Cross Country

[slowspeedster]

Truth be told, if anyone had told him back home he'd be teaching people how to run, he would have laughed in their faces, but he had to admit his class seemed to be going well. The idea had started when Cissie asked for help surviving her Cardio class, but actually teaching was something he never thought he'd enjoy, let alone be good at. Now here

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[arrownomore]

Cissie had to admit that the role of teacher looked pretty good on Bart and that was something she totally never thought she would be able to say with a straight face. This whole thing was just another reminder - not that she needed one really, that he had come so far from their first meeting. It was really kind of awesome to see and if she hadn't already admitted to the whole crush thing, that might have it done right there.

All things considered, she was probably a little too advanced for the class, but she found she was still picking up things she hadn't known before so that alone made it all worthwhile. Every little bit she could pick up that would help herself survive the cardio class was a good thing.

Her cool down at an end, she stood where she was on the sand, feeling the sweat coming down her face and back and not caring. She was tired and needed a shower but she felt fantastic. Really fantastic.

"I think I might really love this class," she murmured to no one in particular.

[slowspeedster]

"And here I thought my girlfriend would be jealous of me having a class full of attractive women," Bart teased, grinning. Even sweaty and worn down, Cissie was still gorgeous.

[arrownomore]

Cissie giggled and slung an arm around Bart's shoulder. "Nah, I can take them if they get any ideas," she teased right back. "If they even look at you funny, it's all over."

[slowspeedster]

"Don't let her hear you say that," he said, even as his own arm went around her waist. "You look amazing, you know..."

[afanoflaundry]

Penny had signed up for the running class on a whim, motivated by the realization that, while she had walked and biked everywhere in LA, most of her time was spent reading. It turned out to be a decision she regretted in the first week, but she was actually starting to enjoy it. She'd already had some improvement, and it made her want to see how far she could go.

After her cool down was finished, she stood in the sand and looked out at the ocean, stretching her arm over her head as she tried to sort out her plans for the rest of the night.

[slowspeedster]

"Holding up okay?" Bart asked, smiling slightly. He knew the look well enough, having seen it on his own face. He'd worried a little that he might lose Penny, when she'd realized that she wasn't exactly in condition. "Your stride looked a lot better today."

[afanoflaundry]

Penny smiled brightly at Bart, and nodded. "Thanks! And yeah, I think I'm starting to get it. I still feel like I'm behind everyone else, but, oh well." She gave a small shrug and smiled again, because she quickly realized she couldn't expect herself to be on par with others when it was new. "I'm keeping an eye out to see if I can't find some better shoes."

[slowspeedster]

"Well, Cissie and I were both kinda superheroes back home, so we trained for a lot of stuff. I started helping her with this kind of thing last semester to help with Barnes' conditioning class," he admitted, wanting to make sure she wasn't setting the bar too high. Then he glanced down at the bright scarlet Kid Flash boots he still ended up wearing to really run.

"As for shoes, I know the feeling. Wouldn't it be nice if the island would snag us a decent cobbler or something? At least then things could be improved or refitted.

"But don't judge yourself in comparison to the others. The only person you need to measure against is yourself. All I'm asking you to do is keep trying, keep improving, learning what you can and can't ask your body to do."

[spirited_lissie]

Felicity was a runner. Even back home she was always told to 'run, not walk', and that was back when she had to wear stays. That was why she signed up for the class in the first place, because it sounded like fun and a nice alternative to the other PE classes she was taking that term.

That wasn't to say that the class wasn't a challenge: quite the contrary, the first week of class left her leg muscles sore for nearly a day, but atleast she could feel herself getting better.

The que to cool down still came at a relief, as Felicity could feel her legs siezing up as soon as she was allowed to stop. Inspite of having it in a ponytail, a few wisps of redhair seemed to stray all over the place, and it was a matter of going between stretching, and trying to re set it in it's hair tie.

[slowspeedster]

Bart watched Felicity as he did his own stretches. He needed it, even though he hadn't started to push his own limits. But the way she was moving said that she was possibly close to cramping, and that wasn't what this was about. Mr. Barnes had a class that pushed people to the limits of their endurance, and beyond, but that wasn't the point of running.

"You know, I did ask you to say something if you were starting to hurt," Bart said, smiling ruefully at himself. "You okay?"

[spirited_lissie]

She nodded. She did remember what he said at the start of class, but it was like last time: how was she to know if she'd get this sore.

"I'm fine, really I am." She said, easing out of a stretch. "Not nearly as sore as I was the first time around."

[slowspeedster]

"One of the leading causes of muscle cramps while exercising is dehydration," Bart commented, just as an aside. "As long as it's not a sharp pain or actual cramping up, you're fine. Do you run a lot?"

[teambatgirl]

It had been a wonderful run. She'd enjoyed the cardio classes, even with Jason Todd staring at her like he was hoping she'd drop dead, but her mind had been on more than just the next lap, the next sprint; she hadn't wanted to push herself to her limit and really show what she could do yet.

In Bart's class, she could let everything go and narrow her focus to the length of her stride, the sound of ragged breathing loud in her ears, and the pound of feet against the trails and shore.

"This was perfect, exactly what I needed." She grins, flushed, as she lifts one of her legs in a stretch. "Thanks for inviting me."

[slowspeedster]

Bart couldn't help grinning back. "It seemed the least I could offer," he said. "Something almost normal in this crazy place. I've thought about booby traps on the trails, but I don't know how to make sure nobody gets hurt."

It wasn't quite up to a proper training run without the traps, but it was still great.

[teambatgirl]

Yeah, I don't know there's any way to do it safely. Plus, you've got some runners who maybe don't need traps yet." She switches legs and really leans into the stretch. One of her favorite parts of exercise is the cool down and stretch afterwards when you get to feel how your body has adapted to all the work you've put into it. "What we should do is do hand to hand stuff now that we're all worked out to make sure that the exertion doesn't slow down our reaction times. Maybe next time."

[slowspeedster]

"I'd have to start over. My reaction times are shot to hell without my powers," Bart admitted. "As much as I tried not to, there was always my speed to fall back on."

It was another reason why he hadn't fallen in with the police or the task force, besides his youth and discomfort around firearms. "I really don't want to risk any more damage to my knee because I did something I shouldn't."

[not_the_s]

Kon couldn't help it when he saw Bart's class get out and he saw the guy:girl ratio. He waited for Bart to finish with the stragglers and then he swaggered over, grin large enough it was threatening to break free of his face.

"So. It seems you have a number of girls in your class. You dog you."

Really, there was a time or two when he'd had all - or just one - girl, but...it had been Karen. Not all girls his own age.

[slowspeedster]

"Are you trying to say I should have planned better?" Bart said, smirking. "Or are you wishing you'd thought of it?"

[not_the_s]

"A little bit of both?" Kon offered. His grin grew even wider and his cheeks began to hurt. "If you need any guys to help even out the numbers, let me know. In fact, I think I'll just stick around during class and see if you need help."

[slowspeedster]

"Why should I let you join my class? It seems dangerous, especially since you're going to hit on them. I'd hate to have one of the girls hurt you," Bart teased. It wasn't a big threat, but he doubted Kon would really enjoy the class.

"Besides, I know how you feel about sweat."