Genova (Re-uploaded after editing)

Chapter 5

 The noise around me was tremendous. Runners stood eagerly, waiting for the starting shot. I took a deep breath. I've been training for this moment for months. After what felt like an eternity the starting shot rang clear and all at once everyone started moving. Except me. I began to panic. My legs wouldn't move no matter what I tried to do. I looked around in horror as the silhouettes of runners sped by me. When at last the crowd cleared I saw Zuri standing there, looking disappointed at me. She turned to leave. As she walked away I tried to call out, but as I did so I was shaken awake as I fell off my bed.

"It was only a dream." I told myself aloud, "You've been having these nightmares for the past couple of days. You're fine." I held myself, curled in a fetal position on the ground. The blankets which I had dragged off with me were piled on my body as I shook.

After a half hour of lying there, I began to drift off again, when suddenly I heard my doorknob begin to turn. It was Zuri here to collect me for training again. The race will be happening in a week and I still can only barely run one-third of the ring.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I fell out of bed," I replied.

"When?"

"Maybe a half hour ago," I said.

"Why didn't you get back in bed?"

"Didn't feel like it."

"Ok, well anyways this last week's training is gonna be considerably easier than what you're used to so you aren't too sore for the race. Today I'm gonna time you while you run the entire length of the race, nothing more. After that some body weight exercises but nothing that'll make you too sore. Got that?"

"Yeah," I said as I stood up. I was already in my exercise clothes because, in the last month of training, I took to wearing it to bed so I'd be ready in the morning. I went out onto the road with Zuri and she marked the starting line.

"So lately you've been starting in a sprinters position for practices. You can't do that anymore. In the real race you're gonna be surrounded by around 100 other people so going all out at the start won't work. A better technique for the real thing is to steadily pass people until you have enough space around you, then go at your fastest pace clear until the end."

"Ok."

Zuri held her stopwatch in front of her. She had a whistle clamped between her teeth. With a loud tweet, she started the timer and I began running, keeping careful track of my steps so I didn't trip like I had so many times before. As I continued running all other thoughts began to be pushed out of my head aside from the 1, 2, 1, 2, of monitoring my steps in my head. I would inhale and exhale in time with each step, my whole body taking in this rhythm and running as smoothly as a machine. At around three-fourths of the way through my breathing was beginning to become ragged, with my heartbeat loud in my ears. I inhaled deeper than usual, temporarily abandoning the rhythm I had set for myself, and began to push myself harder. Faster and faster I went. 1 2 1 2, was all I thought now until I felt it: Only an eighth of the way through. I have run this route so many times now that I knew it was almost over. For the last eighth I broke out into a full sprint. Completely using up everything I had left. 12121212 was now the pattern within my brain. My breath rate increased to match this new speed. When I finally crossed the finish line I stopped at last and shone a light to tell Zuri I was done. My feet ached, my mouth dry. My heart was beating hard enough to make my damp shirt shudder. I turned and unlocked the electric bicycle which Zuri left at the finish for me to ride back on.

The run itself took me almost three hours. The ride back, however, was only a half hour. I arrived back in front of my house tired and ready for a shower. Zuri took one look at me and declared that I didn't need to do the bodyweight stuff because I had obviously given my all in that mock race. After a quick cold shower, I was ready to go to work.