The 10K Stampede!

"48 ...uuugh!  49 ...uuuugh!  50!  Hooray!"

Dropping the barbell with a combined weight of 500lbs onto the floor, the 6'8" white rabbit woman Ally Herman let out a shout of success over achieving another great feat with her magnificent Amazonian body!

But she didn't have time to celebrate.  Ally quickly got herself onto the closest treadmill, and tuned it up to max speed.

"Time to go fast!"

While that would send most other gym patrons literally flying off the machine, the massive bunny girl was more annoyed over the fact that it couldn't go any faster for her at it's maximum speed setting.

"(huff, puff) Aw, come on!  Can't this go any FASTER?! (huff, puff)"

After going on for about 20 minutes non-stop at the machine's max speed, Ally gave up on it for giving her less than a challenge and packed all her belongings into her duffel bag and slung it around her shoulder.

"Maybe a good run at all the way home at full speed will really feel like a good challenge." Ally said to herself with zealous determination. "I'll even take a longer route around town for extra miles."

And soon enough, Ally Herman took off running non-stop like a race car, reaching her top speed of 63 miles per hour in less than 3.8 seconds!  Who needs a car when you could run at a speed like that?

Ally ran through the middle of the city of St. Saens for a lot of pedestrians to witness her incredible speed with awe and disbelief!

Ally sped like a bullet thru the sports stadium during a ball game, she zoomed by an antique car show, and past a police officer who was shocked to see the blonde white rabbit woman run as fast as the average highway vehicle (thankfully at the legal speed limit).

Soon enough, Ally reached her final destination: a modest apartment complex on the outskirts of the city.  She screeched to a halt, caught her breath, and looked down to realize she wore out the treads to another pair of workout shoes.

"Awww!  That's the 4th pair I ruined this month!", Ally whined. "Oh, well.  I guess that's just another trip to the shoe store for Teddy to enjoy.  He always likes to fit each new pair of shoes on my feet.  Can't blame him, though."

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Ally pulled open the door to her apartment unit and announced, "Teddy!  I'm home!"

Teddy Atkins, a 4'2" teenage bear who took time each weekend from college to visit Ally, took a quick glace at the clock on the wall.  He thought to himself, rather nonchalantly, "Good ol' Ally.  Always back sooner than expected for another fine, vegetarian meal."  

The young bruin labored to prepare one of Ally's favourite "Health Concious" meals after one of her workouts: a bowl of freshly warm carrot soup with some fresh cucumber sandwiches served on the side.

Ally slipped off her tattered shoes, and sat down with Teddy to partake in the meal and have a good conversation:

"How was your workout, Ally?"

"It was... not all I hoped for, Teddy."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, it's just that every day is the same thing: wake up, go to work, show off for a few fans, work out, come home, eat, and on the weekends... well, you know."

As she took a spoonful of soup and a bite out of her sandwich, Ally stroked Teddy's leg with her large, bare rabbit foot, making the young bear blush.

"Right?" Ally asked with a wink and a smile.

"Uh, hehe... yeah.  I get it, babe." replied Teddy, sheepish as ever, making Ally giggle in spite of Teddy's reserved infatuation for her.

Teddy cleared his throat and shook his head as he concluded, "But yeah, okay, I get it.  You're bored of your daily cycle.  I mean, I can understand that being in a routine myself back at the university: wake up, class, cram my studies, eat, shower, sleep, and repeat until the weekend and then come back and do it all over again.  But you know something?  I found this in the newspaper just today."

Teddy brought up the newspaper and opened up to a page with a massive advertisement on it that instantly caught Ally's attention.

In big bold letters it read "5th annual 10K Stampede", and it was set to take place in town 3 weeks from now!

"Thinking about how fast you run to the gym and back every day got me to think that maybe you could be in this, Ally." Teddy indicated, "And look! The 1st prize for the winner, and their choice of partner, gets an all expense paid stay for two weeks at the Calypso Sea Tropical Island Resort!"

"Wow!", cheered Ally. "I've always wanted to go to an island resort!  It'll sure be a huge break from these repeats we're going through here at home!"

