It was bad enough that she was panting like a teenage boy who’d just gotten to third base for the first time, but now she was also straining to catch her breath while gasping for clean air. She groped desperately for the last threads of her strength and stumbled, her feet dragging on the ground.

She was critically close to face planting into the pavement when she spotted Adam standing off to one side up ahead. He smiled as he congratulated other participants crossing the threshold. But when his gaze found her, his smile quickly faded and he wore a look of concern. Probably because her sporadic, uncoordinated movements looked more like she was playing around rather than participating in a serious event.

She didn’t care though. Completely exhausted, she had nothing left to spare. She could barely hold herself upright, and the loss of balance only compounded matters. Yet she was driven to reach the end and only her incredible will kept her moving those last few steps.

When her shoes finally met the white finish line, she nearly cried. It had been a seemingly impossible task for someone as unfit as her, but she had completed a three-mile mud run. She did it!

Or maybe she overdid it. Because, after that small, fleeting moment of success, everything happened in slow motion. Preslee swayed in place, and her vision blurred. Her stomach cramped. The air thinned, and she couldn’t catch her breath. A throbbing sensation in her head had spots floating in front of her eyes. Then she spun into darkness and collapsed.

She didn’t remember hitting the hard ground, though pain reverberated through her body. A crowd immediately huddled around her in shock, forming a half circle. Some people asked if she was okay while others called out for help.

Next thing she knew, Adam was there, running his hands over her body as if he was searching for an injury that he wouldn’t find. His voice rang in her ears. She heard him calling her name and asking questions, but she was unable to respond. Then his voice became muffled, as if he were underwater. Or maybe she was. Either way, she could no longer make out what he said.

But that wasn’t even the most pressing issue. It was getting harder to breathe, much less hear or see anything. Her vision had blurred again, but this time, it wasn’t due to sweat in her eyes. She wasn’t sweating any longer. Instead, a cold chill traveled the length of her spine.

She tried to get her legs under her so she could rise under her own power, but it was no use. She couldn’t move, and her heart raced. What the hell was wrong with her? Was she having a heart attack? Or possibly a stroke?