Stepping Outside the Comfort Zone: The Half Marathon Challenge (October 2024)
At Krav Maga Berlin, the relationships I build with my clients often go far beyond the walls of the dojo. We constantly talk about resilience, mental toughness, and stepping outside of our comfort zones. In October 2024, one of my students decided to call my bluff and challenged me to put my own philosophy to the test: running a half marathon together.
He picked the SportScheck Night Run, an incredible event held in the dark on the massive tarmac of Tempelhofer Feld, Berlin’s historic former inner-city airport.
Here is the catch: I am not a runner. I don't run regularly, and out of a mix of stubbornness and curiosity, I agreed to tackle the 21 kilometers completely without prior running training. I just wanted to see what my baseline was.
I crossed the finish line in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Was it slightly naive? Perhaps. But it became a pure test of mental endurance. When physical preparation isn't there to carry you, the mind has to take over and force the body to keep moving. The severe muscle soreness over the next few days was absolutely worth the reminder that we are capable of pushing through almost anything when we set our minds to it.
More than anything, this run was a great testament to the strong, personal bonds we forge within the KMB community. We push each other to grow - sometimes in the dojo, and sometimes at night on an old airport runway.
