Authors: Matt Christopher
Theo was now in his fifth week of running and had set himself a goal. He wanted to run a mile and a half, nonstop. This week,
he would be running for
up to fifteen minutes, which made the mile and a half something he might really do.
After a few days in the park, Theo went to the track to run. A mile and a half meant six full laps, and today he was going
to go for it. He stretched and warmed up with a five-minute walk. The day was cloudy and cool, so Theo wasn’t worried about
the heat tiring him out. He finished his prerun drink, took a deep breath, and began to run.
He finished two laps with no strain at all, but midway through the third, Theo began feeling as if he was pushing himself.
Was it possible that he’d set his goal too high, too soon? He wasn’t going to give up easily.
As he ran, Theo heard a familiar voice behind him. “Hey, Theo! Looking good!”
It was Steve LaMotta, who came up and slowed down to Theo’s pace. “You’re doing much better than when I saw you last. Congratulations!”
“Thanks,” Theo said. “I think I might be shooting for too much today, though.”
“Can I make a suggestion?” Steve asked.
“Sure!” Theo answered.
“You need to relax a little,” Steve said. “Especially
your arms and hands. Do you know that your fists are clenched and your arms are tense like you’re getting ready for a wrist-wrestling
match? That just tires you out, and it doesn’t help your running at all.”
Startled, Theo realized that he
was
doing exactly what Steve said. And just focusing on it made him a little more tired.
“Loosen up those arms. Shake ’em out. Keep them relaxed and loose. Try to imagine that you’re holding a tennis ball in each
hand so you don’t clench your fists. You’ll find that running is much less strain,” Steve said. “And while we’re at it, I
think you’re doing something we call ‘overstriding.’ Your stride — the length of your steps — is too long, and that adds to
the strain, too. Try to shorten your stride by an inch or two and your legs may feel more comfortable.”
Theo thought for a moment and tried to cut down the length of his steps by a little.
“Experiment a bit,” Steve advised. “Find a stride that feels right. You’ll know when you have it.”
As he ran, Theo tried to find a stride that would make a difference. He’d run a hundred or so yards and change it a bit. Finally,
after four or five changes,
he looked over at Steve. “I think I got it! This does feel more natural.”
“Great!” Steve said. “One last thing — if I’m not making you crazy with all this.”
“No, what is it?” Theo asked, feeling more comfortable with his relaxed arms and slightly shorter stride.
“I think your neck and shoulders are too tight, too,” Steve said. “When you run any distance, the idea is not to waste energy
on muscles that you don’t need. Also, if you tense up in the wrong places, you get really sore. You need to do some posture
work to take some of the pressure off your neck. I can show you a few things. But for now, it looks like you’re not having
as much trouble as you were.”
“You’re right — I’m not.” Theo was pleased, and even more so to realize that, as he and Steve had been together, they’d gone
two more laps. He was within one lap of his mile and a half— and he actually felt less worn out than after a half mile!
Steve took off, telling Theo he’d see him around, and Theo finished the final lap of the mile and a half. He made a mental
note of something else he’d
learned today: you tended to not feel so tired if you didn’t think about being tired.
When he got home, Mrs. Gordimer said, “Let’s go shopping. All your old pants are falling off you now, and when you wear a
belt to keep them up, they look awful.”
Theo had always hated shopping for clothes. Today, however, he was happy to go. New pants with a smaller waistline sounded
like a great idea.
“I’ll get cleaned up, and I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”
And he
raced
up the stairs.
T
wo weeks after Theo’s first mile-and-a-half run, he and Paul started running together regularly. Theo had now been running
almost two months. From the days when he was walking ten minutes, doing ten minutes of run-and-walk, and walking ten minutes
more, he had reached the point where he was now mostly running. His walking totaled only a few minutes of warmup to start
with and a few minutes at the end of his run, to cool down.
Also, Theo had begun to run two and a half miles in a session, which was what Paul was doing. They were together today, running
in the park along a path that was popular with local runners.
“Have you gotten to where you actually enjoy running?” Paul asked. “Or is it still a grind, something you feel you have to
do?”
“No, I really enjoy it,” Theo said. “I don’t know when it happened exactly, but I’ve gotten so that I look forward to it.
