By Mandy Galileo and Scarlett Paige
This twist of a story was inspired by Sadie Thatcher
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Amanda walked out of her condo building as the sun was just barely high enough in the sky to light up everything. Taking a deep breath, she relished the crisp, clean air with just a hint of salt from the sea shore. She did a few stretches to get limber, made sure her smart watch was secure on her wrist, and then flipped a coin in her head to decide which way to go. "Looks like we're going East today," she thought.
Amanda then started out on her daily run as she tried to do every other day the weather permitted. Spring was finally turning toward summer, which meant the sun was out, the skies were blue, and, even though it was quite still, it was already beginning to warm up quite a bit.
She rounded the gentle curve the road provided, looking to her right to look at the clear blue sea below the heights before checking her smart watch. "One mile down already, gotta keep the pace." She then turned up the music in her airpods, playing one of her favorite running playlists, and the chorus to the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" swelled, seemingly giving her legs a charge in real time.
Amanda huffed steadily, lifting the tee-shirt she was wearing, one she picked up from a local soccer tournament she refereed the month prior, to dab some sweat from her face, exposing her simple black sports bra underneath. She shook out her hands, and wiped them on her utilitarian black gym shorts, and her matching black on black Nike's bounced off the asphalt in time with the music in her ears.
She reached behind her to grab the bottle she was carrying with her, and took a big sip of the new energy drink she was told to try out by a friend of hers: Be alive Intense Moxie Boost Organics, or BIMBO as people were jokingly calling it.
It was supposed to be a real energy booster, and the golden liquid almost looked like it was glowing. It was incredibly yummy and refreshing, so it was easy to practically finish the bottle in one go.
"Misery Business," by Paramore. "Three miles down."
The thing about Amanda was that she was already smoking hot. The 5'5" Dominican beauty was fit as can be. As a former soccer player herself, she was proud of the fact that she had retained her trim athletic shape well into her post-playing life. It didn't matter to her if her boobs were a bit small, or if her booty wasn't really that big, she was nice and tight everywhere, still had nice hips, and it was topped by an adorable face that made her a dead ringer for Olivia Munn. She was still young by any reasonable measure, too.
While there was always a part of her, deep down, that relished in being able to turn a man's, or woman's for that matter, head - something she did regularly - the truth is, because she never really had to, Amanda simply was never one to worry much about her appearance, and that was especially true when she was engaged in an athletic endeavor.
But she knew as well as anyone how time waits for no athlete, and though she still had plenty of youth on her side, and despite the fact she looked ten years younger than her age, she had started to notice her performance as a referee was beginning to slip, and that was simply unacceptable for someone as competitive and driven as she was.
Keeping up with these young soccer players was the only thing on her mind as she put in the miles. The only way she was going to be able to keep refereeing was to be able to match their pace, stamina, and endurance on the pitch.
Mile 6. "Toxic," by Britney Spears. "Take another sip."
Amanda kept a steady pace, nothing too strenuous for her at all, just keeping up with Britney's beat. She was coming off a hard workout the day before, so she just wanted to work out the kinks in her body from the previous day. In any event, it was more about building and maintaining endurance rather than looking to gain speed or strength.
As Amanda felt her body sliding into sync, her breathing matching her comfortable strides, she was tapping deeper and deeper into the proverbial "Zone" that athletes often speak of. That space between consciousness and the unconscious. The world around her started to fade away, the only thing existing in the universe was her, the music, and keeping the pace of her run.
It was all so perfect. She would have no idea what magic was about to fall upon her and alter her life forever.