Hey, did I tell you I'm training for triathlons?

Know how sometimes your friend or relative or co-worker gets really excited about something and that's all they talk about? Over and over and over.

Sure, it's kind of fun to hear about their upcoming vacation to the beach or how well their adorable little Johnny performed in the school play or what colors they're choosing to paint their bathroom wall — at first.

But then it gets kinda repetitive, then a bit annoying, and then you start ducking under desks, avoiding eye contact and family parties, screening calls until you end up going on your own vacation to the beach just so you don't have to hear ONE MORE DARN WORD!!!!

Have to admit, I've become that friend, that relative, that co-worker. All I seem to talk about — as people who know me and are rolling their eyes can attest — are triathlons and training for triathlons and losing weight while training for triathlons.

I realized this the other day at work. My friend, Heidi, the talented design department director (yes, I'm trying to suck up in case this writing gig doesn't work out) stopped and chatted with me in passing.

"How's training going?" she asked.

"Great!" I responded, thrilled that I didn't have to initiate the conversation about my exercise routine for a change. "This morning I swam 1,150 yards, and I ran 2½ miles!"

"That's great," she said, "but I was talking about training for the new system."

"Oh yeah, that. Oops."

That, by the way, would be the training for our paper's new computer system that I was doing barely 15 seconds before running into Heidi during my break.

Yep, I'm somewhere between committed and obsessed about turning my fatness into fitness.

You know those commercials where the illustration of a big hat appears over roast-beef-craving-people's heads because they're "thinking Arby's?"

Well, Arby's is great, but I'm thinking triathlons and training for triathlons and losing weight while training for triathlons.

Which explains why there are illustrations of me splashing around in a lake, wearing skin-tight shorts on a bicycle and sweating while pounding the pavement during a run all floating above my head.

And, yes, I'm at my goal weight in those illustrations.