Authors: Matt Christopher
A
few days later, Theo called Steve LaMotta to set a date and time when he and Paul would sign up for the race and meet Steve
to get the route map. They set it for one day the following week.
“Has your friend ever raced before?” asked Steve. “I know
you
haven’t.”
“Uh-uh,” Theo said. “It’ll be the first time for both of us.”
“Then I’ll give you a few tips about things you may want to do to get ready for this one,” said Steve.
“We’d like that,” said Theo. “Thanks.”
Then he called Marj.
“Hey, there,” she said. She sounded better than when he’d last spoken to her. “Got a little time to spend with me? I could
use some company.”
“Sure,” Theo agreed. He biked over and found Marj sitting on her front porch.
She waved to him as he came up the steps. “Hi, skinny. You’re looking good.”
Theo smiled and studied his aunt. “You’re looking good, too.” She really was. Her face had more color, and her smile seemed
to be more genuine.
“Let’s take a walk,” she said. “I’ve been trying to get a little exercise every day lately.”
“Great,” Theo said. Marj grabbed a cane from the floor, and Theo helped her down the front steps. They set off down the sidewalk
at a slow pace.
“It looks like your workouts are going well,” Marj said.
“They are,” Theo agreed. He told her about his running, his general improvement in sports, and also about Steve LaMotta. “He’s
a great guy. Paul and I are going to meet him when we sign up for the race. Paul’s racing, too, did I tell you?”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Marj replied. “And I want to thank you for your pep talk a while back. It made a difference.”
“Yeah?” Theo was pleased and surprised.
Marj said, “Definitely. Keeping a positive attitude turns out to be important for me. I think it’s important for anyone in
my situation not to get down.
When I get better — did you notice I said
when,
and not
if?
— I’m going to do volunteer work with women going through what I went through. Maybe I can help them learn what I’ve learned
about eating right, taking care of themselves — and especially about keeping their spirits up.”
“That sounds like a great plan,” said Theo.
“Speaking of plans, do you have any plans about getting into other sports?” Marj asked. “I hear you say that you’re playing
ball more and enjoying it. Have you thought about going out for any organized sports? Football, baseball? I think that organized
sports are great for a lot of kids. Not just because you can stay in good shape, but you can also learn about what it is to
be part of a team.”
“I know you’re right, but the thing I really like right now is running,” Theo said. “I could see going out for track or cross-country,
maybe. I don’t know about other sports. I’m not sure I want to do any of that. And I don’t know whether I’ll be good enough
to make any teams. All I know now is I’m going to keep running.”
“I know you, young man,” Marj said. “If you set your mind to something, you’ll do it. And that includes making a team.”
“Well, we’ll see,” Theo said. “Like I said, I haven’t thought about it much. But maybe. Paul wants to play football, but I
haven’t thought about it.”
Marj patted Theo’s arm. “Well, there’s no need to rush into anything. It’s just something to think about. I’d like to head
back now,” said Marj. “I’ve enjoyed this, but I have to take it a little at a time.”
They went back to Marj’s place. Theo helped Marj up the steps.
“Thank you,” she said, sitting back down in her chair with a sigh. “I’m doing what you’ve been doing: adding a little more
to my exercise each day.”
“That’s the way to go,” Theo said. “You’ll be doing all the stuff you used to do soon, I’ll bet.”
Marj smiled. “Could be you’re right. I believe I’ll be a lot stronger than I am now, anyway. How much longer is it until that
race?”
“Almost three weeks,” Theo said.
“Right now, my plan is to be able to go to watch that race with your mom and dad. I want to be there and root for you and
your friend. I think I can do it.”
“If you want to, I bet you will,” Theo said. “And it’ll be fantastic if you do.”
Marj smiled at Theo. “I’ll be there. You wait and see.”
O
n the day arranged for the meeting, Theo and Paul went to the park administration building to sign up for the race. They filled
out forms and paid entry fees — donated by their parents — that would go to fund cancer research. They were given papers with
the rules for the race and also got official race T-shirts. These were gold with the name of the race in bright red on the
back and front.
