Catching Flies!

“Don’t overextend or hyperflex your left knee!” Melissa Reynolds thought, as the loud race gun sounded at the start of Sunken Meadow State Park’s grueling three mile cross country Season Opener. Dr. Thompson’s stern voice and warning still reverberated in her ears as she gingerly headed out on this course. He had performed two surgeries on her left knee already and cautioned about a third if she wasn’t careful. The last thing Melissa wanted to do was to ‘blow out” her left knee again and have to undergo another eight months of painful and grueling physical rehabilitation. Right now, and as far as she could tell, she was feeling just fine and she did not notice any particularities in her strong and long stride. As 2022’s New York Region Six High School Champion and course favorite, she looked forward to regaining her prior glory and continuing her winning ways.

Melissa passed twenty- eight familiar faces as she pushed herself to the top of “Hernia” , a nickname runners gave this gruesome and unforgiving mountain of a hill before them. It was one which crested quickly and which quickly plummeted into an almost complete free fall to a deep valley below. It was here, last year, that Melissa had a simple misstep which caused her to cascade head over heels, excruciating pain, and endless physical therapy. However, today, she managed this section of the course without incident and pushed herself further to the more demanding part of this treacherous terrain.

It wasn’t until she had ascended “Cardiac” , an almost vertical , two hundred yard sand covered hill, that she realized that she had now fully recovered from her prior knee injury. Although she was experiencing some residual stiffness, and some general lack of stamina, she knew that she was now back and it would only be a matter of time before she would be back in true form.

Each runner who actually made it to its summit, experienced a kind of “euphoria” since it was the course’s highest summit and the remainder of the course zigged and zagged downhill. Thereafter , It was a time to kick in the "after-burnings” and rest up those tired legs for the bug infested ½ mile horseshoe at the end of the race.

By now, Melissa figured she had passed some eighty-five runners competing in this season’s opening qualifier . She figured that if she wasn’t in the lead, she at least had to be very close to the front of the pack. She pushed herself hard through “Death Valley”, a sun baked open wheat field, which sat just before the entrance to the wide pond and woods which encompassed the middle of the ½ mile horseshoe.

In Melissa's mind, it was this ½ mile horseshoe where this particular race was won or lost. As runners reached this point, while huffing and puffing after two and a half miles of pain and sweat, they were immediately met with a one hundred yard dark haze of tiny gnats which involuntarily invaded each runner’s throat and nostrils. For many, it was an insurmountable insult to their respiratory system, causing them to gag uncontrollably for long periods of time . In fact, it had been known to force some runners out of the race altogether. But for Melissa, it was no obstacle at all. She sucked in these pesky gnats, and expelled their dead corpses with a complete indifferent rhythmic precision. When it came to racing, Melissa let nothing stand in her way! She continued her push through this area and saw no one ahead of her at this point.

There was a thicket to her left, which prohibited her from seeing the pond or the remaining final turn, the last two hundred yard straight run and finish line. She pushed even harder to get to the approaching clearing to see where she stood in this race.

After finally reaching the clearing, Melissa saw a solitary runner ahead of her. It was “Sinbad”, a prior neighborhood friend who was nicknamed this, by several other cross country runners; due to her shiny bald scalp and large gold earrings.

Although Sinbad started each race with a red bandana tied around her head, by race’s end, it always blew off since there was no means to adequately attach it to her scalp. Melissa had heard that Sindad’s leukemia was in remission for the third straight month and that she had been medically cleared to race. With over one hundred contestants in attendance, she was just not aware that she was competing in this event.

The last she had heard, “Sinbad’s” parents had moved to yet another subsidized low-income Long Island apartment in order to be closer to the hospital where she received her extensive and expensive medical treatments. She never cared about what people thought or said about her appearance . She merely loved to run and compete in these races. Although she never won, she was an excellent runner, and had beaten Melissa many times while they were children . Her treatments and medical condition often left her too weak to realistically compete or finish a race. However, today, things appeared to be miraculously different.

As Melissa approached her from behind, she could see that her friend now labored and that her breathing had become rather shallow. She further noticed that she had begun to drag her right leg a bit, and had now developed an annoying calf cramp. But, as her old friend looked back, she could see the determination in Sinbad’s eyes and her clenched jaw demonstrated her burning desire to push through her debilitating pain.

With only one hundred yards to go,and based upon Melissa’s casual observation , it was doubtful if Sinbad would make it. Her breathing had deteriorated considerably now and her antalgic gait had become way more pronounced with each passing stride. Yet, her dearest friend hobbled along and remained on her feet; fueled solely by pure determination.

“What do I do?” Melissa thought to herself, as she paced herself some thirty yards behind her old friend. “If I grab her and help her cross this finish line, she will never forgive me, yet I don’t want to see her fall again. No, no… it can’t end this way again. It just can’t!”

Carefully, Melissa positioned herself some ten yards behind her and remained at this pace and distance. She listened, in horror , as she overheard her friend wheeze and cough in uncontrollable fits and spasms. She also acknowledged the roar of the crowd, whose applause grew louder and louder, with each passing stride. She spied Sinbad’s mother, Mrs. Johnson, and her two sisters , mouths wide open, standing at the finish line and jumping up and down. Their hands proudly waving to their exhausted sister before them. Melissa glanced briefly toward Sinbad’s shocked classmates, whose faces beamed with excitement and joy, as one of their own, was incredibly now leading this race..

“Push it , Sarah, push it…you can do this ! Just a few more feet!” Melissa whispered privately to herself, as she prayed that her oldest and dearest friend might endure and finish this contest.

Melissa was bent over and was catching her breath when Mr. Joshua Stephens, her cross country coach, approached her from behind. Her left knee still felt fine and did not bother her. .

“Damn it, girl. That was a qualifier you just lost! “ Mr. Stephens snapped, with complete disbelief and utter disappointment.

“Yeah, it was, Mr. Stephens….there’ll be others.” Melissa replied with a subtle smirk on her face.

“So what the f- happened to you out there?” Mr. Stephens continued, both hands now sternly on his hips and seeking at least some explanation from his all star runner.

“I was catching flies, Mr. Stephens, that’s all. Just catching flies.”

She said this as she gave Sara and her family a quick glance and smile as she headed toward the distant parking lot where her school’s empty bright yellow bus sat . Although history might record it differently, Melissa felt like a winner today. She had finally realized that there was more to life than just winning races and that some notable success stories didn't involve winning at all!