Last night, I ran 4 miles.  It was my longest continuous run in 3 weeks.  My leg didn’t really get wonky until the very end of the run.  I forgot to wear my Cho-Pat band (I’ll be writing a full explanation of this later), so this could be the reason why it got wonky at all.  As soon as I got home, I iced and put the Cho-Pat band on.  Within 10 minutes, all wonkiness had subsided.

I’m not really writing to tell you about that though.

I’m writing to tell you about something very exciting that happened during my run.

I became competitive.  Yes, me.  The one who jogs.  The girl who could really give a crap about where she finishes (as long as it’s not dead last).

It all began on a hill.  I could hear her breathing behind me.  Does everyone know that eerie “a stranger is breathing heavily in my ear” sound?  I normally only hear this sound for 3 milliseconds because I’m so slow that it only takes that long for people to pass me.

However, I’ve been doing a lot of cross-training, so hills are much easier than they’ve ever been.  My pace was really good last night (ahem…for me).  Up until the last mile, I was running nearly 10:00 miles, so that put me almost in other peoples’ comfortable pace range.

So, coming up the hill, I felt good.  Besides the fact that the breathing was really distracting.  This breathing even broke through “Crazy Bitch” by Buckcherry.  It was really close!

I decided to continue with my pace.  I was comfortable and I knew that I couldn’t push my IT band too much too soon, so I let The Breather pass me.  She didn’t actually pass me until I was recovering at the crest of the hill, so I just let her go.  I wasn’t giving up, rather, I was plotting.

This, my friends, is when I grew my competitive cojones.

The feeling was so foreign.  I realized that I was right on her heels, and all I had to do was pace myself a little to get in front of her and stay there.  I stayed on her heels down the next two small hills because I didn’t want to speed up downhill since that seems to mess with my IT band.

On the next small uphill, I smoked her.

OH, THE RUSH!

I glanced at my watch, and I was running a 7:07 pace.  All was beautiful in my universe.

I maintained that pace for about a 1/2 mile, then I heard The Breather approaching again.  I smiled and let her pass me.

Again, I wasn’t giving up, just plotting.  All plotting.

There was a small hill coming, then I was going to veer the opposite way to the sidewalk, where we would be running side-by-side, but I’d be going uphill and she’d be going downhill.  I knew I could take her again because my hills are strong these days.

I gave her a few seconds to set into her pace and get comfortable, then I smoked her again.  All the way up the hill.  Left her in the dust.  By the time I turned to head home, she was walking.

I feel slightly guilty about this, because I don’t like hurting people’s feelings or making them feel bad.  Isn’t that silly?!  I grow some competitive cojones, and I have a guilt complex about it.

Truth be told, the feeling of having been faster than someone not once but twice was very confidence-building.  It was really an awesome feeling, and it carried me all the way home.

Are you competitive?

Do you have a moment like this where your competitive nature exploded and you grew cojones?

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