Being Passed To Be Pushed

There is an extremely competitive side to me that has never died.

I hate to be passed when I'm out running in the morning. I don't care who you are– you could be an Olympic marathoner and it still bothers me. But as I wrote on Monday, I've gotten much slower over the years. In fact I didn't realize how slow until I got passed and then I put a watch on my run.

But several years ago, when I was back living in Illinois, I got passed and it was the first time I realized there was a reason it was happening.

I wanted to run faster and this man passed me to push me. Of course he didn't know this but after all, how else was I going to run faster in all my current laziness? (I know some people don't believe there is a lazy side of me but I believe there is because I don't push myself running as I used to). 

When I got passed twice last week– not one day but two!– I realized I did need to use that as motivation to go faster. 

So first I got the watch out to start timing myself again. And then I planned to leave a few minutes earlier since this man was running by me about the same time those two mornings. 

However, on Monday when I went to step out the front door, I realized my Nano that plays my music was almost dead. I plugged it in and emptied a few dishes from the dishwasher, giving it a chance to charge. It was back in the green and I set out, but knowing it was the same time I left that this man was going to come by me.

I had two reasons to push myself: I didn't want to be passed and I had to run as fast as I could before the Nano died because the green quickly went back to red. Now these might seem like silly reasons to run fast but you know what?

They worked.

It wasn't easy but I ran a decent time and I pushed myself the whole way. And on Tuesday? I did it again. I found I felt better and I was excited to have accomplished something that had alluded me for a long time.

Sometimes when we can't find it in ourselves to push or accomplish something, we have to find the means from outside sources. For me it was the mere fact that someone ran by me that has set me back in the right direction.