“Yeah, it’s okay. I think. I don’t know, I might be dying.” Her breath is ragged. “Fucking hell.”
I can’t feel the same as her, endorphins are racing through my body rapidly. My head is high, my legs are pumping, hitting the concrete hard, and I don’t think I will ever stop running. All of a sudden, twenty six miles doesn’t seem too far at all. I’m pretty sure I can do anything.
“You’ll be fine. You’ll get over that in a moment. We’ll be okay.”
“The gorilla gave up. I think I should too.”
She really does look in pain and I feel bad for her. I just need to be her support to keep her going. At the moment, I can’t see it happening, but I hope that she will do the same for me if it comes down to it.
I grab her hand and smile, pulling her along with me. “I won’t let you give up, I promise you.”
Her face is red, sweat pours off her, but determination crosses her face. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
She picks up the pace and we even manage to pass people because we’re going so fast. It’s amazing. I’m absolutely loving this, I want to laugh with glee because this is so awesome.
I want to do this every day. Maybe this is what I should do. Run forever. Why the hell not…?
* * *
“Fuck, no, Kayleigh, I need to pause.” My legs slow down, they are heavy, all of my muscles are consumed with lead. “This is hell, I don’t like this at all. it hurts.”
My chest aches, my lungs hurt like hell, every muscle in my body screams. I don’t know how I ever thought this was a good thing. The girl I was an hour and a half ago is gone. She was an idiot, a fool to enjoy running. It’s the worst thing in the world. Now I want to die too, I hate this.
“We can’t give up, Mia, we’ve come so far.”
“Are we even half way through yet?”
“Yeah, we passed the half way mark ages ago. We’re doing amazing.”
I don’t feel amazing, I hate this, I want it to end. This is torture, I don’t know what made me agree to any of it. I want to wring Kayleigh’s neck because she talked me into it.
“Let’s take a break, I need to stop.”
I pause just for long enough to grab a bottle of water from one of the stations, but it quickly becomes obvious that stopping is a terrible idea. My body actually feels worse, so I force myself to start again. Kayleigh grins at me, reassuring me. Her lit up face makes me feel a little happier. But only minutely so. I still hate life right now.
“Come on, keep on going. Getting across that finish line will feel amazing.”
“I know, but the finish line is so far away. I don’t know if I can do it.”
“You can do it. You can.” Now it’s her turn to take my hand. “We can do it together.”
I want to believe her, I really do, but I don’t know if I have it in me. My body doesn’t feel like I have the power in it anymore. I’ll just keep trying for a little while longer…
* * *
“Fucking hell!” I crash over the finish line and fall into a heap with Kayleigh. “We did it!”
“I don’t know how, but we did.”
“We both had our wobbles, but we’re here.”
She was right, it does feel incredible to get across the finish line, I never thought it would feel so amazing. I have achieved something phenomenal, something to be really proud of. I really have purged the past now, I don’t think I will ever look backwards again, not when I know how amazing I am and what I can achieve.
A man comes over and gives us the silvery blankets that paramedics give people in accidents.
“What is this for?” I ask him curiously.
“Trust me, you will need it.”