Hello competition, my old friend.

I joined the running group again this week and for the first time crossed paths with the group's "fast guy". There were three of us planning to run together on this evening. We started out slowly, but it wasn't long before we were moving at a pace that my training runs have not taken very often over the last few years. I struggled to keep up, surprised by the pace and trying not to get lost on the turns of an unfamiliar route. After willing my body through 15 minutes of pretty hard running, the other two started to slow and I was able to settle in more comfortably, at least in pace.

Inside of my head, a battle raged. "Crush them" growled the no-longer-sleeping beast of competitiveness.

"Now, beast, this is a friendly run and there is nothing to prove," explained the calmer voice in my head.

"They pushed the pace this far. Now is your chance to hurt them back," the beast growled. "They deserve crushing."

"Settle down. We're trying to make friends here. We can save the crushing for race day," said the calm voice. "Besides, we don't really know the route."

The beast would not go quietly, but eventually was subdued. I returned to struggling to keep up. I realized that the beast is too well rested and not well enough trained. This marks the beginning of an inclination to let the beast out more often.