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stefanie
In Run Nash, Running

Run Clubs in Nashville

Monday:

Capitol Steps Workout: Join Fleet Feet ambassador James Crumlin for a full-body workout every Monday and Thursday night at the State Capitol Building. Meet at the steps leading up from Bicentennial Park at 6 PM!

Nashville Front Runners: Nashville’s LGBTQ+ running club! Runs: Mondays at 6:30pm from Canvas and Thursdays at 6:30p The Lipstick Lounge.  Check out their Instagram, website or Strava page for more information.

12 South Runners: Monday nights at 6:30 from Embers Ski Lodge. Follow on Instagram or Facebook for more information.

Donelson Run Club: Monday mornings at 6:00am with mulitple meetups throughout the week. Follow on Instagram or chek out their website www.donelsonrunclub.com 

Nations Run Club: Monday Nights at 6:30pm at Southern Grist (5012 Centennial Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209). 3.5 and 5 mile options; routes posted each week on Facebook or Strava. Stay for a drink after and get $2 off your beer!

Tuesday:

Nashville Harriers: The Nashville Harriers were established to help anyone become a better runner, from the back of the pack to the front providing a weekly workout as a part of a cohesive training program based on your unique abilities and fitness. The workouts are held at 6:30pm in different locations, so please follow the Harriers Facebook or Strava page for updates.

Bellevue Runners: Want to get moving? Want to meet new friends? Come out and join us for a 3 mile fun run every Tuesday at 6:30PM from the Gordon JCC! Free to the public. Membership not required. All levels, paces, and abilities welcome. Facebook Page

Mule Town Runners Club: Runners of all ages and abilities welcome! Tuesday’s at 6 pm meet on the porch at Asgard Brewery in Columbia for a 5k / 1mile run and a beer. Dog Friendly. Click Here for more info.

Cedar City Running Club: 6pm at Cedar City Brewing Co. on Lebanon Square. Meet for a 3.5 mile route and stay for drinks and dinner. Follow the group on Instagram

6Run5: To support our goal of promoting running in our community we have two weekly opportunities for group runs; weekly on Tuesdays and Sundays. Check out their website or Strava page for locations or email 6RUN5@gmail.com with questions.

Wednesday:

RunSum: Fleet Feet Hendersonville group run will meet each Wednesday at 6:30 PM for a 3 mile fun run. Join the RunSum Instagram or Facebook pages for more info or find us on Strava. *Group meeting at the square in the middle of the Indian Lake Shopping Center.

Cool Springs Run Club: Meet on Wednesdays at Fleet Feet Cool Springs at 6:00pm for 2 – 4 casual miles. Join the free Heylo Group to get notifications on group activities.

Spring Hill: Spring Hill Run with the “Hill Runners” meet at the Church of the City parking lot in Spring Hill Wednesdays at 6:30pm for a 2-4 mile run/walk and Saturdays for a long run. For more information go to the Hill Runners Facebook page and ask to join.

Green Hills Run Club: Currently paused. Follow us on Strava for updates.

Nolensville Running Club: Nolensville Running Club (NRC) meets at Mill Creek Brewing Company at 6:15 every Wednesday for a 3-6 mile run/walk. Runners of all levels are welcome.  For more information go to Nolensville Running Club or Strava page.

East Nasty: Join us each Wednesday at 6:00 PM near Five Points in East Nashville for a 4-6 mile fun run. Meet at 11th and Holly for the start of the run and wrap up at 3 Crow Bar. Updates can be found on the East Nasty Website or Strava page.

Achilles International: Achilles International Nashville welcomes all people with disabilities to the wonderful world of RUNNING! In Achilles parlance, running means any form of forward locomotion – conventional running, walking, wheeling, or swinging through crutches! We meet on Wednesday nights 5:30 & 6:00 pm start times at McCabe Park Community Center with rsvp in advance to achillesnashville@gmail.com. Click here for more information.

