Runner Stories: Kody & Katie

We’re kicking off our December–January interview series with two familiar faces from the KC running scene: Kody & Katie. Newly engaged and endlessly energetic, they joined Kyle in studio for a wide-ranging, laugh-filled hour built around our ten signature questions. We talk origin stories, toughest days and biggest lessons, community, comeback moments, and the weird/wonderful things you only see on the run. It’s equal parts heart and hustle—two everyday runners sharing why this sport keeps pulling them back. You’ll hear about the people who shaped them, the moments that changed them, and the goals that keep them lacing up. Whether you’re chasing a PR or just need a nudge to get out the door, this conversation feels like a group run with friends. Settle in—this is runners talking running, the way it’s meant to be.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello, everyone, greeting sonalutations, Welcome back to another episode of
the Back of the Back podcast. Sega Win, I'm Reel
sky Walker. Thank you so much for tuning in. So
we are here in the beginnings of December. Correct, So
we've got really two months of the direct of the
cold cold weather. It has been snowing already in Kansas

(00:33):
City here at the very beginning of December. Ridiculous, And
so we know it's not really running season, but we're
still gonna try and make things interesting. We're gonna make
things fun. So what we're gonna do over the course
of the next two months our series is gonna be
really it's gonna be like stories from the back of
the Pack, actually stories about running. What we're going to

(00:53):
do is we are having guests on every episode, and
it's not just guest local to Kansas City. It's guests
from all over the place. We've gotten coming in from
all corners, and we're you're just gonna learn about some
people that I know that I know are amazing runners
who have amazing stories. We're gonna ask everyone the same
ten questions on every episode, and then you're just gonna

(01:15):
be amazed at where the conversations go from there. So
on this first one, I told you on Monday's episode
we were gonna have a pre recorded opening for this episode,
because as soon as I turned the camera on with
these two chuckle heads, things just went wild. What by
the way, I have to try something. Oh there we go.

(01:37):
Look at that it reacted. It thumbed up a cool anyway,
I had to try something. I'm giving Zoom a test
on things. I gotta watch my hand motions. Now, let's say,
all can we do this? Is it gonna register this?
Oh it is?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Ah, look at that screen? Oh how cool is that? Anyway? Sorry? Yeah,
as soon as we hit record once the three of
us were in studio talk looking, it went off the
rails quickly. Like I said, this is the definition of
runners talking running, and that's what this episode is. So
our very first one was this was the test. This

(02:14):
one was to kind of see how things were gonna go.
Let me introduce to you our longtime friend of the program,
Cody and Pacer Katie. You know them as Katie and Cody,
and we're just gonna kick it to the nonsense that
ensued as soon as we started this thing. So I
want to thank them for their time. Everyone enjoy. All right,

(02:37):
let's do this thing. Hello everyone, Greeny's and salitations. Welcome
back to another episode at the Back of the Back
podcast Single one. I'm real Skyle Walker. Thank you so
much for tuning in. We are joined this week by
two fabulous guests as I called them, Travis Kelsey and
Taylor Swift at the Kansas City Running World. Cody and
Katie are here. Cody, how do you feel about being
referred to as Taylor Swift? Please share with everyone.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
I'm Katie Applegate.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Actually no, I've been dancing the Open Light since it
came out, so I'm all right with that.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Okay, good. That's what we're doing here, Casey, I haven't noticed.
We're starting a series over the next two months, December
and January. Every second Wind episode we're gonna have on
some guests. We're gonna just talk to people in the
running community. We've got some standard questions we're gonna ask everyone,
and you can learn and then maybe find the people
that you want to run with, like these two pacers
right here, or people that you wanted to avoid greatly,

(03:30):
like these two pacers right here. And so we're just
gonna have some fun with it. So first we're gonna
dive right in, and we're gonna start with Katie, because
ladies first.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
You or me beauty beautiful, beautiful brands.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
I don't think either of those things are true. But
let's go into origin story here before this goes too
far off the rails. Katie, how did you get into
this wacky running world?

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Trauma trum?

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Everyone else raise your hand, Okay, that's most of us.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
Yeah, I think it's one of those.

Speaker 5 (04:00):
If you ask enough long distance runners, trauma is usually
in their life at some point. So, yeah, I got
divorced and body was really little, and I didn't know
what to do with my life, and I didn't have
any friends, and I figured running was cheap and easy
and it was just one footing for the other.

Speaker 4 (04:19):
Turns out running is not cheap, not easy. It's easy
all the time, but it required no talent. So okay,
one foot in from the other.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
I guess that's what we're supposed to do.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, and that's how I started rubbing.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
All right, Cody, you your origin story, sir, You don't
have the trauma.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
Trauma came mid running.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
It's different. It's different trauma well, so yeah, kind of similar,
not divorced, but my grandpa had died, I had been
promoted at my job, took a new big boy role.
One of my friends that I worked with in the
office it approached me and was like, hey, we should
do a marathon. And I was like, you are f

(05:06):
ing not going to say the bad word, crazy lady.
And then a few weeks went by, and at that time,
my friends weren't really hanging out with my outside of
running friends because I didn't have those yet, weren't hanging
out with me at the time very much. They had
all gotten married and settled down a little bit, and
so it was just me and a cannon bush light

(05:27):
at the bars on Friday and Saturday. I said, this
is not very fun, and so I had googled five
K near me the Stars and stripes five K came up.
It was Fourth of July themed. Of course, it was
running on July third, which was the death of versary
of my grandpa. Like one of my best friends growing up,
and his favorite holiday was Fourth of July themed or

(05:50):
the fourth of July, and so I was like, let's
do it. When I went out there and I was like,
I'm gonna give it hell, I can run three miles
and I found out I could not run three miles.
I made it well. So you know the course as
Spiery Campus. You get out the little campus known I'm
a Spira.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
It was when it was still a Prairie Fire fire.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
So you go out of Prairie Fire and you go
up that hill a mile yep, and then you turn
and you go up another hill for like a half
a mile. And I got to that turn and was like, huh,
another hill, and so I started walking. And actually our
good friend William Yes is in that running picture with
me from that five game. I had no clue who
he was.

