t being a beautiful day, and my cold gone, I decided to test my ankle with a run in my favorite local park after work. The run started out a little limpy due to some pain in my right foot: my ankle was not fully flexible when pushing off the ground and my foot a little sensitive to the impact of landing. However, I kept going since I figured I just needed to work out the lingering stiffness, and by the end of my first mile and a half or so run I was feeling fine and running more or less like normal.

I was satisfied with the quality and the length of today's run: it was rather average for me, which is terrific considering that it was my first in nearly two weeks of no running or leg strengthening exercises. After running for two miles I walked around the lake to wind down and enjoy the outdoors, and near the end of my walk I noted the runners who passed me in the opposite direction: one girl, followed shortly by another, and ahead of them both an older man not quite power-walking, but really trucking along. I passed through the parking lot and was considering running a little bit more before leaving, so I started up again and on the burn over the lake saw both girls finishing their circuit around the lake and also saw the older man marching past me again. I couldn't believe they had already made it around the lake, and it made me feel really slow. That always pisses me off so I determined to sprint another two miles around the lake to make myself feel better.

The kind of runner I am can be compared to the undisciplined fast runner in the T Rowe Price commercial, who passes the slower runner but later on in the commercial stops from exhaustion and is surprised to see the slower disciplined runner pass him and keep on going at that same solid pace. I sprint more than I jog because I like to go fast, and I like to pass other runners, though I do not do that so much anymore. I don't think I'm particularly fast because when I race friends who do not usually run and who might not look athletic, we are usually neck and neck. When I start to get tired towards the end of a run but think that I am still getting along rather quickly, I am often humbled when I pass a family and as I pass the little kids start running and keep up with me as they dart around my feet for a few seconds before returning to their parents.

Unlike the runners I saw today who made it around the lake quickly and were still going strong, I am rather undisciplined: quick to succumb to exhaustion and wanting rather to think about refreshing things such as hamburgers and beverages than pushing myself to keep going. What usually helps me out is when I can run with or behind other runners, because then my competitive nature compels me to keep up with them, and match what they do. I'm a weekend runner: I do not really run regularly during the week anymore, though I would like to. I don't build up endurance on treadmills, because I do not enjoy running indoors and do not like the way my feet sound heavy on the treadmill's surface, like I'm an elephant among gazelles. Hopefully with the change in weather I will be able to work a little more on my running and endurance.

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