run the gauntlet go through an intimidating or dangerous crowd, place, or experience in order to reach a goal.

☞ This phrase alludes to the former military practice of punishing a wrongdoer by forcing him to run between two lines of men armed with sticks, who beat him as he passed. Gauntlet here has nothing to do with a glove, but is a version of an earlier word gantlope, itself taken from Swedish gatloppe, which meant 'lane course'.