What's up East Nasty ? We had a great turnout for the potato to tomato 5k training on Monday night. It is not too late to recommend a friend to join the group. There was a good amount of east nasties out there helping out with the group but they could always use more so come out and join the group and help encourage some beginners to keep moving. Now onto this week's run - we will be running run #4 and this run has a few tricky intersections so as always try to remember to run on the sidewalk or side of the road and always stop to let cars go first.  Please take a look at the route and try to remember it ........ YOU may be asked to be a pace leader.

Upcoming events 

This Saturday June 25th our friends down the hill at the Green Wagon general store are hosting a summer block party from noon - 10:00. There will be local music, local food, local beer and local vendors. If you are looking for a social event this weekend then you are now in the know about what is going on in East Nashville. Check out the link here.

East Tomato 5k race

This year the race will be on Saturday, August 13th @ 7:30 am. This is the homecoming race for East Nasty and chances are over 1000 will be running in the race this year. It is still 2 months away but we want to help make this race a big event as it takes place on our turf. Look here for more information on this race as it gets closer.

Sunday Trail Runs

Our summer trail runs are in full swing - they will meet at 7am, under the stone gates at Percy Warner Park this Sunday.

Thought of the week

Are you a fair weather runner ? I would say that we pretty much get to experience it all here in middle Tennessee. It gets cold here, it storms here on a regular basis, and it definitely gets hot.  Well just in case you did not already know this - God seems to smile on East Nasty. In over 3 years of our existence we have never had to cancel a run due to weather. Now there have been a few times when we had to delay the start a little and there are also some runs that taken place in the rain - but they are rare. Take last week for example - it stormed off and on all day long but right around 5:45 the clouds cleared and it was dry for the next 2 hours. Why do I mention this ?  Well for no reason except letting you know that rain or shine, hot or cold, light or dark -- we will be out there at 6:00 pm getting our run on and you should be there too!!!!

That is all ---- see you tomorrow then ....... East Nasty For Life !!!!!

DREW

Hello East Nasty -- Hope all of you are doing well. Last week we ran the nasty and it was brutal out there. It was hot and hilly and I am  pretty sure it was the hardest run I have done all year. Well good news - tomorrow we are going to do run #2 which is much shorter and easier than the nasty. Please take a look at the route as we are going to need some pace leaders out there. Couch to 5k

We have over 100 people signed up for our potato to tomato 5k program.  I have a feeling that before the end of the week we will have close to 150 new runners.  We could definitely use a couple more coaches/mentors.  If you think that you may want to give back in this way, please talk with me (Mark) tomorrow, or send Holland an email at dutchrunnerchickusa@gmail.com.  Even if you can only commit to once a week it would be helpful. The couch to 5k program starts next Monday - June 20th down in Shelby Park.

Trails

Sunday Trail Runs

Our trail runs will meet at 7am, under the stone gates at Percy Warner Park this Sunday.

Thought of the week

The man behind East Nasty - The Mark Miller is on vacation this week. Starting next week Mark will be leading the potato to Tomato group on Wednesday nights. So guess what that means for you? That's right nasties for pretty much the rest of the summer the Jones brothers will be running the show out there. Not sure if that is good news or bad news for you. Not sure if it is good or bad news for East Nasty to be honest with you. Just the same though I wanted to let you know there will be a new sheriff in town tomorrow night. I think for my first Wednesday night in charge we are going to start off by going down to 3 crow for some drinks first then maybe do some running afterwards - Who's with me ? ........ Ok I made that up :-)

Hope to see you out there with us tomorrow at 6:00 pm ------ East Nasty For Life !!!!

DREW

Tomorrow is The Nasty.    Our longest, hardest run, but well worth it...  Familiarize yourself with the map, because we tend to get a little bit spread out on this run... Couch to 5k

We have over 100 people signed up for our potato to tomato 5k program.  I have a feeling that before the end of the week we will have close to 150 new runners.  We could definitely use a couple more coaches/mentors.  If you think that you may want to give back in this way, please talk with me (Mark) tomorrow, or send Holland an email at dutchrunnerchickusa@gmail.com.  Even if you can only commit to once a week it would be helpful.

Mundy is back.

Sunday Trail Runs

Our trail runs will meet at 7am, under the stone gates this Sunday.

See you tomorrow.

