The Running Diaries: Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three
Jimmy Springer, November 1st, 2014
“Hello?”
Hey, what’s up, superstar?
“Haha, I assume you saw the results?”
I’ve been sitting here refreshing the page all day, haha. I know being a state champ is probably getting old to you by now, but I wanted to congratulate you. And of course I wanted the details.”
“Well, thank you! Give me one sec-I just want to get in a comfortable story telling position,” Jimmy lounged on the couch, letting his sore feet hang off the edge. He repositioned the phone carefully by his ear. “Alright you ready?”
Hit me,” Matt’s voice replied.
“So, for starters the weather was way better than last year. And that got me pretty excited. Ames and I figured Zarniack would probably take it out since he likes to go out fast.”
Yeah, didn’t he take it out in like 4:43?
“Yep. Crazy fast. So I just sat back a little bit by Power ‘cause he usually runs a pretty reasonable pace. Then we went into the back hills and I could feel things slowing up a bit just like last year. I was itching to go earlier but Ames really wanted me to wait until like 800 to go before I made my move.”
I’m guessing you didn’t make it all the way to 800?
“Well, I would have but this random dude from, like, Crestwood, or something started to try and surge for the lead. And I was just, like, no way is this kid running a single step ahead of me. So then I dropped the hammer. A few guys tried to come with, but they paid the price at the end.”
Did you realize how fast you were running?
“I had no idea until I saw the clock honestly and then I just freaked out. Running 15:11 on that course just blows my mind.”
That’s awesome dude, congrats. Is that the course record?
“No, so random dude from the 70s or something has it. It’s like 15:02. Ames thinks mine is the real record though. Says they re-measured the course and found out it was short sometime in the 90s. No one’s come within like 20 seconds since.”
It’s alright man. Next year.
“Haha, yeah exactly … What’s been up with you? College still treating you well?”
Eh, it’s alright. I still get home sick sometimes, but I’ve made some new friends from the team and classes and stuff … You ever heard of Drew Perry?
“Sounds vaguely familiar.”
He ran for Lower Merion. Pretty solid. Like 44th at states last year … Well, he’s probably my best friend on the team, honestly. Such a funny kid.
“Oh nice, that’s awesome. Are you guys gonna room together next year?”
I haven’t asked him yet, but I hope so. He’s like kinda friends with his current roommate, but I think he would rather live with me, you know? So hopefully it works out.
“Sweet, I wish you guys luck.”
Thanks man.” There was a noticeable pause, the first of the conversation.
“… Well, I should probably get going. My parents and I are grabbing some dinner …”
Yeah, of course. Do your thing. We’ll talk again soon. Are you gonna be around for Thanksgiving? That’s the next time I’ll be home
“Yeah, as far as I know, I’ll be in UV.”
Alright sweet, I’ll see ya then.
“See ya then.”

Jimmy Springer, May 23rd, 2015
            Buzz … buzz …
            “Hey, Coach, do you mind if I take this real fast? It’s Matt Burke.”
            “Ah yes! Go for it,” Coach Ames said, switching lanes carefully. “Tell him I say ‘hey’.”
            “Alright, thanks,” Jimmy said before sliding his finger across his phone screen. “Hello?”
            “You son of a gun. You’re so selfish.
            “Um … why do you say that?”
            “You couldn’t just leave one gold medal for somebody else. You had to take all three.
            “Haha are results already up?”
            “I’m not sure. I was just following on LetsRace. It was blowing up.
            “Dude, how can you even read that garbage on there? Pretty sure those kids think I’m like 24 years old and on steroids.”
            “It’s actually EPO that you are on these days, although the age thing is pretty spot onBut seriously dude, congrats. That is so cool. Don’t forget me when you win the Olympics.
            “Haha thanks man I appreciate it … Coach says ‘hey’ by the way.”
            “Oh, are you guys still driving back?
            “Yeah, we got a bit of late start and then traffic kinda sucked.”
            “Ah, bummer. Well I won’t keep you then. I just wanted to check in. I should probably get back to Emily anyway. She still doesn’t completely understand ‘track nerd Matt’.
            “No worries man-how is she doing by the way?”
            “She is doing well! We’re both just excited to be done the first year and have no summer assignments or anything. I’ll tell her you asked about her.
            “Sweet sounds good … when do you come back to UV?”
            “I’ll be back at the start of June. We’ll have to get together and run when I get back so that you can walk me through all these races. Sounded epic.
            “For sure, dude. Sounds great. I’ll talk to you again soon then.”
            “See ya, Jimmy.

