nin137

Nick's Journal
2004-10-09 15:14:19 (UTC)

I finally won my first marathon

there's a path leading along a little river alongside my
apartment, and this saturday i decided to jog along it.
as i run through the wet leaves inhaling the fog i find a
bunch of people down there tending to stands, seemingly
selling crafts. i wave to them and they applaud me. i
think that this is kind of funny and grin and put a
determined look on my face. as i continue running down
the path i notice all these vendors standing on the side
of the path, all diligently prodding me on with the
rythmic clapping.
"what a funny lot i live around here" i say to myself and
grin, feeling that i've now ventured into a completely
different culture. finally i round a bend and have a cop
with a light motion me to not go on the street but
continue down the path that i'm going.
"jesus, i think, these vendors are just crazy". i turn
the corner tha the cop indicates and people just start
applauding like crazy, some egging me on with,
"oh my god this is record time, look at him go! go buddy
you're almost there!"
"ok i think to myself this is just stupid" and then i look
up and all of a sudden a yellow tape is around my heaving
chesting. i look to my left and a woman with jiggling
breasts comes screeching up to me and envelopes me in
mounds of perfumed rolls of fat. the paste of her face
sticks to my face as she yells,
"great job, you're the winner of the annual arts and
crafts marathon!"
then it donned on me. i had accidentally cut into a
marathon and inadvertently won first place. i turned
around and behind me where some people trotting up behind
me (apparently this was one of those marathons where
people walk, trot, or run, depending on what they
wanted). i held the make-shift trophy in my hand, weakly
feeling like scum. i noticed a mother and her child
running behind most of the trotters and then the little
kid tore loose. careening towards the finish. i looked
at the elderly lady and our eyes just knew what we were
going to do. so she grabbed one end of the yellow tape
and i the other as the little child flew through it like a
bumblebee on crack. his leaps of joy were incredible and
he graciously accepted the trophy to a roar of applause
that no officary has ever witnessed. he gunned back to
his mother in a frenzy of words that weren't even
recognizable.
i needn't even explain myself as the other people just
grinned at me and offered me all sorts of crafts.
i can't imagine anything more beautiful than such a tight-
knit community where children are made to feel like heroes
on weekends. no amount of won-wars and peace-treaties
could possibly amount to the goodness of a lot of people
celebrating the achievement of one child who then can bask
in the adoration of his parents.




Ad: