Chapter 157

“In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.”
—Mark Twain, Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World

WE RAN. We all jumped out of bed early and everyone went out to run. Donna and Beca weren’t athletes by any stretch, but they could both run a six-minute mile. One. They waved goodbye to us at the end of a mile and walked back home to get breakfast ready. Em kept the six-minute mile pace for two more miles and then turned back to jog and walk home. Nanette set the pace for the next three miles at closer to seven minutes. Her half marathon pace was a solid eight-minute mile, so we were pushing her pace. She was beginning to flag by the time we’d made the turn for the last four miles home. Just once around ‘the block.’ I clicked my pace down to nine minutes and didn’t try to push it home. It was enough that we managed to complete the full ten miles. And at that pace, Nanette and I could come in together.

“Ten miles in seventy-eight minutes,” Nanette said as we walked off our run. “If that had been a full thirteen in that time, it would have been great. We need to cut it to under seven minutes a mile to be competitive. Six minutes to be on the podium. How much time do we have before a half?”

“You’re running it, too,” I said. “Labor Day in Noblesville. The high school competition will be at the same time as everyone else.”

“Three and a half weeks. Yeah. We can do this.”

I wasn’t quite sure what it was she thought we could do but I agreed. Sure, we can do this.

Practice that afternoon was terrible. It was eighty-five degrees and muggy as a swamp. To top it off, Jock wanted me to lead a ten-mile run. I must have physically drooped as I moaned.

“Hopkins. What’s the matter with you? I want a nine-minute pace. You should be back here in ninety minutes.”

“I don’t know if I can do a nine-minute pace for ten miles today, coach.”

“Are you sick? What’s the problem?”

“Nan and I already did ten this morning. I don’t know if I can do ten more.”

“At what pace?”

“We varied but ended up in 78 minutes.”

“Bring it in. I’m not trying to kill you. The rest of you iron men, change of plans. Ross, lead out at an eight-minute pace for 10k. You know the markers. Use the Sycamore Creek trail. Go, go, go!”

“I’m sorry, coach. I thought we’d be doing sprints this afternoon.”

“I want you to go in and do an upper body lift. I think I need to meet with your personal trainer and coordinate our training. When is your next long run?”

“Nanette says she plans for me to do a full half on Mondays so I’m used to getting up and running Monday morning before the Noblesville half.”

“We really need to meet. Can you get us together this evening?”

“I think so. I’ll need to text her.” I hesitated a bit and then went on. “Jock, you know Nan is more than my personal trainer. We’re members of the same pod.”

“Pod? As in a family meant to hold together during service? Really?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Maybe I should meet with the rest of you as well. I’ve always felt the demands of athletic training are similar to the demands of service. It would be good practice for your pod. Are the others all as old as Nanette?”

“Uh ... no, sir. Three are ten years or more older than me. One is three years older and just finished service this summer. Three are in service. Three are in my grade and one is a year younger.”

“Wh... ? That’s ... Twelve in your pod? Now I definitely want to meet them.”

“I think it will be all right, but I need to check with everyone. And, obviously, some will be missing.”

“Go get your workout in and see if you can set things up. If not everyone, try to get something with Nanette so we can coordinate your training.”

As soon as I had my phone, I called Donna. I thought she was the critical element. She was a teacher and I didn’t think any teachers at Mad Anthony knew about our relationship. I explained the situation.

“It’s going to become more obvious as we go,” Donna sighed. “I know Jock and I don’t think he’ll be judgmental. Call Nan and I’ll make sure Em and Beca are on board. Tell him to come for dinner. We have plenty.”

“Thank you, love. I know how much strain this puts you under.”

“I think we’ll all be moving next summer,” she said. “I spoke to Dr. Donahue for quite a while this morning and she was very encouraging, even offering to try to find contacts for Nanette, Sophie, Emily, and me. I should mention Joan to her as she’ll be home by then, too. And as far as your running goes, I need to coordinate your productions with your training schedule. This will be good.”

After I showered, I handed Jock a note with the address out in the country and invited him to dinner.

“This isn’t in our school district,” he said. “Are you living there?”

“I’m staying out there temporarily,” I said. “I don’t know if you heard, but last spring my home was destroyed by the tornado right after Easter. We’re kind of scattered around while we’re waiting for it to be rebuilt.”

“Okay. I’ll see you out there at six.”

I was glad Donna thought to call my parents. I was seventeen and technically, my schedule had to be approved by them. Jock had met them at an event or two and at my half-year party. He knew Emily from the gym and congratulated her on completing her service and what good shape she was in. Then he saw Donna.

