#XC race things

[cheese-in-space]

I got a PR (personal record for my non runner moots) at my cross country race today!!

21:20 aw yeahhh

Hehehehehehe :}}}}

[coelura]

forgot i cant put video in reblogs but she's insane for this separation

[skhardwarevers1]

I love running so much. Like it’s not complicated you don’t need to be good at it you don’t need to go out and buy xyz beforehand. You don’t even need fancy running shoes really if you’re just running on your own. All it is is just “can I run? Do I want to run?” And if the answers are yes then you can just go out and run! You don’t have to be the fastest person in the world. There’s no standard. You don’t have to run a sub 25 5k or anything you just go out and put one foot in front of the other and enjoy it. Running is literally the best more people should do it

[brahmsthirdracket]

Hello! I recently came across your hughes brothers fics and binge read most of them last night :). Would you be open to writing anything about the time Luke said quinn ripped jack’s braces out of his mouth? (If you’re not taking requests feel free to ignore this!!!)

Luke never feels like eating much before cross-country. He likes it fine - he likes it more than fine actually, at least compared to Jack and Quinn, because it’s one of the few things he’s better at than them - but the thought of slogging it through the mud straight after breakfast makes his stomach roll.

He swirls his spoon around his bowl of cereal instead, trying to corral his Cheerios into a pleasing formation. He’s got a kind of Great Lakes thing going on but he’s eaten Lake Superior and it’s doesn’t really make sense for the milk to be the land and - 

“Time to go, kiddos!”

He swallows Lakes Erie, Michigan, Huron and Ontario, and the surrounding landmass with a grimace, and shuffles into the hall. Jack and Quinn are already sitting on the stairs wearing matching fleecy headbands and looking miserable. 

“It’s cold,” Jack whines. 

“Run faster then,” their mom says, rummaging through her purse. “You’ll soon warm up.” She looks real pretty today, Luke thinks. Like maybe she did her hair extra nice or something. He pulls his headband on and sits on the bottom step, cheek resting on Quinn’s knee, to wait. 

“Jim!” she bellows. “Hurry up! I’m already running late!” 

“For what?” Their dad’s head appears through the basement door, followed by his golf clubs and then the rest of him. “Where are you going?”

“Where are you going?”

“The PTA fall fundraiser,” says his mom, at the same time his dad says, “Golf.” 

“It’s on the calendar,” they both say at the same time. 

“Well, you’ll have to reschedule,” says his mom in that voice that means no arguing. “Boys have a meet in Sunnybrook.” 

“But -” splutters his dad. “I can’t reschedule. I put it on the calendar, like you told me to.” He lowers his voice, pleading. “El, it’s with the guys.”

“It’s okay mom,” says Quinn, standing up to lean over the bannister and pat her shoulder consolingly. “We’ll miss cross-country this one time.” 

“Let me see this,” she growls, and they all trot into the kitchen after her to peer at her Wildflowers of Texas calendar. 

Fall Fundraiser shift 9-12 is written in today’s box in his mom’s neat handwriting, and below that: 

Q, J & L Prep 2 XC 9am (don’t forget headbands!!)

Someone’s drawn a skull next to cross-country, almost- but-not-quite obscuring a tiny and unmistakable golf printed right at the bottom. 

“See?” says his dad, jabbing a finger at it. 

“Well, just go after the race and take the boys with you,” she says, already fishing out her car keys. 

“But - tee time is at nine! Ellen!” 

“It’d better be a quick race then, hadn’t it?”

She kisses each of them, pinching Jack’s scowling face and adjusting Quinn’s headband. Luke turns his face into her fleeting pat on the cheek before she’s out the door in a waft of perfume.

“Run fast and don’t fall in the lake!” she calls ominously over her shoulder, just before the door swings shut behind her. 

Their dad waits for her SUV to pull out of the drive and down the road before he flicks the curtain back into place and motions for them all to huddle in. 

“Come here, rink rats.” He tugs them in close, lowers his voice like he’s about to reveal some top-secret play. “And listen up. This is the plan.”

***

The plan turns out to be the ODR, a bag of pucks and a cheery, “I’ll pick you up in a coupla hours!” before Luke’s even out of the car. 

Jack whoops with happiness the minute he hits the ice, spinning and sending the pucks scattering in every direction. Quinn’s right behind him, thwacking puck after puck into the net. 

“Fuck.” Thwack “Cross.” Thwack “Countryyyyy.” Thwack

“Forever,” Jack sing-songs, sweeping one up onto his stick and slinging it through the air. It bounces off the metal with a twang.

“C’mon Lukey,” he calls, scuffling playfully against Quinn. “Don’t pretend you actually like that shit.”

Luke tries to sulk for a bit, taking his time with his laces. His brothers hadn't even laced them up for him, which, rude. But it’s a perfect November morning, as crisp and perfect as a snowglobe before you turn it upside down. They’ve got the whole rink to themselves. It’s been way too long since they did this: no adults, no cones or drills or gear, just the three of them together, playing hockey. 

“Yeah, well some of us can actually outrun old ladies pushing little dogs in strollers,” he chirps, darting out into the middle. 

