When I see "not be able to really commit to the full 50k" - my response is usually - can you commit to writing something...ANYTHING every day?
Part of the reason I say that is because there ARE days when writing will seem impossible. But there are going to be days when you bang out 10k words in a single day -- and it didn't hurt! But you'll never know until you try. Hope you join in! Heck, I've even scheduled myself a couple of NaNo Days off! :D