Achilles International - Nashville

RACE PICTURES ARE HERE!! Thank you Paul Downey for these amazing moments!

Here are the photos for viewing:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bXM3psx7MPy9oDRiKbpz5ywkx5yBjO1a?usp=sharing

And here's the full zip for downloading:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19ewFyFdGghsYxBxy2onK8hLiDgIheBtl/view?usp=sharing

Today was about so much more than a race. It was about more than 1 mile or 5 miles…

The Hope & Possibility Race is a reminder of what can happen when we focus on what people CAN do.

Go Achilles!!!

TOMORROW!!!! It’s our Hope and Possibility race!!!

Tomorrow is the big day!! We can’t wait to see you tomorrow, 9/5, Saturday 7am at Richland Creek Greenway at 5100 Wyoming Ave, Nashville TN 37209.

We can’t wait!!!!!!

Your last chance for packet pickup is TOMORROW 3-6pm at McCabe Community Center!!! See you then!

Go Achilles!

Packet pickup, getting all things race ready and some HOT miles tonight at practice as we countdown the last couple of days to Hope and Possibility!!!!! WE CANNOT WAIT!!!!

See you Saturday!! 👀

We love ABLE Youth!!

ABLE Youth helps kids with physical disabilities grow in their independence skills through participating in adaptive sports so that they can graduate high school and go to college and/or enter the workforce and live life doing what they want to do and live as independently as possible. ABLE Youth has been a beneficiary of and an enthusiastic participant in the Hope and Possibility Race since the beginning, and it’s amazing to see pictures of the first race and how some of our athletes who participated then are now in college and beginning adulthood.

The ABLE in ABLE Youth is an acronym, both for Athletes Building Life Experiences and Adapt, Believe, Love, and Enjoy, four qualities we believe are critical to living life successfully from a wheelchair, which we call The ABLE Way. We participate in all kinds of adaptive sports in addition to running, from wheelchair basketball to wheelchair tennis to adaptive rock climbing to our monthly Super Sports Saturdays. Some of our kids go on to play collegiate wheelchair sports. Another huge aspect to ABLE Youth are the friendships made. Most of our kids don’t go to school with other kids with physicals disabilities, so when they’re at ABLE Youth may be the only times in life when they see someone who looks like them. They make friends who really get it when it comes to living life from a wheelchair, and through our alumni, they see what their futures can look like.

ABLE Youth helps our kids know that anything is possible for them and that they all have bright futures ahead.

One of our Achilles athletes Amy Saffell became the Executive Director in 2017 but started out as a volunteer when she moved to Nashville in 2004. Having grown up in Atlanta and experiencing how vital adaptive sports were to her in her own life, Amy says, “I for sure wouldn’t be where I am today without the adaptive sports I had as a kid, and I now want to help kids in Nashville have even more opportunities in adaptive sports than I had.”

One more reason why to join us this Saturday for Hope and Possibility!!

Practice on Wednesday Sept 2....There is an extreme heat advisory for Wednesday. We have packet pickup for the Hope & Possibility run/ walk from 4-7 Wednesday and will have practice...HOWEVER plan to walk, take it easy....maybe just walk on over to Edley's Bar-B-Que as it is the first Wednesday of the month!

SAVE THE DATE!! 🍦

Our DAY OF GIVING is September 17th and we have a goal and it includes ice cream!!!!!!!!

Go to the Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams in 12 South anytime between 4-7pm and 25% of all purchases go to support our chapter. We are also celebrating Megan Conner ‘s bday and she is planning to get there around 5:30pm! Come and get a cone for a great cause and celebrate!!

WHY IT MATTERS MONDAY 💛 | Meet Sara “Lizzy” Harris

Sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is show someone else what’s possible.

Sara Harris was born with dysarthria and quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She was adopted, is a very proud aunt to seven, lives on a ranch, loves getting lost in a good book, and—perhaps most importantly—has never been afraid of a challenge.

Her Achilles story began when her mom spotted Achilles at the Flying Pig Marathon, right around the time the local chapter was launching.

At the time, she moved with a reverse walker. Then she decided to try something different.

She made the leap to handcycling and started taking on big races.

Since joining Achilles in 2012, she has become a 5x marathoner and hasn’t looked back, but her favorite Achilles memory isn’t one of her own finish lines…

It’s watching an athlete named Austin, who also has cerebral palsy, cross the 5-mile finish line on his canes. He started two hours before everyone else and finished an hour after the rest of the group.

But he finished.

And Sara says watching that determination was unforgettable. 🙌

Today, Lizzy serves as the US Regional Manager for Achilles International, supporting chapter leaders, tackling technology, and helping keep the daily operations moving so athletes across the community can thrive.

And she’s still setting goals of her own.

💛 Short-term: Cross a short race finish line side-by-side with Kathryn.

💛 Long-term: Expand the Southeast region—and maybe, just maybe, figure out how to launch a campus program initiative.

That’s why it matters.

Because sometimes the person crossing the finish line becomes the person standing at the starting line for someone else.

She isn’t just chasing her own goals. She’s helping create a world where more people believe they can chase theirs, too.

That’s Achilles. That’s why it matters. 💛

Sign up for our Hope and Possibility race this Saturday - link in our bio and on our site and join Lizzy and other athletes at the starting line!!