The Red Boots Chronicles: Nashville
This past weekend I had the pleasure to attend an (amazing) event , ReDefine Beautiful and Let It Begin With Me, at Crossfit Solafide, thanks to the wonderful Nicole Spitzack (and our travel agent Cole). In addition to this event I got to see Clarksville, Nashville, and meet some wonderful people.
EARLY Friday morning…okay 6am…Nicole picked me up and we caught a direct 7:40am flight to Nashville. I slept the whole flight (shocker) so I don’t have much to say about that, LOL. Upon arrival, we got our rental TRUCK and went in search of food. She took me to the cutest little cafe called Marche where we had brunch (I had a cup of coffee and the American Breakfast, 2 eggs over easy, potatoes and the BEST bacon I have ever had in my life, seriously). We then went to Whole Foods to get breakfast foods for the next day, but not till after we went in Lululemon (duh…priorities).
We got on the road and made the beautiful 45min drive to Clarksville. Even though I thought the purple trees were breath taking, Nicole told me that was nothing and most things were not in bloom yet. We made it to our cabin in the woods and got settled and changed into gym clothes and headed to the gym to finalize a few things for the event and get a workout in.
Pause…let me talk about CrossFit Solafide for a min…if you are not a crossfitter feel free to skip over this part. CrossFit Solafide (history in link) was founded by Nicole and her husband Cole in 2009. Like many boxes it started in a garage and grew and grew. (Side note: I got to see the original space and it was pretty neato to see where it had started to where it is now). This space had everything a crossfitter could want or need. It had a lifting area as well as a large open area (great for long handstand walks). There were multiple rigs in the facility and an area dedicated just for weightlifting filled with oly plates and jerk boxes. Out back they had a WIDE variety of tires and stones to fill your strong man needs…there was also a tall wall to practice climbing over. For my parents, there was child care area and a strong kids program. This is all in addition to the community…and I just met a few of the women there.
After our workout we went back to our cabin in the woods, cleaned up and went to eat sushi at Kohnana with some of the ladies from the community. I learned a lot at this dinner…let me share with you a few things. For those that don’t know (I didn’t) many (Nicole said 70%) of the families in the town are military “related”. Therefore, most of the women I met this weekend are married to soldiers….that are currently on deployment or have been deployed or are potentially going to be deployed. HOLY HELL these are some strong women. I’m not talking about physically strong, while yes they are that too, but the mental strength in these ladies is unbelievable and the support they offer each other…WOW. While they graciously included me in conversation and welcomed me with open arms I sat back and watched and listened in amazement. These women do it all. They handle all “household duties” SOLO including raising kids while their husbands are away. They will go, days, weeks months not hearing from their husband. Sometimes their husbands will come home only to have to get up and go again and sometimes they cannot even tell their family where they are going. They do all this in addition to running family/personal business, training and being active in their community. I was blown away at their ability to do it all. Conversation flowed easily…stories were shared…and lots of laughs were had.
Once we got back to the cabin we realized we got all dressed up and didn’t take one pics…so we took one. The lady in this pic with Nicole and me is name Marlie, one of Nicole’s old training partners and all around great gal, mother of Ella, wife to Harry (a soldier) and a stellar athlete. She is also one of those fantastic military wives I was talking about earlier. We crawled in to bed shortly after getting home for a good night sleep.
We were up and at ’em the next morning…drinking coffee (duh), eating breakfast and before we realized we need to move a little faster to make a 7:30am meeting at the gym. The ladies had the gym looking spotless! We socialized for a bit, visiting with vendors and checking out the raffle. Nicole G. (new owner) asked everyone to gather. She welcomed everyone and introduced (even though most knew her), Nicole S. 
Nicole delivered a VERY impactful message to sum up the title of what ReDefine Beautiful and Let It Begin With Me means. In addition to the history of this 5 year event, she reminded us to support each other and to listen and be compassionate towards each other. She reminded us to love each other and to take care of each other. To cut down on the drama. Her message was kind, thoughtful and defiantly hit your heart. During the next part of the event, Nicole, had 12 women (she hand picked) stand up in front of their friends/strangers/peers and share their story. Their obstacle. A life event they have overcome. Some of these women have never shared their story. She gave these twelve women a chance to share which opens up the door for conversation, an explanation or their ability to help others who might be in of something.
Next, the floor was cleared and we started heat 1 of the workout. There were 4 levels of workouts for the wide variety of women that was there. I got to participate in Level 4 heat 9 with the other Coaches, the last heat. During the other heats we all helped changed weights for others and so of course my inner coach came out. Our workout was programed by Nicole S…and I loved it!
The WOD was great and the raffle was even better. We said our goodbyes and headed to Nashville.
We arrived at the hotel, grabbed a bite to eat at the hotel restaurant we CRASHED. After a long and much needed nap, we got fancy (aka I put on my red boots) and we headed downtown. We had tacos and margaritas at Saint Amejo. Then we took on the town. We packed like we were defiantly from Texas, so we were cold BUT we made it to White Horse Saloon for some honky tonking. Coming from a girl who loves to Two Step…they do things a little different. They were into line dancing. At one point they had a lady teach a line dance (that I practiced on the side) then I drugged Marlie out on the floor and made her dance with me. Then I made Nicole two step with me. I was determined to put some Nashville scuffs on these red boots. Since it was way passed our bedtime we called and uber and headed back to the hotel.
Sunday morning…Marlie got up and headed back home and Nicole and I slept some more. We woke up for yummy omelets, but then went back to bed…and it was grand! We left the hotel with a checklist in hand! First stop was to see these graffiti wings. Check! Next we went to eat at Josephine (we both had the quiche). It was really good. We walked around some of the cute little shops there before heading to the Grand Ole Opry. We thought we were going to be able to just walk around the facility, as Nicole had done in the past, but now you have to have a fancy tour, blah. We walked around there and the hotel next to it. She then drove me down the street that we walked the night before. It wasn’t as bad as seeing 6th street in the daylight but it was something. We then found a cute little coffee shop where we got a coffee & a paleo donut before heading to the airport to board our plane home.
HUGE thank you to Nicole for EVERYTHING (and to Cole our distant travel agent who kept us straight) this weekend. For including me, tolerating me, and for giving me a chance to share my story hoping to help others. It was a pleasure getting to know you. Austin is lucky have yall even if it is for a short time. All the love lady!