Chris Cline, September 2016
“Now derivatives have many applications to our daily life. For example, consider the concepts of velocity and acceleration. If you take the derivative of a position function, let’s call it ‘s of t’, then we are capturing the change of position over time, which is, of course-”
Attention please, attention please.
The school speaker system echoed through the classroom, causing the calculus professor at the front of it to jump. “Sorry about that,” he said, straightening his askew glasses on his face. “We must be having some afternoon announcements today.” Most of the class took this as their cue to pack up their bags. Weekend fever was setting in as Friday’s 7th period approached its close. Chris twirled his pencil absentmindedly between his fingers, in no rush to leave. With a difficult workout on the horizon at today’s cross county practice, his weekend was far from starting.
The 2016 West Chester North Homecoming Dance is this coming Saturday night,” a vaguely familiar voice reverberated through the increasingly restless group, “As a reminder, tickets for all students will be available for purchase during lunch periods all next week.” The talk of homecoming reminded Chris of football. Last year’s homecoming weekend had coincided with the Coatesville game making for a particularly memorable experience.    
“We are also pleased to announce that the nominations for the Homecoming Court have official been tallied. 8 girls and 8 boys have been selected from the Class of 2017 for the chance to represent their school as Homecoming King and Queen at our fall homecoming dance …
The class stilled a bit at this piece of news. A few girls in the first row sat up straight, staring attentively at the speaker. Chris smiled to himself, finding their interest somewhat pathetic. Then he remembered that his own girlfriend, Melissa Fredricks, was probably listening twice as intently and his grin disappeared.
“And this year’s court will be, for the women, Catherine Clausen, Jennifer Conner, Hannah English, Melissa Fredricks, Grace Kim, Amanda Lipson, Nora Robinson, and Gabrielle Shepard …
The class applauded appreciatively as their own Jenny Conner’s name was announced. She was of the girls who sat at the front of the room. She was blushing but smiling widely. Chris was also relieved to hear Melissa had made the court along with her best friend Gabby. Thank goodness, he thought to himself. He wasn’t sure he would be able to endure the storm of emotions that would have inevitably came as a result of Melissa being left off the list of nominees.
“… And for the boys, Stephen Bishop, Christopher Cline, Rick Collins, Robert Fischer, Anthony Hawkins, Justin Knight, Zack King, and Andrew Rooke …”
Chris jumped in surprise when he heard his name announced. Now it was his turn to receive applause as many of his classmates turned back over their shoulder to beam at him. He smiled uncomfortably and kept darting his eyes around the room, unsure of where was best to look.
The school-wide voting will be conducted next week in homeroom. Have a safe weekend everyone!” There was a small scratching noise and then the speakers went quiet. The students stared at the clock anxiously, many with their hands wrapped around their bags, ready to sprint off as soon as the bell came.
“Well congratulations to both Jenny and Chris! Quite an honor to have royalty in the classroom,” the math teacher gave a small chuckle at his own attempt at wittiness, “Now, as I was saying about derivatives-“
Riiinnnggg!!
The bell went off and the class exploded into action, leaving the surprised math teacher straightening his glasses for a second time.

Jimmy Springer, October 3rd, 2015
            “Hello?
            “Hey Matt, how’s it going?”
            “Hey Jimmy, what’s up? Everything OK?
            “Yeah … I’m good, just figured I’d call to catch up. You got some time?”
            “For you? Of course I do! Just give me a sec,” There was a brief pause where Jimmy could hear Matt walking through what sounded like a crowded room. “OK, I’m good. How you been?
            “Sorry, am I interrupting something or-”
            “Nah dude, we are just having a little party at our place. It’s no big.
            “I mean I can call back-”
            “Jimmy, it’s cool. I promise. So tell me how you’ve been? How’s school and running and everything? I saw you won at Carlisle, that was pretty solid.
            “Nah it sucked. I had no pop in my legs. Thomas doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing.”
            “He still being a prick?
            “The biggest. Like, basically, everybody on our team has quit. We aren’t even gonna have five guys available to run at leagues. Not that it would matter, Thomas can’t coach at all. He’s probably never run a step in his life.”
            “Did you ever find out why they made him the Coach?
            “Yeah, I did. Apparently, at Union Valley you get a bonus or something if you have a high performing team. And since Thomas had an in with the AD, he wiggled his way into this spot for the extra money. He saw me as a big pay day.”
            “That sucks.
            “Yeah, it does. And he’s like running me into the effing ground to try and make sure I win. Like a lot of lifting and stupid stuff. And just absurd workouts that don’t make any sense. I’m stunned I haven’t gotten injured.”
            “You should tell someone dude. Somebody who can fix this.
            “Like who? I told you, he’s got the AD in his damn pocket-”
            “Other people can do something. I’m sure if you told your parents-
            “I’m not telling them.” He said it with such conviction that Matt didn’t press it further. “Look, I should let you get back to your party.”
            “Jimmy, I told you already it’s not a big-”
            “I’ll talk to you later.”

