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December 26, 2008

Contest!

I love my husband. I love cycling. Logic would dictate that cycling with my husband would be lots of fun. In a word–no!

Something about the combination of husband and a bicycle brings out the competitive gene in him. He has to beat me to our destination. Of course, it probably doesn’t help that, at times, I have a competitive streak, too. Some days it doesn’t bother me if he cycles off into the distance, leaving me behind.

Today wasn’t that day. My beloved husband irritated me.

When he cycled off into the distance, I took a shortcut, then I waited for him. He took a long time because he’d gone back to see where I was. He worried that I’d fallen off, which made me feel bad for about…um…two seconds.

Do you have a competitive streak in you? Do you like to win?

20 Comments

  1. Susan Helene Gottfried

    Good day for biking with spouses! I convinced the Tour Manager to spin with me this morning.

    I thought I was going to lose him at one point…

    Oops.

  2. Wylie Kinson

    I’m never competative in sporty things (because I ALWAYS lose) but in intellectual things – like Trivial Pursuit, etc… VERY!

  3. Julie Robinson

    Oops, I see i answered the competitive question on the wrong day. My hubby and I are both competitive with intellectual things. I can’t really say sporty activities, since we are not great fans of football, etc. Julie

  4. Shelley Munro

    Susan – despite my complaints, it was a fun thing to do after indulging in lots of yummy treats. What do you mean you thought you’d lost him? My mind is going in all directions…

    Wylie – hubby likes to beat me in Trivial Pursuit etc as well. we’re fairly evenly matched so it’s always interesting.

    Julie – ah, if you lived in NZ you’d probably be into sports. Most of us are sports mad, and in truth, I find rugby and rugby league very inspiring and good for hero material. :grin:

  5. Deidre

    Absolutely, especially online contests. LOL

    I also like to win at video games and anything where I have to use my brain.

    Deidre

  6. Julie Robinson

    No, sports just doesn’t do it for me. Probably because I was always picked last for a team—and only cause they had to have me! Football is big here, but I prefer solitary sports. However, I do go to the high school football games ’cause my son is in the band. So I like the atmosphere.

    Intellectually, though,I do like to compete in Scrabble tourneys.
    Julie

  7. Amy T

    I’m very competitive in anything that doesn’t require physical strength, speed or skill. Card games, shopping (really requires skill and cunning to get the best buys, you know), and I even compete with myself to top my own high scores on certain games I play!

    As a young woman, I purposefully married a man who excelled in a field totally opposite from mine so we wouldn’t ever end up in an intellectual/salary competition.

  8. Shelley Munro

    Deidre – I’m absolutely useless at video games, but since we don’t own any I’m pretty safe.

    Julie – I watched some football on ESPN while I was waiting for the bullriding to come on. That’s one game I don’t understand. It took them 20 minutes to play four minutes of the game. Weird!

    Amy – LOL – that sounds smart to me. :mrgreen:

  9. Maria

    We are so competitive, I’m amazed we’re still married. :!: (33 yrs and counting.)

    I have to tell this story to prove it. In our 30s we took up tae kwon do. I was only a white belt and Greg was a yellow belt.

    One day, the sensei decided to hold a contest that would test all his students regardless of their belt level. We were to walk in pairs, facing each other, from one end of the dojo to the other. Each person had to throw the other person down in 2 of 3 tries.

    There were a lot of us there that day, and slowly we whittled it down to a handful. I got stuck on the kids’ side because I am so short. Obviously I bested those poor unsuspecting children (a couple who were green belts and bigger than me). When my bout was over I was told to face the winner from the adult camp.

    You guessed it. It was my husband. The entire crowd roared with laughter. Greg just shook his head and sighed. He would rather face anyone but me.

    We faced each other and started our traipse across the gym. I got the first throw. For once being short worked to my advantage because my center of gravity is so low.

    He got the second throw. (darn!)

    We went back and forth several times with neither of us being able to get a good grip to toss the other.

    Finally our sensei –a very wise (and also married) man asked us if we should call it a draw.

    We agreed. Otherwise we’d still be there right now. :lol:

    There’s nothing wrong with being competitive, as long as it’s balanced with humor and love. You keep right on testing him, Shelley. It’s good for the soul–and keeps him on his toes.

  10. J.K. Coi

    Hmm. I’m very competitive. In anything and everything. Whenever my husband pit ourselves against each other, it’s interesting to see what will happen because he’s just as competitive. But we’re pretty closely matched–in the types of things we would do together anyway–and we’re pretty good sports about it. But again, sometimes you don’t want everything to be a competition, and that might have irritated me as well.
    :)

  11. Gabriele

    I’m not competitive when it comes to sports. I was asked to become member of the county swimming team, but that would have meant regularly training as taking a hobby seriously. Not my thing.

    Merry Holidays you and family.

  12. Rosemary Simm

    I bought an exercise bike for the house so I could use it in the evenings after work. My dear husband decided that I needed more tension on the wheel to really give me a workout. I thought I died after trying to pedal my way into a better health. After two weeks of agony, I left it sit and hated to look at that darn bike. Amonth later, when I gave it away, the front tire still had the tension on and it wobbled and had a flat time. Now I walk!!

  13. Sandra Cox

    Heh Heh. Short cut, hey? Loved it:)

  14. Cathy M

    I live in an all male household that celebrates competition to the nth degree, which is pretty exhausting, lol, so I think the competitive gene purposefully passed me by.

  15. Leah Braemel

    I’m competitive when it comes to board games like scrabble, but I know I’ll never be able to beat him physically.

  16. Fedora

    Oy, I can be, but am trying to moderate that a bit ;) It’s really best if we’re competing on the SAME team :mrgreen:

  17. Shelley Munro

    Wow, a lot of competitive ladies here. I’m glad I’m not alone!

    Maria – I think your sensei was very wise. :grin:

  18. Michele N.

    Yes the streak is there.

    We don’t do similar things like biking.

    When I make coffee, I never do it his way.
    I drive, I drive too fast.
    I paint a wall, it has tiny imperfect streaks.

    Soooo

    He makes the coffee, I let him be my chauffeur and he does all the painting.

    The only thing we agree on is kissing. :razz:

  19. Donna

    Board games and video games are definitely very competitive. Actual physical sports, not so much.

  20. Shelley Munro

    Hubby and I don’t get time to play board games very often. it’s probably just as well. :mrgreen: