The World's Best Kept Secret: Iron Tim

Postmarked Tuesday, February 21st, 2006
Topic: London (380 words, 15 images, 1 comment)

A couple of months ago, our friend Tim sent me an email expressing interest in coming over to London for a visit. Great idea, I thought! He soon added a little extra pizzazz to the affair, wanting to make it a SURPRISE for John. Now we were talking! This was going to be FUN! So, for the past few months, I have been secretly anticipating the arrival of Iron Tim (the name stuck after he, Iron John and some other Iron friends completed the Lake Placid Ironman USA together back in 2004 - Iron Tim and Iron John even got tattoos to "mark" the day).

So, the easy part was knowing that Tim was arriving. The hard part was just keeping the secret for so long and not acting WEIRD (well, weirder than usual), not letting it accidentally slip out ("Yeah, John, we should do that with Tim next weekend! Ooops."), and hoping that John wouldn't accidentally find out from a third source. I am proud to say that NONE of the above happened!!

The trickiest bit was that Iron John caught a stomach bug and was bed-ridden the week before Iron Tim's arrival. As we had planned to launch the big surprise at our gym, I had to pray that John would feel well enough on said Saturday to actually want to go and work out!! Luckily, he was up for it and with my excitement leading the way, we even got to the gym 30 minutes before they opened! We took advantage of the extra time to take a 5 minute walk from the gym to the Thames riverfront, and say good morning to the Tower Bridge, the "Gherkin" Building and City Hall. Of course, I was snapping photos the whole time, having brought John's digital camera with us under the guise of wanting to practice (?!) for a documentary I was thinking of doing on the Ironman! Bless his heart, John agreed to be my photo subject and actually believed this slightly silly white lie. As we all now know, I really had the camera with us to document the "Oh my Gosh" moment on John's face when he'd see Tim IN OUR GYM for the first time...

Let's see what happened...

On the morning bus with John, as he still has no idea of the surprise in waiting! John poses with City Hall and the Tower Bridge in the background. The fountains by City Hall. I was trying to spend 30 minutes and keep my cool all at the same time. John and the River Thames, with the Gherkin building in the background.
Sherlock Holmes and his twin brother take a morning stroll and learn about world geography. Finally, we are nearing the gym!! I can barely contain myself at this point. And here it is! The actual moment when John saw Tim, looked at me in disbelief, then went in for the hug! John, still shaking his head in utter disbelief!! Priceless!
After a quick workout, the boys prepare to leave the gym. But first, a stop at the blacklit Spin Studio to check out the equipment. A shot in the dark! Once we arrived at home, Tim and John hang out on the balcony.
It's nice to see you, Tim!! [Doorbell rings]! Oh, that must be the enormous amount of groceries I ordered for the occasion. John can't believe the amount of items! But John, he's an Iron Tim!  

Reader Comments

1.

Comment from TISHA!

It is true that Tim does need a lot of fuel to keep him going.

That was a lot of water. Can you guys drink the tap?

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