Maggie Valley

The conditions for the race were the best I have ever seen - cool, lower 70s, clear.  Skip Taylor came over and he and Martha took second place in their respective age groups.  I took only 5th, but felt good - running downhill I found that I was "in the zone," that magical state where everything is clicking along just perfectly.  When I turned and ran the last mile uphill I felt I could have gone a mile farther.  I am proud of Martha, and Skip also ran very well, finishing under 40 minutes.

Maggie Valley Moonlight Race

This great race is back again after a four-year hiatus.  I have so many fond memories of it in its earlier days when it was a much larger and more challenging event.  In fact, I posted this comment on their website today:

I have run this race eleven times since the first time in 1995, and I am glad to see it restored to its original 8-K distance. It is encouraging to see that there are already over 300 participants pre-registered. At the age of 62, my times have slowed a bit over the years, but I love the challenge of that long, long hill back up to the finish line! In the 90s, you started at Ghost Town, ran 4-K downhill, and turned around and headed back up that unrelenting hill . . .
Yes, I well remember coming up that long hill in the dark, looking for that line of flags that marked the parking lot at Ghost Town. 

Katy ran this race with me, too, in the past, and in fact she is one of the few people I know who has a coveted winners plaque.  It's dated 1998 and it's hanging on the wall of her bedroom.  Good times, good races!  This year I'm going over with Martha, and possibly Skip Taylor. 

The Finish Line

We always look pretty nice before a race, don't we?  Smiling and laughing, lounging around casually. We like to talk about it, before and after.  But here's what the finish line looks like - V02 Max! 

Whew! - it was only a mile, but at this point I just had fumes left in the tank . . .

The Main Street Mile

Race registration is so exciting!

Here is me and Charlie Dotson, a fixture at many area races, still going strong at the age of 88!  What an inspiration.  He ran an 8:30 - 8:08 last year!

Sam Edgens came over from Highlands with Turner, William, Sarah, and Natalie.  This was a great family event!  A mile can be both a challenging and an inviting distance to race.

 

Me and Martha, ready to run!

It's only one mile, and that's both an advantage and the disadvantage.  It's over before you know it, but there is no room for mistakes, either.  Last year Martha saw a woman stop and re-tie her shoe!  We both took second place in our age groups, but we both had slower times,too - in my case, 21 seconds, which is hard to believe.  Conclusion:  the course must have been short last year, or long this year. 

After Boston

I don't know a single marathon runner who has not dreamed of going to Boston (photo previous post), and the experience was certainly a highlight of my modest running career.  It wasn't the fastest marathon I have ever run - in fact, it was the second slowest - but it was a celebration of what I had achieved on December 12, 2009, when I finally met the qualifying time and also set a marathon PR in my 14th marathon, at the age of 60. 

But now I need to ask, what lies ahead?  I'm sure I will not qualify for Boston again, but another marathon is definitely in the picture.  And Martha and I have some races coming up very soon. 

The next race we will run is a one-mile road race.  We ran this great race in Waynesville last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I don't think I have ever run a race ALL OUT before!  My legs did not have time to tell me they were beginning to hurt, I didn't have time to do any bargaining pr strategizing or very much praying - it was over so soon!

Highly recommended for the next race after completing the Boston Marathon . . .

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

It goes without saying that this blog will be about running, and specifically about running here in Highlands, North Carolina, where I live and run and have my being.

So I lace up my shoes and head out the door . . ..