Shepard PE teacher running 4x4x48 to fund a scholarship

Shepard High School physical education teacher Tina Holba will walk the walk – OK, run the run – as an example to students starting Friday, March 5.

Starting at 10 p.m., Holba will participate in the 4x4x48 Challenge, a grueling two-day test of physical and mental will. She will run four miles every four hours for two days.

The event will raise money for a college scholarship for a Shepard student planning to study physical education. The District 218 Education Foundation will accept donations, making all monies collected tax deductible.

The link to donate appears below.

Ending at 10 p.m. on Sunday night, Holba intends to report to work Monday morning.

“The challenge was started by David Goggins who served in both the Navy and the Air Force and wrote a book called ‘Can’t Hurt Me,’” Holba said.

“The one thing that struck me about this challenge and about him is that it is such a mental challenge as well as a physical challenge. Sleep deprivation along with physically taxing your body until it drops definitely had my attention,” she added.

A Division I gymnast in college, Holba learned mental strength from her parents both as a child and an adult.

“This is exactly what both my parents went through as they got sick and passed. At first they were fine both mentally and physically thinking their aliments will go away, but over time their bodies got weaker, they got more tired, and the sickness overcame them. I saw them fight through pain and fatigue to stay with us for as long as they could,” she said.

That experience, watching them fight, stayed with her.

“So, I thought, I would like to honor them in joining in in their ‘fight.’ I would like to show my parents that their ‘fighting’ didn’t go unrecognized and I appreciated every extra minute me and my family got to with them,” she said.

Setting an example for students and her children provided a second source of inspiration.

“The second reason why I am doing this challenge is because I want to show my students and my own boys that it is an honor to be able to exercise, work out, even move,” she said.

In a way, the pandemic factored as well.

“We have spent the past year in a pandemic, sitting, being more sedentary as a society than we ever have been and it is horrible for us. Our bodies crave movement and need that movement to be healthy physically and mentally. It scares me to do this challenge since I don’t know if I will make it through, but I am going to try because it scares me. You can do hard things. but you have to try,” she said.

“My dad is who got me into the (fitness) world. He encouraged me to join and stay in gymnastics. My dad competed in power lifting competitions, specifically bench press. We actually competed in them together when I was in high school as a way to spend time together and bond. So, it was important for me to find a charity about kids and one that involved fitness and physical education,” she said.

Those who would like to donate can choose “ABS Holba PE Scholarship Fund” from the drop down menu here:

https://www.chsd218.org/apps/pages/EducationFoundationDonation