To Half or Not to Half

Anyone that knows me well knows I change my mind on decisions constantly to the point where I must drive everyone crazy. Seriously, I don’t understand how you guys don’t shake me and tell me to make my mind up already and stick to it. I officially put a Half Ironman on my life goals list several months ago. In my mind this was a goal that I’d maybe check off within the next few years. Then it became within the next two years. Then from within a year to me chomping at the bit to find the next possible race that looks appealing that I think I’ll be ready for.  

My ideal race, Augusta, was sold out. My next choice, Beach2Battleship, was on a weekend I’d be on a cruise. Then I considered Florida but after lots of debating, decided that was a bad idea. I’d be getting off of a cruise just two weeks before and am signed up for a half marathon the next weekend. That was likely to equal a disaster between training on the cruise, overeating and being rested enough for the half marathon. Not to mention the race itself wasn’t very appealing to me. This lead to me saying, screw it, accept defeat that it’s not going to happen this year. Maybe next year.

Wellllll that itch is back. I was very set on doing an actual Half Ironman, 70.3. For some reason I really wanted it to have the official “Ironman” brand name. But this doesn’t matter. 70.3 is 70.3. I will feel just as proud about finishing that distance no matter what race it is. Sure the race won’t the official label that seems to have extra meaning behind it but whatever. Stop being so stuck up about it and move on. After getting over that ridiculousness I started looking at the races I was planning this year.

White Lake has a sprint, international and half distance. International was always my plan which would be my second international of the season and my second international race in general. The course is much flatter than my first race so therefore easier than my first race. So why not push myself more by going further vs faster? I actually had the debate of doing the half a while ago and for the life of me can’t remember why I decided against it. Oh well, ignoring past self and re-debating as current and hopefully wiser (I said hopefully) self.

I realize this might be a bit late to start thinking about doing a half which is almost 10 weeks out but I feel like I can do it. No, I KNOW I can do it. It comes back to my overly prepared thing and wanting to feel like I did all I could do be happy with my time. I understand you shouldn’t set goal times for your first race especially at a distance like this but I can’t help myself. Right now this is how the debate is going in my head: If I can convince myself to not care about time and just have fun with the race, I’ll do it. This is much more challenging than it sounds. How can I not care about time? I’m not the type of person that just signs up for a race to have fun with it. What’s the point of racing if I’m not going to race for a good time. I know I shouldn’t think like this but that’s why I’m still debating about doing the race.  I will say for the record that I do understand the difference between an A, B or C priority race. If I do this, it will not be priority A, it will be B. This race will be to get a sense of what I’m capable of and give me a baseline to set goals against for later races. I can tell even as I type this that I’m sort of talking myself into doing it but this isn’t a decision to jump into. Sure it’s only 10 weeks’ worth of slightly higher training than I had planned but it’s a serious decision even if it’s a “fun” race.      

For now I’m still going to think about it but I really need to decide ASAP so I can start adjusting my training. And once I decide, I’m going to actually sign up for the race and just hope for the best that nothing will come up preventing me from going. Oh crap, that makes it sound like I decided to do it. Must think about it for longer than 1 day! So now it’s time to kick my indecisive butt into making a decision and sticking with it! Good was to spend the car ride to and from VA....ugh.