The side of my mouth is throbbing from a root canal, I'm taking 1500 mg of amoxicillin per day, and I took 800 mg of ibuprofen before my run this morning. I felt like crap. But I kept up with the front pace group for the 8-mile run because of my competitive nature. I want to put 110% into the training runs so I'll get more out of myself during a race.

I like this quote: "A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could." This is definitely true for me.

I realized this week that I am competitive to the point of social ineptitude. Does everything have to be a game of winners and losers? No. I need to learn that.

When training I would rather participate in group runs and rides simply because if I am working out alone, I have difficulty seeing the point of it. What drives me is the desire to be faster than someone or catch up to the person who is ahead of me. I'm like a greyhound chasing a rabbit. No rabbit, no motivation. I do set personal goals and try to beat my times in previous races. Fortunately there are always people who are faster than me. In all sports there are people who move so fast they make me appear as if I am sitting still. What I have discovered is that I work harder on group runs than I do alone because I want to keep up with the front pack of runners.

I suppose that competition motivates quite a few people, but I wonder if that type of motivation will help me to maintain a long term commitment to tri sports. Or will I need to find truer reasons to keep improving? Wanting to win and wanting to participate are entirely different rationales.