Overcoming Obstacles

Ryuzaki trained in exactly the same way over the next several days, except that he didn't bother timing every single run he performed. It was now the morning of the fifth day of his training, which meant that today he would be timing his runs. If they were satisfactory then he would move on to something else for the time being, if not then he'd continue to improve himself until they were, simple as that. Ryuzaki thought back over his days of training and realized that he enjoyed running, he'd been having a great time. The only bad part of this entire ordeal was that every morning he'd been forced to rebuild his obstacle course, and in the evening he had to put everything back in its place. Perhaps he should build himself a permanent course somewhere more private? He began to rebuild his obstacle course for what he hoped would be the last time. At the same time he had greatly enjoyed the running so he would miss it when he was done. Still, the feeling of having improved would be even better, and that was why he was doing this in the first place. As Ryuzaki finished setting up the obstacle course he began to stretch his muscles. Bending closer to the ground he noticed the small droplets of water that had gathered in the grass. Condensation. Dew. He could smell the faint scent that the rained on grass gave off, to him it was rather pleasant. The moisture was a bit unpleasant though, it would make his run more difficult. Some would have decided to wait until later in the day, when the dew would have evaporated, and others would have taken it as a challenge, becoming determined to beat their previous times. Ryuzaki though, simply took it for what it was. He had the opportunity to discover whether or not he had the ability to beat his previous times while the grass was slippery, but he did have the ability to try again later in the day, when the grass would not be wet, and he would be very likely to succeed. So why not take advantage of both, if he needed them? With that in mind he once again stood on his mark and prepared to run. Pushing off with a kick Ryuzaki raced down the track. He didn't have to concentrate on the obstacles very much anymore, he'd ran the course quite a few times already, and it was something like second nature now. He was easily able to maneuver himself, even over the harder obstacles. This let him focus more on the mechanics of actually running, which was useful. He'd continued to practice the technique he'd discovered on the first day, and could tell that the muscles in his legs and feet were steadily growing stronger. With his stronger muscles and better understanding of what he was doing Ryuzaki was impressed with how fast he was able to cover the course. He did slip and slide occasionally due to the wetness of the ground, but managed to stay on his feet. As he came to the jump Ryuzaki felt fairly confident in his ability to get over it, but since the grass was wet he slowed down, just a bit. He made the jump easily, slid a bit when he landed, and continued on. Sprinting the last little way Ryuzaki almost fell in the last twenty or so feet, but just barely managed to catch himself. Landing on his mark he compared the time of his run just now to his previous times, and was pleased to see that he had indeed been faster this time, but not by as much as he would like. That was fine though, he'd go for a normal run for a while, then come back to this later on. He figured he could leave it set up just for an hour or two, so he didn't bother dismantling his course. He walked to an area not too far off that would be fine for a run, just dirt and rocks. For the next hour or so Ryuzaki worked on sprinting. He took breaks every so often to catch his breath, but he managed not to get too worn out. He focused most of his attention on his feet, making sure to practice correctly the new way he'd discovered to run faster. While sprinting he could notice more easily that he had gotten faster, which fueled his confidence. At the end of the hour he sat for a while, his purpose was to pass the time in the first place, so there was no large rush. While he took his break he stretched the muscles in his legs and whistled a tune. About five minutes later he was ready to continue, only now he'd focus on running over a longer distance. He ran about three or four laps around the dusty area a little under his full speed, then he gradually built his way up. He was able to run four more laps this way before he had to slow down to catch his breath. Ryuzaki ran two more laps at half speed, and then made his way back to the obstacle course. As he arrived he noted that everything was still exactly how he'd left it, so no one had stopped by apparently, or maybe they'd seen his mess and decided to head somewhere else. He inspected the ground and was glad to see that there wasn't a bit of moisture left anywhere. That was a relief, he'd been worried that he hadn't let enough time pass, but everything worked out in the end. Ryuzaki stood on his mark and looked over the obstacle course, gathering everything in his mind one last time for the final run. He ran the course in his mind, watched himself scramble over or around all of the different things he'd set up. After a moment Ryuzaki was ready, and started his run. With the earlier moisture problem out of the way he had a much easier time of it, experiencing very little difficulty with any of the obstacles. He'd gotten too used to his obstacle course, maybe in the future if he did something like this again he would change it up every once in a while, just for the added challenge. As he reached his mark and stopped timing he was fairly surprised to see just how much time he'd managed to cut off of both his first and this mornings measurements. Pleased with himself he dismantled his obstacle course for the last time. He wouldn't be needing it again, at least not for a while. Even then he'd already discovered that it wasn't best to set it up the same way each time. With everything back in its place Ryuzaki made his way back home, noticing that his legs ached a bit, but that was to be expected. All in all, he thought that this training had gone pretty well.