In Memory of Vince Pedroia DVM - an ultrarunner

Vince Pedroia was an ultrarunner, horseman, and a veterinarian who also was an incredible writer. He died on May 29, 2007 at the age of 60 after a long and valiant fight with Cancer. He loved the Western States 100 and this poem speaks of those trails.


"Facing a serious disease left me reminiscing, and with a great sense of loss of opportunity for great adventures I have had."

Are my days of toughness gone
My fine white ashes soon to drift on an indifferent breeze
Falling through the pale fingers of my family
To settle on the fuzzy green leaves of the hazelnut bushes
Later by the rains to be washed into the waters of Pump Gulch
Then down Salmon Creek and on to the sea?

Is this my divine ending
Or just fate reeling me in
A family genetic tragedy, my malignant embryo
Delivered, yet its seeds lurking
Spread within me like dandelion fairies?

Will I be painfully eaten
Pleading mercy from God or Jesus or anyone
Will I reach for a weapon
Hoping the old ammunition will act
And wonder where, and how, and when
And how about a note?

Or is this just a pause
Will my body crave its toughness again
Running through Michigan Bluff
And wading Rucky Chucky once more
Will my days again be consumed by miles on the roads
And will I be drenched by my sweat for hours?

Will I live to see my grandson
Pulling the levers of the old Caterpillar
Laughing as he lurches as she bucks him?

Will I ride the rocky trails again
Feeling the steady trot beneath me
And pat the sweating neck
The reins loose in my other hand?

Will my sleep be interrupted
only by the desire to rise
To go to the pump once more
To crank the old Cat again
To hear the flutter of the quail rising
And to see them glide away
Is this just a pause?

Vince Pedroia 2004
From "A Mano" Vince's book of poetry published 12/06