A few days ago we were doing strides. I heard Clark say "Oh, another tick," and saw him pluck the thing off his leg. Sam said, "What are you, a clock?"
Over half the girls' team is injured. Stress fracture, weak ankles, shin splints, more shin splints, fractured ankle, hamstring pull, tendinitis, tendinitis, getting over scarlet fever. I know: scarlet fever, ridiculous. Every day I run I'm surprised that I don't break down like a car with a faulty fan belt.
We ran an 800. Then four 400s. Then four 200s. I don't know! It's the best of all possible worlds.
Doing track makes me feel virtuous and guilty simultaneously--virtuous because it's exercise, guilty because I go home and eat four bowls of ice cream from exhaustion. Virtuous because it makes me drink so much water, guilty because I never wear sunscreen. Virtuous because it's like punishment that I bear. Guilty because I shouldn't be allowed to enjoy punishment so much.
Who, Me?
- Leela
- Blogging it up since 2006. High school was never so needlessly documented.
Outdated Links!
- A Dress A Day
- Childhood Flames
- COACD
- Elyse Sewell
- Fashionista
- Four Four
- Heat Eat Review
- I Suwannee
- If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats
- Indexed
- Jenna Fischer
- Jezebel
- Julia Allison
- Julie Powell
- Klaxonklaxoff
- Kottke
- Magic Molly
- On The Runway
- Pinakothek
- Popwatch
- Strange Maps
- TasteSpotting
- Tess Lynch
- The Coveted
- The Hype Machine
- The Sartorialist
- Things I Bought That I Love
- This Recording
- What Comets, Stars, and Moons are all about
Cast of Characters
Abigail is my sister. Four years older but I feel her age, or she feels mine. We were arguing children, but now that she's away in college we miss each other. She and I have very similar hazel eyes.
Alice, tall, very pretty but doesn't like to be told so. Huge fan of FDR and Bob Barker. Sprinter (a good one) and sleepy-hilarious.
Alma swims. It is her whole life, and she does it very, very well. I sat behind her in ninth-grade geometry and 11th-grade analysis, and now in front of her in calculus. She makes me feel less stressed.
Amelia has a feline beauty that used to make me a little nervous. She has an intimidatingly pure singing voice and is incapable of recognizing awkward silences, as she can fill up any space with a bland anecdote.
Andrew is a better friend than several girls I could name, even if he does always try to steal my lunch. I have known him since sixth grade. He is the coolest person on Scholastic bowl.
Anna, a distance runner with a put-together appearance. She walks a fine line, as a teenage girl, between self-confidence and self-deprecation. Smarter than me.
Ben carries off Mormonism as if it were a fedora--not many people have it here, and you shouldn't wear it in school, but he implements it in style. Handsome.
Braxton is a boy of the kind that does not belong in semi-rural Virginia. He listens to my kind of music, loves the work of Baz Luhrmann, and runs his own film-and-photography business at eighteen. He has a quick, glinting smile.
Christina designs yearbook spreads with stunning ease. She is bubbly, but gets her feelings hurt easily. Being her friend has given me lots of practice with flattery and bolstering.
Clark is one of the distance boys (others are Sam, Nick and Stringbean). Funny in a cold way, very bright, corn-fed handsome.
Claudia is a six-foot-one junior, blond and athletic, pretty but not threateningly so. The most outgoing person I've ever met. Sunshine-y.
Dara has been quiet for all the years I've known her (six). When she does talk I have learned to listen. A deep person, who feels things, deeply.
Elisa belongs to Alice's group and has become my friend through repeated exposure. A cheerleader, and sometimes her energy floors me. Tremendously uncomfortable.
Eric has flaming red hair and a personality so outgoing it comes into a room before he does. He has no notion of personal space. He brightens my every day with his tomfoolery.
Emma lives up the street and though we have been consistent friends since tenth grade, talking to her never becomes less of a chore. I don't hold it against her; our minds just don't mesh.
Kate and I commiserate. She has always been sweet to me, even in drama class freshman year when I was something of a thundercloud, and I am forever grateful. She is generous.
Katherine, my very Best since age 7. That's ten years. We get mistaken for sisters a lot, but she's more polite and studies and does not procrastinate and is prettier. I love her.
Kevin is the kid who, when you mention his name, gets groans of commiseration. I guess he's talkative and irritating. His Jimmy Stewart impression is pretty good, though.
Laura is a yearbook friend. She has a large collection of very cool skinny jeans and sweaters. Her hair feels like silk. Sometimes I think she has no business being friends with me, but I'll talk to her while I can.
Lily and I were friends in middle school, then we weren't. Different social circles. Now, we interact regularly but it is not an imperative, and we exist on the surface.
Lisa, soccer player, band geek, never afraid to push for something she wants. Green eyes, dark hair, good buddy in a whine-fest.
Marie, morbid and can't be understood, not to say I don't try. Not at all like me.
Madison is pretty, and she knows it. She used to be one of my best friends but we no longer speak; the drift was amicable.
Michael loves George Strait. He is a lifetime member of the NRA. He starts stories with "so, I was just chilling, in my tree stand." Also: kind, polite, pleasant to be around.
Nick is totally unapproachable. I don't know why he's on this list. Probably that he runs cross country. Long-distance runners fascinate me.
Sam, a distance runner with a huge ego. Sings and sings. Nice.
Samuel: a boy I used to crush upon. He graduated. He has a sister, Sally, who sometimes talks to me, but I have trouble carrying on a conversation because she is so similar to him.
Sarah's confrontational nature used to grate on me, but now I find it funny--she just wants things to work properly. Excellent at tennis. Sometimes she wears so much mascara that her lashes look like spider legs.
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