This past weekend on Sunday, I accomplished a personal challenge that I had set a few months ago.  This was both a mental and physical accomplishment.  I had a lot of anxiety building up to the days before this event. The event was called the "Day of Madness".  Months ago a friend/neighbor of mine came to me and said "hey, I'm organizing the Day of Madness and I think it would be fun if you did it.  We are going to do a bunch of physical things in one day. It started out with quite a few people but between schedules, flight delays, and other just simply backing out, there were 4 of us left. It originated that he wanted to go surfing and snow skiing in the same day.  We live just a few miles from the beach, and about 2.5 hours from the snow.  I said, sure it sounds like fun. The plan developed further to include running and golf.  So here was the end result: We headed to the beach at around 5:30am.  We surfed for about 45 minutes, changed and then ran the Encinitas half marathon.  After the marathon, we got cryotherapy at Chiltonic (a great place here locally) and then went golfing.  We golfed for 18 holes at a local course and then hopped on a bus waiting for us and drove 2 1/2 hours to go night skiing. Why am I sharing this?  I really had self doubt about being able to do this.  I was really pushing myself outside of my comfort zone.   Honestly I had never run more than a mile or two before a few weeks ago when i started training.  I don't even like to run.   I wasn't sure my body would hold up to it.  Let alone running after a surfing session.  While I surfed as a kid, i maybe surfed a few times in the last 10 years. My friend seemed very confident that I would be fine even though I didn't have the same confidence. I had tremendous anxiety leading up to the day.  Not only with organization of what I was going to need but fear I was going to get hurt or that some part of my body wouldn't make it through. I can tell you that the day of the event was surreal.  Right before starting the run i was feeling physically stronger than I can ever remember.  I was listening to music in one ear, and the adrenaline in my body (along with the caffeine I had consumed) sent me into an incredible state.  Sure I was nervous, but I felt like I could conquer the world.  I had not felt that kind of "high" in a while. It reminded me doing sports and pumping yourself up before a big game.  You simply  rise to the occasion Well except for realizing muscles I didn't know I have, I felt really good about what i had accomplished. I was proud of myself and my friends for taking this challenge on and finishing. What i wanted to convey in this podcast is that pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zone can be extremely rewarding.  We often doubt ourselves.  We don't think we are strong enough, smart enough, or however we are judging ourselves.  I was guilty of it too. But if you can push through, there is a great reward on the other side.  The feeling of accomplishment, the experience of something new, or even the self confidence. This can be a physical challenge like i did, something in your personal life, business life, or anything of which an obstacle may be holding you back or fear is keeping you from growing. The day of madness may have been a crazy thing, but it really did impact what i thought I was capable of.  I was very much out of my comfort zone and I love the result.  I'm not too interested in running again anytime soon, but give me a year, I'll surely consider it again.