"In theory boys and girls should be able to perform at the same level at your age in endurance activities," said Doug's physical education teacher. The entire sixth grade class was sitting in the bleachers listening to the coach's end of class wrap up talk. She continued, "Why it is that boys usually out-perform girls is a mystery to me. It doesn't have to be that way, but, there's no escaping the facts."
Doug's PE instructor then shared with the class the top times for the year for the mile run. There were four fifth graders and four sixth graders who had run under seven minutes in the mile. Doug's school contained a total of thirty-four fifth graders and thirty-one sixth graders. Of the eight students in the fifth and sixth grade who had broken seven minutes in the mile, three were females.
"Tomorrow is your last chance this year to improve your time in the mile and so I expect every one of you to give it your best effort," concluded Doug's PE coach just before she dismissed the class.
"No one's going to beat Patrick's time," said one of the students as they left the bleachers.
Patrick was a fifth grader and one of Doug's best friends. He had posted a best time for the year of 5:36 for the mile. The next fastest time for the year was by a sixth grader, another one of Doug's best friends, named Sawyer, who had run the mile in 6:17 in an earlier effort. Somehow Doug had wound up being absent on each of the previous seven times that the class had been timed in the mile. The last time he had a dental appointment. Everyone knew he was capable of running a good time. In fifth grade he had managed to run a 6:16, but so far this year he didn't have a time and so his name was not in the list of best times for the school.
"How fast do you think you'll go tomorrow?" asked Sawyer as he and Doug walked to their next class.
"I bet I can do better than last year," said Doug starting to feel a little nervous about the upcoming time trial.
"I bet you can't beat my time," said Sawyer.
"I bet I will," said Doug.
"How much do you want to bet?" asked Sawyer.
"Five bucks says I beat you tomorrow," said Doug.
"You're on," said Sawyer.
Another student, a chubby boy named Willy, walking near Doug and Sawyer heard this transaction and said, "You guys aren't supposed to bet at school! I'm telling!"
"Go ahead," said Sawyer.
"Okay then, I will," said the student.
As the sixth graders got to their next class, which was science, the tattle-taler went up to the teacher, Mr. Olsen, and whispered that he had heard Sawyer and Doug make a bet on the way to class.
Mr. Olsen smiled at Doug and Sawyer as they walked in to class. Mr. Olsen just happened to be Patrick's uncle and he was quite proud that his nephew was the fastest student below the tenth grade at the school. There were about four hundred students from the grades of Kindergarten through twelve at the school and only two students had run a faster mile time that year than Patrick and they were high school students.
After Mr. Olsen called the class to order he said, "Willy just told me that you guys are having your last mile run for the year in PE tomorrow. He told me that a couple of you might be betting on how well you'll do in the mile run. I must remind you that betting is against the rules of our school and so I urge any of you who may have planned on betting to cancel your bets. However, I will make the following proposition. I will personally award any student one Andrew Jackson if they are able to go under six minutes in the mile. Of course, if more than one sixth grader runs a sub-six mile then they'll have to split the prize."
A girl in the class raised her hand and asked, "Isn't that just like betting?"
"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Olsen.
"Well, aren't you sort of betting with us if you do that?" asked the girl.
"No, it's called offering a reward. It's a way of showing that I approve of or am impressed by the high level of effort it takes to run a really good mile time," said Mr. Olsen.
"But that's not fair," said another young lady.
"Why not?" asked Mr. Olsen.
"Because none of us girls have a chance of winning the prize," said the girl.
"Why not?" asked Mr. Olsen.
"Yeah, that's sexist," said yet another girl.
"I don't agree. Everyone has the same chance to win the prize. There is no reason that a girl can't run just as fast as a boy and so everyone has an equal chance to win the prize," said Mr. Olsen.
"How fast were you when you were a kid?" asked a boy in the class.
"My fastest ever was 5:11," said Mr. Olsen.
The class was impressed and a girl asked, "How fast were you when you were in sixth grade?"
"I think I ran like about a 5:55 or something like that," said Mr. Olsen.
"Did you run on the track team?" asked another student.
"No, but I did run on the cross country team. I was the sixth man for the team when I was a senior. We won regionals," said Mr. Olsen who had lived in town all his life, except for the years when he had gone away for college.
Mr. Olsen deviated from his lesson plans and presented an extemporaneous lesson on cardio-vascular fitness and distance running. He talked about different training methods used by elite runners and how the body worked to deliver oxygen to cells and all that sort of stuff. He finished his presentation with some tips for how to optimize their performance on the following day. He said that they should all get a good night's sleep, that they should eat properly and drink plenty of fluids. He also stressed that it was important to warm up and stretch properly before the time trial.
