Coach

"Sure, I can give you a ride," Naomi quickly offered. "In fact, her come our last two missing athletes. Lets mount up and head on over."

It wasn't a long drive over to where the State meet was being held. On the way Naomi and I talked about everyone else's chances. Nobody else was really expected to even break the top ten, although Maria did have a realistic chance of breaking through if she had a good day. She had done much better in practice than she ever did in the meets. Her style to had improved a lot in the past few weeks so she might surprise everyone with a good showing in the shot putt and discuss. The rest of the girls had just made states and would be happy to get out of the early preliminary heats.

We got to the track and Naomi finally mentioned my race.

"You really have a chance today to show everyone what you have. Stay loose and remember what we talked about. She hates pressure and if you can stay on her shoulder she will burn herself out. Now lets go get them." Naomi reached over and gave me a hug. She held it a little longer than expected and I found myself feeling both aroused and uncomfortable. When she let go we got out of the Miata and headed over to the track, where everyone else was already waiting.

One thing about States, once you found out when your first heat was, there was a lot of time to think and worry about everything. It turned out my races wouldn't even start for over an hour, so I spent my time keeping loose and watching my teammates. Two went down in their first heats, which really was not unexpected. One ran the 100 and she came in 4th in here heat, missing advancing to the next heat by half a stride. The other fell in her hurdles heat and came up scraped up and crying. We all told her how well she had done, and since she was only a freshman that she had three more years to come back and do better.

Anne did better in her first heat. She ran the 200 and 400 for the team and she had made states in the 400. She set a personal best in her first heat and took second. Coach Lopez and Naomi were busy congratulating her when they called me for my first heat.

Naomi came running over, "Stay loose and just qualify. No trying to beat the field, unless they are holding you back. See her, she is the fastest in this heat, besides you. Get on her shoulder and stay there. Top four go onto the next heat. Just be in those top four."

I stretched out for the last time and got to the starting line. My adrenaline was pumping and my heart was pounding. It felt good to finally be starting. I was sort of lost in thought when I suddenly realized the gun had just gone off. Time to run.

I ran the race just like Naomi planned it. I stayed on that one girls shoulder from start to finish, not worrying about the girl who took off at the start and tried to be the rabbit, she tired and finished next to last. The girl I was using to pace me tried to shake me down the stretch, but I easily kept up with her and had to actually hold back to keep from passing her. I crossed the finish line feeling fresh and strong. The girl I had been following was gasping for breath.

"Great job," Coach Lopez came up and patted my shoulder. I was looking for Naomi. Where was she? As if to read my mind Coach said, "Naomi is over watching your prime competitor get ready. Her races starts," a gun went off, "now."

I watched her run, or least what I could watch, from where I was standing on the infield. She was fast and smooth and quickly left the rest of her heat in her dust. But I did notice, she slowed toward the end of the race and the field was catching her. She had started out fast like she always did but was it she ran out of gas at the end, or just eased off because she had such a big lead. I tried to see her at the finish line to see if she was sucking air. Unfortunately the rest of her teammates got in the way.

Anne came running over to tell us Maria had just surpassed her personal best by a mile and was sitting in third after the first throw. We all went over to congratulate Maria. Both Anne and I had at least another half hour before we needed to be at the starting line again.

Maria was a big girl, almost 6 feet tall and probably about 200 pound, but most of it was muscle. If it wasn't for her huge breasts she could easily have been mistaken for a guy. Her short hair and bad case of acne made her look even more masculine. I had often felt sorry for her because she had few friends before she joined the track team. But the team had sort of rallied around her and even though she was still very shy, she no longer was the butt of jokes around the school. We wouldn't tolerate people picking on her, and she had learned that her size and strength could be an asset when people tried to pick on her.

I ran up to her and jumped into her arms and gave he a big hug. "I knew you could do it." She gave me a big bear hug, which almost squeezed the breath out of me. "Hey easy girl, I still have races to run today."

