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From local leaders and hometown heroes to breaking stories and in-depth conversations, the KMAS Podcast brings you the voices that matter in Mason County, Washington. Hosted by longtime broadcaster Jeff Slakey, each episode dives into what’s happening around the Hood Canal—government, education, small business, the outdoors, and everything in between.
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Well folks, as we know, we are getting ready for the holiday season and Shelton just transforms into Christmastown. A fun tradition is coming back this year. It's the mistletoe mile.
Matt Lowe's on the phone with me right now. How you doing? I'm doing well. Thank you for having me on the radio.
Heck yeah, heck yeah. No, this is going to be a fun one here. And before anybody starts getting too anxious about this thing, this is a throwback to something that happened a couple years ago and it's only a mile and it's really a community fun run.
Is that right? That's correct. Yeah. So it's anybody who's any ages, any ability levels, anybody that just wants to run or wants to walk, anybody's welcome to come and join and stuff.
And we have the kids toddler races, just doing a hundred meter dash. And then the a mile race for anybody who was like, well, obviously not a toddler anymore, above the age group and stuff and $15 for adults and $5 for high school kids. And anybody who's 12 and under can go in and race for free and stuff.
So it's very community centered, family oriented type of environment and stuff. And we wanted to be really engaging for everybody who's here, who wants to show up and sign up and stuff. When is it again now? It's right before the parade on Saturday.
Yeah, that's correct. So it's on December 6th on Saturday. Day of registration starts at three o'clock up until 345.
And the kids race, a hundred meter dash for the toddlers is at 350. And the mile race will start at four o'clock on the dot. And it follows along the same path, the route as the parade and stuff, which is really nice because railroad, it's just immaculate when the lights come on and stuff.
There's all the holiday decorations up and stuff. You follow the same route as the parade. You finish, you have some hot chocolate and some Christmas treats and stuff.
Enjoy some good company and good vibes and some holiday music at the finish line. And then be able to celebrate the parade after we administer the awards and stuff. That's awesome because yeah, you're right.
Right around that time, parades like five 30 or six, something like that. And so people are already starting to make their way down, find their seats, get their place for the parade. So the runners, walkers, joggers, rollers, whatever, they're going to have a huge cheering section for this, for the run.
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I think it just makes it really, you know, immaculate, you know, environment and stuff.
You know, people already set up just like you said, with lawn chairs and stuff like that. And people are already there and just cheering on people who are finishing the race. You know, it kind of resembles what like Goldsboro Creek, you know, road race has or like it's just before the parade and people are sitting up, sitting up their spots and still cheering on the people too.
So it's kind of a, you know, two birds, one stone kind of a kind of set up, you know, which is great. I have done a Christmas themed road race before and you look around and people get dressed up. You looking for that too? Yes, absolutely.
You know, just dress up as Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, whoever, you know, and even bring your dogs. You can bring them out to, you know, dress them up as Rudolph, what have you. And then like, if anybody who has kids who are still in strollers and stuff, you know, can come and participate, deck it out and like, you know, Christmas dreamers, Christmas lights, whatever.
And, you know, we give special awards to that. You know, it's, it's also a combination of like anybody who's able to show up in person or even who can't show up in person, you can do a virtual event as well. You know, we'll record the results, you know, at, by the end of the day, probably by the end of the weekend and stuff and have them posted online and stuff.
And, you know, anybody who can't show up, you know, they can like tag, they can go on Strava, which is kind of like Facebook for runners. Yeah. Yeah.
And, you know, log their run on there and stuff, you know, record it, you know, as a mile race and stuff and post pictures, you know, of them doing it and stuff and just kind of a celebratory thing. Yeah. What's the history on this? How'd you, how'd you get roped into doing this thing? So my father-in-law is John Johnson.
He put this on, he was the head cross country coach at Shelton high school for many years and stuff where he was a very successful coach there. And, you know, guided a lot of kids to state and, you know, he's been always the kind of guy who's like, centered on trying to get the community engaged, involved and active and stuff, you know, trying to bring in like the running environment towards Shelton and stuff. And so that was one of the races that he put on and stuff.
He was actually the guy who founded the Beast of Big Creek, you know, trail race up there. And like that happens like every August and somebody took over it and they really expanded the idea as well. And so, yeah, like just kind of following in that footsteps and stuff and just wanting to expand on those and the opportunity.
And, you know, people have been asking about like, Hey, is the mistletoe mile going to happen this year? And so like, that's where Sarah, my wife, you know, said, Hey, you know what, maybe we should bring this back. And so, yeah, this has been kind of the thing he, he wanted to keep it a low overhead and stuff, make it cheap, cost effective for everybody who wants to register and race and stuff. And that's what we want to bring, you know, about as well.
15 bucks for adults, five bucks for teenagers and below. And it's a great, you're not tapping anybody on the shoulder, right? If you start this thing, no matter what your speed, you're getting through this thing, right? And so it's a, it's a, it's, it's not like there's a lot of pressure. No, this is a low pressure situation and stuff.
Anybody who wants to, you know, blaze on through a fast mile. Great. You know, I think a lot of high school kids want to kind of test their, their wheels, you know, post cross country season, and then going right into their winter training, preparing for the track season and stuff, you know, kids love going fast.
And so who doesn't, but we'll have a lead biker, you know, who will lead the course as well. Anybody who's not familiar with it. And so, yeah, it would be a good, good setup for everybody.
