Every day we make hundreds of decisions. Some of the decisions we make unconsciously – turning on a light when we enter a room, sitting in our “usual” seat in a conference room or on the bus, drinking coffee in the morning. We do these things because we’ve always done them so these actions seem natural and not decision points. But they are decision points.
If there’s enough natural light coming in from the window, we don’t need to turn on a light but the amount of natural light coming in usually doesn’t register until we’ve taken that automatic action of turning on the light. We could choose to drink tea in the morning or water but we reach for coffee because that’s what we’ve always drank in the morning. We make these unconscious decisions throughout the day.
Then there are the conscious decisions we make – where to go to lunch, which emails to respond to, which task we tackle first. Which race to enter. Whether to enter a race.
I’m toying with the idea of entering a triathlon in December, which would give me just about 3 months to prepare for it. Did I mention that I’m running a half-marathon in 3 weeks? And a marathon 2 weeks after that? And another half-marathon 4 weeks after that? And that I’m not really comfortable in the water?
That last one is why I’m only toying with the idea of entering the race. Although I took swim lessons as a child, a traumatic incident instilled a fear of deep water that I never faced until last year. I’m still not really comfortable in the water. It takes me several laps – with long pauses at the wall after each lap – to go from desperately swimming just to get to the other side to being comfortable enough to focus on improving my form or to work on a drill. You wouldn’t know it because I’ve picked up surfing and stand-up paddle-boarding in the meantime. I’ve even tried discovery SCUBA dives. But I’m not comfortable in the water.
So this is a crossroads for me. Do I go or do I stay? By “go” I mean enter the race and “stay” means spending more time preparing and getting comfortable in the water. Do I enter this reverse triathlon (run, bike, swim instead of swim, bike run)? Will I be ready to swim 150 meters? Or do I wait until 2012 to participate in a triathlon? Do I spend more time getting more comfortable in the water before entering a race that involves swimming?
This is not an easy decision. What do you think?
The thought processor churns on . . .
Confessions of a Treadmill Runner 