C24 Stadium run

Scene from EC's novel "The Pledge Mistress" - www.asstr.org/~caligula97030/p…

Tuesday morning began with the usual morning PT. The male pledges and their Pledge Master were assigned to Heather and faced a truly grueling hour of harsh exercising, complete with constant swats with her riding crop. The morning promised not to be much easier for the Lisa and her companions, because that was the first day President Alexandra wanted the pledges to exercise running up and down the stairs of the stadium. The pledges would be expected to keep up with the sophomores and no longer would be allowed to stretch on the football field during the stair runs.

The women made their usual trek to the stadium, but the pledges were in for a surprise. The sorority had a tradition to motivate the freshmen to move as fast as the sophomores when conducting stair training. Once they were standing at the base of the bleachers the pledges noticed the sophomores glancing at them with knowing smirks. Then they found out why.

Alexandra addressed the group:

“Pledges, now you get to prove yourselves on the stairs! Strip off your uniforms, except your shoes and socks. Fold your clothes neatly and resume the position of attention!”

As shocking as the order was, by now the pledges were conditioned to quickly obey. Within 15 seconds their uniforms were off their bodies and within another 15 seconds the clothes were neatly folded on the ground. The owners stood at attention in the early morning sunlight shining on their bare bodies, nervously waiting for their next order.

“You’ll have to earn your clothes back, Pledges! I’m not giving you anything; you’ll have to earn it! You will keep up with your future sorority sisters, or you'll stay like you are for the run back! It’s your choice: keep up, or run bare until you do! Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

With that the sophomores and their four naked companions began the grueling trek up the cement stairs of the stadium. From the first day they ran to the stadium they had known the moment was coming for them to start stair training. However, the pledges had not expected to be doing it so soon or face the prospect of running back to the sorority naked if they could not keep up.

The sophomores casually moved up flight after flight of the cement slope, their legs conditioned by having done the same training for a year.

At first it seemed that the pledges would be able to keep up. All four newcomers made it to the top with the sophomores during the first climb, and stayed with them as the group ran across one section of bleachers and began their descent. The women ran across another row of bleachers turned onto the second set of stairs to began their second ascent.

The pledges would have been all right had the entire group been as fit as Kathleen. The skinny girl had no problem keeping up, because she was an experienced runner and her thin legs were conditioned for hard workouts. Adrenaline was not a problem either, because she was always tensed up with stress and knew how to use that to her advantage. As her legs started to tire, she focused her thoughts on things that upset her or made her angry, which gave her the energy she needed to keep going. As they neared the top of the second flight of stairs, it was obvious Kathleen would make it to the end of the run.

The illusion of keeping up soon faded for Bernadette and Cherine. Their legs were throbbing even before they made it to the top of the first flight of stairs. They enjoyed a brief respite as they descended, but their hearts filled with despair as they began the arduous trek up the second flight. The stairs stretched upwards to the sky, going higher and higher. The end was in sight, but so what? After that horrible climb, there would be another, and another…six climbs altogether. No. They would not make it.

Despair swept over Lisa as she ran behind the two freshmen. She knew that with difficulty she could have kept up with Kathleen and the sophomores, but decided to stay behind with the two slower members of the pledge group. She was irritated that Kathleen was not staying with the others, but realized that her lover was used to running in competitions and not to keeping pace with the slowest member of her group. She couldn’t blame Kathleen, because having known and run with Jason she understood that the competitive instinct is embedded in a good runner.

Cherine was not able to run as fast as the sophomores, but she was fit enough to complete the six flights. Her pace would be slow, but with difficulty she would finish. The problem was not so much Cherine as it was Bernadette.

Bernadette, in spite of her appearance, simply was not in very good shape because she had not been used to exercising before entering college. On top of not exercising, she had smoked since she was fourteen. She was smart enough to realize that she needed to quit, which was one of her reasons for pledging the Four-Beta Sorority in the summer instead of the fall. Among the other things she wanted to accomplish, she was hoping that pledging would deny her the opportunity to smoke and force her to quit. She was right about quitting, but her lungs still were recovering from four years of inhaling smoke and nicotine. By the time she had reached the top of the third flight of stairs, she was gasping for breath and tears were rolling down her cheeks. She knew that she wasn’t going to make it.

“I…I…uh…I…run…go…I…can’t…”

Lisa snapped: “Then I’m not either!” She turned to her other companion: “Cherine, go! Catch up with Kathleen!”

“But…”

“That’s an order! Catch up!”

Cherine said nothing more, but slowly began moving further and further ahead of Bernadette and Lisa. By the time they were only halfway up the fourth flight of stairs, Cherine already was at the top and running down the next flight to try to catch up with the main group. Meanwhile, Bernadette’s face had changed color and she was clearly suffering.

“You go…too! I can’t…”

“Just do the best you can!

“I can’t…”

“Just do your best! Try! It’s our first time! Thursday you’ll do better!”

Bernadette started to cry. “I can’t!”

“Well, I’m not leaving you, so you don’t have any choice! Now do what you can! That’s all I’m asking! Just do what you can!”

Bernadette started crying in earnest as she began the painful journey up the fifth flight of stairs. Lisa glanced at the sixth flight to see the sophomores and Kathleen finishing, and at the bottom to see Cherine trying to catch up. Bernadette made the laborious climb up the stairs, barely able to walk up the steps, let alone run. Sweat was pouring down her body as she sobbed and gasped for air. Finally the two women made it to the top. Lisa was relieved. Five flights done, one to go.

As the two women made their way down the steps to start their sixth ascent, Cherine finished and joined the group on the football field. Then Lisa and Bernadette heard the whistles and cheers of a group of football players as they came out of the locker room for an early run. Oh, great. On top of everything else, Lisa and Bernadette now had an audience.

The two stressed pledges tried to ignore the barrage of whistles and cat-calls as Bernadette struggled up the final flight of stairs. That final climb was one of the hardest things she had ever done in her life, but Lisa’s uncompromising presence and the real fear she felt from all those guys watching her forced her to continue. Finally she made it to the top. As the noise and lewd comments from the football players continued to assault their ears, the two pledges descended the final flight and sadly approached the waiting sophomores.