Anything you can do… or at least match

“How long do you stay in for?” a quick question piped while I sit shivering in a bath of the coldest water the faucet has to offer.

“I try for twenty, but seven is the bare minimum, however I think the shortest I have stayed in is twelve.” Jen states with matter of fact delivery.

“Oh,” I begrudgingly let out. My watch reads six minutes. It is the second ice bath in the last few months and acclimation to the cold waters has not been made. Gritting my mental teeth I progress through the time extremely uncomfortably. I realize at some point, waiting for twenty minutes to roll around, that it is Jen’s doing twenty which has set the bar for me. As if the fact that she does something makes me say I will do the same.