This week’s ENOW has the privilege of saying that her very first run was with us. In fact, her very first time ever running in any type of organized fashion was during the second week of January this year when she joined the East Nasty Half Marathon Training group on a 6 mile run. Please welcome the new East Nasty of the Week, Ashlee Horne.

Well after that very first run, Ashlee said she had a rough couple of days moving around. However, she was determined to keep going, mainly because she had promised a friend back in 2009 that she would run the 2010 Country Music Half Marathon (and because she wanted to quite smoking). At first she wasn’t a fan of the 10 degree weather, the snow on the ground, or her sore muscles, but that could not stop Ashlee. Eventually she, like pretty much the rest of us, became addicted to running. Ashlee even set a goal for herself to beat 2 hours in her first half marathon.

Well the under 2 hour mark did not happen for her first big race, but after some sage advice from THE Chuck Hargrove, she was able to improve her stride and become a much faster runner. Since then she successfully ran the Women’s Half Marathon in under 2 hours, and she almost placed in her age group during the Shelby Bottoms Boogie 15K, which she ran in 1:16:44.

But what about Ashlee herself? Well she was born right here in Nashville, and attended Hillsboro High School. In her spare time she can either be found working the morning shift at Noshville in Midtown, or cutting people’s hair. Like I mentioned above, she also is now addicted to running, and can be found running in various races throughout the city, including one in which she wore a Princess Leia costume!

And, she has yet to start smoking since running. Way to go Ashlee!

Rod Jones