Quinn and Jack exchange a look. “Get ‘im,” growls Quinn, with a wolfish grin, lurching towards Luke and trying to hook him in with his stick. Luke squeals, twisting away and rocketing as fast as he can up to the other end of the rink, Jack in hot pursuit. They chase him all over, dodging pucks and their abandoned sticks and gloves, until they’re all wheezing with giggles. Quinn eventually manages to get an arm around his neck from behind and pull them both down and Jack belly-flops on top. 

“One day,” Luke pants from the bottom of the dogpile, trying to knee Quinn in the balls so he’ll let him up and getting a facewash for his troubles, “I’m gonna be bigger and faster than both of you.” 

“But until that day,” Quinn replies, finally rolling off and tugging Luke to his feet, “You can get in goal.” 

They play shinny until they’re hot under their sweatshirts and jerseys, hair sticking to their foreheads and breath coming in short pants, and Luke thinks he’s never had so much fun playing hockey, playing anything. It’s hard though, just as gut-churning as a whole weekend tournament or relentless drills in the basement with his dad. Jack and Quinn never give an inch, never care that he’s smaller and younger when it comes to this, and he loves them for it, because when victory comes, he knows he’s earned it. They push each other just as hard, sometimes too hard Luke thinks, watching Jack cuss and elbow Quinn in the gut as they're scrabbling against the boards. Quinn shoves his face back, and the next minute they’re rolling around on the ice in one of their completely shitty fistfights. 

Luke hovers next to them, glancing around and praying no one he knows from school is about to walk past. 

“Stop. Trying. To. Bite.” pants out Quinn. He’s managed to roll over and pin Jack with his weight, and is trying to push his face away. Jack’s a slippery eel though - especially when he’s an eel on ice - and he seems to be trying to lick Quinn to get him off. Which is not a tactic Luke would use himself, honestly, but whatever works he guesses. It must work, because he manages to sink his teeth into Quinn’s forearm and they’re rolling all over the place, gloves and sticks forgotten - thank God. What happens next is a blur of flying arms and legs (and in Jack’s case teeth, the weirdo), but suddenly Jack lets out a shriek of pain - a real one - and Quinn lets go of him like he’s been burned. 

Jack curls up, one hand over his mouth, and whimpers into his knees. 

“Jack? What’s wrong?” Quinn tries to make him look up, pull his hand down. Jack’s eyes are huge with unshed tears. “Jackie?” Quinn asks again, really worried now.

“Um,” says Luke. He squats down next to Jack and picks up the little piece of metal off the ice. Cradling it in his glove, he holds it out to Jack, who gazes at it for a moment and then promptly socks Quinn square in the jaw. 

***

“Someone’s arm better be hanging off,” growls their father when he pulls up to the curb they’re huddled next to and flings the car door open. Luke wordlessly holds out the braces to him. “The fuck is that?” 

“Jack’s braces,” mumbles Quinn, with a guilty glance at the unhappy figure hunched on the other side of the lot. 

“Jack has braces?” Sometimes Luke thinks he could grow a tail and his dad wouldn’t notice unless it affected his play. Last week he had to check Quinn’s date of birth so he could fill out some paperwork.

“He doesn’t anymore, Dad,” Luke pipes up. 

“Jack! Get over here!” he bellows. He takes the braces from Luke’s hand, holding them up for a better view. “These things just click back into place or what?” Jack stomps over, scowling and sniffing. He won’t even look at Quinn, and when Quinn tries to reach out his hand Jack smacks it away viciously. 

“Fuck off.”

Their dad gets a handful of Jack’s jersey and tries to prise his mouth open like he’s a dog that’s eaten something bad. “Oww", whines Jack, trying to twist out of his grip. “You’re hurting me!”

“Open. Up.” Their dad grunts, trying to push the braces back across Jack’s front teeth with one hand, and hold him still with the other. 

“Dad, no! Stop!” Quinn pushes himself between them, trying to protect Jack from being force-fed a mouthful of metal. “You can’t do that! We have to go to the orthodontist.”

“The what?” he pants, temporarily letting go of Jack to turn the metal round, as if the reason he couldn’t fit them back on like Lego was that they were upside down. Jack immediately darts behind Quinn and Luke reaches up to swipe them out of their Dad’s hand. 

“Dad,” he says, more bravely than he feels. “I think you need to call Mom.”

The three of them huddle together on the backseat, trying to stay as quiet and inconspicuous as possible as their dad calls their mom for instruction. Luke finds a packet of half-eaten Reese’s pumpkins, no worse for being frozen and unfrozen a few times and settles in for the long-haul. Jack slumps sideways with his head in Quinn’s lap, playing with the strings of his sweatshirt and allowing Quinn to scratch behind his ear in apology.

She’s ominously silent all the way through the slightly edited version of what happened, not even interrupting to yell at Quinn. 

“So let me get this straight,” she says, after a pause. “You didn’t take your sons to their scheduled sports-activity but instead took yourself to golf and allowed said sons out unsupervised to publicly brawl, causing hundreds of dollars of dental bills?” 

“It was on the calendar! It was on the calendar Ellen!” 

“Well Jim Hughes, all I will say is thank God for Canadian healthcare.”

“They cover braces?” says his dad, perking up. He twists round to waggle his eyebrows at them, all looks like we got away with it.

“Oh no,” she says airily. “I meant for you four, when I’ve finished with you!”

