December 8, 2025 • 37 mins
After a long layoff, Kyle laced ‘em up for a doubleheader weekend and brought back two fresh race reviews. First up: the second annual Nolan Davidson Champions Run 10K in KCK—solid organization, community heart, and plenty of course character to wake up the legs. Then it’s holiday cheer at the Jingle Bell Run 5K for the Arthritis Foundation, where costumes, cowbells, and a great cause turned miles into momentum. We talk start-line vibes, course flow, aid and finish experience, and the little moments that make local races worth showing up for. No time goals, just honest effort—and a reminder that racing with friends might be the best comeback plan of all. If you’re hunting for late-season events to circle next year, this episode puts two on the shortlist and spotlights a mission worth supporting.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello, everyone, Greedy and salitations. Welcome back to another episode
of the Back of the Pack podcast. I'm your House,
Kyle Walker, thank you so much for tuning in. We uh,
we're kind of back, which I don't want to see
it too loud. This is a this is a let's
see a non orthopedic doctor approved episode of the Back
of the Pack podcast. I actually got out this weekend
(00:33):
and did a couple of races. Uh. Here's the thing.
So last week I was supposed to go see the
orthopedic guy about my knee, okay, the one that's been
giving me problems kept me out of running for a
month now. And here in Kansas City, we had this
big snowstorm that no one was really ready for and
no one really expected. Asked the Missouri Department of Transportation
(00:53):
about that, the only state around that did not pre
treat the roads, and boy did they suffer for it. Anyway,
we had that, and so my appointment with your the
pedis got moved. They just pushed it a week and
I'm actually gonna go see them here in just a
couple of minutes. But since I didn't see him last Monday,
they couldn't tell me not to run the races this weekend.
So I ran the races this weekend, and oh my god,
(01:15):
it felt so good, my good, gracious, I should say,
it felt so good to actually be out there and
run again. Missing an entire month is brutal, man like,
it is awful. Injuries happened. We all know this. Missing
time it happens. You know, it can be by choice,
it can be by circumstance, it can be by injury.
But it's never fun when it does. And it has
(01:35):
been absolutely killing me. So I actually did the math
as I was out running this Saturday. I did the math.
So November ninth was good life hasie since good life
HAVESI where Yeah, I did not do great at the
half marathon. I'm hopping fences like a complete JABBRONI you
know all the things that we've talked about now. A
couple of times I had not done much of really
(01:57):
anything I had. I skipped some weeks of endoor soccer.
So I have played two indoor soccer games. You know
that are fifty minutes, and then you know with subs
you're not even playing the whole time. Two fifty minute
soccer games, zero runs, So like no running around the house,
no running races, and then just a few walks. I've
(02:19):
walked the dogs a few times. The most I ever
do with the dogs is two miles, but again that's
walking your dog pace. And then when I'm in the
office Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, I will go out for
a little bit of walk there just to kind of
stretch the legs. Over the last month, that is it.
That is all I have done. So when I come
to the race on Saturday, it was noticeable that I
(02:42):
had had quite the time off because my performance was
man So let's go ahead and dive right into the weekend.
Here's what we did on Saturday, this would be December sixth.
We had the Nolan Davidson Champion Run ten k and
that is located at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Now,
we did the very first running of this race last year.
(03:04):
Last year they had over fifteen hundred people. I think
they were closer to like thirteen twenty five this year,
if I saw the number correctly, not much of a
drop off between first year and second year. So that
is awesome. That is great that they were able to
keep a lot of their registration up. It is for
a very good cause. So here I'm going to read
you the description of their race. So the Nolan Day,
(03:25):
let's see, Nolan David's Champions Run was established to celebrate
Nolan Davidson in the spirit of competition and determination in
which he lived his life. On December seventh, twenty twenty three,
Nolan tragically passed away from injuries sustained from a drunk
driving accident. And again he was but a young man.
I know he was in the car and then going
(03:46):
to a soccer function, if memory serves, that's not in
this little write up here. One of the reasons I
also know it is it is on a street that
I am very familiar with that is about a mile
and a half from my house. So I've driven by
the roadside memorial for him hundreds and hundreds of times,
(04:07):
and so this was a cause I was more than
happy to to help out with and support. Last year
we went to the first race, went back to it
again this year and it is a very well done event.
So it is put on by Sporting Kansas City. They
definitely have a piece of it. Casey Fusion, which is
one of our local soccer clubs, not one of the
(04:29):
clubs that my daughter played for, but still a very
well known soccer club. And then the Foundry Church on
around eighty seventh and Lackman and getting them a shout
out as well as they are part of this. So
those are kind of the people involved in this run
and involved with the Davidson family and involved with this
whole circumstance. And so what they said here with last
(04:49):
year's proceeds, so this was year one, fifteen hundred runners
ish the Nolan Davidson Foundation was able to donate thirty
thousand dollars to Casey Fusion Soccer Club for youth scholarships.
They've fully funded the Foundry Church's Club forty five youth
group and that's nights for fourth and fifth graders. And
then they donated over a thousand toys to Children's Mercy Hospital.
(05:11):
That was with last year's proceeds, and then they said
this year, we look forward to continuing our support this
year in these programs as well as providing four Casey
Metro High School cross country runners each one thousand dollars scholarship.
And then your support will have a direct impactay positive impact,
supporting next generation of athletes. And then more to the
(05:32):
hospital and the church as well, so again I didn't
want to completely misquote it, so I wanted to pull
a little bit from what they're doing. They are doing
really great things. They are definitely making kind of a
triumph out of a tragedy, because anytime you lose your
young kid, it is absolutely tragedy, and so I appreciate
them and I applaud them from what they're doing. I've
never had them on the podcast before. We certainly talked
(05:53):
about them over the last couple of years, but what
they're doing is amazing. Next year, I think they are
always going to be kind of that first Sat in
December because it is right along, you know, his the
unfortunate day of the accident was December seventh, or at
least when no one passed, so they're always right there
around December seventh, right at the start of December, to
do this race again. They have a five k and
(06:13):
they have a ten k. They also have a one
mile memorial walk, so whatever your distance is, you could
absolutely come out and do this race and support a clearly,
as it is stated right here, a very worthy cause.
So I want you to put that on your calendar
for next year. I have one dred percent will be
back for next year's race. I would love to see
you out there. And as I've said on a previous episode,
(06:34):
where blue, because blue is the color. It is not
a Christmas themed race where you're blue. I went to
packet pickup at that Foundry church last week to get
my stuff for the race, and when I walked in there,
they have a two day packet pickup, and I mean,
you got all the time in the world if you
want to go pick it up. I know most people
are still doing it race morning, but they open up
(06:55):
the church. They've got people stationed, they've got merchandise, you
can buy, donations, you can make. It's right there a
coffee shop inside the church. You can grab yourself a beverage.
When I was in there, the people behind the counter,
the volunteers, asked me, oh, did you do this slnes here?
Yes I did. I said, yeah, I was the guy
that was all jassed up in Christmas gear. And then
I found that everyone was wearing blue and they thought
that was pretty funny. They're like, well, you can do
(07:16):
holiday themed in blue as well. I get all that,
but I did not know that last year. This year,
I definitely represented a little better on kind of the
color scheme of choice for this race. It worked out
much better this time. So Saturday morning, all right, let's
do a razor boom. Man, Let's see if I'm rusty
on these. Saturday morning we're up and we're out the door.
(07:37):
They had an eight thirty start time, which is nice,
you know, and it's colder outside. We're in December. You
get a little bit more time to let the sun
come up, try and warm the temperatures up outside a
little bit. We did have a pretty chilly morning. I
think we're right at thirty two thirty three degrees when
we started, but I get there. What is beautiful about
this race And credit to the organization of Sporting can
(08:00):
City or MLS Soccer club here in town. They opened
up one of the big corners of the stadium so
that people can station themselves inside. So, yes, it was
cold outside, it was very frosty that morning, but everyone
was stationed inside where you could stay warm, you could
loosen up, you could kind of meet with the people.
They did have one of the soccer players there, one
(08:20):
of the members of Sporting Kansas City was there to
take pictures with everybody, so that was really cool that
they had one of their players come out. I do
not remember the young man's name, and yeah, every soccer
player in the world is a young man compared to me.
At this point, I don't remember his name, but kudos
to him for being out there. Kudos to Sporting Kansas
City for opening up part of your stadium as the
season is over. There's nothing going on right now out there,
(08:42):
but they did open it up. They did have some
vendors who were set up outside on kind of the
patio outside of the stadium. The Casey Fusion Soccer Club
was there, the fit chiropractor people, they were there, and
then a couple others. I know, you guys were cold.
