I have never run a Marathon,

but I written through a few.

I have struggled through the last miles.

My legs and back aching.

Newfound self-hatred.

Marathoners of the running kind

have water passed to them.

I am responsible for my own coffee and food.

And yes, I am drinking some water.

I am making a point to do so.

I have never run a marathon.

I have never pushed to come in second or 90th or 275th.

But I have pushed through poems.

Lots of them,

sword fighting Muses,

jumping over thesauruses,

searching for inner strength and inner will

in an aching soul.

I have written marathons.

Tried to find new subjects,

new focuses,

new ways of doing old things.

I have never run a marathon,

but I know what it feels like

to be engulfed in one.