So day of registration, you mentioned around three o'clock on that Sunday or Saturday, the sixth, the day, the day of the parade, just a few hours before the parade starts, any registration leading up to that, or should we just show up that, that afternoon? Yes, absolutely. So we're, we have a registration posted online. It's on run signup.
It's called Shelton, mistletoe mile. If you just go on run signup or even just Google it, you know, it'll take you right there and stuff. And so I know that it's on Christmastown, WA and Kiwanis has like posted it as well on their respective websites.
And so you'll be able to find it on those avenues as well. Oh my gosh. What a fun addition, bring back to what I think a lot of people remember.
And you're right. Those morning of forest festival parade runs. Goldsboro Creek is always a lot of fun as we're getting ready to set up for the parade, for the broadcast, always see runners come by.
They're so appreciative for the people that are there getting ready for the parade to cheer them on. And you're right. It is, you know, it's going to start getting dark around that time.
So the lights come on and people are, you know, it's still safe and all that, but you know, you see the shine and the lights and regardless of what the weather is, it's only a mile and a pretty cool stuff. That's awesome, man. Very cool that you're bringing this back and the community is just gonna jump in on this run.
Sign up is the website. I'll put the links to this too, in the notes on this interview for folks, but really looking forward to seeing those runners come down. I wish I could do it, but I'll be setting things up for the broadcast.
Well, who knows, maybe I'll run out there and do a quick mile before we get things going for the parade, but it's going to be a lead up to the whole season of Christmastown and Shelton. And that's awesome, man. That's really cool that you're bringing that back.
Yeah, we're really excited to put it back on and stuff and then see a good turnout and have everybody showing up and stuff. And we're happy to everybody show up there and stuff, you know, and this is also, you know, if you don't mind, you know, kind of promoting my business here as well. I started this coaching business back in May, so we're brand new.
We're a grassroots, you know, running, you know, club and stuff. I coach people individually, you know, anybody, any abilities and stuff, anybody who's still running, anybody who wants to pick up on running, who just wants to get fit in general and stuff, anybody who's like looking to advance in their respective careers. I work with military police officers, you know, fire, you know, firefighters to prepare for their fitness assessments as well.
And so I work with a lot of different people with my business and, you know, we're running like specials, holiday special. I'll have that posted on my website. If anybody would love to like, you know, seek out some guidance, you know, consultation on their, you know, fitness journey, especially going into the new year with New Year's resolution and stuff, you know, we'll make sure that it's a prolonged goal that we can search out for instead of be like, yeah, you know, maybe I'll try this out for four weeks and then I'll cancel my gym membership after January ends and stuff.
You know, we have promotional deals going on. Anybody who wants a consultation, you know, I'm happy to connect with people and stuff and, you know, see where everybody's path and journeys are. What's the website? It's PPRCRunning.com. So process, performance, RC.
I'll put the links to that one as well. That's awesome. And I will say as someone who runs at times, it is really helpful to have a professional be able to analyze, you know, if you, depending on how into this you want to get run your gait, your pronation on your feet, all this stuff, because you can go out there and run and jog and enjoy the sport.
But if you want to get better, lower your times, you get your personal records. It really, it really is a benefit. And we didn't talk about this beforehand, but I'll just say it's a real benefit to have someone that knows what they're doing to follow you along and give you a guided plan on what you need to do to help boost your speed because, you know, you go out there and slog all day and you don't really see any gains no matter how many miles you put on until you get someone that really knows what they're looking at.
Absolutely. You know, and like we're very, I'm pretty intentional as a coach, you know, and like I've, you know, I'm also like person first approach with like, when it comes to like riding guided training and stuff, it's not going to be cookie cutter. We come up with a training plan, you know, that's going to give you training for the next week or two, you know, depending on where you're at and establish a structure that works for you individually.
Yeah. You know, and so we, I work with like, uh, running progression with mileage. Um, we, you know, set up workouts that's tailored to your needs and what your goals are.
If you're racing a 5k half marathon, marathon ultras, anything, you know, we'll write a training that's going to write, that's going to be best suited for you and your training needs and stuff. You know, all design, uh, strength training programming as well, mobility, stretching, you know, yoga, you know, I'm a big proponent of that. I was a, you know, head cross country coach at St. Martin's, you know, we added that into our training, you know, overall training plan and it worked very well for us and stuff.
And so, um, yeah, anybody who's interested, be happy to connect with anybody really. Yeah. That's cool.
You know, you can Google six week running plan, half marathon or whatever, but it doesn't take into account you, you know, it's built, it's what it's basically what some other person did one time that worked for them. And then you go out and you look at what they're telling you to do. And you know, you have no idea pacing or RPE, your perceived exertion, this kind of thing.
And so again, having someone that knows what they're talking about is, is really a, is really a good one. We could talk about that stuff all day. So Matt, I appreciate the time and look forward to seeing you, uh, at the mistletoe mile back from a little hiatus, three o'clock, the start of the registration, get things going just after that, uh, on Saturday, the sixth, right before the parade, there'll be plenty of people to cheer you on as you head down railroad for the race route, dress up, have fun just a mile.
And, uh, you know, you're right about getting ready for new years. This is a good, good way to try on a little exercise before, before you make any major commitments. Absolutely.
Thank you so much for having me on and stuff and excited to have to see you in person and everybody else. Yeah. Cool, man.
All right. Well, thank you so much.