of March 5th, 2021, I decided to jump into the David Goggins 4x4x48 Challenge.
If you don’t know who David Goggins is, he is a retired Navy SEAL, an accomplished ultrarunner, and his story has helped many struggling people to get off their asses and get into action. Go ahead and give him a quick Google or check out some of the podcasts he’s been a guest on.
David created a challenge known as the 4x4x48 Challenge, or the Goggins Challenge, where your objective is to run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. I first heard about it last year, and after gaining some popularity within the ultra community, I decided to take a crack at it.
It started at 11:00 PM ET on Friday, March 5th, and I took a nice 4 mile run to downtown Fuquay Varina, NC. I was about a mile away from my house when I almost witnessed an accident between a car going 45 MPH and a herd of 8 deer. The car stopped within maybe 2-3 inches of smashing the deer, but luckily the driver was paying attention. Almost a very eventful start to my challenge. I made it back home, ate some fruit and a few other snacks before hitting the sheets around 12:30 AM.
2:35 AM on Saturday, March 6th, I am woken up by my alarm, and I can feel the lack of sleep. Less than 2 hours of actual sleep, and my circadian rhythm has already been disrupted. Oh well—put the gear on and get ready for round 2. This run was a bit chillier than the first one; I think it was 29 degrees out. As I left my neighborhood, I ran by a local food donation box and saw a man and woman rummaging through the food items. They were startled as I ran by, likely because they weren’t expecting anyone to be out running at 3:00 AM. I waved and continued on my way with feelings of gratitude and sadness. 4 miles later, and I am back at my house, too tired to shower, so I just changed and climbed into bed.
6:35 AM, the sun is starting to come out, and I feel slightly better, having accumulated roughly 4 hours of sleep between my first 2 runs. I’m out the door at 7:00 AM for an uneventful, chilly run around the local neighborhoods. I return home to pancakes and bacon with my wife and daughter, copious amounts of coffee, and a hot shower. I feel like a million bucks.
My 11:00 AM run on Saturday was probably my strongest effort during the entire weekend. I was happy to be out in the daylight with warmer weather, and my body was feeling replenished. I pushed the pace a little bit, opting to run some greenways nearby. When I returned home, we ordered some Panera Bread for lunch, and I crushed a big ol’ salad with a side baguette. Good stuff.
For my 3:00 PM run, I coerced my wife and daughter to come with me to Bass Lake, a local park with some soft mulch trails and a few decent hills. They would walk around the lake for a lap while I squeezed in my 4 miles. My joints appreciated not being on the pavement for this round, but I made sure to add a few hill repeats to keep it interesting. We couldn’t have asked for better weather that day.
7:00 PM hit, and I head out for my final run of the first 24 hours. I was a bit hungry on this round because I held off on eating dinner, thinking that I wouldn’t have enough time to digest before jostling everything around. So I decided I would knock out the run, come home and eat, and maybe try to get a few minutes of sleep. When I returned, I smashed my dinner—Sloppy Joe Baked Potatoes—showered up again and fell asleep watching Netflix with my wife.
My alarm goes off at 10:25 PM, and I must have gotten 45 minutes of sleep. I feel exhausted after a great first day. I suit up and head out for a very uncomfortable 4 miles. Sloppy Joe Baked Potatoes was the WRONG choice. There’s a brick in my stomach and acid in my throat. Nice and easy while I keep focused on just hitting my goal and getting back home for more sleep.
2:35 AM on Sunday, March 7th, I am feeling my worst. I’m back out in the coldest run yet—maybe 27 degrees—and the Sloppy Joe experience hasn’t gone away. In fact, it feels like more of a problem than it did the previous round. I stop a few times to walk during this round, continuously swallowing the saliva in my mouth, trying to hold back the vomit. It feels inevitable, but I stand my ground. Not this morning. Not right now. After a grueling 4 miles, I’m back in the warmth and comfort of my home, and I am quickly back to sleep.
It’s 6:40 AM when I notice my alarm, and although I am feeling the effects of the sleep deprivation and accumulating miles, I’m excited to realize I have no more mid-morning, dark, cold runs to complete and that I only have 4 rounds left. This run was slow and clunky, but I was smiling the whole time.
The clock strikes 11:00 AM, and I head out for another 4 miles to downtown Fuquay Varina. My legs are beginning to feel great again, and my energy takes a turn for the better. It appears as though mind and body have accepted the fact that they’re going to have to do more with less. It’s funny how that works.
For the 3:00 PM shift, my wife, daughter and I all head to another local park—Hilltop Needmore Nature Town Park & Preserve. I run my 4 while they walk their loop. Knowing that I’ll have my little intimate audience of two there, I decided to push the pace again. The beautiful 60-degree weather didn’t hurt either.
7:00 PM approaches, and I can’t wait to get out of the door to knock the miles out and wrap this challenge up. The run was slow, steady, and before I know it, my watch alerts me that I’ve crossed over 4 miles. There it is! 48 miles completed. Challenge accepted, mission accomplished.
When I reflect on my experience with the 4x4x48 challenge, a few thoughts come to mind.
This was not necessarily a challenge of fitness or physical preparedness, although it helps to have well-trained legs to help stave off the inevitable muscular fatigue. But, this is certainly doable for someone who doesn’t regularly run long distances.
This was an excellent challenge of discipline and mental fortitude. No one wants to get up at 3:00 AM and run around their neighborhood, especially after they’ve been running for the past 24+ hours. It’s hard to tradeoff your weekend to undertake something as consuming and exhausting as a challenge like this. But sticking to it and answering the alarm when it sounds helps develop or reinforce discipline, which is beneficial for life.
This was also good gut training for ultrarunning. Eating different things throughout the weekend and not being able to time them all appropriately led to some runs being more uncomfortable than others. I experimented with a wide variety of foods, snacks and drinks over the duration of the challenge, and I have now added some new items to my “race-approved” list while learning or confirming a few things to stay far away from.
My final thoughts here are that challenges like these are a great reminder that many things are possible if you approach them with consistency and discipline. Whenever presented with an obstacle or something to overcome in life, if you just start where you are, break it down into manageable chunks, and keep at it consistently, you will be successful. Don’t focus on the overwhelming enormity of the mountain; just concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, and eventually, you will reach the summit.
