On A Jog
Miyuki was out on her daily morning jog. She usually woke up long before any of the other kenkyuusei, due to the force of habit from when still attended high school - because of the large number of sports clubs she was in, there were a lot of times where the trainings would be held as early as 5 or 6 in the morning.
She kept up a steady pace, enjoying the cool breeze on her skin. Running was something she loved to do. It relaxed her, and sometimes she felt as though she could run forever - after all, she rarely got tired thanks to her high endurance. Speaking of endurance…
“Ah, Seika-chan!” Miyuki said, surprised that there was someone else jogging at this time. “Why are yo-” She stopped, and laughed. “Oh yeah, you got yelled at yesterday, didn’t you? Something about having no endurance! Is that why you’re out jogging this morning?” She slowed down a bit to accommodate for her friend’s pace.
Seika groaned. “Yeah yeah, rub it in why don’t ya!” She huffed a little, but what can you say to the truth? Shiftily, she looked up at the taller girl. “…Do you reckon running will help?” Because if it didn’t, back to bed she’d go!
“I wanna do my best and improve, but this totally isn’t fun!” Slightly envious, she added, “You look like you’re enjoying this way too much.”
Miyuki giggled. “Tryin’ to get out of it already?” she asked teasingly. “Well, it really depends on how you run, of course. If you stop to take breaks every now and then, or if you slow down to a walk, you’re not really gonna get much more endurance than if you ran as far as you could without stopping, even if the distance is a little less than if you took breaks along the way.” She stopped as she realised she was rambling, and shrugged nonchalantly. “But yeah, it helps with your endurance, I guess.”
She laughed at Seika’s comment about running not being fun. To Miyuki who was a natural athlete, running was something enjoyable…Unfortunately, many of her friends disagreed and saw cross country day at school as the worst day of all. “You’ll get used to it if you do it every day! It might not be fun at the start, but as you improve you’ll find yourself enjoying it more.” She grinned. “Like I am. I love running, it calms me, and the breeze on my face always feels the best.”
