The number of people on the street made Leonardo feel slightly panicked. He walked with shorter steps, while trying not to bump into anyone. He looked at the floor sometimes. The clothes that were too tight on him ended up taking away all his confidence.
With a slight desire to hide and get it over with as quickly as possible, he quickened his pace, and began to avoid looking at people on the street, as he walked, he only thought about how he would do, if in such a short time, he already felt tired. Before even getting to the race point.
The weather was milder, the sky was blue and there were few clouds. People decided to stop at bars and cafes to refresh themselves. Unlike other days in Rio de Janeiro, the heat was not so strong.
As a new way in Leonardo's life, he had already tried to get back together with old friends before, more than once, but it never worked out very well. Everyone has already followed his plans, got married, has children, is far away.
There were many words left to say the reasons for the distance, and there were few left to try to get closer, and they continued, as if all this was something normal, for everyone it is, normal, but Leonardo still did not accept that.
There was still something to be done, he needed more time with his friends, but his friends were already fed up with all of this.
Jonathan was waving towards Leonardo, he was doing small jumps, warming up for the run. He prepared the body, made the blood flow, had an awkward smile on his face, the same one that Leonardo knew.
"Hi! Leonardo, this is my wife, Fernanda, and her friends, Isabela and Marcelle" Jonathan pointed to the three women who accompanied him.
Leonardo immediately recognized Fernanda from some photos, she was very chubby and taller than the other women. She wore red lycra pants and a light pink t-shirt, she must have been around 1.77m, fair skin, long black hair, and always had a happy smile on her face. Fernanda spoke loudly and showed enormous sympathy for Leonardo.
Isabela was also very chubby, and very short, she was wearing a shirt from a light green running event, and gray lycra pants, she must have been around 1.55m tall and was the shortest among the three, she had dark skin. , a round face and seemed to be very shy. She spoke softly and seemed even more shy in front of strangers. She wears glasses, but it seemed like they wouldn't cause any problems when running.
The third is Marcelle. Quieter, she said a few words, wearing an all-black outfit, short running shorts and underneath the shorts there appeared to be compression pants, a black dryfit t-shirt, she seemed more accustomed to sports. She was very thin, her hair was black and short, just above her shoulders, but tied up like a ponytail. She was around 1.70m tall, and was very focused on running, she said practically nothing, but she was more extroverted than Isabela.
After getting to know each other a little, they soon started running, Jonathan had told some old stories about him and Leonardo at school, how they both liked Japanese manga and going to the movies. He was trying to make Leonardo fit into that group as best as possible. It seemed to have worked, but for Fernanda, Jonathan's wife, Leonardo was already in a way a friend of hers, even though they had never met before. But since he was a great friend of Jonathan's, she also saw him as a friend.
Sweat ran down Leonardo's face. Before completing 2 kilometers, he was already completely out of breath. Tired from running and with pain in his arms, he should have stretched more before leaving the house, now he needed it, especially seeing Jonathan and Marcelle running much further ahead. They were well in tune, and one could handle the other's rhythm well, on the other hand, Fernanda and Isabela were close behind, chatting something. They talked more than they ran, for Leonardo it was a strange thing to see, but if he could, he would have done the same with Jonathan. He didn't even care that much about the race after all, despite everything, he was just interested in getting closer to his friend.
After a lot of pain, Leonardo stopped once and for all, ran just over two kilometers and stopped to walk, he was far from Fernanda, who was well behind and far from Jonathan who was running much further ahead, despite everything, Leonardo felt alone. He was walking and looking at the landscape, the sand on the beach, the sea, the trees, almost every time he left the house he saw this same scenery, but he wasn't always so tired, so absorbed in his own emotions. But he walked the rest of the way without thinking much about it, and tried to survive as best he could, and without vomiting.
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It was the end of the race, Leonardo found Jonathan standing at the four kilometer mark, tired. Leonardo was congratulated by Jonathan for going all the way, and Marcelle too greeting him. she wasn't sweating that much, but she looked tired, as if she had run with all her might.