Jimmy Springer, November 3rd, 2015
            “Hello?”
            “Hey, congrats champ! Three in a row! That’s unbelievable.
            “Yeah, I guess it’s not so bad. Wanted to run a little faster though.”
            “Well not every race can be a PR, you know? Especially when you’re injured. Is it true you have a stress fracture?
            “Stress reaction the doctor said. I’ll be missing all of indoors.”
            “Shoot, that sucks man.
            “Eh, it’s not that big of a deal. I was planning to take indoors off anyway.”
            “Really?
            “Yeah, I just need the time away from running. This year really burned me out, you know? I want to take a step back and look at my goals. I’ve been running so long … sometimes it’s hard to remember why I started.”
            “Well at least it will give you some time away from Coach Thomas.
            “Oh, shoot I didn’t tell you, did I?!” He sounded excited for the first time in the conversation.
            “No, what happened?!
            “UV fired his ass.”
            “That makes me so happy. Why did they decide to do it?”
            “I talked to my mom about the training and stuff,” Jimmy had a small layer of discomfort in his voice, “and she was not happy about what she heard.”
            “Yeah, I bet. The guy is such an idiot. Glad you finally got rid of him.” It was a testament to their friendship that Matt ignored the fact that Jimmy had refused this exact advice a month earlier. “Who are they gonna get for track?
            “No clue. Apparently they got rid of that bonus rule thing I told you about since it was pretty sketchy … So they’ll probably have a smaller applicant pool this time around.” The bitterness had returned to his tone.
            “Well maybe that means you’ll get the right kind of Coach this time around.
            “We’ll see,” Jimmy replied skeptically. “But enough about me, how are you doing? Is your season done yet?”
            “Nah, I got regionals coming up next weekend.”
“What’s regionals?”
“ It’s like our NCAA qualifiers. It’s my first time qualifying for this meet so I’m pretty amped.
            “Yeah, that’s awesome man! Do you have a good team? Like any shot at nationals?”
            “Nah, no shot at Nationals or anything like that. We are just going out looking for top 10. That would be a big day for us.
            “Sounds good, I’ll be on the lookout for any results that come from that … where do I go for NCAA results anyway?”
            “Just go to tfrrs.
            “… I’m sorry was that English?”
            “Haha it’s spelled T-F-R-R-S. It’s like track and field results something something.
            “So wouldn’t that be tfrss?”
            “Clever, Springer. You’ve gotten wiser in your old age. You’ve gotta be looking at college stuff now yourself, right?
            “Yeah, I’ve gotten a bunch of letters and recruitment crap. Haven’t really sorted through it yet … I’ve still got time.”
            “Wow, I’m surprised. I feel like it would be so exciting to have everyone coming after me like that. I got a couple letters after I medaled at states and I was super jacked up about it. I was, like, bragging to random people on the street. For you I figured it would be my letters times about a thousand so who knows what I would have been doing to random people on the street if I was you.
            “I won’t tell Emily you said that.”
            “Haha I appreciate that. You two still need to officially meet, right?
            “Yeah, still haven’t met her yet. You have to bring her back to UV and stop going up to Boston.”
            “I do. I want her to see the town and everything. Maybe over the summer. Depends on if I get this internship or not.
            “Internship?”
            “Yeah, it’s just some finance thing up in Boston. Emily’s dad put my name in for it, but I doubt I’ll get it. It’s like super competitive. But if I do, it will be huge for my long term job prospects.
            “Gosh, you sound old.”
            “Haha stay young, Jimmy. Stay young as long as you can. Life is a lot different when you get old.

