Blog: Feature Stories

Some runners live for it. Some runners don’t. Or won’t. And some runners want to become a Local Legend, Expert, king (or queen) of the mountain, etc., — and want you to know about, too. You’ll usually see them launching a full-on sprint along random stretches of sidewalk or dirt during their usual running route. It’s a thing.

We’re talking about run data collection apps like Strava, Map My Fitness, Komoot, Peloton, Garmin Connect, and others. These platforms track runs and rides and other activities via GPS data uploaded by your fancy watch, and feature social components for sharing and community. Athletes can use them as a storehouse for training and racing data, route planning, workout scheduling, and other functions. Social or community features allow data to be shared and compared. That shared data can be a useful training tool or inspiration, it can also generate undue stress in the same “culture of comparison” that social media can foster.

What’s in it for you…

Want to see where your friends run? Fitness tracking apps allow you to view routes, collect run data like pace, and elevation, and the like. Some allow you to plug in a personal recap and pictures from your run. Kind of like a social media platform for athletes. You can follow not only your friends but the pros, as well. Presuming, of course, you’d consider it kind of cool to see what kind of run-day Shalane Flannigan had.

PRO:  route planning, mileage tracking, personal stat tracking, run club route previews, inspiration, relationship, and community-building, diet and food intake diaries, and then some.

CON:  run stalkers (note: having a private account is an option, and allows only friends to see your runs), it invites comparison (never good), and it’s easy to lose the joy of running by focusing only on the data.

Feeling good about a run? Let your friends congratulate you by giving you a thumbs up or “kudos.” Feeling bad about a run? Check out someone who just ran that same route faster than you: it will make you feel worse. Just like all social media platforms, there is definitely an element of popularity or self-worth attached to all of those likes or comments a run gets.

PRO: confidence boosting

CON: confidence busting

Like most things, only you can decide whether the pros outweigh the cons.

What actual runners say about it…

CON viewpoint:  I run primarily for my mental health, and race for fun.  I know that my reaction to seeing other people’s easy paces is going to be to judge mine, and that’s a double-edged sword: 1) it takes away some of my joy and 2) (more importantly) I am likely to push too hard during my easy days if I have that on my mind and end up in the grey zone.

PRO viewpoint: It is incredibly easy to get burnt out, as well as not good for your training in general when you repeat the same loops or paces during your training. Strava segments are segments, created by runners in the local community, that create a playful atmosphere to go faster and get better at the sport. I am a pretty competitive person, and into my second year of more intense running, with a little more mileage on my legs, I enjoy getting to know who else is out in the community and who’s banking hard workouts. How fast are people around me going? How fast can they go when they’re given a segment? Whether it’s 200 feet or two miles? Trails or roads? While it doesn’t govern my overall training plan, it does add some fun to the mix.

If you’re into it…

RunCharlotte has its very own Strava group and if you’re currently using the platform and it’s a good fit, we’d love for you to join. Because we want you to have a positive experience online, we suggest asking yourself these questions before you download it and join.

1. Am I looking for an opportunity to connect with local runners?
2. Am I looking to challenge myself by running faster, trying out new routes, or looking at my data or data posted by runners?

And – most importantly…

3. Will seeing other runners’ times and/or success inspire me or cause me stress?

If question 3 sends up mental health red flags for you, then this app is probably best to avoid. If, however, you feel you can use it to make a positive change, then give it a try. And if you like, track your own training for the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon.

Let’s start with the good news – if you love things “green,” this is your season! Greens like asparagus, collards, broccoli, herbs, and mushrooms are all in season right now in North Carolina. But we also know that “eating a rainbow” means you want reds, oranges, and purples to fill out your plate and max your locally-sourced fruits and veggies, right?

Well then, here’s more good news, runners and friends – farmers markets are opening up across North Carolina, and they’re full of the best in-season fruits and vegetables North Carolina has to offer.

“Coming into spring, we have a lot of berries,” says Ashley Muschiatti, Registered Dietician and Performance Specialist for Novant Health. “Look for your reds, pinks, and oranges – like strawberries, radishes, and citrus.” Citrus is full of Vitamin C for your immune system, and has a high water content, too. “So it helps with hydration,” she adds. That makes it a perfect snack for the hot summer months.

We’re lucky in the Carolinas to have a lot of agriculture to provide local farmers’ markets with tasty, ripe goodies. Kings Drive, Atherton Mill, and Yorkmont Road are home to some of the better known markets, but there are at least a dozen around Mecklenburg County to choose from. We even have a few strawberry farms to pick your own baskets, and peaches are abundant just when strawberries near the end of their season.

