Main Street Mile

After a hiatus of several years, in part because of Covid, one of our favorite races returned this year – the Waynesville Main Street Mile.  The distance is a popular one because it attracts the very young (some of the runners were only four years old this year), the not-so-fit, and also the fit runner accustomed to longer distances who wants to see exactly how fast a mile can be completed, and a slightly downhill mile at that.  We fall into the last category, and we ran this race in 2010, 2011, and 2015.  That first year, way back a dozen years ago when I had attained the peak of my modest fitness as a runner and before the decline of recent years, I surprised myself by running the race in 6:48.  In 2015, Martha and I both threw caution to the winds and ran this race on a Friday night and then the tough five-mile Maggie Valley Moonlight Run the very next night.

An evening race, the Main Street Mile has staggered start times, first the very youngest, then the women (6:50 p.m.), then the older youth, and then the men (7:30 p.m.) the 40-minute difference in starting time making the logistics of pre-race eating and drinking a little difficult.  We remained in Highlands until after lunch, and were both restless.  I drove to Town and looked at some of the exotic cars parked near Kelsey-Hutchinson Park for the Highlands Motoring Festival, focusing mostly on Porches this year but also featuring Ferraris, Jaguars, and some classic Austin Healeys.

It was a little disappointing that there were no local participants at all that I could see, even though there are many car enthusiasts who live in Highlands.  Martha’s Dad had placed his classic A-model and T-model Fords in the show in past years, as well as a very unusual King Midget, and we wondered if he would have been admitted to a show featuring cars that I would not have been surprised were valued in the six- or seven-figure cost range.  It is a trend that we see more and more in Highlands, unfortunately, events that seem to be increasingly focused on the very wealthy.

We had a pleasant drive over to Waynesville in our Mini Cooper (none of them in the show, either) and checked into the Waynesville Inn &Golf Club, currently being renovated and, alas, lacking a dining room where we have enjoyed memorable breakfasts in the past.  The golf course, too, was under construction, but our room had already been renovated and was very nice.

It was a good day for an evening race, temperatures in the mid-70s and a slight breeze.  One year I remember it had been 90 degrees at the start.  After we checked in and picked up our race packets, and while we were waiting for our respective races to start, some of our friends arrived.  Long-time running friend Morris Williams, now 77 years old but still very fast, drove over for the race, as well as Derek Taylor, Race Director for the Highlands Twilight 5-K (I had told him about this race as soon as it had been announced), and Mayor of Highlands Pat Taylor.  It is always nice to compete with friends, although I realized I had little chance of keeping up with any of them.  Derek also brought with him a 13-year-old, Timothy McDowell, who shows much promise and in fact had the fastest time of us all.

The starting line for the race is a mile up Main Street, so the warm-up is a run or run-walk that distance.  A little after 6:30, some of the youngest runners began finishing their heat on Main Street, by-standers cheering the loudest for the very youngest.  One little four-year-old girl was so distracted by the cheering that she went over and starting talking to people.  “I’m running a race!” she seemed to be saying, and her Dad finally had to scoop her up and carry her toward the finish line still a quarter-mile away.

Martha made her way up to the start long before I did, and although I did not see her finish, I was waiting at about the three-quarter mile mark to watch her run by.  She was running very strong and was toward the front of the women, ahead of several younger women.  She had run a time trial in Highlands a week ago and completed a similar mile in 9:03, so she was hoping to break nine minutes, and it looked like she was definitely on track to meet that goal. 

I started jogging up to the start line then, and was able to watch and cheer for the older youth, including young Timothy, who ended up finishing third overall in a blazing 5:11 finish time.  This young man has a future ahead of him as a competitive runner.  There were perhaps 30 men in our heat, and as always it is fun chatting with complete strangers connected by the bond of running.  One man who said he had just turned sixty noticed my Boston Marathon singlet and pointed out his shirt, which depicted a signpost for Hereford and Boylston Streets in Boston, and said he hoped to qualify this year.  I told him that was how old I was when I qualified, way back in 2009, which seemed a long, long time ago tonight.

The race started, and nearly all the other runners in my heat quickly left me behind except for a few run-walkers behind me.  That is a little disturbing to a runner’s ego, I must admit, because we all have an ego however much racing humbles us over the course of a career – there is always somebody faster – and there are usually quite a few overweight, unfit, or younger runners behind me.  But I felt strong, and when I later saw a photo captured on Facebook, I looked strong.  In the end I knew I could not have run any better than my finished time of 10:39.  As Tennyson said,

“Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days,
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are.”

Martha was at the finish chatting with the others from Highlands, and I discovered that she had finished in 8:13, second in her age group, and much faster than expected.  Were it not for the injustice of ten-year age groups, she would have taken first place (a sixty-year-old took that award).  She has been training hard, is in great racing shape, and she far exceeded her goal, so it was good to celebrate with her at the finish celebrations farther down Main Street, featuring pizza and several varieties of good draft beer.

We returned to our motel and sat in rocking chairs on our deck for awhile watching the nearly-full moon, gauzy in the sky over the golf course, grateful for good health and fitness.

While all of the other Highlands runners had returned that night, we have learned to enjoy these races as mini-vacations.  We got up early Sunday morning and found a good place for breakfast, the nearby Beach Mountain Diner, where we were able to sit outside.  Proudly wearing our race shirts.

One of the pleasures of completing a race is often the breakfast the next morning, most of all after a marathon or half-marathon, but just as delicious after a one-mile race!  We took the long way back to Highlands, up Highway 276 to the Blue Ridge Parkway, where we tarried for awhile in rocking chairs at the Pisgah Inn, a place dear to our hearts.  Over four decades ago we came up here for dinner on our honeymoon, and it has not changed very much over the years.