Subsume

Subsume- to include or absorb something in something else

Ex: He had hardly just arrived at the first water jump in the 3000-meter steeplechase and yet there he stood, or, more accurately, he dawdled. A bead of sweat dripped off of his muffin top and was subsumed in the first of seven man-made puddles that he was expected to traverse during the course of the race. Hunched over and wheezing, he questioned the validity of the estimate that 10% of the Kenyan population has asthma. Where were all the asthmatic Kenyans? They certainly couldn’t be the same Kenyans that were in this race with him, the ones that had shot out to an insurmountable lead and were now coming dangerously close to lapping him.

“Move, fatty!” Shouted one of the Kenyans, as he cleared the barricade with gazelle-like grace and plopped down into the puddle.

“Hey! Can’t you see I’m trying to fill up my Neti pot over here!? Sorry some of us weren’t born to race! Some of us need to take pit stops for our allergies and respiratory shortcomings!”

Another year gone by, another last place finish in the steeplechase for the JCC’s representative at the Westchester County adult track and field championships.