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marathon Valerie Bridgeman Davis “Oh, hell, you’ve come this far, you might as well finish” —a sign along the Suzuki Rock-n-Roll Marathon route at mile 25, May 23, 1999. The first 14 miles are pure adrenalin, Running in the press of the crowd, The thump of your heart In your chest, frantic, And you know you can make it, Destination secure, pace sure— No doubt—the crowd amens Your resolution with each pound Of sneaker to pavement The first 14 miles are pure adrenalin, The pacesetters run to keep up With the throng, several among many, Many and the one together When the wall arises, sizes you up, Trying to determine how determined You are—but your destination is blurred By the whirr of racers outpacing you, By the sound of your heart in your ears, By the strength of your own panting, The ranting in your brain: “what have I gotten myself into?” 248 And you’re afraid to stop for water, For air, for relief, afraid you’ll never start Running again. It’s your will Against the wall, and stopping is not An option. You will not allow The overwhelming distance Between beginning and ending to co-opt you, Change a decision you made to finish When finishing seemed possible The tears well up, fall down Your cheeks and stopping Is not an option, even with the burn In your thighs, the sting in your eyes, Mile 15 and the wall and dreams of Finishing scare you But you keep running, churning To complete what you started At mile 25, a sign of sagedom greets you, Arises to meet your tired and dropping resolve, And new decision forms at its reading: “Oh, hell, you’ve come this far”— A man, the age of your father, waves This wisdom from the crowd, and loud Echoes sound in your feet— “Oh, hell, you’ve come this far, you might as well Finish”—and you do the real self 249 ...

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