PUBLISHED 05/30/2006
Julian's family had covered for him on the newspaper route on the nights before the earlier SRLA long runs, allowing him to get some much-needed sleep. But on a Saturday night in late February, the night before the 18-mile run at Hansen Dam in the San Fernando Valley, his father and sister were busy, so Julian had to help his mother deliver the Daily Breeze. The fact is, the habits he'd established over the course of his youth had helped him with his running. Julian ran with a calm, steady, economical stride. Running and working were hard enough, he had learned, without getting in your own way.
The bus for Hansen Dam would leave Banning at 5:30 the next morning. Julian laid out his shorts, T-shirt, and running shoes and made himself a sandwich. Then he relaxed for awhile in front of the TV, finding a replay of a NASCAR race on one of the cable stations. Next Monday was his birthday. He would turn 18 and finally be able to apply for his driver's license. Next fall, following in the footsteps of his sister and brother, he planned to enroll at El Camino Community College. And like his siblings, he would continue to live at home. There would be no money for a place of his own.
His mother rested in the bedroom. In a few hours she would get up and prepare for the night's work. Just now, Julian didn't feel tired. He wanted to keep following the roar of NASCAR on TV. He used to try to stay up all night before delivering papers. He would make it through the sorting and bagging at the plant, but then at some point out on the route, it would catch up with him. More than once Julian had fallen asleep with a rolled newspaper in his hand, his arm cocked to throw.
But he knew he should lie down for a few hours. So Julian closed his eyes. It seemed like only a moment later that his mother was shaking him awake at one in the morning. They drove in silence to the plant in Carson. At the loading dock there were a dozen other Mexican families folding and sorting. Few words passed among them. The Sunday editions were much heavier than the weekday editions, with lots of inserts to assemble. Julian was too tired to bother reading the headlines. When the papers were all assembled and sorted, they left the plant to drive their route, his mother at the wheel and Julian firing newspapers into the morning darkness.
As he worked, he thought about his long run in a few hours. Running had become as much a part of his life as walking to school in the morning or delivering newspapers in the night. He had injured his leg a couple of weeks earlier and lost the team mileage lead to Brittany. Brittany teased him about that. She was a friend, and so were Max and John and Mayra--all of the kids on SRLA. Mr. Mendoza had become a friend, too.
"Running helps me clear up my head," Julian had said one recent day. "It gives me a lot of time to think about what I should and shouldn't do in school. For instance, I wasn't doing so good in my precalculus class. Out on a run I would tell myself, 'You got to ask questions if you don't understand.' Then I would go and talk to my math teacher. Now I'm not doing great in precalculus, but I got a passing grade."
Luz and Julian delivered the newspapers. He would sleep during the bus ride out to Hansen Dam, which would give him enough strength to run.
