At mile twenty-four, Eddie felt like she couldn't run anymore. It all started to fall apart; her pace, her confidence, her ability to focus and stay on task. She just wanted to be done. The urge to quit became very real as she began to take stock of the pain in her feet and her quads and her hips and her back. It all hurt. It hurt so much that she almost couldn't feel her legs moving underneath her at all, like she was having some sort of out-of-body experience. That infamous wall that all marathoners talk about- well she was there. Two more miles to go and she couldn't fathom how she was going to accomplish it.
"Oh boy, do I remember that feeling- the dreaded wall," she heard a familiar voice say. She turned her head and saw that it was Jamie, out of his uniform and now dressed in running clothes, running right beside her.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"You need a distraction. You're thinking about it too much. Two more, Eddie. I know your legs are shot and everything hurts and you just want to stop, but I know you. You've got the guts to finish this thing strong."
"Jamie, I can't…I'm so tired. And I think Ryan Gosling dumped me."
"What a jerk. I knew he wasn't the right guy for you."
Despite feeling like her body was slowly dying, Eddie managed to let out a laugh. Jamie could always make her laugh.
"You wanna know what my mantra was? The faster you run, the faster you're done. That, and Cindy Crawford at the finish with a glass of wine and a puppy."
"Oh please! Enough already!" Eddie groaned.
"Come on, let's go." He prodded her to start running just a bit quicker.
She didn't know how, but she soon found herself matching his pace.
"Isn't this cheating, Eagle Scout? You helping me like this?"
"Ha! Renuzlli practically ordered me to come out here and run with you when he saw the entourage of cops from the 3-6 that are now running with Reynolds to help her. She's got like four guys surrounding her out there helping to pace her. It's like an army. She's gaining on you. She cheated first."
"That bully."
"Yeah, and what do we do with bullies?"
"Fight back."
"That's it!"
"Only I haven't got much left."
"You got more than you think. Hey, did I ever tell you the story of how Renzulli made me tackle a guy that was wearing a hot dog costume on my first week on the job as a rookie?"
"No!" Eddie laughed as she tried to forget her pain and listened to his story. She knew what he was trying to do- distract her.
He distracted her all right- whether he was bare-chested and looking mighty fine in the locker room fresh from a shower, or the way he smiled at her, or how caring and trustworthy he was out on the job, or how he made her laugh. How he kissed her. She wanted more.