Need For Speed

Today I had one of those moments in life where you're slightly annoyed at the human race and also a bit embarrassed to be a part of it. Let me explain a bit.

I've been working to try to get back into running again so I've been hitting the gym regularly to get back in the swing of things. I am a terrible endurance runner and I find that running on a treadmill is much easier because it is the lazy man's way of running since you don't have to use any extra energy to propel yourself forward, which is perfect for me! Today I was reminded as to why I dislike running at the gym; competitive treadmill users.

Every so often when using a treadmill at the gym, I suddenly become aware of one of these people on the machine beside me. These are the people who always have to go slightly faster than you at all times because they want to be better than you. This person is constantly (like, every 2 minutes) looking at the stats on your machine to make sure that he/she is running at least 0.5mph faster. I always found this to be a very strange and actually common phenomena at the gym. Why do these people feel the need to run faster than me anyway? I'm not the kind of person who ever judges others at the gym. If they're there and trying at what they're doing then I applaud them for the effort. I'm not going to idolize you just because you can outrun me. Most of the population can outrun me! I am very aware of that already. Perhaps these people weren't coddled enough as children or maybe dad didn't pat them on the back for getting an A in math class. Maybe they tripped and fell during the high school track meet try-outs and need to find redemption somewhere else in life. I don't know.

Anyway, I just find this so silly. If I were a better runner then I would try to beat them at their own game and constantly increase my mph speed just to aggravate them...but this would inevitably result in me getting thrown off the machine in complete exhaustion and humiliation in a matter of minutes.

Funny story. A past roommate of mine once did this. He noticed that the girl next to him was one of these competitive treadmill people so he kept upping his speed to bypass hers. I remember him coming back to the apartment about an hour earlier than he was expected to be back since he exhausted himself by running at tremendous speeds to keep up...but felt that he proved a point that day. What that point is I'm still not sure of, but I guess as long as he feels that he did the right thing then that's all that matters. I just wish that I were there to witness the competition in action!