In My Wildest Dreams Next Ch. 28 Getting Out The Hard Way
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Adam and The Pack run in their first BIG road race, over 28,000 dogs running in the race. How will Adam fare against real competition?
In My Wildest Dreams Next Ch. 28 Getting Out The Hard Way
Wilbur spent the rest of the morning in almost a state of shock. The two cops he looked up to the most were sitting in jail somewhere waiting for their trial. He was even too shook up to take it out on me, so I was actually able to go home at 10 AM. Nothing out of the ordinary happened for the next couple of days until Friday after practice. As we were leaving Ange pulled up next to us in his Boss's Eldorado.
"Hey pups! I've got some things I'd like to talk to you about, plus Cody can use a little company. Can you come over for a while?"
Gordon, Joey and I looked at each other, shrugged and I finally said, "Sure Ange."
I hopped in the front seat, Joey and Gordon got in the back. It wasn't long before we were out on the open road, the top down and all of our setter ears flapping behind us. It was really a treat to cruise in such a sweet ride on such a beautiful summer day. About 5 minutes later we pulled into Ange's driveway and wound our way up to the mansion. He just pulled up in front of the house instead of parking it in the garage since he would be using it to take us home later. It was hard to believe that someone could make so much money that they could afford to build a house like this, on all of this acreage and staff it and it was only one of a few part time residences that he owned.
We got out of the car and followed Ange to the door. "Come on in pups. I'll go wake Cody up, he's slept long enough." He went upstairs and went into Cody's room. He came out carrying Cody like he was a baby. He brought him the stairs and then set him on his feet instead of in a wheelchair like he did last time we saw him.
"Hey the doctor says I don't have to stay in the wheelchair any more, as long as I don't do anything too strenuous. He said I'm healing up really well and I'll be as good as new before school starts." Cody exclaimed excitedly. He looked in better spirits than I had ever seen him.
"You're looking loads better, Cody," I replied.
"Definitely!" Gordon chimed in.
We all followed Ange into the rec room, which had a wet bar at the back. It had a tap with Pepsi, Seven up, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper and Coke. He gave each of us a glass. "Help yourselves pups. I'm gonna have a rum and coke. After today I need something a little stronger than what you're drinking." He mixed himself up a double, downed it and mixed up another. He grabbed a big party bowl, opened a bag of chips and poured them into the bowl. Then he grabbed a couple of containers of dip and carried it all to a table not far from the bar. We grabbed our drinks and followed him to the table.
We sat down and dug into the chips, we were famished after practice. As we were helping ourselves Ange continued. "Our good buddies Max and Bubba aren't planning to go down easily. After they found out that they were being held without bail they had a shit fit. Their lawyer told the Mayor in private that if he didn't pull some strings to get them out they were going to expose him and his deviant sexual practices. I know this because he came to me in a panic about what to do. I told him to stall them for a couple of days and everything would be taken care of." He shook his head and added somewhat cryptically. "Sometimes I think those two are their own worst enemies."
He took another long drink of his rum and coke and continued. "If they get out I'm sure they'll go after Cody. I'm not worried about them getting Cody, I can take care of things here and if I have to I can bring in some muscle to help me. It's you boys that I'm worried about more than that. I don't know if they've connected you to this mess, but they were already giving you a hard time before this all went down. Besides Adam you're probably one of the few dogs they bragged about this to, so maybe they'll put the pieces together..." He took another long slug at his drink. "I'm rambling a bit but we're not gonna let this happen. They're not getting out and they aren't gonna spill the beans on the Mayor. I just wanted you pups to know this since you stuck your neck out to protect Cody. This will be handed." He finished and then downed the last of his rum and coke.
I don't know if he was looking for a response, but the three of us were so shocked about the situation that we didn't know what to think
We had stopped eating the chips and had listened intently to what he was saying. But now our hunger was returning. I was craving something more than chips though and Ange must have been able to read my mind. He went over to the phone and dialed. "Hey Joe! I've got some hungry runners out here, can you send out a couple, no make that three large pepperoni pizzas?" He paused to listen to what Joe was saying and then he added, "OK I'll see you when you get here." Then he hung the phone up.
"Joe's gonna take a break and deliver the pizzas himself. I guess it's pretty slow there between the lunch and dinner rushes. I think he wants to find out what's going on." Ange informed us.
"I think it's 'cause Joe's sweet on Adam." Joey chimed in, earning a punch in the arm from me.
