And the winner is....me

Some people say I'm a competitive person. It's true...some people don't even realize that I'm competing with them. Like when I used to commute by metro, I would drive to within walking distance of the station and hoof it to catch the train. On my evening return to the car, I would walk as fast as I could past all the other walkers, silently exultant about having "won". But one guy who must have gotten off of the same train I did for several days, seemed impossible to beat without breaking into a full run. At about 6'3'', his legs were a lot longer, and even when it seemed I was about to get out in front of him, he would speed up too. He became the one to beat, unbeknownst to him, because I never gave any indication that I was silently racing. Or so I thought. One day I had beaten all the others and was chasing him down at a full-out pace, and as I'm getting to within passing range, he turns his head to the side and says "You're gaining on me!" I was pretty embarrassed at being called out and had to give up the race. Didn't see him again after that.

It's not so much that I love winning as much as I hate losing. Not so much in team sports, but on the individual level. Winning anything is fun, even random things. Yesterday there was an unexpected contest at the grocery store. As I was studying the bread selections, a voice came over the loudspeaker saying that shoppers should look for a painted number on the floor and go stand on it, and if the number you're standing on is called, you'd be the Grand Prize Winner. I quickly scanned down the aisle and spotted a circled 5 in front of the bottled water section. The loudspeaker counted down "10..9..8.." but I was standing on my 5 already. When they called the number, a woman a few aisles over who had stood on #7 was the winner. Not sure that the grand prize was going to be all that, but sure would have liked to win anyway. Hope they keep that contest going...cause I'll keep trying.