I have been double-dog-dared to do something that I had no intention of doing, wearing something that I had very little intention of creating. Intriguing, right?
The dare involves the Swim for Health this Saturday. I already told you that this is a fundraising competition to see how many laps a team of 6 can do 30 minutes. For this portion, I am part of team "Tri-ing to Swim", a fantastic, motley crew of triathletes in swimmers clothing. However, I failed to mention the other part of the event, the one that I was hoping no one would notice.... And I would have gotten away with it, but I was negotiating with a master-negotiator and world champion enabler (my friend H) who also happened to volunteer at the SforH last year and observed the second part of the competition — essentially a 400IM. I was asking her to donate to the cause, and she suggested that I had to do more than swim continuous 25s. Nope, she said she would give me $40 ($10 for each 100yd) if I did the Ironwoman 400 IM competition.
And then came the addendum... I had to do it wearing the Fast Beaver swimsuit. Duhn-duhn-duh-h-h-hn!
Let me explain. Up until recently, the Fast Beaver swimsuit was a myth, a figment of my adobe Illustrator creation, only known by its presence in my computer's recycle bin... but the word was out. And like any good fables, this one has a moral and begins with:
Once upon a time, a good woman designed a Splish swimsuit for the OSU triathlon team, as a kind of thank you for all the great training, and also to build team morale as they headed to their first Collegiate National Championships. She had written "Go Beavs" across the butt of the design, because something had to go there. After all, a swimsuit without a design on the butt is missing the point of being a swimsuit. The design process was a group effort that may have involved good food, good drinks, and goo-o-od vibrations. It was decided that "Fast Beaver" should be written instead. Chuckle, chuckle, LQTM. She will admit that she understood the implication (sadly, it took a minute), but felt it was appropriate enough to go ahead with.
Well, you can imagine the questions and inquiries that commenced. Really what precipitated the change was a few womrn saying they would be uncomfortable wearing it... the last thing I want to do is actually discourage people from exercising and forcing uncomfortable self-expression. So, without too much more ado, the "Fast Beaver" was replaced with "Go Beavs" and that was that. The moral of the story: Free your mind, and the rest will follow. Oh wait, that's a song lyric. Real moral: Eat your vegetables. Kidding, there is no moral.
But, obviously, it was a story still fresh on the mind and a funny one at that. Occasionally,friends of the woman who knew the story called the her (we can all safely assume that the woman is me) "FB" for short, and thought that I should go ahead and get a suit with my sometimes moniker on the butt.
For clarity, the OSU mascot is the Beaver, and I do swim quite fast according to some people. And so, for charity, and charity only, Splish has made me the suit, and I will wear it during that oh-so-painful "how-many-laps-of-butterfly-is-it" 400IM. I'll upload some pics. God help me, or at least help me raise some funds!
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