From Cookeville To Cuba: 75-Year-Old Runner Ready For Havana Marathon

For the last several months a 75-year-old Cookeville man has been preparing for a race not many Americans get to run: the Havana Marathon. It takes place this Sunday.

Running 26.2 miles in any country is tough. Doing so in Cuba adds an extra layer of work just to get to the starting line.

So has Dallas Smith spent more prep-time running or filling out forms?

“That’s a good question,” Smith said with a laugh. “I suppose I’ve spent more time training for the marathon, but I have spent quite a bit of time on the arrangements.”

Smith says with all the paperwork and conference calls it’s felt like closing on a home.

And then there’s the race, which presents its own set of challenges: staying hydrated when you can only drink bottled water and breathing air thick with smog from all those 1950s-era cars on the roads. 

But it’s all part of the adventure for Smith, who didn’t start running competitively until just before he retired as an engineering professor at Tennessee Tech. This marathon will be his 87th.

He’s even written two books on the subject. This Cuba trip might give him inspiration for a third.

“I’m a fan of Ernest Hemingway and he lived there for a spell. And the other day, I Googled
to see which bars he hung out at.”

But Smith says he may not have much time to check out Hemingway’s old haunts. Most of his sightseeing will have to come on the two 13-mile loops around downtown Havana.

Smith’s trip is part of an educational exchange program through the Treasury Department.