A marathon weekend

Two or three weekends ago I accompanied some runners (new friends from church) to Nashville for the Country Music Marathon. Three of my friends were running the ½ (Esther, Sarah, and Emory), and I and 2 others (Ginger and Amy) tagged along for fun and support. Upon arrival in Nashville (which took about a 4 SCORE and 7 years because one friend insisted on taking the Natchez Trace, not knowing about the 35 detours along the way), we took the runners downtown to register.

Emory and Sarah

After said registration, we went to Mafioza’s to eat. In case you aren’t familiar with Nashville, it is a large city that houses lots of people, to state the obvious. I have eaten at Mafioza’s before, but I didn’t wait an hour to be seated and another hour to receive my food at the previous visit. It was still good, though. I'm so thankful for friends in a new place!

Us waiting to be seated

Saturday morning, Amy and Ginger slept in and I met my friend Carrie Anne and her husband for a delightful breakfast. Upon returning to the room, Ginger and Amy were just rousing. The runners started their morning at 5:00 and said they’d be back by 10:30. We watched for them on the news, but didn’t see them. (No, we didn’t go watch them run.) And, 10:30 rolled around and the runners weren’t back yet, so the fans checked out and headed to the mall. Much to our surprise and delight, it was TAX-FREE weekend in TN!

As you may know, I am a bargain shopper. TO THE EXTREME. In fact, I challenge anyone to a bargain-shopping duel. No one finds better deals than I do. It’s a scientific fact. Anyway, tax-free weekend works like this: there is no tax on clothing items and other stuff that I forgot about because I stopped listening after that. Shopping for clothes is my favorite form of shopping (even more than home décor or furniture, etc.), but I never by anything at full price. I got a seersucker Gap skirt for $5.99, and it was actually $5.99 because it was TAX-FREE weekend! (Each time I type that phrase, the hallelujah chorus plays in my ears). I also got some seersucker Gap shorts for $6.99 and some black pointy-toe shoes for $9.99 – all tax free!! For some strange reason, Target wasn’t having that tax-free thing, but I still got some deals on some jeans ($12) and some green chinos ($16) there. It was a fun trip.

Ginger and I even tried on some crazy shoes for fun! The heels were so tall that I had to bend way down to put them on, but I had to do it in installments because all the blood was rushing to my head. She had the better idea of sitting down and putting them on, but it took her a while to get off the ground for the pic.



It was a fun getaway. Now, you runners need to find a marathon at the beach. I’d be really supportive then!