What would you do for love?

I'm working on my theme for the next assignment for our next teacher training weekend.  I decided to explore the idea of "what would you do for love?" using an experience I had this past summer.  My amazing husband decided to train for his first marathon AND a half-Ironman triathlon at the same time.  The half-Ironman was scheduled for August in Iowa which can only mean adding a miserable "heat and humidity" factor to anything you are planning to do outside.
Just so we're all clear about the numbers in a half-Ironman and his conservative estimates for how long it would take him, it adds up as follows:
Swim   1.2  miles  1 hour
Bike  56.0  miles  3 hours 30 minutes
Run   13.1  miles  2 hours 15 minutes 
Total  70.3 miles  6 hours 45 minutes, plus transition times, so about 7 hours

Long story short, after months of diligent training, Todd ended up with a bicep/shoulder injury two weeks before the half-Ironman race.  He had done a sprint-triathlon as part of his training a couple of weeks earlier (and took second place in his division, I proudly add!) and knew something wasn't right.  He called me after his appointment with the Orthopedist and said the verdict was that he was out for the swim.  Which meant he was out of the race.  He was not, I repeat NOT, a happy camper.  As I hung up, I thought about what he had said about his call with the race director as he was trying to figure out his options.  Todd asked if there was anyone who wanted to do the swimming part of the event as a relay.  The swim is usually the part that nobody wants to tackle.  Lots of crazy runners cross-train by crazy biking, so there is an abundance of people willing to do those two crazy legs of the race.  (Can you tell I think this is crazy?)

Here's where the conundrum begins.  I like to swim.  I've done two sprint triathlons, which both included a 500 yard swim.  500 yards is 20 lengths in a regular pool.  Takes me about 11-somethingish minutes at a leisurely pace  in open water (hey, I'm saving myself for 15 miles on the bike and a 5k run).  1.2 miles = 2112 yards.  That's over 4 times as long as the sprint tri distance.  In open water.  The longest training swims I did were usually 1500 yards...in a nice clear pool, with an edge to push off of every 25 yards.  And, I hadn't been training since early June.  Now, 1.2 mile in open water is a scary distance in my book...there is a genuine possibility that a person could drown.  After some internal debate, I stopped at the pool on my way home from work that night (oddly enough, I always have 3 bags in my trunk:  1 for swimming, 1 for biking, 1 for running, just in case the opportunity for an unexpected workout arises).  Standing in the water, I adjusted my goggles, took a last look at the clock, and with a deep breath, pushed off for 45 minutes of straight swimming.  It was a long 45 minutes and I'm not gonna lie when it was one of the hardest things I'd done in a while.

So now the question:  what would you do for love?  Would you offer to swim 1.2 miles when you knew you only had two-weeks to get prepared...which means you probably wouldn't be?  Would you be willing to take a risk if it meant you might not be able to finish your leg of the race?  Would you do it if you seriously thought that you might drown??  Would you try to conquer your own fears for someone you really love?? What would you do?

I found this sweet little video by Scott O'Conner on Vimeo and thought, "this pretty much sums it up!".
Namaste