"'Twas the Night before the Pensacola 1/2 Marathon..."

‘Twas the night before the Pensacola Half Marathon,
And all through our place,
Marit was excited,
Thinking about Race Pace.

Her shoes were all packed
By the door ready to go,
In hopes that tomorrow,
Her running speed would show

Tabbitha was curled up, on the couch she lay,
With visions of a Fast Mom, never running astray.
And Nate in the recliner, and I seated on the floor
Were listening to the radio, NPR’s Saturday night in store.

When suddenly out in the forest,
There was a great SHOUT
I jumped to my feet
To see what it was all about.

And to the French doors,
I flew as fast as I might,
Threw open the blinds,
And stared in delight

The bright stars they all twinkled,
Cast a late night glow
On the forest and palms,
And green grass below

When what before
My pre-race eyes would appear?
It was Elizabeth’s wizard,
Giving me the “all-clear”!

With robes of deep purple
And a cap full of stars
His eyes twinkled merrily,
Even from afar.

He opened his mouth
And his words rang loud:
“Go forth Speedy Marit
And make me proud!

“Tomorrow is your race,
The first of 2008,
I simply can’t wait,
We have a date.”

And then he smiled,
Crooked teeth and all
I felt my knees go week,
Fearful of hitting the wall

He gazed down at me,
Smile beaming bright,
Confident that I,
Would give up the fight.

“Dumbledore,” said I,
“I know you’ll be there,
Jumping on my back,
But alas I won’t care.

“I’ll put down my head
And I’ll grit my teeth,
As fast as I can,
I’ll unleash my beast.

“And run I will
Over bridges and hills
You won’t get me
I have an iron will.

“I’m been training so hard
Every day, every week
Waiting for you,
It is you whom I seek.

“So jump on my back
I’ll give you a ride
Heavy as you are
You can’t break my stride.

“I know the race is hard:
I have prepared,
I’m looking forward to this,
And I’m not scared.

“Let’s give it a go,
Try running with me,
Why don’t you tag along,
We’ll have fun – you’ll see.”

He gave me a look
A skeptical stare,
“You’re not worried at all-
You don’t even care?

“But I’ve traveled so far,
In Florida here I am!
You’re not afraid of me
I say you can’t, you know you can.”

“Don’t feel bad,”
I smiled and replied.
“You’ll still find me
I won’t hide.

“Together we’ll go
Running as fast as we might,
Dumbledore and Marit
That’ll give ‘em a fright!”

We shook hands
And he prepared to depart
Tomorrow morning we’ll meet,
About 8 miles after the start.

Into the evening he flew
The hour was late,
I closed the French Doors,
And couldn’t wait for our date.

For tomorrow I’ll run
Doing all that I can do…
How? You so pleasantly ask….
Because I epitomize HTFU!


To everyone running the Pensacola Marathon and Pensacola Half Marathon – cheers! May your feet go fast, may the winds be light, and may we all find our Dumbledore!