Tennessee

Order in which state was run: 3

Order in which state was admitted into the union: 16

State Flag

 

The three stars on the flag represent the three different land forms in Tennessee. Mountains in the east, highlands in the middle and lowlands in the west. On the flag these regions are bound together in an unbroken circle. The field is crimson with a blue background for the stars. The final blue strip relieves the sameness of the crimson field and prevents the flag from showing too much crimson when it is limp.

  



One could argue that running the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville in 2003 was when my state chasing began.  In 2003, Elite Racing had three races; the Rock n Roll Marathon in San Diego, the Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon in Virginia Beach and the Country Music Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Nashville.  Today elite puts on over a race a month and now has international events in addition to U. S. events in many cities.

For this 2003 race, I had a Timex Ironman? watch that could track up to 30 splits.  No Garmin watch, no Garmin GPS for the rental car.  Actually no rental car.  I took the airport shuttle downtown to the hotel and cabbed it I believe to the Grand Ole Opry.  I do remember attending the post race concert that evening which was a first and only for me.