The New York City Marathon
When she turned onto Central Park South, Suzanne Neally was unprepared for what she saw. She was in the final mile of the 2019 New York City Marathon. The street itself was empty except for a woman perhaps 150 yards ahead. Crowds lined both sides of the road as they had for most of the course. But she didn't realize that this long, three-block stretch was uphill. The Time-Warner Center was in the distance, defining Columbus Circle, where she would turn back into the Park. Her legs had been wobbly for miles. Will-power alone kept her going.
This was Suzanne's first marathon. Her goal was to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Trials, or "OT," in the marathon. She had no hope of actually making the team. But making the Trials would be huge. Her fastest half-marathon time was fast enough to allow her to enter the "elite women's" field for New York. This meant she and a relatively small number of women started about half-an-hour before the elite men and the first wave of other runners. The idea was that they would not get mixed up on the course with men but would have their own race.
Several of Suzanne's clubmates were in the group as were several strangers, all hoping to run faster than the 2 hours and 45 minutes OT qualifying time, and this group stayed together for the first sixteen miles or so as the truly elite women ran far ahead. Suzanne's group started to fray as it entered Manhattan just past mile 16. Now Suzanne was a half-mile from the finish and her time was 2:39:24. She'd seen Kerry and the rest of her New York family several times during the race. After she passed, they hurried to the subway to see and cheer her at the next rendezvous point.
Pushed by the crowd, she made it through Central Park South and again into the Park itself. She was desperate, telling herself it would soon be over. That was all that kept her moving. Past the "26 Miles" sign so 385 yards to go. Then she saw the finish line with 200 yards to go. The clock read "2:42:18." She had the whole road to herself for the final, slightly-uphill stretch and thousands cheering for her and her alone as she struggled through the finish, collapsing two steps after she crossed the line. "2:43:10." Two volunteers rushed to wrap her in a high-tech blanket before helping her to her feet. The woman who'd finished ahead of her hugged her and she waited to do the same to the teammate who followed about twenty seconds after she did.
After being led to her bag and given some recovery drinks and food, she went to meet her family in the elite family-reunion area. She trained so hard for this. Suddenly she was nearly bowled over as Kerry ran up to her a bit harder than she realized. The others were there too.
After a small get together at her Mother's apartment, Suzanne faded, and Kerry drove her home. Suzanne was too tired to shower, but Kerry made her. When dry, she collapsed onto the bed and was asleep within minutes. It was just after three, and Kerry gave her a kiss as she covered her with a blanket.
Kerry came in a little later. She gazed at her woman. Suzanne was never more gorgeous than when she lay exhausted, completely spent. So vulnerable. Kerry went for a cup of tea and some biscuits, and returned with a romance novel of the type that allowed her mind to drift away. She'd had a novel's worth of complications with Suzanne but now that they were settled, she used romances to live vicariously in others' worlds of missed opportunities and never-forgotten chances. Of separations and reunions.
She sat in the armchair in the room watching the up-and-down of Suzanne's breathing. As dusk hit, she turned a small table-lamp on as she read her book and drank her tea and ate her biscuits. And regularly gazed at Suze. It was one of the moments when she told herself, "I am happy." Her beautiful, exhausted Suzanne, having worked so hard over months and months so that she could do something largely arbitrary. An arbitrary time for a race of an arbitrary distance about which no one cared. Except, in the end, Suzanne and thus Kerry and the rest of her family.
It was dark when Suzanne roused herself. She was not expecting Kerry to be staring at her. "Hello, sleepyhead."
After being told the time, she was able to get to the bathroom. Kerry heard the water starting to run in the tub. She ran to get a sports drink from the fridge and brought it to the bathroom. Suzanne was sitting on the toilet seat, trying to muster the energy to get her body in the tub, its water now steaming. Kerry handed her the drink, and adjusted the faucet's temperature. She ran to the hall closet and brought back a box of Epsom salts, which she sprinkled in.
She had to help Suzanne get into the tub. The two women were quiet. Suzanne was the first to speak.
"I know I've been selfish with all the running I've been doing and couldn't have done it without you." Kerry told her to shut about it. "It was important to you so it was important to me."
