My Silent Running Rival

Running in the park at dawn, I noticed this guy doing the exact same loop as me.

Third lap in, we're basically racing without saying a word. He speeds up,

I speed up. I slow down, he slows down. We're locked in this weird silent

competition. Finally on lap five, we both stop at the same bench completely gassed.

He just nods and says respect. Now we meet here every Tuesday at 6 AM.

Never learned his name, but he's my favorite running rival.