Get yours today (click here). All the cool people are doing it.
Friday, May 07, 2010
We Are Nashville
We Are Nashville has become a rally cry across Middle Tennessee over the past few days. And tonight? With the help of Anderson Cooper, it went global. My friend Sam Davidson of Cool People Care started selling a T-shirt early today to benefit flood relief. He was able to secure a donation that will allow 100% of the proceeds to benefit Flood Relief in Middle Tennessee. And Anderson Cooper plugged it on his show tonight. Purchase a shirt and all $20 will go to benefit flood relief. I got mine as soon as they went on sale.
Get yours today (click here). All the cool people are doing it.
Get yours today (click here). All the cool people are doing it.
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
My Heart is Nashille
I don't really think I can articulate everything that has happened over the past few days. It's almost incomprehensible here folks. Incomprehensible to think this happened to Little 'ole Nashville. If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. I love my community and I am bursting with pride to see how the recovery efforts have already started. I love how the people of Nashville are coming together to help one another. I have 3 days I can take off work PAID to VOLUNTEER and you better believe I will be taking them to lend a hand.
Do you want to help? Please spread the word, in case folks don't grasp the severity of what's going on. Temporary shelters are at capacity, missing people are unaccounted for, many homes are under water, we're in a water conservation emergency, much of Nashville's economic base is threatened by flood damage, etc, etc. We're going to need help Text 'REDCROSS' to 90999 to donate $10 to disaster relief. If you can't donate monetarily, please send your thoughts and prayers.
Thank you to those who have already donated.
In case you haven't seen any pictures. I leave you with some images that say more than I could ever write, as well as some other stories and videos.
The Grand Ole Opry:
Downtown Nashville:
We Are Nashville. A great post written by Patten Fuqua
Do you want to help? Please spread the word, in case folks don't grasp the severity of what's going on. Temporary shelters are at capacity, missing people are unaccounted for, many homes are under water, we're in a water conservation emergency, much of Nashville's economic base is threatened by flood damage, etc, etc. We're going to need help Text 'REDCROSS' to 90999 to donate $10 to disaster relief. If you can't donate monetarily, please send your thoughts and prayers.
Thank you to those who have already donated.
In case you haven't seen any pictures. I leave you with some images that say more than I could ever write, as well as some other stories and videos.
The Grand Ole Opry:
Downtown Nashville:
We Are Nashville. A great post written by Patten Fuqua
Sunday, May 02, 2010
It's Raining, It's Pouring
Well, it was raining and pouring here in Nashville. But it has stopped for the time being. The past two days have been interesting to stay the least. Yesterday morning I woke up around 7 AM to thunder and lightning and quickly decided I would not be attending my 8:30 AM yoga class. I slept in and then finally got up and going and ventured to Target in the pouring rain to buy a wedding gift. I passed some high water in the street, but it was still passable.
I went to the wedding reception and then headed to Jimmy Buffet Downtown in the evening. Major highways in and out of town were closed at this point, but the rain let up for a bit. At the show Jimmy Buffet even made light of the rain. As we left the concert it was raining, but not too heavily. We went to a 24 hour diner after the show that was recently filmed for an Episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and had a late night snack. I went to bed around 1:30 AM. I woke up early around 7 or so to more rain, but went back to bed. Around 10 AM I head pounding on doors and yelling. I looked outside and my entire front yard was flooded. I went downstairs and there was at least an inch of standing water everywhere. Our power was quickly turned off and we grabbed clothes and headed to a friend's house.
I am home now safe and clean up has begun. Just water and dirt. Nowhere near as bad as it is in other parts of Nashville and Middle TN.
Please keep TN in your thoughts and prayers, we need it. The aftermath of this storm is going to last a while.