There was no way you weren't because, like I said,
it was a frosty morning. I get. I'm waiting inside,
run into a lot of the people were taking the selfies,
(09:03):
We're doing the things. They had indoor restrooms, all right,
because you are at a big sports complex, restrooms normally
not a problem. They had indoor restrooms for everyone to use,
which is great. No porta potties, You're in the nice warmth,
good times. We're getting close to the start of the race.
It is time to venture out. This is where there
was one problem. Yes, they opened up the corner of
(09:25):
the stadium, but they opened like ad door, and so
you're trying to get all the runners to filter out.
For whatever reason, there were still a bunch of people
trying to filter in, and it was just a big
old schmaze right there at that one door, trying to
get everyone out to the start line. A lot of
people pushing in and out. Strollers and those take up
(09:45):
space when you got one door to fit all these
people through. But we need to open up a few
more doors. And then people who were still trying to
come in, what in the heck were you doing? No,
you were going to the start of the race. The
race is about start. Get out there. What are you doing?
Why A you're trying to come inside anyway. But once
we all filtered through that little tiny door opening to
the start line, we go This is just a this
(10:07):
was a me problem, This is not anyone else problem.
But I'm walking up there and I'm trying to get
to the start line. I want to get in the
crouse and I'm walking and they said, okay, everyone, time
for the national anthem. Okay, so I stopped, you know,
handle the heart, stopped doing the national anthem. Okay, I'm
walking again. I got it. I'm trying to get in
the grouse. Okay, everyone by your head for a prayer.
Oh okay, stop again the head for the prayer. All right,
okay amen, and then okay, trying to go again, okay everyone.
(10:29):
Never It's like, ah, I could not I couldn't get
to the starting corral because it kept stopping me with
the you know what was going on overhead and like stop,
be respectful, okay, go again. It's like red light, green light.
Before the race, it was crazy. Uh in the starting
shoots though, no problem. I knew because it happened last
year and it wasn't as gregious this year. I knew
this race one going to start on time, and it didn't.
(10:52):
Started a few minutes late. As you know, they passed
the microphone around, they do the thank yous. Uh, Nolan
Davidson's father spoke, which all was good. They had members
of the soccer club kind of do their little pregame
year to get everyone fired up, and then the race
was off. So yeah, started a few minutes late. No
big deal that I figured it was worse last year.
Anytime it's the first year race, you never know how
(11:13):
things are going to time out. Timed a little closer.
This year, you could definitely tell it was year two.
You know, they've ironed out some of the ref edges
from last year, which is good, that's what you want.
And we're off now doing the ten k. I know
that I'm basically doing the five k loop twice, all right,
so no problem. We talked about this last year because
of all the people out there, and I would say
(11:35):
eighty to eighty five percent of them are just doing
the five k. A lot of them come from the
Fusion Soccer Club, a lot of them come from Nolan
Davidson's school, a lot of them come from the church.
There's a lot of kids, there's a lot of non
serious racers. There's a lot of people don't know what
they're doing. A lot of tourists. Does some call them.
You have to understand that's going to happen, and you
(11:57):
have to expect it. I did all of these things
and I still was getting tangled up with people, and
you know, I get it. And the kids, bless their
peep picking hearts, they're out there doing their best trying
to do what they think they can do. They just
don't know what the hell they're doing, which as a
kid you normally don't and they don't and they prove
(12:17):
it every time. But yeah, on, once you tap dance
around the kids, once you kind of understand the kids
who are going to run around you at your level,
you know, we kind of met you with their level,
you can kind of pick up their patterns real easy,
and then you know how to just really avoid them
if you were a big um boy. I'm rusty apparently
(12:37):
on podcasting too. As I'm running along, there are a
lot of frozen puddles on the right side where you know,
some of the snow from last week melted and then
it is cold, so it is refrozen. There was definitely
some slick spots out there. You can definitely tell that
because all the kids want to go skating across it.
So there's zig zan across a course trying to find
the different puddles and icy spots in which to drag
(12:59):
their feet along and act like they're skating kind of
a thing. That's great, but there's again kids zigzagging all
over the course. I eventually, at least on my first loop.
Had to try and stay very left because they all
wanted to play around very right. Here's my problem. I
haven't run in a month, so I want to. I
instinctively know when I'm gonna take it down to a walk,
I try and get to the right. Okay, well that's
(13:20):
where all the darn kids are. So it was where
it was a little bit of a mind game. I
had to figure out, Okay, where's the best place for
me to do my run walk nonsense, Where I'm not
gonna get tingled up with these kids. I'm not going
to get run over by these kids, and I'm not
gonna get driven crazy by these kids. Yes, I am
a completely snobbish runner when it comes to kids. Kids
drive me nuts. That's what happens. When you've had two
(13:41):
of them and they've driven you nuts. Means all kids
drive you nuts. And so yeah, I get it. I
am not the kindest, most gentlest soul when it comes
to the kid aspect of racing. I admit it. I
never said I was perfect. Dag nab it. Anyway, once
you get through that first loop, then it's golden. Okay.
So when you come to the split and all the
(14:01):
five carriers take the left to go up the hill
to go around the stadium into the finish line. The
ten cares just continue straight and we do another big
loop around the Kansas Speedway, the NASCAR track, the racing track,
whatever is out there these days. I'm not a race fan.
I don't know well at it. It's not auto racing
running racing, because you know it's more exciting. Yeah, we'll
go with that. So it's beautiful. When you get that
(14:24):
straight shot and all the five carriers turn off, then
it was it was no big deal. It's a very
wide open course because again it's around the NASCAR stadium,
so they're pulling in trailers with cars and people are
pulling in r vs. They've made this road wide, really
really wide. So for us runners it's great. The only
problem is you have to do the worst hill twice.
You do it on the first lap, you do it
(14:45):
on the second lap. Once you're done with the first hill,
and then you start the downhill and you get to
go around in Hollywood Casino. If they want to sponsor
a podcast, I'm available to talk to them. The one
problem you have to be really careful about. Problem last year,
problem this year. The people who were going to a
little casino like Hollywood Casino early on a Saturday morning.
(15:07):
Are the slightly no shade being thrown? Okay, some the
slightly insane gamblers who will absolutely run your ass over
so they can get to their favorite slot machine. And
I kid you not to the point I even was
joking with a cop about it because they're holding up
traffic and this guy was getting real antsy and I
was getting slightly nervous, and who's gonna come and just
(15:29):
run me over to get into the casino? I said
something to one of the cops as I went by.
He said, these people are crazy, like the cops stationed
in front of the casino. I know, hod a long
morning because those folks do not care. They do not
care that there's a run going on. Their favorite slot
machine might not have someone else at it so they
can get to it. And uh yeah, I've known several
(15:52):
of these casino people. They're an interesting crew. Interesting here.
If you are one, more credit to you. I hope
you have fun, and I hope you strike it big.
And when you strike it big, remember the Back of
the Back podcast does have a Patreon page and we
would love your support. But it's a little wild when
you're running twice in front of the casino. It gets
interesting anyway you get around the casino. Now you're kind
(16:13):
of on the front side of the stadium or the raceway.
The raceway, the front side of it doesn't really face anything.
It faces a big empty field where they do a
lot of the parking for the big events, so there's
really nothing out there. There's Jack Squad. You have to
take the one dtour that you don't run on the
first lap, you run on the second lap. You take
this left, you go up the hill, you take a
(16:34):
right on this little dirt road. It's the only time
you're off roading. You got to go down the little
dirt road. Then you take a right, and then you
come back to the course, and that just kind of
gives you that little extra distance that the ten kres
are supposed to have. You make the left turn where
the five cares it previously made the left turn, you
go up the hill. You're now on the main road.
It takes your right to Sporting Park. You go down
(16:54):
that hill, you hang a left going around Sporting Park Stadium,
then you hang another right, and then there's the finish
the same problem this year as there was last year.
The course is very short, all right. As I was
crossing the finish line both last year and this year,
my watch was hitting me right at six miles. Okay,
so six miles as I'm crossing the finish line, and
that's not what you want. So like last year, I
(17:16):
get my medal. I look at my watch, which I
paused when I finished, and I like, okay, I have
my medal. I'm at six point zero. I want the
six point two because there was a garment badge for
the weekend and who wants to miss that? So okay,
we're zoom. I run down that hill that we'd started on,
go around the corner that was the beginning of the race,
and then I go until I hit my six point
two zero and then I'm done. Okay, stop the watch,
(17:40):
walk it back up the hill and there we are.
Went and got myself a little coffee from one of
the coffee trucks that had come out trying to support
a you know, another little small business. So I got
there peppermint coffee. It was delightful, got me nice and
warm in my tongue. Tom as I was done with
that race, and then at that point, I'm sweating because
you know, go figure, it's outside, and your body temperature
(18:02):
comes back down real fast, real quick when you're standing
in line to get a coffee outside in the frosty morning.