In fact, there’s plenty to get you through those summer months here. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture has a whole chart, but Muschiatti is happy to suggest some highlights for you.

For May, the parade of greens continues. Bokchoy, cabbage, and peas join the lineup, along with turnips, radishes, and beets. Beets are full of fiber, nitrates, and B Vitamins, as well as having anti-inflammatory properties. You can’t “beet” that!

In June and July, look for blackberries and blueberries, which are packed with potassium, fiber, and Vitamin C. In July and August, you’ll find cherry tomatoes and an abundance of melons like watermelon and cantaloupe, which are full of carotenoids for antioxidants and eye health, and anti-inflammatory properties to help your recovery.

“The stuff found in fruits helps other vitamins and minerals absorb,” adds Muschiatti. But who wants to crack open a watermelon before a 5 a.m. run? Generally, no one. Muschiatti says that shouldn’t stop you.

“When you get your fruits at the beginning of the week, cut them up and prepare them so they’re easy to eat,” she suggests. Those watermelon chunks look very tasty after a run – and restore fluids – when you don’t have the strength to cut open the whole melon! Or try making some yummy, refreshing fruit pops that are perfect for after those hot, energy-depleting runs.

June and July are also a great time to find starchy vegetables that will fill you up and hold off hunger a little longer, like cucumbers and eggplant. Zucchini and squash are also abundant in the mid-summer months, and are great for baking in meals. (Try Muschiatti’s favorite: zucchini fries in an air fryer, or grilled!) And sweet potatoes? They’re great! And also grown year-round here in NC, so they’re plentiful.

So how do you fit it all into your running diet so it packs the right punch? Know what to eat pre- and post-run for the best benefit, says Muschiatti.

“Before you run you want low protein and low fat, but you want carbs,” she says, “so put your fruit on toast with peanut butter.” You can also try yogurt and granola with fruit, if your stomach can tolerate it – “But that’s better for post-workout,” she says.

Hungry yet? Local farmers are ready for you. Check the hours and head out to fresh fruit and veggie heaven. You’ll feel better and run better for it.

by Lisa Landrum

“When you look outwards, there’s a whole wide world of beautiful things. Out There: it’s good for the soul.” – Jojo Moyes, The Giver of Stars

I’ve always been a private runner. I don’t share runs on Strava. I’m uncomfortable raving about a really good race outcome. You won’t find me giving details about my splits. Running is about as close as I get to going to church most of the time. It’s very personal and kind of sacred, so I keep the details private. Last week, I had the honor of doing an amazing run across the Grand Canyon with friends. Twice. At one time. On our own. No organized event, no timing chips, no crowds, no cheers, no medals. Few others even knew we were doing it. 

After the run, I wrote that experiences like this change you in a lot of ways – that the person who starts is not the person who finishes. 

I was asked to write about that statement, so here it goes:

This is my attempt to describe, with words, an adventure that is indescribable – and how it changed me. I’ll share pictures that mean a lot but don’t accurately show the vastness, ruggedness, depth, or beauty of the scenery. This isn’t a race or run report, because so few really care about the details anyway. This is an essay that will likely fall short for others because my take is just that: mine. It’s a different perspective from the three others that were with me, or from anyone else who has done it. These words are simply my way of trying to explain how this run turned out to be one of those things that will live in my heart and mind like a hidden personal power stone that’s now in my back pocket.

This run is known as Rim to Rim to Rim because it starts at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and crosses to the North, then heads back across, ending again in the South. When I began training for it, I treated it like any other endurance event I’ve done in the past. Using my 50 Miler training plan since the total mileage of the crossing would be about 50 miles, I added as many hills as I could (vertical distance), and StairMaster running after my scheduled run to simulate climbing on tired legs. I built up mileage, fueled, and tapered. That part of this experience was business as usual. None of the rest of it was, in the very best of ways.

In addition to the physicality of this run, I knew that the mental piece would play a huge role. There is zero support – none, nada, zilch. No rangers walking around. No aid stations. There were water sources every now and then, but anything I needed to consume was in my pack for the duration. There were emergency phones (there is no cell service in the Canyon) every once in a while, and we would go miles and miles without seeing anyone. We made constant decisions about when to run vs. hike, when to eat, when to rest for a bit, and when to fill up water. There really wasn’t room for big mistakes during this one – we were our own contingency plan. Doing something as big as all of this with your own power is, well, empowering.

