This week’s ENOW just might be the nicest guy at East Nasty, which is saying a lot. Ladies and gents, it’s my pleasure to introduce to you the newest ENOW, Mr. Quincy Acklin!

Quincy was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama (No surprise there as most of the best people hail from the great state of AL). In high school, he was a self-proclaimed “huge band geek". Apparently, he could blow a mean trumpet. He didn't play any sports in high school, but he still had style and swagger. In fact, he was named “best dressed” his senior year of high school.

After high school, Quincy attended undergrad at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Alabama where he majored in Psychology. His college life was absolutely awesome. He learned a lot, had some incredible experiences, and made some great, lifelong friends.

He always knew that he wanted to do something in business, but he was also fascinated by Psychology. He found a graduate degree that combined both interests. Quincy obtained his Master’s in Industrial/Organizational Psychology which is the study of human behavior in the workplace and applies psychological theories and principles to organizations. Best dressed AND super smart.

Quincy ended up in Nashville thanks to Careerbuilder.com (Yes, it actually works.). His prior employer ran across his resume and called him for an interview. He never really considered Nashville as an option since his only memories of Nashville were coming up to Opryland Park on the church bus. However, the interview went well, and he’s been a Nashvillian for almost 10 years.

Currently, Quincy is the HR Program Consultant for the Tennessee Department of Human Resources. His division is responsible for maintaining job classifications according to state and federal guidelines, changing job requirements, reviewing and maintaining salary data and using that data to assist in making recommendations for salary administration policies and adjustments in the state’s compensation structure. Like I said, super smart.

As for when he started running, Quincy wanted to run a 5k in the spring of 2010 but knew he would never motivate himself enough to train on his own. He looked up “Nashville and running groups” and found himself training every Monday with a group created by “I Run For the Party.” He ran his first 5k on July 4th 2010. Thank goodness for the power of Google!

Quincy has three accomplishments in running that stand out the most to him. The first is running a sub-2 hour half marathon. He completed the 2014 Country Music Half in 1:59:09. It was his fourth time running this particular race, and he crushed it!

Half Marathon 2012 with fellow East Nasties

Because of his awesome performance at this year’s Country Music Half, Quincy received the “Most Improved Half Marathoner” certificate at the East Nasty post-marathon party. He had trained with the East Nasty training group from January to April. Those first months were pretty tough, and he was finishing dead last. By April, all of that had changed, and it felt great that others noticed his improvement. This award was his second biggest accomplishment to date. Finally, he completed the Ragnar Relay Series, and as he puts it, “enough said”. No doubt, Quincy!

Quincy has been running with East Nasty for quite some time. In the summer of 2011, he participated in Fleet Feet’s 12-week Summer Speed Sessions class. During these sessions, the same guy always seemed to run next to Quincy every week. After running next to each other for so long, the two started talking and motivating each other to push harder. At the end of the 12 weeks, Quincy made the comment “that this was fun and [he] hated it had to end.” Quincy’s new running pal replied “it doesn’t have to! I run with the East Nasties on Wednesday nights, and you should join.” And that’s all she wrote, folks—thanks to Brad Mitchell, Quincy has been running with the Nasties ever since.

Quincy loves the camaraderie most about East Nasty. He loves how everyone is so friendly and encouraging and that he can always count on someone motivating him to get up those darn East Nashville hills.

Aside from running and being a sharp-dressed man, he loves watching movies (independent, comedies, drama), reading a good piece of fiction, and hanging with friends. There is nothing better than an adult beverage with good friends. You got that right, Quincy!

Congrats on the well-deserved honor of being this week’s ENOW!