By this point in her workout, Kate was getting worn down. After all, she'd only really run two 5k's, and the first one had nearly killed her. The second went marginally better. Since then, she'd decided that focusing on building up her stamina was a much better investment than simply trying to go faster. That didn't stop her from setting up these little competitions in her mind, however, and now she was starting to feel the effects of those extra seconds. The rubbery sensation in her legs was gone; replaced by something less ambiguous. Put another way, her calves were on fire, and her ankles were starting to complain. Tenth of a mile by tenth of a mile, that ubiquitous runner's struggle -- a war of wills between one's desire to break through into new territory and the instinct to stop doing something before appendages pop, break, or tear -- raged on. Her breathing was getting ragged, and suddenly it was something of a struggle to maintain her posture. And then she became aware of a guy. Kate had never seen him around the gym before, but …show more content…
These days, it felt like the one man in her life was more than she'd been meant for. Of course this wasn't the first moment Richard, Kate's husband, had run through her mind. No, frustrating notions of all their hollow and passive aggressive discussions recently had been plenty of fiery motivation to nudge her through the middle of that third mile. Throughout the day, the couple had been exchanging ambiguous communication via text message since it was apparently some kind of an intrusive ordeal for him to call her at some point during the day when it was convenient. The two worked opposing schedules -- he worked third shift, and she worked normal-people hours -- and so there were often days like this where their marriage existed only in a few short and impersonal messages. It was lonely, but she had plenty to keep her busy between work and