Betsy Barbour

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Every once and awhile a person will slip through the cracks of East Nasty and go a little unnoticed, but what can I say when you have big personalities like some of the others in our running group it can be hard sometimes to get noticed. In order to remedy such slip ups, I would like to introduce everyone to seasoned East Nasty that you may or may not know, meet Besty Barbour!

Betsy was born and raised just outside of Syracuse, New York, and later lived in Virginia Beach for 15 years. Come 1997, Betsy and her husband moved to the great city of Nashville. Soon enough she found herself joining the “Corporate Challenge team” at her office, which was lead by running activist Mark Carver. He convinced Betsy to run the one-mile women’s event, and even though she totally underestimated how hard a mile race could be, she enjoyed it. Later on she befriended Erika Uhrlass, who talked Betsy into running a 5k race, then a half marathon, and finally a couple of sprint triathlons, just for good measure.

As luck would have it, the first time Betsy and her friends decided to give East Nasty a try, it was the dreaded (but loved by Will Arnold) Nasty run. They all admit that the run was not their typical easy-going jog, but they loved the spirit of the group and the challenge of the East Nashville terrain.

As a person who was once the stereotypical kid picked last in gym class, Betsy is now psyched about all her accomplishments in running. Not only has she conquered and enjoyed every Nashville race offered, she is now running trails for the first time and loving it.  PLUS! Betsy has been the race director for the Inglewood 5K race since 2008. The race is held in October each year and benefits the Inglewood Neighborhood Association and the Isaac Litton Middle School Book Room. Betsy admits that putting together a race is a TON of hard work, makes you truly appreciate each race you go to, but in the end it is an extremely rewarding experience overall.

Now, whenever she is not spending time with her husband, working, cooking, practicing yoga, or doing any of her other hobbies, she is either preparing herself for her next race or getting ready to host one herself.

Be sure to introduce yourself to this one-of-kind, class act, that makes our group all the better for having her in it!