The day of the track and field competition came. I trained every day for this event, but well, it was only for four days - from Tuesday to Friday. I wasn't gonna suddenly be able to sprint faster during that time, but the training helped a lot in finding good rhythm in receiving the baton and transitioning to a full sprint. Also, having repeated this exercise lots of times diminished my nervous concern - what if I drop the baton? I've done it so many times now I was reasonably confident that such a disaster wouldn't occur.
Our school team was doing quite well. Our members consistently placed within the top five for many events, such as 100m, 200m, hurdles, long jump, high jump, etc. Considering there were more than 10 schools participating today, all of them from the North side of the river that ran across the middle and divided this city, we were mostly above average. Those who came within the top three positions for their respective event qualified for the city-wide competition that will take place sometime later this year.
Captain Lee did particularly well in 110m hurdles crossing the finish line first, and my senior Nabin just made the cutting line to progress to the city-wide competition by coming third in the girl's high jump.
Then finally came my turn to shine, or fail. The girl's 4x400m relay was almost at the end of the day with the only event after this being boy's 4x400m relay.
Our team of four girls was Hyemi and Rin - both from the second year, and then Nabin from the third year, and I was the anchor to finish. On one hand, I should have an advantage because I did not participate in any other events prior to this so I have more stamina reserved, but at the same time, it wasn't easy to prep myself to be in peak condition. I alternated between warming up, and then rest, do some more warm-up exercises, and then rest. Captain Lee came around to give me some guidance here and there but he was also busy with his own events so for long periods of time I was just with Danbi, who volunteered to help us today and did little but helpful things like preparing drinks and towels for us, giving us schedule notices and directions in where to go for the next event, and in general keeping me and others in good spirits in her usual kind and cheerful ways.
The race started well for us, with Hyemi actually leading the pack up to 100m point or so. She was also a very fast and good runner but was more specialized in shorter distances so she started to slow down a bit around that mark, and by the time the baton was passed to Rin, we were down to 6th position in the race consisting of 10 teams.
Rin did not have the short-distance sprint ability of Hyemi but she was used to the 400m range. She came 4th in her own 400m event earlier in the day so just narrowly missed out on the city-wide competition qualification, but this gave her more incentives to do well here so we can at least qualify as a team together.
Rin did well to close the gap during her run and by the time Nabin received the baton we were up to 4th position. Just a little more - I thought to myself. If Nabin can keep our position as 4th or even bring it up to 3rd, we have every chance to finish in the top three to qualify for the next event. I was the only first year on this team - heck, I'm actually not even an official member of the Track & Field club but they put a lot of trust in me to be the anchor. I really wanted to make sure that I didn't let them down.
The image of myself lying on that hospital bed with one leg missing flashed in my mind briefly and it instantly made my eyes go teary, but I wiped them off and got ready in my lane to receive the baton. Come on, Nabin - bring it over here, and I will take care of the rest. I won't let anyone down now.
Nabin did well to keep our position as 4th when she passed the baton over to me, and I got a perfect grip on it with no mistakes. Yes! All I have to do is ru-
:Clack:
AH, SHIT.
Just when I thought I did everything well, turned my body, extended the arm correctly to receive the baton, and started building momentum to take off in good rhythm, I ended up kicking my left heel with the tip of my right foot during the transition motion before I started the sprint.
I completely lost balance and fell forward. A faceplant was inevitable - an epic failure. In that split second, I thought "I have failed again… nothing has changed…", but this despair was instantly followed by another thought "I'm Jenn now. Don't give up. Anything's possible".
I probably shouldn't credit myself for getting out of this situation as it was mostly Jenn's body reacting, but I would like to think my holding onto that thin thread of hope in my mind helped a little.
Just as I was falling forward, my left arm extended and the hand touched the ground while my right hand was still gripping the baton firmly. It hurt to put all my weight on this one arm but I managed to turn my epic fail into a spectacular one-handed somersault.
I kicked it off with all I got as soon as my foot landed and entered the full sprint. Many thoughts were flashing across my mind. What place are we in now? Nabin was keeping us at 4th. Somersault was cool and all that but I lost time doing that. How many people are in front of me now? Five? Six? Or even seven?
