And that's my final word, I think.

Six years ago Husband first brought the idea of a triathlon to my attention. We were still in graduate school, and I hadn't heard of them. He thought it sounded "fun." After he explained what one was, I stared at him and said, "Whatever, dude. I will NEVER do anything that is that much work. And I never run."

July of last year, after watching him run a few, I thought to myself, "Maybe I could do this. If it was completely flat. I'd never do one with hills." I started teaching myself how to run, and then ran the Cotton Country Sprint two months later. Slowlllly. But I finished it. Then I did some with hills.

Then in October of last year, I ran the 5K "fun run" at the Duke City Marathon, while Husband ran the half-marathon. I laughed at his happy, flushed face afterward. "I'm glad you enjoyed that, because I will never, ever want to run 13.1 miles."

I did my first half-marathon six weeks later, on the spur of the moment, and my second one in January of 2006.

This summer I'm psyching myself up for the Tri-Raider on June 24th. It has a 500 meter open water swim, three hills on the bike that range from 6.7% to 8.9% grade, then the usual 5K run. I've climbed them before, at the Buffman and Squeaky, but it's hotter now, I won't have Husband waiting at the end, to give me my post race hug, because he's doing the Buff Springs Half-iron. So, I'm a little nervous. To psych myself up, I'm reading "The Mental Edge." I've also read, "The Courage to Start," which I HIGHLY recommend.

I'm also reading "Ultra-marathon Man: Confessions of An All Night Runner, " but that one is just for fun. because I'll NEVER do anything that is that much work...