Adam Blake - 17. Chapter 17

Running each morning, I pushed a little further, my goal was to run to the diner before we left. By the end of the first week, we were running about 18 miles in the morning. I think Billy knew what I was doing and went right along with it. We did go on the boat for lobster one more time. I think Billy enjoyed the water and of course the boat. I thought it’d be nice to have a cottage here. I might just mention that to dad.

“Our second week was more or less the same as the first week except what we did on the last day, we ran to the diner. “You know Uncle, we need to run back unless you run back and get the car.”

I looked at him, “Let’s take a slow jog back, it’ll be a good cool down. You know that cross country at school will now be a jog in the park. My goal these two weeks was to convince you that you are Olympic material.”

“I’m still not sure but I promise to give it my all.”

“That’s all anyone can ask. Just think how proud your mom and dad would be and you know that Scotty would be bragging to all of his friends. He idolizes you. You’d be setting a good example for him to follow.

I got a smile out of that and then he got this wicked look on his face. I knew he was going to do something. We had about a mile to go, he looked at me, “Race you” and he was off. I decided to run just enough to show I was trying to win but I wasn’t really. To tell the truth, I couldn’t run to keep up with him.

We walked around cooling down making sure our muscles didn’t cramp up. “Billy, we should do the warm-up exercises again to help the muscles relax. If we don’t relax the muscles gradually you may have pain tonight.”

I knew that after all of that running our muscles would be very tight. By doing the warm-up again we could relax the muscles a little at a time and then with heat, we could relax them all the way.

That night, Billy came to my room. “Adam, my legs hurt.”

I took him to the bathroom, took several towels, and soaked them with extremely hot water. “Billy, lay on the floor on your stomach.” I placed the hot towels on his legs while I began to slowly massage the muscles. They were tight but with the combination of the heat and massage, I could feel the tightness leaving the muscles. I continued to massage his legs, every once in a while re-soak the towels in hot water. After about an hour, I was sure his muscles had relaxed enough he wouldn’t be in pain. He was asleep on the floor. I picked him up after drying his legs and carried him to his bed.

The next morning a tired runner came into the kitchen for a coffee. I fixed him his breakfast, “How’re the legs?”

“They are a little stiff but no pain. Last night there was a lot of pain.”

“I could tell but heat is the trick to relaxing tight muscles. I have a heating pad at home that I used when my muscles tense up. I’ll tell your dad to buy you one.”

After breakfast, we cleaned the cabin, loaded the car, and headed home.

The ride home was quiet. Billy seemed lost in thought. I wondered what he was thinking about, I hoped he was considering trying out for the Olympic’s trials. He may not make it this year but he definitely will make it next year.

As we pulled into Bill’s driveway, we were met with a young man running and jumping on me. “Uncle Adam, mom said you had a surprise for me.”

I just smiled at his enthusiasm, young kids are a joy to behold. “Well, maybe but don’t you think there is another guy you should hug?”

I put him down and then Billy got the leaping jump. I watched Scott whisper something into Billy’s ears and then Billy looked at me. I just smiled back and headed toward the house. “Did you tell Scotty I had a surprise for him?”

“Yes, he was missing Billy and I said that when you came back you had a surprise for him. I’m sorry, I needed something to cheer him up.”

“Did you say when I’m to give him the surprise?”

“Yes, when you came back.”

“You know if I tell him now he’ll want to go right away.”

“I’ll try and stall him for a few days but is there any reason to postpone it more than a few days?”

“No, except I want to spend a few days with Mom and Dad. Today is Sunday so let’s plan on us leaving on Wednesday.”

Jennifer agreed that would be ok, I hugged the boys and left to go home. I told Scotty that his mom knew the secret, that should get back at her.

I was glad to see Mom and Dad, as soon as I entered the house, she had a piece of apple pie and coffee ready for me. “How did you know I was on my way home?”

“Jennifer called and said you had just left and were headed home. How was the trip?”

“It was good, I worked Billy up to a 30-mile run. He’s Olympic material. He needs confidence and I think the 30-mile run was good for him.”

“You never aspired for the Olympics, why him?”

“I had my tutoring and then college to occupy my time and you guys were always building my confidence. I didn’t need the Olympics and didn’t need something to prove I could run. After all of the heat Billy has taken and the poor coaching he had before he came to see me, he needs to understand that his poor performance in the past was the coach’s fault and not his. For him the Olympics will allow him to recognize the champion he is, the guy is fast.”

“You seem to take him under your wing, is there a reason for this?”

“Yes, when Bill came to see me at school he told me about Billy and asked for my help. I worked with him for a few days before they returned home. I recognized Billy’s problem, he was beaten before he started. We took care of that and you saw how he did on that cross country.”