So I was starting to get a little chilly, got
my coffee, said goodbye to the people that were still there,
and away I went. Some of the crew was going
to get coffee across the street at Starbucky's. I was
planning on joining them, but then I got my small
(18:23):
business coffee, and then I got in my car with
my seat warmer, and then suddenly my desire to go
across the parking lot, get out of the car again
and go inside Starbucky's that was gone. Yeah, So I
bid them all in a dew over a message said
now I'm good, and then I went home to my bathtub,
where I soaked for a while in assault bath because
again I am an injured runner, I'm an older runner,
and I'm just generally creaky, so I thought, hey, might
(18:46):
as well soaking a tub, right, So that was the
Nolan Davidson run. Here. If you're watching on YouTube, which
I hope you are, here's the metal all right. See
there you go there's metal right there, a little bigger,
a little nicer than last year's. Not that last year
so bad. Lastures was just really small. It was just
a circle. This is a nice little rectangle and a
better little ribbon on it says work hard, it's got
(19:08):
the got a sponsor here, Prairie Pediacric Dentistry, anyone else,
be nice, it says on here. So yeah, a nice
little metal, nice little medal. So that will that will
hang on the wall. And then boom, that was the
ten k from the Nolan Davidson Champions Run. Now, after
doing this, I got home and I see in my
(19:28):
memory section that the day of that race, December sixth,
was my Run a Versearie. So I did a nice
little post celebrating my run a Verse Cherie of my Oh,
I should have pulled up the number so I can
get them to you here. But in like one hundred
and seventy five five k's sixty something ten k's. I
know people commented eighty three half marathon, so that's cool.
(19:49):
I meant about three hundred and I think it said
three hundred and sixty three total races for my career,
which started in December of twenty ten. That's when I
did my first five k. So there we go, little
runniversary celebration. I thought that was neat, and yeah, it's
been a fun fifteen years. Who had ever thought fifteen
years ago that I'd be sitting here doing a running podcast.
(20:10):
Not me, not this guy, because I didn't know what
I was doing. My first five k was really interesting
because I had no clue what was going on. I
also was doing a race where now it has a
very nice finisher medal. Back in twenty ten, it did not.
My very first five k had no medal. I did
not get my first running medal until April twenty eleven,
(20:33):
and that was a half marathon. That was when five
k's really didn't do finish your medals. So just found
that interesting. Speaking of saying finisher medal or participation medal,
that reminds me of last week's episode. I hope you
enjoyed the Second Wind episode. If you haven't listened to it,
go back and listen to it. With Cody and Katie,
we really had a good time. Again, that was just
(20:53):
runners talking, running from start to finish. That was really fun.
And then on this Friday's episode of Second Wind, you
don't want to. It is one of one of my
most favoritist runners in Kansas City is on the podcast.
So Sam is on the show. You do not want
to miss her. It was great. I enjoyed that conversation
so so much. So make sure you tune in Friday
to a second win to hear our next in the
(21:15):
series of interviews that we're doing over December and January.
So there we go. Just had to plug that next
up on Sunday. One race wasn't enough. I wanted too.
I was signed up because they came on the podcast
for the jingle Bell Run five k benefiting the Arthritis Foundation. Yes,
they were on the podcast. I want to say back
(21:35):
in September or October. I think October. I'm pretty sure
they were on in October. We had four of their
representatives on the show or no, maybe it was three.
Three of their representatives on the show, and we kind
of talked about their race, we talked about their cause,
we talked about really all aspects of it. To try
and get everyone excited. It is hard when you're in
(21:55):
early fall or even late summer, it's hard to get
excited for a Christmas themed race. Trust me, I'm in
that boat too. But when we got to race morning,
I was actually super excited. It's like, hey, my first
Christmas themed race of the year. I'm looking forward to this.
It's gonna be fun. We get to be you know,
festive and decorative and do all this stuff. I get
to go out to Chicken and Pickle because that's where
(22:17):
the race was held. With Chicken and Pickle and Overland Park, Kansas,
I had never been there before. I have parked in
their parking lot. I have done races that were right
next to it, you know, maybe a race at Prairie Fire,
which we just did one of those back in August, well,
July and August, there were two out there, but I
had never been inside Chicken and Pickle. They had a
nine am start time for the race, so again we're
(22:38):
in no hurry in the morning. This was a colder
morning than the day previous, little cold front coming through, cloudy,
strong wind out of the north, so this was a
much more uncomfortable morning. But good thing it's at Chicken
and Pickle. They had the big bays with all the
pickleball courts where all the runners could go in and
(23:01):
stage themselves before the run. You were not outside, you
were not exposed to the elements. You had a place
inside to gather with friends. They had two their credit,
an amazing spread right there for all the runners before
the race. There were little pastries they brought in colatchies.
There were waters, and there was coffee, and they had
(23:22):
all this stuff that you could partake of before the race.
It was great. So we're in a nice warm bay.
There's tons of food and drink for you. There's places
to sit, there's places to stretch, places to stay in
the rounds. They did bring out all the local Star
Wars cost players, so Andrew the Casey cosplay runner was there,
but he was not the only cost player in the
(23:43):
house that day. Although Andrew, I think most people will
agree one of your easily top five best costumes came
out as one of the guys from The Nutcracker, even
with the little the mouthy thing painted on his face.
Andrew crushed it for the jingle Bow Run. Not gonna lie,
but all these our worst cost players were there. I
saw a Disney cost player there, there was Elsa. There
(24:04):
might have been others that maybe I just didn't see.
And then Casey Taylor was there. That is our Taylor
Swift cost player, and she looks so dang much like
Taylor Swift it is a little ridiculous. So she's in
the right gig as a Taylor Swift cost player because
they are very similar in appearance, that is for sure.
(24:24):
But she was there as well. So it was great
to see all these people out. It was great to
see all the running people that came out. To all
the people who joined the Back of the Back podcast
team for that race, thank you very much. It's a
good look when people joined the team. I know, we
had a lot of people come out and they're like, yeah,
I was looking at the teams and then I saw
that there was this team and I've always supported that cause,
so I joined that team instead of your team. Y.
(24:45):
That's fine, that's fine. As long as you supported you
came to the race, you joined a team that looks good.
For the team, whoever it is. You're supporting a good
cause with the Arthritis Foundation. Everybody wins. Everybody wins, no
big deal, no problem. So we get out there, we're
all staged up, and then finally it's time to go.
We're taking our group pictures and they're trying to get
everyone to leave the indoor pickle ball courts. And again
(25:06):
there was there was the indoor pickle ball courts. There
was like the actual restaurant they have like this little
area of I don't know, I don't even know what
that area would be. Maybe people waiting for pickleball courts
to open up, restaurant, bar staging area, the pickleball bays.
They had an outdoor ice skating rink set up, which
I guess in the warmer months, maybe that's just some
(25:28):
other pickleball courts that you can use. I don't know,
because again, never been there before. But there were just
tons of places, so people meandering here, there and yonder
all over the place. Plenty of parking. Parking was not
an issue. Had the start line set up right in
front of Chicken and pickle like it just it was easy.
That was an easy morning. Both mornings for this weekend
(25:49):
were just easy mornings. And trust me, if you're a
race director and a runner says that your morning was easy,
that is like one of the highest compliments a runner
can give race director. So race directors, that's what you want.
You want a runner to say that you're easy. And
these were easy mornings and I really appreciate the heck
out of that, because again I haven't running a month,
(26:10):
so I really didn't want to have to tax myself.
I didn't want to be too overly concerned with how
things are going or what was going on. I wanted
a need easy morning, and I got two of them.
It was great. We head out to the start line.
Everyone's getting lined up. I did not take a look
at how many people were signed up for this race,
but to me, it looked like a very good crowd.
I did not know what to expect from this race.
Now they've done this race for a long time, many
(26:32):
many years. It's changed locations before, but I think they
do have a pretty good following of maybe repeat runners.
Seem like there are a lot of people who are
there for that cause, a lot of people who are
there who've done it before, who maybe did it back
when they were in the caves and now they're a
chicken and pickle and wherever they've been and this, that
and the other. So they had a very good following
a lot of people there. I was very impressed. The
(26:53):
crowd was good. Everyone was dressed up, everyone looked festive,
even though it was a cold, windy more. I mean,
you couldn't tell. People were pretty happy and excited out there.
There were the young ladies who were all dressed as reindeer,
and they all have bells connecting them, so they were
clearly gonna run as a team. And apparently, well I
don't want to sound like creepy old man, I'm not
(27:15):
trying to be. They are clearly, you know, young twenty
something year old runners, all in very good shape. So
as soon as that race started gone, they were down
the road before I even knew what happened, Like, oh, well,
holy like Santa must have been running late because his
reindeer were just gone like a shot. But the race
started right on time. I think we were right on time,
(27:36):
Like I do not remember even being a minute behind.