[skinnyscottishbloke]

Tagged by @celestialcrowley thanks babe!! 😘

1. Were you named after anyone?

….kind of. My first name (Katherine) is the English version of Catalina, and my dad’s favorite place in the world is Santa Catalina Island. So that was the inspiration. Also my middle name, Tess, was the name of my parents’ german shepherd they had in college.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Watching this scene from Einstein and Eddington. It’s a minute thirty clip and it makes me bawl like a baby. Damn your acting talents David!

3. Do you have kids?

Nope.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

None really at the moment but in the past I’ve run xc and track, been on the swim team, done basketball, softball, and soccer, and raced triathlons. I’d say running and swimming are the ones I’ve carried over the most to adulthood.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Naaaahhhhhhhh (she said sarcastically).

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Personality/height.

7. What’s your eye color?

Green.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings all the way. I’m a giant SAP.

9. Any talents?

Singing, trivia, and song recognition. Also preetttttyyy good with faces.

10. Where were you born?

In the room I currently sleep in 🤷🏻‍♀️

11. What are your hobbies?

Reading, swimming, singing, sailing, photography, birding. Occasionally writing.

12. Do you have any pets?

Yes, 5 dogs, 2 horses, and about 40 chickens. It’s a madhouse lol.

13. How tall are you?

Baareelllyyyy 5’3”. I could have been a hobbit extra in the LOTR movies but NOT in the hobbit movies lol (they had to scale down to match martin freeman’s height).

14. Favorite subject in school?

History, English, Social Studies, that sort of stuff.

15. Dream job?

Pretty similar to what I do now (field ornithologist), only year round instead of seasonally for more financial stability.

No pressure tags @spot-o-bodysnatchin @crawley-fell @rainbowcrowley @onthedriftinthetardis @thedoctorajcrowley @despisedtoolofsatan @notagoodlad @phoen1xr0se @raziraphale @irrationalrage @jessystardust @exlibrisfangirl and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it!

[stevenbasic]

GITJ Post 339: A Saturday at Melissa's, p14 (11pm)

loved moments like this, quiet moments with him. He was laying, sprawled out and unconscious, on top of the rumpled sheets and crisp cotton comforter of the bed she was using while she stayed here at her mom’s big new house. She was laying beside him. She’d slipped out of bed put on a thin robe of white waffle-weave and snap a selfie but they were both otherwise naked. She smiled to herself as she traced lazy circles with gentle fingers across his thin little chest. Oh my god…the time they’d just had together. “You really liked that, didn’t you?” she asked him in a bare half-whisper, not wanting to wake him and wondering if he was dreaming about it now: how she’d just made love to him by holding him aloft using just the strength of her secret kitty. 

Speaking of kitties…there she was, watching. 

“Hey, Tiger, what are you doing up there?” Melissa asked, her voice still just barely above a whisper. The cat, perched high on a shelf it had somehow jumped to, unseen. “Did you watch that whole thing?” Melissa giggled as, nonplussed and unimpressed as only cats can be, Tiger turned away and jumped down to a bureau, to the floor, and then pattered out of the room. 

“Nice talking to you too..!” Melissa called after the cat, who was apparently headed downstairs to spy on the girls down there haha. Nice manners! The two of them would have to have a chat!

Melissa turned back, looking down at Jay sleeping below her, and continued to count her blessings. She had this great boyfriend, these great friends, and this great job. Her roles, both at the office and with Jay, were becoming exactly what she’d dreamed they would be. At work she was in charge of so much now: all the employees, the new construction, the expansion and the hirings. She’d worked for years hoping she could eventually find herself in a position like she was in now, and the potential for growth from here was amazing! Who knows what life could be like a year from now, ten years from now? If she continued to work hard the sky could be the limit!

And with him? Omigod. It was becoming perfect. Their relationship was growing into something beautiful. She’d never been in love before, but if this is what love was, she was hopelessly hooked!  Everyday brought new and deeper feelings for him. It was amazing, she mused as she looked at his peaceful sleeping face, how all the little hormones inside her could be so powerful, linking and bonding her to him. 

I love you so much!!! 

But, as deep in love as she was with him, Melissa knew she needed more. She needed more from him. She needed to give more. She needed to be more. She needed to provide more for him. But what could she do? Or, haha, more like - what couldn’t she do? Things were changing inside her so fast, but it was like she’d really only taken the first steps on a long journey. There was no telling what new things they could do together with each passing day. The ideas were racing through her head at breakneck speed. She imagined the future as she lay over him in bed watching him sleep. Her eyes drifted over him, down across his bony ribs, his flat stomach to his bare hips. ‘Boy -  I really tuckered you out!” she giggled to him…silently speaking more to his floppy member, the endearing piece of meat that lay heavy across his right thigh, than to the man she loved.  Regardless, she felt like she needed to talk to him. There was something she knew that could pull them closer. Seal the bond she wanted to have. “I think, sweetie,” she whispered to him, “that it’s time for me to move us to the next phase of our relationship.” 

Maybe it was her voice, or maybe it was in the half-unconscious upregulation of pheromone 0001.55.6677.xc that she’d let drift from the skin of her bare throat, but his eyes began to flutter open. He’d began to wake. 

“Hi stud,” Melissa drawled, as his heavy eyes slowly started to focus, and met hers, “Have a nice nap?” 

