Uncategorized

Like a lot of you, we’re still riding a bit of a high since last weekend’s Novant Health Charlotte Marathon. If you ran, supported, cheered, or volunteered… congrats again! It was a record-setting day in lots of ways, and every one of you had a role in making it so.

The Team is digging out from piles of emails, DM’s, post-event data, invoices, and other bits of behind-the-scenes business that come with putting on events. It’s all super-sexy stuff. And as always, there a tons of lessons learned, success stories, and opportunities to make next year even better.

I’ll shift gears into first-person here, since this one’s my personal takeaway and request to each and every one of you: please, don’t say “just.”

Over the course of the last few weeks, during the Expo, and even on event day itself; I couldn’t possibly count the number of folks told me they were just running the half marathon, or just running the 5k, or even just going out along the course to cheer or see some friends while they ran.

To me, that just feels wrong.

Truth is, if you’re running a half marathon (or a marathon) you’re among the 1-percent of the population who’s done so. Running a 5K or 10k? Only a single-digit percentage of folks have checked that box. That’s pretty special. And if you’ve ever volunteered or cheered at an event, you know you’re good and spent once the athletes have all crossed the finish line. Maybe just as tired as the runners themselves? See what I did there.

I spend a lot of time at start lines and finish lines. I know what happens in between those lines, and what goes on behind the scenes. No one is just running. Every single one of you has a reason you’re out there. I’ve written thousands of words and spent hours and hours recording The Running Around Charlotte Podcast, asking your “why.” And no one is just volunteering or cheering, or just setting alarms for 2am to make sure everyone else out there has the safest, most rewarding experience possible.

It is, and you all are, the real deal. And that’s just facts.

Next time I see you on the road, at the Expo, at a start or finish line, or even at the grocery store… I hope you’ll let me know you just completed your first marathon, half marathon, 5k, etc.; just reached a personal best; or just got your voice back after cheering all day along the course.

That would be just great!

November 15, 2025

Charlotte —  Breaking records was the theme for the day at the 21^st running of the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon. A record-setting 11,500 athletes entered the marathon, half marathon, and Chick-fil-A 5k events. And for the second year in a row, all events reached capacity. 

“This event has turned into a big deal,” said Tim Rhodes, managing partner and Race Director for the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon. “This is a celebration of everything these runners have worked for – whether they’re setting a PR, qualifying for Boston, or finishing for the very first time – they’re choosing to do it in Charlotte.” 

Runners representing all 50 states and 19 countries made up the record-setting field. Knoxville’s Carter Coughlin was the overall winner of the marathon. Jessica Sarnicola of Matthews won the women’s title. And in another first, Elisabeth Laseter of Charlotte defended her title in the Chick-fil-A 5k event, besting her 2024 finish time by nearly 18 seconds. 

Lancaster, SC runner Nathaneal Williams may have also set a new world record for fastest half marathon pushing a double stroller. According to the Guinness World Records site, the fastest men’s time currently stands at 1:14:20. Williams clocked a 1:12:57 today on the Charlotte half marathon course. 

“The last few miles, I was hurting pretty good,” Williams said of his fast finish. “The next steps are to send the results to Guinness to confirm that as the new record.” 

Results: 2025 Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Events

Men’s Marathon Winner: Carter Coughlin, 2:31:44 (Knoxville, TN)

Women’s Marathon Winner: Jessica Sarnicola, 3:01:48 (Matthews, NC) 

Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Half Marathon 

Men’s Winner: Alexis Collumb, 1:04:31 (Yvrech, FR) 

Women’s Winner: Abigail Herring, 1:16:41(Parkersburg, WV)

Chick-fil-A 5k: 

Men’s Winner: Silas Floyd Fair, 15:50 (Charlotte, NC) 

Women’s Winner: Elizabeth Laseter, 16:38 (Charlotte, NC) 

Complete results for all events can be found here: 

https://results.raceroster.com/v3/events/3vgp2qeac5c9rhab

Registration for the November 14, 2026 Novant Health Charlotte Marathon is open now at https://runsignup.com/Race/NC/Charlotte/CharlotteMarathon 

Whether you’ll run, walk, or volunteer at Saturday’s 21^st running of the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon, half marathon, or Chick-fil-A 5k, you’ll probably have someone waiting and watching for you who’d appreciate some hot tips on where to find you along the course. We got you. Or maybe you’re looking for some easy-to-get-to vantage points to cheer on runners, that’s out of the uptown parking footprint. That’s cool, too! 

