‘I was away for… god it must have been a long time… a long… long time. It’s up to me to fix this…’ Charlie told himself as he put on the biggest smile he could manage.

He jogged across the street and when he reached it, he hunched over with his hands on his knees, he wheezed, “H-H-Hey Sarah… yeah, I-I know. Yo-You look different.”

Charlie huffed and puffed his cheeks flushed from the pathetic excuse for effort that had already drained him of his energy. “I-I-I’m a little out of shape.”

“Round is a shape.” Charlie heard the voice and raised his head while still being hunched over, he saw Judy standing there with her hands on her hips wearing a blue tracksuit and bright white sneakers.

“Yeah… yeah it is, but it’s not my preferred shape.” Charlie acknowledged, his cheeks burned with embarrassment and a sense of shame washed over him, the familiar loathing he felt when getting out of bed, came back like it was never gone. ‘I shouldn’t be here. I’ll slow them down.’ He told himself, briefly at a loss at what else to say.

“I should look different… about twenty times over by now.” Sarah interrupted before Judy could tease the hunched over Charlie any further. She had a winning smile on her ebony face. “I’ve changed my hair four times, tried different makeup brands eight times, and I even had these reduced to fix my back pain.” She straightened up and arched her back to show that her chest was now several sizes smaller.

“Well, it would have been rude to say anything about that but… he-hey as long as you’re happy.” Charlie answered and slowly straightened up.

“Yeah well, you’re back but… you sure you can handle this?” Mark, a slender former track and field participant and present data scientist looked him up and down. “You’ve not been exercising and it’s not good to try to handle these distances without training.”

“No… probably not. I-I wasn’t in a good place.” Charlie admitted, “I’m sorry I ignored you all, stopped running, stopped existing. It wasn’t about you, I promise… this was on me.” Charlie said with aplomb. “Everything.” He added with emphasis, though he was still flushed in his cherub face and breathing hard, he said it as strongly as he could, and even the more prickly Judy had nothing to say to that.

“So… what’s been up with you all, what have I missed?” Charlie pressed through the silence and asked the daring question. ‘They could dismiss it, they could say nothing… I did abandon them… you can’t just neglect your friends for god knows how long and then start over… I…’ The anxiety and worry ran through him though he kept his nervous smile, and was grateful that the darkness kept it mostly concealed and only the dim glow of a nearby streetlight illuminated any of them at all.

He waited for the inevitable “Nothing much,” from most of them. Charlie could feel Josef at his back, it was a comforting sort of feeling, knowing one certain friendly face was there, and because of that, the pace of his beating heart began to slow down, little by little.

“A lot of stuff.” Mark finally said, breaking the silent, awkward moment, “But it’s going to warm up quickly and I’d rather not drop from the heat.”

“Yeah… I don’t think I could carry Charlie out of here when he keels over.” Judy teased, and Charlie suppressed a flinch. There were a few chuckles at her barb, but Mark pressed on.

“Uh huh, listen we can catch up over breakfast. This is your first run, so I’ve planned out the route to be an easy one, just do what you can, and when you can’t handle it anymore, just walk to the usual place.” Mark said, then stopped, “Wait, you do remember the usual place, right, Charlie?”

“It’s the ‘Seattle’s Best’ coffee shop, isn’t it?” Charlie asked rhetorically.

“No, no it’s the Starbucks. C’mon Charlie, I know it’s been awhile, but get with it.” Judy said with a dismissive shake of her head,

Mark turned and pointed to the northeast, “Northeast corner just off the quad. You know the one with the outdoor seating. That place. We’ll be kind of sweaty, so no indoor place will want us, but the Starbucks lets us order our drinks outside.”

“Oh… Okay, I could have sworn it was a Seattle’s Best… man it has been awhile.” Charlie said, having finally gotten his breath back.

“As long as it’s coffee, I’ll even try that stuff that snakes shit out.” Philip remarked, and Charlie looked up at him, almost as tall as Josef, he was darker skinned and of mixed ancestry. He was also a statistics professor and an avid player of Dungeons & Dragons and consumed caffeine like fish did water.

“That’s a bit too much information, Phil.” Charlie said to the broad young professor.

“Well now you know it, and you can never unknow it.” Phil answered, the dim light of the lamp glowed against his toothy grin, “Anyway,” he looked over to Mark, “the route?”

“Right, right.” Mark said, “I’ve marked the trail with bits of flour, no big hills or anything, the false trails end with an X, the real ones end with beer. No hard liquor,” he raised a finger, “but… there is only enough beer at each spot for the first three people. I know some of us are a bit faster than others.” He gave a mocking glare toward Philip that said a great deal, while Philip in answer put his hands behind his back, turned half his body away, and whistled nonchalantly as if he wasn’t being called out.

“But regardless, pass on one every now and then to let the rest of the group get some. Since we’re technically in the city, the beer will always be hidden in a bush, and the route will take you to the coffee shop at the end. Any questions?” Mark asked.

“Yeah… uh, Charlie, you going to be okay?” Judy asked, and Charlie flushed again.

“I got him, don’t worry about it.” Josef said from his back.

“I’ll do my best.” Charlie replied, sheepishly looking away.

“Alright… then in that case…” Mark began and took out a stopwatch from his pocket, “Let the first summer run of the Hash House Harriers…” The group took up starting postures, each with a foot back, and Mark took up position among them.

Charlie did the same, until Judy cleared her throat, “Hey… Charlie, can you move to the back, you’re going to be in the way.”

“Oh… right… sorry.” Charlie straightened up, moved to the rear of the group and struck position again.

“Begin!” Mark shouted and started the timer.