We were somewhere around 10-14 miles into our run, descending quickly towards the bottom of the mountain. Our cars were parked probably 8 miles away as the crow flies, and a few thousand feet up. In one direction, we had the option to return along the route we had been following, a trek of 10+ miles with plenty of steep inclines. In the other direction, we had roughly the same -- 10+ miles and steep climbs. There were no exit routes, no opt-outs, no opportunities to stop and call it a day.

It’s an interesting experience, and a rather new one to me, to find yourself with no ability to opt out of a hard task. These types of experiences are a very real part of our human history, and it’s only in the last century or two that we have really found ways in our society to thoroughly pad ourselves from these uncomfortable and challenging scenarios. We have learned to be unreliant on ourselves, to always have another option. And while the advances that have led us here have unarguably provided us, as individuals and a society, a higher quality of life, they’ve also molded our thinking and behavior towards fragility and indolence.

Mostly this comes down to way of thinking. While you certainly can put yourself in these intentionally optionless situations by running out into the middle of the mountains (and I would encourage yourself to try something like this at least once), you can also create this space in your life and in your mindset to give yourself no choice but to move forward. Remove the safety nets, reject the notion that there is the option to quit, and metaphorically strand yourself miles away from your destination with only one choice: move forward. We are creatures attracted to comfort and safety, and tend to achieve our peak expression in the face of necessity, whether literal or self-created. Seeking greatness? Give yourself no other choice.

- PS

10/19/17

• Snatch pull + hang snatch - 4x(2+2)

Then...

• 8 min AMRAP

• 12 hang power snatch (95/65)

• 36 DUs