Page 118 of In the Long Run
Gen rolls her eyes and her lips twitch and she’s so fuckingbeautiful.She can try as hard as she wants, but that smile she’s hiding is mine.‘You were very thorough.’
‘I do have excellent attention to detail.’
‘Isn’t that why you got your fancy new job?’
‘Fancy’ is being generous.More like I got lucky that no one else wanted it, but I don’t care.Consider me Melbourne’s newest official resident reporting for duty.
‘What are we talking about?’Violet and Anneke saunter over from the bag drop area.Some of the Army runners trail after them, along with a bunch of other Croissants and Kilometres members.
‘Knox’s new job,’ Gen says.
‘I’m so excited that you’re staying.’The warmth in Violet’s tone makes me smile.
‘Me too.Now you can do the Bay to Bridge run with us in February,’ Anneke adds.
Violet’s nod is enthusiastic.‘Skyscrapers to Sandbanks looks good too.’
‘I want to try some trails.And then we should go international.Queenstown has a great-looking marathon.Go for a run, enjoy the wine … It’s the whole package,’ Anneke says.
‘Maybe we should get through the first one and then decide if we want to do any more?’Gen suggests.
There’s my girl.The perfect voice of reason.
‘Please.’Anneke slings an arm around Gen’s shoulders and the other around mine, wedging herself between us.She smells like sunscreen.‘We’re going to love this.I’m not giving up Croissants and Kilometres Sundays.’
‘I’m not even a little bit worried about the run.’Violet adjusts her compression arm sleeves.
I raise my eyebrows.
‘Okay.Not true.I’m quite worried.It’s a really long way, andI like my toenails.Also, what if I can’t do this?Do you think we should’ve done longer than the thirty-five in training?’
Gen nudges me in the side.‘Say something inspirational,’ she stage-whispers.
I choose what’s on my mind, something that gets easier every day.‘I’m not worried.’
They all stare back at me.
‘What?’I ask.
‘Inspirational speeches are usually more than three words, babe,’ Gen says, laughing.‘I mean, it was a great mission statement, but where’s your supporting points?Is this how you’d motivate your soldiers?’
She’s been calling me ‘babe’ all week.I love how comfortable this new life already is.
I try again.‘Hey, so, remember that time we spent a million hours running along the Esplanade?As a club and as individuals?All those early mornings when we left our warm and cosy beds to freeze our asses off in the cold and the wind and the rain?And when we lugged our tired asses up and down hills?We showed up.We put one foot in front of the other.We’ve done the work.Today’s our victory lap.’
Violet nods.‘I like that.’
‘Me too,’ Anneke says, as music blasts out of the big speakers that stand in towers on either side of the start line.
‘Come on,’ I say when I spy Yeti waving at us from near the back of Wave 3, where he’s standing with the rest of the marathon runners from our club.He looks tired but I bet he blitzes the course.‘Let’s make sure we all start together.’We won’t stay together on the course, but we made a pact to kick it off as a club.
The air fills with anticipation and electricity as everyone follows the warm-up led by some guy who used to be a football star but now owns a bunch of gyms.The energy is addictive andso are the easy jokes all the members of Croissants and Kilometres share as we shuffle forward, shoulders bumping and high fives aplenty.You’d think we were finishing the run by the way we’re already celebrating, but this moment is the culmination of so many things.New friendships, new relationships and a new belief in ourselves.By learning to be strong together, we’ve discovered new strengths within ourselves.
And how fucking lucky am I that I found the love of my life?
There’s a bang as the starting gun is fired and the start runners take off.
‘Ready, Halliday?’I ask as we pick up our pace, easing into a jog that will soon become a run.
