Run For It by Matt Christopher

Author:Matt Christopher [CHRISTOPHER, MATTHEW F]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316094221
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-12-19T05:00:00+00:00

8

The next day was comfortably cooler, to Theo’s relief. He felt healthy and ready to go to work. It helped Theo to know that he had already lost some weight and that he wouldn’t be carrying as much fat around the track anymore. He started with his stretches, feeling eager to see what he could do.

According to Mr. Baskin’s schedule, today Theo would walk eight minutes. Then he’d walk and run for twelve minutes — making sure that he ran for at least six minutes without stopping — and finish with a fast ten-minute walk.

Theo had had plenty to drink before leaving home and was carrying a bottle of sports drink with him. Also, he had a new watch, a gift from his parents. It had a digital readout and an alarm that could be programmed to beep at intervals. It would let him know when the first eight minutes was up and then the following twelve minutes. He thought it looked really cool on his wrist. His parents had also promised him a new pair of running shoes to replace his old sneakers, which were getting worn out. He’d get advice from Mr. Baskin on what shoes to buy.

Theo liked the idea of dressing and looking like a runner. It might help him to feel more like a runner, and even to be a better runner.

It was late in the afternoon, and Theo saw some other people on the track. Some were older and some were younger, including two girls his own age. Most of them, Theo noticed, were running. He felt a little self-conscious as he began walking around the track. Most of the others were zipping past him, even though he was walking at a pretty fast rate. But nobody seemed to pay much attention to the fact that he was walking while they were running — at least nobody said or did anything to show that they found it odd or silly. An older couple, a man and a woman, were also walking, and at about his speed.

Theo was staying on the inside edge of the track, assuming that it didn’t make any difference where he walked. Suddenly a voice just behind him shouted out, “Track!”

He turned to look, not understanding what was the matter. A slightly older boy came up behind him and swung out to pass him. As he went by, the other boy glared at Theo.

“Don’t you know enough to get out of the way?” he yelled, without stopping or slowing down. Theo’s face turned red, but he kept walking. He had done something wrong and didn’t even know what it had been.

Behind him, he heard another, quieter voice. “When someone yells ‘Track,’ it means they’re faster than you, and you should move to an outside lane to let them go by. That’s a basic rule of track running.”

The speaker was a young man, thin but with muscular legs. He came up to Theo and slowed down to a walk. “You just getting

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