The last time I went to Nashville, I was a freshly minted college grad on a road trip with my mom — which is to say, I was basically a toddler with a diploma. My idea of “experiencing Broadway” was eating an early-bird dinner at a honky tonk and being back at the hotel by 8 p.m.

This time? Let’s just say the itinerary included fewer museums and significantly more… hydration of the alcoholic variety.

Disclaimer: Alcohol, dancing, and general chaos ahead. Consider yourself warned.

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I used to feel bad about making Delaney do half marathons with me (see Half marathon #6 and #16). But now that we’re on our THIRD race together…I’m starting to think she not so secretly likes it. Either that or I’m a way better persuader than I think.

After I successfully convinced Delaney to do another trip with me, we landed on Nashville as our location since it’s roughly halfway between us (Virginia & Colorado). That and it is known for being fun (sorry St. Louis…we shall catch you for another race).

I arrived on Thursday morning and had the day to myself…which is pretty much something that doesn’t exist as a mom of three. Don’t worry, I took full advantage of the day 🙂

After dropping off my luggage at the AirBnb, I ate lunch at Jack Browns. Jack Browns was the local burger spot in Harrisonburg, VA (where I went to college) and, since I graduated one million years ago, has opened up new locations across the east coast. The original Jack Browns is basically the size of two dorms rooms and gives off dive bar vibes that make your parents question if they should eat the food (I told you it was good, Dad!).

This new Jack Browns was WAY larger and actually had more tables than seats at the bar. Overall, I was impressed with how they replicated the culture/vibe of the original Jack Browns to the new locations….even down to the bras hanging from the ceiling.

In a town with a party school like JMU, bras hanging from the ceiling honestly is not strange. But this Jack Browns in Nashville was not near Broadway and lets just say the lunch clientele did not shout “I GET WASTED AND THROW MY BRAS OFF.”

I started talking with the man seated next to me at the bar who was apparently a bar regular and had just finished a road trip to nine different Jack Browns (literally didn’t even know there were that many locations haha). I asked him about the bras and he told me that its from a fundraiser they do every year during Mardi Gras…except they call it MARDI BRAS 😂😂😂😂

I love that but I was also 99% certain that there was nothing of the sort in the original Jack Browns. I texted a Jack Browns aficionado (aka my friend Ben who also went to JMU) to ask and let the record show: no one has every heard of this fundraiser. Although, I applaud the Jack Browns owners for their marketing strategies and ability to get people to throw their bras in the air haha

Next, I headed to the State Capitol to take a tour. I have always found political history so interesting and Tennessee’s State Capitol did not disappoint. Some of the fun facts I learned:

• Location:
  • The people of Tennessee were like that Katy Perry song, “Hot N Cold”…they could not make up their mind about where the state capital should be located. For the first 50 years, Tennessee had a “rotating” state capital which means that the capital moved between four different cities. There was also a short stint in which Kingston was the capital for a whole 28 hours (apparently Tennessee made a treaty with the Native Americans and as part of that they agreed to move the capital to Kingston. Well that lasted less than a day before they reneged on their deal with the Cherokee Nation. Note to self: Do not enter into a business agreement with Tennessee…)
  • Eventually, they settled on Nashville for the capital and chose their location partially because it was the tallest hill in the city but mostly because they got four acres of free land. It took 14 years and $1 million (in 1840’s dollars) to complete. Nashville officially became the state capital in 1843.
• All dem dead people:
  • Alright I really cannot make this one up. Guess what Tennessee is known for? Having the only state capitol with someone inside the wall….yep, you read that right 😂😂
  • William Strickland designed/oversaw the construction of the state capitol and he decided it was his finest work and thus, he should be buried there? Honestly, I’m still so confused, although I guess in some way he probably is one of the most visited corpses in the state haha.
  • Not to be outdone, Samuel Morgan, who helped finish the capitol building after Strickland died, is ALSO buried in the wall. Morgan is on the south side of the building while Strickland is on the north side.
• Lots of Limestone:
  • The vast majority of the building is made out of limestone which was all locally sourced. They had enslaved workers dig up the foundation and lug limestone. Convicts quarried all the limestone. German immigrants painted all the ceilings and Irish immigrants were the stone cutters.
  • The tour guide shared that in the 1930’s, the Supreme Court moved to a different chamber and in their old chamber they put up cubicles and DRILLED HOLES into the limestone columns. When I heard her say this, I literally felt Andy wincing (and he wasn’t even there so this was some creepy spouse shit).