"For sure!" Teddy agreed. "I know they serve some good, healthy exotic food at the restaurants there."

"And plenty of fun activites for us to enjoy!" Ally added, "But if we're going to win this, then we gotta work TOGETHER for it!  Right?"

"Of course!" Teddy replied but wondered, "Uh, what do you mean by 'we'? I mean, what am I supposed to do?  I'm not that much of a runner."

"Hee hee! Of course not, silly!", proposed Ally with a tempting tone in her sweet voice. "You could ride on my shoulders and coach me to run faster and faster."

Teddy felt his blood run cold at that proposition, but thinking about how he would have the job of motivating Ally to push herself to run faster, he flatly replied, "Yeah.  Coaching you while sitting on your shoulders while you run at 60-plus miles per hour and me sceaming my head off and holding onto you for dear life, like I usually do.  That'll get you to run faster.  Right?"

Ally laughed for a few good seconds. "Oh, Teddy!  You're so funny!", she hollered between laughs, but then she caught her breath and followed up with a hushed, soothing voice, "Don't worry, Teddy.  I won't let you get hurt.  Trust me."

Teddy felt relieved, knowing how much Ally cared about his well-being, but still felt shaken over the duty of coaching his girlfriend who was nearly twice his size, strength, and agility.  Nevertheless, Teddy accepted the task.  The two would meet again the next day to start preparing for the race.

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Ally and Teddy worked together harder than ever before for the next three weeks to prepare for the 10K Stampede.  Ally kept pushing herself to her limits, while Teddy was doing his best to push Ally even further.  They would take their training out on the city highway!

"Come on, Ally!  Faster!", shouted Teddy. "Those 18-wheelers are going to beat us to the finish line and call us losers if you don't!  Go, go, GO!!"

"Okay, Teddy!" Ally shouted, "Hang on tight!"

And Ally would do just that!  Faster and faster she pushed, passing by every moter vehicle in the highway (and making Teddy all scared to death in the process!).

Teddy worked hard to make sure that Ally was in good shape, as well as in good spirit.  He made Ally more food to eat between sessions, he gave her plenty of water to drink, and he made sure her legs and feet were in good condition (with Ally teasing Teddy by wiggling her fluffy toes in his face for a much needed laugh).

At the end of each day they trained together, Ally would cuddle Teddy close to her and whisper in his ear all her excitement of being at the resort, which made it all worthwhile to the lovestruck Teddy.

On the weekend before the race, Teddy got Ally a brand new pair of running shoes and an outfit to match.  The material of said shoes and clothes were all guarenteed to withstand the high speed to which Ally can run up to (which most of her tattered clothes and shoes had proven before).

All the training these past couple weeks helped Ally feel stronger and confident, but still apprehensive of her success.  If this race was the 5th one in a row, then there surely was bound to be a lot of competitors to deal with.  Having taken this into account, Ally started second-guessing herself.

"What if I don't get first place?" She asked Teddy. "What if I don't win it and this whole race was a waste of time?"

Teddy gently held her big hand into his smaller paws and said back to her, "It will be worth the time, Ally.  This is a chance to prove to everyone not just how fast you are, but how much of a good person you are.  Just be yourself, like you always been, and you'll be a winner no matter how you place.  That's what you told me when I went into that karate tournament a few months ago. Remember?"

Thinking back on it, Ally smiled as she said, "Yeah!  You're right!  Everyone cheered for you when you took down that big, mean black belt wolf.  They even cheered louder when I kicked your butt after that."

Teddy let out a small chuckle as he corrected her, "Actually, you didn't kick my butt.  You grappled me in a Full-Nelson and then you groped my butt."

Ally just smirked and replied "I know.", before then gently wrapping her arms around Teddy in the same Full-Nelson from before, and then groped his rear-end once more to help lift him up to her eye level.

"...and then I did this as a finishing move." Ally then said, before kissing her little teddy bear on the forehead, making him blush and all dreamy-eyed as he let out a small "D'aww, gosh..." in return.

