Prior to this month, my DNS record stood at one, a 5k from my first year of running. I remember only my laziness which encouraged me to stay in bed rather than get up and drive to the race start. In one month, I tripled that record. I have no regrets.
When it comes to registering for races, I have a propensity to find as many as possible and register for them months in advance to get the cheapest deal. With my ever changing schedule, I often have no idea what other obligations my calendar will hold but have managed to make it work. Then this September came and I DNS’d two races, a 5 miler in Columbia on Labor Day and the Moonshiner Night 5k on Friday the 13th.
Both Mom and I had registered for the Labor Day 5 miler prior to learning about my move which took place the Saturday just two days before. We also had no idea where in the house building process Mom and Ellis would be. SInce Mom and Ellis gave up their Saturday to help Stephanie and me move, they intended to use Labor Day to work on the front porch.
I could have driven down on my own but the adult in me knew that I did not have the time to spend on the road plus the time I would spend apple picking with Dad and Grandma; I still had not written my lesson plans or created my materials.
For the Moonshiner 5k, I had every intention of going until rain came. I had no desire to run in the dark on wet, muddy trails even if the rain stopped. Plus, I still had to do the adult thing I mentioned a few sentences ago. ALthough continued lightening forced cancellation of the race, I still count this as a DNS since I had already decided to stay home long before the organizers cancelled. [I did just find out that the organizers have rescheduled the race for October 4 so I may end up running it.]
Even though the reason for each DNS differs slightly, each had the same underlying cause. I did not have enough hours in the day to get everything done. I know I just talked about this last week. However, I wanted to approach it from a different angle, the running angle.
As I have discussed many times previously, my running motivation has suffered since I returned to teaching, or at least it has recently. Returning after the month away while traveling reignited the fire, the desire to press forward, to keep running. Even as things pile onto my plate, I still long for the run. I love that feeling, that fire. I want to – while acknowledging the ever-present limitations of my job and schedule – work speedwork back into my training, to start chasing those faster times.
Although those words may appear to contradict the opening premise of this post, upon further review, the sentiments fit together perfectly. To stoke the fire, keep it lit, I need to make responsible decisions, decisions that will keep me healthy and motivated. Running a race just because I paid the registration fee has no point. It could push me further towards burn out or in the case of a muddy night trail run, give me opportunity to injure myself.
I have two other races scheduled this month, or did at the time of writing. (I ran the Charlotte 13.1 three days ago.) Both of these races are my favorite distance, something I always want to run and am willing to push myself to compete. (yet another reason I willingly gave up the 5k and 5 miler.) These half marathons also fit right into the plan of building back up and potentially running the Little Rock Marathon on March 1. (There, I said it.)
As the end of the day I learned that when life gets full, I should figure out my priorities lie. If you really want something, you will figure out a way to get it done. Running is a priority. Time to make it happen.