The pavement likes to taunt me

The bibs and medals in my garage are haunting

Relics of races run

Of training, hard work, and fun

The road doesn’t end

But my aerobic capacity does

Around mile 10 my muscles are buzzed

And there’s the lactate threshold hovering just above the road

Something you can’t see but only feel

I want to run faster but it’s the reason I can’t go

It burns in my lungs but it’s ethereal

Watching others’ gaits

Up the hill, counting my place

Watching my pace

The clock is my enemy

Those bold red digits are mockery

My shoulders tense, I feel my face wince

Today there was a spectator on the sideline

He yelled from behind the white gates: “You’ve got more in you, girl!”

I thought I might hurl

But his encouraging words were a spark

They propelled me forward to make the mark

3^rd place

Some days I feel on the edge of discarded

But others like today make me think I’m just getting started

The road will be there tomorrow

And I can’t wait to go

To feel that burn in my lungs

The oxygen seep from the cells in my thighs

What a gift is running

What a wonderful high

Its motion is a potion

I thank God for it and that I’m alive