Cups

For a quick ENOW profile, I would like to highlight the plastic cups that we use each week at our runs. Contributed by one of the early ENOW nominees, Leigh Ann Polsgrove, these cups allow us to be a little more environmentally friendly. And that is just one more way that we at East Nasty like to contribute to a positive community atmosphere in Middle Tennessee.

But would you like to help with the cleaning of these cups? Each week we need someone to volunteer to take home the two crates and wash and dry the dirty cups. The easiest way to do this is to sign up on the following google doc.:

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AWDhABOGVML7ZGRxOXhwcHpfMWc1OWZoZ2Y0&hl=en_US&authkey=CNmSmaYJ

So lend out a helping hand to us and sign up on the list. We have people signed through June, but the rest of the summer is completely open. The only thing I ask is that if you sign up, make sure you remember to get them and bring them back the next week!

Thanks for your help, and keep your eyes open for more East Nasty of Week profiles (of actual human beings!) over the summer. If you have a suggestion for someone to be nominated be sure to email me at rwjones97@gmail.com

See you on Wednesday night folks,

Rod

For those of us that live in East Nashville, Monday night brought one serious storm!  It came and went in no time at all, but did a crazy amount of damage....You can read all about it and see some pictures here. This means that tomorrow we are going to have to be a little more careful as we run.   There are lots of trees that fell on the sidewalks.  So I'll use this opportunity to remind everybody that we need to follow the rules of the road.  Which means stay on the sidewalk as much as possible,  and never ever run more than 2 wide if you must run in the street.  Wednesday night it is going to be more important than normal that we stay on the sidewalk as much as possible and stay to the side of the road if the sidewalk is impassable.   Our route is Benji, but remember it has been changed a bit.  Check out the route here.

Remember, we also have a couple of other projects in the near future: June 4th the Rebuild Together Nashville house project, The Summer Trial series (more information here) and the Potato to Tomato 5K program (which can be read about here.)

As the summer gets into full swing more newbies might be trying out East Nasty for the first time. So be sure to greet them with a smile and tell them about all we do. And then after the introductions are over, EXPLAIN THE RULES OF RUNNING ON THE ROAD!!!

See you Wednesday

Congrats! First of all, congrats to everyone who ran the country music 1/2 or full marathon!  It is time to take some well deserved rest.  A good rule of thumb is that you want to have 1 easy day of running for every 2 kilometers of racing...   A 1/2 marathon is about 21k, so you need to take about 10 days of easy running.  A marathon is 42k, so about 3 weeks of easy running is in store for you full marathoners!  (Easy running could mean no running, or it could mean 30 miles a week...it just depends what your "easy" is...But either way, nothing fast!)

!!!!!!!Everyone needs to read this!!!!!!!!

This week we will not be meeting in our normal spot or at our normal time.  We are going to meet up with Mayor Dean at LP field to join him in his quest to walk 100 miles.  So if you show up at 11th and Holly, you'll be very lonely.  Here are the details:

When: Wednesday, May 4.  Meet at 5:15.  The walk starts at 5:30

Where: Park in LP field parking lot J.

What: We'll walk 2 miles (across the pedestrian bridge) with the Mayor, and then head out for our own run after wards. (if you want)

I know that many of you may not be able to make it that early in the afternoon, but please make every effort to join us this week.  This is the first time since June of 2008 that we have canceled/moved a Wednesday night run...so you know that we think this is an important event.   So leave work a little bit early on Wednesday, wear your east nasty gear and support our mayor as he tries to make our city more active!

Speaking of East Nasty gear...

Check out our new banner...can you tell what it is???  Well among other things it is the back of our new East Nasty t-shirts!  If you want one, which you do, they're $20, we ordered 200, and when they're gone they're gone...see Drew on Wednesday nights.

Potato to Tomato.

Just to put this on your radar...

We will have an information meeting about our couch to 5k program (we call it potato to tomato), on Monday night June 6th at the Margaret Maddox YMCA on Gallatin road.  If you are interested in participating, or if you would like to be a mentor/coach, please send Holland Carley an email at dutchrunnerchickuse@gmail.com.  More details soon....

Festivals.

I grew up in Illinois, and one things I loved about Chicago summers was that there was a street festival every weekend.  Ever since I moved to Nashville, I thought, "where are the street festivals?"  In fact every single festival seemed to be in Centennial Park...  East Nashville to the rescue!  Of we have the world famous Tomato Festival...but now there is going to be another one called Feastival.  It is a first year event on May 21, and it looks to be a great, kid-friendly event.

