For our first (new) East Nasty of Week in 2011, we decided to stay local and nominate someone who was born and raised right here, and by right here I mean East Nashville! So everyone give a big hello and congratulations to Esther Smith.

Like I said above, Esther grew up in this neighborhood and attended Davidson Academy. There she was a tennis star, a scholar, and an all around good natured kid. She decided to attend Belmont University for college, and there she majored in Business Management. Post college she decided to do something a little crazy, she moved to Savannah, Georgia. But thankfully, that sweet, sweet Nashville venom could not leave her system, and thus she returned home again two years later.

Now Esther is happily working for Saint Thomas Health Services, but she told me that she is secretly waiting to be a host on QVC (the home shopping network.) After watching the way Esther helps run the East Nasty Couch to 5K program, I know that she would be spectacular selling cubic zirconium to the masses via television. And it is her work with the Couch to 5K program that has brought her to this illustrious award of being an ENOW.

Esther was a key part of our inaugural Couch to 5K program this last summer for the East Tomato 5K. After hearing all about East Nasty at the Margaret Maddox YMCA, she came out for a run and has been hooked ever since. Not too long after the East Tomato 5k, Esther ran the Nashville’s Women Half Marathon. As she reached the finish line, she saw her parents cheering her on from the sidelines, and she was filled with a mix of emotions from happiness, to excitement, to exhaustion, and she may have even shed a tear. But that is just a part of having an amazing race experience!

Now, whenever Esther is not running or helping out the new Couch to 5k program (which is 3 days a week), she enjoys watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta, spending time with friends and family, and, of course, playing with her little pug Athena, who is just over 3 years old (see below). She plans to run the Country Music Half Marathon this Spring, and continue promoting and helping out East Nasty whenever she can.

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Rod Jones