Jill Will Run

Legitimate Excuses

I was supposed to run a 10K this morning. But I skipped it.

Before you think, “Whoa… that Jill is super-lazy. She should change this site to ‘Jill Won’t Run’.”, I do have some good logic behind the decision, which I will outline here:

  • The race was at a canyon which would be a little more than an hour drive from my home.
  • There wasn’t parking at the start line though, it was beyond the start line and the organizers had buses to take people from the parking area to the start line.
  • Runners had to check in NO LATER than 30 minutes before their start time.
  • When you add up the drive time, shuttle/bus time, check-in time… this means nearly 2 hours of time PRIOR to the race start that I would have had to accommodate for.
  • 2 hours before a 7:30 AM start time.
  • 2 hours that doesn’t include the waking up, eating and getting ready time.
  • Then I would have to turn around and catch the bus back to my car and make the drive post-race.
  • And I’d be doing all this by myself.
  • I didn’t have any money invested in the race, my entry was comped for volunteering at the Red Rock Marathon/Half-Marathon earlier this year.
  • I was super tired anyway, and that much extra time to lose out on sleep wasn’t appealing to me.
  • The winds have settled back into the Las Vegas area, so the weather is kind of crap this weekend.
  • This is the first weekend that my CPA husband didn’t have to go into the office in 4 months.

It just seemed like a lot of time lost from my day for 6 short miles.

I’m feeling pretty good about my decision. I ran 7.1 miles around my neighborhood this morning. I had pancakes for breakfast with my husband. And I’m feeling pretty relaxed right now.

My 7 mile run was pretty rough. The winds were very strong and I won’t lie… I took about a 2 or 3 minute break as I cowered against a block wall for some shelter. I contemplated calling my husband to say, “Please come get me, I’m going to be blown off the face of the earth!” But I toughed it out and finished. But whew… it was HARD.

Of course, my friends that were running the 50K at the same event I bailed on were also dealing with early mornings, long drives and bad weather. And based on rumblings I see on Facebook, it appears that it has been snowing there. My kudos to them for getting out there and still facing the challenge. Maybe someday I’ll be ready to tackle the ultra distance!

13 comments

  3. yeah, i think you made the right decision, definitely! That’s why i didn’t run a 10 mile race that my running group did back in Feb. It would have been a 2 hour drive out, and then back, just to run for 90-100 minutes?!

    Reply

  5. silly, why did you sign up? 🙂 they sound like perfectly good excuses to me. i will definitely make a trip out of a marathon, and i will occasionally make one for a half, but i tend to stick to local (~30 minutes) races for anything shorter. you still got out and ran, which is just as good! i’d love to one day do an ultra too… but have yet to be bitten. the tri-bug is weakening my immune system though; i may be giving in soon!

    Reply

    • I signed up because… well… uh…
      Basically I thought it would be fun to race and didn’t pay attention to where it was being held. I figured it would be somewhere basically here in Las Vegas. Ooops!

      I agree, a marathon is worth a trip because those are usually far more than just the run, but even the length of the run makes it worth a little more. I’m thinking of implementing a personal travel distance rule for 5K and 10K races… unless it is like, the coolest 5K or 10K ever.

      Reply

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