A Couch Potato on the Run

Walked: 5 miles
Ran: 2 miles
Biked: 20 minutes

OK. I had a very mean-spirited, uber-bitch moment last night when I was running.

I know it's summer already in Dallas, because for the first time in a few months I've actually seen life on the track (besides ducks). Real human life.

All winter I've had the track to myself because most Dallasites are wusses when it comes to cold weather and exercising late at night. But last night it had warmed up, the cicadas were in full drone, the sky was clear, the evening was pleasant, and two other women were on the track with me.

So I was walking my 5 miles and keeping an eyeball on them the whole time. For one thing, they looked like they were my age. For another thing, they looked pretty skinny. (Skinnier than me.) So I was curious how much they would end up exercising.

It turns out they walked half a mile and then one of the girls ran a quarter of a mile. And as I watched them leave the track I thought, "Ha! How pathetic! I can run their asses into the ground."

And then I immediately felt ashamed. What a bitch I am! There was a time in my life when I could only run a quarter of a mile too. And there are sure as hell a LOT of people who can run MY ass into the ground. Why was I being so mean?

My best guess is that they were skinnier than me, and that's what set off my bitch-alarm. I tell myself that I would rather be larger and athletic than skinny and out of shape, but maybe my mind disagrees.

Does anyone else do that? Size people up when they're running (for leisure, not in a race) and go, "I wonder how much they're capable of?" Or I am just a nosy, competitive, mean-spirited-for-no-reason kind of person?

Yikes.