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Fight to the Finish
It was early evening; a crimson sun was beginning to set low behind a forest of weeping willows. My teammates and I took our places behind the spray painted start line. We were surrounded by a sea of other teams in orange, red, brown and blue jerseys. They were all chatting excitedly while doing last minute warm-up drills.
The scream of a whistle caught our attention. I felt the usual twinge of excitement shoot through me. Today was the day I would run the 5k in under 17 minutes.
“On your marks,” the official raised his starter pistol. We all stood, ready for the final command. At the crack of the gun, we took off running. I could feel my anticipation escalate as we sprinted down the first incline. Sidling up beside me was my best teammate Steve, his dreadlocks swaying in the breeze. As usual, we had no trouble taking the lead right from the start. Several minutes passed, we soon lost the stampede behind us.
For the first two miles, all was going as usual until we came to a blue flag on the course. This signaled for us to continue straight. To my surprise, Steve took a sharp left onto a dark path leading to God knows where.
“Steve,” I gasped. “Wrong way,”
Steve knew the course as well as I did. Was he trying to cheat? Steve only looked back with a smirk and kept running for the woods. As exhausted as I was…
