The Numbers Game

I admit it: I am a bit obsessive compulsive and have been since I was little.  My entry into competitive sports was community softball when I was in the fourth grade.  The coach would let you play two innings at your favorite position  (mine was second base), and the other innings he would make the decision.  I thought I was like all of the other girls on the team, talent-wise; however, I realize now that I spent a lot of time out in right field swatting dandelions and hoping a fly ball didn’t come my way. 

Out in right field I played many different games with myself – all of them involving numbers.  If I scratched my left knee twice, I had to balance it out on my right.  A shift to the right of six steps for a certain batter would require an equaling move later.  Numbers took on personalities – good ones were generally even (my favorites being 4, 6, 12 and for some reason 15), and my only two bad ones were odd (13 and 47).  12 was my particular favorite, and still is.  The number on the back of my shirt was always 12, I was married on the 12^th, and I can’t wait for December 12 this year (must plan something cool, don’t know what to do just yet, though).

So whenever I am handed a race number at a registration table I always take a few moments to calculate the ways the number is a “good” one.  A number that you wear for a day is not a big deal, but when my permanent number for the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series arrived yesterday I wanted to be a great one I could attached to my handlebars all summer long with some confidence.  My number this year?  2042 – so many great ways that this is an awesome number:

•          All even numbers
•          2 x (4 + 2) = 12
•          20 – (4 x 2) = 12
•          20 + 42 = 62 (6!)
•          204/ 2 = 102…ok, not much there, but still an even number…

It is ridiculous, I know, but anything that gives you that little boost of confidence, that little belief that a great performance is fated for you, has to be a good thing!  Seriously, I’m not a crazy person who writes endless streams of numbers on the wall…I swear it…