Jon felt an explosion in his hands and saw that he was standing up and carrying a rifle! He looked through the sight, lined it up with the target and fired the gun once more. The red target turned black, signifying a hit.
Jon threw the rifle over his back and began to ski down the course. He finally had a chance to think, but he had already realized what had happened. He was a biathlete and it seemed strange to Jon that even though he had never heard of the sport before, he now seemed to be an expert at cross-country skiing and riflery.
As Jon pushed himself through the greuling course, he knew the stakes were high. He was representing the United States at the World Championships. As he skied past stunning vistas of the Italian Alps, Jon was amazed that he had this much endurance and stamina. He looked down and saw powerful legs in a blue spandex suit strapped to his skis.
After skiing for what felt like 15 minutes at full tilt, Jon came to another shooting range. As he got down into prone position, his heart was racing a mile a minute, but he found he was able to concentrate on the target and relax. He fired his first shot...missed, dammit. The second shot...hit, thank god. The third shot...another hit, good. The fourth shot...missed. Jon sighed, but quickly got back on his feet and began skiing again.
By this time, Jon was drenched in sweat and his legs felt like they were ready to give out. He knew that in his own body, he could never keep up at something like this, even in this body that trained for this type of demanding race, he was reaching his limits.
Five minutes later, Jon came around a bend and saw the finish line. He began to sprint towards the end, using every last bit of energy and collapsed in a heap as soon as he crossed the line. He pulled off his now-sweaty hat and looked at the results. Damn, 46th place, he'd been beaten by scores of Europeans.
As a few other racers crossed the finish line, another racer in a similar blue spandex suit that Jon recognized as one of his American teammates walked over to him. "Hey, good effort, Jeremy," he said. "Keep your head up."
Jon got up and his body was sore all over. "Let's go hit the jacuzzi," his teammate said.