So they start the race right on time. We go
out the parking lot of Chicken and Pickle and we
go right down to Prairie Fire. We've talked about Prairie
Fire before. We've done races here one hundred times. This
is the same Prairie Fire course that we've always done.
What I liked and what I found just a hair different.
When you're starting back at Chicken and Pickle and you're
(27:57):
going from Chicken and Pickle and you're going down to
Prairie Fire. You take the right at Prairie Fire and
then you go to the road, and then you take
the left on the road, and then you take the
right on Nall and then you attack the first big hill,
the big hill that we all know at the Prairie
Fire course, which is in your first mile. When you're
starting all the way back at Chicken and Pickle, you
have more time to I guess, get your breath, to
(28:20):
get your rhythm, to get your legs warmed up, to
just be looser on the course. I liked having that
little more of a lead up to the first hill.
I didn't feel bad on that first hill. I already
felt like I was warmed up. I already felt like
I was moving and grooving. So that hill was just
the hill when you're starting all the way up at
Prairie Fire and you basically make a right turn in
(28:40):
you're there. You're on that hill, like I never feel
like I'm ready for it. I liked starting all the
way back at Chicken and Pickle and get more of
a running start, shall we saying at that hill, so
I was loosened up and ready to go. So does
it really make a difference. I don't know. Did it
make a difference in my head? Yeah? Is that what's important? Yeah,
most of the time. Yeah, I'll take I'll take it
in my head more than anything else. Good with me.
(29:01):
So you get to the first hill up the hill
we all know, the Prairie fire course. We're going up Nall.
You get a little dipsy dude, dounkaroue going up Nall.
You make a right one hundred and twenty seventh Street,
more rolling nonsense. That is southern Johnson County. We know
it well. But when we get to I always want
to say it's Lamar, but I don't think it's Lamar. Well,
(29:24):
we get to the right turn that takes us off
one hundred and twenty seventh Street. When you go past
the school on your right, there it's your last big hill.
You make the right turn, you go up the last
nasty hill. And then you're always excited because you know
it is all downhill to the finish line. And it
really is. That's not an expression. It is all downhill
of the finish line. Here's the problem. That street turns
(29:45):
directly facing north. What was coming out of the north
a strong cold wind, so you can kind of see
it as everyone got to the top of the hill.
In the crest of the hill, everyone kind of took
that little jerk back because that coal breeze hit him
right in a face, and so you have that going
all the way down the hill back to the finish line.
(30:06):
Was that real cold blast coming out of the north,
so then took a little wind out of the sails,
but it wasn't terrible. I do like that downhill finish.
The downhill finish is great. And so I get done.
I finished. I'm chasing some of the local runners around.
I'm surrounded by people I know, and uh yeah, never mind.
(30:28):
I was gonna tell a story. I'm not going to.
But I was too kind. I was too kind. At
the end. There was a person I should have passed,
and I didn't because I didn't want to be the
jerk that went sprinting around him at the end. And
then they go and talk smack afterwards. Well I beat you. Oh,
I was right behind you if I if I had kicked,
I would have pumped anyway. Anyway, whatever, So finish the race.
(30:49):
I have no complaints about the courses. Of course, we've
done many times. I have no complaints about the race. Uh,
they know what they're doing because they've been doing this
a long time. So it started on time, The courses
well marked, eight stations were out there, cops had the
rows roads closed. Finish line was what it was. I
got my little medal, and then really it was kind
of decision time, what do you want to do? Well,
(31:09):
I was gonna go inside. Again, I've never been a
chicken and pickle. I'm gonna go see if the bar
is open, because that's just kind of what I do.
And it was, and so I was able to have
a little post race elbation, which was lovely. I was
just getting some carbs back in my system. I just
ran a five k and so that's what I did.
I sent a message to the group, told them where
(31:30):
I was at. A few people stopped in said hello,
we shot the breeze for a while. Several of them,
who are the faster runners in our little running group,
said we're gonna go over to where the race was
all set up on that you know, inside the pickleball base,
and we're gonna see about h division wars. Oh okay, cool,
you know what? Actually, before I tell that story. Let
me let me show you the metal because I almost forgot.
(31:52):
So when we finished, we got the medal. Everyone take
a look at your screens. There we go. There's the
jingle bell run twenty twenty five for the Arthritis Foundation.
You can see the white ribbon. It's got Arthritis Foundation
jingle Bowl run all over the place. So not a
bad little metal. It's it's yeah, I little metal. So okay,
see bam, no big deal. Then I drop it. I
(32:13):
just want to show that to you before I forgot. Okay.
So now they're going to go check on the Age
Division awards and I'm thinking, yeah, that's no concern to me.
So I stay right there. Several little to stay behind.
You know, we're having a drink, whether it be a soda,
adult beverage, some people just sipping on water. They had
a mimosa special that morning if you wanted a mimosa,
and trust me, I was tempted. And then I get
(32:34):
a message. I get a message from the people who
went over and they're all excited, you got third in
your age division. Who me this guy? No, Look, I
haven't run in a month. I just did a ten
k yesterday. My legs are kind of sore because I
haven't run in a month. What are you talking about?
I got something in my age division. That's ridiculous. Now,
sure enough, I got third place in my age division
(32:56):
at the Jingle Bell Run five k, a third out
of six. So there were other options, and so let
me show you that metal, because what the heck I
got it. So here it is. It's the exact same metal.
But you can see at the bottom it's this third place.
So not a bad age division award. I'm still shocked
that I ended up with it, but you know, that's
(33:18):
pretty cool. So a little extra bling to leave that
race from I will absolutely take that every time, because, yeah,
why not? That was pretty cool. I was glad to
have gotten it. So that was it for the jingle
Bell Run. We hung out there, I don't know, maybe
hour and a half post race, just talking, shooting the breeze,
(33:38):
trying to talk Terry into not running so injured. But
she's gonna do that anyway, because Terry's gonna Terry. And
that was it. I know I've got room to talk, right,
I'm running injured. I however, the knee held up great.
I'm not gonna complain about that the knee held up fine,
no issues there. It didn't start hurting after X amount
(33:59):
of time running. The knee did really well. I had
a big tight brace on it, which I think helps
a lot. Maybe the cold weather's helping. I don't know.
Ran into a runner there who was talking about Yeah,
ever since the weather got cold, my knee feels great.
Who knows. Maybe I'm lucking out and the weather's helping
me out just that kind of oh natural, real ice
pack to help with the swelling. But I'm still gonna
(34:19):
go see the ortho. I'm gonna see if there's anything
we can do. But it was a very encouraging weekend
to me that I did a ten k and a
five k and the knee held up. So there's still
there's still a lot of miles left to be done
before we get to Tokyo. That is, that is for sure.
But hopefully today, as I sit here right now, my
new elliptical that I brought I bought on Black Friday,
(34:41):
hopefully they're dropping it off of my porch. That way
I can have a little indoor when the weather is bad,
I can have a little little training that's no impact
on the knee and I can kind of cycle in
some elliptical training in lieu of the miles outside, especially
you know, if it's icy or snowy or whatever. So
that's a hope, that's hope. I hope it's on my
porch right now as I get done with this, as
(35:03):
I get done recording. Yeah, recording, that's the word. All right. Go.
You know, someone was telling me this weekend, you you
will speak so quickly on the on the show and
everything the thoughts come to you like, yeah, they used
to come a lot faster now with aig who sometimes
this train of thought derails and there are no survivors.
So anyway, well, this this took up the time of
(35:23):
the show today. I had some other stuff I was
gonna talk about now I don't even need to do
that because the race reviews filled it up. But race
reviews are what people enjoy the most anyway, so I'm
happy to bring them to you next weekend, assuming that
the orthopedis today does not like just ground me forever,
and I don't think he's gonna do that. Next weekend
we're gonna be in Westport for the Westport Santa Dash,
(35:46):
and then there is a gathering at char bar looks
like after the race, so I hope to see it
that as well, being put on by Jason and Christina,
and so I'm going, I'm heck, yeah, I'm going. That's
gonna be fun. It's gonna be a good day. That
is going to be the last race on the calendar
for twenty twenty five, which is nuts. If you are
(36:07):
gonna be in Mississippi doing Gulf Coast Marathon next weekend,
good luck to you again. So sorry I had to
miss that race, but with injury, training was what it was,
which means it wasn't so I won't be down there
for that race. Gonna move that to next year. But
if you're in Mississippi for the Gulf Coast Marathon, good luck.
I hope you guys give it help, give it hell
down there. And uh, I'm sorry I won't be able
to join you. I'm just gonna stick to my five
(36:28):
k up here in town, and then that's gonna put
the Kebash on the running for twenty twenty five. Now,
I do have a half marathon on New Year's Day,
so we're gonna be picking up right quick. But twenty
twenty five will be in the book, all right, so
that's gonna do it. For this week's episode of the
Back of the Back podcast, I'm your host, Kyle Walker.
