Prompt: What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it? (Author: Kaileen Elise)
“Do or do not…there is no try” (Yoda). That’s what I keep hearing in my head when trying to respond to this prompt. Course, what does it really mean to try? That I will try something on and see if it fits? That I will try something new to eat and see if I like it? These are matters of checking out something new, and if it is unsatisfactory I walk away. But what about trying to be a better wife and mother, but if I don’t get there at least I tried? I don’t want to go there.
What about 2010…was there something I wanted to try/do? I remember something I have thought about doing for perhaps several years now, and probably at one time thought 2010 would be the year. My secret, closet dream is to run a Racing the Planet race (www.racingtheplanet.com). These are endurance, expedition races—not adventure races that involve varied activities like biking, paddling, and navigating, but long amounts of running for a week in amazing outdoor locales (the Atacama desert in Chile, the Gobi desert in China, and even Antarctica). I love the outdoors, I love running, I love adventure. I want to give it a go. Wait…that sounds a bit like trying….
2011? Not good timing as I will be continuing graduate school through the year.
2012? A definite possibility. Why is it so hard to say that will be the year I DO it?
In 2011 I can see if I have the stuff for such a race. Wait—trying again—I can prepare to get the stuff for such a race. I can increase my running distances to see how I do with greater-than-marathon mileage. I am doing a half marathon in June; I will work to increase my mileage over the summer (since I have more time) and see how I do.
After writing this reflection it appears I really am going to TRY—to do my best, to set a mileage goal for the summer and work toward it. Maybe I will find out I don’t really like running those distances, and I don’t really want to run such a race. Maybe trying is more about exploring than about success or failure. You don’t know if you want to do something if you don’t check it out first. 2011 is the year of checking out, then depending on the results 2012 will be the year of DOING. Wish me luck!
I am pursuing a graduate degree as well, and running in some sort of race or bicycling in one, is definitely something I'm interested in too. Doing is definitely part of the process. I blogged recently about how taking action and doing something requires rest, and taking care of oneself. So mayebe we try to take care of ourselves and attempt to do?
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