"Is that so? I didn't know Joe had such good taste..." Ange retorted, winking at me in the process. I blushed deeply, I hoped it wasn't noticeable under my mahogany coat.
We bantered about for the half hour that it took Joe to get here with the pizza's. He set them down on the table and as he was pulling them out of the insulated carrier Ange pulled a huge roll of cash out of his pocket. He grabbed a $50 bill out of the center of the roll and handed it to Joe.
"Do you have any smaller bills? I'm not sure I've got change for a fifty on me." Joe asked.
"Don't worry about it. I don't need change." Ange said dismissively. Joe raised his eyebrows, then shrugged and put the cash in his pocket. "Grab a chair and have some pizza while I get you up to speed."
Joe grabbed a chair and pulled it over to the table so he was sitting right next to me. Joey snorted, obvious to the rest of us that he was saying, "See? What did I tell you?" Ange just winked back again. We all grabbed a slice of pizza and Ange clued Joe in on what was happening.
"You better be careful with these guys, Ange. They're bad news." Joe warned.
"Well Joe the team I play for ain't exactly choir pups if you know what I mean. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure these assholes pay for what they did to Cody. They aren't ever gonna get a chance to hurt him again." That pretty much closed that conversation.
"So Adam, how's the training going for Cross Country?" Joe asked.
"It's going great so far. I think we can win the team state championship if we keep working hard." I replied.
"So a team and an individual state championship. That would be great." Joe continued.
"Don't go jinxing me! There could be some young runner out there that comes out of nowhere like I did last year." I said in exasperation.
"OK. OK. I won't jinx you." Joe chuckled. "You've been doing pretty well in the road races though haven't you?"
"Yeah I've won all the ones we've entered so far. But they've all been small races that I should have won anyway. But we've got a big 10K this weekend. It's going to have the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the 10K running in it plus plenty of other really good runners. It will really give me something to push for."
"Well I wish I could come and watch, but I can't leave my store for that long on a Saturday." Joe said a bit dejectedly.
We continued to talk about the upcoming season until we finished the pizza. The Joe stood up and said, "I've got to get back to the shop and get things ready for the evening rush." He shook paws with Ange, then said, "Good luck at the race this weekend. Stop by the shop after the race and let me know how you pups did." And with that he walked out the door.
Wilbur was still subdued on Friday night when he came in to work. I had already cleaned the bakery and he didn't even go around looking for something I did wrong. He didn't even speak to me, he just went into the back and started weighing up the first batch of dough. He didn't even appear to be mad at me just depressed and lost in thought. I wondered if he was worried that Max and Bubba thought that he turned them in. Whatever it was it was making my life a little easier for the time being.
I got the donut fryer started and mixed up a batch of glaze in the small Hobart mixer. Everything was finally ready when the first screen of donuts was ready to come out of the proof box. I quickly fried the donuts so I'd be able to take my break when Arnie and Jacques showed up. I finished just in time. As I was bringing the last tray out to the display case my favorite two cops walked up to the door. I put the donuts in the case and went over to unlock the door.
"Hey Champ! How's it going?" Arnie said coming up to me and shaking my paw while Jacques went back and poured them a couple of coffees.
"Not too bad." I replied. "I've got a big race after work." I carried over three of our huge cinnamon rolls to go with the coffee. Then I went to the fridge and grabbed myself a big glass of milk.
"I know. I'm going to be there as a spectator. I wouldn't want to miss Ted running his first race since you started letting him work with you. He says it's really helping." Arnie continued. "Thanks for helping him."
"Don't mention it. It's not a big deal. I've mainly just helped him with his form. He's definitely doing better. I'm looking forward to the race, it's the first time in a while that I'm the underdog, so there's no pressure on me. There's no way I'm going to beat the Olympic gold medalist or any of the other world class runners that are going to be there. But at least it will give me some experience of running behind other runners and working off of them."
"I didn't realize this was such a big race." Jacques said speaking for the first time. Jacques was a good guy but he wasn't anywhere near as loquacious as Arnie.
"Yeah there is some big prize money to pull in the world class runners. Nike is sponsoring it and donating a lot of merchandise in addition to the cash prizes. If I can win my age group I can win a pair of their latest cross country shoe, the LD1000. If I don't win them I'm probably gonna splurge and buy a pair before the season starts." I finished and dug into my cinnamon roll.
