Playing with Fire

If I were asked to boil down the reasons for our happy marriage, I would say, "we compete, Kate wins, everyone goes home happy". There isn't room in most good relationships for two truly competitive people and in ours, Kate is the one who has to win, while I'm the one who takes the high road and seeks harmony over divisiveness. Which makes the events of yesterday all the more dangerous.

Neither of us has run much since the kids arrived, and Kate didn't run at all for the previous year. Yesterday we decided to dust off the treadmill and each of us did a 40 minute run. I ran 450 metres further than her during the allotted time. Not just a victory, but a complete trouncing. I know, I felt a little sad about it too.

Signs that Kate May Have Lost Some of Her Competitive Fire
- she agreed to run first, somehow ignoring the fact that I would then have a target to beat
- she told me how far she had run before I ran, thus relinquishing the chance to lie about it later
- she appeared to be supportive and congratulatory when I told her how far I'd gone

Signs that Kate May Still Have Some of Her Competitive Fire
- she claimed the only difference between us was my new shoes
- while I was still sore from my over-exertion she insisted we take the kids sledding in the afternoon, repeatedly running up and down the hill pulling the sleds
- after my repeated gloating including an "it's a good thing we weren't running on a track because I would have lapped you", she looked me square in the eye and quietly said "you are going down"