Give me a good motto, and I’m ALL IN.

Semper Fidelis. Sign me up, Marine Corps.

Discipline Equals Freedom. Ok, Jocko – I’ll wake up at 0430 too.

Come and Take Them. Guess I’ll just be moving to Sparta. Or Texas.

See, the motto is a condensed description of a group’s ethos. It serves to remind group members of the standard and culture of their group, while also inspiring normal folks to reach for the next level of badassery.

One of the top two mottos in the world (and it ain't #2) comes from our brothers across the Atlantic in his Majesty’s Special Air Service. These operators proclaim WHO DARES WINS. As an American, I can never claim this motto as my own, but I wish I could, for these are words to live by.

WHO DARES WINS is no guarantee. It sets only a precondition for victory: DARING. You must go ALL IN. You must hazard the attempt. Because if you do not, the only guaranteed outcome is that you will fail. You want to be successful? Then you must do the hard thing, do it now, and do it without reservation. You want to win? Be daring.

Knowing this to be universally true, I have tried to seek out the next hard task in life. Whether it's joining the Marine Corps, or the Secret Service, or training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu...I dare so that I can win.

In this spirit, the next challenge on the docket is the 2025 London Marathon. From my first three marathons, I’ve learned that committing to a race places you in squarely the company of others who dare to be exceptional. On race day, you see people at the culmination of hundreds of hours of hard, disciplined, and often painful work. Some are super-athletes, but most are regular folks who have dared to be anything but commonplace. Surround yourself with these people and you can’t but win at life.

I am honored to be running again with two absolute winners: Jason Weber and Jack McCauley. These two do not shy away from doing the hard work, and their hustle inspires me to do the same. The 2025 London Marathon will be our fourth marathon together, and we are excited, once again, use the marathon to raise funds for a worthy cause.

Our team is sponsored by MS-UK, who assists our UK neighbors to live daring lives, despite suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). Realizing that different missions require different plans, MS-UK offers holistic treatment plans for people with MS, whether that be through traditional pharmaceutical drugs, complementary therapies, lifestyle changes, and even cannabis regimens. We all know someone suffering with MS, and MS-UK is doing yeoman’s work to help.

There is currently no cure for MS.

What, then, does winning look like? Why bother if the battle is unwinnable? Go tell the Spartans, passerby: sometimes just putting up a fight is winning enough. My family, the Batts, have a motto that is appropriate for hard work, hard times and seemingly unwinnable battles. With a respectful nod to WHO DARES WINS, and to the King's English, our motto brashly announces, in the common American tongue:

GIVE ‘EM HELL

And that is what I’ll be doing these next few months. Please donate while I train, so that others can DARE and WIN.

~

Semper Fi, Batt Sends.