Uncategorized

FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE USE:

Charlotte – RunCharlotte welcomes Cortland, the 3rd largest owner of apartment communities in the Charlotte region, as partner sponsors of the 2022 RunCharlotte Six Pack Series of events and the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon.

As part of their activation on this partnership, Cortland will donate $1,000 to nonprofit beneficiaries of each of RunCharlotte’s Six Pack Series events presented by Novant Health:

• The Famous Toastery Shamrock 4 Miler – March 12
• 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

Cortland will welcome runners with a Celebration Zone at each Six Pack Series event as well as the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon. Runners can join the fun in the Celebration Zone, cool down and stretch out on the pop-up “grassy area,” and take that post-event selfie outside the Instagram-ready photo set-up.

Cortland supports healthy lifestyles throughout its eleven communities in the Charlotte region by offering wellness programming, policies, and healthy environmental features, including a non-smoking policy. Cortland’s Elevate Program allows residents to reach their fitness goals with free classes, discounted personal training and nutritional consultations, and a Cortland Run Club.

“Cortland really believes in giving back to the community and helping our residents achieve their fitness and wellness goals. Supporting RunCharlotte is a wonderful way of combining the two,” says Sarah Connolly CPM®, Managing Director at Cortland.

Cortland also shows its commitment to the community by rallying its residents for good, including an effort last year that collected more than 14,000 pounds of food for local food banks and diverted 126,000 pounds of clothing and textiles from area landfills.

“We are delighted to have Cortland as partners to celebrate healthy lifestyles and support our community with their generous donations,” says Tim Rhodes, Six Pack Series Race Director. “Their contributions to local communities and care for eliminating food and textile waste are great for everyone and our environment, too.”

Runners wishing to learn more or sign up for 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 RunCharlotte and the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon

RunCharlotte is Charlotte’s home for the resources, inspiration, and experiences to guide the runner’s journey, with more than 25 years of experience producing, promoting, timing, and scoring events. Since 2005, the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon has crowned the local road racing season. The event and its participants have contributed nearly $250,000 to support programs at Novant Health’s Hemby Children’s Hospital.

Ready for something completely different? RunCharlotte adds the Give Us a Hand 5k to the 2022 Six Pack Series of events! The RunCharlotte Give Us a Hand 5k is hands down the most unique and challenging event of the series, as the entire distance must be covered while running or walking on your hands.

Hand walking and running events are steadily gaining momentum as an alternative to traditional races. Along with overall and age group categories, the Give us a Hand 5k will also have a “pairs” category for runners and walkers who need assistance getting or staying in a handstand.

Tired of sore, blistered feet, creaky knees, and inflexible ankles? Burnt out on your current training program? Or maybe you’re just looking for a new challenge. Either way, this unconventional event is for you!

“Handstands are an extremely underrated exercise, for one main reason: most people think they just can’t do them,” says Krista Stryker, a Certified Personal Trainer accredited by the National Strength and Conditioning Association. In a recent article from MindBodyGreen, Stryker lists these as additional benefits for handstands:

• Strengthen Upper Body
• Increase Balance
• Increase Mood
• Improve Core Strength
• Help with Circulation

Stryker notes that turning everything upside down is great for bone strength, blood circulation, and even digestion. Runners and walkers of all ages have started to embrace the art, which can be a bit tricky to master – but once you do, get ready to see things from a whole different point of view… literally! This event also levels the playing field for anyone who spends hours lifting weights in the gym to get that great upper-body sculpted look and tremendous arm strength, but never gets to use any of it while running.

RunCharlotte realizes the Give Us a Hand 5k and its unconventional format may seem intimidating or just plain strange to some. But bringing more people to the sport of running sometimes means turning things upside down and offering something completely new.

“The marketplace demands constant innovation, and there’s likely nothing on the calendar as out-of-the-ordinary as this,” says DC Lucchesi, runner and media spokesman for RunCharlotte. “By announcing our surprise October event in April, we’re giving our dedicated Charlotte audience plenty of time to prepare.”

The Give Us a Hand 5k provides more than just “something different.” Count strengthening of the hand muscles, in particular the Lumbricalis, which is usually hard to isolate, as a wonderful byproduct of handrunning.

For training, find a friend and kick up your heels! Try these easy moves:

• Do wall handstands. Place hands on the ground next to a wall, and have a friend hold your legs as you swing them into place against the wall. Do this 3 times for 10-15 seconds each, taking turns to give each other rest.
• Once you’ve mastered handstands, try upside-down push-ups. This will strengthen your shoulders, wrists, and core.
• Take turns holding each other’s ankles as you take a few “steps” away from the wall on your hands.
• Increase your reps as you get stronger!
• Finish by hoisting your favorite local brew (right side up, of course!) after completing your workout with your friend!

