"Congratulations on beating Jake, another broken record this year, this year was amazing for you, should this be the last marathon you're going to run this year?"

"Yes, it's my last marathon this year, thanks for helping me out so much this year."

"It's just my job, I have to thank you for always winning marathons, as I was the one who came up with the idea of ​​hiring you for our company to sponsor, I'm gaining a lot of recognition for that."

"I'm glad to hear that, I don't think we'll see each other again this year, have a happy holiday season and wait for some good news from me at basketball games."

"Thanks, I'll see you next year."

Living together can make a new friendship come to life, even though they never really liked John because their contract was just about business, after receiving his goodwill and help for so many months Jake began to want to be friends with John.

Maybe their relationship could never be as good as it was between Jake with Tiffany and Clara, but they could at least talk friendlier, not to mention that after a few years they might not even talk to each other anymore.

Jake had lost several friends in this time he lived after going back in time, even though he always appreciated friendships things just happened that way, everyone he studied with Jake had no more contact.

It had also been several months since he'd had any conversations with Eric who always sought to talk to him, maybe he could meet his school friends when the internet-connected more people and meet Eric when he joined the NBA.

After talking with John, Jake decided to go back to the hotel and get some rest before catching the plane at the end of the day for university again, the other day even if he didn't do his daily running training he would still have to train with the Basketball team.

After all, it was only a few weeks before the day of the first game, so, Jake, the team would have to be ready by that day, he didn't want to end up losing that game for lack of training, it would be an important game to decide Jake's future in the basketball team.

In New York Jake had no interest in doing an interview to talk about his marathon victory, he did the interview in Chicago because he knew Chloe and had free time this time, however, he knew no one and was in a hurry to return to the university.

Unfortunately, Jake's desire to just rest while waiting for his travel time didn't come true, after a few hours at the hotel when he had already changed and eaten and was preparing to rest the hotel said someone was waiting for him.

Even though he knew it wasn't someone Jake knew it had to be someone with contacts to find out where he was when Jake came down he saw a man who looked to be thirty-four and wearing a black suit.

"Mr. Smith, thank you for coming down to talk to me if you didn't know me."

"No problem, I was just resting, who would you be?"

"My name is Martin Hans, I am a representative of the Nike company, I was sent to talk to you about the possibility of a sponsorship agreement of our company with you."

Jake was a little surprised that he wasn't expecting it at the moment, but after thinking a bit he realized that it was very normal for something like this to happen, Nike has always been known to compete with other shoe companies to sponsor the best athletes in the world from many different sports.

While currently, they do not have most of the basketball players, soccer and football, they've had many contracts with athletes, and in the future, Nike just grows and further dominates the footwear market.

Even though not all athletes were sponsored by them, Jake had already won several major marathons and the Olympic gold medal, as well as breaking the world record, thinking that it was normal for a company like Nike to look for him with a contract.

Currently Jake could not have any new sponsorship contracts because he was at university and had made a deal with them not to have any new contracts while playing on the basketball team.

But he could talk some details with Nike until after he left university, if the contract was good he could make a deal with them and when he entered the NBA he would sign this contract with Nike.

"You don't have to call me sir, you can be less informal and call me by my name."

"I'll do it so, you might be wondering why our company hasn't contacted you before, that's because you suddenly came across as an athlete and we didn't have time to prepare a contract proposal for you."

"When you won in Chicago last year and then came second in New York, the directors just got to know your name and so decided to wait and see."

"Unfortunately we ended up missing our opportunity to get a contract at that time, after all this year you qualified to race at the Olympics and eventually won, after which as you would go to university we thought we had missed the opportunity and would have to wait."

"But right now while you are at university you still have some sponsorship deals, so we realize we missed another chance."

"It's true, unfortunately right now that I have some sponsorship contracts I can't have a new contract in my university playing period."

"Yeah, we know that and so we decided to wait until you finish college to talk about a contract, but after you won in Chicago and New York this year we decided to talk to you at least."

The company's marketing people realized that they missed a lot of opportunities to make a contract with Jake this year, he's a brilliant young man who has accomplished a lot in athletics and may also have a chance to get into the NBA.

In fact, Nike knew they already had teams that wanted to talk to Jake right after he left high school, so it's almost certain he could join an NBA team, so a contract with him would just be more valuable.

Jake was also interested in that, if it was a good deal he would accept now, after all, it would only be for a few years, in 2003 he would want a much better contract for him, or he could just run out of any contract.

"What is your company's proposal?"

"We have a $ 5 million proposal for a 4-year contract. Every major marathon you win would get you another $ 50,000 and every world record you break would earn you another $ 50,000."

That had been a very thoughtful contract by the marketing team, and in a few more years when Jake left college they wouldn't know whether or not he would play in the NBA and if he would still have a high level of track and field performance, it was a risk to them, but for an athlete it was a very good contract, the best they could offer today.

It might seem like a great contract for an average athlete, but Jake thought this contract was very bad, had the least consideration for being one of the best for athletes they could offer, but Jake knew it was too little.

This contract was even smaller than Alan and John's companies paid, he sincerely expects a lot more from a company like Nike, maybe they would have thought of getting a great deal if Jake became a professional basketball player.

But Jake knew he would surely become an NBA player and with the help of the system he could even become a star as the best players in history, so this contract was a joke for Jake If he entered one more type of athletics as he thought this contract would no longer be worth it.

It was better than Jake just renewed the contract with the companies that were with him now, and Nike hadn't even offered a shoe line by his name which was the wish of every athlete in the world.

"I'm sorry Martin, but I will have to decline this proposal, it's far below what I sincerely expected."

"Could you say what made you dissatisfied with this contract?"

Martin sincerely thought it was a great contract for a marathon runner, and Nike was a big company that every athlete wanted to be associated with, so he didn't understand what made Jake dissatisfied.

"This is a great contract for a regular marathon runner, but you are forgetting that I am also a basketball player, this contract shows that you are not confident enough in my future as I am."

"You had to work out a contract thinking of me as a basketball player as well as a marathoner after all this contract is after I leave college, if you have a good view you can even profit from an early contract."

"We are considering that you can become an NBA player, so the value is higher than an average marathoner, but we can have no guarantee of that, so it's a risk and if you are a big player this contract is just for the first 4 years, then we can renew with a higher value."

"If you think it's a risk I'd rather wait until I leave university to talk about it again, I have confidence in myself, not to mention that I won't get the value now anyway."

"And for you to know how I think the value you offer is low even a sponsor of mine currently pays me more than this contract."

After saying that Jake went to his room and went to rest until he had to go to the airport at night, he was a little disappointed with what Nike offered, he would accept a minimum of $ 4 million a year to sign now."

Jake had always heard that the Nike company was smart and so they always made the best deals, but that didn't seem true to Jake, maybe if he was someone who needed the money and didn't have confidence he could sign the contract.

After a few hours he left the hotel and arrived at the university after a few hours, after winning again he was certain that Coach Smith would not be angry that he missed a day of training.

Now he needed to focus on basketball and forget about the marathons, in a few weeks it would be his first game at university and he was anxious.