Guys are funny!

Since I injured my heel awhile back, I've been swimming instead of doing easy runs. I love swimming. Not as much as I love running, but it feels great to swim a couple of miles. My swimming routine is pretty easy. Just 65-70 non-stop freestyle laps at a comfy pace that still gets my heart rate up. Nothing hard, as it is an easy day and I've never been a competitive swimmer. BUT being I am a fit person, I am usually the fastest swimmer in the pool. I don't care about this. I am just there to get in a nice, enjoyable cardiovascular workout. Today there was a young guy in the lane next to me. When I got there, I noticed him swimming underwater laps. I didn't pay much attention. Just thought, "Oh how fun. I love swimming under water like that. Looking up through the water is so pretty..." and continued swimming. Around lap 20, I saw that this guy had switched to a freestyle swim and was swimming about half a body link behind me. After a couple laps, he was gone. Then at lap 26 he began swimming even with me. While I am use to guys racing me in the pool (on the treadmill, around the lake...) from time to time, I had never had one join me stroke for stroke. Being slightly intrigued (and competitive by nature) I sped up a bit. So did he. I sped up more. So did he. I gave it all I got and lost him on the wall flip. When I finished the next lap, I saw he was stopped on the pool edge. I was feeling a bit (just barely) guilty for having lost him like I had, so I stopped, pulled up my goggles, and asked, "You want to race?" Laughing and out of breath he said, "No. I was just trying to keep up."
"Are you sure?", I continued. "I like racing." The very fit young (20 something) man seemed to be thinking about it. "How long have you been swimming?" he asked.
"Well, I just swim for fun. Never competitively. So I guess all my life. Really I'm a runner. This is for cross-training. I'll swim around 70laps easy. But I'll race if you want."
"No," he assured me.
I put my goggles back on and continued swimming, doing my best to keep it comfortable. At the completion of lap 40, I saw the guy waving and bouncing around at me under water. When I stopped he said, "I want to race."
"Ok," I said. "One lap? There and back."
"Yah, now that I'm tiered, I want to race." He said with a laugh.
"Well, I'm sorta tired too." I told him. "I'm over half way done."
We both said Ready, set, go! And we were off. He was ahead right away. When I saw that, I just hoped he held on...I didn't want him to die at halfway. That would be embarrassing. But no fear! He held on and beat me by a good arms length. After the race, I congratulated him. He kept insisting that I had let him win. But I hadn't. I had given it my best. I normally just swim for a long time, I told him. I also offered to race him again anytime.
I am super glad this young guy took me up on the racing offer. It was fun. He now has bragging rights (being there where a few male witnesses to our race. Not sure where they came from, as none of those guys were in the pool area to swim...), and it gave me some insight into why guys will glance at the speed on my treadmill and feel the need to match it. They just want to keep up. :)