Thursday:

Brentwood Breakfast Club: Join us every Thursday morning at 6am for a run or walk followed by breakfast!  Routes range from 4-6 miles and all paces are welcome. Locations vary from week to week. Brentwood Breakfast Club Facebook Page

Dirt Bags Trail Run Club: Dirtbags Trail Run Club meets every Thursday night at 6pm at Shelter #2, Deep Well Entrance of Percy Warner Park to enjoy great company on the beautiful trails. This club is open to everyone from the newest runner to the grizzled old trail vet. Come on out and see why trail running is all the rage! Dirtbags Facebook Page

Curio Jogging Association: Don’t like to run? Aren’t fast enough? WE DON’T CARE!! Just come join us for a walk or a jog, or even sprint if you feel like it! We are a group of people wanting to be a little fit and grow a community! Check out the Facebook group for more info.

South Side Runners: Whether you walk, trot or run…
Join us in Lenox Village Thursday nights at 6:15 for a fun run and social hour. All levels encouraged and welcome! Join our South Side Runners Facebook or Strava page.

Capitol Steps Workout: Join Fleet Feet ambassador James Crumlin in a full-body workout every Monday and Thursday night at the State Capitol Building. Meet at the steps leading up from Bicentennial Park at 6 PM!

Lewisburg Running Club: A free community running/walking club that takes advantage of the Rock Creek Park space in Lewisburg, Tennessee to exercise and get to know your neighbors. Meets Thursdays at 5:30 pm at Rock Creek Pavilion.  Check out their Facebook page for more information.

Friday:

The B Team: Brentwood’s Favorite Run Club. Meet at Fleet Feet on Friday mornings at 6:30am for an easy run or walk, then stay for coffee afterward at Crema Cafe. Join the free Heylo group to stay updated on group activities.

Rise Up Run Club: Meets at The Billy Goat Coffee Cafe in Mt Juliet every Friday morning at 6:30am for a casual run. Join the free Heylo group to stay updated on group activities.

Saturday:

Major Miles: Supported Saturday morning long runs with Fleet Feet Nashville, Franklin Road Runners and PR Bandits. Join the free Heylo group to get location details each week.

Other Run Groups:

Black Girls RUN! Nashville: The mission of Black Girls RUN! is to encourage African-American women to make fitness and healthy living a priority. BGR! wants to create a movement to lower that percentage and subsequently, lower the number of women with chronic diseases associated with an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. BGR Facebook page.

Black Men Run: To encourage health and wellness among African American men by promoting a culture of running/jogging to stay fit resulting in “A Healthy Brotherhood” BMR supports a wide range of abilities and is open to everyone.   From first-timers to advanced runners, we strive to promote increased fitness through a culture of running. BMR Nashville Instagram.

Jogalope: Community of runners of all experience levels, meeting multiple times per week. More info can be found on their website or Strava page.

Sumner Sole Sisters: A branch of Hendersonville Running Club (HRC), we exist to allow a safe place for women to join together and run without judgment. We are all in different seasons of our lives and come from a variety of backgrounds but we share one commonality, the love of running and community. We have many routes, dates, and time options throughout the week/weekends. Please reach out to us and we will get you connected. carriewwtravel@hotmail.com

stefanie
In Run Nash, Running

Best Places to Run in Nashville

For when you want to get away from the rowdy honky tonks and live music joints that light up the Nashville night, here is a list of our favorite running spots that will get you in a rhythm!

The Cumberland River Greenway

Paved trail along the Cumberland River that extends from Ted Rhodes Golf Course into Downtown to 1st Ave along Fort Nashborough and Riverfront Park, with spurs along the way to Morgan Park and Bicentennial State Park. Featuring public art and a number of river overlooks

Shelby Bottoms

  • Location: East Nashville
  • Length: 10 miles
  • Trail End Points: 1900 Davidson Street; Stones River Greenway
  • Trail Surface: Paved/Primitive Trails

The 960-acre Shelby Bottoms Greenway and Natural area is located in East Nashville adjacent to Shelby Park and is one of five Natural Area Parks within Metro Parks. With approximately three miles of Cumberland River frontage, this area features bottomland hardwood forests, open fields, wetlands, and streams, providing excellent habitat for birds, amphibians, deer and more. The greenway offers over 5 miles of paved ADA accessible trail for hiking, biking, running, skating and wildlife watching and over 5 miles of primitive trails for more passive activities of walking, running and exploring nature.

