She can't help it...

Zoe couldn’t help it – she had to know.

She quickly threw on an outfit to run in; sports bra, panties, leggings and a zip-neck long sleeve running top – popped some sports socks on her feet and dusted off her most reliable pair of running shoes.

Sitting on her bed as she tied her laces, the red-head continued to eye the strap around her wrist suspiciously. Had Katie put it on her as a joke? Did the material it was made of shrink or something when it was hot or cold? Was that how it had gotten on her? It didn’t make any sense how it had seemingly attached itself to her and she couldn’t remove it...

She spotted a crumb of trail mix on the floor that she’d missed the day before…

“Well – I wanted motivation…” Zoe blinked and sat up at her own words, “I… did I wish…? Did…? wishes…?”

She stammered to her empty room, the implication of what she was considering made her feel faint.

I wished for more motivation…

The redhead bit her lip, fingering the strap one more time before she shook her head to clear it. No, no, that idea was ridiculous – magic isn’t real, wishes don’t get granted and they definitely don’t get granted in the form of a pretty ordinary looking activity tracker...

“Get it together Zo…” She clicked her tongue as she tied her hair into its customary ponytail, grabbed her house keys, and set off down the stairs.

Stepping out into the early morning sunshine, Zoe blushed guiltily; remembering how early it still was in comparison with how late she had been sleeping in recently. Katie’s car was long gone from the driveway and the sun was still low on the horizon so she had to squint to see properly down the street.

Their little house was on a small suburban side-street, right on the edge of the University campus. Zoe had a route she knew that would be about the distance she wanted – a 5 mile loop that would take her down the street, across the road, and down a couple more side-streets until she reached the campus edge. From there, she could run around the perimeter of the college, then back through the woods that ran across the entire edge of town. That would bring her all the way back to the opposite end of their street and home – it was mostly flat, mostly asphalt and was normally quiet.

She took some deep breaths as she warmed up, stretching on the porch and trying to put the thought of the strap out of her mind – she was just going to treat this like a normal run. Find out if this tracker thing even worked, and then she could just cut if off later if it didn’t… she was fine…

She felt rusty – after so long not training her body was stiff in places she didn’t expect it to be and she groaned softly in immediate regret as she went to stretch her quad and felt tightness she didn’t expect.

“That’ll take some running out…” she sighed.

Straightening up, and with one last check up and down the street, Zoe took off down the steps at a light pace. She didn’t want to push it for this first half mile – just see how she felt, bring herself up to speed…

The streets were quiet as she ran; only a few cars passed her by – the town was a university town, it mostly served the campus and the students and there was little else here besides it. With it being the summer, there were few students around and the whole place was serenely quiet.

The roaring of her own pulse started to build in her ears, and Zoe felt her breathing coming heavier. By the time she reached the campus she felt the familiar weight in her lungs from the exertion, the familiar pumping of her heart, the reassuring ache in her legs as her body woke up to running again.

She knew she was nowhere near her best pace, though she wasn’t tracking her time – but after not doing this for so long, Zoe was a little relieved to know that she hadn’t completely lost it. She was also glad to find campus was even quieter than the roads around it – the usual groups of students moving about were gone, replaced by empty sidewalks and footpaths through the grounds.

She nodded politely and breathlessly at a man jogging the other way, he returned it with a smile.

She couldn’t help but glance down at the activity tracker on her wrist as she ran… was it monitoring her – did it know she was running? The led still wasn’t lit.

After what she guessed was the 2 mile mark, about half way around the campus perimeter, Zoe took a breather, standing in the shade of one of the sycamores that marked the campus boundary path.

She starting stretching and she had only been stationary for about 30 seconds when she felt the tracker vibrate on her wrist – the led flashing white again. Biting her lip as she looked around to make sure she was alone – Zoe pressed the button again,

“Good Girl!”

Ex-fucking-scuse me?!

Zoe gasped and screwed up her face at how patronising the voice was. Blushing furiously the girl tossed her ponytail over her other shoulder and looked around again, double checking no one else was anywhere close to have heard it.

At least it said something else though… she figured, as the voice continued.

“Avoid breaks to earn a reward!”

Zoe screwed up her face – what was this thing? She had expected it to give her some stats maybe, her pace or distance covered, maybe even an idea of how many calories she’d burned or steps she’d taken maybe… instead, all she got was another promise of a reward…

Zoe stretched her calves for a moment, she almost wanted to goad the damn thing into saying something else. After another minute she felt it vibrate on her wrist again, she hit the button,

“Avoid breaks to earn a reward!”

Great... More of the same then... ok... Zoe pushed off from the tree to start up again.

By the time she’d rounded the campus completely, the girl was really into her stride – she could feel some of the rust coming off now and her body was growing naturally back into it. She couldn’t help but smile as she breathed in the sweet morning air as she ran onto the path into the woods and curved round to start running back towards home.

She got into the zone at times like this.

It wasn’t about time or pace, Zoe didn’t even feel like herself sometimes – it was just the rhythm of it. Step… step… step… step…

Arms pumping, lungs bursting, heart racing – striding one foot in front of the other – the world around her become a blur, a beautiful haze of green trees, blue sky, and open path, nothing but her own breathing, her own body, pushing on and on and on…

Zoe barely noticed her time in the woods, passing back out of them again, or the run back between the next street before she turned onto hers. It was only in that last few hundred yards, as her runners high descended and she started to come back into focus, that she felt the burn – the ache – the thirst...

She really needed to hydrate...

Rounding the mailbox – Zoe leapt across their lawn and up the front steps, touching the front door with a reassuring breath and then clutching at her waist as she tried to bring her breathing back under control.

5 miles – she estimated – she wasn’t sure how long it had taken her – maybe 50 minutes? Though she couldn’t be sure... She’d kept her pace leisurely, and for having not run for so long, she didn’t feel it was a terrible effort...

Zoe gulped for air as she unlocked the front door of the house and stepped inside, only now starting to feel the sweat on her skin and the almost cold aching of her heart as it thundered in her chest. Moving to the kitchen, she grabbed a large glass of water and started gulping it down.

Her eyes caught sight of the tracker on her wrist as she held the glass – it vibrated, and she watched the led turn green…