Our latest East Nasty of the Week is a scuba diving firecracker who moonlights as the head cheerleader for Lasty Nasty. Nasties, it is my pleasure to introduce you to your ENOW, Beth McCaskill!

Beth was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Growing up, she played t-ball, softball and ran cross-country in high school. While attending UT Martin, she became a workaholic and did nothing that would be considered healthy or active! Beth works as a Litigation Paralegal at Bass Berry & Sims.

Beth started running in 2009 when she realized that her genetics and health were going to start declining if she didn’t do something before her 40th birthday! She had spent too many years on her butt and no longer recognized the person she saw in the mirror. Beth decided to see if she could track her old self down!

Beth participated (mainly walked) in the 2009 Womens Half. After what felt like a day to complete, thinking her feet would explode, Beth learned why people RUN those races! The following summer, Beth started looking around for Couch to 5K programs and found Potato to Tomato. It had already started, but Beth signed up and showed up at the next practice. She learned that signing up and showing up is half the battle. And if you know Beth, then you know she'll sign up and show up for almost anything now!

Recently, Beth ran her first sub-30 5K, her biggest accomplishment to date! She was also pretty happy with her 2:30 finish time at CMM year before last (officially it was a 2:36 because of the pouring rain and a bathroom line at mile 7, but Beth hit her goal on her watch, so she’s going with that!). She will beat it officially at some point!

Beth loves coaching and training for the Tomato 5K. She says that it's an amazing feeling to run your team across the finish line and see how many people you can encourage to stick with it. Beth loves seeing the new faces and bringing them into the East Nasty family. She never understood the point of “group running” until she showed up for that first P2T practice. Now she loves to show new runners what that is all about and how beneficial it really is. Beth LOVES all of the amazing friends and running buddies she has made through East Nasty, saying, "My support system and friend pool has expanded tremendously since becoming a part of East Nasty and I feel so blessed for that. I love Nashville’s entire running community and love being a part of it!"

Fellow ENOW, Susi Glenn Willis, has this to say about her friend Beth:

I have to say my introduction to Beth came via her Lasty Nasty Facebook posts giving play-by-play directions for the weekly runs. I wondered who is this lady passing out little direction cheat sheets? Little did I know she would become part of my inner circle of friends! She's the one I count on at 6am Tabatas to help make the workout fun. She is like a non-stop energizer bunny and without trying, makes every training, run or dinner a party. Should I mention she also decorates cakes? Beth coaches Potato to Tomato runners and this lady is also one of Team Magic's newest members! We run with all kinds of greatness at East Nasty, folks!

Running is great - blah, blah, blah, but Beth's true love is scuba diving! She would rather be under water with sharks, turtles and whatever else, than anything else in the world. Her new goals on land include an Olympic distance triathlon in 2015 and maybe an Ironman by age 50. As Susi mentioned above, Beth recently became a team member of Team Magic and is looking forward to being able to further immerse herself in the triathlon lifestyle!

Beth, you are one of my favorite people and I'm so glad East Nasty brought us together. I would like to point out all of the exclamation marks in this post are Beth's. I left them in because it's exactly how she talks in person. A lot of you may not know Beth because she runs at 5:45pm with Lasty Nasty, but do yourself a favor and seek her out. She is one the brightest lights in our little running group.

Congrats, Beth! Welcome to the ENOW club!