All this chatter about relays has me remembering a great “running poem” by Ron Rash. Does anyone know who this guy is? What I know about him is that he nearly stopped time in this poem.

Running the Mile Relay,
by Ron Rash

Ours was an easy courage.
none of us college prep,
we did time in Crest High’s
vocational wing,

learning nothing
that would save us
from trailer parks and mill work,
of even a winding-down war.

So we ran against time,
lived for stolen seconds,
finding our measure
brassed in trophy cases.

Tight as the baton,
we gripped our certain knowledge:
this running in circles meant
more than anything coming.