It starts with a pounding
pounding
pounding.
Head down,
eyes dizzily scan tarmac spinning past worn out grey trainers.
I’ll never do it.
Pounding
pounding
pounding.
I’ll never do it.
Breath deepens,
legs heavy.
Pounding.
Gaze shifts higher,
I can only see road after road after road.
Pounding.
No horizon,
just road.
Just pounding.
I’ll never do it.
Stop now?
Or run – just a little.
Legs stretch out – just a little.
Breathing intensifies.
Gathering speed, my eyes catch green.
To the side there is green;
green trees, green bushes, green fields.
But ahead is road.
Pounding
pounding
pounding.
I look up further.
Horizon.
Shall I stop now? Can I?
I slow...
Blood surges in my veins and the pounding sprains from the road to my heart, to my brain.
If I can make it to the next lamp post...
Pounding.
I pass the lamp post –just get to the next,
now the next now
the next and another.
Momentum
momentum
momentum.
My eyes catch blue.
Blue between branches, blue up ahead.
I lift my brow, just a little,
I see sky.
Just above the horizon.
I might make it to that tree.
My weight shifts from calf to toe,
I feel springy -
just a little.
I feel air pass my face more quickly,
more evenly.
I feel speed.
Arms pump, legs pump, heart pumps.
I am sprinting.
My eyes catch light.
I lift my face to the sun.
I am running!
I might just make it to the finish line.