We believe this event route is not only a great way to see Charlotte on foot, it’s also pretty accommodating for spectators, as well. Here are six more great places to watch for runners along the course – that aren’t the start or finish line. 

Mile 2: At Fourth Street and Hawthorne Lane, near Novant Health Hospital. You’ll be just south of uptown here, and you’ll find plenty of parking, too. You’ll have 30 solid minutes of athletes passing here, with the lead runner coming through about 7:30am. 

Miles 6.25 – 7.34: This more than a mile-long stretch of stately trees and historic homes along Queens Road West makes for fantastic viewing. There’s a wide median here, which will give you plenty of room to spread out as runners pass for the better part of an hour, starting at about 8am. 

Miles 10 – 10.6: If you’re following a half marathon runner, you should have plenty of time to decamp and catch your runner(s) as they head north along East Morehead Street between S. McDowell Street and S. Tryon St., before heading toward the finish. 

Mile 12.7: Here’s where the marathoners and half marathoners split. The Sole will host a cheer section here, so there’s sure to be plenty of action. And, no matter what distance they’re covering, runners will be ready for a little extra energy at this point! 

Miles 15-17 and 21-23: Pull up along North Davidson Street or on 35^th or 36^th Streets, and you’ll be able to see your runners twice within just a few blocks walk. 

Miles 18 and 20: Here’s another great spot to see the marathon runners twice from the same location. Runners will pass this intersection at The Plaza and Mecklenburg Ave. at miles 18 and 20. If you’re headed back to the finish, you should have plenty of time. 

You can find more info on how to make the most of your day along the course here in our Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Spectator Guide. The footprint of the event start and finish line areas can be found here, and turn-by-turn directions for the course are here. 

And even if you won’t be running this year’s events, the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Expo presented by Fleet Feet is free and open to the running public on Friday, November 14 from 10am – 7pm. 

At most any event, there are as many stories as there are runners. When Danyel Manley, family, and friends hit the start of the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon, they’ll be carrying on a legacy of service that began with Danyel’s oldest sister, Tracey Gabriel. Tracey passed away from metastatic melanoma in November of 2024. As a mother, sister, friend, and labor and delivery nurse at Novant Health; she left a lasting impression on every life she touched. 

A Calling to Care

Friends and family say Tracey’s journey to Charlotte and to nursing was guided by compassion and a calling to care for others. And like most journeys, it was far from a straight line. A divorce and the need to care for her own two kids forced her to change gears – and careers – from car sales, to nursing. As she told The Charlotte Ledger in 2021, she’d always seen herself in scrubs.

In her nearly 20 years as a nurse, Tracey’s warmth and dedication to service made her an idyllic coworker and caregiver. “She was just such a pillar of her community at the hospital,” Danyel told us. “She felt like nursing was her calling … she was just so passionate about it and was so loved in that community.” 

Katrina Biel is a lifelong friend of Tracey’s. They met as kids when Katrina moved into the neighborhood up in New York and remained close for more than four decades. “There’s very little of my lifeline she’s not a part of … she just had such a genuine, good heart,” Katrina said. “Her heart was for her patients, her heart was for people—which made her an amazing person and nurse.” 

Faith and Acceptance 

Tracey’s final year was characterized by grace and determination to continue living fully despite her diagnosis. “She was a fighter and she was going to do everything she could to stick around,” Katrina told us. “She doubled-down on her faith throughout her illness, but if this was her calling … she was going to accept it.”

Danyel recalls, “She immediately wanted to just live to the fullest extent that she could.” And even though Tracey wasn’t a runner, that meant signing-up her entire family for a 5K run hosted by one of the local churches. “She was so thrilled that she actually did it, but she finished it!” That spirit is why the family chose the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon weekend to remember her together, convening as a group called “Tracey’s Tribe.” 

