Inception by Aer-ki Jyr

Author:Aer-ki Jyr [Jyr, Aer-ki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

6

17 years later…

Paul had a little over a lap to go with barely a 5 meter lead on Northridge when he launched into a half sprint, intent on keeping his team’s lead in the Distance Medley. As he crossed the finish line the 1-lap to go bell sounded and he dug his spikes into the track a bit more as his momentum swung him out slightly as he rounded the curve. He could now hear the footsteps of Northridge’s anchorman behind him, closing with every step.

With 300 meters to go Paul still had the lead and accelerated a bit more, past what he thought his body could maintain. His quads began to protest halfway down the backstretch but his lead held into the final turn. If Northridge was going to pass him before the final straight, they were going to have to swing out into lane 2 to do it now.

That didn’t seem to matter to the opposing runner, for when they hit the apex of the curve his lithe frame glided up next to Paul’s shoulder and inched by him. Paul responded with his full speed…an all out kick using what energy he had left.

He resurged into the lead momentarily, but Northridge had another gear left in him as well, and sailed on past Paul when they hit the final straightaway. He finished less than a half second behind as they crossed the finish line, but the other runner had made up 13 seconds on him during the last leg of the race.

Paul handed the baton to the Assistant Coach and collapsed onto the infield grass, waiting for his breathing to slow. He heard the coach’s voice telling him his split…4:36.8 for his four laps of the relay. His teammates had given him a monster lead, but he hadn’t been able to maintain it.

“Way to go, Paul,” Barry said, knocking him in the shoulder.

“Hey, we lost by half a second,” Frank argued. “If you’d run your 1200 a bit faster we would have won too.”

“I doubt it,” Brad said in disgust. “Carter had his number the whole way. I don’t think a 20 second lead would have been enough. The guy is the State Champ in the mile, you know.”

“I wouldn’t have been outkicked,” Barry muttered.

“Feel like swapping legs next time?” Paul asked their 400 runner as he finally sat up.

“Easy boys,” the Head Coach said, walking up behind them. “We may have lost the race, but the 8 points you earned just clenched the team title. Congratulations.”

“We beat Carmel?” Frank asked. “We’ve still got two events left.”

“Mathematically they can’t catch us,” the Coach said confidently. “Grab yourself a bottle of Gatorade and get your sweats on. We’ve got a victory lap coming in a little bit.”

He clapped Paul on the shoulder and walked off to oversee the next event on the track.

“Up you go,” Frank said, offering Paul his hand and pulling him to his feet. They walked back over to their tent camp slowly and grabbed their

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