I think I've skipped more races than I've ran this year.
Mind you, I sign up for a lot of races, usually when they're cheap, always on a whim.
And I had the most ridiculous first world meltdown every this year.
Reasons To Skip A Race:
-You're injured. Not, like, sore for too many squats. Use this as a reason, not an excuse.
-You're grossly undertrained AND incapable of pushing through. This is will never apply to a 5k unless you have some physical issue that prevents you from walking 3 miles. Otherwise it is impossible to be *grossly* undertrained for a 5k. Undertrained, yes. Grossly is when you haven't ran further than 5 miles for three months and you're still considering doing a half marathon. Even then, there are people who can muscle through it.
-Something more important came up. "More important": Baby shower, wedding, visiting sick relative, getting to pet kittens, shitting your pants. Not "more important": Sleeping in.
-You don't want to.
Okay, listen. In my circle of friends I'm kind of a badass, because I can climb trees and I exercise. Is there a non-religious phrase that accurately captures "it's my cross to bear"? Because I'm not religious, so referencing Jesus seems weird. Anyway, being labeled a badass is kind of cool, right? I do stupid cool shit and brag about it on Facebook and everyone's like "Holy shit Rose you ran two miles you're amazing!" It's worth noting that I still milk the "I ran around a track for (sort of) 24 hours!" thing. But it's also worth noting that sometimes I do things that are way more bad ass (Cactus to Clouds), but there's not way to adequately brag about it, because you really had to be part of it to know how amazing it was.
Where was I? Oh, yeah, I'm kind of a badass. To some people. People who are truly badass look at my accomplishments and shrug. Whatever. As long as someone is impressed. And that someone is me.
Fuck, I got off track again.
So, part of (to me) my badassery is also my Achilles's Heel. I run because I want to. Which means (OH GOD THESE LAST THREE MONTHS) when I don't want to run, I don't. In the last three months I've skipped four or five races because of "I don't wanna."
There's something to be said for showing up. For some of those races, if I had shown up and started, I would have been fine. I probably would have had a fucking great time. But some of those races, no. It would have made things worse. It's almost impossible to know how it will turn out.
The hardest part is, for anyone else, when asking my advice, "I don't want to" is a shit poor excuse. Fuck that. Sometimes this shit is hard, and you need to nut the fuck up, lace up, and get out there.
But when I'm looking at myself (in the mirror in this fabricated scenario, I guess?), and I hear "I don't want to," that's okay. You're doing this for fun! If you don't want to, you don't have to. You already paid. It doesn't matter if you run or not. Sunken cost fallacy! Maybe. If you stretch it.
It helps (or doesn't help) that I sign up for a stupid number of races, without any goals for any of them. "Sure, I'll do four half marathons this fall, because they're all under $40 each!"
I've lost my train of thought again.
Um.
Yeah, it's gone.
You tell me. Is "I don't want to" a good excuse for skipping a race, ever?
What would make you skip a race?
Mind you, I sign up for a lot of races, usually when they're cheap, always on a whim.
And I had the most ridiculous first world meltdown every this year.
Reasons To Skip A Race:
-You're injured. Not, like, sore for too many squats. Use this as a reason, not an excuse.
-You're grossly undertrained AND incapable of pushing through. This is will never apply to a 5k unless you have some physical issue that prevents you from walking 3 miles. Otherwise it is impossible to be *grossly* undertrained for a 5k. Undertrained, yes. Grossly is when you haven't ran further than 5 miles for three months and you're still considering doing a half marathon. Even then, there are people who can muscle through it.
-Something more important came up. "More important": Baby shower, wedding, visiting sick relative, getting to pet kittens, shitting your pants. Not "more important": Sleeping in.
-You don't want to.
Okay, listen. In my circle of friends I'm kind of a badass, because I can climb trees and I exercise. Is there a non-religious phrase that accurately captures "it's my cross to bear"? Because I'm not religious, so referencing Jesus seems weird. Anyway, being labeled a badass is kind of cool, right? I do stupid cool shit and brag about it on Facebook and everyone's like "Holy shit Rose you ran two miles you're amazing!" It's worth noting that I still milk the "I ran around a track for (sort of) 24 hours!" thing. But it's also worth noting that sometimes I do things that are way more bad ass (Cactus to Clouds), but there's not way to adequately brag about it, because you really had to be part of it to know how amazing it was.