She watched as, behind his eyes, he’d started to recall what had happened just a half hour or so ago. She’d brought him up here, gotten him naked, given him money and then fucked him like a rag doll. He was also, possibly, remembering the other moments throughout his busy day, some more clear in his perfume-addled brain than other. She watched as the concern started to darken his brow, the anxiety began to wet his gaze. No, sweetie, we don’t want that, she thought, and without a thought pheromone 0001.55.6022.cd began to flow.  

His mood lightened. His lips began to curl into a satisfied little smile. There, that’s better isn’t it? she purred in thought, brushing a messy lock of hair off his now-peaceful forehead. She wanted him relaxed, and  able to fall asleep easily again when she needed. Ooo she loved being able to help him like this so much!

“hii…” he finally drawled, blinking, looking up into her glimmering, glittering eyes. He could not believe - god! - just how beautiful she was. Soft light behind her, soft hair all around them. Her smile was a light all onto its own. She’d put on a robe, at some point, but he was still naked. He felt the warmth of her body laid out next to him. If it wasn’t for the - what? Three or four? - number of times I’d come today, I’d be hard as a rock again for her. 

She bit her lip, and looked down at him. ”Do you want to have a drink of water before we go to bed, sweetie?”

I guess I’m staying over again tonight? he mused, Wait what time was it?  She had, of course, already decided that for him but haha it was cool. She’d take care of things, like she said. She wants me to have some water? A strange question, he thought, even in his half-somnolence. It was a question one would ask a child… but…a drink would be nice. His still-dreamy mind drifted from the water as his eyes glanced over at the half-empty milk glass on the side-table, still there from last night. 

She seemed to read his mind. “Oooo that’s a good idea,” Melissa purred, her gaze having followed his, “Yeah, let’s have something sweet and warm to drink. But that one’s been there all night.” With that she sat up a bit and reached over him, inadvertently bringing her big chest into the his field of vision as she picked up her phone. 

“I’ll tell one of the girls to bring you up some milk,” she said, beginning to type out a text to Shanette and smiling secretly as she felt the surge of his heartbeat when his eyes had locked on to her tits…perfect. Get ready little man. “We’ll get you a drink and then it’s going to be off to bed...”

===============================================

thanks again to ResistanceIsFutile for his editing prowess and constant inspiration

Patreon? Here.

[stargarland]

getting to know you tag game!!!

tagged by @holdinghistorsogently

tagging @riq10 & @mythicalpoolnoodle (u absolutely do not have to!!!)

1. Do you make your bed?

yes! and i am so particular about it i can’t lie like it has to be done Right

2. Favorite number?

13! it was my the number my dad picked when he played football so that’s the one i picked and now both my siblings also picked it (bc i picked it🙄🙄 always copying me🙄🙄) (just jokes fr i love them sm)

3. What’s your job?

i work in history/the archives!!!! i’m also an athlete but idk if u count that as a job bc it rlly doesn’t feel like a job to me

4. If you could go back to school, would you?

ya! i mean i am going back to school in the fall im starting law school🤓

5. Can you parallel park?

yes but genuinely only under pressure like i can only do it when there’s loud music, like 6 people in the car, on coming traffic idk it makes me lock in other wise i can’t 😭

6. Do you think aliens are real?

100%‼️‼️ i’m nothing if not an x files fan

7. Guilty pleasures?

i feel guilty about everything but also don’t believe people should feel guilty for enjoying things still working that one out but

8. Tattoos?

i have one (1) but it doesn’t get out much😭 it’s on my ankle and i live in a most of the year cold place so i’m wearing pants and when i’m like running / competing i tape over it for reasons i literally can’t explain

9. Favorite color?

blue !!!

10. Favorite type of music?

i genuinely like all music i’m rlly open to anything there is very little i don’t like in this regard

11. Do you like puzzles?

i am a bitch who doesn’t play about crosswords🤓🤓 i love them literally so much my friends and i race to see who can do them fastest

12. Phobias?

i don’t like snakes but if i had to like hang out with a snake for whatever reason id lock in and get it done like there is very little i wouldn’t be able to do that with honestly

13. Favorite childhood sport?

football for sure!!!! and also the obvious of xc/track i mean 9 years later and i’m still doing it, at the elite level somehow 🙏🙏

14. Do you talk to yourself?

ehh not rlly i’m not rlly a talker period

15. Tea or Coffee?

coffee!!

16. First thing you wanted to be growing up?

an athlete😭

17. Movies you adore?

i’m so bad at watching movies i rlly am but challengers is rotting my brain as of late and i think other favorites are black swan and dead poets society

[carussell]

maths time again - xc skiing edition:

there is a total of 345 points left to score in falun (115 in the sprint, 100 in the individual start and 130 in the mass start).

harald currently leads the overall world cup by 157 points. johannes needs to score 52⅓ points more than johannes in every remaining race (on average) to win the overall.

jessie currently leads the overall world cup by 102 points. linn needs to score 34 points more than jessie in every remaining race (on average) to win the overall.

if we only look at the points that will be awarded based on the race result (3x 100 points) and if johannes wins all three races he needs harald to finish no higher than 17th. on the women's side, if linn wins all three races she needs jessie to finish no higher than 9th.

however there are 45 bonus points left on the table: 15 for the sprint qualification and 2x 15 for the bonus sprints in the mass starts. this could obviously mix things up and makes it quite hard to calculate who wins it in the end/who needs which position to win.

also noteworthy: both the sprint and the individual start will be held in classic technique whereas the mass start will be in skating.

tldr: falun will be exciting!

