She knew she needed something more functional for her show and had never been ashamed of her body before in any of her twenty-three years, but there was something different when she knew she was being filmed. If it’d been anyone else, she would have thought he was just using the show as an excuse to be a perv, but it was easy to trust and not suspect your friend when he was gayer than Elton John.
Kendra took a couple of deep breaths and fought past the pain, grabbing the hold to swing herself up to the next. She didn’t have any shame in people admiring her body. She would never deny that she’d drawn some good cards when she was born, but she also had spent a good chunk of her life molding herself into a toned, athletic instrument through constant exercise, sports, and training. True, she’d started in those activities because she enjoyed the challenge, but there was no reason to complain about the benefits it brought as well.
She jumped from the wall onto widely spaced bars. After swinging back and forth, momentum aided her jump to the next bar. She lacked the arm span to reach all the way.
Kendra settled into a rhythm, quickly clearing the bars and jumping down. Her body and lungs screamed for her to stop, but she was almost done. She pushed past the pain and fatigue jogging over a narrow bridge toward the final obstacle, an open jump into an inflated landing pad. If she went too fast, she risked falling into the water below, but if she didn’t hit the jump with decent speed, there was no way she’d clear the obstacle.
With a shout of challenge, she accelerated, trusting in her careful footwork and a couple of years of gymnastics from her teenage years. She’d not stuck with it, but the benefits to her balance hadn’t vanished.
Kendra made her final leap, not one of faith, but one born of training and discipline. She flew over the final safety pool and landed in the bright red inflatable crash pad, utterly exhausted. A course official helped her sit up and guided her to the ladder. Once at the bottom, another man handed her a water bottle. The crowd gathered around clapped and cheered.
She looked up at the scoreboard, smiling to herself. She’d come in first by two seconds. It was a smaller, regional competition, and the prize money wasn’t great compared to what she made from her Roving Champion video channel, but that wasn’t the point. There was nothing like the satisfaction that came with defeating a course and knowing all her training and hard work paid off.
Kendra wiped sweat from her brow and downed half the water, keeping a smile as Graham circled her slowly. Her fans loved the post-event glow. She made a V-for-victory gesture while she continued drinking her water.
She lowered the bottle and smiled warmly into the camera. “There you have it, folks. This is Kendra Champion, your Roving Champion, coming to you from today’s challenge in Norman, Oklahoma. There were a lot of great competitors here today, and I’m happy to have my chance to compete against everyone. Until next time, remember to always challenge yourself. Also remember to click on that like button and subscribe if you want to see more of me and hit up some of my sponsor links listed below.”
“And we’re clear,” Graham announced, lowering the camera.
Kendra collapsed to her knees and groaned. “Ugh. Every part of me hurts.”
“Want to take some footage for another ‘The Cost of Training’ video?”
“No. I think it’s important to have one every once in a while, so people know it’s not all fun and cheering, but I don’t want to be too much of a bummer for my fans.”
Graham nodded toward an official waving her over. They needed to do the awards ceremony. The only reason they weren’t filming it was the race officials only granted Graham full access to the course if he agreed to not film certain key portions, including the opening and ending ceremonies. Kendra wanted the Roving Champion web show to be on good terms with all obstacle course gyms and obstacle course races in the country, so she did her best to comply with all such requests.
“I think you’ve earned a good dinner.” Graham smiled. “Let’s finish up here and hit that steak joint I was talking about.”
* * *
Kendra sliced into her filet mignon eagerly, her mouth watering. She always needed a protein infusion after a big event, and she knew to trust her body at this point and its needs.
Graham sipped on a beer across from her, some of his blond hair dipping into his eyes. He was cute enough, but even if he weren’t playing for the other team, he wouldn’t have been her type. He was tall and slender, but she liked her men, big, burly, and primal.
Her focus primarily on the obstacle course scene in recent years worked against her in that a lot of people were modeling their gyms and competitions after some of the more popular shows and events, and those events tended to advantage men with a lot of functional strength but lither, more compact builds rather than the massive mountains of muscle she preferred. That might have been why she hadn’t dated anyone in a year, and her last boyfriend was a linebacker, and the guy before that, a bodybuilder.
It’d been harder in the last couple of years, as she’d been traveling a lot farther from her home in LA. Wandering the country constantly didn’t make for stable relationships, and most men she’d met didn’t seem to like the idea of a girlfriend more famous than they were.
Graham sighed. “The sports drink people sent an email yesterday. They’re threatening to pull their sponsorship.”
Kendra set her fork down. “Because we’re getting fewer views?”
“I assume so, but they were cagey about the exact reason other
