Saturday, April 2, 2011

Commitment...


1: a promise to do or give something 2: a promise to be loyal to someone or something 3: the attitude of someone who works very hard to do or support something

Despite the fact that every man I date wants to make a big commitment to me for some strange reason (perhaps because they need me to support them but that's a different story for another day), I have a big problem with it.



Big



Huge



Take, for instance, the fact that I signed up for 2 marathons this Spring (one which takes place next weekend). Big commitment, right?

It should have been, yes.


The problem: I didn't do the training. Same as when I signed up for Chicago last October, no training. (The difference is that I will NOT be running a marathon next weekend with no training.)

So, even though I paid the money and signed up (commitment), I refused to do what was needed to keep up my side of the bargain. I made no commitment to my goal. In fact, I probably did LESS running than I would have done if I hadn't imposed a big deadline on myself. It was like I had a monkey on my back, but I couldn't force myself to do something about it.


The weekend following Marathon #1, I have committed to run a relay. Ugh. (I will be running the relay, I can't let my team down)



So, here's my plan for the next month or so:


  1. 1- I will go to Marathon #1, I will support my friends and cheer for them (and possibly switch to the Half Marathon, if that is allowed).
  2. I will run the relay, it's only ~10 miles per person, broken up into 3 sections, I can do that. I will enjoy the day with 7 of my friends.
  3. I will play Marathon #2 by ear...


Beyond that, I plan to stop making these commitments until I can get a handle on my schedule and start running for myself without a looming deadline.

5 comments:

Diana said...

I hope you keep your date with the marathon #2 because I'd love to meet you, but I would completely understand your decision.
I've gotten lucky to get a 1/2 marathon bib, so I will still be there with others to get the Lambeau experience!
Let me know what you decide, if you go for it, we can make some plans to meet up for sure!

Delane said...

An untrained 1/2 is a lot different than and untrained full. A LOT. Trust your decision. I hope we can run a few shorter runs this summer!

Al's CL Reviews said...

Trust your decision. But girl, start training! What's up with that? You used to do it all the time.

Elena (Running in Heels After Child) said...

I don't think that you should do a full without training but a half you can do.

The questions is why can't you commit or give yourself the time to train. I need a race, otherwise I will never commit to running, but once I sign up I do it. I wont do it for myself unless I have the goal of a race.

What do you need to happen so that you can commit to yourself?

elena

GISrunner said...

Just a quickie note to say that I found your blog through Carly @ Chubby Chicks Run Too and am now a follower. I hope you're doing well. I FINALLY set up a training plan for my trail 10 miler in October. I so want to do a marathon someday, but I know that I am not committed enough yet to do all of the training. Here's to hoping we can both find the resolve to stick with it!