MAGNIFICENT MILE RACE on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH

On November 4th at just about 10 AM the North Carolina Running Club began the Miracle Mile Race for the Spastic Paraplegia Foundation.

This event was held at the Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University just west of downtown Raleigh. The weather was clear and (brrrr) very cold for North Carolina.

In spite of the chill in the air everyone was warm of heart and ready to do their best. I arrived just in time to see the first of the runners completing the competitive one mile race.

I had thought how nice it would be to run this as a former distance runner. I was very glad I couldn’t sign up when I saw the times of the first few runners. They were below five minutes for the mile. My best time ever just barely broke that pace and that was in the very distant past; so much for trying to the share the glory.

I did get some wonderful pictures of the runners as they came in. It’s nice to have the time to contemplate what is actually happening here.

Each runner as they cross the finish line represents a small step in a huge fight against a very disabling disease. It doesn’t matter if the runner is the first one in or the last one in. Nor does it matter if the runner is running the competitive race to get listed by the roadrunners club or if they are running in the non-competitive events to show their unity with those afflicted. It didn’t matter if they ran in the one mile events or because of their age ran in the shorter ¼ mile children’s event.

The race run today was a race to save one life, to find one cure, to make one person whole and to make one family whole again.

Today I witnessed perhaps two hundred modern heroes; each fighting an uphill battle against an old experienced enemy of life. Each person who finished at a run, a walk, a turn of a wheel or a hobble was raising an objection to waiting and letting the range of diseases devastate one more friend; one more family; one more life.

The race was a decided success if numbers are the only count. This is not the only Miracle Mile race and there will be more objections raised by more souls willing to brave the cold; the heat and the rain.