Speaker 5 (06:29):
Is also in the background of my Sweetheart ten k picture,
and I also had no idea who he was.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Well, if I get to throw mine out, I think
it was the Memorial Day run and there at the
start line is me and Terry running. I didn't know
that lady just running next to some other runner, and
turned out it was Terry years and years ago.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
I think Terry was in there with will too. Terry
will in the background of my photo, and I had
no clue who they were. I just showed up and
was like, this is kind of cool. Yeah, of course,
I obviously you know, you get through the finish line
and everybody's cheering and you get your mettle and your
banana or whatever, and that is what hooked me. After that,
I was like, this is amazing and was running like

(07:11):
every weekend after that.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
So right, and you haven't stopped now solely our next question,
this is what we're going to ask a lot of people,
but I'm gonna expand on yours here in a minute.
I want to talk about a run that changed you, Like,
where was the run where I don't know, maybe you
turned the corner and went from this is just something
fun to do too. I actually I'm gonna take this
kind of serious or I want to do more of these,
but think of a run that changed you. And then

(07:33):
after that, we're going to talk about some of y'all's
most recent runs, because you guys have been changing everything
with all the runs you've been doing lately. And so
first off, the run that changed you. F Eechibute Katie
will start with you, and then we're going to go
into what you guys have been up to lately because
they brought show and tell.

Speaker 5 (07:52):
I think the Chicago Marathon changed me, and not necessarily
in a.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
Positive or negative way.

Speaker 5 (07:59):
I was trying to get sub four for that marathon,
and I think it was around mile six I realized
that I was not going to get sub four. And then,
if anybody knows me, my biggest fear in life is
throwing up.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
And a girl threw up.

Speaker 5 (08:13):
Right next to me, and so that I was like, like,
I'm done. I can't go on because that I like
had this just huge like anxious wave hit me. And
so yeah, I think I had a running coach at
the time, and so like I was texting him and
I was like, I can't do it, and just.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
It was really hard, and it was.

Speaker 5 (08:34):
Like this big acceptance of like I'm not going to
hit my goal.

Speaker 4 (08:37):
But I stopped to run twenty six miles and I
tried one other race.

Speaker 5 (08:43):
After Chicago hit sub four, and it was one of
those like I don't think this is a goal that's
meant to be like achieved right now. And so it
went from and especially training for Chicago, it was the
first marathon that like I had a coach for and
I was actually serious and running kind of became not fun.

(09:04):
So I was going to group runs, but I was
having to run before and after, and so like the
social aspect was being taken out of it, and there
were people who either were too fast for me or
had a little bit slow over at pace, and so
it was like I wasn't running with as many people.
And yeah, it was just one of those like it's
more fun for me to run with people and friends

(09:26):
and like for fun rather than running to like hit
an arbitrary goal that I might or might not hit.
So I personally, because of that, I don't like Chicago.
I have had a negative experience with it. I'm glad
I did it as my first major, but yeah, I
feel like it was this mind shift that I really
had to do mid run.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
What year was that?

Speaker 4 (09:47):
Twenty three, twenty three? Okay, twenty two, twenty three, twenty three.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Is it? Final answer?

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (09:59):
No, finally answer, there we go twenty two.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Sure, all right, Cody, what about you?

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Well, So I got a mixed bag here. Okay, The
first one I'm gonna throw out there is the Lincoln Marathon.
Last year we did the half marathon. Yeah, that was
the first year we did the Capital City Challenge. You
hook me when you're did your episode of for Good
Life went up there to Lincoln. I drove up that morning.

(10:26):
Was not in the mood to run. We've talked about
the starting out in the negative mindset thing. I was
just there to show I was just gonna get thirteen
miles down and go home. I had no expectation. I
was like, I'm just gonna run with you. Actually, at
one point just kind of hanging with you and that
kid college kid I remembers running his first half marathon.
He had mentioned around like mile four or five, like, oh,

(10:47):
I'm just using you guys to pace, I think my
first time, blah blah blah. And it was just kind
of like a switch had happened from this sucks, I
don't want to do it, just get through it, to hey,
I can help somebody else was accomplished something right, And
that's kind of what got me into the pacing thing too.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
Was that that was kind of the organ right there.
And yeah, because you guys left me in the dust,
but which was fine because you guys found like this
real good, comfortable pace and you all flew.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah, that was like the second half marathon. I don't
think we walked that entire time. No, And that was
the second time I had ever run thirteen miles without stopping.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
And didn't he eventually leave you at the end.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
At the end, he was like, how much we got left?
Because he didn't have a watch, he didn't have phone,
no music, he was just out there with like a
week's training.

