Record Run, page 2
“Still, a minute fifteen isn’t exactly under a minute,” Coach Norman added. “Paul said you could run the 400 in less than sixty seconds. You’re not going to make a liar out of my team captain, are you?”
Harry swallowed. “Um, no, Coach,” he said. “I promise.”
“All right then,” the coach replied. Then he walked off to check on the guys doing high jumps.
Suddenly someone grabbed Harry’s shoulder.
“Hey!” Harry said, spinning around. It was Paul.
“What gives, man?” Paul asked.
“What? What are you talking about?” Harry said.
“I told him you were fast,” Paul replied. “You didn’t really put on the speed out there today, did you?”
Harry shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said.
Paul took a deep breath and sighed. “Well,” he said, “I know you’re faster than that. You were probably just nervous. You’ll do better next time.”
With that, Paul walked off.
What does he know? Harry thought. I never said I could run anyway.
CHAPTER 7
BORING
That Saturday, Jeff sat at Harry’s computer. “This game is awesome,” Jeff said. A loud, wicked laugh came from the computer speakers.
“What happened?” Harry asked.
“Ah, he beat me again,” Jeff said.
“You’ll figure it out,” Harry said. “Just try again.” Harry lay down on his bed and started flipping through a new comic book.
“Hey, how’s track going, anyway?” Jeff asked. “Did you go to practice every day this week?”
Harry nodded, but he didn’t look up from the comic he was reading. “Yeah, I went,” he said. “It’s pretty boring, though.”
“Really?” Jeff asked, surprised. “Aren’t you the next big track star yet?”
Harry shrugged. “No way, man,” he said. “Besides, like I said, it’s boring. All you do is run in a circle like a hundred times.”
“Yeah, that does sound boring,” Jeff said. “I mean, if you’re not being chased, why run as hard as you can? You might as well take it easy.”
Suddenly Jeff pounded wildly at the keyboard of Harry’s computer.
“Man, be careful with my keyboard!” Harry said, getting up.
“Sorry,” Jeff said. “I almost won that time.”
Harry shook his head. “There’s no game you can play as well as I can, is there?” he asked with a chuckle.
Jeff leaned forward again. “That sounds like a challenge to me!” he said. He started up the game again.
Harry just laughed and went back to reading his comic.
CHAPTER 8
OLD TRICKS
After the weekend, Harry wasn’t looking forward to track practice. At three o’clock on Monday afternoon, he and Jeff headed through the rear exit of Polk Middle School.
Harry stopped and looked at the track across the field. “Ugh,” he said. “Another day of track practice.” He shook his head. “I am not looking forward to this,” he added.
“Don’t you want to go?” Jeff asked.
Harry shrugged. “Not really,” he replied. “I think I’ll skip it, in fact. Let’s go to the park for a few minutes.”
“And do what?” Jeff said. “I’m all out of water balloons.”
Harry smiled. “I’ve got about a hundred in my bag,” he said. “We’re all set.”
“Nice,” Jeff replied. The two headed across the grass toward the park.
* * *
Forty-five minutes later, Harry spotted Paul running through the park, carrying his track uniform.
“He must have forgotten that at home,” Harry told Jeff. They were sitting in the pirate ship jungle gym, hidden from view. “He’s way late for practice,” Harry went on. “He’s going to be in huge trouble.”
“Hit him with a balloon!” Jeff suggested.
Harry laughed, a little too loudly. Paul stopped and looked up.
At that moment, Harry tossed a water balloon right at Paul. He missed, but the water balloon exploded on the ground near Paul’s feet. It splashed his sneakers.
Paul looked up at the pirate ship jungle gym again. “Harry!” he called out. “Come down from there.”
Harry peeked over the wall of the ship’s cabin. “What’s up?” he said with a laugh.
“It’s almost four,” Paul replied. “Aren’t you going to practice?”
Harry shrugged. “Nah,” he said. “I don’t think so. It’s really boring. And besides, my times haven’t been very good. I don’t think Coach Norman will miss me.”
Paul was about to start arguing, but Harry raised his arm and whipped another water balloon over the wall.
It shot right past Paul and hit a high school boy who was walking through the park. It splattered water all over the boy’s pants.
“High school boy!” Harry whispered. “That’s got to be at least four or five points.”
“Hey!” the high school boy shouted. He turned and eyed Paul. “Did you throw that balloon at me?” the high school boy asked.
Paul shook his head. “No way. Wasn’t me!” he insisted. Harry and Jeff laughed. Paul looked up at the pirate ship.
The high school boy looked up at the pirate ship cabin too.
“Who’s up there?” the high school boy asked loudly.
“Uh-oh,” Jeff and Harry said together.
The high school boy started running toward them.
“You better run, Harry,” Paul said, looking up the ladder.