Where was I? Oh, yeah, I'm kind of a badass. To some people. People who are truly badass look at my accomplishments and shrug. Whatever. As long as someone is impressed. And that someone is me.
Fuck, I got off track again.
So, part of (to me) my badassery is also my Achilles's Heel. I run because I want to. Which means (OH GOD THESE LAST THREE MONTHS) when I don't want to run, I don't. In the last three months I've skipped four or five races because of "I don't wanna."
There's something to be said for showing up. For some of those races, if I had shown up and started, I would have been fine. I probably would have had a fucking great time. But some of those races, no. It would have made things worse. It's almost impossible to know how it will turn out.
The hardest part is, for anyone else, when asking my advice, "I don't want to" is a shit poor excuse. Fuck that. Sometimes this shit is hard, and you need to nut the fuck up, lace up, and get out there.
But when I'm looking at myself (in the mirror in this fabricated scenario, I guess?), and I hear "I don't want to," that's okay. You're doing this for fun! If you don't want to, you don't have to. You already paid. It doesn't matter if you run or not. Sunken cost fallacy! Maybe. If you stretch it.
It helps (or doesn't help) that I sign up for a stupid number of races, without any goals for any of them. "Sure, I'll do four half marathons this fall, because they're all under $40 each!"
I've lost my train of thought again.
Um.
Yeah, it's gone.
You tell me. Is "I don't want to" a good excuse for skipping a race, ever?
What would make you skip a race?
As I said before: If you don' t like it don''t do it. Life is too short! :o) l
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna be honest. I don't think "I don't wanna" is a valid excuse. I think signing up for something, paying the money, and putting it on your calendar is called a commitment. I don't believe in skipping commitments unless they are impacting your quality of life. Are you miserable? Depressed? Lashing out at everyone because the thought of doing something is so horrible you're taking it out on other people? Then, okay, yeah, maybe that commitment needs some rethinking. But then, perhaps, you need to start thinking about things before you commit to them.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to IS a pretty lame excuse. But...do you regret it? That's the real question, and all that really matters. I've skipped a few races in my day, and hey, I haven't regretted a single one I skipped--the only one I regret missing was due to an injury and out of my control. So there.
ReplyDeleteIf I've paid for it, I'm running it. Period. That's just the tightwad in me. I ran a the most miserable half marathon ever last year with bronchitis and a fever because I refused to be out the fee and hotel money. Looking back, I had no damn business running that day. I SHOULD have skipped that one.
ReplyDeleteRunning with bronchitis and fever is careless. A lot of people died for less.
DeleteIf I have paid for it and I'm not injured, I'll run it. That being said, if it's a last minute thing I haven't paid for yet? I'll skip out for any excuse and not feel bad about it at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't wanna is never a good enough excuse. A real badass would make up a much better excuse.
ReplyDelete"I did too many snatches and now my snatch is too sore to run"
There, nailed it.
For me, if I skipped everything I don't want to do beforehand, I'd race or train about twice a year. If I've paid for it, there's almost no way I'll skip it...because I'm a total tightwad. That said, I did skip that stupid 50K because it conflicted with something (something free, even) I wanted to do more...and it was the perfect decision.
ReplyDeleteSo what are you replacing your I don't wannas with? Nothing? Because that would totally drag me down further. Seems like you're getting yourself in a vicious circle. (I don't know if that's my idea or I just read it in your post or in the comments...but now that I said it I think it's accurate and don't care where the idea came from.)
I've only ever skipped one race- a 21 miler in Big Sur and that was because they changed the race to an out and back, rather than the awesome course it was supposed to be that required running over a bridge (damn mud slides). So, I called it a donation and moved on.
ReplyDeleteI like to put more thought and consideration into which races I sign up for so that I can hold myself to it. I'll run anything I've paid for if I'm not injured... but the signing up for so many- I can TOTALLY understand the "I don't wanna" and caving.
ReplyDeleteZombie Apocalypse...or not feeling like it both good reasons to skip a race...
ReplyDeleteI don't wanna is childishly valid. I've done it before too, but I always feel bad about it.
ReplyDeleteYou are a Badass, you can skip an entire race? Wow, that seems odd but oh well. Little kids skip for fun, so I guess you can skip a race. How does that hurt your finish time?
ReplyDelete