Running Free

by Laura Sieveking

  ‘Well, Josie got full marks!’ beamed Issy. ‘I knew you could do it.’

  ‘Probably a fluke,’ Clara muttered.

  ‘Don’t be so mean, Clara!’ Nina scolded. Clara rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.

  ‘She can be so nice and then the minute anyone beats her, she turns into a monster,’ Issy said, scrunching up her nose.

  ‘You’re not coming to training now, are you?’ Nina asked with a frown.

  ‘No,’ I huffed. ‘I have to go work in the library for the rest of the afternoon while you guys train. But I am allowed to train tomorrow, so I’ll see you there.’

  Nina and Issy grabbed their sports bags and slung them over their shoulders as they headed for training. A pang of sadness and jealously pricked my heart as I saw them walking off to the athletics track.

  I whipped out my phone and began to tap my fingers on the keypad.

  To: Dad mobile

  Full marks on History presentation!

  I hit send and before I even had time to put my phone back into my pocket, the message alert pinged.

  From: Dad mobile

  Josie that is AMAZING Celebratory pizza tonight?!

  I hit the ‘thumbs up’ emoji and sent it back. I breathed in deeply and happily as I gathered my books into my bag. I began to walk through the school slowly, enjoying the sudden calm. Everyone was in afternoon training now and I could hear starting whistles and the gentle clock of tennis balls being hit in warm-up drills on the courts.

  I was sad to miss training, but nothing could break my happiness about my History presentation. I thought about my exams in a couple of weeks.

  Maybe, just maybe, I can do this, a voice in my head whispered. But would just focusing on schoolwork cost me a place at Nationals? Was it even possible for me to be good at school and running?

  I adjusted my foot slightly on the block and crouched my knee to the ground. My fingertips touched the track lightly as I remained conscious of my breathing.

  Take your mark …

  I felt the energy pumping through my legs, which quivered as I hunched down, awaiting the start of the race. Suddenly, all the energy exploded from my body as I anticipated the blow of the whistle. As I burst from the blocks and launched my body into a sprint, I heard the whistle blow again.

  ‘Bring it back, Josie – false start.’

  Ugh.

  Coach Jack waved me over to him.

  ‘It’s the third time, Josie – that’s not like you.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. I’m falling behind, I can feel it,’ I sulked.

  ‘What’s with the false starts?’ Clara laughed as she walked past me.

  I winced.

  ‘Josie, I know how hard it is for you not being able to train every day,’ Coach Jack said sympathetically. ‘But you can still go for runs before school, as I know you have been, and then just really focus on your one training day. Your only problem today is lack of focus, not lack of fitness.’

  I knew he was right.

  ‘Yeah, I just feel like school exams are so close and at the same time I’m losing my edge for the State Finals.’

  ‘Did I ever tell you about my college days?’ Jack asked.

  I looked at him and shook my head. ‘Come here,’ he said, leading me over to the sidelines. ‘Nina, take the whistle and continue the sprint start training please,’ he said, tossing Nina his whistle.

  We walked to the sidelines and sat down on the metal bench where our water bottles were lined up in a row. I found mine and took a long gulp.

  ‘In America, after school we go to college, which is the same as university here,’ he said in his thick, American accent. ‘I got a scholarship to my college. It was a sports scholarship.’

  ‘Of course you did,’ I laughed. Coach Jack was a national sprinter and hurdler. He won a stack of titles in his day.

  ‘Well, part of the condition of my college scholarship was that I had to pass my exams. And for a while there, things got a little bleak.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘I started flunking my subjects. I got hauled into the Dean who told me I had to get passing grades to stay on the scholarship. Not having a scholarship wasn’t an option for my family – my mom was a single parent and we didn’t have a lot of money.’

  ‘You lost your dad?’ I asked.

  ‘Yep, he served in the army and was injured fighting overseas. He passed away.’

  I stared down at my hands. I thought about my mum and how painful it was when she died three years ago. I was only nine.

  ‘Did you pass your exams?’ I asked.

