Finish Line_A Playing Hard Novella by Marie Johnston

Author:Marie Johnston [Johnston, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LE Publishing
Published: 2019-12-13T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

“This is so fun!” Water splashed in my face. The trip down the river was almost done, and I had one word for it. Exhilarating.

I don’t think Lincoln quit smiling the entire time. He was all in, like me. We intently listened to the instructions when we arrived, and then again from our guide. The other rafters had been tittering nervously and joking with each other about how scared they were.

Not us. We adopted the same focus as a big race.

Until shit got real.

I had my helmet on and was as safe as could be, but the hint of danger changed everything. The more our raft surged and jerked, the faster the water ran, the more fun it got. Our entire party had a positive energy that propelled us over the rapids.

We hit calmer waters, and the burn in my arms stayed with me. I did general body conditioning, but my poor arms weren’t what I usually relied on. My smile faded as our guide gave us instructions for the end of the rafting trip.

It was over. But unlike my races, I didn’t know when I’d be here, doing this again.

My career as a pro runner might be over, but my time running wasn’t. If everything went well with my surgery and recovery and the cancer didn’t come back, I could run competitively on an amateur level. Or for fun. Mom went for a run three times a week. And that sounded nice. Fun, like rafting.

Did I want to run competitively again? I was twenty-six. A week ago, quitting wouldn’t have been an option. I was a runner. It was my identity. I knew runners who’d fought their cancer, competing and winning significant races. It had been an option, but I’d left it entirely. There’d been no deliberating. If I went back, would I let it consume me, or allow myself to have days like this?

Today was a blast. Last night, while we were combing over what we could do, there were so many choices. Biking. Ziplining. Hiking. To sign onto this rafting tour, it was recommended we were strong swimmers.

I could swim, thanks to Dad’s insistence I complete all levels of swimming lessons and one year on the swim team to drive home the muscle memory. But I never swam for recreation. Beyond an ice bath for recovery or a hot tub to soothe sore muscles, I didn’t touch a pool.

As we pulled into our destination, I soaked in the sights of nature around me. No bleachers. No squat buildings where I’d go for meetings or interviews. Definitely no tracks.

I wanted to trail run. I wanted to smell pine and dirt and maybe even the fading whiff of a skunk as I flowed over the ground, as one with nature as a modern working woman could get without living off the grid.

I scrambled off the raft with the others and went through the gear turn in. Chatter surrounded me, and I automatically smiled and enthusiastically nodded that yes, it was great, and absolutely, I’d do it again.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.