On Doing Things You Can Fail

I love running. It’s a hobby I picked up a little over an year ago, starting with an extremely challenging 5km, at the end of which I literally vomited. That was beginning of August 2024. In that run, I made an unexpected friend who, just a couple of months later, invited me to run a half-marathon at the end of November. Having just about 7 weeks to prepare, I got to running the most I could, but with not much technique or anything. When the day of the run came, my one objective was to finish, which, though I was confident, also left me unsure of whether I would do it or not.

I did manage to complete it, in 2h22min. That’s a 6:32 min/km of pace and it was definitely the best I could manage back then. This year, I’m back at it, going for the same run, however with a new goal: completing it under 2h.

Today I spoke with my running coach - yeah, I’ve gotten one now, sounds pretty fancy - and he told me I might not be able to do it. This, as counter-intuitive as it may sound, really energized me and fueled me.

See, I’m deeply motivated by challenges and what fun is there in completing a challenge you already know you are able to? Having a goal that you might not succeed at coupled with a clear set of steps you must take to increase your chances is an extremely powerful force.

If you just have a clear set of steps and don’t know where you are going, then you are just a lost person following whatever trail somebody else left. Sure, you will get somewhere, but is that the place you want to be? On the other hand, if you just have a goal, but no idea how to get there, then you are nothing but a dreamer. There’s nothing wrong with that, I myself am a dreamer in some areas, though that will not get you any closer to where you want to be.

Moreover, having a goal and steps that have 100% success rate might be extremely good in some areas of life where we do want predictability. Despite this, life would become too boring if we knew everything for sure.

I’m going to run my best. In a couple of months I’ll be back to report on whether I succeeded or not.