"Ted was looking at them when we went to the sporting goods store. I couldn't believe that they cost $40.00. He settled for some Nike waffle trainers, $25.00 is about the limit of what I can afford on a cop salary." Arnie said between bites of his cinnamon roll.
"It's more than I wanna spend too, but if it helps me get an edge in my training it will be worth it. The school is only willing to buy us Brooks, which are a decent shoe, but they aren't the LD1000. So I guess I'll have to run extra hard today to make sure I win my age group." I said before taking a big swallow of milk. We finished or donuts making small talk.
When their break was up they ambled toward the door and Arnie said, "I'll see you at the race later." I locked up the door and headed to the back to ice some danish and put the cherry filling on the cherry cheese danish.
I finished up at 10:00 AM, changed into my racing clothes, then headed over to Gordon's house. I had just bought a new outfit for racing. I had settled on bright yellow with black trim as my colors for my running togs. I wanted something that stood out and was intimidating and that combination seemed to stand out more than any I had seen. I picked up Gordon and we ran over to the field house where Coach Bart was waiting with the bus.
"Whoa! Let me put some sunglasses on before you come too close with those clothes." Coach Bart teased. Then he followed with "Are you a banana or are you just happy to see me?"
"So you don't like my new running clothes?" I said acting hurt.
"Just jaggin' you." He replied. "But you're never gonna sneak up on someone wearing those."
"I don't want to sneak up on anyone I want them to know I'm coming." I continued. "Speaking of sunglasses maybe I should get some to complete the look."
"Maybe you should add a yellow bandana. You might as well go all out." He chuckled.
"That sounds like a plan..." I finished and coach just rolled his eyes.
It wasn't long until the rest of the guys showed up and we headed toward Youngstown. It was a 45 minute ride and I took up the back seat and used it to take a nap since I had been up all night. It really refreshed me.
We had already preregistered and found out that my previous time of 31:28 was good for the 47th seeding. There were over 28,000 runners preregistered so it was critical to get a decent seeding. They were lining the first 200 runners in rows of 25 so I was in the second row. I was the only runner on our team that was in the first 200. Behind the first 200, they weren't as picky; it was more of an honor system. But if your number was high and you were too close to the front, the other runners would shame you back into your place.
The pole position was held by the reigning Olympic gold medalist, a Finnish runner named Lasse Viren who won the 10,000 meters at the last Olympics with a time of 27:38:35. Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers, the top two marathoners in the country were there also, even though this was a shorter race than they excelled at. There was a list of about 20 other world class runners that I probably had no chance at beating. I was still only 16 so I was competing in the 15-19 age group. I had looked up last years results and found that the winner of that age group had finished with a time of 32:57 so I shouldn't have a hard time winning the age group. But a lot of the runners ranked higher than me would be full grown dogs at the height of their ability, so they would provide me plenty of competition.
My cousin Sean was not at this race. He had been ecstatic to find out that I was running in it and he was running in a small 5K race about an hour in the other direction. He was hoping to finally win one of these races since I wouldn't be there.
While we were still milling around waiting for the start of the race I heard someone yell out my name. I didn't recognize the voice right away and I turned around to look. To my surprise it was the Shorthair that had been my rival all last year. I debated walking away but I decided to hear what the arrogant sonofabitch had to say.
As he reached me he held out his paw to shake. I took his paw suspiciously, and waited for him to speak. "Hey! I just wanted to apologize for what a dick I was last spring. I guess I was a little too full of myself and needed taken down a peg." He said seemingly sincere. "You got the last laugh though so I hope there are no hard feelings."
I didn't know what to say, I did have hard feelings. But he seemed like he wanted to put things into the past and so I replied, "I guess not."
"I guess training at State U helps humble you too. There are a couple of upper class dogs that whip my puppy ass regularly. I guess I'm not quite as good as I thought I was." He added sheepishly.
"Hey you're a good runner, you'll do fine." I told him.
"Well I think I can be a better runner if I can keep my ego in check. I'll have to work hard on that. So what's your seeding?" He asked.
"I'm seeded 47th." I replied. "How about you?"
"I'm seeded 55th. My best time is 32:49."
"I had a 31:28 in my last race. That's the only 10K I've ever run." I added.
"Wow that's really good. Well good luck. They're getting ready to line us up so maybe I'll see you after the race." He concluded and walked toward his starting place.
