Race

A race is a competition between two or more participants where the fastest to complete the distance or course, is the winner. Everyone else are the losers. Hmmm? Yes, that is true enough. In life, that is often the way things are. A true race is when the participants self select, decide freely to compete and are all approximately matched. That keeps the race exciting because we are not certain who will win

We can race against time. That means we have a deadline and move fast to complete something before the appointed time. I can, in such a situation, find my mind racing, sometimes helpful, sometimes not. If you are looking at me with my mind racing you might not see much movement. In fact, I might become very still and quiet as I marshal my thoughts toward a solution

If I race my car engine, the car itself may not be moving except for a bit of a shudder as I put the gas pedal down and up and down, roaring as I sit there. Sometimes racing an engine is a showing off thing, maybe to impress someone or to attempt to intimidate a car race opponent. Some people can race off in all directions at once. Ever meet someone like that? Ever been someone like that Joseph?

The human race is our species. And we are a strange and hilarious lot. In this case ‘race’ refers to a group of animals that share distinct characteristics. We can have a race or many races as subsets of the whole race. The Chinese race are a distinct subset of the human race that share unique social, cultural and physical characteristics. Animals are not an example of a race because of all the diversity

A raceway is a track on which to conduct a race, as in horse racing. It is also the word for a strong increase in speed of water through a narrow part of the channel it is flowing in. I can race all by myself, as in I raced into the forest. So no competitor, just a decision to go fast. Speed is not always part of the race as in the pair of rails that a ball bearing rolls in. That race is but a structure