See you on Wednesday!

Mark

The route... Last week was the nasty (run #12), so you may think that we are cycling back to Run #1...but no.  In an attempt to avoid traffic conflicts, we are analyzing all 12 routes and changing/eliminating some of them...starting with Run #1.  (We are trying to avoid crossing Eastland...)

So we are going to jump forward to run #2, which takes us into Shelby Park.  Take a moment to check out the map, this one is fairly easy. Like always though we will need some volunteers to help pace the groups so come out there ready to lead.

Thought of the week

So not really much to report this week. Its getting close to crunch time for those training for the country music marathon or 1/2 marathon. Being in the running/shoe business this is always the time of year when injuries start to be more frequent. People are out there doing some of the longest runs they have done all year or maybe even their whole life and your body does not always agree with what your doing. I have told people many many times that your body is actually designed for long distance running but, that does not mean you can go for a 10 mile run and not feel it somewhere. There are many things out there that make running easier or more enjoyable like a new pair of running shoes. But again, if you run for anytime really over an hour you can expect to feel it the next day. The main reason I mention that is this: - As you run more and more your body will certainly get acclimated to that but it does take a while. If this is your first marathon or 1/2 marathon then you need to be ready for some soreness and discomfort along the way. The main thing to watch out for is sharp and direct pain in a very specific place. If you ever have something like that occur then you should not continue to run on something like that and may need to either take some time off or see a physical therapist / doctor. So as a brief recap - soreness is normal and to be expected - pain is something that should be taken seriously and a doctor 's attention may be necessary.

Hope to see everyone tomorrow - East Nasty for Life !!!!

Drew

Hello everyone - I hope everyone is ready for our first 2011 east nasty run in the daylight. That's right daylight savings time has come and gone and we finally get to run with the sun still out. Maybe now you can actually see what the person who has been running next to you for the past 3 or 4 months looks like. So clean up east nasties - shave off that beard, put in some hair gel, take off that beanie, comb your hair, put on some make up, dress to impress in your best technical gear and come join the best looking and law abiding running group in the U.S.A. We will be running route #11 tomorrow - please take a look at the route as we will need some pace group leaders out there and you need to know where to go. Rules of the Road -

So last Wednesday we had some big announcements about Mark & Rachel's meeting with the cops. Everyone last week did a great job staying on one side of the road and crossing the street at the appropriate places. We will need to keep this up of course and it is up to us to police ourselves. I am reposting Mark's comments from last week in case you missed them. If you did read them last week then go ahead and read it again --- this is important stuff.

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On Monday, I had a great and terrible meeting with the city.  Great because they love what we are doing in terms of promoting fitness, and community involvement.  Terrible because they had received 2 complaints over the last 3 weeks about runners jumping out in front of cars.  Remember, our mission is to make East Nashville a great place to live and to run – and if we are causing traffic problems, we’re not being good neighbors.

At the end of the meeting, they city wants us to have Wednesday night runs – they were extremely supportive, but there are some things that we have to address if we want to continue.

The bottom line is this:  Runners need to obey the rules of the road, and if we don’t follow these rules, the city can require us to hold a special permit every week!  Which would force us to cancel Wednesday runs.

Specifically:

Cross streets at appropriate times and places. For example, don’t run through traffic signals without a green light (that was the incident that caused a complaint.)

Run on the sidewalk when available.

Don’t run in the middle of the road. If you do have to run in the roadway, run on the far left side, and no more than 2 abreast. 

(If you are interested in more, here is a link to the pedestrian laws for Tennessee.)

If you’re not prepared to follow these rules, please don’t join us!  I know this sounds harsh but the future of our Wednesday night runs depends on each one of us.

Shirts

We still have some east nasty shirts that have not been picked up yet. This includes both the nike dri fit shirts and the lululemon tanks. So if you ordered a shirt please bring your money tomorrow to pick yours up as we will be putting the shirts up for sale to anyone who wants them starting next week. The nike dri fit shirts are $15 and the lululemon tanks should have already been paid for. We accept check or cash.

