Do you like pain?
Chances are if you are like most people then you loth pain/ discomfort. So why is it that so many people put themselves through discomfort unnecessarily… Now I’m not talking about that pain that leads to something great like crushing a hard workout nor the discomfort of grinding out a brutal race. The pain I am referring to is when it is most certainly avoidable but we are willing to put ourselves through it because we are either too lazy to do what we know is necessary, or we simply didn’t have the foresight to plan ahead for the contingency that we are facing.
Think of it in this scenario: you go into a dealership to buy that new car you have been eyeing, researching, even stalking for the past couple of months and today is the day. You are then given the option, do you buck up and pay the few thousand more for the all wheel drive (AWD) upgrade or stick with the 2WD model. You think to yourself, “I don’t think we’ll need the AWD, it doesn’t really snow that much here and we rarely get off the pavement. 2WD will be fine.” Fast forward to the first obstacle race of the season… with parking in a field. It’s also been raining for like four days prior to now. So now there’s this. You wife is pissed because the new SUV stuck in a field and now you have to find two buddies to help you push her out of this ridiculously muddy field all because you didn’t see this coming.
Unfortunately the above scenario is more common than most would like to admit. Wouldn’t you just prefer to have that warm and fuzzy confidence of knowing that you could simply push a button on your dash and this problem would be solved?
Now let’s rewind to a few hours earlier. It’s cool and there is a chance of rain today and you are getting dressed for the race. There are three possible scenarios here:
A. You decided you wanted to have a third pair of racing shoes because they looked cool and you like shoes rather than purchasing that Neptune Thermoregulation System. Now you are going to have to deal with the possibility of freezing your ass off while you are waiting for the race to begin and God forbid it start raining during the event. There is also a chance of failing an obstacle and having to stand in the rain and rest for a bit while your body heat is quickly dissipating it’s heat… Well this is all very unfortunate!
B. You opted to buy the Neptune over those shoes and now you are getting ready for that race and you are thinking; “it’s not supposed to be cold very long today and there is only a 30% chance of rain. I am in awesome shape right now… I’m going shirtless today! Spartan Up MF’er! So you are now basically in the same predicament as you would be if you bought the extra shoes.
C. You have your Neptune AND you are wearing it to the race… AND you brought your body warmers. Great planning you freaking boy scout! You planned ahead and now you can make the decision of whether or not you need to load the heaters or how many heaters you will need. Now you are not freezing your nuts off before the race. You have properly configured your Neptune to keep you from getting too hot during the event and now have no worries about hypothermia if you get stuck during the event.
Man what a difference experience life can be if we just make a few decisions with the forsite of Murphy’s Law. The military puts together a contingency plan for their back up plan…Maybe you should too. That way next time your shirtless body will not have froze before the race causing ridiculous shrinkage, and then getting you again at that damn slick obstacle. Nor would your wife be giving you the silent treatment and forcing you to sleep on the couch tonight because it’s your fault she had to park far away in a muddy field and got stuck without AWD in her new SUV and now missing that baby shower she was supposed to attend.
Clearly the lesson here is to be the boy scout. Plan ahead. It’s always better to have options and be able to avoid the pain. Be smart! Life’s easier that way!
