Losing is never fun.... wrote:
Years ago I was running a half marathon and by 11 miles knew I was having a great race. I passed a guy I had been gaining steadily on and knew he wouldn't be able to stay with me very long. As soon as I passed, he sped up right on my heals and all I could think was that he was going to clip my shoe and ruin my race. I started running side to side on the road until I lost him. I think he was the one a little upset after the race.
Reminds me of a race where a guy was dying at 2.5 miles into the 5K. I was having a lousy race myself but I caught up to him and he starts asking me what age group I was in and asking for me to sprint with him to the finish. Why he was spending more time trying to talk to me instead of trying to focus on a race that is essentially all out for the last mile - I have no clue.
Everytime I sped up he starts pushing the pace. After he was able to get in front of me he started weaving and impeding on my space to make sure I wouldn't pass him. Being that I was very far off from a PR, I just let him go. Neither one of us were breaking 18 that day regardless and I didn't want to get into some verbal altercation (or push him out of the way) in a family-friendly 5K for charity.
Why people treat meaningless races like the Super Bowl I'll never understand.