Accidental Rivalry Runner Ass

This ass went out for an easy three miles and came home from a war nobody else knew they were in. A stranger drifted past at mile one, and something ancient awoke. The recovery run is now a duel. Heart-rate zones are abandoned. Dignity is optional. They will chase a person they have never met, will never meet, and would not recognize in a lineup, to the very edge of collapse, purely to reach a mailbox first. The stranger has no idea. The stranger is listening to a podcast. But this ass won, and that, whispered to no one in particular, is what matters. A gladiator competing in an arena of one.