Escalate

Denise, my partner, is worried.

We were out to dinner a few nights ago and I mentioned that the registration for the April Go! St. Louis marathon was discounted until Nov 1st. This started a whole discussion...

When we started dating - I only ever ran 3-4 miles a few days a week. I was swimming 3-5 miles 5 days a week though. Now that I am not swimming nearly as much, I have been running 4 or 5 days a week for the past year and my distances have gone from 3-4 miles to 5-10 depending on how much sun light I have.

So she is worried I am escalating. I told her - yes - that is the point!

"when will it be enough?" she wants to know.
"When I feel tired." but this answer doesn't seem to answer her question.
"In the spring it's a marathon, the summer will have more triathlons - but what about 2014?"
And since it is 1/2 a bottle of wine in - I admit my plans for an ironman.
"And then what? Ultra marathons?"

In order to understand Denise's anxiety about this topic you have to know that she believes that people who spend hours every single day training for these Long events must not have anything better to do or must be bored with their family life - because she simply does not understand that Drive that makes people get up to run at 4am or makes someone enjoy a 70mile bike ride on a Saturday morning.

So this is the part of the conversation with Denise that I have to talk her off the ledge. She thinks I'm not happy with our relationship?!?

I quickly tried to explain that it's really the opposite! I am very happy which gives me the confidence to take on a new and scary challenge. And that my long term plans of an ironman are because I feel so grounded in our relationship. And that I know I actually need her love and support in order to reach these goals...

It doesn't seem like enough though.

And then the real concerns comes out... "when are you going to have time to help me with all my projects around the house - re-doing the kitchen, bathroom, closets, basement..." The list is never ending.
So I did something I really hope I don't regret as I stand at the start line for all these challenges in the future - I promised I would not let any training interfere with helping her around the house.

But - I know she loves me and loves the drive and energy I have. I know that as much as she does not understand how a 5k is just not enough anymore, she will be cheering me on at each milestone along the way!

Plus she agrees that an ironman tattoo would be perfect as a coverup for the Aries tattoo I have on my wrist...