Steady state morning to the conservatory

This morning opted for extra sleep but at 8:45 a.m. I headed out to the conservatory with the sun in full force to do my 5 lap, I started out easy , got there in 7:22, 20 seconds faster than yesterday, then did 5 laps in 5:53,5:43,5:27,4:55,4:45, then headed home to do the 7.5k in 40:30. 4:03 faster than yesterday. Of course the effort was higher but, felt better than yesterday. The reason of the progressive splits was that I was racing a man, to be honest, the first 4.5 laps he was ahead of me, when I closed the gap he surged and gap me again, as the laps went by I responded more and more to those surges, so that he does not gap me by much, I was breathing a bit hard at the end, I was a bit ashamed, since I did not want to pass him huffing and puffing, specially on a easy run, but then I got angry, and with a lap to go for me, he surged and then eased up, when he eased up, I took advantage of it and surged hard myself for the first time( the previous laps I was just sitting behind waiting him to fade) and passed him quicky, but 50m later, he blew by me, and gapped me a lot, then I said, wow I surrender I wont make my easy run a grueling race effort, and let him go, but when I was thinking that He stopped and started walking, then I tried to relax and passed him "relaxed". No words were said in that little battle. It was funny and that is a great change for the monotonous of easy alone running. I was not huffing and puffing because of the pace, but because of the hills. That pace is pretty managable for me in flat terrain. Great morning for running and great peace in the streets. Have a great day!