Every Exhausting Mile
A collective buzzing of like-minded souls
Thoroughbreds on a mission began centuries ago
From the battlefields of Marathon to Athens, Greece
An Athenian ritual
Played out in the streets
The thrill of flight
Unison of a thousand feet
Strangers sharing tribulations
Cheered on by crowds proclaiming support
To modern day Pheidippides
Testing body, mind, and soul to the limit
Bittersweet pain for all to see
Every grueling mile to the finish line
What punishment, what excitement, what reward
Only twenty-six miles away
To declare their victory
As Pheidippides had on dying feet
Victory, a metal bestowed
For every pain, every tear, every doubt
Every exhausting mile
