"Long-Distance Loser" was published in VISION (May 7, 1967), edited by Bryan Wooley, published by the Christian Board of Education, St. Louis.
This was the first fiction I ever actually got paid for. I wrote it while I was going with Nancy Wilson. I was going to cut out the part about the deer but she told me to keep it in.
Four other runners were ahead of him as they rounded the turn and pounded into the backstretch. Every step jolted through Mel Perry's body and made his head throb. Behind him he could hear the heavy breathing of the remaining milers.