Even when I push myself, it’s still fun.”
“I won’t say, ‘I told you so,’” said Paul, “but…”
Theo smiled. “You don’t have to say it. I already know. Maybe I might have gotten started on something like this anyway, but
it would have taken a long time. You and your dad made it happen for me.”
Paul laughed. “No,
you
made it happen for you. But I know we helped get you going, and I feel good about that. So does Dad. Have you tried running
five K yet?”
“Not yet, but soon,” said Theo. “For sure I’ll do it in a couple of weeks. That would leave me about two weeks more to get
ready for the race. I suppose I’d run the full distance a few more times before the big day.”
“I was thinking,” Paul said, as the two boys ran on, “maybe I want to be in that race, too. I mean, it’s for a good cause,
and it’d be fun to do it together. What do you think?”
Theo was surprised and pleased. “I think that’s a fantastic idea! And I know Aunt Marj would be
really happy to hear about it. I’ll tell her next time I talk to her.”
“How’s she doing?” asked Paul.
Theo shrugged. “A little better. I think she’s a little stronger lately. But she gets real depressed about not being able
to do more, and that kind of sets her back. I try to see her at least every few days. She likes company, but she still gets
tired pretty fast.”
The boys heard someone calling from behind them. “Hey, Theo! Is that you?”
Theo looked back to see Steve LaMotta quickly catching up to them. He came even with them and slowed to their pace. “I thought
I saw you running. You’re doing better every time I see you.” Steve caught Paul’s eye and nodded. “Hi,” he said.
“Steve, this is my friend, Paul Baskin. He’s the guy who got me started in running.”
“Good to meet you, Paul,” said Steve.
“Good to meet
yon!”
replied Paul. “Wait’ll I tell my dad about this! He’s into running, big-time. He’s read all about you.”
“Maybe I can meet him sometime,” Steve said. “Oh, by the way, that race you’re going to enter — is that the one for cancer
research next month?”
“That’s the one,” said Theo.
Steve nodded. “Yeah, I thought so. It turns out I’m going to be the official starter.”
“Great!” Theo said. “I was wondering, how does it work? Where do they — I mean
we
— run, anyway?”
“It’s a road course,” said Steve. “The runners will start in the park here. Most of the course will be on local streets. Then
you’ll come back into the park for the last few hundred meters and finish here. I can get you a map of the course, if you
like. Then you could actually run it and get to know it a little before the race.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Paul said.
“Tell you what,” said Steve. “Let’s plan to meet the day you sign up to enter the race. I’ll give you the map then.”
“When can we sign up?” asked Theo.
“Starting next week, either at the high school or in the park administration building.” Steve reached into the little pack
he wore on a belt along with his drinking bottle and pulled out a card. “You can reach me at this phone number, and we’ll
work out a day and time for you to sign up and for me to meet you.”
Theo took the card and tucked it into the pocket of the T-shirt he was wearing. “Great! Thanks a lot!”
“Yeah, thanks,” Paul said.
Steve smiled. “No problem. I like to see young guys like you getting into running like this. When I can do anything for you,
I will. But now I’d better take off. See you later!”
He picked up his pace without the slightest show of effort and sped away. Theo and Paul, still running, watched him go.
“Amazing!” Paul said. “He’s like a total machine! No strain, no pain. What a smooth stride the guy has!”
Theo nodded. “Well, he runs marathons and twenty-thousand-meter races. By the way, how come sometimes they say, ‘ten thousand
meters’ or ‘twenty thousand meters,’ and sometimes they say, ‘ten K’ or ‘twenty K’? Don’t they mean the same thing?”
Paul replied, “I asked my dad about that. He says that when you run long-distance races on a track, they measure them in meters,
like five thousand meters or ten thousand meters. But for road races, like the one we’re doing, they talk about them in kilometers
— five K or ten K.”
“Huh. Somehow, five thousand meters seems
longer than five K.” Theo looked at his watch. “We’ve been running for twenty minutes. Amazing! I didn’t realize we’d been
going so long.”
Paul looked around. “We’re not too far from where we left our bikes. Let’s head that way and walk the last few minutes.”
