faster than cows?

My wife loves cows. The first time I met her, she was walking her cow at my uncle's farm. She actually went on to win local and regional contests for showing cows and even competed in states. (She has the blue ribbons to prove this). Some day I am hoping to buy her a cow to have for a pet, but first i need to fix our fence(another story). Anyway so cows are cool.

With that said, they have also become my fierce competitors. Most days when I run I am greeted by cows from several farms along my path. They like to walk over to the fence line to watch me run by. I usually talk to them and some times they follow me along the fence line and sometimes they run out of terror. But I think they are getting used to me.

However today, our relationship took a turn toward the competitive side. One farm along my route has a U shaped field with one of the long arms of the U laying next to the road. Well the cows were at the top of the U standing in the corner next to the road to meet me. I ran past them and greeted them. When without warning and out of nowhere the farmer stepped out of the shadows and unhooked the gate on the other side of the U. It must have been feeding time cause the cows were excited. Before I knew it the cows were galloping down the U along side of me. As the farmer watched, I felt the need to keep up with the cows. I huffed and puffed and stayed up in pace with the cows for a good distance.

Then from the back of the pack a white cow with a few black spots let out a moo and pushed past all the others in the pack. This started a frenzy among the rest of the cows who took off like lightening to keep up with her. Needless to say it was all I could do to keep pace with them before. This extra push of energy found me at the back of the pack.

By the time the cows hit the bottom corner of the U they had all passed me and were making the turn to run back the other side toward the gate and their food. I lost a sprint to a heard of cows, how embarrassing.