[skeilig]

when i was in 6th grade i was on the middle school nordic ski team (minnesotan ass sentences) and i hated it bc it was like long-distance running but in the cold and after a 5k race i threw up in the snow (cringe) but anyway wild thing about growing up is being like wow i think i want to go xc skiing this weekend... like, for fun.... i think i'm gonna go

[vanjrsstuff]

Astro Invite, Ancient History

LARGO

My first race as an Astronaut War Eagle was the 1978 Astronaut invitational at the Old Horse Arena in a hot, humid Thursday afternoon in early September (which in Florida is essentially August!). We had endured two weeks of two-a-days and two team time trials. A freshman, I was one of the top JV runners on the team. Not "the" top, but one of several. I had prepared as well as I could. I had even gotten a hair cut the week before the race to help with the heat.

Most coaches and teams barely consider JV races. Nick Gailey, our head coach was not like most coaches. Indeed he was unlike any coach I had ever had or would have in my high school or college running career. He was intense. He cared about the JV race. He even noticed that I had gotten a hair cut and said something about it to my dad. He made mention of how our JV team had fared in recent years in this meet in general and against one team in particular.

Nick also had the highest respect for one of our opponents that day. Largo. I do not remember Coach Gailey dissing any team. But Coach talked about Largo with a degree of respect and admiration that dwarfed every other program in the state. And I should add that we did not have a cross country team, it was a program. Twenty five to thirty plus male runners, summer track meets, pre-season letters, a pre season team booklet, a post season results booklet, Gailey girls, Space Coast track club officials, strict in season dietary requirements, strict in season rules (no lateral movement sports, etc), team parties, etc. This was a program with a strong tradition. And Largo matched that and more. Indeed Largo had one thing more than Astronaut. State XC championships. Fortunately Largo was in a different sized school classification, they were largest division 4A while Astronaut was 3A. Maybe that allowed them to be a rival, but not a bitter rival.

If you have read this far, you are probably thinking about now here is the part about some crappy JV race that did not matter. You are right. Nothing but an opening meet JV race on the Florida east coast. A big opening meet with many of the best teams and individuals in the state. Nothing on the line but personal and team pride-and a long summer of training. If you know these schools however you may recognize a name or two on each side. Also by the end of the season Astronaut would have 3 or more JV runners run under 16:00 for 3 miles on legitimate courses. The JV team could realistically have been a top 10 team at the state meet in November.

Both teams were known for a style of running known as "pack running" and for closing fast. Old Horse Arena was a 1.5 mile course so we did 2 laps. After a long opening straightaway of 220 yards or so the first mile was a series of 3 switch backs that worked us back towards the large grass area that has the starting and finish lines and the mile and a half marker. This area also was where the crowds were. Remember, Astronaut has an XC program, not a team. At this meet there were probably over 1000 spectators, not counting XC teams, the Pep band and officials. This was no ordinary high school XC meet. By the half mile mark three Largo runners had established themselves at the front with one War Eagle (Chuck Byrd, rip). I was running with several other teammates a little further back. Phil Stephens, Guy George, ....all runners that would go on to individual and or team state medalists in the years to come. The three runners from Largo were Kevin Crawley, Brian Benedict and a kid named Basil Magee. As we came up to the mile mark we could hear no split times. They were being called, but the roar of the crowd (a JV race mind you!) was too loud. I remember the hair standing up on the back of my neck. The course turned into the back portion of the course, clear of the crowd. The roar replaced by the rasp of heavy breathing. Over the next half mile we ran thru trails to the edge of Sherwood golf course and then turned right down an old dirt road like trail before turning right to the large grass area of the 1.5 mile mark. By this time my teammates and I had closed the gap. Astronaut and Largo packs were firmly entrenched at the front. It was on. Contact had been obtained.

I do not remember the crowd as we went down that long straight past the 1.5 mile mark. The 2 mile mark was around in the grass switch backs at the half mile mark. After 2 miles we switched from pack running to "go for it" stage. We knew those switch backs from many mile repeats run and still to be run (Old Horse Arena had this course for many years; it has a relatively mild change in 1979 she to construction. Further development meant 1979 was the last year of this course). After 2 miles we switched from pack running to "go for it" stage. As we worked out way to the crowds at about a half mile to go, Brian Benedict and I seemed to pull away. I do not remember the crowd at that point as distinctly as in the first lap, but two runners from two programs, a freshman and a sophomore were making this a two man race.

