The Snake and the Mongoose

Brad is a friend of mine who is all of 26 years old that I met in 2009 when we were both training for IMLP.  Since that time, we both ran Goofy Challenge (some of it together), and I've gone to IMFL and IMWI to support Brad.  Brad and his wife, Morgan, had volunteered to crew for me last year in Ultraman Hawaii, but as we know, that race didn't happen for me.  Brad changed jobs a few months ago and now works for Hershey's (yes, CANDY!), and he told me about that change in February, along with inviting me to come along to IMCOZ.  In March, I said I'd get in touch, but I didn't, because I still wasn't feeling right.

Fast forward to July, and I go and check and see that IMCOZ is still open for registration, I get in touch with Brad about obtaining candy (how selfish of me) since I am starting to train again, but not really for anything in particular, decide we should catch up on the phone, and well, here I am training for IMCOZ and coaching Brad.  Brad will qualify for Kona in another year or so as long as he listens to me!

What does this have to do with a snake and a mongoose?  Well the mongoose thing goes back to when Brad and I were driving to IMLP in 2009 and he saw an animal on the side of the road and said he thought it was a mongoose.  Long story short, we have a running joke about mongooses, I bought a stuffed mongoose for Brad a few years ago, and that animal (recently named Chico) now goes to IM races.  Chico will definitely be going to IMCOZ.

The snake thing is in reference to one of the mongoose's favorite (?) foods--the cobra.  I assessed a penalty to Brad during his NothingMan last Saturday for using an elevator, and he presented me with an appeal: 

So I guess this means *I* am the cobra.

Brad and I text stuff about mongooses back and forth randomly, so today I went to Google News and searched for "mongoose" and I find this link to a review of a new movie called "The Snake and the Mongoose."  One of the lines from the review is: "Snake and Mongoose is a film about the intersection of commerce and passion, about the struggles of chasing a dream, and it's also about a friendship that spans decades."  WTF?  

• Commerce is the candy that seemed to be a trigger for us to get back in touch
• Passion is our mutual passion for IM training and racing
• Chasing a dream well that would be Brad trying to qualify for Kona
• Friendship that spans decades?  Yep!  26 to 56, I'd call that a few decades!
   

This seems like some sort of omen to me.  Or just an extremely happy coincidence!  I plan on going to see the movie when it's in my area.  Should be awesome!  Seems like the universe has some sort of plan here.