Speaker 6 (11:33):
He was like, my buddy gave me this big last
week and were just out there, you know, running naked.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
I call it. Yeah, it was I mean dogging, yeah,
even raw dog in RN naked if you want.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
So.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, it's like three quarters of a mile left, he said,
how long we got. I was like, like three quarters
of a mile points out five and I was like,
if you got anything in the tank, man, this is the.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
Fact I would go get it.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
And he took off and we finished about two minutes apart,
and that's awesome. He came up to thank me. But
the other one I would say will probably be Chicago
this year is for the exact opposite reasons of her.
I had a really rough training season this year, a
lot of doubt going into Chicago. My training schedule, so

(12:21):
all my other marathon trainings were really consistent, like this
time of day, every day I'll go do my runs,
and this year I was balancing so much. It was
just very sporadic. I had had an injury, just a
lot of different variables, and so there was a lot
of imposter syndrome going into Chicago this year and did
a lot better than I expected to do and with everyone,

(12:45):
share with everyone.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
What you did.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, well, if you want to sell us, you know.
So I was actually shooting for sub four as well.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Right.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Through that out the window way before we ever got
to Chicago, but was hoping just kind of pr which
is my pr is four thirty six. Yeah, finished in
four seventeen. There was extremely happy with r But yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Now everyone take a look at the screen there, he's
gonna show you this year's Chicago. Oh oh, he's bringing
it in, bringing in for the real thing. Baby, but
they're gonna go this year's Chicago.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's pretty metal, pretty sweet, pretty sweet.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
So that happened, and then.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
You know, the real reason it was so spectacular for
me was that was the first time in my running
career my mama showed up to I think two or
three runs, but having my future wife on the course, uh,
kind of saved the race for me. In mile twenty one,
she brought me a coca Cola and some Adville and

(13:43):
that I really kind of credit that to saving those
last five miles. Yeah, because I was in the hurt
locker at eighteen man, I was like, there's no way
I'm gonna have to walk a lot, and uh, that
Coca Cola and that kiss from that beautiful girl right
there kind of saved me a little bit nice his
last few miles and finished pretty strong. So yeah, Chicago

(14:03):
for different reasons. Yeah, and then the Lincoln Marathon.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
So I like it. I like it all right. Well,
so our next one is kind of well, wait, know
we were going to continue on with this I'm sorry
second part, and let's let's yeah, let's let's do some
more because let's go ahead and show off the season
that you guys have had. So we've got Chicago, and
let's say, right before Chicago, you guys took a trip together.
Yeah we did, and someone might have done another different

(14:27):
major Why don't you show that off?

Speaker 5 (14:29):
Well, you can go model it for the folks at home. Yes,
I ran the Berlin Marathon.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah you did.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
Yeah, I ran.

Speaker 5 (14:45):
Probably unconfirmed but confirmed later that I did run it
on a broken hip, And turns out I also might
or might not have had a broken foot, but it's fine.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Other than that, everything's great.

Speaker 4 (14:56):
I'm still here.

Speaker 5 (15:00):
Yeah, which I don't know obviously the experience that you
guys had the year before.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
It.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
I had a good race.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
I mean I liked it better than Chicago. But again
I'm probably yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
Didn't see any which was shocking for how hot it was.

Speaker 5 (15:20):
It was the hottest on record for Berlin Marathon.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
So I got the pleasure of running a mat.

Speaker 5 (15:30):
And yeah, it was one of those I was having
foot pain and then I was having hit pain and
they were like, oh, do you need to run a marathon.

Speaker 4 (15:41):
I'm like, well, I'm going to Europe in a week,
so yes, it's gonna happen either going to run Berlin.
So it was. It was a really good experience.

Speaker 5 (15:51):
Cody met me every five k, which was nice.

Speaker 4 (15:57):
I think it was mild.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Eighteen well fifteen. I left her at fifteen. She texted me, yeah.

Speaker 4 (16:05):
I am weird.

Speaker 5 (16:06):
I cannot swallow pills with water, and so again I
was hurting and I was like, I need Advilla in
order to take Adville that I'm gonna need like a
soda or something, and so she.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Can only have candy coated pills as well.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
It's it's another one a child.

Speaker 5 (16:25):
So yeah, he met me at that, and then I
am also the kind of person like I need to
have cold liquid because I am spoiled. Our hotel thankfully
had an ice maker though, because that was our thing
in Europe, of like, they don't have ice over there.
So we had both of our o walas filled. One
was filled with coke and one was filled with water.
And I got to the point where he I was

(16:46):
just like chugging the coke.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
He's like, you have to drink the water, and I was.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Like, I don't love the water though, but that coke
is wonderful. At that coke stands saved my life.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
That's where I got the dam by the way, because
she was liired after that and now that she was
up all night because she doesn't drink caffeine. The two
Coca cola she had one during the marathon, one after
she was just up scrolling Facebook and all over here dead.
Like I ran the marathon, I sleep at like eight o'clock.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
You got a lot of work in that day. You
got chasing her around the course.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
I ran the damn bird scooter up like five flights
of stairs. It was insane. How much more difficult running
a marathon is difficult physically, logistically Supporting a marathon is
a whole different beast especially. I'm the type of person
like if I say I'm going to do something, I've
made that commitment verbally, like that's my thing, Like I'm

(17:42):
going to do that. And so I told her every
five k, I will be on your right hand side,
like find me, and I left, I don't know, forty
five minutes before she even started, And it was two
or three minutes before she got to the first five
k where I got in positioned because it is Yeah,
it was a beast man.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
There's a few people out there. There's a few people
out there, a little hard to navigate. What did you
think though? You have two Berlin experiences now one is
a runner, one is a spectator, Like was it easier
going back? Like you kind of knew everything was you
knew how everything functioned. I know the expo was different.
Why an't you talking? What compare the expos?

Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yeah? So my big thing going into this experience in
Europe was like, this is your day, Like I wanted
it to be about her. It wasn't about like what
we did. I didn't really want to repeat a lot
of things that we did. I wanted her to kind
of guide and shape our experience over in Europe, which
she did. That being said, it was beneficial because a

(18:40):
lot of the big stuff right there in like city
center of Berlin, I had been to and knew where
it was at. I knew how to get there, and
so while her parents were there her parents left the
friday before the marathon, I kind of played guide and
showed him around some of the bigger stuff and.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
It was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
The expo was way more smooth, which we went straight
into the apparel section the merch area when we got there,
they won because the line for the like the wristband
thing was almost as bad as when we went, except
for you didn't have to go through a single door

(19:17):
into a big area through another single door big area,
single door vestibule thing or whatever.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Yeah, there's a lot of funneling that happened.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
There're weird, so that didn't happen, But it was just
a mob of people when you walk in. Let's just
go to the merch first, and so we did. We
got in and out of there with I was like,
what thirty minutes maybe okay.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
Yeah, and they had one. Their merch is good.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
They've got good merks. Yeah, yeah, Berlin is really good.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
My shirt too, so yeah, the merches was good.

Speaker 5 (19:47):
They had a selection of everything, like nothing was out
of size or anything. My thing is I don't like people,
and I forgot my mask and I'm a her foe,
but I'm very much like.

Speaker 4 (20:05):
I'll make sured over my face.

Speaker 5 (20:08):
And it was very overwhelming in that aspect for me.
I also knew that like my parents were there like
outside waiting and it's also their trip, and it's like
and now that's kind of why we had initially skipped
the BIB process and I was like, I can do
some different day because I knew they were unlimited time.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
But yeah, I think it all went really smooth. Honestly.

Speaker 5 (20:32):
The worst part about the race my two critiques of Berlin.
One basically, no porta Potti had toilet paper, like even
at the very start, like before you go in, and
it's just like, as a lady, like I need toilet
paper no matter what I'm doing in there, and like
I would like toilet paper.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
And then.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
There were a lot of trees with leagues on it.
I don't know what your problem is.

Speaker 4 (21:04):
Yeah, we don't.

Speaker 5 (21:05):
The communience factor is not there for half the population.
My other complaint kind of like a twofold, the plastic
cups are terrible.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
I think.

Speaker 4 (21:21):
Cups like kind of fold. The plastic cups like you
step on them and they bounced right back up.

Speaker 5 (21:26):
And then I think I had two water stations which
I did not drink the water because they were dipping
the cups and again through my phobe, and that's a
big no no for me.

Speaker 7 (21:35):
For everybody, it was oh, poor, poor carry the It
was hot and so I mean I was still picking
up cups just like to dump on me.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
And I think I went to two.

Speaker 5 (21:50):
Aid stations that where they were completely out of cups, which,
as somebody who carries my own water, I was okay
in that aspect, but it's very unfortunate for people who
don't care anything on them and then to not have
cups at eight stations.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
So yeah, that's not good. But I imagine a lot
of people were taking one to drink and one to
dump or something which doubled. Like the year we did it,
there wasn't much need for a dumping water on yourself. Now,
it wasn't that hot.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
So I think that's probably the latest marathon you've started, right,
It was what ten when you crossed the start line.

Speaker 5 (22:19):
Yeah, right, yeah, in the last corral or the last
way to start.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
But at start time for her, it was eighty three
degrees and eighty something percent human It was.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Super super warm. Yeah that's hot.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, and you know the course but a ton of shade.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
Oh, there's not a lot of that course.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
So I was I was really really nervous for her
going into that just because of the heat. And I
know she had been struggling with the foot and hip.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
Maybe that heat helped loosen you up a little bit though,
get that hip nice and loose.

Speaker 5 (22:57):
The bone was broken, so I don't know how much
loosening up you need for that.

Speaker 1 (23:02):
It's good for that.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
He's good for everything, the thing, right, No, But but
you know she got to the the mile eighteen mile twenty,
she was still running really strong, and she was in
a good mood, and I was like, yeah, she's got
this in the bag.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (23:16):
The second half of it, we did get shade and
it actually sprinkled on us a little.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
Bit, which was so oh that felt good refreshing. I
feel like I had a better like second half of
that run.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
So that is one thing that was different for me
was I'm on a bird scooter this entire time. But
the backpack I got two signs, a backpack full of snacks, medicine.
I'm a walking apothecary table. I saw places in Berlin
and I never thought i'd see because I have everything
mapped on my phone right from spot to spot spots

(23:49):
get to the spot now, I would just hit next stop.
And I stayed on the interior of the course specifically
for that so I would never have to cross the
marathon right. I saw some of the most unique neighborhoods.
I've never seen parts. I don't think I could go
back find those parts of the Berlin again. And so
there's just times where I'm just riding through a neighborhood