As we ran in the trails and along the golf course The pace began to build. We ran side by side as the course followed a broadly curved "S" configuration with either line trees or palmetto bushes forming outer boundaries. We ran the tangents, side by side, neither wanting to back down. As we approached one pine tree, Brian on my right and the tree in my left i suddenly realized that I had to back off or surge or I was going to hit that tree. I wondered at the time if he was trying to run me into the tree-not maliciously and there was no contact, but there was no giving ground either. I thought that we were two racers fighting for every inch. I also realized that this was going to be decided on the last straightaway and not until then. We turned right to the short, tree covered road which was out of sight of spectators and serene and isolated our struggle. Then appeared from the cave of trees and immediately slowed down to make a sharp, 135(ish) degree turn around one last pine tree and headed to the finish line about 150-180 yards away. At this point I put my head down and kicked for home. I began to slowly pull away. I could feel the slow separation. I thought this race was mine. Within 75 yards to go I began to tighten up. Brian came by me strongly and pulled away for a decisive victory. This was also the first, last and only time I beat Basil Magee who was a fabulously talented runner who was way out of my league and went on to a fantastic high school career. From communication with Coach Haley, Basil is the current (almost 40 years later) school record holder for 880, mile and 2 mile (1:51.8, 4:08.8 and 9:02). I think he ran at U Tennessee in college. Brian Benedict went on to be a sub 4:20 mile in high school and ran at least in junior college at Santa Fe CC in Florida. Third place Kevin Crawely also went on to run sub 4:20 in the mile. Guy George would be 4th overall in cross country at 3A state in 1980 and Phil Stephens was a sub 4:20 miler and state runner up in the mile in 1981 in 3A.

Team results. Astronaut beat Largo 28-31. Per my scrapbook this was the first time in 7 years that Largo boys JV had "lost"- although I am not sure if the is overall or in this particular meet.

Results from the Star Advocate of Titusville: 1. Brian Benedict, L 16:20 2. Van Savell, A 16:21 3. Basil Magee, L, 16:27 4. Kevin Crawley, L 16:37 5. Guy George, A 16:51 6. Phil Stephens, A 16:51 7. Danny Treder, A 16:51 8. Danny Jones, A 16:54 9. Chuck Byrd, A 17:08 10. Anton Smallridge, L 17:13 11. Kevin Reiff, A 17:19 12. Danny Rice, A 17:23 13. Steve Lysnia, L 17:31 14. Rick Higel, L 17:34 15. Randy Settle, Titusville High, 17:35

The last finisher for Astronaut was in 95th place, suggesting over 100 runners in the JV race alone. It is amazing to me as I look at the results that the first 14 all were from only 2 schools. There were 19 scoring teams in the varsity race that day (news papers did not have all teams listed in the results section).

I went on to run many races, state championships, conference meets, regional and national championships (division 2 NCAA_ and hundreds of races over the years. But no race has been mentally re-lived or carried me through tough workouts than my first high school XC race as a freshman in JV against Brian Benedict of Largo High School. No race has captured the purity of competition or the desire of victory of that last half mile in the hot and humid Florida late afternoon in that sultry September race.

[magdasabs]

it's sooo refreshing seeing big athletes casually mention their period! watching xc and the first thing in hägström's interview is a story about getting her period right before the race

[phirishere]

Things I would rather do than S/A someone:

- drink that mummy sarcophagus water

- let someone flay me alive and turn my skin into leather for shoes

- fight fifty gloom hands irl with only a spoon

- breakdance on top of cooling lava

- itch my throat with a shotgun

- eat whatever the fuck is above the dishwasher in the vent at my job

- drink a smoothie made of drain mush, oven crust from the ovens at my job, all the hair in my hairbrush, and whatever is in that one water bottle I forgot to wash a long time ago and am scared to open

- eat a raggedy shake and go wig

- have to deal with a facehugger

- be catapulted into the fucking sun

- fight whatever the fuck that bear thing was in annihilation

- run endless hill workouts at this one xc race course in 2019 that everyone was crying from on the way back up

- swan dive into a pit of thumbtacks and used needles

-try doing krokodil

- do lines of cinnamon and salt

- take calculus again but join the class five weeks late and with a professor that forgets to explain as they write on the board and then gets mad when you ask a question

- use meat tenderizer as lotion

- have another melatonin nightmare

- be a character in until dawn

- drink embalming fluid

- dissect a cat

- dissect a dog

- read a colleen hoover book or that haunting adeline book or force myself to read harry potter

- die and go to hell where all I can listen to is drugmart music for eternity

- work fourteen double shifts in a row

- yodel with severe laryngitis symptoms

- try to get fred (lifeguard dummy) from the bottom of the mariana trench with only a lifeguard tube

- go through the tethering process in blue fortress and become a machine

- trip and fall during the start of a cross country race and get trampled by hundreds of people wearing their spikes

- eat my grandma’s bean soup

- drink my grandma’s thanksgiving gravy

- eat my grandma’s stuffing

- eat my grandma’s potato salad

- eat my grandma’s turkey ham (it got discontinued from stores because that’s how questionable it was)

- eat the LHS school beans

- go to a track meet at spire (with the dry ass air) and run every single event back to back

- have shoes and socks that are perpetually damp no matter how much time passes

- sleep in a bed that is always too warm and have pillows that fall off the bed no matter what that are also are too warm and have a mattress cover that I can never quite properly align with the mattress so it always comes off when I move around in my sleep and then my bed is a disaster when I wake up and also have it be a bunk bed so that when I try to fix it, I hit my head a million times and have trouble reaching all the areas that need to be fixed.