Chris Cline, cont.
Chris exited class last of his peers, hoping he could avoid the post-school rush through the hallways. He was sure to get a variety of congratulations thanks to his inclusion on the homecoming court, but he didn’t want any extra attention. He was hoping for a peaceful walk to gather his thoughts in preparation for the upcoming workout. As he sauntered out of his calculus class, things looked fairly empty. He smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. Then, he readjusted his backpack on his shoulders and trudged off on the path to the locker room.
Sir Cline! Sir Cline!” Matt Schmidt was shouting dramatically in a mock British accent from the far end of the hall. “It is my highest honor to embarrass you within the confines of this most regal hallway.” He bowed dramatically into a kneeling position and rested his head on his knee. The students sprinkled in the hallway laughed.
“Can you get up?” Chris groaned, looking around.
As you wish my liege.” He popped to his feet and grinned widely.
“Thanks for that,” he remarked sarcastically as Matt joined him on his walk. There were still a few giggles hanging in the air as they cleared the first hall.
“It could have been a lot worse for you. I think Andy’s going much bigger on Ricky’s celebration … We’ve been planning for days.”
“Days?!” He replied shaking his head in amazement. “How did you even know? They didn’t announce it until today …”
“Oh, Sarah, told us. This past weekend at the game.” Matt ducked down to stop at a fountain and grab a swig of water. “Didn’t you recognize her reading the announcement?”
“Ooooh,” Chris said, realization washing over him. “That explains what she was being so weird about on the run yesterday. She kept making ‘knights of the round table’ references and I had no idea why.”
“How the heck do you work ‘knights of the round table’ into conversation? Nevermind. Don’t answer that. I want to be surprised … So are you excited about the big news?”
“I’m ecstatic,” Chris said unenthusiastically, kicking a stray pen laying innocently in his path.
“Woah, woah, what’s with the pouty face, Zoolander? Not excited to be a member of West Chester North royalty?”
“I could do without the extra attention.” They turned the corner and walked down a nearly empty path, shared only by a pretty girl with short blonde hair.
“Congrats on homecoming court, Chris,” she said beaming at him as they passed.
“Thanks.” Chris smiled politely, but otherwise paid the girl no mind and kept pacing forward. Matt turned back in outrage as the gap between the two parties widened.
“Yea, it must be terrible to have all that extra attention.” Matt said outraged. Cline looked at the junior, his eyebrows raised. “I mean look, I get it, privacy is nice, you’ve got a girlfriend, blah, blah … but would it have killed you to throw my name in there?”
“Thrown your name in there?” He responded confused.
“Yeah, you know, something like … ‘Hey, this is my friend Matt, he showed me the meaning of life’ or ‘Have you by chance met Matt? He’s got some really nice legs.’” He flexed his calf muscle to accent his argument.
“You wanted me to work that in?”
“Yeah …”
“To that two second long conversation?”
“Yeah! C’mon, dude, I thought you had my back.” Chis rolled his eyes as they continued their walk to cross country practice. As they made their final turn, the pair almost ran straight into another duo.
            “Sorry about … Andy? Is that you?” Andy Eggleston stood dressed from head to toe in a knight costume, complete with authentic looking body armor. He carried a stick between his legs that had a stuffed horse head attached to the end. To his right was Maggie Warren, Sarah’s friend who Chris had met at last week’s football game. She was, unsurprisingly, not wearing a knight costume or anything medieval for that matter.
            “I told you it could have been worse.” Matt muttered utter his breath.
            “Ah, sir Cline, The knight reached for his pocket, pulling out a small scroll of paper. “I bring to you a limerick from the-
            “Save it, Andy, he’s not in the mood for limericks.”
            “You know, I might be in the mood for one.” Chris said amused by the pure ridiculousness of the situation. “Maggie, have you heard a limerick of his yet?”
            “Yes, I think all of the second floor did.” She seemed a bit more confident in herself today. It likely helped that she didn’t have to hand him any mustard.
            “And was it really a limerick?”
            “Not even close.”
            “Then I think I would like to hear this limerick, thank you.”
            “Of course sir!” Andy cleared his throat and unrolled his scroll.

Come one, come all and hear the tale,
Of a man more manly than the Mannings,
His body fit and toned,
His weight about two Dakota Fannings,
Of all the fair lasses he’s pursued,
I’ve heard not one negative retort,
So please good nobles if you will,
Welcome Sir Cline to the homecoming court!

