• I promise not to talk about triathlon in every social gathering and take a hint when people start to doze off before I finish my sentence.
• I promise not to exaggerate my weekly bike, swim and run mileage when talking to fellow-triathletes, especially since a lot of them seem to be doing better with less workout.
• I promise not to under-estimate my race finish time before a race, knowing others would probably make fun when I miss it by a zillion minutes.
• I promise not to lie to my parents every time they ask me how many races I am planning to do during the season, since they seem to think I’m getting too old to be doing endurance or any other kind of racing.
• While on the subject of parents, I promise to force my parents to attend at least one of my races, so they can see that there are competitors in their 60s, 70s and sometimes even 80s, so they would stop thinking of me as "too old" to race.
• I promise to tell the truth to my wife as to how much race entries actually cost.
• I promise not to make the people who do body marking at races guess how old I am before they write my actual age on my calf.
• I promise not to tell the people who own a bike identical to mine "nice bike".
• I promise not to let the few awards that I have won give me a big head, make me think of myself as "Elite" and start looking for sponsors.
• I promise not to frame any more of my race medals/certificates/photos and make my home "hall of fame" any bigger than it already is before they all end up in the garage or on the storage room walls, just like my awards.
• I promise not to over-estimate the number of calories I have burned during training or during a race in order to justify drinking a case of beer or eating a whole large deep-dish pizza.
• I promise not to force my son (who is only a fetus now!) to start running, swimming and biking at an early age, especially if he shows more interest in basket weaving, and not threaten to trade him in for a new and improved model.
• I finally promise not to disappear every weekend for long rides and runs, to spend more time with my family, especially my wife, and not put triathlon and training before everything else.

Now, let’s see how long these promises last!!

Al "The Elite" Navidi