Edge.

When it came to sports at school, I always lacked any sense of competition. Bar two spectacular sports day prizes (blue ribbon for 3rd place sack race in year 4, red ribbon for 1st place egg and spoon in year 6) I've never really felt motivated to run a little faster or jump a little higher. In short, it was a struggle to get me to do anything beyond the minimum.

I walked home from work this evening, and I think I found my competitive nature.

I usually allow myself 2.25 hours for the 8 mile walk. I guess that makes me a little slow, but I'm usually tired from a day in the office and I never feel too bad about relaxing on a mid-week walk.

Tonight I put a little more effort in. I don't know whether it was because I had a fairly relaxed weekend, or whether it was the extra caffeine I had in my drink, but I kept the pace rolling throughout. As I hit the final stretch, I knew I could do something extraordinary. I knew I could get back well within time. And instead of relaxing and accepting my usual speed, I pushed on. Worked harder. Walked faster.

I walked through my front gate 1 hour 58 minutes after setting off from work, breaking both my personal record and the magical 4mph. It's only a little thing but I'm so proud of myself and, more importantly, I'm super eager to get back out there and beat that new time.

I can't believe that I've been missing out on this competition thing for so long. It's great!