  ‘Well, I had to pull back on my training. I didn’t make the national team for a whole season. I was devastated. But, you know what?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I passed those exams. My coach told me that for that season, my biggest challenge wasn’t going to be on the track. It was going to be in the classroom.’

  I sighed and nodded. I knew he was right.

  ‘Now,’ he said, standing up and patting me on the back, ‘you need to focus on your training for the small amount of time you are here, and then focus on your schoolwork at all other times. You’ll get there, girl.’

  Coach Jack jogged back over to Nina and grabbed his whistle. I took another long sip of my water. I needed to focus. Both on the track and in the classroom, just like Coach Jack said.

  As I ran back over, the girls were setting up the hurdles for some practice races to end the day. We’d been doing training drills for most of the morning and wanted to finish the session with a full race.

  I lined up in between Clara and Nina. There were other runners on either side of us, crouching down on the start line. I positioned my foot on the start blocks and tried to focus, just like Coach Jack had said.

  Take your mark …

  He blew his whistle and I burst from the starting block, like a bullet from a gun. It was a good start. I made sure my strides were even and properly timed. You don’t want to have strides that are too short or too long, as it stuffs up your jump when you get to the hurdle.

  I cleared the hurdles at a great pace, extending my leg out in front and reaching my arm ahead. I could feel Nina and Clara on either side of me, panting and leaping as they sprinted for the next hurdle.

  I landed the second last hurdle with a slight wobble, which slowed me down a bit. I tried to get my rhythm back but didn’t have the pace of the previous hurdles. As I approached the last hurdle, I felt my strides become short and panicked. I launched myself over the final hurdle, clipping it with my back leg. I made it over but the hurdle fell to the ground with a thump. I stumbled slightly, then picked up pace and sprinted for the finish. I could see everyone else in my race cross the line before me.

  ‘Woohoo! First!’ Clara panted, punching the air and congratulating herself. ‘Bad luck,’ she said, patting my back.

  ‘It’s just training, not the Olympics, Clara,’ laughed Nina.

  ‘And it’s probably harder for you being out of form anyway,’ Clara said.

  ‘I’m not out of form,’ I said defensively.

  ‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ Clara said quickly. ‘I just meant, it must be hard not being allowed to train and all that.’

  I narrowed my eyes at her.

  ‘Okay, girls, cool-down!’ Coach Jack yelled as we headed back to the warm-up area with the other track and field girls.

  I pulled my strawberry blonde hair on top of my head and secured it in a messy bun. I gently wiped the sweat from the back of my neck with my towel.

  Issy bounded over, still full of energy despite a long day of training. ‘How’s the studying going?’ Issy asked.

  ‘Not bad,’ I said. ‘Maths is the real problem.’

  ‘What are you struggling with?’ Nina asked as she held a quad stretch.

  ‘I can’t remember any of the formulas.’

  ‘You just have to get a rhythm to them,’ Nina said. ‘I kind of chant them.’

  ‘You chant them?’
I asked, laughing.

  ‘It’s not that different to counting strides in hurdles. I’m sure you have words you repeat to yourself to keep your rhythm in a race,’ Issy said.

  She was right about that.

  ‘Hey, great idea!’ Nina said.

  ‘What idea?’ Issy laughed.

  Nina jumped up and ran over to Coach Jack. She said something to him and he smiled and nodded. Nina then ran back to the change rooms, disappearing for a couple of minutes.

  ‘What is she up to?’ Clara asked, gazing away towards the gym.

  Issy and I shrugged.

  As everyone finished training and began to disappear into the change rooms, I noticed Coach Jack wasn’t clearing the hurdles.

  Nina reappeared from the gym door and raced back over to us with a stack of papers in her hand.

  ‘Right,’ she smiled. She handed the papers to Issy and me and instructed us to attach pieces of sticky tape to each one. Clara was watching with a suspicious look on her face.

  ‘So, do you know which formulas you are meant to remember?’ Nina asked.

  ‘Yeah, I know which ones are on the list but I can never remember the formula that goes with them.’

