David Goggins’ challenge of four miles, every four hours, for 48 hours pushes Hart’s stoic mindset
- Hong Kong-based Briton inspired by David Goggins and Ross Edgley to develop mental resilience through out-of-comfort zone challenges
- He is raising money for Mother’s Choice, a Hong Kong charity for orphans and teenage mothers
Lawrence Hart has not run for weeks, maybe months. In fact, he hates running and yet has been inspired to take on a challenge sure to test his limits. He will run four miles, every four hours, for 48 hours.
“I think it’s going to be more of a mental challenge than a physical one, which is crazy given I’m going to run nearly two back-to-back marathons in two days, and I haven’t run at all this year,” Hart said.
The Hong Kong-based Briton is following in the footsteps of David Goggins, the US ultra runner renowned for his no-nonsense pep talks about getting out of your comfort zone. Hart read Goggins book Can’t Hurt Me and has been toying with the idea since New Year. By coincidence, Goggins then posted on his social media, encouraging people to try the 4x4x48 challenge.
“I guess I see what other people are achieving, bigger than themselves, I thought maybe I could push myself, too,” Hart said. “This intrinsic motivation, the part of my personality, I want to push myself and see if I can better myself. Have I ever really pushed myself to the limit? Obviously, I haven’t.”
Hart has one challenge under his belt. He walked 100,000 steps in one day, between 5am and 8pm, last May. He really had no idea what 100,000 steps would be like and was surprised to find it was over 100km: “I had bitten off more than I can chew.”
He completed the challenge but needed months of physio to get back to normal.
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Hart did not have enough time to train for his step challenge, so that is when he started reading ultra sports books to mentally prepare instead.
“These challenges are a way to keep pushing myself. The 100,000 steps, I hit 70k and I thought ‘can I do it’? I realised it was mental. My mind was saying ‘stop, this hurts’. But I need to train myself so my brain cannot tell my body to stop. I want to be in control,” he said.
He also read Ross Edgley’s The Art of Resilience. The British adventurer and fitness expert was the first person to swim around the UK. People doubted if it was possible, given Edgley is short and muscular, not the typical swimmer’s body.
“Edgley says just do it. If you have an idea, just go for it,” Hart said. “He calls it a stoic mindset, it’s a philosophical approach, and if you want to grow you have to leave your comfort zone.”
Hart has other extrinsic motivations, too. He is raising money for Mother’s Choice, a Hong Kong charity that supports orphans or teenage mothers who have no support network.
Hart is most worried about the sleep deprivation, never having a chance to catch more than a nap here and there for 48 hours.
Ultimately, his goal is rather different. He wants to compete in a bodybuilding competition this year.
“I don’t even know what I’ll get out of this 48-hour challenge. I’ve just set myself a goal and I want to know if I can do it. I think it will just fuel the next challenge. Maybe if I compete in bodybuilding, that’s another kind of deprivation. But I’m going to have to call on the same mental resilience.
“It’s about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Pain is just a feeling. It isn’t necessarily a negative feeling. It might not feel nice, but you can get comfortable with it by keeping on exposing yourself to it. Then suddenly, it isn’t so bad.”
You can donate to Hart’s Mother’s Choice page here.
