Blog 2

My favorite part of the book Running Loose, by Chris Crutcher, was the ending. It all started when Louie and Coach Madison went to tell Principle Jasper and Coach Lednecky that Louie would be joining the track team to run the mile and two mile.

I liked how Coach Madison told Louie that when he was practicing for his events that he should just run as far as he could run and then turn around and go home. There was no need to worry about racing a clock or about beating someone else. Then when it came to the race Louie was just to run as fast and hard as he could. He was to still not worry about racing the clock. If anything he was just to race against himself and try to get a better time every time he ran a race.

I thought it was neat that the author had Washington come up to Louie at regionals and tell Louie that he respected him for standing up for him at the football game, even though everyone was angry at Louie for doing that.

I also thought it was cool how the author had Washington tell Louie that Louie was his hero when it came to running. I bet you that made Louie feel really good about himself. It probably gave him a huge boost of confidence as well.

When Louie was running the two mile race against Washington I thought the author used great detail so the reader could picture the whole race in the head. All of the details also made that part of the story more suspenseful. After the race you could really feel how exhausted and in pain Louie and Washington were because of the authors detail.

After Becky died I feel that it was nice of Boomer to start being kind to Louie. He really needed all of the help and support that he could get at that time of his life. Also, when Louie would run a race Boomer would cheer for him, which showed he cared. Boomer would of never done that earlier in the year. He would of probably yelled something out that was rude or mean. Then after the race he would of gone over and said something mean again. I think that Boomer started to figure out at the end of the book that being nice and respectful to people is much more rewarding than being rude and disrespectful.

Louie learned to respect himself at the end of the story. After finally being able to regain himself after Becky’s death, finding a sport that he really loved, and making and repairing friendships Louie became a much stronger person. When you compare Louie at the beginning of the story and Louie at the end of the story there are a lot of positive changes he made to himself.

The end of Running Loose, by Chris Crutcher, is my favorite part of the book. : )