I didn't know what to think. He seemed like he'd had an attitude adjustment but he still made me nervous.
With this many runners they had to start lining us up early, so I was soon out of touch with my teammates who were way back in the pack. The good thing is I had a great starting position. I was in the second row and on the outside so there would not be as much congestion as if I was in the middle. I'd be able to get into a full striding run almost immediately. It took a while before they got the other runners filled in behind us so I tried to stay limber by stretching as best as I could, given the cramped conditions.
But finally the starter called us all to attention. "Runners take your marks... Set..." and then the bang of the starting pistol got us all moving. The runners in front of me dashed away from the starting line to make sure they didn't get tripped up by overanxious runners behind them and I followed suit. We pulled away from most of the runners behind us and many of the runners started drifting toward the inside. I made sure I stayed outside at this point. It was a while before we had any bends so there was no disadvantage to being on the outside. Plus it was much less crowded out here so there was much less stress and fatigue. It was obvious though that more than a few of the slower runners were going out at too fast of a pace and they were working their way past me on the inside. I let them go since they would probably run themselves out. I just needed to listen to my body.
Within a half mile, Lasse Viren started to pull away and he was followed by Rodgers and Shorter. This move started to string out the lead pack but I made sure I didn't get sucked in. There was no way I could keep up with those guys and I had to make sure I ran within my abilities. So I found a GSD that was keeping the pace that I wanted to go at and I pulled up alongside of him. He appeared to be in his mid 20's and looked like he knew what he was doing. We cruised together and hit the mile mark at 5:15. They also called out what place we were in and at this point I was in 77th place. This was when the course came to the first substantial uphill. It was nothing compared to Sky Hill back at home so I attacked the hill and the German Shepherd didn't come after me. I pulled away from him and focused on the runner in front of us, soon reeling him in also.
I caught a couple more runners before we reached the top of the hill and made a right hand turn down one block and then another right hand turn to head back down the hill. As I made the bend I was able to see the race unfolding behind me. Not surprisingly the Shorthair was about 30 yards behind me. As I turned the corner to head down the hill I leaned forward to let gravity speed me on my way, which let me pass more runners on the downhill who were wasting energy trying to resist gravity. By the two mile mark I was at 10:22 and 64th place. I still felt comfortable at this pace and I managed to pick it up a bit as I slowly worked on picking off runners one at a time. It was so much easier to run this way than trying to run from the front. I seemed to draw strength from every runner I reeled in and passed.
I hit the 3 mile mark at 15:21 and in 58th place according to the dog that was reading off our split times. I was still feeling great, the endorphins really seemed to kick in in the last mile. I was almost in a trance at this point just focusing on the runner immediately in front of me. I usually wasn't able to run like this because I was usually the best runner in the race so I was always in the front. By the time I reached the 4 mile mark my time was 20:16 and I was in 47th place which was exactly where I had been seeded, so probably most of the people in front of me had run a better time than me. This is where I was going to see what I was made of.
At about the four and a quarter mile mark we made our way into a park and the race went around a medium sized lake. I now had an unobstructed view of what was happening in the race. Bill Rogers was in the lead about half a mile ahead of me, but Viren was on his shoulder and Shorter was right on his heels. It looked like Viren had them both where he wanted them. Their only hope was to run the kick out of him and they didn't seem to have a fast enough pace to do that.
But I didn't have time to pay too much attention to that. I needed to keep concentrating on the runners in front of me. And I did methodically catching and passing them one at a time. It was a little more than a mile around and oval shaped so when I went around the far end and came back down the other side I could see the runners behind me. The Shorthair was over a quarter mile behind me but he seemed to be moving comfortably. Near the end of the lake I reached the 5 mile mark in 37th place and a time of 25.01. My mile splits had steadily been going down and now there was only 1.2 miles to go so it was really time to pick up the pace and kick it in.
As I passed the 5 mile mark Gordon made his way into the park and seemed to be running with great form. He was slowly picking off runners like I was, he was doing just fine. And with that last lapse of concentration, I focused back on chasing down the runners in front of me. I concentrated on my form, willing my arms forward and back and concentrated on my heel to toe running style like Coach Bart had taught me. And I continued to pick them off one by one.
