Have you ever challenged yourself to do something hard? Meet Lee Friedman. I’m thrilled to interview him in my year of “DO THE NEW”! Lee is a local fella from my hometown. I’ve known his family for years. What I didn’t know was his determination and grit. Lee’s shown his talent for running since he was in the fourth grade. He decided to challenge himself to do something he knew would be hard. His personal challenge? Run one hundred miles in twenty-four hours!
Hello Lee. Thanks for taking time to tell others about your challenge and share your mindset of doing hard things. First tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Lee Friedman and I have lived in Princeton, IN my entire life. I have recently moved to Fort Rucker, AL where I am stationed with the Army for flight school. I enjoy pushing myself and I could tell that the more I got outside my comfort zone the more I realized we are capable of doing much more than we think.
I know you had to adjust your plans for your run. How did that turn out?
I wanted to attempt something that even after training I still might not be able to complete. That led me to finding the sport of ultra-marathons. These races consisted of unheard-of distances many being 100 miles or more. I picked a race in Oklahoma in February, built out a training plan, and began training for it. However, my plans changed whenever my date for flight school got moved up and I could no longer commit to the multiday event and recovery process. This left me with the option to walk away saying that life simply got in the way and it just wasn’t meant to be but after logging roughly 900 miles over the previous five months of training I was committed to the goal. I chose to make my own 100 mile course around my hometown and run it on my own in December while home for Christmas.
When I saw your plans on a Facebook post, I knew I wanted to talk to you. Were you surprised by all the local support?
I saw a huge presence from the local community out supporting me. I posted on Facebook the night before I started running and by the following morning local businesses had encouraging words on their signs and people were driving to spots along the course standing out in the snow with handmade signs cheering me on. They were a huge part of the support team I didn’t know I was going to have and that made a huge difference.
Not only the local community but I know your family and friends were cheering you on also. Some even ran or biked along with you. That’s so awesome.
My support team was led by my wife that made sure I had everything I needed at all times from food, water, gear, and mental
support. With her were several of my best friends that I have spent my whole life running with. They paced me through various parts of the event along with several family members that were there to cheer me on the entire time.
I know you’re in the service. Tell me about it. What prompted you to enlist? (Thank you for your service!)
I have always had a passion for the military and serving my country (probably stemming from my collection of John Wayne movies I watched as a kid). I admired those that were willing to sacrifice everything not for something tangible, but for an ideal. I joined ROTC in college and began training to become an Army Officer upon graduation. I loved the organization and after four years I commissioned as a Second Lieutenant where I am now training to become a qualified helicopter pilot.
If you could give others a piece of advice for trying new things or challenging yourself, what would it be?
In order to do something new or challenging, you have to be willing to get uncomfortable. This applies to any goal. From running an ultra-marathon to pursuing a dream job or even rebuilding a broken relationship, any goal you want to pursue and achieve will have a price. It will require discomfort and your willingness to be vulnerable and acknowledge weaknesses and fix them.
Many people take the first steps and once things get inevitably difficult of uncomfortable they take that as a sign that it just wasn’t meant to be. On the contrary, discomfort means you are doing something right. You have taken the first steps outside of your comfort zone. If you go into the process accepting that price upfront you will achieve so much more than you ever thought you could.
So many times we avoid hard things. I know I have in the past. But not anymore. This is the year to try hard things, to challenge myself, step out and step up to all the things.
Thanks Lee for sharing your thoughts with us. Godspeed in all you endeavor to do!