"Man, congratulations on finishing, I hope you enjoyed it, and don't worry the pain will go away" Jonathan said.
"Seriously, how did they manage to run that long, it felt like I was going to have a heart attack, even my liver hurts"
"Let's go and have some coconut water, it's good after the run" Marcelle had a soft and gentle voice, very delicate and a little hoarse, it was different, and it attracted attention.
"I already have my water here, but I can accompany you, if you want" Leonardo spoke calmly, he thought Jonathan would go along.
"Go with her and I'll stay here waiting for Fernanda and Isabela, as soon as they arrive I'll go to the kiosk to meet you" Jonathan said with a smile on his face and a tired expression.
Leonardo was surprised, but in the end he accompanied Marcelle. If he had known he was going to be alone with her, he wouldn't have even offered to go. He wasn't good at conversations, especially with strangers, and it got worse when it was with women. He was always clumsy with these matters, the only serious girlfriend he had was after spending months chatting online with her, and ended up spending 4 years with her. Afterwards, nothing more, he isolated himself again, and had stopped going out, and without company to try to venture out at night at least, to try to overcome this, what helped in the end was the music and the food.
"A coconut water please" Marcelle said to the attendant, he cuts the coconut right away, and she doesn't even notice Leonardo's gaze, admired by the charm of her voice.
"Where did you meet Jonathan?" Leonardo asked.
"I met through Fernanda, we worked together, we made a good friendship during that time" Marcelle was more at ease.
"And have you been exercising for a long time?" Leonardo tried to prolong the conversation, making himself more friendly than usual.
"I used to go to the gym before, but I started running recently, less than two months ago, I know I need to gain more weight, but I really liked running, I feel freer"
"I hope I start to like it too, because it's hard for me to get used to it"
"Ah, don't worry, the first week is like that, then your body gets used to it"
"I hope so, the situation is getting ugly for me" Leonardo joked a little more and smiled towards Marcelle.
They talked a little more about the race, and after a few minutes Jonathan, Fernanda and Isabela arrived and asked for some coconut water too. Leonardo sighed in relief.
"Did you enjoy the race?" Fernanda asked Leonardo, she was very energetic, by the look of her face she could have run much further.
"Yes, I liked it, I really needed to exercise, as I work at home, I was becoming very sedentary" Leonardo said
"Yes, it's good, we run to have fun, getting in shape is just a bonus, and I hope that in a short time I'll look hot" Fernanda said this in a very clumsy and irreverent way, it was more fun, she seemed to be very playful, It suited Jonathan well.
"In 6 months there is a ten kilometer race that we are thinking about signing up for, it's good to motivate our group" Isabela was also more willing to talk, even though Leonardo was new to the group, he seemed to already be part of it.
"But in two months will I be able to do it? I still need to lose a lot of weight" Leonardo joked about the situation, as his extra weight was clearly visible. Jonathan wasn't out of shape, he had a few extra pounds, but that seemed to come easily.
"You look great, don't worry about your appearance, worry about running well, that turns into your health, and we're all working together to reach that goal of ten kilometers, come with us and you can do it" Marcelle said with enthusiasm.
"Don't worry, you're still better than I was on my first day, you'll even run faster than me if you keep going like this" Jonathan did little to make Leonardo feel more comfortable.
"Until then we'll see how I go, if I can manage the ten kilometers well, we can do this together" Leonardo was more within the group.
"Yes, that's exactly what we want, to do something between us, to close our group and be part of all the races" Marcelle was excited by Leonardo's speech.
"Then it's agreed that we run together" Jonathan said with joy
Soon after, they talked a little more and went home, Jonathan and Fernanda had to take care of their daughter, and Isabela went for a ride with Marcelle in the car. As Leonardo lived nearby, he walked home, and thought, finally. He was very happy with the race, and he was even more happy with the new people, even if that didn't cross his mind, he was still very lonely. He spent months talking only to his mother, and as soon as he realized it, he had some good impressions about everyone, and managed to interact well without anything strange or abnormal happening. For him, the day had already been a victory for these reasons alone, and he was happy when he returned home, a joy he hadn't felt in a long time.