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It seems that "I had a race against my friends" is what a dictionary often says.
My question is that:
Does it make any sense to say "I had a race with my friends"?
we say:
Tom and Mary had lunch. (1)
Tom had lunch with Mary. (2)
we can also say:
Tom and Mary had a race.
but can we say?
Tom had a race with Mary. (the same way we say 1 & 2)
or we must say
Tom had a race against Mary.
I would never say
I play poker against my friends
It's an activity that we all enjoy together, even though it is sometimes quite competitive.
I think that, if you are talking about an informal activity, with is a lot better.
If you are competing in the Olympics and one of the other competitors in the event is a friend, against would be the correct term to use.
I had a race with my friends.
Is grammatically valid, and a fluent speaker might well say it.
I had a race against my friends/
is also valid and natural. The meanings of the two sentences are essentially the same. The version with "against" emphasizes the competitive aspect a bit more, but that is the only difference.
