It was all foggy, a haze, a steam cloud billowing from the 50 meter watery race track in Indy… I was barely there physically but my mind was there very intensely and focused on the other end of the lane.
The deadly silence was creating a eerie feeling in my mind, but I knew there was something going on that was more than epic, things that were unbelieveable and heart riveting. An event was playing in my mind over and over, something that I worked on for months, years in fact and this was the final time it would play. A last march, a point of ecstasy, a final destination.
I look up, see the end, water drips from my chisled chin. Then I heard a command that felt extremely soothing, yet scarey, “Take your mark.”
I heard a water droplet at the end of the pool hit the tile floor 80 meters away, as if I was by myself in a huge warehouse. Then we were off.
I hit the cool 78 degree water and felt like a slick missile from a nuclear submarine speeding through the ocean trying to get to the object first. “How simple is that? Just get there first, before anyone else.”
I felt great, pulling through with ease and creating a little distance between me and the other speedy missiles. I should; I grew up being taught by the best teachers in the world, the meanest, the smartest, the most strategic. Flip turns were absolutely perfect. I always wanted to be the world’s fastest on the walls with the largest plus sign in the universe.
On the way back to my launching pad, I took a quick peek and saw that I was in the lead at the point–just now I hear sounds, muffled noises, lower voices, louder cheers and yelling. They were looking at me, at the lucky person in the middle lane. The noise was almost deafening now, it was hard to think. I kept my head and nose down to drown out the distracting sound.
I touched, I looked both ways, no one was here yet, I must have won, I clearly won. Oh my gosh, the noise! My ballistic heart rate felt like it was beating from the outside. People were congratulating me, looking at me on the big screen. I half smiled and immediately thought about all my insane coaches and family sacrifices that got me to this unreal moment.
“Johnny, Johnny, get up! You are going to be late for practice,” my mom yelled. “What the heck was that?—Dayum!” I said. “What was what?”
Bummer, off I go.
Another day to turn this dream into a reality.
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