Last night my husband, Paul, asked me if he could race with his Checkpoint Zero teammates in the upcoming Odyssey 1 Day Adventure Race in Roanoke VA the weekend of July 22nd. This race will be a tough one and also will serve as a practice run for these four teammates before they tackle the Beast of the East together in October.

Now, some wives may be upset about getting only one week's notice. I usually would be upset because he was supposed to drive me and our son Henry to the airport that weekend as we head out for a week-long vacation (he has to be at work that week, so he's meeting us in Michigan a few days later). But, honestly, I wasn't upset at all. Why? Because maybe FINALLY our basement will get cleaned out. Let me explain ...

Paul's normal routine is to return from a race and leave all his gear in a pile in the middle of our basement floor. That may be okay for a day or two, but for Paul it stays there until he needs the gear again. So, I have had a pile of racing gear in the middle of our basement floor, sans a few small items he had needed for training, since he returned from the Michigan Coast to Coast on Sunday, June 4th. As Paul begins packing for Roanoke VA, all of the gear will have to be sifted through and hopefully the items he doesn’t need will be put away and maybe even returned to their rightful owners?!?

Ahhhh, a woman can dream can't she? Anyway, here's to having a clean basement, at least until Paul returns and leaves his gear to sit until his next ADVENTURE.

A wife's perspective offered by Lisa M Cox