Oh no...

...I did it.

I went there.

I blame it on Mighty M. It's his fault.

Two weekends ago, my friend Nicole was in town for a visit and we took total advantage of it as an excuse to sit around in the living room and gab. Like girls. For as long as the boys tolerated us.

(it was about 2 hours before M broke and claimed exhaustion. dad only made it 1 hour, mumbling something about being too old for this on the way up the stairs.)

One of the long list of things that makes Nicole one of THE most interesting people you'll ever meet is that she's a marathoner. And a spin instructor. And a new kick-boxing convert. And a bazillion other interesting things.

She always picks such great things to try and then she goes 110%.

So, clearly, I'm going to try to convince her to do a triathlon.

Clearly.

And, of course, I'm going to encourage her to do one with me. Wouldn't that be fun?

Of course.

And Nicole never goes small and she's already a killer runner and strong on the bike. Just a little time in the pool and I have a(nother) partner in crime.

(rubbing hands together with glee)

And then Mighty M -- amidst all this fun talk of what race to do -- mentions the Ironman.

And I, like, do a double take. Wait, I think, he looks all casual. The word just tumbled out of his mouth. Must be careful at this juncture...

"An Ironman, M? You're crazy. You mean next year?"

His response: "Of course. I figured that would be the plan for next year."

(gulp)

And you know what? He's totally right. We will have all the wedding (and wedding planning) behind us. I will be coming off of a solid year with 3 half irons and over a half dozen other races. And I have found the perfect coach. And we already know we want to wait for a little before starting a family, and moving from our current house. And if I were to wait until the following year, I would have other issues to contend with...like house hunting and baby making and those kinds of things.

Oh my.

OH. MY.

OH. MY.

Is it time for some...gasp...Iron?