  ‘What are the formulas then?’ asked Nina, smiling slightly.

  ‘Circumference of a circle.’

  Nina flicked through the papers she was holding. ‘Got it!’ She walked over to the first hurdle and stuck a piece of paper right in the middle of the hurdle. In bold, black marker, Nina had written:

  C=2πr

  She pointed to the formula and read, ‘C equals two pi R. What else?’

  ‘Area of a circle,’ I answered.

  She pulled out another piece of paper and stuck it to the second hurdle.

  A= πr2

  She read, ‘A equals pi R squared!’

  Issy giggled as we walked over to join Nina.

  ‘Who has got Pythagoras?’ Nina asked.

  I knew that Pythagoras theorem was the one that started with C squared but I could never remember the rest. I flicked through my papers and found:

  C2 = a2 + b2

  ‘This is it, isn’t it?’

  Nina smiled. ‘Yep! Just remember that C is the long side of the triangle.’

  I nodded as she stuck it to the hurdle.

  Issy and Clara added three more formulas I needed to learn to the next three hurdles. Even Clara seemed to be enjoying herself.

  ‘Do you feel confident you know what each formula is for?’ Clara asked.

  I nodded. ‘I can recognise what each one is for – I just have trouble remembering exactly how the formula goes. I sometimes put the “squared” or the “pi” in the wrong spot.’

  ‘Now,’ Nina smiled, ‘we just need to get you into a rhythm.’ Nina walked up to the start line and crouched down as if on her starting blocks. ‘As I run, I’m going to focus on the formula in front of me. Count me in!’

  Issy yelled, ‘Take your mark, set … GO!’

  Nina burst into a run while shouting, ‘C equals two pi R!’

  I could see she was staring at the formula on the hurdle, focusing without wavering on the letters and numbers in front of her. She cleared the first hurdle and then started yelling the next one:

  ‘A equals pi R squared!’

  A equals pi R squared, I mouthed.

  Nina did the same for the next four hurdles, singing out the formulas as she leapt over them. I began to jitter excitedly.

  She ran back towards us, panting lightly. ‘Jose, you’re up!’

  I walked over to the starting line and stared straight ahead of me at the first hurdle. It was the circumference of a circle, I knew that. I focused on the letters and numbers and mouthed ‘C equals two pi R.’

  ‘Take your mark, set … GO!’ shrieked Issy.

  C equals two pi R.

  C equals two pi R.

  C equals two pi R.

  I leapt over the first hurdle. Then I focused on the next one. The area of a circle.

  A equals pi R squared.

  A equals pi R squared.

  I soared over the hurdle.

  I could hear my friends cheering as I went, chanting the formulas along with me. After I finished the race of formulas, I walked back over to my friends.

  ‘Great job,’ laughed Issy.

  ‘I want a turn!’ laughed Clara.

  ‘Not yet, Clara. Josie needs to get it first,’ Nina said flatly.

  I walked around to the start line and focused again on the first formula. I found myself chanting the words before I had even really looked at the paper.

  After another three turns, Nina started to take the pieces of paper away.

  ‘What? Not yet!’ I protested. I couldn’t do it without the paper.

  ‘Just try!’

  I walked back to the start line and focused on the first hurdle. Circumference of a circle. I stared at the blank hurdle, completely focused.

  As Issy yelled ‘Go!’ I took off like a rocket, yelling ‘C equals two pi R!’

  I heard my friends shriek and squeal as I chanted the first formula correctly. As I sailed over each of the following hurdles, I yelled the formulas at the top of my lungs. It was like I could still see the formula written on each hurdle, even though it was gone. It was imprinted on my mind.

  As I finished the last hurdle, Nina and Issy ran over and tackled me to the ground in a massive hug. Clara stood alongside clapping and smiling.

  ‘See?’ Nina beamed. ‘You can do it!’

  A warm feeling spread across my chest and a smile stretched across my face.

  ‘You’re going to nail the exam!’ Issy laughed.