The last mile started with a long uphill grade which seemed to be taking a toll on some of the runners in front of me. I seemed to be gaining on them at a much faster rate, but that was a combination of me going faster and them going slower. At the top of the grade the course flattened out until we reached the 6 mile mark, which I hit at 29:39 and in 31st place. It then went at a downhill grade for the last two tenths of a mile and I went into a full sprint mode. I passed a Golden that had hit the wall and was making a charge at a Weimaraner that was 20 yards in front of me. His stride seemed to be falling apart from fatigue and I was quickly pulling up on him. I pulled up on his shoulder with 100 yards to go. When he sensed me there he picked up the pace to try to hold me off. He surged to stay with me for a few strides but then I broke him and sped on toward the finish line in 29th place and an excellent time of 30:34.
I jogged a nice cool down half mile around the parking lot and saw the Shorthair finish less than a half mile behind me with a time of 32:27. I had no idea how I did in my age group, but I was really pleased with my time and placement. Gordon was the next Pack member to cross the line breaking 36 minutes with a time of 35:42. Joey and Jimmy battle it out with Jimmy edging out Joey this time with a time of 36:01. Ron managed a 36:58 and Chuck a 37:32 which were good times for them. But the surprise of all of them was Logan finishing at 38:06.
As each of them ran a half mile cool down they came over to the group to watch the rest of the racers finish. We'd be here a long time before the awards ceremony with over 28,000 runners, it would take a while for everybody to finish and for the organizers to figure things out. Coach Bart made it to the finish line in a time of 39:48 and after he cooled down he said he would treat us to a hot dogs and cokes from one of the many vendors that had set up to take advantage of the event. We each got enough money to buy 2 dog and a coke, then we carried them to a picnic table that was visible from the finish line.
Of course Logan made sure he got a seat right next to me, and so did Gordon. "I wonder if I'll win a trophy, there's so many pups here at this race." Logan queried.
"Well you're at the upper end of your age group, and you ran a really good time for your age. But I don't think any of us have an idea if we're gonna win trophies. I guess we'll have to wait and see." I wasn't even sure that I would win one for my age group. I was only 16 and the age group was 15 thru 19 years old. Twenty-eight dogs finished ahead of me and I had no idea of what age they were. I had been OK when there was a lot of excitement going on, but now I was really getting sleepy after working all night so I told Gordon I was going to go lay down in the grass and take a nap. There was a grassy area with some nice shade trees about 25 yards away. I walked over to it and napped for almost two hours before Gordon came over and woke me up.
"Hey! They are getting ready to start the awards ceremony." He said shaking me lightly.
I blinked my eyes, got up and headed over toward the medal stand. The Master of Ceremonies was just making his way up to the podium. "I'd like to thank all of you for participating in this year's Great Race. This year 28,392 dogs started the race and most finished it. But were here to honor the ones who finished at the top of their age groups. We'll start with the dogs 14 and under age group. There aren't a whole lot of participants in that age group, this distance is a little bit challenging to pups this age. But all that aside, in third place we have pup number 14,762 with a time of 40:25." A young Rhodesian Ridgeback made his way up to the podium and got a bronze medal and a nice trophy and took his place on the awards stand.
"Second place goes to pup number 14,252 with a nice time of 39:06." A Borzoi pup walked proudly up to the podium to accept his silver medal and a larger trophy. After he was ensconced on the awards stand the MC continued.
"And the winner of this age group is pup number 15,473 with an outstanding time of 38:06." Logan eagerly to the point of almost trotting made his way to the podium to be awarded a gold medal and a large trophy for winning his age group. He was also handed a card by the MC who said, "This is a voucher to get a free pair of LS1000s, the latest running shoe by our sponsor Nike. You can turn it in at any store or you can go right over there to the Nike truck and exchange it for a pair there." He tousled Logan's head fur and then said, "Let's have a round of applause for the dogs 14 and under age group winners!"
There was a nice round of applause and since there was a member of The Pack was involved I started a group howl and the whole pack joined in, startling half the crowd as Logan blushed in embarrassment. They left the award stand and the MC got started again.
"Now we have the awards for the dogs 15 thru 19 age group. In third place with a time of 32:27 was pup number 55." The Shorthair started to make his way up to the podium and some of The Pack started to boo.
"Stop That" I growled under my breath and the booing stopped. The Shorthair hung his head a little when the booing was going on but continued his way to the award stand. He received his bronze medal and third place trophy.
"The second place pup in this age group was pup number 39, with a time of 31:07." A Malamute that looked much older than 19 years old walked up to get his awards to polite applause. He took his place on the awards stand.