The boys had parked their bikes near the ball field. When they got to the bikes, they noticed some boys they knew at the field.
“Looks like they’re going to play,” Paul said. “Want to go over, or are you wiped out?”
“I’m not wiped out,” Theo said, “but we don’t have gloves or anything.”
“We can borrow someone else’s gloves when they’re at bat and we’re in the field,” answered Paul. “I’ve done that before. Let’s
go!”
As Theo and Paul came over, the other guys greeted them.
“You got room for two more?” Theo asked.
“Sure,” said one of the others.
Theo saw Van Sluman standing off to one side, looking uncomfortable. Theo nodded to him but didn’t say anything. Van slowly
approached. “Can I talk to you for a second?” he asked Theo.
“Sure.”
Van glanced at the other boys out of the corner of his eye. “Uh, how’s the running going?” He didn’t sound sarcastic at all.
“Pretty good,” Theo said. “Better.”
Van didn’t seem to know what to say. Finally, he took a deep breath. “Listen, about what I said before… I was only… I didn’t
mean… well, I was wrong. To say what I did. I’m sorry. It was really dumb.”
Theo, too, felt a little awkward and wasn’t sure how to respond. “Okay,” he said at last. “It
was
dumb. But let’s just forget about it. I mean, I’m willing to drop it.”
Van let out a deep sigh of relief. “You are? That’s really great! Thanks! And, um, about that stupid bet…”
Theo couldn’t help grinning. “Oh yeah, the thing about pushing a peanut with your nose down Main Street. Forget that, too.”
“Right,” said Van, nodding and smiling. “Okay, hey, thanks, really. I was really a jerk, and I want you to know that I feel
bad about it.”
Theo felt uncomfortable about the way Van was acting. He wanted to drop the subject.
“Well, like I said, I’d rather just forget the whole thing, all right?”
“Sure,” said Van. “Absolutely.”
“Come on, you guys!” called one of the other boys. “Let’s play!”
As the group chose up sides, Paul whispered to Theo, “What did Van want?”
Theo whispered back, “He says he’s sorry he was such a jerk before, and does he really have to push that peanut with his nose.
I told him to forget the whole thing.”
Paul smirked. “Why? It would’ve been fun to see that.”
Theo said, “I don’t want to be a jerk just because he was one.”
“I guess you’re right,” admitted Paul.
When teams were chosen, Theo wasn’t among the last to be picked. The team captain asked him to play first base. Van, who was
on the opposing team, ran over to offer Theo the use of his glove.
Paul caught Theo’s eye and winked.
At first base, Theo was much more involved in the action and caught just about everything thrown his way. He made one really
nice play on a ground ball hit to his right, making a diving catch and tossing the ball to the pitcher covering the base.
In his first at bat, Theo hit the ball sharply up the middle. The center fielder trotted over to pick it up, and Theo surprised
everyone by stretching the hit into a double when the fielder made a casual throw in.
Later in the game, Theo dropped a throw from shortstop. He was angry with himself and said to the shortstop, “Sorry, I should’ve
had that.”
The shortstop said, “It was a tough throw. We’ll get ’em out.”
The next batter popped the ball up behind first, and Theo backpedaled to make the catch. He realized that he wasn’t a star,
on offense or defense. But he was also far from a total disaster. And he was having a great time.
Late in the game, one of Theo’s teammates ran on a fly ball with only one out. When the ball was caught, the runner had gone
too far and was doubled up at first base.
“Real smart, Jeff,” someone yelled.
“Did you leave your brain at home this morning?” shouted another teammate.
Jeff looked at his feet as a few other comments were thrown his way. Theo said nothing. When his team ran back out onto the
field, Theo came up to Jeff. “Don’t worry, it’s no big deal,” he said quietly. Jeff smiled at him.
After the game, Theo and Paul were riding home. “I noticed you with Jeff after he messed up,” Paul said. “What did you tell
him?”
“Just not to worry about it.”
Paul nodded. “Huh. And you didn’t want to rub it in with Van, either.”
Theo said, “Well, I remember what it felt like when people said stuff like that to me. I almost got into it like that today.
But then I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t have felt right. You know?”
“Yeah,” said Paul. “I know. Now that you’ve explained it to me.”