It is my pleasure as always, make sure you go
out to the website for Case Sanda Dash and make
(36:49):
sure you get your starting times coming up for this
weekend so well, hopefully we'll see you on Saturday. We'll
see you Friday for second win. Other than that, everyone
have a safe week of training. We will see you
next week. Sh
Hello, everyone, Greedy and salitations. Welcome back to another episode
of the Back of the Pack podcast. I'm your House,
Kyle Walker, thank you so much for tuning in. We uh,
we're kind of back, which I don't want to see
it too loud. This is a this is a let's
see a non orthopedic doctor approved episode of the Back
of the Pack podcast. I actually got out this weekend
(00:33):
and did a couple of races. Uh. Here's the thing.
So last week I was supposed to go see the
orthopedic guy about my knee, okay, the one that's been
giving me problems kept me out of running for a
month now. And here in Kansas City, we had this
big snowstorm that no one was really ready for and
no one really expected. Asked the Missouri Department of Transportation
(00:53):
about that, the only state around that did not pre
treat the roads, and boy did they suffer for it. Anyway,
we had that, and so my appointment with your the
pedis got moved. They just pushed it a week and
I'm actually gonna go see them here in just a
couple of minutes. But since I didn't see him last Monday,
they couldn't tell me not to run the races this weekend.
So I ran the races this weekend, and oh my god,
(01:15):
it felt so good, my good, gracious, I should say,
it felt so good to actually be out there and
run again. Missing an entire month is brutal, man like,
it is awful. Injuries happened. We all know this. Missing
time it happens. You know, it can be by choice,
it can be by circumstance, it can be by injury.
But it's never fun when it does. And it has
(01:35):
been absolutely killing me. So I actually did the math
as I was out running this Saturday. I did the math.
So November ninth was good life hasie since good life
HAVESI where Yeah, I did not do great at the
half marathon. I'm hopping fences like a complete JABBRONI you
know all the things that we've talked about now. A
couple of times I had not done much of really
(01:57):
anything I had. I skipped some weeks of endoor soccer.
So I have played two indoor soccer games. You know
that are fifty minutes, and then you know with subs
you're not even playing the whole time. Two fifty minute
soccer games, zero runs, So like no running around the house,
no running races, and then just a few walks. I've
(02:19):
walked the dogs a few times. The most I ever
do with the dogs is two miles, but again that's
walking your dog pace. And then when I'm in the
office Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, I will go out for
a little bit of walk there just to kind of
stretch the legs. Over the last month, that is it.
That is all I have done. So when I come
to the race on Saturday, it was noticeable that I
(02:42):
had had quite the time off because my performance was
man So let's go ahead and dive right into the weekend.
Here's what we did on Saturday, this would be December sixth.
We had the Nolan Davidson Champion Run ten k and
that is located at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Now,
we did the very first running of this race last year.
(03:04):
Last year they had over fifteen hundred people. I think
they were closer to like thirteen twenty five this year,
if I saw the number correctly, not much of a
drop off between first year and second year. So that
is awesome. That is great that they were able to
keep a lot of their registration up. It is for
a very good cause. So here I'm going to read
you the description of their race. So the Nolan Day,
(03:25):
let's see, Nolan David's Champions Run was established to celebrate
Nolan Davidson in the spirit of competition and determination in
which he lived his life. On December seventh, twenty twenty three,
Nolan tragically passed away from injuries sustained from a drunk
driving accident. And again he was but a young man.
I know he was in the car and then going
(03:46):
to a soccer function, if memory serves, that's not in
this little write up here. One of the reasons I
also know it is it is on a street that
I am very familiar with that is about a mile
and a half from my house. So I've driven by
the roadside memorial for him hundreds and hundreds of times,
(04:07):
and so this was a cause I was more than
happy to to help out with and support. Last year
we went to the first race, went back to it
again this year and it is a very well done event.
So it is put on by Sporting Kansas City. They
definitely have a piece of it. Casey Fusion, which is
one of our local soccer clubs, not one of the
(04:29):
clubs that my daughter played for, but still a very
well known soccer club. And then the Foundry Church on
around eighty seventh and Lackman and getting them a shout
out as well as they are part of this. So
those are kind of the people involved in this run
and involved with the Davidson family and involved with this
whole circumstance. And so what they said here with last
(04:49):
year's proceeds, so this was year one, fifteen hundred runners
ish the Nolan Davidson Foundation was able to donate thirty
thousand dollars to Casey Fusion Soccer Club for youth scholarships.
They've fully funded the Foundry Church's Club forty five youth
group and that's nights for fourth and fifth graders. And
then they donated over a thousand toys to Children's Mercy Hospital.
(05:11):
That was with last year's proceeds, and then they said
this year, we look forward to continuing our support this
year in these programs as well as providing four Casey
Metro High School cross country runners each one thousand dollars scholarship.
And then your support will have a direct impactay positive impact,
supporting next generation of athletes. And then more to the
(05:32):
hospital and the church as well, so again I didn't
want to completely misquote it, so I wanted to pull
a little bit from what they're doing. They are doing
really great things. They are definitely making kind of a
triumph out of a tragedy, because anytime you lose your
young kid, it is absolutely tragedy, and so I appreciate
them and I applaud them from what they're doing. I've
never had them on the podcast before. We certainly talked
(05:53):
about them over the last couple of years, but what
they're doing is amazing. Next year, I think they are
always going to be kind of that first Sat in
December because it is right along, you know, his the
unfortunate day of the accident was December seventh, or at
least when no one passed, so they're always right there
around December seventh, right at the start of December, to
do this race again. They have a five k and
(06:13):
they have a ten k. They also have a one
mile memorial walk, so whatever your distance is, you could
absolutely come out and do this race and support a clearly,
as it is stated right here, a very worthy cause.
So I want you to put that on your calendar
for next year. I have one dred percent will be
back for next year's race. I would love to see
you out there. And as I've said on a previous episode,
(06:34):
where blue, because blue is the color. It is not
a Christmas themed race where you're blue. I went to
packet pickup at that Foundry church last week to get
my stuff for the race, and when I walked in there,
they have a two day packet pickup, and I mean,
you got all the time in the world if you
want to go pick it up. I know most people
are still doing it race morning, but they open up
(06:55):
the church. They've got people stationed, they've got merchandise, you
can buy, donations, you can make. It's right there a
coffee shop inside the church. You can grab yourself a beverage.
When I was in there, the people behind the counter,
the volunteers, asked me, oh, did you do this slnes here?
Yes I did. I said, yeah, I was the guy
that was all jassed up in Christmas gear. And then
I found that everyone was wearing blue and they thought
that was pretty funny. They're like, well, you can do
(07:16):
holiday themed in blue as well. I get all that,
but I did not know that last year. This year,
I definitely represented a little better on kind of the
color scheme of choice for this race. It worked out
much better this time. So Saturday morning, all right, let's
do a razor boom. Man, Let's see if I'm rusty
on these. Saturday morning we're up and we're out the door.
(07:37):
They had an eight thirty start time, which is nice,
you know, and it's colder outside. We're in December. You
get a little bit more time to let the sun
come up, try and warm the temperatures up outside a
little bit. We did have a pretty chilly morning. I
think we're right at thirty two thirty three degrees when
we started, but I get there. What is beautiful about
this race And credit to the organization of Sporting can
(08:00):
City or MLS Soccer club here in town. They opened
up one of the big corners of the stadium so
that people can station themselves inside. So, yes, it was
cold outside, it was very frosty that morning, but everyone
was stationed inside where you could stay warm, you could
loosen up, you could kind of meet with the people.
They did have one of the soccer players there, one
(08:20):
of the members of Sporting Kansas City was there to
take pictures with everybody, so that was really cool that
they had one of their players come out. I do
not remember the young man's name, and yeah, every soccer
player in the world is a young man compared to me.
At this point, I don't remember his name, but kudos
to him for being out there. Kudos to Sporting Kansas
City for opening up part of your stadium as the
season is over. There's nothing going on right now out there,
(08:42):
but they did open it up. They did have some
vendors who were set up outside on kind of the
patio outside of the stadium. The Casey Fusion Soccer Club
was there, the fit chiropractor people, they were there, and
then a couple others. I know, you guys were cold.
There was no way you weren't because, like I said,
it was a frosty morning. I get. I'm waiting inside,
run into a lot of the people were taking the selfies,
(09:03):
We're doing the things. They had indoor restrooms, all right,
because you are at a big sports complex, restrooms normally
not a problem. They had indoor restrooms for everyone to use,
which is great. No porta potties, You're in the nice warmth,
good times. We're getting close to the start of the race.
It is time to venture out. This is where there
was one problem. Yes, they opened up the corner of
(09:25):
the stadium, but they opened like ad door, and so
you're trying to get all the runners to filter out.