  ‘I’d better,’ I said frowning. ‘If I don’t pass, there’s a chance I will have to repeat Year 7 next year. I couldn’t bear it.’

  ‘Sounds pretty serious,’ Clara said as Nina and Issy walked off to pack up the hurdles. She frowned slightly as if she was thinking. She turned back to face me and a sinister smile flickered across her lips. ‘But, as my dad says, if there’s a will, there’s a way. There’s always a way to win, Josie. We should chat about it.’

  I wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something odd in the tone of Clara’s voice. Clara was renowned for taking anyone down in order to win. I didn’t think she was the kind of person I wanted to chat to about winning. Why would she want to talk to me? I couldn’t help feeling worried.

  I gazed up at the grassy hill as I panted, gasping for air. If there’s one thing I hated more than anything else, it was hill sprints. But with my minimal training and no equipment, my options were pretty limited. Dad allowed me to go for runs with him in the morning, or sometimes, if I had done enough studying in the afternoon, I did an extra little session by myself. Today was one of those days. I’d ridden my bike to the local park which had a massive, grassy hill behind it.

  Being a hurdler didn’t just mean I worked with hurdles and jumps all day. I also had weights sessions in the gym, yoga and fitness training. Hill sprints were part of fitness; everyone dreaded them. It involved running up a massive hill, ten times, and walking back down in between each. After ten sprints, we’d get a five-minute recovery before doing another set. It was torture. No pain, no gain, right?

  I began my next set, pushing myself up the hill as my thighs burned and my body begged me to stop. After the seventh sprint, my knees buckled and I sat down heavily in the long grass.

  ‘Don’t quit!’ I screamed. But my body wouldn’t move off the ground. This was so unlike me. Sure, hill training was hard, but I never ever gave up. And here I was, lying on the ground.

  Was I losing my edge? Had my reduced training schedule made me soft? I could feel my place in Nationals slipping away from me. I’d worked so hard all year – I had to make it.

  But then, the thought of repeating Year 7 was somehow even worse than not making Nationals. Imagine having to go through the whole year again with a completely different set of friends? Not an option.

  I breathed in deeply and stared at the
blue sky as some fat, fluffy clouds raced each other across the heavens. It reminded me of being a little kid again, lying on the trampoline with Mum and making pictures out of the clouds.

  Mum had been the one to get me into athletics. She was a really good sprinter in her day too, and she saw how much I loved to run. I started Little Athletics as a preschooler and loved it so much. I had been a really tall kid, so I would win a lot of my races, even against girls in older age groups. I think the coaches realised I had a talent because I was asked to join an elite program which was held at an Olympic training facility. By the age of nine I had discovered my true talent and passion: hurdles. We’d always done little hurdle jumps and races in training, but once I learned the proper technique, I felt like a gazelle. It made my heart soar as I learned to clear those hurdles faster and faster, leaving everyone else in my wake.

  When Mum passed away that year, my world turned upside down. It was the passion I had for sport that helped me through the pain. There was no other place I felt more comforted and happy than in athletics training. When the wind whistled past my face and my body launched over those hurdles, I felt like nothing could catch me – not even sadness.

  I sat up with energy and looked at the hill again as I shook my childhood memories from my mind. I had to focus, just like Coach Jack had said. I needed to get through these exams and smash the State Finals. Was it possible to do both?

  I lowered my head, and sprinted as fast as I could up the hill.

  Over the next week, I studied my brains out. Dad removed the TV from my room and the gaming console from Nick’s room. He said we could still have screen time, but it had to be in the living area and only for short periods. Nick threw a massive tantrum about it, of course.

  I’d been studying either at home in my room or in the library at school while the other girls in my year trained. Issy had helped me with my English work and Nina continued to coach me in Maths. I felt like I was finally getting my head around some of this stuff.

  Exam week came upon us swiftly and suddenly. The school went from a busy hive of sport to a quiet place of study. There was no training for anyone in exam week and we spent our days either in the main hall doing our exam papers or studying in the classroom.