Christine with Bree Roy and Eric Block, who came to cheer her on for my first half marathon - Detroit 2010

It is my pleasure to introduce you to our newest East Nasty of the Week (ENOW), Christine Broda! Christine was born in and grew up outside of Detroit, MI. Soccer was her first love. She started playing when she was 10 and played throughout high school and college. She also ran cross-country, but primarily as a way to stay in shape for soccer.

Christine attended Hillsdale College in MI, which is a small, private liberal arts school. She was recruited to play soccer for the new women’s program. It was at Hillsdale that Christine met Bree Roy. Christine and Bree were teammates and suite-mates their freshman year and are still best friends today. They worked together in Kalamazoo and still work together in Nashville. Christine says, "Yup, basically I tried to talk her out of moving to Nashville like 3 years ago and then I followed her down here a year later! I don’t know what I would do without her!"

Christine moved to Nashville in February 2012 and works for Stryker. She always thought Nashville was a cool city, but she never pictured herself living in the south until she moved here, which she chalks up to one of the best decisions of her life. Christine is a sales rep for Stryker, and she sells hospital beds, which she describes as random, but fascinating and rewarding work.

Initially, running was a very solitary thing for Christine. It wasn’t until a few years ago that a friend in Kalamazoo invited her to join a running group that was training for a half marathon. She couldn’t fathom running 13.1 miles, as the most she’d run at that point was 8 miles, and that was probably just once. The running group, called Snow Busters, was put on by their local running store. She fell in love with running with people and has been doing it ever since.

Christine and Eric Block – Spokespersons for the 2012 Kalamazoo Marathon

Christine has run 3 half marathons and each of these has been a big accomplishment: 1) Detroit 2010 because it was her first; 2) Kalamazoo 2011 because Christine and fellow East Nasty Eric Block became spokespersons for it; and 3) Country Music this past April because it was her first TN half. But her true biggest accomplishment in running was the Girls on the Run 5K in Kalamazoo in 2011. She was a coach for the program and ran the whole 3.1 miles holding the hands of two little Third Grade girls who were running their very first 5K. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of Christine's life.

Christine heard about East Nasty through Bree. She says, "It was one of the bargaining chips Bree used to convince me to move to Nashville in the first place”. Having loved her Kalamazoo running group so much, she knew she was going to have to check it out. She was blown away on her first Wednesday run, not only by the sheer number of people, but by how incredibly welcoming everyone was. She felt at home right away and does her best to make every Wednesday night run.

Christine with her team after the Girls on the Run 5K - May 2011

Asked what she enjoys most about East Nasty, Christine says, "As most everyone has said before, it’s the people. I mean where else can you find sub 7 milers and people training to run their first 5K all in the same group, all having fun, all encouraging each other and all doing this running/life thing together?"

Two particular East Nasty experiences stand out for Christine: running her first Ragnar last October with one of the EN teams and training for Country Music with EN this winter. She met a lot of great folks during training for and running both. Country Music training was especially awesome because she met two wonderful gals - Amanda Safford and Mia Jones. They became fast friends and shared a lot of life experiences during those winter/spring months of training. And that’s what Christine loves about running now - the “doing life together” part. Of course, she loves the personal challenge of pushing her own limits, the health benefit, but most of all, she loves the camaraderie of running - talking, sharing stories, holding each other accountable to not only showing up, but also giving it your best.

Christine with East Nasty Country Music Half training buddies Tess Halbrooks, Mia Jones and Amanda Safford after conquering The Nasty for the first time!

When Christine's not running, she's hanging out on Lower Broad or at the Opry cultivating her new love of country music. She loves to travel and has been on a lot of great trips this past year from skiing in Breckenridge to gambling in Vegas to sight-seeing in the Big Apple. She's very close with her family, so she travels back to Michigan as much as she can to see them. And she has a wonderful group of friends who love adventure as much as she does, so they’ve been white water rafting, skiing, camping, you name it, together!

Christine, East Nasty is lucky to have you. Welcome to the ENOW club!