This week I'm happy to introduce you to my friend, and our newest East Nasty of the Week (ENOW), Allison Miles! I met Allison last summer when we trained together for our first triathlon. Facebook friends have undoubtedly seen our moniker, Team Snaids. While training last summer, we came across (literally) a dead rattlesnake in Percy Warner with bees crawling in and out of its mouth. Allison asked what I thought would happen if one of those bees stung us and I responded, *"Snaids". Thus, Team Snaids was born.

*edited for political correctness. You're welcome, Mark Miller.

Allison was born at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, but home is Destin, Florida, where she went to high school and grew up with her sister, Jae, and "the best dad ever", aka The Colonel. She moved 3 times between 6th & 8th grade (13 schools before high school). In high school, she played varsity soccer, rec league softball, surfed A LOT and was a ballet dancer.

Allison went to Ohio State University. After graduation, she started working on her Masters Degree. She had a lot of freedom in that program, so she ended up moving to California and got a job as a tour manager for a pretty successful band. She toured on a bus for three years while finishing her masters and started work on a PhD at Indiana University (via a tour bus!!) Allison had a major ski accident while with the band in Tahoe. Both her academic and tour managing career ended that day.

Allison moved to Nashville in September of 2010, in order to have her fourth, and hopefully last, knee surgery. Allison says, "Apparently I loved the Vanderbilt/Nashville experience so much I decided to stick around." Currently, Allison is an Oncology Clinical Trials Data Analyst at Vanderbilt.

Allison started running for fun on November 9th, 2011: the day she walked out of physical therapy for the last time! Her biggest running accomplishment is running her second fastest post-surgery half marathon as part of the 70.3 Gulf Coast Triathlon two weeks ago. She ran the half in 2:10:55. Allison says, "I was extremely hesitant to push myself on the run portion because my calves had cramped earlier in the race and I wasn't sure if my nutrition plan would hold up. Cautious as I was, walking most of the water stops on the back half and several other portions, I still managed to complete 13.1 well under my goal time."

Allison heard about East Nasty at physical therapy. She hadn't been cleared to run yet, but had been told that it wasn't a good idea to run for fun and she should stick to the elliptical. The guy next to her said, “If you want to have the most fun while running, go to eastnastyforlife.com”. Allison says, "Not going to lie, was a little bit nervous typing that into my browser when I got home. A month later I was cleared and I recruited a friend to join me the following Wednesday."

When asked what she enjoys most about East Nasty, Allison says, "I enjoy being able to share my love for running with a huge group of people. Prior to joining East Nasty I wasn't really living in Nashville. I mean, I lived here, but I didn't know a lot of people and I didn't socialize a lot, but since joining, I’ve made SPECTACULAR friends and even moved to the east side. East Nasty has truly altered my Nashville lifestyle. These new friends have led to countless fun races and glorious new experiences!"

Allison's most memorable East Nasty experience is training for triathlons. Season Kaminski and Jim Schwan convinced her to sign up for a tri sprint race last summer. Season and Jim nudged a little harder this year and next thing she knew she was committed to a half ironman. Since then she's been logging hours with five East Nasties, collectively known as the Fab Five. They are training for Ironman Wisconsin and Allison tagged along for their training schedule. Allison says, "Five months of brutal training, with five amazing men all came together on May 11th when I crossed the finish line in 6:43:18. Thank you to everyone that made my race such a success."

I asked Season for a sentence or two on Allison prior to writing this post & this is what she had to say:

"After running half a season of Fast Track with Allie sometime last year and as an advocate of 'honesty is the best policy', I called her out on sand bagging her training. This could have gone two ways... 1) Allie could have said thanks, let my comment go in one ear and out the other. Or 2) she could ponder my statement for a few days, then take it as a challenge to get better, stronger and faster. She chose #2 and that's why and when our friendship grew into what it is today. I could go on and on about what an intelligent, quick-witted, independent chick she is, but just talk to her for a few minutes one day...and you'll know first hand. Congrats Al, on being the epitome of ENOW."

Allison, girl, you are a badass and this post is well deserved. We're all so proud of you. Congrats and welcome to the ENOW club!

P.S. Read more about Allison's experience at the Gulf Coast Triathlon earlier this month here.