The team will include friends, family and some of Tracey’s former colleagues. Danyel will be running the marathon, while her husband, daughter, and some others in the Tribe will run or walk the Chick-fil-A 5K. Except for Katrina. She made it abundantly clear that she wouldn’t be running, but would be at the finish line to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments. “I love her with everything in me,” she joked. “but no, I am not running!”

Extending Tracey’s Legacy 

Barely a year since Tracey’s passing, her family and friends want to make sure the celebration and her legacy extend beyond race day. They’ve established a new nursing scholarship at Central Piedmont Community College in Tracey’s name to help future caregivers follow in her footsteps. 

“Her heart was always for her patients,” Katrina added. “There can’t be anything more suiting than a legacy that helps future nurses carry on her work.” 

Though Tracey’s passing is keenly felt, her family and friends hope others will be inspired by her story and, as her sister put it, “ to keep her spirit alive through gathering and remembering her and how much she meant to so many people.” And when Tracey’s Tribe lines up next weekend at the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon start, and as new nursing students receive a helping hand in Tracey’s name; her spirit of community, compassion and kindness will continue. 

# # #

For lots of running parents, mixing training and family responsibilities requires creativity, teamwork, and sacrifice. Actually, that’s all parents. But we digress. Anyways, parents who run just make it work. Whether that means getting up and out on the road well before your kids wake, logging miles after they’ve gone to bed, or during their practices or recitals… you just figure it out. And some parents manage to take it next level; not just running, but training for speed, distance – or in Nathanael Williams’ case – a world record. 

Yes, Nathanael Williams: metallurgist by day, coach by afternoon, and running dad—mostly in the early morning. He isn’t just lacing up for the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon… he’s aiming for the fastest half marathon while pushing a double stroller. “A couple of weeks before the Around the Crown 10K, I did a faster run with the double stroller and thought, ‘Maybe I could run fairly fast, even with the double,’” he told us. He clocked 33:32 that day; good enough for 18^th overall. That’s seriously fast, even without extra passengers. 

For starters, this record is no gimme. The current fastest time stands at 1:14:20. And Guinness rules actually require two living, non-stuffed passengers aboard the stroller to make it count. “It says in the rules, you have to have two living persons inside of it,” explains Nathanael. “No weight, just two living persons.” For Nathanael, that means his twins will be once again along for the ride. 

Even as a solo act, Nathanael is no slouch. He clocked a 2:30 marathon in Chicago in 2021. He ran varsity at Colorado School of Mines, as part of the team’s first national championship squad. A job with Hailie Gold Mine brought him to the Carolinas, but post-collegiate injuries kept him out of the competitive mix for a few years. Now Nathanael says he’s running well and up for the challenge. 

“I’ve been able to run a little more consistently. God’s given me a little bit of grace,” he said. These days, he’s up at 4 a.m. for early miles or on the bike if he can’t bring the kids—though that’s not his preference. “It’s not as fun because I can’t do it with the kids. Running, I can push them in the stroller, and we’re together.” 

Family is at the heart of the Williams’ running, and Nathanael and his wife Molly are clearly all in on the future of the sport. They also coach cross country together at Lancaster (SC) High School. And yes, their kids come along for cross country practice, too. 

Molly’s every bit the runner, as well; recording a 3:05 at that same Chicago Marathon. Even though she says she’s found it much more difficult to get back into running consistently this year; she and their oldest, Rosalie, will be cheering on Nathanael and the twins during this record attempt. “Spectating is a sport too! It’s an event for our whole family,” she told us.  

Records aside, the Williams’ will be racing into town Saturday morning, November 15, for Nathanael’s attempt. Molly says they expect at least a few of their cross country team’s runners will make the state championship meet that’ll be held on Friday, the night before Nathanael’s half marathon. Just another weekend of juggling family and running. Regardless of the outcome, they’ll have one heck of a story to tell about the 2025 Novant Health Charlotte Marathon weekend.