• Women’s Suffrage:
  • The House of Representative room is where the 19th amendment was ratified! How cool!!! Apparently, Tennessee was the last state needed to meet the 2/3 requirement to ratify the amendment. The amendment went through the state senate easily. In the House, there was a tie. They called another vote: still a tie. On the third vote, Harry Burns changed his vote to yes. Later, he was quoted as saying that he got a letter from his mom and on the last page it said, “Be a good boy and vote for suffrage.”
  • MAMAS FOR THE WIN!

• State Flag:
  • In case you’re wondering, the Tennessee state flag has three stars. The state is long and is split up into three sections – west, middle, east – and each star represents a section of the state. 
• Random Senate Stuff:
  • Okay this is probably only interesting to someone from DC who breathes politics…but the Speaker of the Senate is also the Lieutenant Governor. Apparently, the Lieutenant Governor is elected by senators (total of 33 senators) as they are already a seated senator. Kind of seems like a conflict of interest between the legislature and the executive branch but maybe that’s just me?

Also, if the whole tallest hill thing didn’t give it away, there was a nice view of the city from the top of the state capitol building.

Post-state capitol tour, I went to the local community center to workout. This in itself is really not that exciting but I am adding it in because IT WAS 100% FREE!!! I am not a resident and I could literally walk-up, sign-in and use the gym. Now it wasn’t a fancy gym but it was perfectly acceptable and did I mention that it was FREEEEEEEE?!?

That night, I headed to downtown Nashville and met up with a former colleague, Jerod, for dinner at Assembly Hall. It was great to be able to catch-up with him.

 Delaney arrived late Thursday night. On Friday morning we did the most awesome bike tour with Justin. And for those of you who think we are crazy for doing a three hour bike tour the day before a half-marathon, don’t worry, we had electric bikes and OMG WHY DO I NOT HAVE ONE OF THESE?!?! (Except they cost one million dollars and I really don’t ride my bike enough to justify it…but still, they’re soooo cool!)

I am pleased to introduce you to: Shania (Delaney’s bike) and Dolly (my bike). Because of course a Nashville bike tour would have country-singer themed bikes 🙂

The best part about the bike tour is that we were able to see a part of Nashville outside of the typical Downtown/Broadway tourist area. Some fun facts for your reading pleasure:

• East Nashville: There are 15 neighborhoods that make up East Nashville.
  • Edgewood: One of them is Edgewood, which is where the wealthy people used to live. But in 1916 there was a fire that started at a mill, burning down around 650 structures and leaving people without homes. Instead of rebuilding, the wealthy families moved to other parts of the city. In 1998 a tornado hit the neighborhood again which provided an opportunity to reset/rebuild the area, creating the vibe that still exists today.
  • Five Points: Another neighborhood known for being home to the hipsters of Nashville. A lot of restaurants were made out of houses in Five Points. Also, can we take a second to be hella impressed with the AMAZING Halloween decorations at some of these houses? I laughed so hard at the Bachelorette-themed one (really the skeleton vomiting in the cauldron did it for me 😂😂😂)

• Honky Tonk: Okay, we have all heard of honky tonk but did you know there is an official definition for what makes a location a “honky tonk”? According to Justin to be a honky tonk you need to be a “country bar that has live music, a dance floor and cold beer.” As if anyone would want hot beer but I digress…

• AT&T Batman Tower: The AT&T building in downtown Nashville is famous for looking like Batman…which would be great if that was the intent. Except, apparently it was actually supposed to look like a router. Oops hahaha

• Pedestrian Bridge: The bridge opened in 1909 and was a bridge for cars. There were plans to tear down the bridge in the 1990’s but then the Tennessee Titans moved to Nashville and the city received enough funds to convert the bridge to a pedestrian bridge.

• Natural Disasters: If the fire and tornado I mentioned above wasn’t enough, in 2010 there was a century flood of the river and it devastated downtown. It took a serious amount of money ($2 billion) and time to revitalize the downtown area before reopening.
• Nashville Politics: As per usual, you know I can’t visit a city without noticing the local political signs. In Nashville there were a ton of signs stating “Vote For Nashville.” I asked Justin and he explained that there was a big tax referendum on the ballot in November to enhance public transportation. This is Nashville’s second attempt at a transit referendum; they proposed one on the ballot in 2018 which failed. (Since I am writing this a year later…yikes…I can share that the referendum did pass in November 2024 with 65% voting yes.)

Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend this tour (shout out to Music City Adventure Co.). We had a great tour guide and a fun group of riders. It was a wonderful way to see the city and learn more about the area.

