WRITTEN TRANSCRIPTION OF THE PODCAST:

Imagine this, you are walking with your friend and talking. When suddenly you hear that someone is sprinting behind you and they are trying to catch you, you panic. You start running too but it turns out you are not fast enough and they get to you. You want to put up a fight and you start fighting back, you are kicking, you are screaming and you are even trying to bite them, but nothing helps, and they rip off your red band of your left arm, which means that you are now dead.

Okay, so what was that? Who was trying to catch me and why? To explain this, we have to go to the very beginning.

Hello and welcome to my podcast, My Life and Other Funny Stories. My name is Dagmar Tomášková and I am an English tutor. And in this podcast, I tell stories about my life and also other stories meant for English students on intermediate and upper intermediate levels. Find the transcript, additional vocabulary list and comprehension quiz as a bonus in the notes of the podcast

I know that the introduction was a little confusing today.

I will tell you the story about the time. I signed up for an event called „Copak je to za vojáka“ in Czech and in English, „Who’s that soldier?“

It was a race or a competition where you had to run from point A to point B without being caught. It was only eight kilometers, but there was a problem: you had to hide and escape catchers.

If you want to know more about this event, I will put a link for it in the notes, but shortly: 

There are people compete – such as me – and we get a red band on the left arm which means that we are alive and once it is ripped off, it means that we die but we can put the red band on the right arm and have three more lives in the league of the dead.

We also get a chip with GPS that can be tracked for time and where we are. Little foreshadowing – foreshadowing means talking about something that will come back later):

They said „don’t lose this chip, it is very expensive“ and I said „OK I will definitely not lose this chip“

And opposite the people who competed were the catchers.

They had some advantages:

They could speak over walkie-talkies, they can they could have phones, they could use cars and motorcycles and four-wheelers and horses – yes they could have – and they had- horses and they were trying to catch us.

We were forbidden to use any communication gadget or means of transport (we were forbidden means that we were not allowed to use something).

Ok, so those were the rules.

I was very nervous but I was there with my friends and we decided to stick together – (stick together is that we wanted to stay close) and run together. We promised each other that we will go together no matter what-

but after four minutes when we got into the forest, catchers came running towards us and immediately disrupted (destroyed) our whole group.

Yes, four minutes were enough to divide us.

And I remained (which means that I stayed) alone.

I was in the middle of the forest and I had only a map and nothing else. I didn’t know where to go or what to do so I just decided to go straight and pray.

I was walking and walking in the forest and I was so scared that every sound made me jump. Suddenly, someone was running towards me and I started screaming.

Thankfully it was not a catcher but it was my friend Nick.

I looked at his arm and his band was on the right arm which meant that he was in the League of the Dead already.

But I was still alive!

He decided that at least one of us could try to finish this race alive and he decided to protect me.

That was the best thing that could have happened to me because I would have been lost without him!

We continued together, we ran and walked and hid behind trees or in the grass when the catchers were riding their four-wheelers and horses very close to us.

But in general, we were doing quite well!

It had been about an hour and a half since we had seen any catchers, thinking it was because we were so good.

But unfortunately, it also meant that we became less careful. We were just walking together and talking (to the point I almost forgot that I was in a race) when suddenly I heard someone sprinting behind me!

I turn around and there he was: a catcher!

He was sprinting towards me, I started running too (I don’t think I had ever run so quickly) but sadly, I was not fast enough and he caught me.

We were allowed to fight but I had no chance.

I was screaming and kicking and even biting (I know, I maybe crossed the line but I was desperate) but nothing helped.

He ripped off the band of my arm and that was it! From then on (we from then on when we want to say that something continued from a specific point) I was in the League of the Dead.

That was disappointing because I started to believe that I will finish alive but hey ho.

We continued our journey through rivers, through forests and fields. All my clothes were wet and I was very thirsty and also very tired.

So the next time we encountered (we came across) a big group of catchers, I just let them catch me because I just needed to drink so bad. Nick had one remaining life, I had two.

When we arrived at the last field and we could see the finish line, we hid behind bushes and watched the situation. We saw one last catcher before the finish line.

We were discussing how we will do it. Nick said: “ I will go left and you will go right, he can only follow one of us“ and he was right. Regrettably, he chose Nick, he ran after him and almost caught him..

But because I knew and I still had two lives left and Nick had only one, I decided to run towards the catcher and beg him (to beg means to say please please) to catch me instead of Nick.

He agreed and so finally, we could finish with Nick in peace – both with one life left in the League of the Dead.

The race took us eight hours. I was exhausted but I was excited to see the results. As luck would have it, when we came to the final station, I found out that I had lost my chip during the race.

So not only did I get no time results but I also had to pay extra for the chip. Classic me.

I was very sad and disappointed, of course, that from the 80 people who were in the race, I was the only one to lose the chip

But at least I ran with Nick the whole time so I could see his time and consider it mine as well.

And that was it! That was the experience with a field race „Who’s the Soldier“.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode and I hope that you liked it!

If you wanted to check your comprehension or you didn’t understand any words, check out the transcription vocabulary and comprehension quiz in the notes of the podcast!

Let me know how you liked it on my Instagram where you can find me @dajinka73 or click the link in the notes! Share it if you think anyone you know would like it, it would mean the world to me!

I will see you very soon bye-bye!