Thought of the week

So since east nasty is under going some changes I thought it would be nice to re-visit a topic that we forget sometimes. We need to look out for our fellow runners. We have some newbies and some veterans out there running every Wednesday night and that is what makes east nasty so great. With that said though we have some big numbers and we need to do a better job of keeping an eye out for each other. Not everyone out there knows the route that we are running and not everyone out there is running a sub 10 minute pace. So keep an eye out for those around you and make sure that no one is running alone. Anytime you make a turn look behind you and make sure that others no where to go. Its also a good idea after the run to walk down to 3 crow and leave with a group instead of by yourself. East Nasty is a great thing and it means a lot to a lot of people so do your part and look out for your east nasty brothers and sisters :-)

Drew

Rules of the Road I know that a lot of you guys just skim these posts, but please take a minute to read this!

On Monday, I had a great and terrible meeting with the city.  Great because they love what we are doing in terms of promoting fitness, and community involvement.  Terrible because they had received 2 complaints over the last 3 weeks about runners jumping out in front of cars.  Remember, our mission is to make East Nashville a great place to live and to run - and if we are causing traffic problems, we're not being good neighbors.

At the end of the meeting, they city wants us to have Wednesday night runs - they were extremely supportive, but there are some things that we have to address if we want to continue.

The bottom line is this:  Runners need to obey the rules of the road, and if we don't follow these rules, the city can require us to hold a special permit every week!  Which would force us to cancel Wednesday runs.

Specifically:

Cross streets at appropriate times and places. For example, don't run through traffic signals without a green light (that was the incident that caused a complaint.)

Run on the sidewalk when available.

Don't run in the middle of the road. If you do have to run in the roadway, run on the far left side, and no more than 2 abreast. 

(If you are interested in more, here is a link to the pedestrian laws for Tennessee.)

If you're not prepared to follow these rules, please don't join us!  I know this sounds harsh but the future of our Wednesday night runs depends on each one of us.

Routes.  Runs that are no problem with 20 runners quickly become a problem with 100.  The police officer at the meeting pointed out that he wants us to have variety in where we run, but I am still going to change up/eliminate some of the routes (starting with this week) to allow us to cross at cross walks, avoid busy road crossings, and run on streets with sidewalks/bike lanes.  We will probably end up with only 4 - 5 different runs rather than 12.

This is the route that we are going to do this week.  It is a slight variation of the Benji route.

Reflective Gear.  A must when we are running in the dark.  This is our last week in the dark, but this is for your safety!

Now some fun stuff...

Water Stop

One way that East Nasty gives back to the running community is by having a legendary water stop on the Tom King 5k, 1/2 marathon. This really is a very fun event and we need as many volunteers as we can get. All you have to do is show up. We will be out there from 7:00 - 11:00 am working the water stop for both races. The water, coolers, tables, and cups will all be out there for us. All we have to do is show up with our east nasty gear on ready to hand out water and cheer on the runners. The water stop is on Davidson directly underneath the interstate. You can park in the old Flemings gas station right on the corner of 5th and Davidson. If you have any questions about the please see Rod or Drew Jones. You can come at anytime and leave at anytime you like. Just make sure you come out there and join us.

Another way that you can help out, is by helping the striders clip chips after the race.  Please email Mark Miller if you are willing to help out.  millema6@hotmail.com

Shirts/Tanks

The East Nasty shirts will be available tomorrow!  The shirts are $15.  You need to pay for them in cash or with a check made out to East Nasty Running Club.  The Lululemon tanks are also available, but you should have already paid for those.  There will be a group of people handing out both shirts and tanks after the run tomorrow.

Mark

Hello East Nasty -- This will probably shock everyone out there but guess what ? The weather is scheduled to be total crap tomorrow. Well go figure. Two Sundays in a row now we have had the sun shining and the temperature around 50. Then in the blink of an eye, Wednesday is here and its down to the low 20's with snow expected. Make up your mind already mother nature. Well like I said last week - even though the weather is rough outside we will press on. We will be there tomorrow night ready to tackle route #6 at 6:00 PM so come join us if you can.  