I went to the wedding reception and then headed to Jimmy Buffet Downtown in the evening. Major highways in and out of town were closed at this point, but the rain let up for a bit. At the show Jimmy Buffet even made light of the rain. As we left the concert it was raining, but not too heavily. We went to a 24 hour diner after the show that was recently filmed for an Episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and had a late night snack. I went to bed around 1:30 AM. I woke up early around 7 or so to more rain, but went back to bed. Around 10 AM I head pounding on doors and yelling. I looked outside and my entire front yard was flooded. I went downstairs and there was at least an inch of standing water everywhere. Our power was quickly turned off and we grabbed clothes and headed to a friend's house.
I am home now safe and clean up has begun. Just water and dirt. Nowhere near as bad as it is in other parts of Nashville and Middle TN.
Please keep TN in your thoughts and prayers, we need it. The aftermath of this storm is going to last a while.
Monday, April 26, 2010
I Ran A Half Marathon Y'all!
So with this being my first half marathon I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I had been training for the past 4 months, so I knew I was ready. My training consisted of Wednesday night East Nasty Runs, Sunday morning East Nasty long training runs, boot camp and extra cardio on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and yoga on Saturday if I could make it. I think people training for this type of thing usually run more than twice a week though.
I completed a 10k on April 10 in 52 minutes and 45 seconds. So according to the McMillian Running Calculator I should be able to finish a half marathon at 1:57:23. Now the 10k course I ran was nice and flat. I knew the half marathon would not be. Not even close. During my training I was lucky enough to run parts of the half course multiple times. My running/training partner Brittnay had set a goal of finishing under 2 hours. Now for me, this was sort of an unspoken goal. I literally only told a handful of people because I didn’t think it would actually be something I would accomplish. Brittnay and I met on a Wednesday night way back in January. We were both new to East Nasty and both running near each other and both alone. The rest is history!
The weatherman predicted it would rain on Saturday. Not just rain, but RAIN. We’re talking potential hail and tornados. So Brittany got to my place around 5:30 AM and we headed over to the start. After parking and waiting in the port-o-potty line we went to find our Nasties. Around 6:40 we realized the race was starting 15 minutes early. We rushed to our corral where we were going to run with some marathoners from our group who were going to run 9 minute miles. Perfect! Brittany had her Garmin set for 8:55 miles. I had mine set for 9:05 miles. If we could stay within that range we knew we would be good. The only thing I was slightly worried about was the weave factor and how much distance that could add on to our run.
Mile 1-3 were pretty good. We probably ran them 10 seconds or so fast due to excitement. It was uphill, so I probably shouldn’t have pushed too hard. Mile 4 was fine, but mile 5 was where things got a little shaky. I missed a water stop that I desperately wanted right at end of mile 5. And there wasn’t another one until mile 7. And also note that miles 4-9 are my least favorite part of the course. I knew this when I was training and I had been trying to prepare myself for it. Despite the crowds of cheering people I still hated it. I finally got water at mile 7, but if I was thinking properly I should have eaten my Gu at mile 6 and then had water to wash it down. But apparently at this point my brain couldn’t really think properly. So I ate the Gu after mile 7 and it was pretty unpleasant. I felt like I had it all over my face. And people were handing out fruit. All, I wanted was some freaking water and/or cytomax. I just wanted some liquid. Finally, I got some liquid at mile 8 and pretty much got some at every other water stop until the end. I might have to invest in one of those dorky running belts that carry small water bottles… At mile 11.5 the course splits off. The marathoners go one way and the half marathoners go another way. At mile 12, I pretty much started to go crazy (well not really, but almost). I knew I had pushed it to the limit and I knew I was going to hold Brittany back. She was much more vocal about her goal and I didn’t want her to be over 2 hours because of me. So, I told her to run ahead. I needed to slow down. These thoughts went through my head at this point: Maybe I should just walk the rest of the way. I AM NEVER RUNNING AGAIN! Oh man, I just wasted a couple hundred dollars on a Garmin I am NEVER going to use again. This sucks. This really sucks. And I have to go to the bathroom. Uh, oh. I just peed my pants a little bit (true story this happened…I lost control…it wasn’t like a full on pants wetting, but seriously WTF was I doing to myself?
