The Pace Setter

This ass has never once run with you. They have run near you, briefly, before vanishing over the horizon like a rumor with excellent form. Group runs are, to them, a start line and a series of increasingly distant silhouettes. They will wait at the top of the hill, barely winded, radiating a patience so loud it counts as cardio for everyone else. No pace is too fast. No friend is too dear to drop. They love the group deeply and will see it again at the finish, where they have already stretched, refueled, and formed detailed opinions about everyone's splits. A shepherd who sprinted away from the flock on principle.