For whatever reason, there were still a bunch of people
trying to filter in, and it was just a big
old schmaze right there at that one door, trying to
get everyone out to the start line. A lot of
people pushing in and out. Strollers and those take up
(09:45):
space when you got one door to fit all these
people through. But we need to open up a few
more doors. And then people who were still trying to
come in, what in the heck were you doing? No,
you were going to the start of the race. The
race is about start. Get out there. What are you doing?
Why A you're trying to come inside anyway. But once
we all filtered through that little tiny door opening to
the start line, we go This is just a this
(10:07):
was a me problem, This is not anyone else problem.
But I'm walking up there and I'm trying to get
to the start line. I want to get in the
crouse and I'm walking and they said, okay, everyone, time
for the national anthem. Okay, so I stopped, you know,
handle the heart, stopped doing the national anthem. Okay, I'm
walking again. I got it. I'm trying to get in
the grouse. Okay, everyone by your head for a prayer.
Oh okay, stop again the head for the prayer. All right,
okay amen, and then okay, trying to go again, okay everyone.
(10:29):
Never It's like, ah, I could not I couldn't get
to the starting corral because it kept stopping me with
the you know what was going on overhead and like stop,
be respectful, okay, go again. It's like red light, green light.
Before the race, it was crazy. Uh in the starting
shoots though, no problem. I knew because it happened last
year and it wasn't as gregious this year. I knew
this race one going to start on time, and it didn't.
(10:52):
Started a few minutes late. As you know, they passed
the microphone around, they do the thank yous. Uh, Nolan
Davidson's father spoke, which all was good. They had members
of the soccer club kind of do their little pregame
year to get everyone fired up, and then the race
was off. So yeah, started a few minutes late. No
big deal that I figured it was worse last year.
Anytime it's the first year race, you never know how
(11:13):
things are going to time out. Timed a little closer.
This year, you could definitely tell it was year two.
You know, they've ironed out some of the ref edges
from last year, which is good, that's what you want.
And we're off now doing the ten k. I know
that I'm basically doing the five k loop twice, all right,
so no problem. We talked about this last year because
of all the people out there, and I would say
(11:35):
eighty to eighty five percent of them are just doing
the five k. A lot of them come from the
Fusion Soccer Club, a lot of them come from Nolan
Davidson's school, a lot of them come from the church.
There's a lot of kids, there's a lot of non
serious racers. There's a lot of people don't know what
they're doing. A lot of tourists. Does some call them.
You have to understand that's going to happen, and you
(11:57):
have to expect it. I did all of these things
and I still was getting tangled up with people, and
you know, I get it. And the kids, bless their
peep picking hearts, they're out there doing their best trying
to do what they think they can do. They just
don't know what the hell they're doing, which as a
kid you normally don't and they don't and they prove
(12:17):
it every time. But yeah, on, once you tap dance
around the kids, once you kind of understand the kids
who are going to run around you at your level,
you know, we kind of met you with their level,
you can kind of pick up their patterns real easy,
and then you know how to just really avoid them
if you were a big um boy. I'm rusty apparently
(12:37):
on podcasting too. As I'm running along, there are a
lot of frozen puddles on the right side where you know,
some of the snow from last week melted and then
it is cold, so it is refrozen. There was definitely
some slick spots out there. You can definitely tell that
because all the kids want to go skating across it.
So there's zig zan across a course trying to find
the different puddles and icy spots in which to drag
(12:59):
their feet along and act like they're skating kind of
a thing. That's great, but there's again kids zigzagging all
over the course. I eventually, at least on my first loop.
Had to try and stay very left because they all
wanted to play around very right. Here's my problem. I
haven't run in a month, so I want to. I
instinctively know when I'm gonna take it down to a walk,
I try and get to the right. Okay, well that's
(13:20):
where all the darn kids are. So it was where
it was a little bit of a mind game. I
had to figure out, Okay, where's the best place for
me to do my run walk nonsense, Where I'm not
gonna get tingled up with these kids. I'm not going
to get run over by these kids, and I'm not
gonna get driven crazy by these kids. Yes, I am
a completely snobbish runner when it comes to kids. Kids
drive me nuts. That's what happens. When you've had two
(13:41):
of them and they've driven you nuts. Means all kids
drive you nuts. And so yeah, I get it. I
am not the kindest, most gentlest soul when it comes
to the kid aspect of racing. I admit it. I
never said I was perfect. Dag nab it. Anyway, once
you get through that first loop, then it's golden. Okay.
So when you come to the split and all the
(14:01):
five carriers take the left to go up the hill
to go around the stadium into the finish line. The
ten cares just continue straight and we do another big
loop around the Kansas Speedway, the NASCAR track, the racing track,
whatever is out there these days. I'm not a race fan.
I don't know well at it. It's not auto racing
running racing, because you know it's more exciting. Yeah, we'll
go with that. So it's beautiful. When you get that
(14:24):
straight shot and all the five carriers turn off, then
it was it was no big deal. It's a very
wide open course because again it's around the NASCAR stadium,
so they're pulling in trailers with cars and people are
pulling in r vs. They've made this road wide, really
really wide. So for us runners it's great. The only
problem is you have to do the worst hill twice.
You do it on the first lap, you do it
(14:45):
on the second lap. Once you're done with the first hill,
and then you start the downhill and you get to
go around in Hollywood Casino. If they want to sponsor
a podcast, I'm available to talk to them. The one
problem you have to be really careful about. Problem last year,
problem this year. The people who were going to a
little casino like Hollywood Casino early on a Saturday morning.
(15:07):
Are the slightly no shade being thrown? Okay, some the
slightly insane gamblers who will absolutely run your ass over
so they can get to their favorite slot machine. And
I kid you not to the point I even was
joking with a cop about it because they're holding up
traffic and this guy was getting real antsy and I
was getting slightly nervous, and who's gonna come and just
(15:29):
run me over to get into the casino? I said
something to one of the cops as I went by.
He said, these people are crazy, like the cops stationed
in front of the casino. I know, hod a long
morning because those folks do not care. They do not
care that there's a run going on. Their favorite slot
machine might not have someone else at it so they
can get to it. And uh yeah, I've known several
(15:52):
of these casino people. They're an interesting crew. Interesting here.
If you are one, more credit to you. I hope
you have fun, and I hope you strike it big.
And when you strike it big, remember the Back of
the Back podcast does have a Patreon page and we
would love your support. But it's a little wild when
you're running twice in front of the casino. It gets
interesting anyway you get around the casino. Now you're kind
(16:13):
of on the front side of the stadium or the raceway.
The raceway, the front side of it doesn't really face anything.
It faces a big empty field where they do a
lot of the parking for the big events, so there's
really nothing out there. There's Jack Squad. You have to
take the one dtour that you don't run on the
first lap, you run on the second lap. You take
this left, you go up the hill, you take a
(16:34):
right on this little dirt road. It's the only time
you're off roading. You got to go down the little
dirt road. Then you take a right, and then you
come back to the course, and that just kind of
gives you that little extra distance that the ten kres
are supposed to have. You make the left turn where
the five cares it previously made the left turn, you
go up the hill. You're now on the main road.
It takes your right to Sporting Park. You go down
(16:54):
that hill, you hang a left going around Sporting Park Stadium,
then you hang another right, and then there's the finish
the same problem this year as there was last year.
The course is very short, all right. As I was
crossing the finish line both last year and this year,
my watch was hitting me right at six miles. Okay,
so six miles as I'm crossing the finish line, and
that's not what you want. So like last year, I
(17:16):
get my medal. I look at my watch, which I
paused when I finished, and I like, okay, I have
my medal. I'm at six point zero. I want the
six point two because there was a garment badge for
the weekend and who wants to miss that? So okay,
we're zoom. I run down that hill that we'd started on,
go around the corner that was the beginning of the race,
and then I go until I hit my six point
two zero and then I'm done. Okay, stop the watch,
(17:40):
walk it back up the hill and there we are.
Went and got myself a little coffee from one of
the coffee trucks that had come out trying to support
a you know, another little small business. So I got
there peppermint coffee. It was delightful, got me nice and
warm in my tongue. Tom as I was done with
that race, and then at that point, I'm sweating because
you know, go figure, it's outside, and your body temperature
(18:02):
comes back down real fast, real quick when you're standing
in line to get a coffee outside in the frosty morning.