And did I really just tell you all that?
Despite my slower pace, my last mile was almost a 10 minute mile, I ran the last .10 of the half marathon at something in the 8 minute mile pace. Before I knew it, the race was over and I had my finishers medal. I was pretty proud of myself for finishing. And proud that I finished in under 2 hours. I definitely think I pushed my body to its limit though. Who knows if I will do another one or when? It was a wild ride and I have made some amazing friends. I did something I never once imagined I could do. And I am pretty dang proud.
I completed a 10k on April 10 in 52 minutes and 45 seconds. So according to the McMillian Running Calculator I should be able to finish a half marathon at 1:57:23. Now the 10k course I ran was nice and flat. I knew the half marathon would not be. Not even close. During my training I was lucky enough to run parts of the half course multiple times. My running/training partner Brittnay had set a goal of finishing under 2 hours. Now for me, this was sort of an unspoken goal. I literally only told a handful of people because I didn’t think it would actually be something I would accomplish. Brittnay and I met on a Wednesday night way back in January. We were both new to East Nasty and both running near each other and both alone. The rest is history!
The weatherman predicted it would rain on Saturday. Not just rain, but RAIN. We’re talking potential hail and tornados. So Brittany got to my place around 5:30 AM and we headed over to the start. After parking and waiting in the port-o-potty line we went to find our Nasties. Around 6:40 we realized the race was starting 15 minutes early. We rushed to our corral where we were going to run with some marathoners from our group who were going to run 9 minute miles. Perfect! Brittany had her Garmin set for 8:55 miles. I had mine set for 9:05 miles. If we could stay within that range we knew we would be good. The only thing I was slightly worried about was the weave factor and how much distance that could add on to our run.
Mile 1-3 were pretty good. We probably ran them 10 seconds or so fast due to excitement. It was uphill, so I probably shouldn’t have pushed too hard. Mile 4 was fine, but mile 5 was where things got a little shaky. I missed a water stop that I desperately wanted right at end of mile 5. And there wasn’t another one until mile 7. And also note that miles 4-9 are my least favorite part of the course. I knew this when I was training and I had been trying to prepare myself for it. Despite the crowds of cheering people I still hated it. I finally got water at mile 7, but if I was thinking properly I should have eaten my Gu at mile 6 and then had water to wash it down. But apparently at this point my brain couldn’t really think properly. So I ate the Gu after mile 7 and it was pretty unpleasant. I felt like I had it all over my face. And people were handing out fruit. All, I wanted was some freaking water and/or cytomax. I just wanted some liquid. Finally, I got some liquid at mile 8 and pretty much got some at every other water stop until the end. I might have to invest in one of those dorky running belts that carry small water bottles… At mile 11.5 the course splits off. The marathoners go one way and the half marathoners go another way. At mile 12, I pretty much started to go crazy (well not really, but almost). I knew I had pushed it to the limit and I knew I was going to hold Brittany back. She was much more vocal about her goal and I didn’t want her to be over 2 hours because of me. So, I told her to run ahead. I needed to slow down. These thoughts went through my head at this point: Maybe I should just walk the rest of the way. I AM NEVER RUNNING AGAIN! Oh man, I just wasted a couple hundred dollars on a Garmin I am NEVER going to use again. This sucks. This really sucks. And I have to go to the bathroom. Uh, oh. I just peed my pants a little bit (true story this happened…I lost control…it wasn’t like a full on pants wetting, but seriously WTF was I doing to myself?
And did I really just tell you all that?
Despite my slower pace, my last mile was almost a 10 minute mile, I ran the last .10 of the half marathon at something in the 8 minute mile pace. Before I knew it, the race was over and I had my finishers medal. I was pretty proud of myself for finishing. And proud that I finished in under 2 hours. I definitely think I pushed my body to its limit though. Who knows if I will do another one or when? It was a wild ride and I have made some amazing friends. I did something I never once imagined I could do. And I am pretty dang proud.
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