We know a lot of our listeners are hard-core runners. You love the marathons, training on long runs, and you wear out a lot of shoes. Our next guest on Running Around Charlotte has a slightly different point of view, as she calls it, because she fully admits to running at the back of the pack.

Mandy Carter calls herself an “average runner” who started running later in life – she has 2 kids, a law degree, and several jobs; knows a thing or two about time management, and really just wants to be that person who encourages others to start moving. She’s also issuing a challenge for the new year, and joins us now to tell us what it is. Welcome Mandy!

If you’re a runner – or even if you’re not – chances are you’ve been around one of our next guest’s projects. There are 230 of them, encompassing more than 21,000 acres across the county. From greenways to playgrounds to pavilions to pickleball – Mecklenburg County Park and Rec has your recreation needs covered! Bert Lynn joins us today – he’s the Capital Planning Division Director – and will fill us in on what’s new and what’s coming up!

Happy New Year everyone, and why not kick it off with some new goals for 2021? Everyone has them.. and number one on the list of most popular is always, “Eat better and exercise more.” And of course we all want to lose that extra 10 or 20 pounds that made itself even better known this year, right? So how do we do that? We have just the guy to answer that question.

Matt Dengler is a registered dietitian and owner of RxRD Nutrition, and what’s even better is…. he lays it all out in a way that’s easy to understand. Welcome to back the Running Around Charlotte podcast, Matt!

We don’t have to explain a runner’s relationship with food – we all have one. Marc Jacksina’s relationship with food goes several steps further, though, as an award-winning chef of some of the Charlotte area’s top restaurants. It can be a stressful business, but he’s overcome that, too – and some other major obstacles in life – by running. We’re excited to welcome Marc to today’s Running Around Charlotte podcast.

Now that there’s a chill in the air and winter is at hand, we get to see a popular feature come back to Charlotte’s Whitewater Center for the whole family to enjoy. The installation “Lights” takes you on a tour full of unusual and artistic lights on one of the Whitewater Center’s wooded trails. The trails are popular with runners year-round, and the lights were an even more popular touch — with 80,000 visitors last year. We have the artist, Meredith Connelly, and Jesse Hyde from the Whitewater Center to tell us more about the installation and partnership.

We were delighted to see how many runners got excited about the Novant Health virtual Charlotte Marathon and turned in some good runs in November. Usually joining us on that day is Dr. Keith Anderson, our marathon Medical Director, but he’s been busy nonetheless organizing some Ironman races. Dr. Anderson is a physician specializing in Family Sports Medicine at the Novant Health Cotswold Medical Clinic. Welcome back to Running Around Charlotte, Keith!

Running sometimes has us nursing our sore legs, but our next guest has the workouts and the after-care down pat. Meet Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Ambassador Deanna Nichole — a Nurse, Marine, Mom of two Marines, Cross Fitter, and of course, runner. And she is bringing us that energy on today’s Running Around Charlotte!

It is always an honor and a pleasure to have an elite marathoner with us on Running Around Charlotte, and today is that day – as we welcome Charlotte’s ONLY female Olympic Trials Marathon Qualifier to our podcast.

Paula Pridgen picked up running at a late age, by most standards… AFTER college. She has now run in not only Olympic Trials, but Boston and New York, and the upcoming elites-only Project Marathon in December in Arizona. Welcome Paula!

We know a marathon is a long run. We know training for a marathon involves a LOT of long runs. But in this era of canceled races, one man came up with a solution that went beyond virtual… to REALLY go the distance.

Joshua Miller turned his annual St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon — which was canceled — into a 410-mile trek through the North Carolina mountains on his way from Charlotte to Nashville. He ran, he cycled, and most importantly, he raised money for St. Jude while his wife and kids followed along in an RV. And he’s here today on Running Around Charlotte to tell us more about his amazing trek.

IThe Turkey Trot is one of Charlotte runners’ oldest Thanksgiving Traditions. For the past 31 years, up to 10-thousand runners have gathered behind SouthPark Mall on Thanksgiving Morning to run a 5k or Fun Run with the whole family.

Well, we know we can’t do that this year — but the 32nd Annual Turkey Trot is still alive and well… in your neighborhood, or along your favorite route. And there’s one other change this year — a new tradition — in that your registration will support a charity in Charlotte. This year’s Virtual Turkey Trot will help us reach our goal of providing shoes for 500 Charlotte-area children through Samaritan’s Feet. Great organization, and co-founder Tracie Ohonme is here with us today to share what they’re all about.