(24:11):
getting rained on. There's not a soul near me, and
I'm like, the marathon is not even It's so weird
because the marathon is a big production. Right in these
little pockets nothing, nothing's going on. They didn't care about
a marathon. What marathon and yeah, so it was just
it was a really unique experience that's wild, aside from
the marathon aspect of it.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
So we definitely didn't see those parts when we went
last year in twenty twenty four, except for the American
bar that showed football. Yeah, that was awesome, the chips
in the sure in the dead of the night that
we were watching the Chiefs game. I was so tired.
All right. So you had your Chicago or you you both?
You had your Chicago. You were in Chicago, No didn't.
You didn't do Chicago the shock, you didn't. Okay, So

(24:54):
you in Chicago, you had Berlin. And then together you
guys went and made another full decision, full marathon, terrible
decision thing.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
One of us made a really bad decision. But we're
both here now.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
So so even with government shut down, these two went
and did the fiftieth Marine Corps Marathon. And look at
that honkin metal, folks, that is pretty cool. And so
let's let's talk about your trip to Washington, because I've
heard rumored that it was quite the show out there.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
I mean, I got small hands, but this thing is
pretty big.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
That's a big metal. That's a big metal.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Ok, Katie, break into that one.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, let's go Washington. Yeah, let's go somewhere.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
Yeah, so the problem.

Speaker 5 (25:37):
I was really hoping that this race is going to
be canceled.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yeh, me too.

Speaker 5 (25:43):
So we got back from Berlin and I'm still running
at this point because I knew I had this one.
I ran this race solely for the purpose of I
got into the New York Virtual Marathon and I needed
to run a marathon in that week timespan so I
could have a guaranteed entry to New York twenty twenty six.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (26:05):
So I'm still training and it's to the point where
like I am hobbling, Like everyone was making fun of
me at work and my friends because I couldn't even
like walk straight because my hip was hurting, and so
I ended up I didn't want to spend I didn't
want to do the MRI because I didn't want to
spend the eight hundred dollars to have it done.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
So I'm like, she.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Didn't want to know what the results were.

Speaker 5 (26:27):
Then he venmoted me money and took me do it.
So yeah, I did the MRI, and I think it
was that same day I got the results and it
was like, your hip is fractured, and I'm like, wow, fracture.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Of the medial head or femeral.

Speaker 4 (26:43):
Head head interior.

Speaker 5 (26:46):
Yeah, And so then I went and I saw the
doctor and I was like, wow, let me tell you.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
I got more important things.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
Don I got marathon in three weeks. And he was
like no. I'm like he's like, not only like as.

Speaker 5 (27:01):
Your doctor, but if you were my sister, I would
tell you to absolutely not do that.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
And I was like, good thing, we're not related, doc,
there's literal means made of this because there are so
you're saying, I care like walk it no, And.

Speaker 5 (27:16):
My instruction was like I'm only supposed to be walking
out of necessity and I absolutely no running.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
With crutches that are brand new.

Speaker 8 (27:25):
Still, yeah, I did bring in Chicago, but anyways, it's
really weird to walk on crutches when you can walk, Like,
I felt very awkward like.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
Using them because I'm like, I'm not.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, stomach is making some terrible.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
Anyways.

Speaker 5 (27:49):
So yes, I didn't necessarily tell anybody that I was
still going to run this.

Speaker 4 (27:55):
Again, the entire time, I'm like turning to cancel. It's fine.

Speaker 5 (27:59):
I can just to bop around Kansas City like walking
to do my marathon. And then it didn't get canceled,
and I was very bummed, but I was like, I
have to do it, yep.

Speaker 4 (28:11):
And so I the people who were.

Speaker 5 (28:15):
In DC like knew that I was going, but nobody
else really knew that I was actually gonna do it.
And so, yeah, I knowingly ran a marathon on a
broken hip, which I do not recommend to like listen
to medical advice.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Oh, she says, now, she says now after the fact.

Speaker 4 (28:35):
I Oh, I said before like I'm dumb. I got lucky.

Speaker 5 (28:40):
I was told that like I could basically snap my femur,
and like that would be bad.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
That would be real bad, real real bad.

Speaker 4 (28:48):
And so I did.

Speaker 5 (28:50):
I took three solid weeks of like no running, no walking,
which I was told six weeks and like repeat the MRI.
So I did three solid weeks of nothing, and then
I did go and do something a marathon, and.

Speaker 4 (29:05):
Then I'm on week like four of now doing nothing again.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
There you go. You might make it to six weeks
this time.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
The problem is that I have to have surgery on
my foot now, huh.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
So that the.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
Injury that caused the issue to begin with. I think
so her.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Foot was hurting, which makes you run funny.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
Yeah, she changed her gait because of her foot mid
marathon training. Hip started hurting before Berlin.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
We're going to see a couple spat right here. Watch this, everybody.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
So I was, honestly, I was worried she had a
torn laboram glad it wasn't that because it didn't require
surgery immediately, right, But there were some real medical ramifications
that could have happened by her going to MCM and
then doing that, And it was something that we both
She talked to me about it a lot, and she's
not proud of the decision by any means, but she

(29:53):
a little proud she did it.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
When you grab that metal, you feel a little bit
of yeah, there's that.

Speaker 4 (29:59):
It's one of those It was like.

