Chapter 166

“There are many challenges to long distance running, but one of the greatest is the question of where to put one’s house keys.”
—Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

18 SEPTEMBER 2021

We got home early yesterday afternoon and had to spend time with parents who all wanted to know how the trip had gone. We decided the easiest way to cover things would be to have everyone out to the house for dinner. Mom and Betty are most concerned about the frequent trips to wherever they want us to perform and the operating assumption that we’re going to school there next summer. Betty still isn’t convinced it’s the best thing for her little girl. I don’t blame her. It’s a big step.

I need to talk to Ray again about what is happening and get more insights from their testing. The National School is operating as if the reforms we want about keeping families and friends together are already in place and they can get our whole pod to DC next year. I’m worried about Beca being split off somewhere none of us can reach her.

Another thing I learned from experience in V1 is things that sound too good to be true usually are. It’s really easy to get all enthused about what sounds like a great deal and then discover there are underlying issues or requirements that make all the hype meaningless. What is going to crop up the day after we’ve made our commitment?

And speaking of the commitment and things that will change, we have over 5,000 patrons now. They’re pumping $25,000 a month into our accounts for our special programs. When our special programs are being directed and paid for by the National Service, what happens to our patrons? Even if we suspend payments from them for the duration of our service, will we ever get them back after two years of giving it away to the service?

We need a business strategy meeting and maybe a consultant to help us out. And I need to get ready to run.

West Noble, up near Ligonier, gets a lot of kudos because of their great cross country track. Cross country was an afterthought at most schools and was only beginning to get popular because schools needed more sports to provide the physical fitness alternatives for students. Not every school could afford a new fitness center like we had at Mad Anthony. But for West Noble, their cross country team and course were a huge source of pride. They didn’t necessarily field winning teams every year, but they took running seriously. As a result, they invested in their course. The 5k course has always been beautiful and really gives you the feeling you are running out across the country instead of on a track, like Warsaw or Terre Haute. This year, they’d expanded and had a new 10k course that wasn’t just running the 5k course twice.

We were on the bus at eight with races scheduled to start at eleven. My team had placed eighth in the 10k at Terre Haute the previous weekend. None of the guys were enthused about running there. It was too bad that was where the state finals were held. The weekend before, while I was off preparing for my half marathon, they’d come in second at the Penn Invitational. They were psyched about a better finish at West Noble even though fifteen teams had been invited to this invitational.

When we got to the course, we discovered the length of the course wasn’t the only thing that had been improved. To accommodate big starts with more runners, they created a starting lane that was as big as the six soccer fields where we started at The Plex. The course was a loop and the same starting area functioned as the bubble headed for the finishing chute. The 10k course rounded two lakes and had lots of wooded path as well as open field running. I was looking for a 35:00 run. It might not win, but it would make my team hard to beat. I was going to settle in at a 5:40 pace and try to pick it up after the first 5k.

One thing training for half marathons had done for me was expand my lung capacity. I no longer worried about running out of air before the end of the race. Keeping my legs in tune, though, was tougher. Running a 5:40 pace for six miles is harder on the legs than running a 7:00 pace for 13 miles.

The starter’s pistol fired and we were off. I hit my pace in a few yards and was able to keep clear of traffic jams as eight of us hit the narrowing of the trail ahead of the rest of the pack. It was clear that I was running with the elite as the pack soon fell off behind us.

The trickiest part of running like this is not to let the other runners set your pace for you. I blocked out the idea that there were any other runners on the trail. When a couple of them pulled away from the others with a faster pace, three followed from behind me to keep up with them. I was seventh or eighth but didn’t change my pace a bit. I chose my music to go with my pace watch and just kept running. By the time we crossed the 5k mark, I’d passed the three runners who were trying to keep up with the two leaders. I was running pace for pace with a guy from New Carlisle. I decided I had plenty of gas in the tank and ticked my pace up to 5:35. Over the course of the next kilometer, I passed him and kept going. There was still someone right on my tail. I wasn’t sure if we’d catch the two front runners but it looked like we were slowly gaining on them.

By the time we hit the bubble, we were running almost in a line, four abreast. And we all poured it on with a final kick. The guy on the outside had more to give than the rest of us and stretched out two steps ahead of us. I powered past the other front-runner but just before I hit the chute, the runner who had been pacing me the whole way stuck out her chest and took the lead.

“Got ya!” she yelled. Damn! I suddenly recognized her as Lacie McPartland from North Huntington. She’d placed second to me a few weeks ago.

“Why didn’t you beat that other guy?” I gasped as we jogged into the chute and took our place numbers and times.

“You didn’t give me a fast enough pace,” she said. “We needed three more seconds.”

“I don’t know if I could have gotten another second a mile for those last three. Congratulations on a great run.” We looked at our place cards as we approached the judge at the end of the chute. She got me by two-tenths of a second. The winner was a second and a half ahead of us.

Jock and Mr. Patterson met us when we left the chute with bottles of water and towels.

“Wait until Livy hears you let a girl besides her beat you,” Jock laughed.

“You know how I feel about fast girls, coach,” I said. “I’m thinking of adopting this one.”

“She stays at North,” Patterson said. “They’re talking about awarding the state championship for both men and women. If so, Lacie will lock that down by the time we get to Terre Haute.” The coaches passed by us to get to the other members of our teams as they came into the chute and we cooled down.

“Want to go cool down next to the lake?” Lacie said casually. “I saw a couple places where we could slip out of sight for a while.”

“Damn, Lacie, if we weren’t the last race and our coaches impatient to head us toward the buses, I’d take you up on that.”

“Really? Your girlfriends wouldn’t mind?”

“If any of them were here, they’d want to join us, but none made the trip today. If anything, they’d be jealous of me.”

“I’m not in the market for a boyfriend,” she said. “Or a girlfriend for that matter. I’d be up for some fun sometime, though.”

“I live out toward Huntington at the moment,” I said. “Oh, my house got destroyed in the Easter tornadoes so I’m staying with ... a friend until it’s rebuilt. Anyway, I do a lot of running out in the country in the mornings.”

“Hmm. If you give me your number, maybe I’ll run into you some morning.” I grabbed my phone out of my sport bag and sent her a text as she told me her number. “See you around, Jacob,” she said as she headed back to her team for the awards.

“Later, Lacie.”

Sunday was a day of celebration, even though we had to work a little magic to get everyone together. It was Livy’s birthday and we got her by Skype from Denver. Joan was on with Beca and I Skyped Rachel in DC. We weren’t all on one connection but all the connections were in the same room. It was crazy as Donna brought out a cake with nineteen candles. Livy made a big production of blowing them through the screen and we all assisted to make sure they were out. Nanette and Emily had taken charge of seeing to it that a cake was delivered to Livy.

“Uh, guys,” Rachel said, “there’s one more here who should be introduced. Look, I have Remas with me this afternoon.” We all looked around at the various stages of undress in the room and on the screens, but when Rachel shifted to point the camera at Remas, she was topless and without her hijab, as well.

“Hey, Remas,” I said. “Good to see you relaxing with Rache.”

“She said everyone would be naked and if I wanted to join the party I needed to be as naked as she is. Damn, Rachel! She’s pulling off her pants now!”