2012-366 Day 212 – Short Story II

Two friends prepared themselves for a long run together. One was a junior, in his second year on the cross country team, bouncing back and forth between the Varsity and Junior Varsity meets. The other was a sophomore, still fairly raw and building his running portfolio. Neither were the stars of the team, but both were solid pieces; in a school that size (with a graduating class of about a hundred people), they were the kind of people you needed to fill out a non-glamour sport that involved running three miles at a time.

This was a day like any other day, a practice like any other practice. The surrounding neighborhood of the school was largely residential, although a large veteran’s hospital dominated the eastern border of the school. Cross country required travelling distances that exceeded the homey neighbors and proceeded on to areas that housed various sized strip malls and standalone businesses. While our two heroes were certainly willing to put in the work to build up their stamina for the distance races, they were not above having a bit of fun on their runs and would occasionally lose focus. Speed wasn’t important to them, and some times the occasional shortcut was taken to either allow them to catch up with some of the other runners during practice, or just to get them back home faster.

This particular run was not special, a simple loop that took them to the outskirts of those shopping areas a mile or so away from the school. As the two runners emerged from one of the neighborhoods, they came to a corner that featured a single business, lined by a six foot wall that separated the store from the houses they were running past and the shopping center around the other side of the lot. It was at this point the immortal words were spoken by the Junior, “I vote we take the shortcut, WATCH THIS.” (Perhaps the final declaration was not uttered, but the attitude was certainly present.)

With long, confident strides the Junior bounded across the parking lot away from his silent Sophomore friend. Upon reaching the opposite wall he placed his arms on the top of the wall and, in one smooth motion, pulled his body to the top and, with his legs parallel to the top of the wall and clearing it with ease, had a perfect image of youthful strength and agility frozen in time at the apex of a successful jump. Nature and his friend stood silent in breathless appreciation of the athleticism with which the young man had been graced, a silence that was torn asunder by a loud exclamation as time suddenly reclaimed its rightful progression and he swiftly fell out of sight.

His friend dashed to the wall and hoisted himself to the top, peering over to see what terrible fate had befallen his comrade. The drop on the other side of the wall was precipitous, what the young man had not realized was that, while the side he started on was only six feet tall, the pavement on the side he jumped on was at least eight feet below the wall. He pulled himself from prone into a sitting position against the wall. His friend dropped silently beside, his controlled descent a perfect counterpoint to the flailing, dead weight the young man had represented not moments earlier.

“Ow,” the young man succinctly observed.

After a thorough inventory of all limbs and joints was taken and proper functionality was accounted for, the two young men resumed their journey and finished their practice. An important lesson had been learned that day, one that had already been codified by mankind into a long standing idiom.

Yes, on that day I learned to look before I leap by, quite literally, not looking before I leaped.

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 223.6 miles (+3.5 miles)
Volleyball Match Record: 5-2 (13-8 Game Record)
Fitocracy Level: 23 ID: disciplev1