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"Gooood morning, Saint Saens!", crooned a parrot-faced commentator, "Today marks the 5th annual 10 kilometer Stampede!  Looks like it's gonna be a tough competition as this year's competitors are getting ready to run!"

Ally got herself ready at the side of the starting lane and she got a chance to look up the competition she had.  Amongst her fellow competitors were a female deer, a pretty fit looking jaguar guy, and a very jumpy tiny gecko nerd.

"Yep!  I can outrun 'em all." Ally thought to herself, confident as ever.

Teddy (always being overprotective of Ally) was also taking place in the event, as he had signed up to be a volunteer medic in case of any running accidents, (which he hoped would not happen, especially to Ally).

The race seemed like it was off to a good start when all of a sudden, a deep voice speaking in a "sufer dude" dialect uttered, "Whoa, like, if it isn't Ol' Cottontail's little girl!  Totally rad that you're here!  How are ya, babe?"

"Terry?!" Ally called out, clearly annoyed. "What are you doing here??  Don't tell me you came to race, too!"

Terry Pinellas, the 7'3" sea turtle with an intimidating physique, but an outdated charisma, approached Ally from the side of the commentator trailer.

"Hey, chill out, Flopsey!" Terry replied.  "I'm here as a guest commentator.  And, like, if you win this race, then I'm SO gonna have a lot of good things to say about you."

"Yeah, right!" doubted Ally. "Like you're gonna brag all about how you used to trick me so you could win those footraces we used to run?"

"No way!" Terry corrected, "Just on how mondo thick you're looking."

"Oooooh!" Ally groaned, "You'll be sorry!"

"Don't listen to him, Ally!" Teddy intervened, "Just focus on winning the race.  It's not like you'll hear him and they won't even allow that kind of talk on public broadcast anyway."

"Well, no duh!  I was kidding, man!" Terry snarked as he entered the trailer and took his place at the microphone. "By the way, Plushie?  Why don't you try taking some supplements so you can grow to see Ally and me together, like, EYE-TO-EYE for once in your life?"

"Whatever." the 4'2" Teddy scoffed, clearly annoyed.

>THOOM!<  >THOOM!<

Suddenly the whole ground started to shake, and even Ally almost tripped over wondering if there was an earthquake going on at the moment?

Everybody looked back to see a MASSIVE rhino man making an entrance, as every step he took made the ground shake!

While Ally has often seen herself as the tallest one around (and easily the tallest out of the rest of her competitors.), even she felt pretty small when facing this rhino that was actually towering over her by a good head or two!

"Whoa!  Like, is this a race or just another wrestlin' bout?!" Terry asked from the commentator's box.

The parrot commentator sitting beside Terry announced,  "Here he is, ladies and gentlemen! Troy Linnaeus! The 4-time winner of 10K Stampede, and known for not letting ANYTHING, or ANYONE get in his way of victory!"

"I know, dude!" Terry followed, "Like, this guy could take on anybody in the wrestling ring if he tried, but like, why doesn't he?  Oh, well.  His loss."

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Ally felt a twinge of fear knowing that the monsterous-sized rhino, Troy, was the proclaimed 4-time champion of the 10K Stampede.  Nevertheless, Ally had come this far to compete in the race and wasn't going to back down from some stiff competition.

Having the tall rhino brute right next to herself, Ally and Troy shared a quick glance that showed that neither of them was going to let the other one get the win, and that this would most likely end up a very hard race.

>BRRRIIIIIIING!<

As soon as the shrill ring of the starting bell signaled, all the runners took off!

Ally was at the far back of the group at first, but she knew that she would be able to hold out for the long distance better then anyone else.

The first racer Aly passed was the little gecko nerd, who mostly had his super small size to blame for Ally having such an easy time passing him.

Next was the deer lady, who's running style of skipping a lot made her even more graceful then the bunny herself, but it was also a style that very soon Ally was able to surpass.

Then she had the jaguar guy next to pass, who Ally felt a bit extra pleased with picking up the pace and passing by.

"Hiii~!" Ally greeted with mocking cheer. "Sorry to pass you by, but... I'm just too good!  Can't be helped, you know?  See ya!"

