Chapter 457 - Marathons and Business 1 (1/2)
Jake really trusted that Zack was able to run that marathon in less than 3 hours, and thought until he was able to run in a time of close to 2 hours and 30 minutes, and if Jake was right it meant that Zack could run in the group of elite in the marathon and still finish the marathon without getting exhausted.
Zack had really asked Coach Davis this before, the biggest difficulty for Zack and other athletes in the marathon was keeping a steady running pace so they wouldn't get too tired, and that was the biggest benefit of running in Jake's group who was a master of running at the right pace, even if Jake's pace was very fast.
And after running 15 km in Jake's group he just had to run at a slower pace than normal and continue as soon as Zack could finish the marathon before 3 hours, and if in the final part of the marathon he still had breath I could try to get an even better time.
After a while, the 1998 Chicago marathon finally started and Jake and Zack were going to run for the first time together and from the beginning, a large group of athletes stayed close to Jake because they thought the same way as Zack.
”Welcome to everyone who came to follow the 1998 Chicago marathon, and just as everyone expected one of the biggest champions of that marathon to come back this year to try to win again.”
”Okay, Jake Smith is the current record holder for victories in this Chicago marathon having won three times and the most amazing thing is that it was three years in a row, so naturally Jake is the favorite to win this marathon for the fourth time in a row and who knows maybe breaking his own world record again.”
”We hope that happens, let's see if Jake continues to run at a high level even after becoming an NBA player.”
Jake was surprised at the start of the marathon because there were never so many athletes running in the same group as him during that marathon, many were Americans, but some were from other countries and wanted to run with Jake so that they would keep a good running pace.
Everyone knew the rules for running in Jake's group that was created by other athletes and so the other athletes took turns to lead the group while everyone followed Jake's pace and so Jake and most of them didn't have to face the wind resistance.
Jake also felt that in this marathon as well as in training his clothes were more comfortable and his shoes were more comfortable, so he found it easier to maintain his running pace, especially after training normally at a pace of 3 seconds less for km.
Jake stopped at the fuel points and always took a drink to hydrate himself, with Gatorade he felt it was better than before, Jake didn't necessarily need to stop at all the fuel points, but he wanted to do that because of the other athletes who were running with him.
And Jake trained every day to do this and did not lose his race pace making these detours, Jake also knew the course well and that was why it was easier for him and that is why Jake trusted this marathon to break his world record with ease.
After 10 km of the marathon the athletes of the group of Jake still did not feel very tired even running at such an intense pace, not even Zack felt tired and everyone felt confident knowing that they were running correctly with Jake.
Jake hoped for this because, in addition to Zack, all the other athletes in his group were elite and wanted to finish this marathon in the top 50 of the marathon, so in addition to Zack, he expected everyone to accompany him up to 25 km at least.
Jake continued running with his group and so he passed the 15 km and looked to see how Zack was doing, Zack still looked good and knew he was going to endure more, but thinking about his goal for the marathon he warned Zack that they had reached us 15 km.
Zack was a little shocked because he never ran 15 km in such a short time and he decided not to be greedy even though he was not tired and was the first to leave Jake's elite group and started to slow down his running pace.
Zack knew that that 15 km had changed all the running pace that he normally had to do, after all, he normally ran half the marathon in 1 hour and 30 minutes and in the final part of the marathon he increased the pace a little more to try to run in less than 3 hours.
But now Zack had passed the 15 km and not even 44 minutes had passed, luckily he had combined a running pace with trainer Davis and soon he slowed his running pace, Zack mainly intended to run in less than 3 hours in that marathon and not to have the best time possible.
Meanwhile, Jake's elite group went through 25 km and the other athletes in Jake's group started to leave the group and slow down the race, Jake was still calm and in this marathon, he didn't care who would be the second and only with his race.