After school, Doug and Sawyer went over to Patrick's house. Another friend, named James, hung out with them and they sat around and played video games most of the afternoon. They also played a little basketball in the driveway.
"Are you going to run a faster time tomorrow?" asked Sawyer to Patrick.
"Maybe. You never know. Some days I think I'm faster than others," said Patrick.
"We had a bet, but your uncle made us call it off," said Doug.
"But he's going to pay anyone who goes under six minutes twenty dollars," said Sawyer.
"Yeah, he always does stuff like that," said Patrick.
"How much money have you gotten for running from him?" asked James.
"Oh, let's see," began Patrick as he tried to tally up the prize money he'd won for the year. "I'd say about fifty or sixty dollars."
"Not bad," said Sawyer.
"Yeah, but what's he going to do if a bunch of people go under six?" asked Patrick.
"That won't happen," said James.
"But what if it does?" asked Patrick.
"Then they have to split the money," said Doug.
Although Patrick didn't say anything, he was secretly relieved by this. He didn't like the idea that other people were getting any of his prize money. Patrick lived with his uncle and so he got a little jealous any time that his uncle gave out any prize money to anyone other than him.
That evening Doug made sure that he ate a good, normal dinner. He didn't want to eat too much or too little. He also made sure that he drank plenty of liquids. He slept fairly well that night, but he did have a couple of anxiety provoked dreams about how he would perform in the mile run on the following day. In one dream he felt like he was running in place. In fact, he woke up lying on his side with his legs moving like they were running in the middle of this dream. Later on he had another dream where he was running so strong that he was actually floating through the air as he traveled from location to location within the town he lived in.
Doug's mother had to wake him up the next morning. Usually Doug woke up when he heard his parents and siblings getting up and getting ready for the day, but he was in the middle of a particularly deep sleep when his mother nudged his shoulder to wake him up. She told him to get up. He blinked his eyes and shook his head a few times and then jumped up to get ready for school. He was careful to eat a good breakfast and to drink a little extra juice. Doug also made sure that he put on a pair of loose shorts, a light shirt, and his best athletic shoes. Sixth graders didn't dress out for gym and so Doug had to run in whatever he wore to school.
That morning at recess, Doug, Patrick, James, Sawyer and a few other friends shot baskets. They didn't actually play a game of any kind. Instead Patrick showed off his shooting skills and challenged his friends to try some of his moves. Patrick had one move where he ran toward the basket from half court and jumped into the air and turned three hundred and sixty degrees and shot the ball before landing on the ground. Patrick's friends took turns trying this shot. Sawyer fell on his attempt and James couldn't get the shot off before landing. Doug was able to complete the move flawlessly, but he missed the shot. Patrick was able to complete the move and make the basket five out of six times in all.
"You guys are all wussies," said Patrick just after the bell signalling the end of recess rang.
Doug decided to try Patrick's move one more time. This time, not only did Doug complete the move correctly, but the ball also went into the hoop. There was a problem, however. Doug landed wrong. There were cracks all over the blacktop and Doug just happened to twist his ankle on one of them. Doug fell to the ground and sat clutching his ankle. His friends gathered around him and James said, "There go his chances for a good mile time."
Doug stood up with the help of his friends and was able to slowly hobble to class. All during class Doug tried to keep his ankle loose by rotating and stretching it. His strategy seemed to work since he was able to walk almost normally to PE class. The ankle was extremely sore and tender to the touch and if he accidently twisted it again the pain would be almost unbearable, but it worked for walking. The question was whether or not it would work for running.
"Are you going to tell the coach?" asked Sawyer as they took their spots for the warm up exercises.
"No. She might not let me run if she thinks I'm seriously injured," said Doug.
Doug had made sure that he used the restroom and got a big drink of water on the way to PE class. The class did the usual warm up stretches and exercises and then walked out to the track for the mile run. Doug limped just a tiny bit and the coach noticed this. "You look like you're hurt there Dougy boy. Are you going to be able to run with us?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think so," said Doug.
"Good, because this is your last chance to post a good time," said the coach.
Twenty-five out of the twenty-eight sixth graders who were present that day ran at the same time. Three students couldn't run for one reason or another and so they sat out and helped the coach keep track of the runners. Doug lined up at the outside of the track. He didn't want to get pushed or tripped at the beginning of the run. His strategy was to start slow and develop speed over the course of the run. Sawyer lined up at the front and close to the inside lane of the track since he knew he had a good chance of winning the race.
After the usual jostling at the beginning of the race the pack of runners spread out and within one hundred yards Doug was able to run close to the inside lane of the track. At the end of the first lap, Sawyer was in second place and Doug was in fifth place. The first place runner finished the first lap in eighty-eight seconds. Sawyer was one second behind the first place runner and Doug was another four seconds behind Sawyer.