Speaker 5 (30:02):
I knew that I was risking like my own health
doing it. I also knew that like we were running
with Cody stayed with me and like our friend Shannon,
who is also kind of going through some juries.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
So we only ran it like nine minutes slower than.

Speaker 5 (30:20):
What I did Berlin, And I was more worried about
the fact that I hadn't run or done any kind
of physical activity for three weeks and then just going
and running a marathon, which that really scared me. And
this Berlin I got emotional into because again I was
really hurting.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
Then when we.

Speaker 5 (30:41):
Got to because Marine Corps has the three like challenge, Yeah,
and when we got to the first one, I was
really excited, and we got to the second one, I
was really excited, and like we got to that third
one and I was like crying because I was like,
I'm not gonna get cut, like because up until this year,
like I have never been worried about being swept out

(31:01):
of a race before.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
And Berlin, like we did.

Speaker 5 (31:04):
The five k the day before and I was like
hobbling and I was like, I don't know how I'm
going to run twenty six miles, Like I can barely
run three.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
They stay adrenaline, Yeah, right, that more I mean.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
So I went with her to the start line as
close as I could. Yeah, And she was emotional that morning,
and she was there was a lot of doubt there,
I think from both of us. I was trying to
be as supportive as I could, but I was worried
about it as well because I knew how much pain
she was in. She's she's okay, this is how strong
she is, Okay, and she is my fiance, And yeah,

(31:39):
I was sleeping the same bed tonight. But she is
almost psychotically strong.

Speaker 5 (31:46):
But I don't take pain message besides the candy coated
like regular.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
I profit. Basically she will get dental work done with
no novacane.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
No thanks.

Speaker 4 (32:00):
She used to the Dennis I go to now doesn't
allow it.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
But yeah, no, no, no, she's okay with it though, Like
she don't have somebody drill in her tooth, no novacame.
That's how strong she is. And so someone of that
is that strong. Seeing her have that doubt and seeing
as much pain as she was in it, I was worried,

(32:25):
and I knew it was a hot day. It's gonna
be hard. It's probably the hottest marathon you've ever done,
latest marathon start, hottest marathon she's ever done.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Injured. That was concerned, but I mean got it done.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, she's a bad a word.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
All right, Well, we don't need to go over a
question three because we've covered that one in Spain, sir.
Let's see what else have you got. Uh No, we're
not gonna do number four because I don't want to
talk about her why, because we don't know why she's
making the decisions that she is. I do like number five,
and again a lot of people are getting all the
same questions here. Uh yeah, So who has had the

(33:04):
biggest impact on your running career? And you two cannot
say each other or I will go into a diabetic
coma right here, So knock that off. Who's had the
biggest impact on your running journey? Cody? I think I
know your answer. So you start, Well, I got three people, okay, three,
she is not one of them.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Okay. The number one who had probably the greatest impact
rest is soul was Scott Green. Scott Green, you've talked
about him. I know you guys didn't have the most,
like the biggest relationship, you know. I mean that, well,
we knew of each other.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
So when I first started did the five k, like
I said, I got hooked. I was doing it basically
every run I could find. And one of those runs,
because so started Stripes is in July. One of those
runs was Veterans Day five k out of English Landing.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
Okay, so November right, yeah, right right, a veteran stuff weekend.
So it was probably my it's a good call. It
was probably my sixth race. I think I didn't know anybody.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
I showed up to these things headphones on tunnel vision. Ye, Like,
I'm just gonna go out there run because you know,
running introduced a whole other side of competitiveness for me, right,
competing against myself every time, and I always got there early.
I'll usually get the races early and just kind of
like do some self reflecting for the race. And had

(34:31):
walked down by the river that morning and it was
a world dense fog on the river, and this guy
walked up to me and he's got this wicked beard
and he's like, Hey, I'm like early in the morning,
I'm I want to talk to this guy. I'm like, hey,
how's it going. Hey, my name is Scott, you know.
Blah blah blah. He introduces himself. He's like, I've seen
you at a few races lately and it looks like

(34:52):
you're new. Like what's your story? And so I kind
of told him. He's like, Oh, that's awesome. You know.
He's like, well, if you're looking for a good community,
he said, can't SITY run company as a great team.
They do a lot of they do a lot of
these events. Blah blah, blah. So he put me onto
the KCRC team and he was just kind of like,
you know, hey, I don't know if this is what
you're looking for, but there is a community out here

(35:12):
for this. There's a lot here in Kansas City. Gave
me a couple of places to start, this couple of run,
groups of stuff, and then he was like, I'll see
your own And I saw him at a bunch of
different races after that.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
Ye, and yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
It was just he was the first one to kind
of like notice who I was and introduce himself and
try to welcome me and bring me into the community
that I didn't even know I needed at the time.
And it changed my entire life really because I got
more into the community. I found her.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Maybe she found you, well, she.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Found me a couple of times, but no. So through
that also, so my buddy Lannie, he introduced me to
your podcast. I'm like, hey, I've seen that guy a
couple of races. Started chatting with you. I think it's
before a long View run. It was the first time
I really approached you. I think, I think that sounds right,
and we we just became fast friends.

