Q&A With St. Jude Rock ‘N’ Roll Running Series Nashville Race Director Erika Larsen

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Photo: Courtesy of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series Nashville

The annual St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series is hitting the streets of Nashville this weekend and participants, friends, families and fans can get involved and enjoy the expanded and new festivities.

People from all over travel to Music City to participate in this race every year, making it a destination spot for those who run for fun and those who take it a bit more seriously. Due to the event’s growth each year, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series team, lead by Race Director Erika Larsen, are continuously working to make the race weekend an event people will want to mark on their calendar.

This year, there will be more ways to get involved without running in Saturday’s marathon and there will be plenty of food, beveragse and live music, including performances all throughout the runners route. The Sports Credential sat down with Larsen to discuss what’s new at this year’s Running Series, her work as Race Director, the event’s growth and its charity work with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Photo: Courtesy of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series Nashville

The Sports Credential: Tell me a little bit about your background. How you got involved with the marathon here in Nashville?

So in college, at Syracuse University, I studied sport management, and I had to create a completed internship. I actually completed the internship with The IRONMAN Group who owns the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series now, and I worked my way up. I started as an intern, got hired in the Customer Service department and worked in that for a couple of years. Through those years, I gained more operational experience and realized that I loved planning and wanted to do more of it. During the acquisition of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series, I was relocated to Nashville, and everything just kind of fell into place from there. I’m really happy to be where I am now.

The Sports Credential: So talk to me about what you’ve been doing with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon over these last few years, and how it’s changed and how it’s grown. What can people, both participants and those who want to attend, expect from this year compared to last couple years?

So obviously, we dealt with COVID, just like everyone else, and things slow down. This year, 2023, we feel like we’re finally back to pre COVID normality, if you will, expecting 25,000 runners, more engagement, more volunteers. It’s just, it’s really feels normal again. As for the changes this year, we’re moving our Expo location, or Health & Fitness Expo, which is Thursday and Friday before the race. This year, it’s being held at the National Municipal Auditorium and Musicians Hall of Fame. Whereas in years past, and normally we’re at Music City Center. So, I think this year, it’s a really cool change. The venue ties in really well with our music, which is one of our core values here, tying in music with running.

Full Marathon Course Map

The courses year over year, since I’ve been involved, have remained relatively the same. We start downtown on Eighth and Broadway. The marathon course this year has changed slightly, we’re going to go back up to Metro Center but the change here, which we haven’t done before, is we’re going to utilize the Cumberland River Greenway to come back into town. It’s flatter, so those runners will see a third less elevation gain, which is huge for marathon runners. And then the finish line has changed, it’s still outside of Nissan Stadium, but the location at the stadium is different. We’re going to be on the South Side closer to the pedestrian bridge. When you finish, you’re going to see the Nashville Skyline right in front of you, our concert beer garden, all those fun things will be in Lot R (at Nissan Stadium) right there. So really just a big open welcoming space, with easy access back to downtown for everyone. So, I think we’re having some really positive changes this year.

The Sports Credential: Who are the types of people that participate in the marathon? Is it more so people who like to run for charity or is it typically people who take the competition more seriously? What can we expect from the actual people running and the participants?

I’m really glad you asked that because here at Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville, we pride ourselves on having a distance for everybody, and when I say everyone, I mean everyone. We have the marathon, half marathon, 10k, 5k, a one mile, kids race and even a dog race. So, you can get involved no matter what your background is, if you want to just come out and have fun or if you want to qualify for the Boston Marathon. We have it all, so I think that’s a really awesome thing here. You can come out and take it super seriously and have a great race, or you can come out and walk around and a hula hoop for the 5k. I’ve seen it all. I think it’s really really great. I’ve seen people walking in tutus, hula hooping, just having a good time. We really welcome everybody.

Photo: Courtesy of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series Nashville

The Sports Credential: It seems like every year, you see more and more people from around the country and around the world participating. How have you seen that grow, attracting more and more international and national runners to this event, making it more than just a Nashville event?

I’m sure you know, Nashville is a bucket list city and we bring the majority of our runners from out of state, which is huge. Nashville itself as a city is super popular and I think people see that we basically cover all the popular spots, neighborhoods, monuments and landmarks with our course. I think it’s a great way to get involved in seeing the city as well as experience what Nashville is. We have over 25 bands and DJs on the course, bringing Music City to our course entertainment. So, all of that encompasses what we do here in Nashville and I think that really appeals to a lot of people who’ve never been here. It creates that bucket list city kind of feel.

The Sports Credential: Can you walk me through the process of how the money gets to St. Jude? Do people just donate? Do the runners get sponsors, portions of the beer sales and stuff like? I’m really curious about how that process works.

So people can obviously make donations to St. Jude directly. The main source of donations and fundraising comes from what we call St. Jude Heroes. What it means to be a St. Jude Hero is you sign up, and commit to fundraising a certain amount. There’s different tiers and you can choose what amount you want to commit to, and that is in lieu of an entry fee. So the heroes that register with St. Jude, that’s where the money comes from. I think we’re on track to raise over half a million dollars this year at this event alone, which is absolutely incredible. St. Jude is a great partner, and I’m super proud to have them as part of this event.

Photo: Courtesy of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series Nashville

The Sports Credential: In terms of this year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, what are you most excited about?

That’s a hard question. I think I’m most excited to see our participant numbers, larger than they have been in the past couple of years. I’m excited for the new changes we have made with music on the course. We’re bringing some really cool elements like party buses, different kinds of music DJs out there, that will be really cool. I’m really excited to see the runners cross the finish line at our new location at Nissan Stadium. I think it’s really just going to create a great backdrop, great atmosphere for our concert and beer garden. Also, for people to just hang out and enjoy Nashville post race. It’s a really hard question to answer. There’s so many different things I’m excited to see come to life, but those are the ones I’m probably most excited about.

To learn more about 2023 St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Nashville coming up this weekend between April 22-23, head to the official website.

Steven Boero
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