Mount Airy is a city in Surry County, North
Carolina. The town is widely known as the
home of actor Andy Griffith.
The town is believed to have been the basis for Mayberry, the setting of the TV shows The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry
RFD. The community holds an annual
"Mayberry Days" celebration during the last weekend of September. Three
Ford
Galaxie police
cars, painted to resemble those used on
the show, give rides to tourists; a barber shop has been named "Floyd's." The Andy Griffith Museum, founded in 2009 by Emmett
Forrest, attracts 200 visitors a day. The
2,500-square-feet museum, located half a mile from Griffith's childhood home,
houses the world's largest collection of Andy Griffith memorabilia.
At this point, you may be asking yourself why in tarnation
am I going on about this in a running blog?
If you don’t know by now, the Andy Griffith Show is my all-time
favorite; the fact that there is actually a Mayberry Half Marathon is incentive
enough for me to enter. That fact that
Elaine lives very close to Mount Airy (and has run this race before), is just
icing on Aunt Bee’s cake. The Gators
usually play a home game the same weekend as the race; this year the game was
away, so I was excited to enter. I’ve
been to Mount Airy many years ago, and remember just how charming the town
was. I really never thought I would have
an excuse for another visit. Elaine and Joe graciously offered to let me stay
with them, so I flew up on Thursday. Other
than the fact that this would only be my third race outside the Sunshine State,
the weather would be much colder than this Florida boy was used to. Once off the plane, I was greeted with
temperatures in the forties. Joe picked
me up from the airport, which was almost an hour from their home.
Our
first stop on Friday was to Salvation Coffee Co. The place (owned and run
by Jim Young) is geared towards a more mature crowd, including veterans,
although anyone, of course, is welcome — including hipsters. He wants it to be
a place where people can come in, relax, enjoy good music and, of course, a
good cup of coffee. It was a really good
cup of coffee (especially on a cold day), and I struck up a conversation about
comic books with a guy who was a bigger geek than me (hard to believe). After an enjoyable lunch at Mediterranean Grill, our next
stop was to a running store in Chapel Hill called FleetFeet. They had more apparel than
shoes, but I was able to score a pair of gray running shorts (I’ve been looking
for that color for a long time). We than
drove around Elon University, which is
pretty close to where Elaine and Joe live.
I of course had to stop in the bookstore to buy a jacket; you just can’t
have too many of them when you live in South Florida. Elaine made a delicious supper, and I went to
bed pretty early.
The
race time was Saturday at 8am, but Elaine and Joe live around 90 minutes from
the starting line. We were out the door
around 5am, and picked up our race packets around 6:30am. The race shirts were very nice, and the
volunteers were even nicer. With the
temperature around 34°, we sat in the car most of the time. Joe had registered for the run, but had
recently been having knee issues; he was there for moral support. 399 runners took
their mark on the main street of “Mayberry,” led by a Mayberry Sheriff
Department police car from the show. We
ran through downtown for the first half mile, and then into a park. Most of the race was on a concrete trail,
with a river alongside of us. The course
was an out-and-back, and very flat. With
so few runners (and me being extremely slow), Elaine and I did not see many
other participants, especially on the way back.
The weather was delightful, with virtually no wind the entire race. The scenery was exceptional, and I felt great
the entire time. The good news is that we
did not finish last, as there were ten runners behind us. I appreciate the fact that Elaine prioritized
running with me over her finishing time, as she is much faster than I am (what a surprise). Joe was waiting for us at the finish line, and
snapped a few photos. The medal was
nice, as it was shaped like a sheriff’s badge (I’d expect nothing less). We walked around town for a bit, ate lunch,
drove home, and watched the Gators destroy Missouri. The perfect end to a perfect day. I flew home the next day, and back into eighty-degree
temperature. Talk about a reality check!
I
enjoyed this race very much, but would not necessary recommend it as a
destination race.
That
is of course…unless your close friends are part of the destination.
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