Had a little spice thrown into my easy 8-miler today at MAFC. As I was reaching the 4-mile mark, a young woman named Crystal stepped on to the track and started running in the inside lane. I'm guessing Crystal's probably 25 or so. I passed her in the outside lane, still plodding along at my easy pace, probably 9:30 or so. Half lap later, I look over and she's trying to pass me on the inside. Normally I would have just let her go, but not today. I decided to play the game, and I accelerated to match her pace -- which meant I was running faster just to keep up, since she was on the inside lane. This went on for four laps; she'd push even faster and I'd counter, just staying beside her. Felt like we were at HMP, roughly. Then after four laps, she slowed and I heard a "Damn!" from her. Exactly what I'd wanted -- run her into the ground. Then she waited for me to come back around and gave me a big thumbs up. Which put a huge smile on my face. After I finished my run, I went over to talk to her as she lifted weights. I told her that was a lot of fun, which it was. Nice to get the competitive juices flowing. And it turned a dull run into something to remember. Now I'm about to get ready for Date #2 with Colene. Speaking of fun. | 