The runners really got spread out during the second lap. In fact, Sawyer and Doug were over half way through their second lap by the time Willy, the tattletale, had finished his first lap. Doug finished the second lap in second place with a split of 3:01 and Sawyer finished it in third place two seconds behind Doug. Doug and Sawyer actually ran side by side for most of the second lap as the other runners who had been running near them slowed down.
It was shortly after the beginning of the third lap that the boy who had been running in first place abruptly slowed way down. Doug and Sawyer passed on by him without breaking stride. In fact, Doug actually picked up his pace as he realized that he was suddenly in first place. With about one hundred and twenty yards to go in the third lap, Doug and Sawyer started lapping their slower classmates. Willy, the tattletale, was among these. Doug said, "Hey Willy, maybe you should lay off the donuts," as he passed on by his chunky classmate.
Sawyer noticed how Willy was breathing like he was about to die as he ran around him. Sawyer kept his thoughts to himself, but couldn't help but feel disgusted by Willy. He was still angry at the way Willy had stuck his nose into his and Doug's business and had told the teacher about their bet. Sawyer thought, "If the idiot would spend more time taking care of himself and less time worrying about other people, he wouldn't be such an overweight slob!"
Doug finished the third lap with a split of 4:28 and Sawyer finished back by twelve seconds with a split of 4:40.
Both boys had a strong final lap. Doug ran his last lap in 1:26 to finish the mile in 5:54. Sawyer ran his final lap in 1:34 for a mile time of 6:14. The next runner finished in 6:39. Two other sixth graders were able to finish the mile in less than seven minutes. One was a girl who managed to run a 6:58 mile.
Mr. Olsen asked for the mile results as the boys entered his class for science. They proudly told him their times.
"Pretty good. Is that a personal best?" asked Mr. Olsen.
"Yeah," said Sawyer.
"Me too," said Doug.
"Congratulations," said Mr. Olsen.
"How did Patrick do?" asked Doug.
"He ran a 5:41. Not a personal best, but pretty good just the same," said Mr. Olsen.
"Did you give him a prize or anything?" asked Sawyer.
"Yeah, he's the only fifth grader who broke six minutes and so he got a full twenty dollars as usual. I don't usually make these deals with my classes and so, Doug, you're going to be the first non-relative that I'm giving this kind of prize to," explained Mr. Olsen as he reached for his wallet.
By this time the entire class had taken their seats. Most of them were pretty exhausted and so they listened quietly as Mr. Olsen addressed the entire class. He said, "Yesterday I made a deal. I said that anyone who ran the mile faster than six minutes would share in this twenty dollar prize. Apparently only Doug was able to run that fast and so he gets the entire prize."
Mr. Olsen handed the bill to Doug and shook his hand.
Doug and Sawyer took their seats as Mr. Olsen continued. "Everyone here who finished the mile deserves to feel proud and those of you who finished without walking can feel even prouder. Those of you who had good times should be proud and thankful for your athletic ability. I hope that everyone here realizes the importance of taking good care of your body. You should enjoy your youth while you still have it. When you're old you won't have the same physical potential which you have now. So, take advantage of it while you have it."
At lunch Patrick, James, Sawyer, and Doug got together to compare times. James was the last to share his time. He ran a 6:37. Although this was a decent time, he felt kind of embarrassed about sharing it for two reasons. First of all, his time was the slowest of the four of them. Secondly, he was beat by a girl.
"She beat me by two crumby seconds. I should have beat her, but she kept getting in my way when I tried to pass her and then I tripped just before the finish of the race," explained James.
"Yep, that's how it happened. I saw the whole thing," said Patrick.
"You mean she cheated?" asked Doug.
"Yeah, you can't get in people's way like that," said Patrick.
"So, what did the coach do about it?" asked Sawyer.
"Nothing. She acted like nothing happened," said Patrick.
"And then she yelled at me when I told her what happened," said James.
"It's not like she didn't see the whole thing, but it didn't matter. Now if it were the other way around with James doing it to Bobbie, James would have been busted big time, but since it was the coach's pet doing it to James it was alright," said Patrick.
"That's not fair," said Doug.
"Oh well, that's life," said James.
"How much faster do you think you could have gone?" asked Sawyer.
"I could have probably ran under 6:30 almost for sure," said James.
Patrick sort of laughed and then said, "Ha! I could for sure run under 5:30 if I tried my best, but I don't have anyone to push me."
"Yeah right!" said Doug.
"You don't believe me? Do you want to put some money on it?" asked Patrick.
None of the boys would take Patrick's bet.
"I didn't think so," said Patrick feeling like he had proven his point.
Doug knew that Patrick could run under 5:30 if he wanted and he couldn't help but wonder how it would feel to be able to run that fast for an entire mile.