Can't Hurt Me - David Goggins ǀ One of the most Insane true stories ever heard ǀ Book review

If I were to write a book, in which a child who was beaten by his farther, had to escape with his mother and brother whom his farther also beat; a child who cheated his way through school; a young man who weighed 300 pounds and yet still turned his life around - you might not believe it entirely plausible.

Well Goggin's went on to lose 100 pounds in 3 months to be able to enter navy seal training, BUDS. He then went on to complete hell week, the physical training section of the course, on three separate occasions - having to leave twice on medical grounds - completing his third round of training on broken legs. Hell week is a section through which around 90% of applicants commonly drop out.

During his military career he lost some of his friends in operation red wings, the story of Lone Survivor tells the tale, after which he wanted to help these friends families by raising money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. To do so he looked for the toughest race in the world and found the Badwater 135, a 135 mile, invitation only, foot race through death valley, USA in the summer.

His officer emailed Chris Kostman, the race director, telling him that David Goggins was the best endurance athletes he had ever known and that he should be given an invitation - as he didn't have time to complete the entry criteria because he was still working full time as a navy seal. Kostman said Goggins had to meet the entry standards like everyone else (completing 100 miles in 24hrs, and even then not having an entirely secure spot). He told Goggins of a race happening that weekend in which you ran around a one mile track for 24hrs. 

So that weekend Goggins turned up to this Ultra 24hrs race without running over 20 miles this year. After reaching mile 70 he could barely walk, both pooed on himself while sitting down and peed blood on himself. Despite his wife, a nurse telling him he needed to go to the hospital Goggins, thought to himself what an achievement it would be even if he could complete just one more lap. So he did one more lap of the mile track, then another, then another after that. 

Finally he completed 100 miles in just over 19hrs. When he arrived home his wife rang a doctor who said Goggins needed to go to the hospital immediately. Goggins didn't want to, he wanted to enjoy the pain he was in, he wanted to relish how much pain he had put himself though, taking his body to a level he never thought possible.

When he told Kostman he made the criteria the director simply said, the objective of a 24hr race is to run the full 24hrs not just 19. So Goggins entered another 100 mile race to ensure his entry spot. The HURT 100, one of the toughest Ultra marathons in the world. It was in a few months time.

Goggins could barely walk for months after his 19hr endurance escapade, but went with his wife to the Las Vegas marathon, on the day of which he could still barely walk, let alone run. He assumed he would walk it with his wife and mother. When the gun went something switched in Goggins head and he went on to run a 3hr marathon and in the process qualify for the Boston marathon.

Later he went on to finish 9th in the Hurt 100, out of the only 23 people that actually finished the event that year. He went on to finish 5th in Badwater, a result unheard of for a relatively novice ultramarathoner ; a result which he backed up by placing 3rd the following year (2007).

In his self help memoir Can't Hurt Me he talks about techniques such as taking souls and the accountability mirror which allowed him to reach his full potential, something important as he says most people only do 40% of what they are capable of. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Goggins

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cant-Hurt-Me-Master-Your/dp/1544512287