That afternoon, we went downtown for packet pickup and walked around on Broadway before grabbing dinner. While walking on Broadway we were stopped by a promoter who promised us prizes if we were able to get the beanbag into the hole in the cornhole set. We each had three tries. Delaney went first and, unfortunately, did not get any in.

I went next and it’s like all my drunken tailgating came back instantly (or maybe the sad reality is that I never grew out of that phase of my life…no judgments? haha). On my second try, I got the beanbag in the hole and I definitely looked like an obnoxious drunk girl screaming my head off. For clarification purposes, there was no drinking involved at this stage haha…I was just really excited to win.

Except these marketing people were 100% FAKE NEWS! They said we could get a “free night stay” at a hotel if we went to a marketing presentation…that was 3 hours long. Delaney and I looked at each other and said thanks but no thanks.

However, let the record show that I still won. Kthanks.

The next morning was RACE DAY! The Airbnb was within walking distance of the race start which was really nice. I will say that I was surprised with how many people were at the race – I honestly did not think it would be such a large race.

Before signing up for this race, a colleague warned me that Nashville is hilly. Based on his advice, for the first time in my ENTIRE life, I did some training on hills. And honestly bless you Palmer because holy moly the route was hella hilly. Like up down up down up down….oh shoot now its super steep up and super steep down.

The weather was a bit gloomy (cloudy with some sprinkles) but very good running weather. About a third of the way through the race, we passed a massive party bus parked on a closed road. There was a party group on the bus, blasting pump up music and having the time of their life cheering on the runners. I have officially decided that when I stop doing these half-marathons, that is going to be me: mimosas, music and party buses. haha

Ironically, the race route was 75% the same as the bike tour that we had done the day before. Going to be honest with you that I definitely enjoyed that route more while on an electric bike instead of my own two feet…haha

Everything was going great with the race until mile 11. I got the WORST cramps and had to take a breather. Delaney went ahead (with my permission of course since she is great friend and definitely would have stayed with me if I asked). Thankfully, I was able to push through the pain and still finished.

Andddddd then everything went downhill. To spare you the dramatics: Delaney and I both got some kind of food poisoning/stomach bug? We were alternating between the bathroom and the couch for the next six hours.

On the bright side, nothing says bonding like experiencing a stomach bug together? 😂 But really, Delaney and I did have a lot of heart to hearts while sitting on that couch and simultaneously dying.

Somehow, Delaney and I were able to rally that night. Since it was Halloween weekend, we had prepped in advance and brought a costume: ROSE BUBBLY (come on yall…give us props for creativity, this was not AI generated)

We grabbed dinner at one of the hipster spots we passed during our bike tour and then took an uber to Broadway. I will say that Broadway seems like some kind of secretive environment. We went to 3-4 different bars and couldn’t seem to find where the dancing/fun was. Was there music? Yes. Were there people? Yes. Were people dancing and having fun? Nopeeeeee.

We finally ended up at Jason Aldean’s bar and followed the crowd to the rooftop (honestly, we had no idea what we were standing in line for haha). And it was a BLAST! It’s been such a long time since I have just gone out dancing and I forgot how enjoyable it is.

While we were there we ran into a bachelor party: Brandon, Eric and the groom.

Okay, it’s not often that I feel the need to give someone props but shout-out to these random guys because they 100% pulled one over on us and when we found out, I was dying with laughter.

What I thought: Brandon, Eric and the groom are all in the military together. The groom is getting married to his long-time girlfriend and I bought him drinks/shots to celebrate.

Reality: The groom was not the groom hahaha The groom and the rest of the bachelor party were not even at that bar. The fake groom and Eric were actually in the bachelor party but Brandon didn’t even know the groom and was just there to catch-up with his friends.

The funny part about this is that I really should have picked up on the discrepancies because the fake groom was telling me he wasn’t so sure about his girlfriend (sorry Jessica if you’re reading this…maybe time to move on?) and he was so stressed about me buying him a drink in honor of his wedding 😂😂😂

The next morning, Delaney and I went to brunch at Germantown Cafe. I then walked to the Farmer’s Market and checked out the Southern Book Fair and had to stop myself from buying EVERYTHING.

We ended our trip with getting some cupcakes from a local bakery. We shared some with our Airbnb host, Reggie, and his family (wife + two grandsons). Reggie is native to Nashville and was so kind our entire trip. He let us both check-in early and check-out late at no cost.

Thank you Nashville for being such a great host! 🥳🥳🥳🥳