Westland Loco

I know you are going to laugh,
but let me say it anyway.

The locomotive horn,
has been bulling me since third grade.

There were trains by my Grandma's in Wroclaw,
so I heard the horn way before.

But, it wasn't until I moved closer to the trains in third grade,
that I found I had quite enough - thank you.

I was out on a run,
just doing an extra tail end before finishing.

Couple of minutes after I crossed the tracks,
I heard the train horn behind me.

But, I didn't think much of it,
I just kept running.

I felt a little warm glow about me,
my biceps were giving away heat.

I was carrying 10lb. in each arm,
I didn't ache, I wasn't tired.

If that changes in the Summer,
if it is the cold that makes me so strong.

Oh, I am going to write a poem then,
like no tomorrow.

As I was nearing the highway,
the city lamps ended.

And it got pleasantly dark,
I put my headlamp on and lit the path.

I was just three miles in,
though it took forever, and half - two hours to be precise.

I will improve my pace,
I am just having too much fun right now.

I made it to the western end of my trail,
and gracefully did a little loop-de-loop to run back.

I find it is when you do a 180,
you often discover that you have been running with the wind.

And now you flip the pancake,
the side that was used to being hidden from the wind will now face it - Ouch.

In less than five minutes,
I pulled up my mask and my cheeks squeaked from the cold.

Hey, I am not a mountain goat,
yet.

I had my track jacket and a wind breaker,
in my bag, so it was not a problem.

After few more minutes,
I got used to the new chill.

And that's when I saw it,
the light were still blinking by the train tracks.

It was like twenty minutes since I heard the horn,
so the train stopped.

I saw a couple of cars shoot out of the Movie Theater road,
pause, and drive away after a moment.

I was cut off from getting home,
and I couldn't stop and wait, because I would get cold.

I made it to the train cars,
took my backpack off and put my headphones in there.

I didn't want to loose them while crossing,
but my lightweight bag was no good for 20lb. of iron.

So I had to hurl them across the tracks,
between the train cars.

Thump,
the first one landed OK, but a bit short.

I tried to push the second harder,
but it went to the side and landed in the rocks getting scuffed up.

I was weakened from carrying the 20lb.,
for two hours straight.

And that became really apparent,
as I heaved myself up the ladder on the side.

I carefully moved between the train cars,
and then grabbed a bar that moved while making a squeaking noise.

I would have grabbed something else if the bar was lose,
but I could have done away with that metal squeak.

I felt pain in my arms,
I am usually a lot stronger

The train popped up in the middle of my workout,
after all.

Then as I made it to the corner I forgot the ladder was on the side,
and had a whoopse moment.

I made the corner, and down like a pro,
with the words "Westland Loco" on my mind.

It is crazy that there is no other way to cross the road,
the Ford. Rd. overpass above is even more dangerous then crossing the train.

Locomotives,
are loco.

I got my headphones back on, took a photo,
and kept shuffling on - my apartment being only like 15 minutes away.

I've decided not to cross the tracks again,
I really like that spot where the city lamps end...

But, I don't want to get cut-off again,
even though there is a ladder, it is dangerous and pretty loco to climb trains.

When I woke up in the morning,
there was snow on the ground.

That's probably what that chill was,
the temperature was dropping in preparation for a bit of snow.