Funny enough,  Ally found the rhino dude to be very easy to catch up to; but as she glanced back while passing him, Ally noticed how he started to slow down, allowing all of the other runners to get past him as well.

It wasn't until she heard those heavy thuds again that Ally looked back once more, and to her horror saw just how aggressive the running style of Troy really was, as he was starting to charge on all fours, aiming his big horn towards his competition!

One by one, Troy slammed his huge horned head into each and every racer with his horn, and sent them flying right off the road, and into the nearest ditch and out of the contest!  Teddy and the rest of the medical team rushed by golfcart to get to each downed racer!

Ally tried her hardest to keep increasing her speed, but no matter what she still could see Troy catching up closer and closer, with his big horn aiming for her bunny buns!

Ally only got time to let out a quick "Oh!" over the sudden feeling of that big, thick, horn ramming up against her tight running shorts, before then getting hoisted into the air, and landing right on top of Troy's face!

Ally was now riding on top of the charging Troy's forhead, with his big horn rubbing up between her legs, and her thick buttocks fully blocking his view!

(To be honest, Ally was just outright mortified over the idea of a her hooch wedged up against a huge rhino horn, but she tried not to give into the erogenous sensation.)

Despite his lack of vision, Troy still kept on running at full speed, and that made Ally more worried than anything else as she saw what was coming right ahead of them!

Their running track was just about to take a very sharp right turn, and if one was to continue forward anyway, then they would first end up going off a cliff and then straight into a big lake right at the bottom!

Being unable to warn him in any way, Ally figured the only thing she could do was saving herself, as she made a big leap off of Troy, who had about a second to gloat about her "defeat", but then getting pale as he saw the end of the road ahead of him!

With no time to slow down or change course, Troy ended up running off the cliff and went airborne for a few seconds, before then falling like a rock and creating a massive splash into the lake below!

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Landing on her feet and running downhill towards her now very certain victory, Ally could see the finish line just behind the lake when she heard a desperate call for, "HEEEEEELLLLLPPPP!!!!!!"

Looking around, Ally saw Troy resurfaced from the lake and wildly flailed his big meaty arms around for dear life seemingly about to drown!

Troyt had been a real ass to Ally and the rest of the racers earlier (and the finishing line was just right there too...), but it didn't mean she couldn't just let him die for the sake of her own winning.  What would everyone think of her if she left Troy to drown?  Even worse: what would Teddy think?

Knowing it was the only right thing to do, Ally stopped dead in her tracks, turned herself around, and then made a big leap into the lake to swim over and rescue her fellow competitor!

Despite being bigger and heavier then her, the muscular rabbit girl's pure rush of adrenaline was able to give her the strength to pull the big rhino with her, and dragging him back onto the shore!

While on dry land now, Troy was still not showing any signs of waking up, making Ally extra worried that she might be to late.

Seeing medical staff showing up, she quickly asked if anyone of them knew CPR, and before anyone of them got a chance to answer they all heard a familiar voice saying "Well, I've been a lifeguard at the beach for 30-odd years, so I'm totally qualifed to help this dude out."

"What the...?! Terry!" Ally asked out surprised, as she saw emerging was indeed the annoying turtle ex-suitor of hers, carrying around a portable sound set, and still speaking into a microphone as he was doing his commentary!

"You're still talking on that mic?!" Ally asked dumbfounded, as Terry simply replied "A true commentator could never leave out any of the action! Plus, I knew I had to get here quickly, in case a... 'fair lady' needs to be saving."

Ally just wanted to give this guy a full lecture on everything that was wrong with what he just said, but there was still a rhino guy not breathing that needed to be addressed first.

"If you know this stuff, then please save him before it's to late!" Ally begged, as Terry leaned over onto the still unconscious Troy as he said, "No prob! I'm just going to give this dude a C.hill P.ebble R.evivial! 'Chill Pebbles', the minty breath tablets that are one of the main sponsors of this event!"