Centennial Park

  • Location: Downtown Nashville
  • Length: 1 mile
  • Trail End Points: 2500 West End Avenue
  • Trail Surface: Paved

Centennial Park is one of Nashville’s premier parks. Located on West End and 25th Avenue North, the 132-acre features: the iconic Parthenon, a one-mile walking trail, Lake Watauga, the Centennial Art Center, historical monuments, an arts activity center, a beautiful sunken garden, a band shell, an events shelter, sand volleyball courts, dog park, and an exercise trail. Thousands of people visit the park each year to visit the museum, see exhibits, attend festivals, and just enjoy the beauty of the park.

Stones River Greenway

  • Location: East Nashville
  • Length: 10.2 miles
  • Trail End Points: Shelby Park to Percy Priest Dam
  • Trail Surface: Paved

Ten-mile paved trail system connecting Shelby Bottoms to Percy Priest Lake and linking to the YMCA on Lebanon Road, Heartland Park, and Two Rivers Park along the way.

Richland Creek Greenway

  • Location: Sylvan Park
  • Length: 5.25 miles
  • Trail End Points: McCabe Park
  • Trail Surface: Paved

Over three miles of paved trail connecting McCabe Park and the Sylvan Park neighborhood with shopping centers along White Bridge Pike and Harding Road, and Nashville State Community College.

Photo: Jobie Williams

Percy and Edwin Warner Parks

  • Location: Belle Meade
  • Length: 15 miles road, 11 miles dirt trail
  • Trail End Points: Belle Meade Blvd/Harpeth River Greenway
  • Trail Surface: Paved/Dirt Trails

Edwin and Percy Warner Parks, collectively known as “The Warner Parks,” are managed by the Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation Department. The Warner Parks are one of the largest municipally administered parks in Tennessee and together span more than 3,100 acres of forest and field, 9 miles from downtown Nashville.

Close to a million people visit the Warner Parks annually to utilize the Nature Center, picnic shelters, dog park, scenic roadways and overlooks, hiking trails, mountain bike trails, equestrian center and horse trails, cross country running courses, golf courses, and athletic fields. Warner Parks is also an important historical community resource listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Photo: Trent Rosenbloom

Harpeth River Greenway

  • Location: West Nashville
  • Length: 8 miles
  • Trail End Points: Edwin Warner Park/Morton Mill
  • Trail Surface: Paved
This paved trail follows the Little Harpeth and Harpeth Rivers through the Ensworth High School and Bellevue Exchange Club campuses over to the Morton Mill and Harpeth Bend communities. Plans are in place to eventually connect it with the Harpeth Youth Soccer Association segment.

Beaman Park

  • Location: Whites Creek
  • Length: 5+ miles
  • Trail End Points: 4111 Little Marrowbone Rd./5911 Old Hickory Blvd
  • Trail Surface: Dirt Trails

One of the most botanically diverse places in Tennessee, this 1693 acre park in northwestern Davidson County consists of 5 miles primitive hiking trails and boardwalks in a natural Highland Rim forest. The Beaman Park Nature Center* provides a hub from which to explore a hilly landscape with narrow hollows, pristine streams and cascading waterfalls as well as two easy quarter-mile trails (one at the Little Marrowbone Rd entrance and the other, encircling the nature center).

Long Hunter State Park

  • Location: Hermitage
  • Length: 20+ miles
  • Trail End Points: 2910 Hobson Pike
  • Trail Surface: Paved/Dirt Trails
The 2,600 acres which make up this area became a state park in 1974 and has four sections, Couchville, Baker’s Grove, Bryant Grove and Sellars Farm. Long Hunter State Park offers a variety of recreational activities including fishing and hiking and has two boat launch ramps on J. Percy Priest Lake, a group camp, a backcountry campsite, meeting facility and a visitor center. The more than 20 miles of hiking trails provide a variety of terrain and habitats and range from pleasant strolls to longer jaunts for the more adventurous. Trails include a self-guided, paved arboretum trail and the five and a half -mile Volunteer Trail that follows the lakeshore.
runnash
In Run Nash, Running

2025 Run Nash Lineup

Lace Up for an Epic 2025 with Run Nash!