So I was starting to get a little chilly, got
my coffee, said goodbye to the people that were still there,
and away I went. Some of the crew was going
to get coffee across the street at Starbucky's. I was
planning on joining them, but then I got my small
(18:23):
business coffee, and then I got in my car with
my seat warmer, and then suddenly my desire to go
across the parking lot, get out of the car again
and go inside Starbucky's that was gone. Yeah, So I
bid them all in a dew over a message said
now I'm good, and then I went home to my bathtub,
where I soaked for a while in assault bath because
again I am an injured runner, I'm an older runner,
and I'm just generally creaky, so I thought, hey, might
(18:46):
as well soaking a tub, right, So that was the
Nolan Davidson run. Here. If you're watching on YouTube, which
I hope you are, here's the metal all right. See
there you go there's metal right there, a little bigger,
a little nicer than last year's. Not that last year
so bad. Lastures was just really small. It was just
a circle. This is a nice little rectangle and a
better little ribbon on it says work hard, it's got
(19:08):
the got a sponsor here, Prairie Pediacric Dentistry, anyone else,
be nice, it says on here. So yeah, a nice
little metal, nice little medal. So that will that will
hang on the wall. And then boom, that was the
ten k from the Nolan Davidson Champions Run. Now, after
doing this, I got home and I see in my
(19:28):
memory section that the day of that race, December sixth,
was my Run a Versearie. So I did a nice
little post celebrating my run a Verse Cherie of my Oh,
I should have pulled up the number so I can
get them to you here. But in like one hundred
and seventy five five k's sixty something ten k's. I
know people commented eighty three half marathon, so that's cool.
(19:49):
I meant about three hundred and I think it said
three hundred and sixty three total races for my career,
which started in December of twenty ten. That's when I
did my first five k. So there we go, little
runniversary celebration. I thought that was neat, and yeah, it's
been a fun fifteen years. Who had ever thought fifteen
years ago that I'd be sitting here doing a running podcast.
(20:10):
Not me, not this guy, because I didn't know what
I was doing. My first five k was really interesting
because I had no clue what was going on. I
also was doing a race where now it has a
very nice finisher medal. Back in twenty ten, it did not.
My very first five k had no medal. I did
not get my first running medal until April twenty eleven,
(20:33):
and that was a half marathon. That was when five
k's really didn't do finish your medals. So just found
that interesting. Speaking of saying finisher medal or participation medal,
that reminds me of last week's episode. I hope you
enjoyed the Second Wind episode. If you haven't listened to it,
go back and listen to it. With Cody and Katie,
we really had a good time. Again, that was just
(20:53):
runners talking, running from start to finish. That was really fun.
And then on this Friday's episode of Second Wind, you
don't want to. It is one of one of my
most favoritist runners in Kansas City is on the podcast.
So Sam is on the show. You do not want
to miss her. It was great. I enjoyed that conversation
so so much. So make sure you tune in Friday
to a second win to hear our next in the
(21:15):
series of interviews that we're doing over December and January.
So there we go. Just had to plug that next
up on Sunday. One race wasn't enough. I wanted too.
I was signed up because they came on the podcast
for the jingle Bell Run five k benefiting the Arthritis Foundation. Yes,
they were on the podcast. I want to say back
(21:35):
in September or October. I think October. I'm pretty sure
they were on in October. We had four of their
representatives on the show or no, maybe it was three.
Three of their representatives on the show, and we kind
of talked about their race, we talked about their cause,
we talked about really all aspects of it. To try
and get everyone excited. It is hard when you're in
(21:55):
early fall or even late summer, it's hard to get
excited for a Christmas themed race. Trust me, I'm in
that boat too. But when we got to race morning,
I was actually super excited. It's like, hey, my first
Christmas themed race of the year. I'm looking forward to this.
It's gonna be fun. We get to be you know,
festive and decorative and do all this stuff. I get
to go out to Chicken and Pickle because that's where
(22:17):
the race was held. With Chicken and Pickle and Overland Park, Kansas,
I had never been there before. I have parked in
their parking lot. I have done races that were right
next to it, you know, maybe a race at Prairie Fire,
which we just did one of those back in August, well,
July and August, there were two out there, but I
had never been inside Chicken and Pickle. They had a
nine am start time for the race, so again we're
(22:38):
in no hurry in the morning. This was a colder
morning than the day previous, little cold front coming through, cloudy,
strong wind out of the north, so this was a
much more uncomfortable morning. But good thing it's at Chicken
and Pickle. They had the big bays with all the
pickleball courts where all the runners could go in and
(23:01):
stage themselves before the run. You were not outside, you
were not exposed to the elements. You had a place
inside to gather with friends. They had two their credit,
an amazing spread right there for all the runners before
the race. There were little pastries they brought in colatchies.
There were waters, and there was coffee, and they had
(23:22):
all this stuff that you could partake of before the race.
It was great. So we're in a nice warm bay.
There's tons of food and drink for you. There's places
to sit, there's places to stretch, places to stay in
the rounds. They did bring out all the local Star
Wars cost players, so Andrew the Casey cosplay runner was there,
but he was not the only cost player in the
(23:43):
house that day. Although Andrew, I think most people will
agree one of your easily top five best costumes came
out as one of the guys from The Nutcracker, even
with the little the mouthy thing painted on his face.
Andrew crushed it for the jingle Bow Run. Not gonna lie,
but all these our worst cost players were there. I
saw a Disney cost player there, there was Elsa. There
(24:04):
might have been others that maybe I just didn't see.
And then Casey Taylor was there. That is our Taylor
Swift cost player, and she looks so dang much like
Taylor Swift it is a little ridiculous. So she's in
the right gig as a Taylor Swift cost player because
they are very similar in appearance, that is for sure.
(24:24):
But she was there as well. So it was great
to see all these people out. It was great to
see all the running people that came out. To all
the people who joined the Back of the Back podcast
team for that race, thank you very much. It's a
good look when people joined the team. I know, we
had a lot of people come out and they're like, yeah,
I was looking at the teams and then I saw
that there was this team and I've always supported that cause,
so I joined that team instead of your team. Y.
(24:45):
That's fine, that's fine. As long as you supported you
came to the race, you joined a team that looks good.
For the team, whoever it is. You're supporting a good
cause with the Arthritis Foundation. Everybody wins. Everybody wins, no
big deal, no problem. So we get out there, we're
all staged up, and then finally it's time to go.
We're taking our group pictures and they're trying to get
everyone to leave the indoor pickle ball courts. And again
(25:06):
there was there was the indoor pickle ball courts. There
was like the actual restaurant they have like this little
area of I don't know, I don't even know what
that area would be. Maybe people waiting for pickleball courts
to open up, restaurant, bar staging area, the pickleball bays.
They had an outdoor ice skating rink set up, which
I guess in the warmer months, maybe that's just some
(25:28):
other pickleball courts that you can use. I don't know,
because again, never been there before. But there were just
tons of places, so people meandering here, there and yonder
all over the place. Plenty of parking. Parking was not
an issue. Had the start line set up right in
front of Chicken and pickle like it just it was easy.
That was an easy morning. Both mornings for this weekend
(25:49):
were just easy mornings. And trust me, if you're a
race director and a runner says that your morning was easy,
that is like one of the highest compliments a runner
can give race director. So race directors, that's what you want.
You want a runner to say that you're easy. And
these were easy mornings and I really appreciate the heck
out of that, because again I haven't running a month,
(26:10):
so I really didn't want to have to tax myself.
I didn't want to be too overly concerned with how
things are going or what was going on. I wanted
a need easy morning, and I got two of them.
It was great. We head out to the start line.
Everyone's getting lined up. I did not take a look
at how many people were signed up for this race,
but to me, it looked like a very good crowd.
I did not know what to expect from this race.
Now they've done this race for a long time, many
(26:32):
many years. It's changed locations before, but I think they
do have a pretty good following of maybe repeat runners.
Seem like there are a lot of people who are
there for that cause, a lot of people who are
there who've done it before, who maybe did it back
when they were in the caves and now they're a
chicken and pickle and wherever they've been and this, that
and the other. So they had a very good following
a lot of people there. I was very impressed. The
(26:53):
crowd was good. Everyone was dressed up, everyone looked festive,
even though it was a cold, windy more. I mean,
you couldn't tell. People were pretty happy and excited out there.
There were the young ladies who were all dressed as reindeer,
and they all have bells connecting them, so they were
clearly gonna run as a team. And apparently, well I
don't want to sound like creepy old man, I'm not
(27:15):
trying to be. They are clearly, you know, young twenty
something year old runners, all in very good shape. So
as soon as that race started gone, they were down
the road before I even knew what happened, Like, oh, well,
holy like Santa must have been running late because his
reindeer were just gone like a shot. But the race
started right on time. I think we were right on time,
(27:36):
Like I do not remember even being a minute behind.
So they start the race right on time. We go
out the parking lot of Chicken and Pickle and we
go right down to Prairie Fire. We've talked about Prairie
Fire before. We've done races here one hundred times. This
is the same Prairie Fire course that we've always done.
What I liked and what I found just a hair different.