“Donna Levy?”

“Hello, Jock. Are you keeping things under control at Mad Anthony?”

“I’m a little surprised. Is this why you quit teaching at our fair school?”

“Not exactly. I got a really good offer from North Huntington. It just made this relationship possible. I hope you won’t be thinking ill of me, Jock.”

“No. Not at all. I might get sidetracked occasionally when I think about it, but we all know service has done strange things to society. I’m good,” he said.

He got introduced to Beca and my parents. Jock was happy to find out that Livy was part of our pod. He’d thought maybe she and I were a couple at times. He had met Rachel at meets but didn’t know Joan at all. I’d completely forgotten that four of my girlfriends were in Kentucky. Jock suggested we’d just have to get together again this fall so he could meet everyone.

Dinner was simple. We made up a few things on the weekend and it took no time at all to thaw a meatloaf and throw baked potatoes in the oven. Donna already had farmer salad makings filling the fridge.

“Well, I was all ready to send Jacob out to lead a ten-mile run this afternoon when I discovered he’d already done ten miles this morning,” Jock said as we had ice cream and got down to the purpose of the get-together. “I thought it would be a good idea to coordinate our efforts so we don’t kill the guy.”

“Good idea,” Nanette said. “I should have called and talked to you about what I was planning in the first place. After all, you’re his coach.”

“We’re stretched so thin this year I’m prepared to accept whatever help I can get. We got two more cross country coaches this fall, but expanded by three teams. I’m afraid Jacob’s distances are going to suffer from lack of coaching. And even though we’ve got twenty guys who have agreed to the 10k races, Jacob is the only one who stands a chance at completing a half marathon—at least this early in the season.”

“I’m afraid running isn’t all we need to coordinate,” Donna said. “Jacob and Cindy—and by extension all the rest of us in the pod—have been put in a unique situation and may need to travel. As much as possible, I’d like to schedule the travel so Jacob doesn’t miss any major races. I downloaded the schedule from your website.”

“The schedule needs to be updated. Part of the split in teams has been to have meets at different times so we aren’t spending an entire day in one venue. We’d like Jacob for all the 10k races but the critical ones are the half marathons. That’s Labor Day, October second, October eleventh, and November twenty-seventh. There isn’t a typical sectional, regional, semi-state in the half. The state final is to be run at IU Thanksgiving weekend. All the half marathon races are public races.”

“Will you want Jacob to run the 10k in other meets?” Nanette asked. “The Labor Day and October second races are almost a month apart.”

“Right. The meet at The Plex next weekend includes a 10k race. The same is true of the following weekend at Huntington. Midweek is the Warsaw Invitational and there is no long run in that event. The following weekend, September fourth, there’s a 10k at Penn with the rest of the cross country events. I’d rather save Jacob for the sixth—the half marathon at Noblesville. We have plenty of guys wanting to try their mettle in the 10k.”

“How does mid-September look?” Donna asked.

“There is no 10k on the eleventh. Terre Haute is barely adequate to run 5k. Jacob is clear. The next weekend is West Noble and they are excited about their new 10k course. Once again, I could run other guys who want a chance in that race. It’s up to you, Jacob.”

“I’ve always liked the run at West Noble, but if Donna needs to schedule us in Washington that weekend, I’m fine with it.”

“Washington?”

“Uh ... That’s where we have to travel to next, right, Donna?”

“Yes, and the second week of September was when Dr. Donahue was suggesting.”

“You guys are making it big, aren’t you?” Jock asked. I just shrugged but Beca nodded enthusiastically. “Well, there’s a 10k at The Plex again on the twenty-fifth. And, like I said, the second of October is the Covered Bridge half marathon. I’d don’t know if you’ve ever been there, Jacob, but Parke County is hilly. You’ve done the 10k at Pokagon and this is similar. You run paved roads and cross five covered bridges.”

“Love those hills,” I said, hoping my sarcasm came through.

“Okay, so if we take off the second week of September and keep Jacob clear until after Thanksgiving, we should be okay,” Donna said. “Go for it, Nanette.”

“We don’t have much time to get Jacob ready for a half marathon. My plan was to run thirteen miles on Monday mornings and ten on Thursdays,” Nanette said.

“How are you handling school? You have to be running by five o’clock to make class by seven-thirty,” Jock said.

“I have study hall first period,” I said. “I planned to request a waiver for late arrival on Mondays. I emailed my guidance counselor. Thursday is harder because I have a viola da gamba lesson during first period. Mr. LeBlanc has set up that and a mandolin lesson on Tuesday morning.”