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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#235: Running Wild

Every day, countless people around the world participate in some form of running, from jogs to ultramarathons. And that simple act of putting one foot in front of another is a deceptively meaningful one; it’s something that transcends pure sport, and that can be used as a metaphor for various life experiences. 


Running has a powerful psychological effect, as it often mirrors or influences our mental state. Just think about how often it pops up as an image in literature, to express a character's behavior or mindset (think running on empty, moving in circles, heading towards trouble, escaping problems, racing against time, and so on). This week, let's explore the theme of running and some of its interpretations in storytelling.

This week's prompts

Start your story with one or two characters going for a run.

Adventure – 37 stories

Write a story in which a character is running away from something, literally or metaphorically.

Angst – 123 stories

Make a race an important element of your story.

Narrative – 44 stories

Write about a character who suddenly cannot run anymore.

Character – 43 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “You can’t run forever.”

Dialogue – 65 stories

Stories

“The Restoration of Evie” by Lisa Lange

Submitted to Contest #235

Evie pulled a strand of hair off the sweat on her forehead and drank from the water bottle. Her legs wobbled. Her feet burned. She felt ready to collapse in the fountain. She filled her mouth with M&M’s from the bag her dad handed her. “I did it!” she said, before swallowing. “I knew you would, Kiddo.” Her dad beamed. She was thirty-two. She’d be his kiddo at thirty-five, at forty. Or maybe, it was because she was single. They were all the family they had. Evie came up yesterday to run the 5k because her dad had gotten forty pledges, b...

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“Run, rabbit, run” by Mari AL

Submitted to Contest #235

****1) I hope you enjoy this twisted tale! 2) It starts slow but then...3)I tried my best to NOT make it too gory, so don't worry - it won't turn your stomach****"Run, rabbit, run," that's what I say every time I start chasing them. It’s a race between predator and prey. It’s a game I have perfected over the years, but it was here where it all started. It happened ten years ago, and even though I have had many other experiences since then, this is one of my fondest memories. Today I had some news that made me relive the whole event, in my he...

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“Beneath the Shadow of Wind” by Gail Ormsby

Submitted to Contest #235

Raindrops lashed against the window, mirroring the storm brewing inside Elias. His once-gleaming running shoes lay abandoned by the door, a stark reminder of the cruel twist fate had dealt him. A few months ago, Elias was a blur of motion on the track, a symphony of wind and pounding feet. Now, his legs felt like leaden weights, his breath a ragged wheeze. Elias, a man carved from the wind, his lungs accustomed to the rhythmic song of his own strides, woke up one morning to a chilling silence. Not the quiet of a snowfall nor the hush of a st...

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“The Very Last Step” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #235

Life is a circle that cannot be denied. A hungry mouth devouring its own tail. We come into this world alone and we die alone. We arrive helpless and vulnerable, and at the end, we are rendered into the very same state. And as the last of our strength falters, we are at last reminded of the temporary gift that is life. A miracle that we housed within our body, but that could never be sufficiently contained. The light of life spills forth from within those who are not too afraid live well. When someone lives well, life breaks free of them and...

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“The Lost Run ” by Hannah Lloyd

Submitted to Contest #235

Warning: This story deals with sensitive topics and subjects of loss and grief. I had to stop running.  Most people stop running because they can’t find the motivation anymore, or maybe because their life gets so busy that they couldn’t fit a simple run into their schedule. That wasn't the case with me. I glanced over at the alarm clock on my bedside table, the constant “tick-tock” blending into the simple lines of meaningful nothingness. The even knots of the mahogany seemed to sing along with the tick, tick, tock of the clock. I p...

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“The Last Run ” by Aryana Moonsong

Submitted to Contest #235

This was it. No more. She just couldn’t do it anymore. She had been doing it for so long that she didn’t even remember why she had started running in the first place. Her body could easily go on forever but her heart, her mind and her soul were tired, so very tired. But day after day, her feet kept on the same path, running away from her responsibilities, her life. She didn’t know how else to live anymore. Running had become all she did, all she knew, but she wanted to change, she needed to change. She felt like she would die if she kept goi...

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“The Unflappable Flush” by Chris Jones

Submitted to Contest #235

This story is about a disabled superhero. Being disabled myself, I think it would be nice if disabled people have their own superhero! “Crikey, my legs feel like overcooked linguini this morning!” Joe exclaimed as he tried to get out of bed, only to flop unceremoniously onto the floor. I peered down at the pathetic heap of duvet and despair that was once the mighty Joe “The Flush” Johnson. The fastest dude around, who could move so quickly he was practically invisible, reduced to a moaning mess tangled in his bedsheets. Just yesterday t...

