Stone Soup

Where young artists paint the world with words

The international magazine of stories, poems, and art by young writers and artists. Published continuously since 1973.

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The Thrilling Race, by Mason Li

I woke up on a hot sunny day, looking up at the ceiling.  ”It’s time,” I said to myself, “triathlon time.”  I got out of my bed thinking, “triathlon.”  I got into the car still thinking, as I s….l….o…w….l…y fell asleep.  As I woke up to the sound of the car stopping: ”Are we there yet?”  ”Close.  Actually… we are there,” Mommy replied.  My stomach started aching at those words as I slowly got out of the car, rubbing my eyes as I brought my bike and bag with me.  I set up my bike, helmet, shoes, and racing belt.  ”Twenty minutes left until the race starts!”  I heard the director say.  My heart beat faster and faster with every second.

After twenty minutes of thinking and wondering, I put my cap and goggles on.  My stomach was still aching with pain and nervousness, but my heart was shining with courage.  Goooooo!  The sound of a horn.  And I was off.  The freezing water that I was swimming in made me swim faster than I ever could as I accelerated past people.  I got out of the water, taking off my cap and goggles as I ran.

I put on my helmet.  Then I mounted my bike and I started biking.  I zoomed downhill and worked hard on the uphill.  For a few minutes, I thought I was going the wrong way until I saw a couple older kids zoom past me.  As I accelerated my speed to try catching up with them, I saw another pair of older kids ahead.  I felt like I had biked past where the little kids should stop until I saw the dismount stop.  Because I had too much momentum when I was about to dismount, I fell, but I didn’t feel any pain in the spot I fell, surprisingly.  Helping hands shot into view, but I just rolled over and started running towards the transition area until I heard people calling that I forgot my bike.  So I ran back to get my bike.

Then I put down my bike and helmet and put on my racing belt as I ran.  Running and running, hearing cheers from the crowd, I ran through the trail.  Running ahead of people, I felt so energetic as I ran.  Then I saw the finish line.  Excitement awaited me there as I charged to the finish line!  ”LET’S GO!” I yelled.

Then I felt the pain in my leg, so I went to the medical staff to heal my leg up, but that only took a few minutes.  I won first place.  When they announced my name, I stepped up to the first place spot on the podium, smiling.