Hurdlers are sprinters with a problem (open)

[Gwyn Locksley]

Taking a deep breath of fresh air, Gwyn exhaled slowly, a smile gracing her lips as she stared down the long track. It had finally warmed up enough to do some decent training outside, and after a long, cold, horrible winter she had finally kicked the cold/flu that had pretty much knocked her out for the first two months of the year. She had kept up with her many sports, clubs and practices inside in the gymnasium, but she couldn’t help but feel horribly out of shape after such a long, nagging illness. It sure felt good to be out of that stuffy building again, though, not that she had hibernated all winter, but running in the open air was just much more preferable.

Checking to make sure her shoelaces were tight, Gwyn launched into a routine of stretches, limbering up for her run. They had these hurdle things she had been dying to try out, and it was still a bit chilly out and most of the people at this school appeared to be wusses, so she had the whole track to herself.

Of course it was only just past six in the morning, so they were probably all still sleeping their lazy bums off. Honestly, between the lazy ones who were here to goof off and the elmos who were here because their parents made them come, there was a vast shortage of decent people in this place.

Not to say that they were all completely uninteresting...

Finishing her stretches, Gwyn eyed up the track, focused on her goal and did some quick calculations in her head. Then she was off, sprinting toward the first hurdle.

[Deleted]

Dominique had spent the better part of her childhood being dragged along to the various "manly" activities her father had insisted upon her brother participating in. That definitely included track and field for a few years, and she still ran every now and then to let off steam, keep herself focused on school instead of the abundance of energy she usually had bottled up. She had time to get a run in before class started, she imagined, and figured that she'd try to get in a mile or two before she headed back to the dorms to shower and get ready for the day.

She'd stretched out in her room, limbered up on the walk over to the track, and by the time she got there, she was ready to kick it up a notch.

Except for the fact that somebody was already on the field, running around towards some hurdles. Well, Dominique didn't do hurdles. She had a thing about them; when she'd been younger, she'd tried to play hurdles using some sawhorses in an abandoned construction site, had faceplanted epically, and ever since then, had decided it wasn't really for her. She'd tried, but usually she just psyched herself out and had to dodge the thing at the last minute. So instead of just heading onto the track and working her way into the running behind the girl already out there, she sat down on the bleachers closest to the track.

Reaching up, she knotted her flaxen hair into a tight bun, then wrapped her hair tie around it twice, securing it at the back of her head. She waited until the girl was just passing her to call out to her.

"Hey honey, you let me know when you are done, non?"

[Gwyn Locksley]

When Gwyn was in her element, when she was focused, there was very little that could break that focus. This morning she was definitely there. She ran the track, the hurdles passing easily beneath her, her breathing controlled and even; there was only here, the track, and the pure air around her.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered that someone had spoken to her but she filed it away to be dealt with later. She didn’t falter, didn’t break her stride, she just kept going, kept her focus. She felt slower, more sluggish, than she had a few months ago, but she wasn’t about to give up. She would get back into top form before anyone even realised she wasn’t.

Not that anyone would. Even when she wasn’t doing her best she was still worlds above most of the school. She didn’t see it that way, of course, and it certainly didn’t help her already non-existent popularity. Fortunately the last thing Gwyn cared about in the world was being popular. She had goals, she had a purpose, unlike most of the whiny, goalless miscreants at this school.

So she ran, but she wasn’t running away from anything, she was running toward it. At least that’s what she always told herself.

[Deleted]

Of all the reactions Dominique expected - maybe an angry look, or a courteous agreement, she hadn't expected to be ignored. It was a good thing she wasn't a really irritable girl who flew off the handle at such things, or she might have chased Gwyn down and tackled her. Of course, that wouldn't have been the first time Dominique had chased someone down and tackled them, though it certainly wasn't for the same reasons.

Hmph. Well, if this girl wouldn't acknowledge her presence, maybe Dominique would just see how she did at ignoring it when that presence was bopping around the track with her. She double checked her ponytail, and trotted out onto the track, doing a couple little hop steps before she kicked it into gear and took off after Gwyn.

She ran along the edge of the track, nearer to the inside, avoiding the hurtles in order to gain the speed she needed to catch up to the other girl, then drew her pace up a little bit to run alongside her.