“Oh, man,” Harry said. He climbed down the ladder as fast as he could. “Here we go again!”
Harry took off like a shot. He ran right at the fence at the far end of the park. With ease, he leapt over the fence.
The high school boy was much older and bigger than Harry. Harry thought for sure the older boy would be able to clear the fence too.
But in midair, the older boy’s sneaker caught on the top of the fence and he took a tumble onto the grass. He quickly got up and brushed himself off, but by then Harry was out of sight.
Paul followed close behind and soon caught up to Harry. “Harry,” he called out. “Come to practice.”
“Why?” Harry replied. “I’m no good. The coach said himself that my time on the 400 wasn’t good enough. And I’d rather go home and play video games or hang out at the park with Jeff.”
“I know you can run like a record breaker,” Paul replied. “That chase was more proof! Just give it one more chance.”
CHAPTER 9
TO WIN
Harry stood, catching his breath, for a moment. He glanced over Paul’s shoulder to make sure the high school boy wasn’t chasing him anymore.
The coast was clear.
“I don’t know, Paul,” Harry said. “I need a reason to run. It’s like my friend Jeff said. If I’m not being chased, what’s the point in running?”
Paul nodded. “So you need a good reason,” he said. “Well, why do you do anything?”
“What do you mean?” Harry asked.
Paul pointed at the pirate ship jungle gym. “Why do you throw water balloons?” he asked.
Harry shrugged. “It’s fun,” he said. “Besides, I always get more points than Jeff.” He smiled.
“What about those video games?” Paul asked. “What’s your reason for that?”
“Finishing them,” Harry replied. “Once I finish a game a couple of times, I don’t usually play it anymore.”
“You can finish a video game?” Paul asked.
“Of course,” Harry answered. “That’s how you win.”
“So nothing is fun for you,” Paul said, “unless you can win? You sure do love to compete.”
Harry thought for a second. “I guess so,” he replied.
Paul glanced at his watch. “We need to get to practice,” he said. “But I have two things you should think about. Meets and personal bests.”
“What do you mean?” Harry said. He followed Paul toward the boys’ locker room.
“Competition!” Paul said. “It’s what you thrive on!”
Harry thought about that. “Okay,” he said slowly.
“Just for today,” Paul added quickly, “I’m going to run the 400 drills with you.”
“Why?” Harry asked. “You’re a miler, aren’t you?”
“Just for today,” Paul repeated. “I have an idea.”
CHAPTER 10
PERSONAL BEST
Harry and Paul were only a few minutes late to practice. They jogged over to the 400 group.
“Paul, you’re in the wrong group,” one of the 400-meter runners said. “Shouldn’t you be training with the other milers?”
“I’m training with you guys for today,” Paul replied.
The others glanced at each other. “Whatever you say,” one of them said.
“If it’s all right with you guys,” Paul added, “the first drill will be just me and Harry with a full lap.”
The others said that was okay. Harry and Paul stepped up to the start line.
“Harry, you take the outside lane,” Paul said. “I’ll take the inside behind you.”
“You want me to start ahead of you?” Harry asked. “That’s not fair.”
“No,” Paul replied. “The outside lane always starts a few feet ahead to make up for the curve in the track. If you’re on the outside, you have to run a little bit further to make it around the curve than the person on the inside does.”
“Oh, I get it,” Harry said.
“Besides,” Paul added, “this way I can chase you.”
Harry took off at the whistle. He heard Paul’s footsteps close behind him.
“Better not let me catch you,” Paul taunted.
Harry kicked up his speed a little. He could tell Paul was falling farther behind. Harry smiled as he rounded the last curve.
The finish line was in sight.
Harry glanced over his shoulder. He could see that Paul was about five meters behind him. Harry was easily going to win!
Harry stepped over the finish line. Paul crossed the line a few seconds later. Coach Norman was right there with his clipboard. As Harry stopped to catch his breath, he listened for his time.
“One minute two seconds,” called out the boy with the stopwatch.
Harry slowed to a walk and strolled back toward the coach. Paul asked, “How’d I do?”
The timer called out, “One minute and five seconds.”
“Nice job, Harry,” Coach Norman said. “That’s your personal best time.”
“Thanks, Coach,” Harry replied.
Coach Norman looked at Paul. “I guess he is as good as you say he is,” the coach said. “I bet he’ll be able to run the 400 in a minute before we know it. Might get him under a minute yet.”
Coach Norman winked at Harry. Then he walked off to check out the sprinters.
“Nice going, Harry,” Paul said. “I knew you just needed some motivation.”
“Thanks,” Harry replied. “But you can’t chase me in every race!”
“Now you can chase yourself,” Paul said.
“Chase myself?” Harry asked, confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you get it?” Paul said. “Last week, your best time was a minute and eleven seconds, right?”