As always, consult your doctor before trying anything new. And check your calendar when considering the accuracy of the information provided above.

(*Advice from Ms. Stryker was borrowed from the article cited for handstand workouts, and is actually legit.)

In 1967, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon despite being attacked by a race official who tried to physically pull her out of the race. To quote Ms. Switzer from one of her many interviews reflecting on the moment, “The perceptions of women back when I was running — amazingly enough just 53 years ago — were that you were going to get big legs, grow hair on your chest, and your uterus was going to fall out.”

Fast forward to the 21^st century, where things aren’t necessarily perfect, but have changed considerably. In a 2019 poll, researchers found that of the 443,878 marathon results recorded for the USA, an amazing 44% – or 196,586 runners – were women. Not only are women running great distances, they are also enjoying careers in the running industry as coaches, store owners, brand ambassadors, authors, and even celebrities in their own right. Ladies: we have come a long way!

There are, of course, challenges that persist and are unique to the female runner. According to our experts at Novant Health, runner’s knee, IT band syndrome, shin splints, Achilles tendonitis, and plantar fasciitis are all more common in women. Women also seem to face an inequitable amount of scrutiny about their body type and appearance, which, in turn, affects running performance. There are the physical and emotional challenges of the child-bearing years and then the inevitable struggle to juggle the responsibilities of career, family and physical fitness. If you know, you know.

One might wonder why women are constantly willing to face these challenges and continue to run. Why are we willing to endure the injuries, the inconvenience, and the societal and psychological pressures? Aside from the obvious connection between activity and health, two more factors drive us to keep going.

The first: Self care

Yes, it’s a quarantine buzz word, but running can provide a much needed dose of sanctuary or a momentary escape from the grind. On the daily to-do list, taking time for ourselves often falls to the bottom. Running, whether for 30 minutes or 2 hours, can be a time to focus on our physical fitness, to improve endurance and agility, and to push the limits of what we can do with our bodies. For many women, running is a time for some much-needed solitude and personal reflection that our busy lives often get in the way of.

The second: Personal connection

Ask a woman runner who her closest friends are, and she will likely name the three people with whom she just entered a race or logged a few miles. We women often find that when we gather for a run, it becomes a time to unload our worries, sympathize with our fellow runners as they unload theirs, and to try to make sense of the world. As women navigate the uncertainty of early adulthood, marriages, babies, child rearing, aging parents, and all of the joys and heartaches in between, they know that it is best done with a support system – which often comes in the form of a trusted running group.

Arguably, the playing field is still far from even. Scholarship dollars, sponsorship opportunities, prize money, audiences, media coverage, etc., all still lag behind. There are women (and men) working daily to advocate for women’s running – and female runners. And while most of us will likely never earn a nickel from our running, it’s important to recognize the impact women can – and do have — on the sport and the industry. Consider this: It wasn’t until the mid 80’s when the first running shoe built specifically for women hit the market. Nearly 20 years after Switzer’s groundbreaking Boston.

And nevertheless, women runners persist.

Seriously.

If you’re a runner in Charlotte, you may know Judy Caswell or have heard her story. It’s a great one! She picked up running as an adult and started challenging her college-aged sons to run marathons with her, and wagering on who’d finish first. Lesson: never bet against a mom.

Sounds like a woman in perfect health for her mid-50’s, right? Yeah, that’s what she thought, too.

Except the stomach problems. They were a pain. Just training hard, right? Comes with the territory, she figured. She had all of the classic symptoms – bleeding, abdominal pain, cramping – but they were manageable. Or so she thought, for too long. After four years, they were no longer manageable, so she started googling her symptoms. She finally went to the doctor and made an appointment with a gastroenterologist.

In May 2016, Judy was diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer. She was floored! She had never heard of it. She ate a healthy diet and exercised often, training for marathons and trail races. How does someone like her have this problem?

“I didn’t realize how common it was, and how many people I knew that had it,” says Caswell. “It’s not a cancer people are open about because of the part of the body we’re talking about.” True. No one really likes to talk about something wrong with their butt, right?

Caswell did more than talk about it. She and her treatment team went after her cancer aggressively. She shared her story with us for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, which is a good time to talk about that body part no one likes to talk about.

“I went through the whole process pretty easily,” she recalls, noting that doctors were aware of her marathon training, and figured she was not one to sit idle during recovery.

