Thursday, August 21, 2008

Why Perfectionism Won't Work Here

Since discovering a local Half-Marathon earlier this year (scheduled for this fall), I decided it would be a great training motivator and a great way to push my running fitness to the next level. Part of me worried that I was jumping the gun, as the longest race I've ever run was a 10K, and my first ever race was recent in the history of my running experience--March of this year. But the other part of me wanted to have this to strive for and I figured that I would have enough time to get my body (and mind) totally prepared for the 13.1.

I'll be honest here--I haven't been diligent in my training. Now I wonder if I should even attempt the race. I COULD participate, finish it and move on, but I know that at my current fitness level, I wouldn't do WELL. And because of that fact, I feel like I shouldn't do it at all. I don't have any delusions, nor have I ever, so I never believed I'd finish with a sub 2:00:00 or anything like that but I just don't want to be out there for 3 or 4 hours. I'm afraid that's what will become of me, so like a good perfectionist, I procrastinate on the training (which REALLY helps the cause) and tell myself to wait for the Derby Half-Marathon, which is a noble goal but just another EXCUSE!

So I'm left with a dilemma. Keep pushing forward and participate and run the best race I can, even if it takes me 3 hours...or...give up on the idea of the October Half-marathon and set my sights for the one next Spring. I'll let you know.

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