“You can come in and get your race numbers on the day of the race or the day before,” said the woman at the entry table. “You
have to wear those numbers on your shirts so we know that you’ve paid the fee and are officially entered.”
Steve was waiting just outside the building when Theo and Paul came out. “I like those shirts,” he said when they showed him
their new tees. “Here’s the
map of the route. There aren’t many steep hills around here, so it’s pretty flat. There’s one fairly long rise, but the grade
isn’t bad. Look it over later.”
“Thanks a lot,” said Theo. “Uh, you said something about training tips.…”
Steve grinned. “Right, I did. I even wrote them out for you. Here.” He handed each of them a sheet of paper with printed notes
on it. “Let me explain these.
“First, you should do a couple of runs of more than five K, the distance of the race, a couple of times before the race itself—but
not during the few days
just
before. I think you might run — let’s see… thirteen or fourteen laps around the track on those. That works out to a little
more than five K, either three and a quarter or three and a half miles. That’ll help your stamina on race day.
“Once a week, do what we call speed workouts on the track. In a speed workout, you run a lap around the track as fast as you
can, then jog or walk for a one-minute rest interval, then another fast quarter, another one-minute rest, and so on. Do eight
or more laps that way, if you can. And remember — when you’re walking or jogging, go to the outside edge of the track.”
“What do speed workouts do?” asked Theo.
“They help your muscles build up their capacity to take in oxygen. That means you can use your energy more efficiently. It’s
called ‘building your V02 max.’ You may want to make speed drills part of your regular running routine, not just when you’re
getting ready for a race. You can gradually add more fast laps, or try doing fast half miles instead of quarters, once you’ve
done it for a while.
“Another thing. The day after a speed workout, do a slower run for variety and to give yourself a little rest.
“Now, let’s see… you’ll be doing one speed workout a week, one long run on the track a week, one easy workout a week. Another
thing to try on a long run in the park is to
vary
your speed. Run fairly slow for a few minutes, then speed up, then slow down again, and so on. There may be times in a race
when you want to lay back and conserve your energy. Then there may be times when you want to really put the hammer down, put
on speed. You may want to pass someone at the end of a race, or psych another runner in the middle of a race and get him or
her to try to keep up with you and risk burning himself or herself out. Any questions?”
Theo and Paul looked at each other. They both shook their heads.
“Okay, then,” Steve said. “Good luck, and I’ll see you on race day. If you want to ask me anything before then, you can leave
messages for me at that number I gave Theo.”
“Thanks a lot,” said Paul.
“Forget it,” Steve said. “Have fun.”
The next day, Theo and Paul went to the track to try a speed workout, following Steve’s suggestions. They found that Paul
could run faster quarters than Theo could, by several seconds. But Paul could only manage eight really fast laps. Theo was
able to run another lap at his slightly slower pace. He had a little more stamina than Paul, though Paul had more speed.
Two days later, taking the map of the course, Theo and Paul ran and finished the course, not fast, but without stopping. They
stayed together, and finished the five kilometers in a little more than twenty-nine minutes, by Theo’s watch.
Afterward, breathing heavily, Theo said, “That’s as fast as I can do it, for now anyway.”
Paul thought for a moment. “I think I could have maybe done it in fifteen or twenty seconds less. I still had a little gas
in the tank at the end there.”
“But I bet I can cut my time down by race day,” Theo added.
“Me, too,” said Paul. “A little, for sure.”
Both boys were wearing the official race T-shirts. “Hey, let’s show the shirts to Aunt Marj,” Theo suggested.
They stopped by Marj’s place going home. Marj, who had just come back from her daily walk, said that the shirts were “very
cool.”
The following week, they kept the same schedule. They each added a lap to their speed workouts and ran the laps a bit faster.
They also added another lap to their long workouts, doing a full three and a half miles. They took it fairly slow but put
on a few bursts of higher speed. Theo ran the last two hundred yards as fast as he could and surprised Paul, who was coasting,
by passing him just at the end.
“Hey!” Paul yelled. “Where’d you come from?”
“That was my big finish,” Theo said, as they began their cooldown walk.