Before this trip, I had never even laid eyes on the Grand Canyon, not even as a kid. I had no concept of its massiveness. As an adult, having the sun rise and show me the vast, immense beauty is something that I will never forget. It was truly take-your-breath-away magical. Looking out and being IN it, literally, made me feel so small. Looking out and knowing that I was going to cross it and come back made me feel so big.

Being out there in nature for that long quiets me. It grounds me. For whatever amount of time, I’ve got one goal and that is to move forward. There are no outward distractions, no list of things to do, and no one needing me for other things. There are not many times in life when I’m sure I’m doing the right thing, but when I’m on a run like this one, I’m one thousand-percent positive that I’m right where I need to be, doing what I should be doing. That sense of security builds self-confidence.

People who’ve done Rim to Rim to Rim can tell you all day long about the first steps on the dark trail, the stars, the sunrise, the view of The Canyon for the very first time and how it takes your breath away, the climbs, the flowers, the bridges, the sun, the lemonade, and that final push to climb out. Until you’ve done it, you don’t really understand. Taking in views like that helps you realize just how insignificant your first-world problems are.

Experiences like this change you in so many ways. The person who finishes is not the same as the person who started. In what ways has the person changed? No one can tell you that or really describe it in words. The growth, like the run, is personal. Running is cool like that. It gives you what you need, when you need it, if you just open yourself to it. I’m so glad I did. Whether you decide to conquer a 5K, a 100 miler, or that mile or trail you’ve been thinking about running – I hope you let running do that for you, too.

Lisa Landrum is a long-time friend and contributor to RunCharlotte. Coach, motivator, and social mobilizer; she’s a real rock star here in the Charlotte running scene. But you don’t need to be any sort of luminary for running to provide you with an out-of-this-world experience. Got a story you’d like to share? We’d like to hear it! No race reports, please. We want to know how running wowed you, changed you, broke you, or built you back! Send them to ed@runcharlotte.com 

Break free from the pavement and run a race that ROCKS! RunCharlotte announces the Keffer Cares Boulder Dash on October 8, 2022 – the sixth event in the 2022 RunCharlotte Six Pack Series. Registration is now open for the one-of-a-kind race through Martin Marietta’s Charlotte Quarry on Beatties Ford Road.

“We were looking for a different kind of event,” says Six Pack Series Race Director Tim Rhodes. “And this is something different – it’s not your average road race because it’s not on a road.”

Entrants can choose from a 5k race around the quarry pit, or a 5-mile race that includes a .9 mile trek to the near-bottom of the pit and subsequent climb back out. The quarry is located just south of Sunset Road.

“This is our chance to showcase the quarry,” says Brian North, vice president of environmental and land services at Martin Marietta. “Aggregates build our communities, and Martin Marietta is part of our community. We’re excited to provide runners the opportunity to see something they’ve never seen before.”

And that they will. Runners will get a view inside of a working quarry, complete with the pit, the plants, and equipment that processes materials for roads, sidewalks, and business venues across Charlotte and the Southeast. The entire operation is surrounded by wide, natural buffers to insulate the quarry from the city and promote environmental stewardship for the earth and wildlife.

Martin Marietta has been hosting Boulder Dash events at its Georgia quarries since 2010. The Keffer Cares Boulder Dash in October will be its inaugural quarry run in the Charlotte area.

Event entrants will receive a custom stainless-steel tumbler with the Boulder Dash badge, and entries will support the race’s beneficiary, RunningWorks.

There are five events remaining in the RunCharlotte Six Pack Series:

• Hit the Brixx 5k/10k – May 21
• Park National Bank American 4 Miler – July 4
• Yiasou Greek Festival 5k – August 27
• Novant Health 5k/15k – September 25
• Keffer Cares Boulder Dash – October 8

Runners wishing to learn more, or to sign up for the Boulder Dash or remaining Six Pack Series races can do so here: https://runcharlotte.com/six-pack-series/ 

For more information or race day location access, please contact DC Lucchesi, dc@well-runmedia.com or 704-577-8459.

About Martin Marietta

A member of the S&P 500 Index, Martin Marietta is an American-based company and a leading supplier of building materials – including aggregates, cement, ready-mixed concrete, and asphalt. Through a network of operations spanning 30 states, Canada, and the Bahamas, dedicated Martin Marietta teams supply the resources necessary for building the solid foundations on which our communities thrive.

Martin Marietta’s Magnesia Specialties business produces high-purity magnesia and dolomitic lime products used worldwide in environmental, industrial, agricultural and specialty applications.

Visit www.martinmarietta.com to learn more.