(CNN) The rapid speed of the 2016 presidential contest could outpace Vice President Joe Biden's own emotional grappling with a run, he admitted to an interviewer last week.

Speaking to the Catholic "America" magazine in an interview released Monday, Biden acknowledged that his family's readiness for a run couldn't be rushed, even as key dates loom in the Democratic nominating calendar.

"It's just not there yet and it may not get there in time to make it feasible to be able to run and succeed, because there are certain windows that will close," Biden said. "But if that's it, that's it. It's not like I can rush it."

Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden U.S. Vice President Joe Biden began his career in politics in 1972, winning election to the Senate at the age of 29 (he was 30 when he took office). The Delaware Democrat was reelected to the Senate six times, including 2008, before becoming the 47th vice president of the United States. Hide Caption 1 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden Biden is sworn in for his second term as vice president by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, with his wife, Jill, and son, Beau, by his side, on January 21, 2013, in Washington. Hide Caption 2 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden Biden presides over a ceremony in Baghdad to formally mark the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq on September 1, 2010. Hide Caption 3 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden Biden and President-elect Barack Obama wave to the crowd at their election night party at Grant Park in Chicago on November 4, 2008. Hide Caption 4 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden Biden speaks after being introduced as Obama's running mate while campaigning together after the Democratic National Convention in 2008. Hide Caption 5 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden From left, former Sen. John Edwards, Biden, Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton at a debate of Democratic presidential candidates on April 26, 2007, in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Hide Caption 6 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden Biden releases his memoir, "Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics," in 2007. Hide Caption 7 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden As a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden is interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press," concerning the war in Iraq on August 14, 2005. Hide Caption 8 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden While chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden meets Afghan students during a visit to Kabul in 2002. Hide Caption 9 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden Biden is welcomed back after undergoing surgery for an aneurysm in 1988. Hide Caption 10 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden Biden announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988. After three months he drops out, following reports of plagiarism and false claims about his academic record. Hide Caption 11 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden While on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden meets with Sen. Frank Church, center, and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat after the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty in 1979. Hide Caption 12 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden President Jimmy Carter and Biden attend a reception for the Delaware Democratic Party in 1978. Biden was the first senator to endorse Carter's presidential candidacy two years earlier. Hide Caption 13 of 14 Photos: Photos: Vice President Joe Biden At a convention in 1972, Biden and his first wife, Neilia, and his two sons take a photo with Delaware Gov.-elect Sherman W. Tribbitt and his wife Jeanne. Neilia Biden died in a car accident a few months later, after his first election to the Senate, along with their infant daughter, Naomi. Hide Caption 14 of 14

The self-proclaimed "end-of-summer" deadline that Biden established for himself will come and go this week without a presidential decision, his advisers concede, as the Vice President and his family continue to weigh their emotional willingness to join the race.

Once thought to be a hold-out, Dr. Jill Biden signaled support for a potential run in a statement from her office over the weekend -- though she didn't go so far as to say she was urging her husband to jump in.

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