Since our podcast is named “Running Around Charlotte,” we love to hear from runners themselves about what motivates them, their goals, their running secrets, and their favorite places to train. We have one of those avid runners and cyclists here with us, also a board member with Charlotte Running Club, who likes to talk a bit about safe routes as well — a big welcome to Franklin Keathley!

Good distance running requires a lot of training, as we know…. but training for running, swimming, AND cycling all at once? It takes an “Iron Man”… or “Woman”…  to do it all and win. And today on Running Around Charlotte we have not just one, but TWO Ironman champions and professional triathletes, who also just happen to share the same last name.. and at one point, even the same womb. Say Welcome to twin sisters Kelly and Meghan Fillnow, pro triathletes and owner & manager of Fillnow Coaching.

Are you feeling lucky? Do you like to run? We have the race for you! The Famous Toastery Shamrock 4 Miler presented by Novant Health is coming up March 14th.. and we can almost guarantee you’ll be seeing green. Welcome to Dennis Jackson from Famous Toastery to tell us more.

If you’ve trained as an athlete, you know there is more than one element for success. Natural ability is only part — you also need strength, skill, endurance, and one more thing that helps your body reach its potential — flexibility. It is the element most often forgotten as we carve out time in the weight room and our running routes, but it’s important to keep our bodies healthy and keep injuries at bay.

We’ve got just the person on today’s Running Around Charlotte podcast to help you stay fit, flexible, and balanced in your athletic life – welcome Kara Vincent to the podcast!

When you run, is Dog your co-pilot? Many, many of us wouldn’t consider stepping out for a jog without our best four-legged friend — even if it’s just for a couple of miles while warming up. But is that good for your canine companion? How much is too much?

Our guest today on Running Around Charlotte can answer those questions. Dr. Tom Watson is a former Army combat officer during Desert Storm and now serves Charlotte as veterinary orthopedic and soft tissue specialist, and owner and founder of Carolinas Veterinary Medical Hospital. To his credit, he doesn’t see bears, but does serve lions and tigers and dogs — oh my!

Before you can move thousands of runners through 26.2 miles of Charlotte’s streets, you have to move thousands of pounds of food, equipment, supplies, and even water to strategic spots along the route between the start and finish line.

It’s a big job, and one we’re glad to have good partners for. Gentle Giant Moving Company does the “heavy lifting” – so to speak – for race set-up and tear-down. It’s a LOT of work, as you can imagine, which is why we’re excited to have Bob Farnum and Michael Valle from Gentle Giant to tell us how it’s done.

We can boast about a lot of firsts in Charlotte, but this one makes us proud in the running community — a program most runners, and so many others, have heard of by now called Girls on the Run. It’s a popular afterschool program that allows girls to learn about inner strength, confidence, and their own health and fitness, by using running to teach skills of character, care, and self-reliance.

Girls on the Run started more than 20 years ago in Charlotte, and now counts nearly 4,000 girls locally in Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties.. and even more nationwide, now counting more than a MILLION girls who have participated in all 50 states! Just hearing that makes all of runners here in Charlotte stand up a little taller and maybe even, run a little harder? Joining us today on Running Around Charlotte is the local director for Girls on the Run, Maghan Knight.

We know that training never stops, not even in winter — but sometimes we itch for someplace new and different to stretch our legs. If you haven’t been to the trails at the U.S. National Whitewater Center, then that is the place you’re looking for.

In addition to its whitewater course and rock climbing walls, the Whitewater Center has a multitude of trails down by the Catawba River that are a great place to run and explore. Today on Running Around Charlotte, we have the Whitewater Center’s director of brand experience, Cooper Lambla, to tell us about the trails… and also about the center’s role in keep the great outdoors and important part of a growing Charlotte.

If you live in Charlotte, and especially if you have a daughter in our elementary schools, you’ve probably heard of Girls on the Run – a program that started here, and encourages girls of all athletic abilities to run for fun and fitness. But did you know there is a similar program for boys? There is — and it is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year! Congratulations to “Let Me Run,” a non-profit program to encourage boys in 4th through 8th grade to be healthy, build relationships, and live active lifestyles.

Let Me Run also started here in Charlotte, the brainchild of a Girls on the Run coach with two sons. It now has more than 50 chapters and has registered more than 30-thousand boys since 2009. The Greater Charlotte Regional Director Jay Seago joins us on Running Around Charlotte to celebrate this big milestone for the program.

Once the new year hits, many of us think about ways we can improve. Can we be better friends, better runners, better people… you name it. No matter how “good” we do things, there’s one area that most of us can probably find room for improvement— and that’s how we feed and fuel our bodies.

Exercise, sleep, and diet are arguably the three legs of the table that help us stay in balance. And you can pretty much feel it when they get out of whack. Our next guest knows a little bit about that, too. Matt Dengler of RxRD Nutrition is a registered dietician, a self-professed CrossFit addict, a former college football player, and a whole lot more. Now, he’s in the profession of making sure folks of all sorts are making the most of what they put in the tank.