Speaker 9 (36:07):
Man.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
I mean, kind of history of all the crazy crap
we've done since then.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
It's a it's a lot and a little bit of time.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah, it really is. So Yeah, I love you so
much that I was in basically dire straits coming to
your tin k that was in your kind of your namesake.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Oh yeah, kind of Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
Yeah. That was a rough day, man, and I was
there for every step of it.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
Yeah. That was something.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah. So the third person, obviously is I am going
to say her. She is. She has shaped my running career.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
She did.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
She helped me run my first twenty mile run for
my first marathon preps. Oh yeah, surely after I lost
my dad. She has threatened hit me with sticks. She
has hit me with sticks.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
Fair threaten anybody that I was.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
A very violent first special to you. She showed me
how to suck the air out of your water path.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
This is a children show. What are you doing? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (37:12):
She was my number one training buddy last year.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
Has you there?

Speaker 5 (37:16):
If you run with a camel back, you have to
turn it upside down, suck the air out until you
get water, and then you don't slash. Because I was
running I think it was Clinton. It was because he
started off like a bat out of hell. When he
said he was going to run with me, and then
it was like three miles in, I'm passing him and
he's gas and I'm like, that sucks to be you.

(37:36):
But he was slashing and it was driving me crazy,
and so yeah, if you don't know.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
That, don't slash.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
I also know. I also at that time, was like, Ah,
she's really edgy and she got all these tattoos like
on rock check. No she's not at all.

Speaker 4 (37:54):
I have anxiety.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
She's so yeah. That was my Those are my three
most influential people in my running career, my running life.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
All right, Katie, let's kick it over to you. I
bet I know who one of them is.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
Not definitely not me.

Speaker 5 (38:10):
But we were actually talking about this in the car,
and I feel like I have a controversial opinion on
this one. And I'm going to say two people. And
those two people I are not in my life anymore.
I don't talk to them.

Speaker 4 (38:25):
But uh, I was dating a guy.

Speaker 5 (38:29):
He lived with me for a while, kind of like
when I started running, I would like run around the
neighborhood with my neighbor.

Speaker 4 (38:35):
We would do like a mile at a time.

Speaker 5 (38:37):
But he did not want to consider himself a runner,
because like he didn't want to be in the cool
like running cult that we're in, so he was too
cool for that, so he wouldn't be like I wonder,
but he had like run half marathon stuff for and
I want to do that. I don't think he's actually
in the running community. I have not ran into him
in a.

Speaker 4 (38:57):
Race since we broke up.

Speaker 5 (39:01):
It's kind of because of him that, like he did
because body was two and so, like he pushed stroller
and like I remember the first time, like I ran
three miles and I was like, oh, like I can
do a five k, and you know, we did came
the city half together and that was my first half,

(39:22):
which I was mad about that because.

Speaker 4 (39:24):
I signed up for I'm like, this is a big deal,
this is my first half.

Speaker 5 (39:27):
And his thing was, well, if I'm gonna be there,
I might as well do it too, So he also
signed up and then he didn't run with me. And
I think I've talked about it before, like the only
thing I've ever wanted was like somebody to be out
there to support me, which again was kind of a
big deal for Cody and Berlin.

Speaker 4 (39:46):
So he didn't do that for me.

Speaker 5 (39:48):
Then that's okay, But I do think that it really
was because of him that, like I was like, oh,
I can do this, and I gave a lot of
credit to him, like when we broke up and I
was like, oh, I could only do this because he
helped me. And it was I remember finishing Kansas City
Half and I did in twenty nineteen and it rained
that year. It is for sure like first time I'd
ever run the rain, and I remember finishing it and

(40:09):
being like I could never do a marathon because I
could not do all of this over again, like right now.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
And then when he broke up, I was like, I
must do America to just prove that I could do it.
And so yeah, there was that's okay, read my blog.
Don't do that actually. And then the other person who

(40:36):
I will name my name Jamie.

Speaker 5 (40:40):
She is somebody that like it was a long view
of twenty nineteen and.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
Parking down there cannot be great.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
Sometimes no parking a long view sucks on a big race,
it's bad.

Speaker 5 (40:54):
And so Nathan was doing the half and so he
ended out I was driving. He ended up just hopping
out of the car to run to the starting line.
And then I parked and I was kind of like
running to the starting line for the ten k because
it started after the half, and Jamie was also like
running to the ten k, and I was just like,
this is my second ever ten k and she had
just had a baby and was like I used to

(41:15):
be a really big runner. Like I don't know what
I'm gonna do though, And so we ran the whole
thing together and like talk the entire time, and it
was just kind of like an instant friendship with her,
and then we started.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
Running together a lot.

Speaker 5 (41:29):
And when Nathan and I broke up, oop I named
him by name, didn't keep that in there.

Speaker 4 (41:34):
It's fine.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
Oh, I think about her hot dogs, Nathan's hot dogs.

Speaker 5 (41:39):
Yeah, again, he's not in the running community, was gonna say.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
I was wondering where hot dogs came from, and then yeah,
Nathan hot dogs.

Speaker 5 (41:49):
Which is fine because, like I said, I don't think
he's in running like community in any aspects.

Speaker 4 (41:53):
So it's fine.

Speaker 5 (41:56):
And so like when we broke up, Jamie, like we
ran together a lot. I pushed body in the stroller
on longer runs, like she would take turns pushing him,
and we just I think, out of everybody that I've
ever run with, like I probably have put the most
miles in with her, and unfortunately, like just differences in
life and viewpoints, like we we kind of just had

(42:20):
a falling out, which is fine.