Runners, get ready! 2025 is shaping up to be an incredible year of racing with Run Nash, and we can’t wait to welcome you to the starting line. Whether you’re chasing a PR, looking for a fun way to stay active, or just love the energy of race day, our lineup has something for everyone. From Nashville’s most iconic races to exciting partner events, there are plenty of opportunities to challenge yourself and celebrate your love for running.

Why Run Nash?

Run Nash isn’t just about the races—it’s about the experience. With scenic courses through the heart of Music City, top-notch race swag, and an electric atmosphere, every event is designed to inspire runners of all levels. Plus, we’re all about the community. A portion of proceeds from each race supports local charities, so every step you take gives back to the Nashville running scene.

Mark Your Calendars: Run Nash’s 2025 Race Schedule

Here’s what’s coming up on the Run Nash calendar for 2025:

🎇 Music City July 4th 5K – July 4, 2025: Kick off Independence Day with a fast, festive 5K through downtown Nashville. It’s the perfect way to start your holiday before the fireworks light up the sky!

🎸 Nashville 1/2 Marathon & 5K – October 25, 2025: This signature fall race takes you through the best of downtown Nashville. Whether it’s your first race or your fastest, this race is a must-run!

🦃 Music City Turkey Trot 5K & 1 Mile – November 27, 2025: Nashville’s favorite Thanksgiving tradition is back! Gather your family and friends for a fun-filled race before your holiday feast. Bonus: it’s the only dog-friendly Turkey Trot in town!

Featured Partner Races

Run Nash is proud to support and collaborate with other fantastic races in the community. Check out these great events:

🏃 Free to Move 5K – March 8, 2025: More than a race—it’s a movement. This event honors Alyssa Lokits and promotes awareness and education around women’s safety while exercising. There’s even a virtual option, and you can volunteer or donate to support the cause!

✈️ BNA 5K on the Runway – May 3, 2025: Run on an actual airport runway! This one-of-a-kind experience at Nashville International Airport is not to be missed.

🔨 JE Dunn Hammer Down 5K/10K and 1 Mile – May 3, 2025: Join us for the 11th Annual JE Dunn Hammer Down 5K/10K and 1 Mile Walk/Stroller Stride presented by JE Dunn Construction and benefiting Our Kids.

🤝 Community Connection 5K – May 10, 2025: Join us and be a part of this exciting event that supports vital local initiatives and benefits the Shelbyville and Bedford communities.

Ready to Race?

Now’s the time to start planning your 2025 race season! Whether you’re looking for a competitive challenge or just a fun way to stay active, Run Nash has you covered.

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In Nashville 1/2 Marathon, Run Nash, Running

Corporate Challenge

Corporate Challenge

What is the Corporate Challenge? The Corporate Challenge is designed to support corporate wellness initiatives, facilitate team building and provide an empowering experience for your employees.

Benefits

Run Nash has loads of awesome benefits to help you engage your team members, and create a fun and exciting experience, with the least amount of effort and stress on your behalf. We’re here to do the hard part for you! This means that come race day, all you need to do is put on your running shoes and enjoy the event!  Corporate teams can access a range of benefits including:

  • Bulk discounts
  • Group packet pickup
  • Finish Line Hospitality Space
  • Awards – Largest and Fastest Team

How Does It Work? 

Employers can opt into one of three options below. Participants must register with their company-associated code. Please contact hello@runnash.com with your option selection or any additional questions related to corporate pricing.

Option 1: Employer Covers 100%
Employer receives comp code to share with employees. Employer will be billed after online registration closes for the number of entries redeemed at the following corporate prices:
Marathon ($90) | Half Marathon ($80) | 5K ($40). Employer must commit to a minimum of 20 entries to receive corporate pricing.