She had a pelvic resection with ileostomy in September 2016 using the “ERAS” method — Enhanced Recovery After Surgery – so she didn’t take pain meds afterwards. She felt fine and was up and walking around the hospital – 3 miles! – the same day. She went home a day later. After 4 weeks of recovery, she was out running again with her specially-fitted ileostomy bag in tow.

Caswell progressed through chemotherapy and had her resection reversed in April 2017. After another 4 weeks of waiting (and skipping that marathon she had signed up for!) she was back to running again. She learned to be more aware of what she ate – both content and timing – but she hasn’t slowed down. Pre-pandemic, she was running the best times of her life! Now she turns her attention to others who are going through what she did.

“I have met more and more people on this journey – especially younger people — who are getting colorectal cancer,” says Caswell. “Traditional therapies aren’t effective with younger people, who also are getting more aggressive cancers.” In her work with the Congress for Colorectal Cancer, she’s learned this kind of cancer is expected to be the #1 killer of people aged 20-49 by 2030.

“Education and access are important,” she reminds us. She’s working on that through the Cancer Action Network, too, to provide better health equity and support.

Sadly, Philip Sanford’s mother didn’t have Caswell’s success. Mary Kay Sanford was just 42 when she was diagnosed with her cancer, during Philip’s senior year in high school.

“We were all shocked. Nobody had any idea what it meant. We had no real idea what it was, what its side effects were, what the severity was, or the next steps to take,” says Sanford. “It was a complete mystery to all of us.”

A PR & Media professional, Mary Kay spent the next 6 years using her skills for patient advocacy and clinical trials while fighting cancer with everything she had. She succumbed to it in 2006 at the age of 48. Sanford was just 22.

Sanford, a runner “since kindergarten,” kept running, but it was a few years before he learned of an opportunity to use his running to benefit a cause so close to his family. The “Get Your Rear In Gear” run was a perfect way for him to use his talents to raise awareness and support for colorectal cancer. He joined the GYRIG Committee in 2016 and became the event director for Charlotte in 2018. The race supports local patients, survivors, and caregivers through community grants.

LISTEN: Phillip Sanford on the Running Around Charlotte Podcast

“It’s important to make as many people aware of colorectal cancers as possible,” he says. Mainly, he wants to let people his age know that a colonoscopy is not a big deal, and patients who are diagnosed with these cancers are not alone. “We’re breaking through barriers to let people know this is serious, and with small steps you can stay healthy if diagnosed early enough.”

One of the big hurdles of colorectal cancer, like Caswell says, is getting people to talk about it.

“It’s such a taboo subject,” says Sanford. “People make a lot of jokes about colonoscopies, but it’s just a matter of making it part of normal conversations, and normal medical conversations.” Now that the demographics of the cancer patients are skewing younger, it’s more important than ever to have the conversations, says Sanford.

“It takes time to break that mindset,” he says. Seeing celebrities like Katie Couric and Al Roker advocate colon screenings is a big help, too. He also proudly sports a “✓ ur : ” T-shirt on his Instagram page.

The other big obstacle is getting patients the screening tests they need. Most insurance plans don’t cover colonoscopies until you’re 50, but a lot of people are being diagnosed before then – and have to pay out of pocket for tests. Both Sanford and Caswell are advocating to change that, along with groups like Fight CRC.

“At Fight CRC, their primary mission is government advocacy and insurance to cover colonoscopy at a younger age (45), or non-invasive blood or fecal tests to find potential disease or that coverage of your colonoscopy should be included as a separate and necessary screening,” says Sanford. “We are trying to let people know about the resources available to them if they get referrals.”

The Colon Cancer Coalition of Charlotte teams up with Novant Health and other providers to pay for screenings for those who need them. They raise money for grants and support with their Get Your Rear In Gear race, which is coming up on March 26, 2022.

The goal is always, “to do better than last year,” says Philip, which means raising more than $127,000. The pandemic ate into their annual fundraiser in 2020, but he’s confident Charlotte can return to pre-pandemic levels of fundraising.

In addition to screenings, the money raised provides grants for Wind River Cancer Wellness Retreats, to help with patient, survivor, and family support. A young survivors group has also been established and has been well-received.

Sanford is leading up the race, and has his own team. So does Caswell. They’re hopeful for more than 2,000 participants showing up for this year’s event.

“I’m really excited,” says Sanford. “We’re back to being our full event, and we have a new course this year. Come join us!”

To learn more or support CRC, find more here: https://donate.coloncancercoalition.org/charlotte