Picture This: The Poetry of Running

Good day, readers!  Sole Sister M here to deliver some smiles and a mood boost!

During the end of our training for Glass City Marathon, I experienced a lot of stress in regard to my goal: qualifying for Boston.  I had various ways of coping ... Mainly talking V's ear off and running all of the "what if's" by her multiple times and always getting the same response of "YOU GOT THIS!" from her.  I am shocked that she didn't avoid my calls or ignore my texts.  Yes, I do believe I was THAT annoying.

But what if this happens, or this and this and this and that too and what if ....?????

Of course I would also run, run and run some more ... Or go to the gym... And then run. It always gave me time to think and analyze things.  Maybe over-analyze things.  There were some runs I would come back from and be MORE stressed then when I left!  That is NOT supposed to happen!  I was supposed to clear my mind while running... NOT jumble it up more!! Hmmpf!  I was obviously doing SOMETHING wrong!  

Clearly all this training (and thinking) was going to my head... and it hurt. Pace, splits, qualifying time, clock time, chip time, what I was going to wear, where the water stations were, what the weather was going to be like, etc. Do you get where I am going with this?!  I was a ball of nerves!!

With the race quickly approaching, it was all that was on my brain... Even when trying to go to sleep.  One night while laying in bed, I was thinking of everything that I just mentioned above, and I started to recite a little poem in my head and it literally made me LOL!  I LOL'd so loud that it woke my husband up and he asked what I was laughing at.  I was too embarrassed to tell him I was mentally penning a poem about running so I just told him to go back to sleep...

I woke up the next morning and I was excited!! Woo! I am going to write a poem!!  ABOUT RUNNING!! This was surely going to be a great coping mechanism for my stress!  The first thing I did was open my NotePad app on my phone and get to work.  It took me all of about fifteen minutes to complete the following and I think I smiled the whole time I wrote it!  Enjoy!

Run

Run, run,
Run, run, run!!!

You can run fast or
You can run slow.
You can keep it a secret or
Let the world know!

Running can be fun.
It can be your peace of mind.
Running can be your freedom.
You don't have to track your time.

You can run when you're happy.
You can run when you're sad.
You can run when you're excited,
Or run when you're mad!!

You can run on a track, 
At the gym on treadmills.
You can run in the street, 
Or run for the hills!!

When you run, you can be quiet,
Or you can sing.
When you run, you're imagination can go wild!
You can think anything!!

There are no rules to running,
Except to just get out the door.
If you do it just once, I swear, 
You'll want more!

Lace up your shoes, 
Stretch your legs,
And clear your mind.
Let your feet hit the ground,
I promise...
You'll be fine!

~-Sole Sister M - April 15th, 2013

I guess the point of this post is to let you all know that even something as silly as writing a poem about your passion, may help to calm your nerves! Everyone deals with their stresses differently! While writing that poem didn't calm me completely, it sure made me smile every time I read it... Which is exactly why I am sharing it with all of you!  

"Pain is temporary.  Quitting is forever."
Sole Sister M