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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[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."

[afanoflaundry]

Penny raised her eyebrows at the mention of superheroes, suprised. Mostly she was struck by how young they were, and wondered who on earth thought it was a great idea to put kids into that. But, she doubted that it was really her place to say anything, or that it would be appreciated, so she said nothing about it.

"Yeah, that's what I've been telling myself. And, really, I'm not trying to win any races or anything, I just wanted something to do to get some exercise. I figured if I learned to run, it's something I could keep doing on my own, when the class is out."

[slowspeedster]

Bart smiled at that, understanding. "We can definitely work on putting together regular exercise for you, so you know when to add more challenge and the like. Stretching and upper body work for toning," he said, knowing that even though running is a great cardio exercise, it was only one aspect.

"My experience is that everyone has to set their own goals, or you'll always fall short. So I'm teaching safety and technique that will take you as far as you want to go. And I'll be happy to help coach if you need it outside of class, too."

[afanoflaundry]

"That'd be great, thank you," Penny said, nodding with an appreciative smile. "I was thinking of putting something together, but I didn't have any idea of where to begin. I always walked and biked a lot back home, but never really deliberately exercised."

She glanced up towards the compound, then back to Bart. "I'm going to head back, I've got a lot of homework I need to get started on. Are you heading that way?"

[slowspeedster]

"Not quite yet. I've got some stuff to take care of at the treehouse before dinner," he admitted. "I'd move closer, but Bob scares away neighbors, so we're out by the fence line."

[afanoflaundry]

"Oh, okay," she says, with a smile, understanding. "Well, I guess I'll see you next class, then. Have a good night!"