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Nataly

Important life lessons...

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Today I learnt an important lesson... If you have nothing to prove (and you are not doing it for charity), running 23.8 km is an absolutely useless thing to do!!! You can (and I *did*) just stop at 12 km, hitchike to the finish line, pick up your shit and fuck off!! (Without actually crossing the finish line - that would be wrong!!)

I was making good time and not in any kind of pain and would have finished it alright... Just suddenly thought "why the fuck am I doing this??" And could not come up with any kind of good reason!!

That beer I had when I got home was AWESOME!!!! :D:D:D
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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RMK

Nothing to prove - except to yourself. It's only a half marathon distance; anyone of reasonable fitness could complete it.



Having completed (and sometimes won) numerous races (including full marathons) - I have nothing to prove to myself either :P
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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piisfish

Important life lesson : when life gives you lemons, squeeze them in the eyes of the people that piss you off.



Hahahahahahaha!!! *Love it* :D:D
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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Just out of curiosity:

Why did you enter?

I can see making the decision to not run that far before you pay the fee, fill out the forms, show up for the start, all that stuff.

But to go through the time and effort to start the thing, and then decide that it's not worth it is a little odd.

Not criticizing, just curious.

Edit to add:

"Because it seemed like a good idea at the time" is a perfectly valid response. I've done a bunch of fairly stupid things in my life, and when asked "Why did you do that?", that was the only response that was accurate and honest.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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I'm obviously not Nat, but I will say I can sympathize. I have certainly had training runs where I got partway through and thought "It is not happening today, I am turning around and packing it in." Never done that in a race yet, but I could see doing that one day.

People sign up for things way in advance, and in the mean time attitudes and mindsets, energy levels can change.

Some days just are not your day. Like Adele Dazeem sang "Let it go" and move on.
It's flare not flair, brakes not breaks, bridle not bridal, "could NOT care less" not "could care less".

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If you set a physical training goal for yourself, you ought to complete it (barring something like injuries). It's a matter of personal discipline. If you find yourself setting out to do things, and often quitting before completing the task, then you either need to modify your goals, or admit that you have no discipline. Just like trying to put money in a savings account for the future, but instead spending it on parties. If you don't want to run, that's fine. But once you decide to do it, you owe it to yourself to follow through. You may not be able to justify a reason for doing it, but how are you going to feel if you keep quitting? You may have had a great time throwing the party, but afterwards are you going to regret not putting that money in savings for the new car you want?

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Someone mentioned it was a nice race - which it is, because it's along the sea-front, starts off in Italy, goes through France and ends in Monaco... And as I have done way longer distances, I went online, paid the €20 to enter without much of a thought.

Back in the day, when I was running 60-ish km per week, I would have *loved* this race... But I am now only a casual runner (like 15 km per week) and yesterday, as I was running through the wind and rain... Not so fun!!
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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Flying-Brick

If you set a physical training goal for yourself, you ought to complete it (barring something like injuries). It's a matter of personal discipline. If you find yourself setting out to do things, and often quitting before completing the task, then you either need to modify your goals, or admit that you have no discipline. Just like trying to put money in a savings account for the future, but instead spending it on parties. If you don't want to run, that's fine. But once you decide to do it, you owe it to yourself to follow through. You may not be able to justify a reason for doing it, but how are you going to feel if you keep quitting? You may have had a great time throwing the party, but afterwards are you going to regret not putting that money in savings for the new car you want?



You're absolutely right. I shall hang my head in shame.

:D:D:D
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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Ahhh...

So combine "It seemed like a good idea at the time" with "the weather was worse than I was willing to put up with."

Fair enough.

Note to self:
Nataly can probably run away faster & farther than I can chase her on foot. Plan accordingly.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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SkyDekker

I think the important life lesson is not to read online backdoor brags.



If that was directed at me (it seems like it was), it was not a back-door brag. A back-door brag is "when you sneak something wonderful about yourself in everyday conversation." [urban dictionary] I am a front-door bragger. I don't sneak it in, I smack you in the face with it.

Just thought I'd make that clear. ;)
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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wolfriverjoe

Ahhh...

So combine "It seemed like a good idea at the time" with "the weather was worse than I was willing to put up with."