“Right,” Harry said.
“Today, you ran one minute and two seconds,” Paul went on. “If you keep at it, you can shave another couple of seconds off that score.”
“You mean get an even better time?” Harry said.
“Right,” said Paul.
“So my only competition,” Harry concluded, “is myself.”
“The best competition there is,” Paul added.
Harry nodded. “I can do that,” he said. “I’m the only competition I need!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eric Stevens lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is studying to become a middle-school English teacher. Some of his favorite things include pizza, playing video games, watching cooking shows on TV, riding his bike, and trying new restaurants. Some of his least favorite things include olives and shoveling snow.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
When Sean Tiffany was growing up, he lived on a small island off the coast of Maine. Every day, from sixth grade until he graduated from high school, he had to take a boat to get to school. When Sean isn’t working on his art, he works on a multimedia project called “OilCan Drive,” which combines music and art. He has a pet cactus named Jim.
GLOSSARY
cautious (KAW-shuhss)—if you are cautious, you try to avoid mistakes and danger
drench (DRENCH)—to make something completely wet
effortlessly (EF-urt-less-lee)—without trying
exhausted (eg-ZAWST-id)—very tired
heaved (HEEVD)—threw
impressive (im-PRESS-iv)—thought highly of by others
jock (JOK)—someone who plays sports
natural (NACH-ur-uhl)—a person who is good at something because of a special talent or ability
squad (SKWAD)—a team
victory (VIK-tuh-ree)—a win in a contest or battle
MORE ABOUT FAMOUS RUNNERS
Between 1979 and 1996, Carl Lewis won 10 Olympic medals, including 9 gold medals. He also won 10 World Championship medals, including 8 gold medals. The International Olympic Committee awarded him the Sportsman of the Century honor, and Sports Illustrated named him Olympian of the Century. Lewis is most famous for his sprinting, both in individual events and as a member of a relay team.
Archie Hahn was the author of the book How to Sprint. Born in 1880, Hahn was one of the best sprinters of the first half of the 20th century. In the 1904 Olympics, held in St. Louis, Missouri, Hahn won three gold medals, in the 60 meter race, the 100 meter race, and the 200 meter race. Two years later, at a special Olympics known as the Intercalated Games, Hahn won the gold medal in the 100 meter race. He died in 1955.
Michael Johnson, a sprinter, won 4 Olympic gold medals and 9 world championships. He holds the world record for the 400 meter race and the 4 x 400 meter relay. One of the things Johnson is most famous for is his unique running style. While most runners take long strides and lift their legs, Johnson takes very short steps and keeps his body very upright.
Ryan Hall is a young runner from California. In 2008, at the age of 25, he placed tenth in the Olympic marathon in Beijing. It took Hall 2 hours, 12 minutes, and 33 seconds to run the 26.2 mile race. Earlier that year, he won the American Olympic Team Trials marathon in New York City, with a time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 2 seconds. His fastest time ever running a marathon was the London marathon in 2006. That year, it took him 2 hours, 6 minutes, and 17 seconds.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why did Harry join the track team? What else could he have done to keep Paul from being mad at him?
Harry says that kids his age never make the sports teams. What happens at your school? Do kids your age play sports? What sports do they play?
Harry and his best friend made up the water balloon game. What games do you play with your friends?
WRITING PROMPTS
At the beginning of this book, Harry spends a lot of time with his best friend. Write about your best friend.
Harry doesn’t think he’ll be good at the track team. Write about a time you tried something you weren’t sure you’d be good at. What did you try? What happened?
Harry hits Paul with a water balloon. What if he had hit someone else? Write a story in which Harry hits someone else with the water balloon. How would things be different?
JAKE MADDOX SPORT STORIES
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Impact Books are published by Stone Arch Books
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Copyright © 2010 by Stone Arch Books
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maddox, Jake.
Record run / by Jake Maddox; text by Eric Stevens;
illustrated by Sean Tiffany
p. cm. — (Impact books. A Jake Maddox sports story)
ISBN 978-1-4342-1598-7 (library binding)
ISBN 978-1-4342-8883-7 (ebook)
[1. Track and field—Fiction.] I. Stevens, Eric, 1974-
II. Tiffany, Sean, ill. III. Title.
PZ7.M25643Rec 2010
[Fic]—dc22
2009004094
Summary:
After getting soaked by Harry’s water balloon, Paul chases Harry down. He didn’t expect Harry to be so fast. He gives Harry a choice: join the track team or else. Harry doesn’t think it’s fun to run if he’s not being chased. With Paul’s help, can Harry find a good reason to run?
Creative Director: Heather Kindseth
Graphic Designer: Carla Zetina-Yglesias
Jake Maddox, Record Run
