"How I Spent My Sunday Morning" by Shaan Udani

Photo by Clique Images on Unsplash

Muggy subway steps
reach ground level.
Colored bibs safety pinned;
babies on the loose.

Sun gleaming, beaming heat.
Anxiously stretching
locked hamstrings, flexed calves.
Click, fanny packs strapped.

3-2-1 horn blares!
Human yarn weaving my path
cautiously. Carefully careening.
Where is the water station?

Mile 4. Lethal cramp,
gut knotted. Concrete quick sand.
Toes grieving, fingers numb to despair
rounding mile 5.

9-mile split crossed.
Lemon-lime Gatorade splashes
torrid tongue, saliva shortage.
Knees near collapse.

Feet meet 10-mile finish line.
Sweat sizzles side burns,
banana tastes of victory.
Medal dangles from my neck.

Shaan Udani is 16 years old; he lives in Morris Plains, NJ.  He is a rising junior at Seton Hall Preparatory School in West Orange, NJ. Shaan plays the Indian drums, otherwise known as the Tabla. He also enjoys playing sports and spending time outside taking pictures of whatever he can find. Shaan likes to write nonfiction and experiment with poetry. The poem “How I Spent My Sunday Morning” is a personal account of running the Philadelphia Broad Street Run with his family.