The bet has been called

In November of 2006, I lost a bet with my husband. Lesson learned: never make a bet with your husband especially when you’re under the influence of post-pregnancy hormones.

The Narrator’s sister was living in town at the time and had met a wonderful man on e-harmony. We knew he was going to propose (because he had asked us to try to find out what kind of ring she would like), we just didn’t know when. He was coming to visit over Thanksgiving while the in-laws were here. The Narrator thought Future Brother-in-law would propose during that trip. I thought he’d wait until she went to visit him over Christmas. Apparently those baby hormones made me feisty, and we made a bet.

He proposed over Thanksgiving. The Narrator gloated. My price for losing? Doing a triathlon with The Narrator. Yes, a triathlon as in swimming a crazy distance, then biking an insane amount of miles, then willing your legs to run a few miles or 10 and dropping from exhaustion at the finish line. Fortunately, I had just had a baby, and so I was exempt from any physical activity for at least six weeks eighteen months.

Last weekend, the subject of the triathlon came up again. The Narrator started talking about how he had convinced most everyone at work to do one with him, and then he said, “D’s wife is going to do it too.” I narrowed my eyes, knowing exactly where this conversation was going, “Good for her” I sneered. His eyes lit up, “You know you still owe me one.” Silence from me while I racked my brain for a list of legitimate excuses. I proceeded to list the things I do not have that we would have to buy, not limited to but including: a bike, googles, swim cap, and race attire. “Oh, we can work that out. Trust me, I’ve been researching and I’ve got it covered. And look, once you have a bike, we can get one of these and have family outings on our bikes.” He then whipped open the K-Mart ad and pointed to one of those pull behinds toddlers can ride in. He’d obviously been scheming this conversation. Oh, but the icing on the cake was this: “Hey, and when you do this with me, then you’ll be making those pants a size smaller!” He was totally referring to a conversation we’d had five minutes prior to this one where I was lamenting over a pair of pants I was sewing and how I’d had to make them a size larger to fit my hips. He’s a smart one, that Narrator.

I sighed and asked the time frame. He then informed of the Publix Famliy Fun Weekends which is a series of sprint triathlons through the summer and fall. The good (?) thing about a sprint, is at least it’s only (insert sarcasm here) a 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. Ha. I’ve never run more than 2 miles in my life, let alone after doing all that other stuff first!!!!

He’s shooting for the August 2nd event. I’m stalling for mid-October. I really don’t think that 8 weeks is enough time for me to get in shape. It’s more than getting in shape for me, it’s figuring out how to fit in training with two toddlers in the picture. Good thing the Y is open 5:30 am to 10 p.m. Gulp

And so, let the training begin. (And just for the record, I wrote this while eating a triple chocolate decadence brownie as a last hurrah!)