Our next guest on The Running Around Charlotte Podcast “might” have one of the coolest jobs going. Chatting it up with celebrities, getting the good seats and backstage passes to ALL the big shows… or meeting and writing about “regular” people with incredible — and sometimes heartbreaking — stories. 

Théoden Janes is an Ironman, Boston marathon finisher, and then some. He’s also a father, husband, and lifestyle and entertainment writer for the Charlotte Observer.

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There is something to be said about consistency. Like “The Rock” said, “success isn’t always about greatness… it’s about consistency.” 

“Consistent” is truly a word we can use to describe our next guest here on The Running Around Charlotte Podcast. In fact, he’s been a part of this event almost as long as we have! 

Dave Behrens has run EVERY iteration of the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon… and he’s back again this year for a run at making it 19 in a row. 

Dave, welcome to the program!

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As the saying goes, “Girls on the Run is so much fun.” But the program is about a whole lot more than that. And, yes, it’s a whole lot more than just running, too. 

This homegrown program is truly one-of-kind, helping girls build the confidence, strength of character, and endurance to take on the world. Along the way, they’ll make new friends, and build healthy mental and physical habits that will truly last a lifetime. 

Karen Gipson is the Executive Director for Girls on the Run – Greater Charlotte. She’s our guest here on this episode of The Running Around Charlotte Podcast.

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For folks who don’t know… Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital is the official beneficiary of the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon. The Marathon is proud to raise awareness – and money — for such an important and remarkable place in the Charlotte community. 

All that “remarkableness” doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Along with the medical team and staff, it takes folks dedicated to fundraising to make it happen. 

Amy McKinney is one of those dedicated people. She’s the philanthropy manager at the Novant Health Foundation – and she’s our guest on this episode of The Running Around Charlotte Podcast. 

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Our first guest today was actually our very FIRST guest on The Running Around Charlotte Podcast. If you’ve been running around Charlotte at all, then you probably know Lisa Landrum.

She’s the creator of the online and “in real life” community that is Run Charlotte Run. She’s the founder and head coach of Forward Motion. She’s a longtime pace team member here at the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon. She’s also a mom, spouse, all-around good people, and a personal friend… 

Lisa Landrum, thanks for being on this episode of The Running Around Charlotte Podcast! 

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There’s lots of new stuff happening at this year’s Novant Health Charlotte Marathon and Marathon Expo. For starters, we’re expecting a whole lot more of you — that’s exciting! From live music, barbecue, a new Expo location, and a LIVE broadcast recording of The Running Around Charlotte Podcast, it’ll be a jam-packed weekend for sure. Tim and DC hit the highlights on this week’s show.

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Here’s a hot take for you: The Novant Health Charlotte Marathon has donated nearly $300,000 to Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital since 2013. Last year, we upped our donation goals with the launch of Team Hemby. This year, a Team of Charity Chasers joins the effort… and there’s an all-new initiative you may have seen… the Miracle Miles. Betsy Zarzour joins us today to give us the ins and outs on ALL these new programs, and how YOU can get involved.

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If you feel you’ve “been there, done that” with your running, we’ve got a different kind of challenge for you. Running the half-marathon with a weighted backpack.  You may have heard of “rucking” — which is basically a form of military training where you run miles with a full backpack. In case you didn’t know, the Novant Health Charlotte

Marathon has a Rucking Division in the half-marathon race, and on today’s Running Around Charlotte Podcast, our man Mike Sweeting joins us to explain more about it.

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One of the easiest ways to give back to your running community is to volunteer at a running event. There are lots of ways to do it, and most any kind of help is welcome. 

Arguably, one of THE most rewarding volunteer opportunities is serving as a pacer or pace team leader at an event. Guiding someone or a group of runners you might not know or ever see again… and getting them to the finish line for the first time or their best time. There’s really nothing like it. 

And once some runners get into the pacing game, they just keep on keeping on. One of those runners is BD Sechler. You’ll see him at this year’s Novant Health Charlotte Marathon… AGAIN! 

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DC, do you have plans on Thursday night? Well, you do now… if you’ve yet to make it out to the Birdsong Run Club you’re missing out on ANOTHER excellent opportunity to do a little running around Charlotte. (See what I did there?)

They meet Thursday nights at 6:30 at the taproom on North Davidson here in Charlotte. The Birdsong Run Club has a mix of a couple different routes, and some fun folks to run around with. We’ve got a couple of them right here on the program today! 

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