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“Overachiever” by Maisey Mansson

Submitted to Contest #235

Be the best or be absolutely nothing. Anything in between is a waste of time. My mother once told me this. She was fifty-eight, and Catherine Jenkins was still nothing. She must have made her choice. You can stand in the spotlight, or you can disappear. You can be welcomed with deafening applause, or you can leave without a single person noticing. It is up to you to decide, and some just don’t have it in them to make the choice. They let the world make it for them. That is how people become the one thing I fear the most- average.  I ga...

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“Thank You for Your Disservice” by Fredrick Neri

Submitted to Contest #235

 This story, like the last one contains references to child abuse in the various forms that is done to kids not old enough to read this. - I couldn’t trust the grown-up because he was a grown-up. So, I was scared when he asked me a question. Then the grown man by the gate looked with his old-beard and priests-towel asked me “And who are you, young lady?” I stuttered a bit and was quiet in case I got the question wrong because then he’d go on correcting me forever and ever, and if I tried to say something about it he’d get mad...

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“Stroke By Stroke” by Cynthia Crawford-Roach

Submitted to Contest #235

When I woke up that morning, I couldn’t speak.I called to my daughter to wake up for school, but the words came out in a jumble. Why couldn’t I speak properly? I stood at the island, feeling the cold, smooth surface of the counter beneath my hands, trying to figure out what was wrong with me. We were in the middle of major renovations: no sink, no cupboards, our living room was now a partially constructed bathroom and dining room, everything was upside down. Our house was a construction zone.I had just turned fifty in June. I had no health p...

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“Of Blood and Metal” by Brad Weatherley

Submitted to Contest #235

Amerdriak stumbled for a moment and her pet Gorgia ran to her side to help her to her feet. She looked back into the dark forest of glowing silver trees and translucent black and purple orchids. The moon beams shined through the canopy of the forest illuminating everything around her, there was little that she could do to hide from her pursuers, but she tried her best to make a quick escape; leaving behind as little of a trail to track as she knew how. It was all she could do after infuriating a clan of spider people known as the Araneae. H...

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“Catching Up” by Season C

Submitted to Contest #235

Well shit. The code officer was right. When I arrived late that afternoon after work the house was a hot mess as usual. All the hard work I did to get the municipality off her back was undone in less than three months. My little sister had stacks and stacks of unused building materials piled everywhere, even under her house and deck. Vinyl siding, wood, old metal railings, stacks of shingles—all of it in the wide open, baking in the sun. Her recently wrecked blue car sat in the driveway up on a jack with the front passenger side wheel of...

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“Requiem for Ellie” by Dave Bede

Submitted to Contest #235

“My great grandfather was an Okie,” Tom explained. “Think he was nineteen when his family went out to California. He met Great-Gram at a refugee camp, if you can believe that.” He stopped and chuckled. “Family legend has it when they were picking lemons together, she kept looking over and finding his ladder right by hers. Grandma was two when he went off to war, I guess.” “No doubt she never saw him again after that,” Ellie said. Her eyes were dry for the first time in an hour at least, Tom judged. “Oh, no, he was one of the lucky ones w...

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“On the run” by Eddie McKenzie

Submitted to Contest #235

The room was just as he had left it mere hours ago. Almost. The haphazardously stacked yet untouched pile of books remained in their alarming lean, just as he had left them. The heavy curtains were just as drawn as he had left it, ensuring no prying rays of light had the chance to creep in and invade the space. Why, he had even allowed for a sigh of relief when he observed, upon his return, the little scrap of paper fluttering from the doorframe where he had wedged it. But that did not account for the accursed thing that set his blood to i...

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“Setting off sirens” by Lisa Smitten

Submitted to Contest #235

“You can’t keep running forever,” he yelled after me. The scariness of stopping for him one more time made my blood boil. My rushing adrenaline surged faster, propelling my curvy legs as far as they could from Starbucks.  Some days I ran for fun. Some days I ran out of anger. Days like today? I ran out of necessity. I continued jogging past the bus stop where I made eye contact with him across the street just a few minutes earlier. He could have been anyone, but his unkempt, moppy brown hair gave him away. When he smiled, his gr...

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$250

Prize money

312

Contest entries

121

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 02, 2024 EST

Won by Kajsa Ohman 🏆

Title: KILLER IN THE WILLOWS

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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