I was supposed to be racing Princeton 70.3 this morning.
After the New York City Marathon last year, I was happy reaching my goal and didn’t feel a need to keep pushing, pushing right away to see how much faster I could get. (BQ by 35? That’s another story that I think I’m ready to start chipping away at next year.)
I chose Princeton as my goal for this year because it was different, and because I’d had a really good tri last year and wanted to explore the sport more. I thought an Olympic wouldn’t be a challenge enough for me and I should go big or go home.
I started training, and I really enjoyed learning more and getting more proficient in swimming and biking.
I completed the NYC Tri, and I felt great and really proud of myself. And then I realized that I’d still have to bike double that, and it still terrified me, and I just didn’t want to, right now, and so I withdrew.
This week, I swear I’ve seen more Ironman/70.3 shirts and hats than I’d ever seen before. I swam Tuesday morning, and I thought about what my mindset would be like this week if I were racing. I thought about Former Coworker Abby and Susan, who are both doing it. I thought about how I definitely could have done it, and felt a bit wistful about my decision. But then I remembered the head space this race occupied and how the bike training was so scary and daunting to me that it stopped being enjoyable.
Instead, this morning, I’m running the Run 10 Feed 10 with friends, and cheering for Abby and Susan from afar. And cheering for my coworker Alex who’s running her second half in Philly, and for my friend Sarah who’s doing her first tri.
Have you ever dropped out of a big race? How’d you feel about it?
No idea why I chose Frank Sinatra lyrics to name my last post on this…
As I mentioned in my last post, I've really been going through it with headaches.…
(tw for diet culture talk—mostly how it's BS, but how it's affected me, too) This…
I have been thinking about this post for a while—on why diet culture is unhealthy…
I woke up this morning already feeling anxious. (Yay!) My standard iPhone alarm is set…
I read The Midnight Library over the weekend, and I need to talk about it.…
View Comments
I can't say I dropped out of a big race I was truly training for but last fall, right around now, I pulled out of a 10k and the Hershey Half I had registered for (and ran the year before) because my desire to race was missing. Running desire was totally there but the whole race thing was gone and I wasn't pushing the feeling. I knew it would come back so I am glad I did what my heart desired (or didn't desire lol). So long as I still feel like running, I think it's totally fine to decide not to train or race or go after a goal. It comes down to being content with yourself and where you are at...Good luck in the race today!
I am the opposite - I sometimes get burnt out on training but ALWAYS love racing :) This little break has really helped me though.
I was doing a 4 5k's in 4 different cities in a day race back in April and I had to pull out due to injury before I finished the last two. I was really upset and still am bummed I didn't get to finish the race and get my medal but I knew the decision was for the best.
Oh wow! That's a lot.
I've had DNS, at two marathons now. The one marathon I went to, to watch because the trip was already booked (to Disney) and the other, Houston, just came and went. It's always hard to get through those days, but you always know that you didn't start for the right reasons. Great decision and go get that BQ this year!
Ha! I am just like you. If I'm listening to music while running, it's definitely not "new" music. I actually love running to Jai Ho, from Slumdog Millionaire. It's long and a great, peppy warm-up!
OOOH. That is a good one.