i had decided to skip this prompt until the morning of when i read Maddie's entry (she did all sports-aus and for this it was chine as a cross-country-runner and their affection and familiarity with the physicality of the act and their environment) and suddenly my brain lit right up!
specifically this little passage right at the start:
Chine was always tempted to run barefoot - they’d done it in their youth, at every school competition and little athletics competition they could get away with. It felt easier than finding shoes that recreated the sensation of the dirt solidly under his feet, more connected to the terrain. In his own time he still mostly went without, unless it was the middle of summer and he was running on a track that crossed the road. Stepping on a stick hurt a little, but hot bitumen left the kind of ache he didn’t much like.
The track looped around up ahead, giving Chine a view of the gully below. Almost to the top of things now, then. Mostly downhill on the way back, at least for a few kilometres. Chine felt a kind of mental check run through their body, preparing for the change in running styles. It might be fun to go as fast as possible down a hill, but there was still plenty of the track to go after that. It was about pacing yourself, mapping out the route in your mind and matching your energy to that.
i've never gone anywhere near sports, but i DID used to get a thrill from running through a wetland when i was younger - jumping from one grass tussock to another to avoid getting my foot stuck in the mud - it felt SO good to trust my feet like that.
and so as i often do with chine; i allowed myself to indulge in a healthy amount of projecting and had a wonderful time recreating that experience (including the vulnerability that comes with trying to share it with somebody and trusting that they won't hate you if they lose a shoe, and the joy/relief when they lose the shoe and come up laughing) <3