Shadyn

My thoughts screamed at me from all sides, threatening me to give up...the race wasn't worth everthing, was it?
But this was my junior year of high school! Never would I run a 5k race at 7 minutes per mile again...was it too much to hope for that I could beat the slender, curly, red-head with the blue uniform in front of me? One wrong stroke of my long arms and I had rather wished I'd joined the volleybal team instead. Quickly, though, I had to make up my mind.
I was not going to be defeated in this race.
As a bystander, holding a green stopwatch in her hands, yelled out the splits for the first mile, I knew it was a few seconds faster than the last course I had run last Saturday. Now - I told myself - pick up the pace!
Breathing harder than I thought possible to stay alive, I kicked up my legs, trying to focus on the pattern of my breathing or arms. Anything but the cramps in my side or my aching body hungering for air.
Finally, I was a less than a few feet behind the girl with the blue uniform deep red long distance spikes. For a moment, I thought about my own gold and white ones contrasting with my maroon uniform. Miss Patriotic had the better look of us two. The finish line had no preference, though, and if she did lose well, at least she coordinated better.
Come on Jenna! Automatically, I opened up my stride at the third mile marker, as I heard the voice of my coach urging me - pleading for me to kick it out. There - I triumphantly looked to my side and gave a grin to the assistant coach as I passed his way near a set of picnic tables. "Quarter mile left!!" and "Run like you mean it!!" were screamed in the our ears as we sprinted down the last stretch admist a towering hill and the shade of several magnolias to our left.
Unexpectedly, my side began killing me and I couldn't breathe. Gasping, I threw my hands into the air. Knowing my form was getting thrown off and the girl now had a severe advantage over me, I gritted my teeth and fixed my eyes on the top of the hill. I saw the finish line in the distance, it was almost over.
Just a few more seconds, and it would be all a memory....
"Oh no you don't" my mind screamed out as I saw the royal blue jerseyed girl open up her stride as soon as I slowed down. Who had more strength? More power? It all came down to energy, but mine had been all but killed in the middle of the second mile. What was I to do?
"God...." halfway up the hill, I felt myself slipping, but it had to be my imagination, Miss I-can't-stop-kicking was way ahead of me, almost nearer the finish line than I thought possible. It was now or never.
"It's not about me. Give..." exhaustion kicked in, I had to make this! I just had to! "me strength, Lord," Words spoken in my heart like that usually weren't so life-changing, but as soon as I said them I thought about something else.
Shadyn. The raven-haired girl I had known for fifteen years, who'd died of leukemia the night of my sixteenth birthday. My dearest friend. My cousin. She had made districts in cross country her freshmen year, and ever since then I had competed with her to be the best. Until last year, when she recieved a time of 28:45 instead of the time she had so recently achieved the year before : 22:23. "Not only was I racing for God, Jenna," she had told me one of those dark nights I had gone to her in that lonely hospital room with only Jesus as a comfort. "I raced for all those children who couldn't race,"
"Shadyn, do you want me to..."
She looked at me with her deep hazel/grey eyes and laughed, "Run for me, Jen, run for all of those children in broken families, the dying ones, and the kids who never knew love. Jesus wants you to use your abilities....to glorify....his Name. Run......for Jesus....live....for him too."
Five seconds later, I made it through the finish line, finishing second out of all sixty girls who showed up at the unusual Invitational meet.
Breathing a prayer, I found my teammates and rescued the water from the school van, bringing the bottles of Aquafina out for everyone to enjoy.
"Great job, you did awesome!"
I turned around, the girl I had been fighting so hard to beat the whole race now had come up to me, a long-sleeve light warm-up jacket now over her track uniform.
"You did too, I don't think I could've pushed without you being there the whole time..."
Unexpectedly, she held out her hand as if to shake mine. "My coach told me."
"Hm?" These words coming from a perfect stranger, baffled me. It took me awhile, but...."Shadyn you mean?"
"Yeah, Coach said she won Districts two years ago, her time was so low she could've made it to States! I was excited to race against her this year...when I heard..."
"She's gone." Awkwardly, we parted, but I felt sort of renewed, knowing that Shadyn had been remembered, knowing that no matter what I did now it would all be to the glory of God. It's not about me.