She put me down and we all congratulated her, and Coach Lopez remind everyone she still had two more throws. But it was great to see that big smile on Maria's face.

The rest of the day went great. Anne actually made it to the semis in her heats and set two more personal bests. The day was coming to a close and Maria's last round of throws and my finals race were going to be going on about the same time.

I was starting to get tight, more from nerves than anything else. I had seen my competition and she was good. She had won her other heats, easily. I kept following Naomi's advice and lay back, coming in second each time, but with a lot to spare. Only in the semis had I had to push, and even then, if I had wanted to I could have taken it at the end. Now it was coming down to the finals and I was nervous, not just about winning the race, but about what would happen afterwards. Through most of the day it had been far back in my mind. But now as I looked up at my mother in the stands, I was worried about what I had gotten myself into.

Maria's last throw was ready to go. I still had five minutes before my race was to go. She was still in third, not being able to get past her first throw, even if the other two girls had pushed farther out in front of her. I walked up to her; she looked even more nervous than I was. "Hey there champ, you know you can do this, you have thrown farther than anyone here in practice. You aren't going to let these girls take this from you are you? You aren't going to let them beat you? You know you can do it, so lets kick some butt."

Maria towered over me but as she looked down at me it was as if she was looking up at me. She nodded and this look of determination came over her face. She walked right by Coach Lopez and picked up the shot. She steadied herself and looked around one more time. She looked at the girl who was in first and then she closed her eyes, set up and put everything she had it in. As soon as she let it go everyone knew it was going to be good, but none of us knew how good. She not only put it past everyone else, but she set a state record. The two other girls still had to throw, but from the cheers and everyone jumping up and down, and from the look on the faces of the two girls who had been ahead of her, everyone knew Maria had it won.

My race was being called and I headed over to the starting line to finish my stretching. She was standing there looking over the other competitors with a look of smugness on her face. She was paying particular attention to the girl who won my semis heat. She thought this girl was her primary competition. And she had been all season, at least until near the end of the season. If Naomi's plan worked out right she would not be thinking about me until she found me on her shoulder when she tried to pull away from the pack. Only then would she realize that it was me, not anyone else, that she should have been worrying about.

Naomi came over to talk to me one last time. She was quiet and reserved. "Just do what we planned. Hell, that girl doesn't even know you exist. She is underestimating you. She doesn't think you are a threat. We are going to show her that she is wrong, very, very wrong. Now, just stay on her shoulder until the stretch and then blow by her. This race is yours girl." She held my shoulder and looked into my eyes. Her eyes told me I would win this race, for both of us. For all our hard work. I wanted nothing more than to win this race for Naomi.

We got to the starting line and I could tell everyone was tight. People were having problems getting still. Nervous energy kept limbs and bodies moving as we waited for the starter to give us the signal. Only then did we get still, that is until the starts gun sounded.

She was off like she always was, in front. I knew she wouldn't chase a rabbit if one went, but she would lead the pack. I tucked in behind her and just followed, with the rest of the pack behind me. About halfway through the first turn one of the girls broke past us. I knew her and had beaten her earlier in the year. She had gone out way to early and I knew she couldn't keep that pace up, but just to make sure she didn't get big a lead the rest of the pack picked up the pace also.

Down the backstretch everyone seemed to be finding her stride. She looked over her shoulder, past me, and at the girl who had won my semi. She still didn't know I existed and it was starting to make me mad. Coming out of the second turn our rabbit was still 10 yards in front of everyone, but you could see she was starting to tire. We had made up 10 yards in the turn. I knew when we hit the straight she would make her move. Not a big one, but enough to put a few strides between her and the pack. When she made the move I went with her.

At first it didn't bother her to have me there. On some of the tapes I had seen other girls had done this, but she always lost them on her next move, coming out of the next turn. We ran together, I felt good and we were going fast. I didn't even hear the crowd that was cheering us on. I was just focusing on staying on her shoulder and so far it had been surprisingly easy.

