Trail Ballad 12

As I eat breakfast
I wonder why I’m running
In this race today.

We set off! I ask
If I can really do this?
Do I have the strength?

Feet fly over earth
Grass and gravel, up and down
In the second hour.

With smiles and chatter
I befriend other runners
On this lap or that.

In this, the fourth hour,
I commence the approach
To previous limits

Hour five and I reach
Mile twenty seven; I am
An Ultra Runner.

Time for sandwiches!!
I arrive at mile 30
And walk a whole lap.

As body digests
Energy is drained away
Hour seven is dark.

Less than five remain.
The smell of grass fills my nose.
I exist in space.

Now a warm, wet pain
I have never felt before
Appears in my toe.

In hour ten I watch
Dramatic dark clouds roll by.
Mind dissolves skywards.

Two hours to go.
I have passed forty five miles.
Watch battery dead.

Found my new boundary
Today between land and sky
On Summer Solstice.

An ice bath and food;
A recovers duo.
I hear I came third.

As I lie in bed
I give thanks for all I have;
Mind, body and friends.