Theo went to a couple of ball games in the park
during the last weeks before the race. The other players, who by now were all aware of Theo’s running, kept asking how it
was going. Theo didn’t talk about it with them too much. He’d say that he was doing better and not go into detail. He had
become a pretty good ballplayer, neither among the best nor the worst of the group who came there.
Four days before the race, Paul and Theo ran sixteen laps around the track — four full miles. It was the farthest either of
them had run and the longest time, too: about thirty-three minutes.
Steve had advised them on his information sheet to take it easy the last few days before the race, so they did no more really
heavy workouts after the four-miler. Theo felt stronger and in better shape than ever. There was no longer any doubt in his
mind about finishing the race.
One night before race day, the Gordimers and Baskins got together for a barbecue cookout in the Gordimer’s backyard.
“Don’t pig out, now,” warned Mr. Baskin. “It’s okay to have a big dinner, but don’t eat so much that you have trouble getting
to sleep. You need your rest.”
“Theo doesn’t eat like he used to,” said Mrs.
Gordimer. “I remember when he’d come to one of these barbecues and eat everything that wasn’t nailed down. But lately, he
stops when he feels full.”
“Actually, I’m full now,” Theo said.
“No room for apple pie?” asked Mrs. Baskin.
“Well, I guess I can handle a piece,” Theo admitted.
“My mom’s pie?” said Paul. “You better believe it!”
Mr. Gordimer shook his head, as if he was still surprised at the change in his son. “We just put a load of his old clothes
in a box and put it into a clothes drop at the supermarket. They were just enormous on him.”
“Is Marj going to be there tomorrow?” asked Mr. Baskin.
Mrs. Gordimer replied, “She hopes she can make it. But we won’t know for sure until the morning.”
“I’ll bet she’s there,” Theo said.
“You know how much she wants to be there,” said Theo’s mother. “Just don’t be too disappointed if she doesn’t feel up to it.
You know that she’ll be there in spirit.”
Theo nodded. “I know. But I still bet she’ll be there.”
A
t seven forty-five the next morning, Theo walked outside to wait for the Baskins, who would take him to the park for the race.
Theo’s parents would come later — with Marj, Theo hoped.
He’d had breakfast and had on his running clothes and shoes. It was already warm, and would be hot later on. Theo took a drink
while he waited, but he wasn’t bringing the bottle he usually carried. Mr. Baskin had said that Theo and Paul wouldn’t need
to bring anything to drink during the race. There would be stations all along the route where volunteers would have cups of
water and sports drinks available for runners to take as they ran past.
The Baskins showed up a minute later, and Theo climbed in the backseat.
“Going to be hot,” said Paul.
“Right,” Mr. Baskin said. “Be sure to drink enough. Use those refreshment stations.”
The starting area in the park was busy, even though start time was almost an hour away. Paul and Theo got their numbers and
fastened them to their shirts. Theo was 205 and Paul was 206.
“How many people are running?” Paul asked the man with the numbers.
“There are about three hundred fifty signed up,” the man. “Plus we’ll get some bandits.”
Theo and Paul stared at each other. “Bandits?” Theo said.
The man laughed. “That’s what we call people who run without signing up or paying the entry fee. They’re a nuisance, but you
always get some of them. If you see runners who don’t have numbers, they’re bandits.”
As Theo and Paul looked for someplace to stretch, Theo saw runners of all ages getting ready. A few looked about his age.
Some looked like they might be in their seventies. There were some in streamlined wheelchairs, with amazingly muscular arms
and chests.
Steve LaMotta came by and spotted Theo and
Paul as they were finishing their stretches. “Listen, guys, it’s pretty hot. Take it easy at first, don’t burn yourselves
out early. And drink enough fluid!”
He hurried off. Paul turned to Theo. “You think we should drink anything during the race?”
Theo laughed. “Hey, that sounds like a good idea.” He swallowed. “I’m nervous.”
Paul was jogging in place. “Me, too.”
Theo glanced over to a grandstand that had been set up near the finish line. There were some people sitting there already,
but no sign of his parents or Marj, yet.