Avenues

Today was Martin Luther King's Birthday. Plain City had a foot of fresh snow that fell between 4AM and 2PM. It was too nasty to run so between bouts with the snow shovel, I did a hard workout on Patti's elliptical trainer while watching the Jazz beat the Clips. Somehow, I got thinking about poetry so when I finished, I wrote this poem about one of my favorite summer Saturday training runs. It's not good, but what the heck, some of the words rhyme.

Avenues

We run together on Saturdays, usually in a different place
Start at six in the summer, before the roads get hot
We gather across the valley, north, south, east and west
Some old, some young, a varied and different lot

Capital to the Post Office, along the Avenues today
Rolling up hills and down, on by the hospital we'll go
Turn back at the Post Office, past silent sentinel rows
Finishing around the canyon, endings always seem slow

Jen and Kent lead the pack, a hard pace we try to follow
Dan's got the Sag, water, a little fruit and some Gu
Dawn starts too fast, chasing sweat splats with her shoes
Joe and Carl share a word, Paula, Coop and Roger too


Bagels follow the finish, old friendships and some new
Hot coffee or cold drinks, past miles and PRs we've run
Others politely read our labels, mostly they can’t relate
Back to families, school, work, until the week is done

Larry Mangum
21 Jan 2008

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