This is a poem I wrote for my cousin after she finished her first (of many) 100 mile run.  The run took place in Vermont at the Vermont one hundred miler.

 

24:57:35

Morning dark, stomach fluttering awaiting the gun
Start, I’m here, I can do it, Bang! It’s just begun
Light in hand up hill and down
Just beginning, hours to go, I won’t fall down

 

Aid stations pass 3, 5, and 9, with many more in due time
Continue on, forever the flow, as other runners go
Stage road aid, friends abound, one marathon down
Up hill and down, sometimes I put on a frown

 

Thoughts running too, I think I’ll sing
A happy song, eliminating my feet’s sting
Camp 10 bear for the first time
Heat on my mind, will I make it on time

 

Runners come, walkers go, one foot more, I’m gonna go
This I must, do it all, 100 miles, that is all
At 10 Bear two, I complete sixty eight point two
I’m on my way, to make a hundred, this day

 

Night comes on, but Gilly’s my light
The G.A.C. has entered the fight
As we run and hobble on, just in time to turn it on
Green lights line the bend, I’m all a glow, it’s gonna end

 

Finish nears with friends I hear, aunt, cousin, daughters ever so near
The moment, why, they’re all here, it’s almost time to enter in cheer
Complete this day they all have come, to see Vicki and
Her one hundred mile run, outcome

 

Patrick J. Page