Now for the winner of this age group. Pup number 47 is the winner with a time of 30:34 which is the race record for this age group. And I'm informed that this pup is only 16 years old so he has three more years to try to better his own record." I started to walk to the podium and of course The Pack broke out in another group howl, but the crowd wasn't startled this time, they just cheered along with it. I got my gold medal, first place trophy and most importantly, my voucher for a pair of LD1000s.
"Now let's hear it for the dogs 16 thru 19 winners." Everyone applauded and were treated to another group howl.
As we walked away from the Award Stand I walked over to the Shorthair. "I'm sorry. You're not very popular among my teammates, but they still shouldn't have booed you."
"I understand though. I'm not proud of how I behaved." He paused for a second and added, "Hopefully I've learned from it. Well I've got a 6 hour drive home so I'm taking off." He extended his paw, we shook paws and he turned and left."
I walked back to the group and Gordon asked, "What did the jerk have to say? Did he tell you how childish and immature our group howl was like he did at the state meet."
"Actually, before the race he came up to me and apologized for being such a dick. He seemed sincere about it too." I said a little reproachfully. None of them said anything, I assume they were ashamed of themselves for booing him now. But I didn't let that put a damper on our celebration. "Hey Logan, you wanna head over to the Nike truck and get our new LD1000s. Coach, can you watch our trophies while we get out shoes?"
"No problem get them so we can get out of here after the ceremonies are over. I imagine they are gonna want a picture with all the age group winners so were gonna have to stick around for that." He replied.
Logan and I ran over to the Nike truck and the clerks in there fitted us for our new LD1000s. They felt like nothing I had ever worn before. They were light and very cushioned with a wide flared heel for added stability with a waffle tread on the sole. They would be awesome for cross country. We ran back to The Pack carrying our old shoes.
"Can I see one?" Gordon asked.
"Sure." I replied taking off my right shoe and handing it to him. They all wanted to look at the shoe, because it was like nothing else on the market. They had worked their way through all the dog age groups and were onto the bitch age groups by the time Logan and I had gotten back with our shoes.
While the pups were passing my shoe around one of the organizers came up to us and said, "We're getting all of the age group winners together so we can take a final group photo after they announce the overall winners. Bring your medals and trophies." He led us over to a set of bleachers that would be used to take the picture. Logan and I both waited patiently while the rest of the bitch age groups were finished then the last thing of all was the top 5 finishers. I hadn't bothered to ask who won the race so I was anxious to hear the results. Fourth and fifth place were taken by dogs with whom I wasn't familiar. But Frank Shorter was 3rd. He received a huge round of applause, I mean he was an Olympic hero. I was surprised when they announced that Lasse Viren placed second, I was sure he would have won, but to my surprise Bill Rodgers held him off at the end to finish in first place.
The whole time that they had been going through the age groups our little group had been being added to one at a time and it was complete when Mr. Rodgers came over carrying his huge overall trophy. He stood on the ground in front of the bleachers with his trophy sitting in front of him. It came almost up to his chest.
Logan and I were standing on the first row of the bleachers to the right of Bill and the youngest two bitches were to the left of him. Each row of the bleachers added two more age groups all the way to the end. There were quite a few reporters with their photographers taking pictures for various papers including one from our hometown newspaper. When they had finished getting their pictures everyone went up to meet Bill. I was kind of surprised but instead of being standoffish, he seemed to enjoy meeting all of us.
But what surprised me most of all was that he came over to me and said, "So you're the pup that set the age group record today."
"Yes Sir." I said still somewhat in awe that I was speaking to him. He had been somewhat of a hero to me.
"And I heard you're only 16. Most runners are barely getting into running at that age. How long have you been running?"
"I've been running for a year and a half now, but this was only my second 10K that I ever ran. I only started running road races this summer."
"Only your second? What other running have you done?"
Well he asked so I couldn't help but brag a little, "I was state runner up in cross country last fall and I won the two mile run this spring."
"Wow! I started out as a two miler but I was never that good at your age. I'm gonna have to keep track of how you're doing." He said shaking my paw before he was led off by race officials to give interviews to the press.
We all piled back into the bus and I commandeered the back seat again to nap on the way home. It didn't even seem like I'd shut my eyes before we were home again. The Pack piled into Ron's and Chuck's cars and drove over to Joe's Pizza to finally get some serious sustenance. Joe saw us come in the door and came out to seat us.
