Richland Creek Run: A Seventh Time to Remember

When I first stepped on from a 5K starting line in October 2006, I never imagine I would have finished one race seven times, much less a race in Nashville. But there I ran, the seventh circuit around the Richland Creek Greenway and Sylvan Park in West Nashville, finishing the Richland Creek Run once again.

The familiarity of the greenway helps; I don't run on this greenway often, but when I do, it's for the Richland Creek Run.


For once, I wore too little. Every year I have gone with a long sleeve T-shirt on a morning when the sun broke through the clouds after the race started. Race after race, I sweltered, shedding layers if I could. I have run this race in rain, summer heat and spring pleasantness, but never has it felt the same two years in a row.

Not this year. Going with short sleeves, I found that in this run, it took me longer than I ever remembered to warm up. I trotted well into my second mile before all the numbness left my fingers and toes.

Short sleeves dominated this year’s race in more ways than one. While my string of RCRs continues at seven, the streak of long-sleeve shirts with Hatch Show Prints ended. For 2014, RCR scaled back the sleeves and went without Hatch Show for the first time. I can only chalk that up to race expenses exceeding printing and shirt costs. To the race organizer’s credit, the early entry fee stayed at $20, one of the best bargains in Nashville running. With non-profit races, they can usually resort to a few tactics to keep entry fees low.

I stumbled across the finish line owning a time worse than any in recent memory, slower than the six previous RCRs, slower than some 10K times from my days of regular running. But I didn’t care. I finished, I flourished and I flashed a better attitude than during any road race in recent years. Running these races without any alcohol the night before can work wonders.