Big old worn white clodhoppers
must have weighted three pounds.
Winged clodhoppers-
who would have guessed?
Wings go on an angel's back
or on the dainty track slippers
of the fleet Mercury.
Winged clodhoppers seemed such a waste,
high on utility low on aesthetics.
The Jansen Jet didn't look like a runner
maybe a stork on skis -
a runner never.
Tall, thin and bony all elbows and
knees and those darn big clodhoppers
laced high on his shin.
Bib overalls and blue work shirt
completed the picture of a farm kid
ready to run along side a circus parade.
The gun went off and the Jansen Jet
started his mile run in the outside lane
where he wouldn't get in anyone's way.
Clodhoppers beat a slow, rumbling rhythm
for the first 1 mile.
Other runners looked and smiled
as they watched the stork run.
Feet kicked high in wasted energy
matched arms that windmilled wildly.
A runner never.
Then the beat of the clodhoppers quickened
from a waltz to Dixieland.
Now arms grabbed unseen handles and
pulled him forward.
The back kick became a pendulum
and his stride became a leap.
No longer awkward,
he was a graceful deer.
From his outside lane
he distanced himself
from the other runners who couldn't
dance to the beat he set.
The Jansen Jet won his first race
by 25 yards.
The coach told him to run in the inside lane
and he understood.
He then got a pair
of track shoes and took the
wings from the clodhoppers and became Mercury.
He was a runner.
So, he put his clodhoppers back on and ran
five miles home to Jansen-
as he had for many years.
Where does one find winged clodhoppers
to become a real runner?