"Hey Teddy, put in a couple of large pepperoni pizza in for the pups. Sheila, bring out a couple of pitchers of Pepsi." He yelled into the back while pulling a couple of extra chairs up to the big corner booth that we usually sat in. Logan and I had brought in our trophies and medals because I was sure that Joe would want to see them.
We all sat down and Joe sat backward in one of the chairs he pulled up. "So I see you two brought home some hardware!" He said.
"Yeah Logan and I both won our age groups," I replied.
Logan cut in, "Adam set a new course record for his age group and he's only16."
"Impressive! What place did you take overall?" Joe queried.
"I came in 29th and I had a time of 30:34."
"I'm proud of all you pups. I'm really looking forward to this season. I'm thinking of promoting Teddy to assistant manager. He's showing real promise. Then he'll be able to run the shop while I go to the meets."
That was met with a group howl. We all looked forward to having Joe at the meets. But soon the pizzas were out and we chowed down on them. Of course, Joe wouldn't take our money, so we left Sheila a big tip and headed out.
Ron gave Gordon, Logan and I a ride over to Gordon's house. Gordon's mom wouldn't be home until late and Logan said that his mom was also working the evening shift. He asked if he could stay here until she got home. Gordon and I just grinned as our eyes met. I was tired but not too tired to fool around with an adorable little Husky. We placed our trophies on the coffee table and almost raced up to Gordon's room.
Logan just about ripped his clothes off as soon as we got into the room. He was such a cute eager pup. "I'm not gonna be able to fool around too long. It's already after seven and I have to head to work at ten."
"Well then hurry up and get your clothes off." Logan yelped.
I chuckled at his enthusiasm as I started to strip out of my clothes, Gordon following suit. I was barely out of my shorts before Logan was kneeling before me. I was already hard when he reached up to skin back my sheath and took me into his dainty little muzzle, his blue eyes gazing up on me in complete adoration. He bobbed up and down on my shaft for a moment when I got an idea. I grabbed his ears and gently pulled him off of me. He looked up at me worried he'd done something wrong.
"You didn't do anything wrong." I said as I climbed up on the bed and lay down on my back. I positioned him so we were in a sixty nine position with me on my back and him on his knees above me. He immediately dove for my half exposed cock and was soon working his muzzle up and down, taking me all the way down his throat on the down stroke.
I in the meantime spread his cute little puppy buns exposing his pucker and started licking it. I could feel him moan around my erection which made for an exquisite feeling. He was opening up as I continued to rim him, laving him with lots of saliva getting him ready. Gordon was standing beside the bed stroking his sheath up and down his boner, when I motioned him to get on the bed. He immediately got the idea and got on his knees behind Logan and straddling my head. I reached up and pulled Gordon's boner down to my muzzle so I could suck on it, while Gordon moistened his index finger and slipped it into Logan's tight little pucker.
Logan paused for a second from sucking my dick as he moaned from Gordon's finger stroking his prostate. But he quickly went back to work on me. Gordon got a second finger in and was soon able to work both of them in and out of our young Husky friend. I figured Logan was ready so I pulled my muzzle away from Gordon's cock and guided it toward the little pink target. I lined it up and Gordon slowly applied pressure. I had a bird's eye view as Logan's tight little sphincter surrendered to the invader at its gate. It slowly dilated allowing the head to slowly work in, until it finally spread to the point that the rest of the head just popped in.
Gordon held steady as Logan's sphincter clamped down behind Gordon's corona. I couldn't resist licking the junction then working my way down to Gordon's balls. I took them in my muzzle, massaging them with my broad tongue as he slowly fed his dick the rest of the way into Logan. When he finally came to a stop I could feel Logan's tiny little balls resting against the bottom of my chin.
When Gordon started to pull out I let his balls slip out of my muzzle to give him more freedom to fuck our little pup. I could see that the pup's boner had gone limp when Gordon had taken him, but is was slowly starting to rise again as he got used to the size. I used my paws to spread Logan's little bubble butt so I could watch my mates cock slowly slide in and out of our pup. He slowly picked up speed, his pendulous balls slapping against Logan's little sack on each forward thrust.