Option 2: Employer Covers 50%, Employee Covers 50% Employer receives discount code of 50% off online pricing to share with employees. Employer will be billed after online registration closes for the number of entries redeemed
at 50% of corporate pricing: Marathon ($45) | Half Marathon ($40) | 5K ($20) Employee is responsible to pay 50% of the current online price. Employer must commit to a minimum of 20 entries to receive corporate pricing.

Option 3: Employee Pays Entry with 15% Discount
Employer receives discount code of 15% off online pricing to share with employees. Employee is responsible for full cost of race entry after the discount code. There is no minimum number of entries needed to receive the 15% discount.

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In Run Nash, Running

5K Youth Pricing

Making Fitness Fun & Affordable

We’re passionate about fostering a love for running in the next generation here at Run Nash. That’s why we offer $25 5K Youth Pricing for anyone under the age of 18 for all of our 5K events!

2024 Event Schedule:

It’s the perfect opportunity to get your young ones moving, active, and excited about the world of running. No special code is required – the 5K pricing will automatically update to $25 based on the participants date of birth entered during registration.

 

stefanie
In Running

The Benefits of Running for Your Mental Health

via Runner’s World

Learn about seven ways running goes beyond the physical advantages.

The advantages of running go well beyond your physical health; the sport works just as many wonders for your mental health and wellness. A 2020 review in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health associated running with improvements in a range of mental health outcomes and concluded that running has positive implications for various mental illnesses.

In the U.S. alone, approximately 23 percent of adults experienced a mental illness in 2021, defined by the National Institute of Mental Health as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder. Running can be used as a tool to help alleviate the symptoms of those disorders and contribute to an improved mental state.

Running Helps Improve Your Mood

You can feel this particular benefit of running for mental health while still on the move or as soon as you finish your miles. Running releases endorphins in the brain, and these endorphins act as a painkiller during physical discomfort.

Thanks to the release of these feel-good hormones—which researchers explain our ancestors needed when running to catch prey or avoid predators—running can help your mind break out of a dark place and bring on positive thinking. All it takes to boost your endorphins is a run just long enough to push you out of your comfort zone.

Running Reduces Stress

One of the main culprits behind stress is a hormone called cortisol. When you feel stressed, your adrenal glands release cortisol into your bloodstream in an increased amount. Ironically, the act of running is an additional stressor, activating stress response in your body and the release of cortisol, but, as we describe in our recent series on stress in the body, it’s a short-term surge that serves a larger purpose:

“Just like progressive training helps your body adapt to handle a higher load, increasing cortisol in your system helps your body adapt so it can better handle similar stressful situations in the future,” we wrote.

In the end, physical exercise helps your body return to its equilibrium. A small 2021 study published in Scientific Reports concluded that just 10 minutes of moderate-intensity running can help your brain regulate stress.

Running Helps Build Mental Resilience

Running is a great mental sport as it helps develop your mental toughness and resilience. A small study at Northern Arizona University concluded when people improved their fitness and exercised consistently, they had a lower stress response. Not only does running help deal with stress at the moment, but it also supports quicker rebound during future stressful moments and builds greater resilience in the long term.

Running Improves Brain Function

There are close to 100 billion nerve cells in your brain, connected by neurotransmitters.
Several studies suggest that exercise increases the function of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, best known for influencing happiness, sleep, memory, and more.

“By raising our neurotransmitters, exercise really makes a difference in the way we feel, and very importantly, we have control over the way we feel by moving our bodies,” said John Ratey, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science on Exercise and the Brain.

Running Leads to Better Sleep

Sleep is critical for your mental health, while the lack of it has the power to worsen your mental well-being. Sleep plays a role in supporting your brain, heart and, overall health—and according to a 2023 research Runner’s World covered, potentially even how long you live.

While researchers don’t completely understand how precisely physical activity and sleep are linked, a 2023 systematic search confirmed that running can lead to improved sleep quality, making the miles you put in all the more worth it.

Running Supports Mindfulness

Mindfulness is all about living in the present moment, and research shows that practicing mindfulness can help manage mental health conditions.

