Led by the intrepid Barbara Mathieson, who is serving a two-year term on the Metro Nashville Beautification and Environment Commission, a few hardy Team Hammockites trekked to western Davidson County, Tenn., on Saturday to do our part for the Great American Clean Up. In addition to filling piles of garbage bags with fast food debris, bottles, cans, cigarette butts and other gross litter, we also braved the snaky banks of the Harpeth River to properly dispose of a couple of realty signs. (Who hurls signs off a bridge?)

Join us for next year's "Keep Nashville Clean and Beautiful" project--it's a dirty job, but we promise lots of laughs.

Each year between March 1 and May 31, Keep American Beautiful sponsors the Great American Clean Up to encourage community involvement in keeping America Beautiful.

According to the kab.org website:

In 2007, Great American Cleanup volunteers collected 200 million pounds of litter and debris; planted 4.6 million trees, flowers and bulbs; cleaned 178,000 miles or roads, streets and highways; and diverted more than 70.6 million plastic (PET) bottles and more than 2.2 million scrap tires from the waste stream.

This Saturday, May 17, some of us from Hammock Inc. have volunteered to clean up along McCrory Lane and Charlotte Pike in western Davidson County.

Team Hammock enjoyed its first try at the Country Music Marathon and 1/2 Marathon Saturday morning. The rain cleared in time for the start, and it stayed cool.

We had a blast. We raised a little money, lowered our resting heart rates over the time of training, enjoyed a course-side tent experience (Thanks, Carrie!) and had some fun. We really appreciated our friends who joined us by donating money, running with us or cheering us on.

First of all, thanks to our contributors. You've made great teammates. Thanks to your generosity and to our matches, we are donating $1,600 to four worthy organizations. We will contribute $450 each to the Nashville Adult Literacy Council, Nashville Zoo and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee. We've also made a $250 donation to the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee on behalf of the law firm of Salas & Slocum, who graciously allowed us to set up our tent on their parking lot (and only made us sign a one-page waiver).

Hammock had nine walkers and runners make it across the finish line. We may hold the distinction of the longest-travelling half-marathoner of the day. Patrick Ragsdale, who planned to run the full marathon, was nursing a foot injury that was nagging him all week. Patrick made it to 16, then turned back and finished on the half marathon course. If you're counting, that's a 23-mile run. And yes, Patrick is on crutches today.

Check out this Flickr set of our photos from Race Day.

Our Team Hammock race tent was a welcome sight near mile 8 on the course. Those were our handsome red balloons flying over Music Row. Next year, look for the Hammock blimp.

Rex took the time to capture the experience of running in this phenomenal event with his hand-held high-def video camera. Check it out here. More than 30,000 people were registered participants, and it seems like half of Nashville turned out to cheer on the runners. The energy of the whole day makes me proud to have this great an event in my adopted hometown. I've been a participant in other major races around the country. I'm not sure there is a better one than ours.

Stay tuned to other Team Hammock events. I'll blog more about what we're doing next. We're committed to more than just running. We're trying to integrate our work and our passions with our work in utilizing all the tools of social media to reach goals. Let us know how Team Hammock can work for you.

Later: Thanks to Lynne Boyer for shooting some video of the Team Hammock Spirit Squad.

If you don't mind getting dizzy watching Rex's random camera-work, you can sense how much fun Team Hammock is having preparing for its first big event in this video from the Country Music Marathon Expo:

View Larger Map


First of all, thank you to all of you who made contributions to the team. We're on track to donate more than $1,000 as of today. We will be matching contributions you've made with matches up to $250 from Hammock to the Nashville Adult Literacy Council, Nashville Zoo, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee. We will also be making a donation to the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee fon behalf of Salas & Slocum, who are donating their front yard for our tent set-up. Thanks again for participating with us in this winning effort to help out some well-deserving organizations.

We'd love to see you on race day. If you are running, look for us around mile 8, to your left on 16th Avenue (Music Row headed toward the Roundabout) in the parking lot in front of the law firm of Salas & Slocum. There, rising above Music Row will be a pavilion festooned with Hammock balloons. We'll offer a big "Hooah" or "Oorah" to you when you pass us by.

Underneath our Team Hammock tent will be a table groaning under the weight of a spread of breakfast savories and assorted morning beverages. If you are watching the race, come by and watch it with us and enjoy what we'll have to share. No word as to whether the reunited Led Zeppelin will appear for this event at our tent. I think at this late date, it's unlikely. But we'll have music and it will be appropriate for kids of all ages.

If you are somewhere else on the course, look for our team members wearing the home white uniforms of Team Hammock and cheer for us. Representing Team Hammock from Gallatin, TN Patrick "the Hometown Kid" Ragsdale; Winchester, TN's Barbara Mathieson; Hailing from Phenix City, AL, Rex Hammock; from Aberdeen, MS, Kerri Davis; from Montevallo, AL, Jamie Roberts; the pride of Paintsville, KY, Lena Anthony; Columbia, Ohio's own Megan Pacella; Barbara Logan from Memphis, TN; and John Lavey from Annandale, VA.

Everybody be safe and have a good time.

Bonus link: Here is a Google Maps "Street View" of approximately where the Team Hammock tent will be. We hope to see you there Saturday morning.

View Larger Map