"Uugh!  That Terry.  Still always trying to do a commercial when he can." Ally mumbled to herself, as Terry finally went down and started breathing fresh air into the mouth of Troy, who after a few tries finally woke up and started coughing up some water he had swallowed.

"Oh my god! Thank you! You just saved my life!" The big rhino guy said as he picked up the much smaller turtle one, before adding "And you even hauled me out from that lake!"

Terry wasn't late taking the credits for that as well, as Ally tried to interrupt them, when suddenly another voice called out "Ally?" to her.

"Oh!  Teddy!" cried Ally as she realized Teddy was appraching the incident from behind her. "How did you get here so fast?"

"Well, first the team and I saw that rhino jerk Troy take out the other racers and we got on the cart to tend to them ASAP.", Teddy explained. "Then when I saw him attack you, I know I couldn't just stand and watch! So I ran over here as quickly as my legs would carry me!  Are you okay?"

"Yeah." said Ally, "I did catch quite a ride on his face as he rear-ended me... uh... I mean... heh heh... no wait, that sounded better in my head.  Never mind!"

"By the way..." Teddy added, producing his cell phone. "...I couldn't help but notice Terry and Troy getting all 'kissy, kissy' over there, so made sure to take some pictures of it." Teddy said, as he held up his phone proudly.

Having heard that last bit suddenly both Terry and Troy got very worried, as they begged for the small bear to not post any of those photos, with Teddy simply replying "Can't make any promises." as he was being picked up and placed upon the shoulders of his big girl, before she took off to win the race.

With all of the other competitors having been taken care of by the medical team, it was a breeze for Ally to jog the final parts.  But before they could reach the finish line, members of the race management crew stopped them.

"That was a brave thing you did, Miss Herman." said one of the crew managers. "It would have taken the whole fire department to haul Troy out of that lake like that."

"Oh?  Uh, heh heh..." Ally giggled, blushing. "Well, I have been working out long enough to, uh... heh heh.  Yeah."

"And because of your selfless act of bravery, and your boyfriend's efforts in aiding the medical staff..." added the crew manager, "...we're going to have both of you and all the other race participants fly to the Calypso Sea Tropical Island Resort together!"

The gecko, deer, and jaguar all sat up and smiled (and ached from their minor injuries).

"Awesome!" shouted Teddy, then insisted. "Uh, but we should wait a few days for those guys to recover from their injuries.  Nothing serious, thankfully.  Just knocked around quite a bit."

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A few days later Ally, Teddy, and the other three 10K Stampede racers enjoyed the best vacation they had ever had at the Calypso Sea Tropical Island Resort!

After finishing a rather intense game of volley ball on the beach (with Ally naturally going all in to slam that ball as deeply she could into the sand), the bear and rabbit both sat down to share a refreshing drink while resting a couple of sun chairs.  Teddy had some iced tea and Ally had a tropical carrot juice cocktail (both non-alcoholic).  Ally then noticed Teddy looked troubled, the way he stared off into space with a slight frown.

"What's the matter, Teddy?" asked Ally.

"It's just one thing that keeps bugging me, a little." Teddy admitted. "Did you really have to risk yourself saving that big rhino brute from drowning like that?"

"Of course, Teddy." replied Ally, "I just stayed being myself, like you said I should, and it paid off for the other racers!"

"Yeah." Teddy said, before then checking his phone and smirking over what he saw. "These two lovebirds are trending quite a bit, aren't they?

"What?" Ally asked curious, as Teddy held up the phone to her, and she squealed in humorous shock over what she was saw! "OH, MY GOSH!"

Teddy had ended up sharing the images he took of Terry "kissing" Troy (as he was actually giving him CPR) and by the looks of it they had ended up becoming quite viral!

Teddy and Ally had a good laugh over the reception of those photos!

"I guess we can truly relax, now that Terry's got his hands full." said Teddy.

"Yeah." said Ally. "I've got my hands full, too."

"What do you mean?" asked Teddy, before Ally lift him up from under his shoulders and hugged him dearly while the sun set over the amber horizon.

"Aww, gosh..." mumbled the lucky Teddy as Ally softly giggled in his ear.