A Saturday morning, 6 am

I didn’t sleep the night before

Neither did you

Only a crazy person would be out here

I down a banana in the parked car

Out of the heat, into the cold drizzle

It’s dark and windy

I hear the air whistle

I’m already freezing and wet

Somehow the air smells minty

A brief text this time around

2023 hope is a new life found

I run the strip from 19^th Street to 30 ½

The ocean is still at this time

Unlike my heart in the aftermath

How is yours

We didn’t talk about it

At the start line, the street is crowded

I wonder if we overlap

Maybe you’re here somewhere

The horn sounds, the race begins

All’s well till we turn the corner and hit the boardwalk

There’s the wind

Running against it

So much energy spent

How do you take it?

Am I moving at all

You didn’t seem to stall

The sky is gray

Onlookers from the balconies wave

Only a crazy person would be out here

It’s freezing

I tuck behind some other runners to block the feeling

But it’s to no avail

I keep charging into the wind

And I think about you, my old friend

Where did it fail

The beach is empty

I hear the ocean in the distance purr

I can’t keep from wondering what happened

Because I’m still not sure

Deep friendship can’t be old fashioned

I turn another corner then go on to mile marker 4

Wondering if you’re there cheering

Maybe you are but for someone else

Or maybe you’re around the next corner or at the straightaway

I run a little faster

Maybe you’ll hear my name or see my face

I cross the finish line and look around

I see two teenage girls hug at the end

I hear their laughter

They share sweat, it’s not pretend

The ocean now roars

As runners finish the course

I check the results

You were never there

No email came through that night to check on me

The old boardwalk, mint shakes, races, that sprawling once warm beach

Now history

At home I melt in the hot tub

Finally no longer frozen

I reminisce about my old friend        

Her new path chosen

I think things over a million times

Like one deranged

Strange: the grass around me is green

Sometimes I wish we were still too

But here I am

Surrounded by a bunch of shamrock plants

Pondering what havoc the wind, a great chasm can do