“One of the goals of mindfulness when it comes to mental health is this idea of being able to pause, notice unhelpful thinking, reframe the thought, and move from there,” said Dwayne Brown, licensed clinical social worker who uses mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in his private practice to help those with mental health conditions. Through mindfulness, a person is more in control of their thinking, instead of their thinking being in control of them, Brown added. Being present and mindful contributes to a better mental state.

Running Is a Great Tool for Treating Mental Disorders

More than 50 million American adults experience mental illness, with half of them not receiving any treatment. As we mentioned, running can be part of your plan because it helps trigger the release of endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin. These feel-good chemicals are often depleted by mental disorders.

“We lose nerve cells, and exercise helps repopulate them and make them tougher, make them stronger so they can withstand the stresses of everyday life,” said Ratey.

Antidepressant drugs are based on helping fire neurotransmitters in your brain and increase their concentration as soon as you start taking them, Ratey said. But as explained above, the same can be achieved by incorporating running into your routine. In a 2023 study published by the Journal of Affective Disorders, more than 100 people with depression or anxiety were offered the option to take antidepressants or join a running program for 16 weeks. The study concluded that running worked just as well as the medication.

“Now, I would always encourage people to seek medical advice from a medical professional, it’s really important to make sure that you’re targeting your mental illness from all avenues,” said Lennie Waite, a certified mental performance consultant and Olympian. “But running is a great supplement to whatever else you’re doing to benefit your mental health.”

Running can support a range of mental disorders, including anxiety, the most common mental illness in the U.S., and depression, the leading disability in ages 15-44. But the benefits don’t stop there. Post-traumatic stress disorder is another one, which Runner’s World covered in detail in this article. And runners have been using the sport to manage other mental health conditions as well, including bipolar disorder, ADHD, the risk of dementia, or, for example, OCD.

runnash
In Nashville 1/2 Marathon, Run Nash, Running

Complete the Run Nash Challenge

Complete the 2024 Run Nash Challenge

What is the Run Nash Challenge? It’s for participants who complete the 2024 Music City July 4th 5K, the 2024 Nashville ½, Marathon & 5K, and the 2024 Music City Turkey Trot in one calendar year. Save 15% by registering for all the events at once!

Finishers of the 2024 Run Nash Challenge will be awarded a special edition medal, along with other Run Nash swag!

2023 medal shown here; 2024 medal coming soon!

stefanie
In Nashville 1/2 Marathon, Run Nash, Running

Get Ready, Folks, It’s Time to Talk TRAINING! 

We’re just about 5 months away from our marquee event – the Nashville Half Marathon & 5K, taking place on Saturday, October 26th. The 5-month mark is the perfect time to start training for your first half marathon or marathon. Whether you’re aiming to achieve a personal fitness goal, try something new, or simply enjoy the thrill of running, now is the ideal moment to begin your journey.

Here’s why starting now is the best decision you can make: 

  • Plenty of Time to Prepare: With five months to go, you have ample time to build your endurance gradually. This ensures you can safely increase your mileage without risking injury.
  • Establish a Routine: Training over five months allows you to incorporate running into your lifestyle. You’ll develop a consistent routine that balances your training with work, family, and other commitments.
  • Gradual Progression: A longer training period means you can start slow and gradually increase the intensity and distance of your runs. This approach not only prevents burnout but also builds a solid fitness foundation.
  • Enjoy the Journey: Training for a half marathon is more than just race day. It’s about enjoying the journey, celebrating small victories, and witnessing your progress over time.
  • Stay Motivated: Having a race date in the calendar provides a clear goal to work towards. It keeps you motivated and focused on your training.
 

2024 Official Training Program – Now Open!

We are excited to once again be partnering with Fleet Feet Nashville to develop the official training program for this year’s event!

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In Run Nash, Running

Run with Your Pup

Doggie Dash Option Now Available!

We’re thrilled to share some pawsitively awesome news with you! Now, your furry companions can join in on the fun and earn their own medal, bib, and doggie bandana for the following races:

Make sure to select the Doggie Dash add-on during registration to receive a doggie bandana, race bib and extra finisher medal for your pup. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to include your furry friend in the fun!

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