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National Macaroni and Cheese Day was Sunday, July 14. The Tally Mac Shack, Tallahassee’s macaroni-and-cheese specialists, celebrated that morning with a mac-and-cheese eating contest.

In addition to that display of gluttony, they also hosted the inaugural Tally Mac Mile that afternoon. It wasn’t a track mile, but Tristan LaNasa and Christian Minor made it as dramatic a race as any you’ll ever see on a track, with LaNasa prevailing 5:06 to 5:11. Master runner Vicky Droze was the first woman in the mile, placing seventh overall in 6:42.

By coincidence, the race happened just two days after Sifan Hassan had set a new women’s world record in the mile, running 4:12.33 on a track in Monaco and breaking a mark that had stood since 1996.

Even if this increased interest in the mile, no one was planning on going that fast on the winding paths of Cascades Park, especially in the hot conditions when the race started at 6:30. The course took the runners from Happy Motoring on South Adams Street to the Cascades Park Bridge, once around Boca Chuba Pond, then back across the bridge to the finish line in front of Happy Motoring. A temperature display on the bridge read 100°F during the race.

Setting the pace from the start, Christian Minor was the first runner across the bridge. Tristan LaNasa was a few steps back, with Graham Carlson and master runner Gary Droze trailing. Minor continued to lead as the runners looped Boca Chuba Pond.

“We were running into people going out on our way back,” said LaNasa. “I was glad to have Christian up front blocking.”

Then LaNasa overtook Minor.

“It was right where I almost turned left instead of right, coming back over the bridge,” said Minor. “About 400 to go.”

LaNasa made the most of that final 400, opening a gap on Minor while returning to Happy Motoring in a winning 5:06. Minor was second in 5:11. After passing Carlson, Droze was third in 5:37, the first master runner in the race.. Carson took fourth in 5:48.

Gary Droze finished just over a minute ahead of this wife, women’s champ Vicky Droze. During both bridge crossings and the lap around the pond, no one in the women’s field challenged Vicky Droze as she ran to a 6:42 women’s title. Carrie Suddes took second in the women’s standings and twelfth overall in 7:31. Kelly Stem edged master runner Francee Laywell for the third woman’s spot, 8:07 to 8:10. Stem and Laywell were fifteenth and sixteenth overall.

Lately, LaNasa has been racing the mile at Gulf Winds Track Club’s Summer Track Meets. Those races, however, aren’t on the road.

“This was my first road mile instead of a track mile,” said LaNasa. “It’s different. You don’t know where you are or your splits.”

“These are all training runs for the Breakfast on the Track Mile,” added LaNasa.

Following the mile, Tally Mac Shack invited athletes to sample nine different varieties of macaroni-and-cheese. Yes, that familiar comfort food comes in more than one flavor.

The mile isn’t a race that you’d carbo-load for; you can get all the carbohydrates you need to cover a mile in half a can of cola. When marathoners and other endurance athletes carbo-load, they usually go for platters of spaghetti. But the elbow pasta in macaroni-and-cheese is just as good a carbohydrate source as any other pasta.

Maybe the long distance runners should consider macaroni-and-cheese. It’s American, after all. As American as the mile.

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