Two years later

(I sort of ignored the prompt from NaPoWriMo.net for today. But the poem below alludes to it.)

Executive decision:
We leave Friday, not Thursday.
We set a goal of leaving at 4 a.m., with hopes of being home by 6 p.m.
Ten kilometer fun run the next day.

Project for the day is to retract a statement from a previous day.
This might be the first prompt I ignore.
I'm not in the mood for retractions,
for reflections on how what I once asserted
in verse
has changed or mellowed with time.

But since someone has asked:
Two years ago, I had quit drinking.
Tonight, I had a glass of wine.
Four years ago, I was told I would be spending the rest of my life
on blood pressure and cholesterol meds.
Tonight, I am taking only vitamins.
Seven years ago, I thought I was done with marathons.
Tonight, I ran 3.4 miles with the intention
of keeping up my training for a marathon I plan to run in September.

The news is full of the verdict in Boston
and the word "marathon" is in heavy use.
Two years ago, a gunman opened fire in Boston.
I missed out on the immediate news because I was recovering from wisdom teeth surgery.
Later, I realized that this would have been the marathon I would have run,
if my dream of qualifying for Boston at age fifty had materialized.

I wasn't sure I still had a marathon in me at age fifty,
but I ran one that year -- for Boston and for me.
And I decided that I still have some marathons within me.
So I'll keep running
a little while longer.