22 MINUTES, 4 SECONDS
She had reached the last stretch of her crawl, but she refused to think about this. Ignoring the track timer, she forced herself to focus only on her breathing and counted silently: one, two, one, two.
Her father followed her with a video camera, his feet just a few steps behind her.
“Let’s go, Laura, lets go!” The crowd’s enthusiasm mounted.
Then her second foot crossed the finish line, and suddenly she could hear again. The cheering roared in her ears.
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Her heart pounding, she tumbled to the ground with a smile on her face.
She was already beginning to celebrate what had been the most painful, yet exhilarating 22 minutes and 4 seconds of her life.