Taking this is one way to move up the standings in a marathon, but not for long
The national park named for these "Great" mountains is shared by North Carolina & Tennessee
the Great Smoky Mountains
A unit of gold's purity, or Bugs Bunny's preferred diet
carrot/karat
"In 2011 at Madison Square Garden, I performed "Fire And Rain" & "Fifteen" with this young singer-songwriter whom, I'm honored to say, is named after me"
Taylor Swift
On Sept. 12, 1962 he proclaimed, "We shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away...a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall
John F. Kennedy
Similar to caulk, this type of product that fills cracks is usually made of silicone
a sealant
For decades, Firefall at this California national park was an annual pouring of bonfire remnants over Glacier Point
Yosemite
A group of young ladies, or one married one
misses/missus
"In 1971, I earned my first Gold record for a single & the following year my first Grammy for this song written by Carole King"
"You've Got A Friend"
At the Kremlin you can see the Cosmos oak, planted by this Soviet space hero on April 14, 1961
Yuri Gagarin
From the French for "to know", it's a scholarly person
a savant
You'll see plenty of stalactites & stalagmites at this site, a national park in Kentucky
Mammoth Cave
An emotional state, or what the cow did
mood/mooed
"In my new audio memoir "Break Shot" I talk about my early days, including my time in London in the '60s & my association with The Beatles; in fact, my song "Something In The Way She Moves" inspired this Beatle to write his own song that begins with the same line"
George Harrison
A primary goal of this U.S. program that followed Mercury was to land a capsule on dry land--didn't happen
Gemini
A key to the early success of Apple was VisiCalc, the first electronic this
a spreadsheet
Francis Marion could tell you this wet type of terrain was once in the name of what's now Congaree National Park
a swamp
A legal claim, or with little adipose tissue
lien/lean
The first instrument I learned to play wasn't the guitar but the cello & in 2016 I had the pleasure of performing with this cello virtuoso at Carnegie Hall's
Yo-Yo Ma
In 1967 cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov perished during re-entry aboard this spacecraft 1
Soyuz 1
Medieval knights wore this outer tunic over their metal armor
a surcoat
This drainage line runs northwest-southeast through Rocky Mountain National Park
the Continental Divide
Any channel to walk down, or Guernsey in the English Channel
aisle/isle
"In 2020 I released a new album, "American Standard", putting my take on some of the songs & show tunes I grew up listening to like "Ol' Man River" from this musical"
Show Boat
This commander on his 1970 flight: "Our mission was a failure but I like to think it was a successful failure"
James Lovell