>The thing I don't quite "get" is that I get more exhausted
>in the form of an animal than I would in my human form. I mean... could a
>human out-run or out-walk a cat, dog, or especially a ram?

Given enough time, yes.

Many animals can run faster than a human, but for very-long-distance running, there's very little that can beat a human. Well... a human who is in good shape.

For one thing, we run on two legs -- there's some efficiencies there which four legged animals don't have. Four legged animals can put more energy into movement (all four legs, plus using muscles in torso in a major way), but that's a speed advantage, not an endurance advantage.

For another thing, we can dump heat better than most animals (very little fur, lots of sweat glands) -- this means we can keep moving where another animal would have to stop and cool down.

More practically speaking, a lot of real-life aren't very good for long-distance running -- but that's specific to those individuals, and not just because they're human.

But that's real life -- Thera might be different.