I could see the faintest beginnings of a knot forming on Gordon's cock and soon he was down the short strokes, locking himself in the pup's tight little rectum. I moved my muzzle back to Gordon's pucker and started to rim him while my right paw found their junction as Gordon started to knot up. I could feel it growing just inside Logan. I moved my muzzle down so I could start licking the underside of Gordon's cock and when he started to cum I could feel his cum spurting down his shaft. I could also feel Logan spurt onto my chest and belly as he came too.
The both just knelt there panting as they came down from their orgasmic high, although Gordon would continue to pulse regularly for the next 20 minutes or so. Gordon rolled them over on their sides, which gave me an idea. I hadn't cum yet and the two of them looked so sexy there that I rolled them on their backs with Logan's back resting on Gordon's chest. I put Gordon's knees over my shoulders. I thought about fucking my mate but I didn't want to tie with him. I really needed to get some sleep so I needed to do something that would be quick and it hit me right then.
I lay down on top of them the base of my cock right against their junction and the rest of it on Logan's balls and hard little cock. I started thrusting against both of them, feeling Gordon's cock continue to mark Logan. It had me so hot that it only took a few thrusts before I shot a huge load all over the pup before collapsing on top of them.
We all rolled over on our sides, making a Logan sandwich. Gordon was still locked inside him, still pulsing seed into him. I was just cuddling face to face with them, but I was so tired that that was the last thing I remembered before I fell asleep in exhaustion...
Gordon woke me at ten to head down to the bakery. I got a quick shower to get all the cum off of me and ran down to the bakery. I got there by 10:30 but Wilbur would never know that I wasn't there right at 10:00 because his two snitches were sitting in jail where they belonged. I hurried and got everything clean, I even had time to sip a coke before he pulled into the parking lot at the stroke of midnight.
Fortunately he was still in a funk about his two buddies getting arrested, so he didn't even bother with the white glove treatment. He just went into the back and scaled up a batch of donuts. I had everything ready by the time they came out of the proof box and had them all dried and glazed before the first cops came in for their break.
The first ones in were Arnie and Jacques and they looked rather grim. Arnie was carrying a newspaper, and my first thought was that my picture was on the front page again. "Arnie please don't show that to Wilbur. I don't need him getting all pissed off at me..."
I stopped in mid-sentence when I saw what was on the front page. It was a picture of Max and Bubba with a headline of 'Jailed Cops Murdered in Prison!'
I have been dealing with out-of-control diabetes for the last ten years. I was able to function until I lost my job (and my health insurance) in May of 2020 due to shutdowns due to covid. Between the isolation and lack of medical care, I went into a downward spiral. It was challenging to get out of bed many days, which added to the isolation and depression.
In August of 2021, my unemployment ran out. I turned 62 at the end of January and have applied for social security, but I still haven't started receiving payments. I have had no income since I'm seriously behind on my electric bill (I have been receiving extensions on my shut-off notice because of my health issues) and my property taxes.
I finally got medical help in October, and things are improving, but I still have a way to go. If I can get some help to get caught up, I should be able to get my life back under control. Any help would be appreciated.
https://gofund.me/c02f6290
I have 12 years worth of writing up on SoFurry. I am one of the more popular writers on that site. You can find all of them at https://firefromheaven.sofurry.com/stories.
These are my other stories that I have moved or I'm in the process of moving to Nifty. All of them are in their entirety on SoFurry.com:
Earth's New Masters https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/earths-new-masters/
In My Wildest Dreams https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/in-my-wildest-dreams/
Wild Horses https://www.nifty.org/nifty/bestiality/wild-horses
Runt https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/runt/
Mutt https://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/sf-fantasy/mutt
Pittsburghese N'at https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/pittsburgese/
Craigslist Bull https://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/sf-fantasy/craigslist-bull/
The Trophy Wife https://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/sf-fantasy/the-trophy-wife
The Initiate https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/the-initiate
My Pet Lion https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/my-pet-lion
Sasquatch In My Mind https://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/sf-fantasy/sasquatch-in-my-mind
Reverse Cowboy https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/reverse-cowboy
Of Dogs And Young Men https://www.nifty.org/nifty/bestiality/of-dogs-and-young-men/
The Oracle https://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/historical/the-oracle/
Royal Prerogative https://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/historical/royal-prerogative
Harry Potter and Firenze https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/celebrity/harry-potter-and-firenze
The House Mouse https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/military/the-house-mouse
The Jungle Book https://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/celebrity/the-jungle-book
In Gods We Thrust https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/incest/in-gods-we-thrust
If you read any of the others please let me know what you think of them.