Suze told Kerry to shut up. She continued, "Now that I've done a marathon, I've done it. I'll to the Olympic Trials in Atlanta in February, but I'm not training hard for them. I just wanted to see if I could make them. Just shorter stuff from now on."
They were again quiet until Kerry helped Suzanne stand to let the shower rinse off the salted water. Suzanne made it out of the tub. They went to bed after a small dinner.
Suzanne was tired, but thanks to her nap not too tired. Kerry pushed up Suzanne's shirt and knelt between Suzanne's legs and lovingly ate her wife out. They did this often when Suzanne was spent from training. Now that the exhaustion was the result of the race itself, it felt even better. It was simple enough. Kerry simply let her tongue explore the labia, almost lackadaisically, neither of them in a hurry. Just her tongue at first, and careful to avoid the clit. She liked to do the alphabet and by about P or Q Suzanne's hips began to rock slightly.
It was always like this, Suzanne trying to control her body. It was a challenge Kerry enjoyed, doing her best to take control—if anyone had control—over her lover's body. Suzanne had so much going on in her body and her head after the morning's race that it did not take long for her to surrender.
"In. In." Kerry wasn't sure whether she wanted a finger or a tongue to enter. But since her arms were wrapped around Suzanne's thighs for leverage, she hoped her tongue would be enough. It was. She made it into a tube and began stabbing into the vagina. Her nose ran across the lips, inhaling Suzanne's odor, which triggered Kerry's own faucet.
Her tongue got further and further inside Suzanne, but she pulled out. Far too soon, Suzanne thought. She pouted until Kerry moved over her. They both had shirts on but no panties. Much as she enjoyed what she was doing, she wanted to hold Suze, and she crawled up her wife's chest and they kissed lightly. Suddenly, Kerry rolled on her back, pulling Suzanne with her. Kerry lifted her knees and put up her left leg between Suze's thighs, and Suze lowered her pussy so she could rub against Kerry's leg. Her quads weren't as rock-solid as were Suze's—how many women's were?—but they were hard enough.
Kerry put her arms around Suze and pulled the two together, their lips pounding against each other. Suze wanted to taste herself, and her tongue circled Kerry to get as much juice as she could. Then their tongues were just playing as Suze brushed her pussy against Kerry's leg and Kerry ground hers against Suze's left leg, lifting her ass from the bed with increasing fervor. Neither could breathe properly but neither would release the other's lips. Kerry's grip on her wife's ass tightened and what had begun as simple, lackadaisical cunnilingus had exploded into something complex and manic.
Their lips broke their seal and their eyes took it on, egging each other on until Suzanne cracked and broke their stare, her eyes closing as the emotions of the day coursed through her, shaking her body as she drove her thigh into Kerry's pussy. Kerry, satisfied in having brought her love off, was herself lost in her own pleasure at the, well, thigh of the beautiful athlete to whom she was married.
After some clean-up in the bathroom, they were in bed early and quickly asleep. When Kerry awoke at some time during the night, she was tempted to take liberties with the body beside her but seeing as it was Monday thought better of it.
Thanksgiving 2019
As they drove down, with Eric Nelson quiet in the back, his mother Kate Pugh and Kate's lover Simon Douglas exchanged slight touches, which did not go unnoticed by Eric. He was pleased for her, having seen the deterioration of their family in Mill Valley, especially after Suzanne moved to New York. So he was happy to watch them, enjoying their being oblivious to their obviousness. Eric liked Simon, even if he was a hedge-funder living in Greenwich. His Mother warned him about going all Bernie Sanders on him—"You're going to Yale because your capitalist father is paying for it so don't get on your soapbox" or words to that effect over the phone the day before—and her tone made it clear that she was serious.
Thanksgiving would be big, and it was decided to hold it at the house in Chappaqua of Eileen (Kerry's Mom) and her husband Tom Doyle. Tom's two kids, Andrea and James (and his long-time girlfriend Jennie with him), would be there as would Kerry and Suzanne, Mary (Suzanne's Aunt) and Betty (Mary's wife), and Kate and Eric. Oh, and Simon. Kate, who'd proved her worth as an organizer for Tom and Eileen's wedding, was in charge and assigned tasks.