The Green Wagon

One thing that I love about East Nashville is the community feel, even within the business community.   Well, the Green Wagon is a local store that once a week, has chosen to give 5% of their proceeds to a local non-profit.  And East Nasty is one of their chosen non-profits!  Read below:

The Green Wagon is a general store which features all natural and sustainable products, 70% of which are made in Tennessee and all are made in the United States. Our vision for the East Nashville Sustainable Community Days is to draw attention and support for non-profits which are helping bring East Nashville toward a sustainable future. East Nasty represents personal/physical sustainability, helping people live healthier, more active lives. East Nashville Cooperative Ministries represents food security in the community, ensuring that everyone has access to quality, healthy food. The Martha O'Bryan Center represents community support and strengthening, providing education and opportunity people living in Cayce Homes, which holds the most extreme poverty and highest crime rate in our community. And finally, Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms represents a healthy outdoor environment in which to spend quality time and learn about the natural world. We want to show that sustainability is about more than just tree-hugging (not that there's anything wrong with that!), it's about improving the quality of life for EVERYONE. Community Days will be held every Wednesday. We'll be rotating through our core four non-profits every month. At the end of the day 5% of total sales will be given to the designated non-profit for that day.

So, the 2nd Wednesday of the month, East Nasty will receive 5% of the total sales for that day!  Johnny and Tara Shields (the owners) want to have all of the nasties over after a run once the weather turns...  But if you have a chance, check out their store.  They are located across the street from Red Door East in an old residential house.

Thought of the Week:

Seeing as how I work in the running shoe industry I get a lot of the same questions asked on a daily basis. The one I get the most when I am out in the running community is " Hey, look at my shoes, do you think it's time for me to get some new ones?  Well the answer is pretty much always yes. People normally hold off a little too long to get new running shoes. That and the fact that running shoe companies on purpose make shoes with materials that don't last long means that if you are asking .. then yes - you need new shoes.  Speaking of shoes, if over your years of running you have  been able to find a particular name brand and model that works for you then here is some advice: stick with that shoe.  You have solved a big piece of the puzzle when you find a good shoe for your foot.  Now of course shoe companies are going to continue to update those models and change them a little each year but the function and fit of the shoe will always remain the same. Why do shoe companies update shoes every year? .. that's right - to make more money. It's the same reason they make shoes that only last about 6 months or about 400 miles .. to make more money.  Here is another pretty easy thing to remember about running shoes, if the shoes you are running in ever celebrate their 1 year birthday .. its time for them to be replaced.  Running is a very simple, and often times a cheap sport but, don't go cheap when it comes to shoes as they are a pretty important piece of equipment.

See you soon nasties ----- ENFL

DREW

Hello everybody - all signs indicate that the weather should be clear for an East Nasty Wednesday run so we hope to see you out there. We will be running route #3 so go ahead and click on the link and check out the route.

Just a few announcements for this week.

Hoodies - we still have a couple left that are for sale to whoever wants one. We have a large, a xtra large and a 2xtra large left.

East Nasty Training Logs - we still also have several training logs left for sale. They turned out great - not only are they 100% designed by east nasties they are also perfect for recording any and all things involving your runs.

Coach to 5k group - our new couch to 5k training program is off to a great start. We had to have a few cancellations due to the weather last week but they are back into the swing of things this week. Please remember to introduce yourself to the new faces out there on Wednesday night and thank them for joining our club. East Nasty always has been and always will be a very open/welcoming group. Please do the best you can the spread the east nasty love to our rookies.

Thought of the week - this past weekend I was in Little Rock, Arkansas at a RRCA running coaches certification class and it was awesome. I learned a lot of information in a pretty small amount of time. I will be blogging about it to you nasties for many weeks to come so please hold your excitement. The lady teaching the class has been a running coach for over 30 years and she was great. One thing she said on several occasions was that if you run on a regular basis and especially if you are training for any kind of race then getting plenty of sleep is critical. Your body heals the most when you are sleeping. She also mentioned that taking aspirin or ibuprofen when you are sore from running is not good for your body because it numbs your bodies ability to naturally heal itself. Also taking pain relief medications can damage the walls in your liver. Aside from taking aspirin for the occasional headache try to avoid numbing your body every time you have some pain or soreness. Just some food for thought  :-)

See you tomorrow at 11th and Holly  ---- ENFL !!!!!!!!

Drew

It is going to be brisk tomorrow night, so be sure to bundle up. Other points of interest that you might want to know:

#1: Running Logs and Hoodies will be on sale after the run to anyone who wants them.

#2: We are running route #2, which can be viewed here.

#3: DO NOT let the cold weather stop you from coming out Wednesday night!!! Your fellow runners will keep you warm with jovial conversations and sweet reflective gear!