The next day, they challenged Linus to a marathon. Suspecting nothing, he put on his shoes and walked to the starting line in the garden. The other cabbages gathered too, and as soon as the starting sign was given, they all started to run. Linus would run as if nothing had happened, but soon enough his favorite shoes had gathered so much dirt from the ground that they became really heavy. Instead of running, he would barely even take a step in them.

The fruit and vegetables started laughing at him. Some of them even made circles around him and dance, or run in and out of his course to make fun of him.

Linus finally felt the despair of being left behind for the first time in his life. Then, however, a hare appeared out of the blue, who closed in upon the cabbages and threatened to gobble them up. They were so scared that they ran as fast as they could to get away, leaving poor Linus and his sticky shoes behind. When, at some point, they saw the hare approaching him, they shouted at him: "Take your shoes off and run as fast as you can!".

Not really aware of the situation, Linus took off his shoes in haste and started running without them. The hare then went after him, only to see him run even faster in the opposite direction of the other cabbages. After him the hare would go, and run as fast as it could, until they were too far away from the garden. When, at some point, the hare attempted to catch him with his big mouth and large teeth, he stumbled and fell unconscious on the ground.

As soon as Linus was sure of his escape, he went back to the garden were the fruit and vegetables welcomed him as a great hero. They apologized to him for their bad jokes, and gave him a pair of brand new walking shoes to make up for it....