"Great day for a run, isn't it?" she said, although she wasn't really intending to have a whole conversation here. Talking was a good way of really wrecking your breathing pattern.

[Gwyn Locksley]

It was easy to ignore the girl when she had put herself off to the side and just spoken once, not that Gwyn had really been ‘ignoring’ her, per se. She didn’t do it intentionally, it was more like she hadn’t really noticed her, hadn’t given the voice a single thought as she focused on her task. So of course, as it always seemed to happen when Gwyn didn’t think before she spoke, or didn’t speak in this case, the other girl took offense to it.

And now she was making herself impossible to ignore, even for someone as focused as Gwyn.

As the brunette continued her exercise, she could hear the sound of footfalls behind her, getting closer, but she still paid it no attention. It stood to reason that eventually someone else in the entire school would want to use the track, and there was plenty of room for them to do so and not disturb her, but apparently that wasn’t good enough. Surprisingly, she was suddenly joined by another girl who, instead of passing by and continuing her own run, pulled up her pace to run beside Gwyn. And talk to her.

Offering a quick smile and a nod, Gwyn took the next hurdle but she could feel that it wasn’t as smooth as the last. Her concentration had been broken, her space invaded, and now the fatigue had an opening to slip in and start to make itself known.

[Deleted]

When you practiced things long enough, even if you weren't very good at them, they became second nature. Muscle memory and all that. Dominique wasn't good at some of the sports her father had insisted that she participate in, but she knew the rules, she knew proper stance, and she knew how to at least make it look like she knew what she was doing.

Talking while you were running was a sure sign of not knowing what you were doing, though, because any good runner understood that whatever air you prematurely pushed past your vocal chords was air your blood couldn't use to feed oxygen into your muscles. She didn't say anything else, but kept her pace even with Gwyn's, and after a moment, she found that it was surprisingly pleasant to be running with someone who wasn't inept (i.e., her darling brother) or out for her blood (like in a race).

She changed tactics. Maybe she could afford to be a little nice to this girl, who was at least a decent runner with enough focus to ignore someone like Dominique coming along to interrupt. That was sort of admirable, Dominique thought, adjusting her footfalls to match Gwyn's.

"Come here often?" she couldn't help saying as they rounded the corner.

[Gwyn Locksley]

Gwyn was surprised when the other girl continued to keep pace with her even though it was obvious she was not interested in conversation. Still, it wasn’t all bad, and it would help her work on her concentration. If this were a race, there would be people on all sides of her that she would have to take into account but essentially ignore. This was good practice.

Overtaking another hurdle, the young brunette didn’t miss a step as she moved right into the next corner, even giving a slight burst of speed to keep up with her sudden companion who had the advantage of the inside track. It was tempting to pick up her pace even more and make this an all out race (it was always tempting to someone as competitive as Gwyn) but that wasn’t why she was here. She still had a few hurdles left, and she was determined not to quit until she cleared them all.

Too bad this girl didn’t share her focus and determination. Was she really so unobservant that she didn’t realise that talking was completely unwanted right now?

“I try,” Gwyn answered simply, choosing as few words as possible and keeping her eyes on the track before her. She didn’t ask a return question, which would have been the courteous thing to do. In her mind, if the girl were being courteous then she would not be speaking at all right now, so making an attempt to continue a conversation was not necessary.

[Deleted]

Yes, Dominique was keeping up with Gwyn, but she had to admit that she was also not bothering with the hurdles Gwyn was. The competitive streak in her wanted to assure the other girl that she'd still be keeping up even if Gwyn was running without obstacles in her path, but Dominique refrained from saying so.

"You got a good stride," Dominique said, matter-of-factly. Any other time, she could possibly have been using something like that as a pickup line, but today, she was just stating an observation. Every now and then, it was nice to make a friend you weren't trying to shag. Plus you could always shag them later if the friends thing didn't work out.

She fully intended to keep up until Gwyn decided to stop, then suggest that maybe they run together some other time, but until then, she decided to conserve her breath and energy and stop talking for a bit. Just breathe, and run, and resist the urge to comment on...stuff.

"You had breakfast yet?"

Dominique wasn't very good at keeping quiet.