Coming out of the next turn she made the move that was supposed to lose me. "Sorry but I am still here," I said to myself when I saw that she realized she hadn't lost me. She was too good and too smart a runner to panic, but her body position changed. Her shoulders came up a little just like Naomi said they would. She was getting tight.

I stayed right with her all the way down the back straight. Going into the next turn she did exactly what Naomi had predicted. She tried to lose me one more time. She wanted to force me to the outside, make me run farther, run around her, but I just stayed right there, not passing, just keeping up with her stride for stride. When I was still there as we came out of the turn it almost looked like her shoulders were up by her ears even though I knew hardly anyone else on the track would see how tight she was. We had less than 50 meters to go when I made my move. I stepped out from behind her and passed her, almost like she was standing still. Her body was too tight to respond as quickly as it needed to. I could hear her footsteps dropping behind me as I passed her. The race was mine. It would be nearly impossible for her to catch me now with less than 20 meters to the finish line.

Then it happened. Maybe I hadn't stretched enough before the race because I was watching Maria. Maybe I was overconfident. Maybe I pushed to hard when I passed her. But I sensed it before I could feel it. I tried to ignore it, telling my body less than 10 meters left but no matter what I did I couldn't stop what was happening. My hamstring had just gone.

I reached back to clutch it as it knotted up but it was too late. I tumbled to the track and rolled head over heels. I heard myself scream, but really didn't understand it was me. My mind seemed to block out everything else as it tried to register what had gone wrong. I was so close. What happened? I heard the gasp of the crowd as I hit the track. Then I heard the cheering, incredibly loud cheering. The tears were flowing down my cheeks even before I stopped tumbling. How could they be cheering so loudly for her winning the race. I had her beat. Hadn't they all seen that? I had beaten her even if she won the race.

The back of my leg was burning and I lay on the ground clutching it and sobbing. The pain was not the reason for my tears. It was the feeling of letting Naomi down. The feeling that it was my fault that my hamstring pulled. Suddenly people who were jumping up and down and cheering surrounded me. Through my tears I saw Naomi smiling, but looking concerned.

"What the hell are you smiling about?" I asked between sobs. My voice sounded sour and bitter even to my ears.

"First, are you alright, let me look at that leg?" She reached down and felt my leg carefully. The muscle in back was one big knot, but it was starting to ease. "I don't think it is that bad. But we need to get some ice on it right away."

Why was everyone cheering? Why were my teammates congratulating me? I didn't win, I fell, and I failed.

"Would you stop looking so down? Your hamstring will be fine and you can always tell people you really did roll across the finish line when you won the state title," Naomi was still massaging my leg as she motioned for Maria to come over.

"I won?" my voice betrayed my surprise. How could I have won? I fell.

"Yea you won. When you passed her it took everything out of her. She almost stopped running. You two had such a huge lead on the pack that it was you, then her a good 15 yards behind and then everyone else just coming off the turn. When you fell you were so damn determined that you rolled all the way across the finish line before she could catch up. You beat her by a stride. You should have seen her when you fell. She suddenly found a second wind. She almost dove across the finish line with you when she saw you were still going to win."

Everyone moved aside as Maria reached down and picked me up. I knew she was strong, but not this was ridiculous. She picked me up like I was one of her dolls. I realized I weighed only 112 lbs, but still. My mom ran up and Naomi told her I was all right, that it was just a pulled muscle. I almost added that there were some scrapes I had to deal with also, but that could wait. Right now I was enjoying the cheering of the crowd. My teammates started to carry me around the field for the victory lap that I couldn't run myself. But I made them stop.

She was standing there looking like the world just ended. She never expected to lose this race. I had Maria put me down and stuck out my hand.

She took my hand and shook it. "You are really good you know. If you hadn't of fallen you would have had the record. I just have one questions: WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM?"