They all applauded as Andy took a bow. “Wow … that was actually really good.” Chris said, feeling much cheerier.
“Thanks for showing me up, Eggleston.” Matt said as they laughed again. Now a pack of four, they continued toward the locker room. Andy’s armor clunked loudly, echoing off the walls and drawing a large amount of attention in their direction. “You should have seen Chris earlier, his face was as long as this horse’s.” He tapped on the stuffed head.
“C’mon, it wasn’t that bad-”
“Laura Connelly congratulated you and all you could say was ‘thanks’. In a voice that made it sound like you got shot in the leg.”
“Wait did you get to meet Laura Connelly?” Andy asked Matt excitedly. He raised his visor curiously.
“No, Chris didn’t introduce me.”
“I mean it was like a two second conversation.”
“Well, did you at least throw his name in?”
 “No it was like two sec- and wait, why is this a thing? Am I missing something?” Chris looked at Maggie questioningly for support.
She shrugged and smiled. “I’ll never understand these two. Anyway,” she nodded to the right as they reached a T-shaped intersection, “I have to head this way … I’ll see you guys later.” She darted off leaving the boys alone. Andy led the way pushing the door to the locker room open with a gloved hand.
“How do you guys know each other?” Matt asked as they made their way to the cross country team’s section. Most of the team was already there talking and changing into their running gear.
“Who, Maggie?” Chris asked, putting his pack down. “We met at the football game last weekend. She seems nice … A little awkward. But nice.”
“Of course she was awkward,” Andy said, breathing freely as he removed his helmet. “Considering she was meeting her hero.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s your biggest fan!” Andy said, letting the armor clang to the floor as he unraveled himself. “When we used to talk crap about you and the football team-
“-And believe me, we talked a lot of crap about you and the football team-”
“-she would always stick up for you.”
He was in my geometry class and seemed nice!” Matt mimicked Maggie’s high pitched voice, And he was actually pretty smart too.” Chris shook his head, blushing slightly. He pulled a pair of gym shorts from his bag.
“I’ll take any fans I can get these days. The Drew McDermott hype is gaining some steam.”
“Dude, that booger eater isn’t any good,” Andy had finally finished removing his entire costume. “I’m sure Laura Connelly wouldn’t congratulate him on making the homecoming court.”
“Yeah and she probably won’t congratulate me either. Since you didn’t introduce me.”
“Alright, alright,” Chris said grinning widely. “C’mon you two, let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“I’m going to introduce you to the cheerleading team.” The juniors looked at him confused. “I lost that bet, remember?”
Matt and Andy looked at each other giddily. Then, Chris led the way out of the cross country team’s section toward the door.
“Wait,” Chris said holding out his arm to block the pair from advancing. “Andy, can you put some pants on this time?”
“What?” Andy paused and looked down, realizing he was wearing just his boxers. He hung his head and turned around, jogging back to his locker. “Sorry … I get excited …”

Jimmy Springer, April 20th, 2016
            “Hey … it’s Jimmy. Looks like we are playing phone tag … Didn’t get into Penn Relays … Apparently Coach never submitted the proper forms or something like that. But I’m still going down to watch. Should be a pretty awesome event … I’ll have to give you the details next time we talk. No need to call back tonight or anything, I’m sure we’ll talk soon.”

Jimmy Springer, May 19th, 2016
            “Hey, dude. Figured I might be able to catch you before you left for the meet, but I guess not … I’m actually here in Union Valley for the weekend before starting the internship up in Boston. Emily’s here with me! Hopefully you get this in time so we can all meet up for lunch or something … Best of luck at states by the way. I’m sure you’re gonna kill it like always.

Jimmy Springer, August 13th, 2016
            “Hey, what’s up?”
            “Hey dude, I’m swinging by my house to pick up stuff for school. You gonna be around tonight?
            “Nah, I can’t tonight. I got plans with some of the guys.”
            “Ah, shoot. I’m supposed to leave tomorrow morning to get back for pre-season week. What are you and the guys doing?
            “Smith is having a house party. You want to come?”
            “Wait, Smith? As in Corey Smith? Eric’s brother?
            “Yeah,”
            “That kid’s bad news, Jimmy. I’m not sure a kid like you wants to get mixed up with a kid like him.
            “Hey, man, that’s my friend. You don’t see me talking crap on Drew Perry or someone.”
            “Right, sorry, I was just-well, nevermind it’s not of my business. Would you maybe want to run tomorrow with me before I leave?
            “I don’t think that’s really gonna work … I’m probably gonna get pretty messed up tonight.”
            “Too messed up to run the next day? Isn’t that like-
            “Shit, bro! What are you my dad? Did you ride your effing high horse down from Boston?”
            “I’m sorry, man. I just thought maybe we could catch up. I haven’t seen you in forever.
            “Yeah? Well whose fault is that? Oh, so suddenly you’re back in town and I’m supposed to just drop everything for you?”
            “C’mon man that’s not fair. I’ve had a lot going on with work and Emily and … you’ll see when you get to college. Lots of things change really quickly. I’m trying my best to balance everything.
            “Well, I’ll give you one less thing to balance-”
            “Jimmy-!”

            “Good bye, Matt.”

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