Chapter 1

Thad leaned into the fence, the pulling sensation in his calf muscles worsening as he stretched in preparation for his upcoming race.

He had been stretching for longer than usual because he just didn’t feel right. He didn’t feel bad, he had assured his coach, just not right.

He felt slightly off, like that feeling when you know you’ve forgotten something, but you just can’t remember what it is you’ve forgotten.

But all the stretching hadn’t helped and now it was time for the race, the prelims for the 400 meters in the regional meet. Thad had a reasonable chance of making the state finals this year, but this odd feeling had him worried.

Moments later, after checking in with the starter, he was on the starting line and ready to start the race.

As everyone settled into their blocks, Thad took a last look along the track, mentally reviewing the strategy he and his coach had worked on.

That was when he saw her: Tricia, the girl he had a huge crush on. Calling it a “crush” might have been a bit of an understatement. His friends even teased him about it, whenever she walked into room his mind went blank.

She had the most beautiful dark red hair Thad had ever seen, and the most amazing green eyes. And where she was standing, with the sun just behind her, Thad was mesmerized by the illusion it created of a ring of fire around her.

He was so taken by the incredible sight that he missed the starter’s gun and was a step behind everyone getting out of the blocks.

“Figures,” he thought, “Just the way my day is going.”

And realizing that he had nothing to lose, he reached down deep inside himself and ran as hard as he could, hoping he would have enough left at the end of the race to finish strong.

As he ran down the back stretch, he felt that tingle that meant he could push it a bit more, so he pushed a little faster.

Thad was in that zone, his runner’s high was intense, and he didn’t realize that he had passed the entire field, nor did he notice the hush that had fallen over the stadium.

In fact, the only thing Thad was noticing was how great he was feeling. As he came out of the last turn, he was feeling so good that he kicked in some extra speed down the stretch to the finish line.

Thad was excited that he was the first across the finish line as it guaranteed him a spot in tonight’s finals. But it wasn’t until he was jogging into the turn during his cool-down that he looked up to see the time on the scoreboard.

42.8 seconds.

He read it again. It hadn’t changed.

“It must be a malfunction,” he thought, “That time is impossible.” Then he noticed the silence of the crowd, and remembering Tricia standing along the fence, he looked over to where she had been standing.

She was staring at him, her mouth open and her expression stunned.

Thad jogged over to her and lightly leapt across the small fence that bordered the oval track. He went to hug Tricia, his excitement about winning overcoming his shyness. And when he paused, suddenly unsure of his actions, she literally leapt into his arms and hugged him, placing a small kiss on his cheek.

But before Thad could say or do anything else, two things happened.

First, he was mobbed by his teammates hugging him and congratulating him. The second thing was the announcer on the PA system announcing the results of the race.

“And qualifying for the finals in the 400m with a new state record time of 42.8 seconds, Thad Bowman wins the final heat.”

Thad froze. There was no way that he just ran the fastest time in the history of the state. He had never been that great a runner. He’d always been pretty good, but not great. In fact, he’d always considered that he was rather middle of the road. No college had ever talked to him about a scholarship or even being a walk-on. He just liked to run, he enjoyed the competition and was good enough to compete.

But a state record holder? No way!

Tricia’s squirming in his arms brought him back to reality.

“Oh my God!” she whispered in his ear, “I am so proud of you!” And then she proceeded to kiss him square on the mouth. A big kiss, full of passion, leaving Thad hanging onto her just to hide the reaction that her kiss was causing in his thin running shorts.

His friends and teammates were all still gathered around, slapping him on the back and yelling and generally causing a ruckus. When the coach came over and joined in, he was even more confused. Normally, coach was very strict about discipline. He never let anything get too out of hand. It wasn’t until one of the race officials came over and started to break up the celebration that the crowd around Thad quit growing. The officials, and even Coach, couldn’t really reduce the size of the crowd, but they did manage to get them to move further away from the track so that they could continue to run the next races.

Tricia, though, stayed plastered right to his side. She had a smile on her face that Thad hadn’t seen before, a very happy smile. It matched the one on his face. In fact, Thad was happier about hanging out with Tricia than he was about breaking some state record in the 400 meters. Heck, he hadn’t even run in the finals yet, so he could still lose!

About then a reporter for the local paper appeared and wanted to get a picture of him and interview him. While he posed for the picture, the reporter started asking Thad a bunch of questions, but before he could answer more than a couple of them, his coach ran over and pulled Thad back over to the track, sending the reporter packing.

“Now Thad,” his coach started, “I don’t know what you did, but son, if you can run like that just a few more times, we can get you all the way to state and maybe get you a scholarship. You need to go stretch and get ready for the finals tonight.”

“But Coach, I’ve got to run the 800 Meters in a few minutes,” Thad started.

“Not tonight, I want you to save it all for the 400 finals,” his coach said. Thad was disappointed to hear this because he believed that he was just as good, if not a tad better, in the 800 as he was the 400.

Thad headed over to the infield where his teammates were all gathered. They were stretching and generally goofing around as they were waiting for their events to start. Fortunately, the discus and javelin competitions were already complete, so he didn’t have to worry about dodging deadly flying objects.

As Thad settled in to do some stretching, he looked up to see Tricia still standing along the fence watching him. Once again, she had her back to the sun as it settled toward the horizon as it set and her hair surrounding her face looked like a halo of fire.

