 Two summers ago I had an opportunity to do a long-distance charity event with Jesse Itzler and Sarah Blakely You guys know who Sarah Blakely is? She's the founder of SPACs and until the recent Surgeons of Kylie Jenner. She was the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world one of the sharpest human beings I've ever been around and her husband Jesse is equally impressive. He's a serial entrepreneur He's an endurance super freak. He's a he's a speaker and an author I mean they make quite the power couple and they invited 70 of us up to their home in New Fairfield, Connecticut to run this race and in the backyard of their home in New Fairfield, Connecticut is a patch of grass and that patch of grass is 85 yards long so just short of a football field and it's at a 40 degree slope Which is really steep. I don't know if any of you do some incline work on treadmills But a conventional Jim treadmill only goes up to 15% and if you've ever put it up to 15% to go for a brisk stroll You feel like you're gonna fall off the back of the earth 15 is steep Well, this was at 40 and our task for the day was to run up and down this 85-yard hill at a 40 degree slope a hundred times Yeah, the event was appropriately named hell on the hill and that it was I'm a basketball guy basketball is a starting and stopping sport. It's not a long-distance endurance sport So the concept of long-distance endurance is something that's always been rather foreign to me And and I knew just because Jesse put his stamp of approval on this I knew that this was going to be a challenging event I had no idea how challenging it was going to be at around rep 70 give or take I was ready to quit like I just had enough I could feel Blisters underneath underneath each big toe forming my knees and my back were throbbing to the touch Sorry for the visual because you just ate, but I had some chafing going on that was just out of this world and Incredibly uncomfortable and we all have that voice inside of us It's kind of that proverbial angel and devil and the devil side that says you can't do this Why did you sign up for this? What were you thinking? You know as those of you that know me and those of you that that maybe don't know me as well But maybe I've gotten a glimpse in the last 60 minutes. I'm a pretty positive guy. I'm wired optimistically That negative voice does not come out very often But when it comes out, it's loud and it's screaming and to have that voice come out at rep 70 I was at a crossroads Well, I was very fortunate that a very good friend of mine also was running and we were on about the exact same pace He's also a former basketball guy and his name and and he often gets booze when we're in the DC area But his name Steve Wojachowski and he is a Duke basketball icon And he's the head coach of Marquette and and we were on about the same pace and I guess just a commiserate misery. I said Steve. How many do you have left and he smiled which? Really irritated me and he said I've got one rep One rep there's no way you only have and then he finished his sentence. I have one rep 30 more times and that is the definition of living in the present moment You don't worry about the hundred. You only focus on the next rep All you got to do is get up and down the hill one more time You don't focus on your toes and your back and your your knees and your chafing situation You focus on your own attitude and you focus on your own effort and I'm not very good at math probably why it became a basketball performance coach But even I know that you cannot get to number 100 Until you go through number 71 you have to respect the process and his friendly reminder of those three things Is what allowed me to end up finishing it took me just over four hours of straight running up and down this hill To be able to complete it and the only reason I was able to do it was to be able to stay in the present moment