It all starts very early at the end of the night. The sky is pastel and my body is well rested. I open your eyes like you open your mouth when you braille yawns. I am happy and in slow motion. I approach what is coming as one of the greatest adventures of my life. I'm hot, but not too hot. Just enough to sense my geolocation. I am warm and it smells of the ocean.
I've been waiting for this race for years and hours. I only have one thing to do after all these moments of visualization and preparation. I only have to run 42,2 km.
My whole body is a fusion, here in Rimouski Carmel-by-the-Sea , during this month of my birthday. My whole mind is full. I'm speechless before the objects that surround it (my mind). The apartment I rented on Airbnb offers me the comfort and the view I wanted before I left.
The course awaits me. A road along the ocean will allow me to experience new states of mind. I will invent a new rhythm for myself, which will be married to time on pause. I will run for myself. Only for me.
Yesterday I crossed 9th, 10th, and then 11th Avenues while strolling for pleasure. Between the McDonald's Sunset Center and the Videotron Centre , San Antonio Avenue is a world of colors, inviting me to create memories in my mind and soul. It's intoxicating, vibrant, inviting, and above all, relaxing. I smile easily at everyone I pass. I talk to them, ask them questions. My social engagement guides my steps, and my GPS is off.
500 meters separate me from the starting line of the Big Sur International Marathon . 46 years separate me from my birth and my first trip to California. I know I'll never relive this day. I'm savoring it. I'm flying. I swear, it's true.
The plow passes in the sky, and I descend slowly.
I know, you hardly have to believe me, but it's true. I fly. My first 2 kilometers are 15, then 30 feet from the ground. Unable to descend, I glide without fear or snowstorm. I think of Quebec and the cold weather. I think of those who will not eat today, in a country battered by heartless karma. I think about the borders and the walls, the children's snacks, which I forgot to make before leaving, and the end of the Canadian season. I have thoughts on the legality of my trip, because casually, I quickly found myself in first position ... By flying like a bird.
I'm not worried about being 30 feet in the air, but I am worried about finding myself ahead of all the other runners in my third marathon ever. The view is breathtaking. I'm running along the coast from Big Sur to Carmel . I'm slicing through the wind like a bird and flying over the hills. The stunning view of the Pacific Ocean becomes a source of endless inspiration. A canvas. A work of art. My mind is a movie, my eyes are lenses, and my heart is an elevator.
Do I need to tell you that this is the best race of my life?
Then I see this man in the middle of the road, playing the piano.
Sound absorbs everything else. EVERYTHING, or almost.
I ask myself …………. and on tiptoe, I approach.
I can no longer speak. I hear the melody. It's Ellipse, by Alexandra Stréliski.
All this, right in the middle of the road in California.
It's crazy. It is soft. Its good.
The red and white staircase of the plane, which carries me away every night… In California, in California, in California!
Then I wake up and open my eyes. I'm home, lying on my back, far from Hurricane Point. I realize it was all just a DREAM. I don't know if I'll ever be able to fly, but I know that one day, I will… In California.
I turn on the volume of my alarm clock, and I sing very loud CALIFORNIA, with Charlebois:
I looked for you when I woke up
Where were you? It was windy in my ears
I will buy the white truck
Who will take us in the spring
In California, California ...
The kind of dream we would like to redo over and over again ... 🙂
Too bad you can't order a dream like pizza!