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| Van Gogh |
Then I get to the swimming obstacle part of the course because all marathons come with one swimming obstacle. We're still in the mall. I have a problem, though. I'm wearing my new GPS watch and I'm afraid of completely submerging it during my swim. I start looking around for my family members, but I can't find them. I think, this can't be helped, so I jump into the water. So I'm swimming and swimming in this completely tiled pool which looks like a super-sized water fountain structure right in the middle of a main thoroughfare. In the middle of the swim, I notice man is sitting next to the pool and tinkering with something. I don't think much more about it and I finish the swim.
However, when I look down at my watch, there's a hole where the face of the watch should be. I swim back to the man on the side of the pool and ask him where the rest of my watch is. He says that "if you lose part of your watch during the swim, I'm allowed to pick it up, fix it, and sell it in my shop." I'm freaking out because it's a really expensive watch. So I ask him if I can look for it and find it before him, and he's okay with that. I begin looking for my watch, but I never find it.
I start running again, and I realize that I'm famous or used to be famous. I'm like a former rock star or movie celebrity of some kind and I'm actually on a circuit of speaking engagements while I'm running the marathon. Every once in a while, I make a stop, usually at a university, sign autographs, shake hands, and don't really say much besides "good job everyone" like a politician. I even stop at Abilene Christian University to give a "presentation." By the way, ACU has really tall-back pews instead of normal classroom seating; red upholstery. I kept wondering how students took notes or tests in class.
Time speeds up to where I'm about 6 miles from the finish line. People are passing me left and right and I realize that I'm going pretty slow. I'm not meeting my target time of 5 hours (not sure how I know my time since I'm missing a watch). I believe my slower time is a result of the flood (and not because of my speaking engagements). I'm now running through a flooded street that runs parallel to a small river. I'm just struggling to pick up my feet and make any forward progress. I also realize that my slower speed must be why my family hasn't been able to meet me anywhere on the course. But I'm still running and trying to finish when I notice that I'm approaching a woman in her mid 50s. She's sitting in a lawn chair slightly submerged in water and she's fishing. I had some sort of small-talk conversation with her as I ran by, but continued on my run while she continued to fish. I'm running and I'm running.
Finally I arrive at the finish line where my family was waiting for me. It's a Six Flags parking lot. I apologize profusely for finishing in 7 hours because I told them I would make it in 5. Then I wake up.
The End.