- act like the dipshit i was in middle school and start yelling “fite me scrub” at random people again and also run around in a cat ear headband and be very annoying and obnoxious and constantly be saying cringey things like “smol bean” and play the bass boosted ussr anthem again and make everyone stand up on their chairs in class and t pose for the entire song

- live life like it’s episode irl but never have any diamonds so I’m stuck doing shit like wearing a trash bag to prom or cussing out my friend after they told me to have a good day because I couldn’t unlock the good options

- go on the top thrill dragster. the new or old one, idc I’m not going on that shit

- die the same way that guy in the spelunking incident did (R.I.P)

- get a lobotomy

- play alan wake by myself with all the lights out in the house and the windows open and doors unlocked and open at night during the purge

- live in the death stranding universe

- bite a piece of ??? fungus? off a bloater in the last of us

- try to run minecraft with an exorbitant amount of mods on an ancient laptop

-light only goop candles in my home

- sylvia plath myself (R.I.P)

- never see my family again

- bellyflop into a mud pit

- go to the zoo (depresses me for some reason)

- let sam pucket beat me with a butter sock

- tell someone in my family that I hate them

- submit myself as an subject for the human centipede experiment

- live in the saw universe

- piss off homelander

[mediumdoodles]

mental health check-in :)

how are you? Be honest

best thing about today so far?

worst thing about today so far?

reminder to:

drink water

eat food

take a deep a breath

you got this, I'm proud of you

🫶

awh thank you!!

I think im doing ok <3

best thing prob was biscoff cookies and the worst is my xc race lol

ur so sweet thank you so much :)

[inbabylontheywept]

What I did specifically was MWF 45-50 minute runs after school, T Th 25-35 minute runs, and every morning a 30 minute jog. Plus some weekends doing weird workouts my coach really liked. I think he called them fart licks?

What I did generically was figure out how to tell the difference between Damage Pain and Exercise Pain, and then used that to figure out what worked for me. I really, really kept an eye on damage pain - swelling, sharp jolts, aches from things that were not muscles - and I dialed back pretty hard when those became an issue. The penalty for pushing something til it breaks is a missed season, the reward for eking out that last 10% is a 10% better workout one day, so I just tried to make a good routine where I didn’t get injured. I wasn’t the fastest my first year, but I didn’t miss any races, and by year two I was around 19:30 for my 5k time.

The generalization is the key. Learning how to pace myself is the best thing I got out of XC.

I used to do cross country in high school, and there was this guy on the team that was wonderful. Great guy. But his advice to everyone that asked how to get good was to run 20k a day.

If you don't run, I'll just tell you, most people's bodies cannot take that kind of abuse. No matter how much you train, you will not be able to run 20k a day. It's like how you can't train to make your cuts heal faster. You recover as fast as you recover. So while a big part of what made this guy so succesful was the dedication and mental toughness needed to actually run 20k a day, an equally big part was that he healed like fucking Wolverine. And that's fine, but it would've been nice if he knew that and stopped telling new guys to commit suicide by jogging.

Different guy on the team ran like, 5-6k a day, which actually isn't all that much. His problem when he gave advice was that he didn't really get that 5-6k a day doesn't generally produce elite results for most people. He was lucky in the sense that he didn't have to work all that hard to get great results, and unlucky in the sense that if he pushed himself much further than that, he fell apart.

I think about those two whenever I get advice from succesful people. The very things that make them outliers also make their advice useless to most people. Worse, they're often outliers on totally separate ends of the same spectrum, so their advice will be contradictory.

[xaracosmia]

ꕥ — WELCOME TO NEFE COSMIA, HARU OKUMURA. 🌓

ꕥ  — OOC INFORMATION;

name / alias: juni

age: 21

pronouns: he/she

ooc contact: p3remake twitter

other characters in xc: mafuyu asahina, power

ꕥ  — IC INFORMATION;

name: haru okumura

age: 20

pronouns: she/her

series: persona 5

canon point: post-strikers

app triggers: arranged marriage, domestic abuse, parental death

personality:

you’d think that the extravagant lifestyle of an only daughter of a multimillion dollar fast food chain’s ceo would reflect negatively on one’s personality, but for haru, it couldn’t be further from the truth. she’s humble, patient and effortlessly kind—though she can be so quiet and aloof that you wouldn’t be able to guess. after experiencing so much undermining and exploitation because of her status, it can be a struggle for her to open up and trust others’ intentions. and because of her shy demeanor and lack of self-confidence, she sometimes finds it difficult to express her true feelings.

her strength is a quiet one, but her convictions and ideals are just as strong as any other of her friends, even if she can come across as a bit of a scatterbrain at times. she grew up watching cartoons about heroines of justice, aspiring to be just like them—and even if being a phantom thief isn’t quite the same thing, she’s no less committed to righting the many wrongs that run rampant in society. haru is exceedingly eager to prove herself as useful rather than a liability, owing to the persistent feeling of uselessness in which she often finds herself slipping into. she wants to be just as strong and stubborn as she is gentle and sweet.

something your muse struggles with:

speaking her mind.

your muse’s greatest strength:

kindness.

history / background:

haru was not born into a life of privilege and luxury as the only daughter of kunikazu okumura, the third president of okumura foods and the founder of big bang burger. despite the fact that her grandfather was a decent and noble man, he failed as a businessman, and okumura foods was a failing company as a result. but she never minded, not as long as her father was there.

