Monday, April 06, 2009

IF NOT NOW, WHEN?


This has been my mantra for most of the year so far. I’ve been a chronic procrastinator all my life. I’ve no idea where this trait comes from, analyze and analyze as I must, which is another trait. Argh.

I’m never late for events or people. Never. But give me work, give me writing, give me tasks, give me a dinner party to cook for and I will drive myself mad by letting everything pile up to the very last minute and I go into this chronic Type A personality.

Symptoms of Type A Behavior
(from Wikipedia)
1. An intrinsic insecurity or insufficient level of self-esteem which is considered to be the root cause of the syndrome. This is believed to be covert and therefore less observable.
2. Time urgency and impatience, which causes irritation and exasperation.
3. Free floating hostility, which can be triggered by even minor incidents.

Someone said to me that in the absence of other stimuli I got my adrenalin hits from this chronic deferment of duties or work. Maybe.

The long and the short of it is that I don’t like myself very much when I run around like the proverbial bull in the china shop snarling at anyone who will listen how much I have to do and how hard done by I am with the workload when the truth is I’ve created the backlog all by myself and I’ve had loads of time to climb on top of it and get it all done with a bloody smile on my face.

So thereby the mantra. I didn’t want to get into training for the Tely 10, a major road race in St. John’s on July 26th until, oh maybe June, when I got back from Europe. What’s wrong with 6 weeks’ training for a 10 miler pray tell? Uh well, maybe my age for one. A little bit of unforgiveness in the old joints there, old lady? No longer in your forties, ha?

And then my friend in Dublin (where I’m staying) says she is doing the Women’s Mini Marathon in Dublin on June 1st - the biggest women’s road race in the world. And I say if not now, when?. Seriously.

So I registered today. And training starts tonight.

I’ll keep y’all posted on The Elder Jock.

12 comments:

  1. Now I know two Bloggers taking part in the Flora Women's Mini Marathon

    Note I said two Bloggers and not two women!

    http://paddyanglican.blogspot.com/2009/04/patricia-anglican-does-her-bit-for.html

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  2. Very good. Hope the training goes well. I think Jenny would recognise your procrastination syndrome! Me, I avoid procrastination by keeping all my commitments to the bare minimum so I seldom have any deadlines to be late for!

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  3. the whole procrastinitis sounds oh so famliar which is why I'm here and not working on my thesis :-) Good on you for registerinG!

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  4. I'm in awe! There is no way in which I could ever run 2 or 3 miles, never mind 10 or more.

    Well done you, WWW ! :-)

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  5. GM:
    Just took a decko at yer wan. I'll keep my eyes peeled on the day and send her for a medical!
    XO
    WWW

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  6. Nick:
    I just knew you were perfect.
    XO
    WWW

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  7. T:
    Now who said anything about running? A quick walk/slow jog is my style!!
    XO
    WWW

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  8. Conor:
    I find that when I commit in writing or money the rest falls into place. Except when it comes to gyms, I've always lost my fees: show up once, pay, and never show up again.
    XO
    WWW

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  9. wow, good for you!! do you like to run? i used to run, until i pulled my achilles tendon, got bursitis, and became anemic. i wish you none of those things!

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  10. Laurie:
    I'm so sorry about your injuries, I hope it wasn't caused by 'running through the pain' which is a fallacy, I've known so many with terrible injuries from that evil mantra.
    I used to run. A lot. At a lovely slooow pace. Haven't in a while, the last 2 nights I've been gentle with myself and my pace could be beaten by any self-respecting tortoise, but damn, it feels good!!

    XO
    WWW

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  11. Good luck with it - I'm very impressed! I'm doing the Race for Life in June, which is 5K, and managed my first 5K outing yesterday (a mixture of running and walking) I agree with you on it feeling good - I've not had that sort of buzz from any other type of sport!

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  12. Jo:
    Good for you on starting, running walking is the way to go!!
    For me the whole thing with running is finding your pace and sticking to it no matter what all the talk is about PBs, etc. That's what worked for me before and actually saw my name on boards (placing) when I wasn't even trying.
    XO
    WWW

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