I resisted the temptation to look around and tried my best to empty my mind. All I could feel was the wind, my feet hitting the ground alternating, and the thumping sound of my heart. I felt like a horse let loose to gallop in the wild for the first time. All I thought about was how wonderful it was to have both legs and be able to run at all. I didn't feel like I was struggling against the ground, but rather, with every stride and planting of the foot I felt like the ground was helping me propel forward. Everything just felt so good and natural.
When I crossed the finish line, I was so absorbed in my own thoughts and focused on my own running only that I wasn't even aware of what position I finished, but as soon as I came to the realization that the race was over my legs went weak and I just gave in and laid on the ground flat on my back, trying to catch a breath.
From a distance, I could hear familiar voices shouting and getting nearer.
"We did it! We did it!"
Ah-, so we made it…
Danbi was the first to jump on top of me (what the hell, is she even faster than the other girls in the relay?), and immediately after I was swarmed by my teammates, Hyemi, Rin, and Nabin. Captain Lee ran over as well pumping his fist in the air and screaming "Hell, yeah!"
"We did it, Jenn! We finished the third!"
Some people say history only remembers the first, but fuck that. We came third and I will never forget this moment.
"Well done, miss! Now we gotta go!"
"Huh? What?!"
Suddenly Hana was there, looking calm as usual but I could tell even she was breathing a little heavier than usual. She must have run over to me, but hang on - we gotta go? She didn't come here to congratulate?
"Time's up. We gotta go now"
"Sorry Ma'am, but who are you?", Captain Lee asked Hana, not so confrontational, but genuinely confused.
Danbi then cut in.
"Er, captain. I think it's better we let Jenn go now"
Oh yeah… the fucking family gathering…
I stood up and realized that I still had to catch my breath a bit, but I also accepted that we didn't have much time.
"Right, Hana. Let's go-, ouch!"
I felt a cramp on my right calf and couldn't put weight on that leg properly, so limped a little.
"Oh, you got cramps, Jenn. You need to stretch"
As I sat back down on the ground Nabin came over and knelt next to me getting ready to help me stretch.
"No time for that. Excuse me"
Hana was faster than Nabin though and she landed a solid punch on my calf.
"Arggh!"
"Ok, that should do it. But I'll carry you"
Hana then piggybacked me and started to run.
"Thank you, everyone! See you-!", I shouted back at my teammates. They were a bit confused as to what was happening but cheerfully gave me a thumbs up as Hana started to dash with me on her back.
"Wow, Hana you can run so fast while carrying me"
Hana didn't say anything. As amazing as she was, it probably was still hard to talk for her so I better just let her catch her breath.
"But… hang on, Hana, where are we running to?"
"To… :huff: that building… :puff:"
"Where's Uncle Tan with his car?"
"No car… :huff:… Chopper… :puff:"
"Eh?"
The Track and Field competition today was being held at one of the other schools in the area, which had bigger fields and facilities than ours. Hana was running toward that school building.
"Sorry…. Will… Explain…"
"Ok, ok. Take it easy, Hana"
"Thanks…. Miss…"
I thought I was running like a horse before but Hana was the real beast here. Running at full speed carrying me on the back like this.
Soon we entered the building and waited for the elevator. Hana was catching breath so I just kept quiet and let her rest. I'd never seen Hana break a sweat before but now she was.
The lift came and soon enough we were at the rooftop of the school building, and bloody hell, there was a real helicopter parked there.
The engine started to run and the blades turned as we approached it, and once I got in Uncle Tan turned from the cockpit to see us get on and greeted us.
"Well done, Miss. I saw the race. Congratulations!"
"Wha-. You can FLY THIS THING?"
"It's not all that hard"
"Gees"
"Uncle Tan, we can go. Miss will be getting changed on the way"
"Yes, Ma'am! Don't worry, I will keep my eyes looking forward"
Hana then handed over a box to me.
"Here's your dress, Miss. I'll help wipe your sweat and we'll just have to do with deodorants for now, sorry"
"It's fine"
I then opened the box and there were two pistols inside it.
"Er…? Hana? This isn't a dress"
"Oops, sorry, that's the wrong box. Here, this one"
She then quickly took the gun box off my hand and handed me another box, which indeed had a black dress inside.
"It's a bit cramped in here to get changed"
"To be honest, this is something I've never done before either. Getting changed into a dress in a chopper - put your arms up, please"
Hana then pulled my sweaty top off, helped me wipe the sweat away, and sprayed tons of deodorant.
"There you go"
Within minutes I was completely transformed and was fully ready to attend this 'family gathering', dressed to kill.