kunikazu okumura gradually changed as time passed. he became preoccupied with his own ambition and greed, and he lost interest in caring for his daughter. big bang burger evolved into a business that thrived solely on the backs of its overworked and underpaid workers, resulting in a series of scandals. haru watched on in resigned silence, believing herself unable to speak out due to her inferior status, but the situation soon escalated when okumura declared an arranged marriage for haru: one to the son of a prospective associate of his, an abusive man named sugimura.

after meeting morgana, a talking cat and a founding member of the phantom thieves of hearts—a group of teenagers dedicated to social reform—who had left after a disagreement with the group, haru accidentally accompanied him into the metaverse. an “other dimension” similar to reality that is built upon people’s cognition, and by pure coincidence, she followed him into her father’s palace. there, she partially awakens to her persona and chooses to join forces with morgana in the same manner as the phantom thieves to change her father’s heart.

morgana and haru are later encountered by the phantom thieves inside the palace, where he introduces her as the “beauty thief.” though the two initially challenge the phantom thieves to a race to claim kunikazu’s treasure first, they inadvertently walk into a room occupied by haru’s father’s cognitive henchmen, forcing both parties to flee. morgana and haru are lost in the midst of the chaos.

after school the next day, two members of the phantom thieves—akira and makoto—approach haru and ask her to join their ranks, but she declines. when haru and morgana are confronted by sugimura later in the day, the thieves come across them and rush to her rescue. sugimura is chased away, but haru is shaken up, and morgana begs the thieves to put his feud with them aside in order to give haru a place to stay. they return to akira’s place, where haru finally reveals the truth about the situation, as well as her engagement to sugimura. she eventually admits to herself that she wasn’t inspired to change her father’s heart out of any lofty ideal to free okumura foods’ employees, but rather to circumvent her arranged marriage. morgana makes amends with the thieves as well, and the group is reunited, with haru being made a member.

haru fully awakens to her persona early on during the palace infiltration, and the calling card is sent. all seems to be going according to plan, until kunikazu okumura holds a press conference to confess to his crimes, which the thieves are watching while celebrating. in the middle of speaking, he suffers from a mental shutdown, a condition in which the person affected dies for unknown causes, which haru is forced to see in real time. she runs home, but the consequences of a mental breakdown are serious and irreversible: okumura dies before reaching the hospital.

her feelings are complicated—rage and sorrow and bitterness—directed at the phantom thieves, the party at fault, but mostly herself. in spite of her self-doubt, haru continues to work with the group to clear their names, as they are being blamed by the public for the death of okumura. much happens in a short period of time—they briefly join forces with goro akechi in order to clear their names, only for him to betray them and expose the existence of a bizarre plot to kill them, led by an up-and-coming politician named masayoshi shido. the thieves infiltrate his palace and discover a shocking truth: not only was shido the one who carried out the mental shutdowns, using akechi as his attack dog, but okumura was actually targeted by him due to his bad connections and for creating competition in the political world. that was one of the unexplained scandals surrounding okumura foods—how competitors to the company would suddenly and conveniently die, leaving their companies in chaos and allowing okumura to expand his.

as horrible a man as her father had become until his assassination, haru could never forget the love and warmth he had shown her as a child. knowing that she’d never be able to find closure or even make amends with her father because of shido, she becomes more determined than ever to overthrow him from his throne.

powers / abilities:

LUCY. as a metaverse-user, haru has the ability to summon her persona when inside the metaverse at will. personas are described as “a manifestation of one’s will of rebellion” and usually take the form of mythological, fictional, religious or historical figures. hers is an imitation of milady de winter, a villainess from the three musketeers, and the woman who inspired her creation.

some of lucy’s capabilities include:

PSIO SKILLS. psychic attack magic, basically. it’s made particularly powerful when incorporated with inflicting mental ailments on an enemy.

GUN SKILLS. gun attacks. idk.

TENTARAFOO. a skill which enables haru to inflict the confusion ailment onto multiple enemies.

BUFF SKILLS. she specifically knows heat riser, which raises the attack, defense and agility of one person.

LIFE WALL. it creates a shield that repels both physical and magical damage over the whole party.

WEAKNESS TO FREI SKILLS. aka nuclear magic. idkkkkk…

inherent abilities:

N/A. she’s good at ballet and gardening though?

items / weapons:

FLEURS DU MAL. a large, heavy axe that can be obtained by itemizing beezlebub during an alarm. haru seems to the only person capable of carrying it.

YAGRUSH. a grenade launcher that comes from itemizing baal during an alarm. not much to say– it’s a grenade launcher!

starting ability: n/a

starting item: n/a

extra:

can you forgive me

apparently chopped wood as a childhood pastime? ok i guess

discord id: deathcontract

[joie6000]

It didn’t go their way at State. Frankly, besides Eden, the team was off - no chemistry whatsoever. I don’t blame them because at 12 and 13 years old, you never know what you’re going to get.

It was a lot of tears and complaints about the reffing, which was really bad. But the thing that I liked was that these girls, especially Abby’s friends, hugged each other, their own parents, and their friends’ parents so hard. We raise all of these girls. They all are in my basement or going out to dinner with us at some point.

It was interesting because Abby was sad one weekend because she ran a terrible XC race. Harper’s mom said, “yup she was over at our house later that day and I knew something was off with our Abby.”

That’s honestly how much we know about these kids. If they aren’t themselves for even a few minutes, we know. We ask. And we try to fix.

They are all of our kids.