Friday, June 3, 2016

A stroll down memory lane in Nashville

I still feel like I am playing catch up a little bit so wanted to write a little bit about the weekend following the race. It was my first training-free weekend in a while and I was more than excited because I had plans to go to Nashville, TN for my friend Teenie's bachelorette party!

My girl friends from home, "the Scouts," as some say, have been getting married one by one over the past few years. Starting with E in 2014, Meaggie in 2015, and this year a bit year with Teenie in June 2016 and KO in September 2016! Unfortunately, living in Atlanta has been a bit harder to make it possible to get to everything and I missed Teenie's wedding shower. That just made being at the bachelorette party even more exciting and fun!

I head out from Atlanta in time to pick up E and Meaggie from the airport, flying in from D.C. and Boston, and we stopped to grab some wine and a quick bite to eat before meeting up with the rest of the bachelorette contingent at an amazingly beautiful and large house where we'd be staying for the long Memorial Day weekend. We cooked, we laughed, we caught up about life, and enjoyed the weekend.

I love being able to meet my friend's friends from other times in their lives and makes life so much better when you have all these different areas of your life connect I think.






On Saturday I started the morning with a light run/walk with E and Meaggie and we later did a little cycling as well - except a very different type of cycling than what I have been up to lately. We tried out a "Peddle Tavern" which you can find all over the city, and essentially, you drink on a little mobile tavern that you move around the city streets by pedaling your feet - all while blasting music and causing a scene.









It was a pretty perfect activity for our group and although it sounds a little crazy, it was a blast. Although, a very different cycling experience for me!





I also really loved just being in the city of Nashville. The only other time that I have been to Nashville was for my very first half marathon three years ago in 2013. That city has such incredible memories for me and was bringing back incredible flashbacks of running down Broadway and throughout the city, in the downpouring rain, and for the first time tackling something that I thought was impossible for me. It was definitely a neat feeling after having spent the weekend before swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles, and THEN running a half marathon - to be back in a place where a lot of this marathon craziness started for me.


We ate some delicious food in Nashville, trying out the nachos at Acme, dinner at Moto, and brunch at Margot Cafe. All were super good and I wish I could have eaten more at all of them! When we were at Margot Cafe, I had amazing quiche that I immediately came home and recreated as breakfast meals for the week.







And in addition to hanging out and eating delicious food, we also saw some great music! Teenie is a huge fan of country music and the TV show Nashville, which I think is what helped popularize the venue Bluebird. It is a singer/songwriter haven and home to many famous musicians starts. Not being a country music person I wasn't hugely familiar with many of the names - but Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift are two people who I have heard of before :)




Some of the artists we heard were extremely talented and we also got to listen to performances by songwriter Don Schlitz who wrote many of the most famous country songs out there.


It was a cool experience and a great way to end the weekend in Nashville and to spend my first weekend post-Chattanooga. The Monday of Memorial Day, one week and one day after the race, I returned to training and getting ready for what's next! Countdown is on to lots of fun ahead, Teenie's wedding included!

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