I couldn't help but laugh and she joined me. She put my arm over one of her shoulders and raised my other one high into the air. We were laughing as she helped me take the first few steps of my victory lap. But it just took one ouch and Maria had me up in her arms again. We all took my victory lap together. Maria had won her state championship as well. She

There were still other races to be run so we moved the celebration to the infield. My mom had taped the race so I got to see it on the camcorders little screen as Naomi was wrapping a bag of ice onto my hamstring. I winced when I saw the end, saw myself reach back and then somersault forward. I just kept rolling and log rolled over the finish line just before she was about to pass me. I would get to see it several times over the next week as several TV stations played it over and over again. I turned out to be some kind of folk hero, the girl who would never give up.

The meet ended and my and my huge ice pack that was strapped to the back of my leg headed for the car. I was so excited about winning I didn't even think about how this was going to ruin the plans Naomi and I had for the night.

"Well, I guess I should take you home," my mom said as I was carried by Maria and my former nemesis, now good friend, Luanda out to the parking lot. Naomi followed carrying all our bags. They put me down next to my Mom's car and we gave each other hugs.

Maria was still crying. She blamed herself for me getting hurt. "If you hadn't been there cheering me on, I wouldn't have won, I know it. But it almost cost you your race and you also got hurt because you didn't have enough time to warm up."

"I gave her one more huge hug, not easy with her being so big. "Listen, you didn't do anything. It just happened. And look at you, State Record Holder and State Champion. Enjoy it. You have another year so next year everyone will be trying to beat you. Now your parents are waiting, get going." She gave me one last hug before she left.

Luanda made me promise to call her when I found out about the scholarship. She was going to AU and if I ended up at ASU she wanted to know where I was so she could beat me the next time we met. "You ain't sneaking up on me again." She gave me a final hug and ran towards her dad who was smiling from ear to ear.

As they were walking away I heard him tell her how proud he was of her. My heart broke just a little.

"Your father is not going to be happy when he sees you hurt yourself. You know what he thinks about your tomboy ways," Mom was definitely not looking forward to listening to his ranting and raving about me.

Naomi stopped her, "Wait, I thought we were going to have a victory dinner. I owe you one after all the hard work you put in to this." Naomi looked at me and gave me a wink. "Let me pull my car around and pick her up, if that is okay with you. I promise I won't keep her out too late."

Mom smiled, a reprieve? "Okay, and don't worry about being late. After all you are with your Coach. But don't you want to come home and get a shower first?"

"Oh, we can shower at my place. Heck, if she just wants to stay in her sweaty, smelly stuff that is okay with me. Somehow I don't think we are going to be going out dancing or anything," Naomi put her arm around me.

We all had a good laugh. Mom gave us her blessing and Naomi went to get the Miata. "She is a really nice girl," Mom said Naomi jogged across the lot. "If your brother wasn't already married I would even think about introducing her to him."

"Oh she has a boyfriend Mom," I said sort of laughing to myself. What would she think of her daughter dating this nice girl?

In a minute the Miata pulled up and Mom and Naomi helped me in. I was afraid of dripping ice water all over the nice leather but Naomi assured me it wasn't going to be a problem and it was only a short ride to her place anyway.

I waved to my Mom as we drove away. I can honestly say she looked proud. I felt incredibly guilty.

It took less than 15 minutes to get to Naomi's place and when she got there she helped me out of the. I noticed something; a lot of stuff in the garage was gone. A lot of sports stuff. A bike, some skis, some camping gear.

"Hey, wasn't there a lot more stuff here last time I was here? I mean, what did you do, have a tag sale or something?" I said as I looked around.

Naomi paused for a second, "Oh, I didn't tell you, Steve and I split up. That was his stuff. I am a single woman again."

I didn't know what to say. We silently went inside.

Once inside Naomi put me down on the couch and started to fill me in on her plans for the night. We would get a shower and then have dinner. Then she would run out and grab a couple of movies and some microwave popcorn and we would have a girl's night at the movies. Chick flicks were on the agenda. It was only 4:30 and we had the whole night ahead of us. But first, she wanted to check out my hamstring. She disappeared down the hall and came back with what looked like a padded folding table.