When you're starting back at Chicken and Pickle and you're
(27:57):
going from Chicken and Pickle and you're going down to
Prairie Fire. You take the right at Prairie Fire and
then you go to the road, and then you take
the left on the road, and then you take the
right on Nall and then you attack the first big hill,
the big hill that we all know at the Prairie
Fire course, which is in your first mile. When you're
starting all the way back at Chicken and Pickle, you
have more time to I guess, get your breath, to
(28:20):
get your rhythm, to get your legs warmed up, to
just be looser on the course. I liked having that
little more of a lead up to the first hill.
I didn't feel bad on that first hill. I already
felt like I was warmed up. I already felt like
I was moving and grooving. So that hill was just
the hill when you're starting all the way up at
Prairie Fire and you basically make a right turn in
(28:40):
you're there. You're on that hill, like I never feel
like I'm ready for it. I liked starting all the
way back at Chicken and Pickle and get more of
a running start, shall we saying at that hill, so
I was loosened up and ready to go. So does
it really make a difference. I don't know. Did it
make a difference in my head? Yeah? Is that what's important? Yeah,
most of the time. Yeah, I'll take I'll take it
in my head more than anything else. Good with me.
(29:01):
So you get to the first hill up the hill
we all know, the Prairie fire course. We're going up Nall.
You get a little dipsy dude, dounkaroue going up Nall.
You make a right one hundred and twenty seventh Street,
more rolling nonsense. That is southern Johnson County. We know
it well. But when we get to I always want
to say it's Lamar, but I don't think it's Lamar. Well,
(29:24):
we get to the right turn that takes us off
one hundred and twenty seventh Street. When you go past
the school on your right, there it's your last big hill.
You make the right turn, you go up the last
nasty hill. And then you're always excited because you know
it is all downhill to the finish line. And it
really is. That's not an expression. It is all downhill
of the finish line. Here's the problem. That street turns
(29:45):
directly facing north. What was coming out of the north
a strong cold wind, so you can kind of see
it as everyone got to the top of the hill.
In the crest of the hill, everyone kind of took
that little jerk back because that coal breeze hit him
right in a face, and so you have that going
all the way down the hill back to the finish line.
(30:06):
Was that real cold blast coming out of the north,
so then took a little wind out of the sails,
but it wasn't terrible. I do like that downhill finish.
The downhill finish is great. And so I get done.
I finished. I'm chasing some of the local runners around.
I'm surrounded by people I know, and uh yeah, never mind.
(30:28):
I was gonna tell a story. I'm not going to.
But I was too kind. I was too kind. At
the end. There was a person I should have passed,
and I didn't because I didn't want to be the
jerk that went sprinting around him at the end. And
then they go and talk smack afterwards. Well I beat you. Oh,
I was right behind you if I if I had kicked,
I would have pumped anyway. Anyway, whatever, So finish the race.
(30:49):
I have no complaints about the courses. Of course, we've
done many times. I have no complaints about the race. Uh,
they know what they're doing because they've been doing this
a long time. So it started on time, The courses
well marked, eight stations were out there, cops had the
rows roads closed. Finish line was what it was. I
got my little medal, and then really it was kind
of decision time, what do you want to do? Well,
(31:09):
I was gonna go inside. Again, I've never been a
chicken and pickle. I'm gonna go see if the bar
is open, because that's just kind of what I do.
And it was, and so I was able to have
a little post race elbation, which was lovely. I was
just getting some carbs back in my system. I just
ran a five k and so that's what I did.
I sent a message to the group, told them where
(31:30):
I was at. A few people stopped in said hello,
we shot the breeze for a while. Several of them,
who are the faster runners in our little running group,
said we're gonna go over to where the race was
all set up on that you know, inside the pickleball base,
and we're gonna see about h division wars. Oh okay, cool,
you know what? Actually, before I tell that story. Let
me let me show you the metal because I almost forgot.
(31:52):
So when we finished, we got the medal. Everyone take
a look at your screens. There we go. There's the
jingle bell run twenty twenty five for the Arthritis Foundation.
You can see the white ribbon. It's got Arthritis Foundation
jingle Bowl run all over the place. So not a
bad little metal. It's it's yeah, I little metal. So okay,
see bam, no big deal. Then I drop it. I
(32:13):
just want to show that to you before I forgot. Okay.
So now they're going to go check on the Age
Division awards and I'm thinking, yeah, that's no concern to me.
So I stay right there. Several little to stay behind.
You know, we're having a drink, whether it be a soda,
adult beverage, some people just sipping on water. They had
a mimosa special that morning if you wanted a mimosa,
and trust me, I was tempted. And then I get
(32:34):
a message. I get a message from the people who
went over and they're all excited, you got third in
your age division. Who me this guy? No, Look, I
haven't run in a month. I just did a ten
k yesterday. My legs are kind of sore because I
haven't run in a month. What are you talking about?
I got something in my age division. That's ridiculous. Now,
sure enough, I got third place in my age division
(32:56):
at the Jingle Bell Run five k, a third out
of six. So there were other options, and so let
me show you that metal, because what the heck I
got it. So here it is. It's the exact same metal.
But you can see at the bottom it's this third place.
So not a bad age division award. I'm still shocked
that I ended up with it, but you know, that's
(33:18):
pretty cool. So a little extra bling to leave that
race from I will absolutely take that every time, because, yeah,
why not? That was pretty cool. I was glad to
have gotten it. So that was it for the jingle
Bell Run. We hung out there, I don't know, maybe
hour and a half post race, just talking, shooting the breeze,
(33:38):
trying to talk Terry into not running so injured. But
she's gonna do that anyway, because Terry's gonna Terry. And
that was it. I know I've got room to talk, right,
I'm running injured. I however, the knee held up great.
I'm not gonna complain about that the knee held up fine,
no issues there. It didn't start hurting after X amount
(33:59):
of time running. The knee did really well. I had
a big tight brace on it, which I think helps
a lot. Maybe the cold weather's helping. I don't know.
Ran into a runner there who was talking about Yeah,
ever since the weather got cold, my knee feels great.
Who knows. Maybe I'm lucking out and the weather's helping
me out just that kind of oh natural, real ice
pack to help with the swelling. But I'm still gonna
(34:19):
go see the ortho. I'm gonna see if there's anything
we can do. But it was a very encouraging weekend
to me that I did a ten k and a
five k and the knee held up. So there's still
there's still a lot of miles left to be done
before we get to Tokyo. That is, that is for sure.
But hopefully today, as I sit here right now, my
new elliptical that I brought I bought on Black Friday,
(34:41):
hopefully they're dropping it off of my porch. That way
I can have a little indoor when the weather is bad,
I can have a little little training that's no impact
on the knee and I can kind of cycle in
some elliptical training in lieu of the miles outside, especially
you know, if it's icy or snowy or whatever. So
that's a hope, that's hope. I hope it's on my
porch right now as I get done with this, as
(35:03):
I get done recording. Yeah, recording, that's the word. All right. Go.
You know, someone was telling me this weekend, you you
will speak so quickly on the on the show and
everything the thoughts come to you like, yeah, they used
to come a lot faster now with aig who sometimes
this train of thought derails and there are no survivors.
So anyway, well, this this took up the time of
(35:23):
the show today. I had some other stuff I was
gonna talk about now I don't even need to do
that because the race reviews filled it up. But race
reviews are what people enjoy the most anyway, so I'm
happy to bring them to you next weekend, assuming that
the orthopedis today does not like just ground me forever,
and I don't think he's gonna do that. Next weekend
we're gonna be in Westport for the Westport Santa Dash,
(35:46):
and then there is a gathering at char bar looks
like after the race, so I hope to see it
that as well, being put on by Jason and Christina,
and so I'm going, I'm heck, yeah, I'm going. That's
gonna be fun. It's gonna be a good day. That
is going to be the last race on the calendar
for twenty twenty five, which is nuts. If you are
(36:07):
gonna be in Mississippi doing Gulf Coast Marathon next weekend,
good luck to you again. So sorry I had to
miss that race, but with injury, training was what it was,
which means it wasn't so I won't be down there
for that race. Gonna move that to next year. But
if you're in Mississippi for the Gulf Coast Marathon, good luck.
I hope you guys give it help, give it hell
down there. And uh, I'm sorry I won't be able
to join you. I'm just gonna stick to my five
(36:28):
k up here in town, and then that's gonna put
the Kebash on the running for twenty twenty five. Now,
I do have a half marathon on New Year's Day,
so we're gonna be picking up right quick. But twenty
twenty five will be in the book, all right, so
that's gonna do it. For this week's episode of the
Back of the Back podcast, I'm your host, Kyle Walker.
It is my pleasure as always, make sure you go
out to the website for Case Sanda Dash and make
(36:49):
sure you get your starting times coming up for this
weekend so well, hopefully we'll see you on Saturday. We'll
see you Friday for second win. Other than that, everyone
have a safe week of training. We will see you
next week. Sh
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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com