Thad and Tricia had been friends for quite a while, but Thad had long hoped that their relationship would develop into something else. Tricia had grown from the tomboy who lived down the road into a beautiful woman. She had even done some modeling for a few of the local stores, including modeling in a shoot for a fashion magazine. She had been the recipient of a lot of attention from the older guys in the high school, getting asked out almost continuously by the Juniors and Seniors when she and Thad were just freshmen.

But since her on-again, off-again boyfriend had graduated last year and made it clear that he was permanently off-again, Tricia hadn’t been out on a date. In fact, her friends had revealed that she had sworn off men altogether after how Jim had treated her.

But for the last few weeks, Tricia had been hanging out with Thad quite a bit. They were both Seniors, and about to head off to college. Thad had been accepted to several schools and he was trying to decide where to go, while Tricia had only applied to the University of Georgia and already had most of her plans for the fall in place.

Thad looked up just in time to see the start of the 4 x 800M finals which meant that the finals of the 400M were just a few races away. He also figured that coach would also have him anchor the 4 x 400M Relay, the last race of the meet.

Once again that uneasy feeling began to overtake Thad as he finished his stretching on the infield and then headed over to the track to jog a bit between the races to finish warming up.

Usually, this was no big deal, the area between the track and the fence was reserved for the runners to warm up as he was about to do. The area on the other side of the fence was usually empty, except for a few moms and dads who were there to cheer on their children. But as he neared the fence, he saw that there was quite a crowd gathered including a number of television cameras.

Thad had always been happy to observe from the sidelines. Running was a sport that he could participate in and not draw a crowd or be in the limelight. Even though he was the best middle-distance runner at the school, most people didn’t know who he was, and he was quite happy about that.

But with the cameras hovering just outside the fence, a sense of panic started to well up within Thad. He couldn’t catch his breath and that feeling that something wasn’t quite right started to swell up, stronger than ever before. Time itself started to slow down and everyone appeared to be moving in slow motion.

Then Thad saw Tricia hop over the fence, and in slow motion, Thad was struck by her grace as she moved. Thad knew she was an ice skater; he had even been to one of her competitions to watch her, though he was pretty sure that she didn’t know that. He had been amazed at what she could do on the ice, at how graceful and beautiful she was in her element.

And then it was like time speeded back up and suddenly Tricia was in his arms.

“Kiss me!” she demanded as she grabbed him. “Kiss me now!”

And not knowing what else to do, Thad did exactly that: he kissed her. There was too much going on, too much overloading his brain to let him be embarrassed, or to hesitate, or to think about the girls of his dreams now in his arms.

Instead, he kissed her, and she returned his kiss with a passion he hadn’t expected. Soon he was lost in the kiss, lost in the feeling of her warm lips pressing against his, of her breath and her sweet smell of vanilla and cinnamon. And the feel of her body pressing against his, that threatened to strip away his sanity.

And just as Tricia had intended, the world around them slipped away, lost in each other’s arms and in the moment. Time stands still and the world falls away in the face of love. In that moment, there was no one, and nothing else.

When Thad felt Tricia’s tongue pressing into his mouth, he started to match her, and then reality set back in as a few of his teammates started making catcalls in his direction. He realized that Tricia had wrapped one leg around him, her arms wrapped around his neck, and he was sure they were quite the spectacle.

Thad slowly, gently, but insistently broke the kiss, pulling back just a bit to look into her eyes. Tricia’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Bet you aren’t nervous now,” she whispered in his ear as she leaned forward to hug him.

“True,” he replied, “but now you are going to have to stand in front of me for a few minutes because of the, err, reaction you have caused.”

“Mmm, I noticed,” Tricia purred into his ear. “If I had known this was what I was missing, I would have been kissing you earlier.”

“I’ve wanted to kiss you for ages,” Thad blurted out and then immediately regretted saying it, blushing and feeling like a fool. The only good thing was that it helped his swollen condition, and he was able to step back from Tricia without embarrassing himself.

Tricia smiled and paused. She looked at him carefully and then she tilted her head in that way that made her look so adorable.

“I wish you had. I’ve been trying to get you to notice me for the past two months!” she said.

Then she leaned in and kissed him again, not the passionate kiss of before, but a friendly peck on the lips.

“Now you need to head to the starter and get ready for your race which is next. Run your ass off for me!” And with that, she stepped back, smacked him on the ass, and trotted back over to the fence and gracefully leapt over it.

And Thad realized that indeed it was time for him to head over to the starter. And a few minutes later, he was in the blocks and doing a few practice starts just before his race.

Thad was in the inside lane as his time was the fastest. It meant the entire field of runners was in front of him and, more importantly, between him and the fence, which was ringed with fans and reporters and television cameras.

But Thad really didn’t notice any of that. He was still thinking about the kiss, about Tricia. Even in the blocks, as the starter’s gun went off, he wasn’t worrying about the race, he was thinking about the warmth of her body as it pressed against him.

But unlike his last race, he got a great start out of the blocks. He felt great in this race. As neared the first turn he saw her, standing along the fence. Once again, he was struck by her beauty, and remembering what she said, he reached down into the space he had found in his last race, and he ran. As he did, he replayed the kiss in his mind, and her words, “I’ve been trying to get you to notice me for the past two months!”

And Thad reached down even deeper, and it felt like the world was slowing down around him as he ran faster and faster. He distantly noted that even before he was into the last turn, he had passed all the other runners and was in the lead.

Thad was in his own world. He hadn’t noticed the hush that fell over the stadium again. He was just running and feeling the pure joy of speed along the track, one foot in front of the other, just Thad and the track.

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Runner's High

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