Fair enough.

Note to self:
Nataly can probably run away faster & farther than I can chase her on foot. Plan accordingly.



Sure, the weather was not ideal, but mostly I didn't feel like it. No big reason or excuse - just that.
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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Flying-Brick

If you set a physical training goal for yourself, you ought to complete it (barring something like injuries). It's a matter of personal discipline. If you find yourself setting out to do things, and often quitting before completing the task, then you either need to modify your goals, or admit that you have no discipline.



Yes, you ought to. But sometimes you don't. I guess the ramifications of quitting depend on how serious you were about your goal. Some years you may start the year saying "I'm going to PR some big race", and you will commit to train hard to do it. If you bail, yes you are letting yourself down.

But another year you may say "I'm not committing to anything other than enjoying my time on this earth." Training / racing may be a part of that year too, but bailing on a given workout / race is not as big a deal, because you don't have a big goal.

That is what I take from Nat's "nothing to prove" comment. She is in the "we are here to have fun" mode. Doesn't mean she will soon be living in a van down by the river.
It's flare not flair, brakes not breaks, bridle not bridal, "could NOT care less" not "could care less".

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wolfriverjoe


Note to self:
Nataly can probably run away faster & farther than I can chase her on foot. Plan accordingly.



That is why proper planning is required;
Chase her in the direction where your buddies are lying in wait with a large net.>:(
"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

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Well, I think the point of her post was that she didn't feel she had anything to prove to anyone, including herself, which is why she could bail when the conditions were less than ideal and not feel bad about it.

Realizing that you don't NEED to compete or prove yourself is not the same thing as quitting.

And of course that also means that there is no reason for me to defend her but your post is kind of ________(insert word of choice here :)), you know?

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tigra

And of course that also means that there is no reason for me to defend her but your post is kind of ____missing the point____(insert word of choice here :)), you know?



There, filled it in for ya!! :D:D

Bah. Easy to get it wrong when you're new to these forums :P

Irony and humour doesn't always translate so well in written form. On a more serious note, I am actually pretty happy that I *didn't* finish. In my younger days (not that I'm so old!!) I used to finish *everything* I started - even if it damned near killed me. That's not any more clever than consistently quitting everything. :|

I'm at a point in my life where I'm starting to recognise that quality of life is something I've been seriously neglecting. I'm better at rolling up my sleeves and putting my head down than at enjoying myself... I'm trying to strike a balance between the hard stuff and the fun stuff :):D:D
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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ryoder

***
Note to self:
Nataly can probably run away faster & farther than I can chase her on foot. Plan accordingly.



That is why proper planning is required;
Chase her in the direction where your buddies are lying in wait with a large net.>:(

Ummm...

Nope. Having accomplices and co-conspirators is a bad idea.

Besides, they'd want to share.:)

And for the record - I'm not implying that I would commit any crime such as kidnapping or any assault of any kind.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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wolfriverjoe

******
Note to self:
Nataly can probably run away faster & farther than I can chase her on foot. Plan accordingly.



That is why proper planning is required;
Chase her in the direction where your buddies are lying in wait with a large net.>:(

Ummm...

Nope. Having accomplices and co-conspirators is a bad idea.

Besides, they'd want to share.:)

And for the record - I'm not implying that I would commit any crime such as kidnapping or any assault of any kind.

ANY kind?:)
I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

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turtlespeed

*********
Note to self:
Nataly can probably run away faster & farther than I can chase her on foot. Plan accordingly.



That is why proper planning is required;
Chase her in the direction where your buddies are lying in wait with a large net.>:(

Ummm...

Nope. Having accomplices and co-conspirators is a bad idea.

Besides, they'd want to share.:)

And for the record - I'm not implying that I would commit any crime such as kidnapping or any assault of any kind.

ANY kind?:)

ANY kind. Assault is a crime.

Seriously, the back and forth banter on here is all in fun for me.
There's a fine line between "silly, flirtatious, smart-assed comments" and "creepy and/or stalking comments."
I don't want to accidentally end up on the wrong side of that line

Besides, actions between consenting adults isn't assault.
It may be very, very similar.

But it's not the same.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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