Five Minute Friday: Waiting

Joining Lisa-Jo for another Five Minute Friday, where she encourages us to "just write, and not worry if it’s just right or not. For five minutes flat."
Today's prompt is "On Waiting".  Ready?

GO.
::

Photo by Dsdade

I wait.
For the clouds to part like lips and sing down spring.

For the gun to startle the starting line, so we all go galloping.
For the carrying scent of cherry blossom, the silent Lincoln cheering in his chair.

But Tom, I'm not sure waiting is the hardest part. I think running is. Mile 8 to be exact. The waiting is just the scariest part, all the spaces in the course you've never seen, whether water breaks will be well-timed, whether you'll make it without a bathroom break, whether you'll finish strong, whether you'll finish at all.

But when the waiting is over and with it, the anxiety, then comes the hardest part. The race. The enduring. The living, the panting, the grasping for rhythm, the step after step.

STOP.

Y'all better be glad I ran out of time. Because I felt a serious metaphor coming on, the likes of which would have you rolling eyes and groaning over the cliche.

What do think is most difficult? The waiting (be it with anticipation and/or dread) or the living (be it a sprint or marathon)? Or is the hardest thing just to keep living even in the waiting. To not dwell so much on what might be ahead that we miss the course under our feet? If pressed, I think I'd have to go with option 3. You?