Speaker 4 (42:21):
I wish her nothing but the best I know.

Speaker 5 (42:23):
She is really like prevalent on social media and Instagram
and stuff, and I think she's a running coach now.

Speaker 4 (42:32):
But yeah, she just I don't know if she would
ever know, like how much should an impact she had
on my life?

Speaker 5 (42:40):
And I think because of her, Like when Nathan and
I broke up, and if I didn't have that, like
I don't know, I might not have kept running, But
because I had this person to go to, I did.
And I think especially in that like early start of
being a runner, like just having that support person.

Speaker 4 (42:59):
Yeah, and then a lot going.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
I mean, it's it's a big deal. Support is important.
That's why we asked these questions, you know, the people
that bring in All right, let's go on to the
next one. Weird, wild, or wonderful. What is the strangest
or funniest thing you've seen or experienced at a race
or on a run? Cody, What's hard for me?

Speaker 2 (43:19):
There's not. So it's probably the wildest thing I've ever seen.
Was a guy lost the front tire on his SUV
as he was almost driving into the racecourse and.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Oh was that the garment?

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Yeah, yeah, having like a medical allergency three years Yeah,
it's a wild scene.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
That was the word I was when I came upon that.
I was scared to death. There was a runner underneath
that car. Yeah, the way it was kind of halfway
on the course, like it.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
Was the buzz kind of like trickled its way back
to it.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
It did.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
Yeah, there was a driver on the course. Driver on
the course. Where's the driver on the course. He's like,
he's not driving on the course, man, He's there, right there,
He's right there. Ainythfully Broadways a big street.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
Yeahs strinded by a lot of cop at that point.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Yeah, So that was wild. That wild thing was Top
City two years ago. Halfway through when you go past
the encampment on that trail you get to the ball fields.
I took my shirt off. It was gross by the way.
I mean I sweat a lot and if you rang
this shirt out, you probably could have filled a pint

(44:21):
glass up of the sweat. So it was gross. Took
my shirt off because it was so hot. It was
sat it on the bleachers, went back after the race
hour fifteen later on gone. Somebody picked up my sweaty
bleeping shirt and ward. I'm guessing they were I don't

(44:41):
know what they would have done with it. Yeah, so
that's a weird, wild wonderful maybe thing.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
I don't know about wonderful, but it was weird.

Speaker 5 (44:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Yeah, so yeah those and then another wild thing. Stairs
in a race yeah twice yea one.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
Was oh the race is so bad.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yeah, the Harry Potter Run Liberty Memorial. Yeah, yeah, those twice,
and so you do the mile run and then the
five k.

Speaker 7 (45:12):
And it was like one in a quarter or something, yeah,
and it was straight up hill and then the five
k was like three and a half.

Speaker 5 (45:20):
Through loops what stairs, Yeah, stairs a stroller.

Speaker 10 (45:27):
Oh no, like you go down the hill, makes the
Liberty go up the stairs, around the little room, down
the stairs, and then up the other hill.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
So they they just didn't close the roads. They kept
it all on like they okay, because yeah, I wasn't
there at that one, but I can only imagine since
it's the Harry Potter was a national run, like they
would not local race company.

Speaker 4 (45:51):
It was was it that.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
It was just that one was an s show.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
It's then what are you doing?

Speaker 4 (46:07):
Yeah, and then it was like that day or the
night before, they were like, oh we didn't get the permits.
We didn't have to start the race like two hours later.
Oh and then you didn't have the medals there.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Trailer that had all the metal metals and the shirts
there and yeah the person was driving up from because
they're look at his springfield. Yeah, guy was going back
to get it, drive up that night and it was
it was a mess. I think that was the first
year they did that. I think it was only the
year they enjoyed it. It was cool metals, they had
wands that you could pick out.

Speaker 5 (46:36):
The concept was very fun. It was not executed.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
Well. Yeah, you had to run and it was like
a family friendly event.

Speaker 5 (46:45):
It's Harry Potter and yet you had to run upstairs
downstairs twice.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
Enough to kill the kids and take out anyone with
a stroll.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
Four point one miles turned into like almost five something. Yeah,
that's the If you are friends with me on Facebook
for a long time, my profile picture was me and
a Global Run T shirt crawling across the finish line
of oh yes and it was that race. That race
was brutal. It was like three hills, staircases and like

(47:16):
almost a mile extra of running.

Speaker 5 (47:18):
Yeah, so it was remember like we didn't know each
other super well, but we were at that one.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
I remember talking to you about it. Yeah it was bad.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Yeah, that doesn't sound good. Okay, let's see here. We're
not going to do step back and come back. We're
going to come back to that next time. Katie's on,
so we can see how all these injuries progress in
heel out there. So let's talk about the running community.
And I think we know Cody's answer, so we'll start
with Katie. What about the running community? What does the
running community mean to you?

Speaker 5 (47:49):
Yeah, ninety percent of my friends are runners and people
I've met since running.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
And I think for me, I dig get into running
when body was so little.

Speaker 5 (48:04):
So my again, my first half was twenty nineteen, and
then of course COVID happened, and so it was kind
of this weird like I was just getting into running,
but then things were still like very questionable.

Speaker 4 (48:19):
The thing with me is that I felt very awkward.

Speaker 5 (48:23):
At first because I would go to group runs, but
I would be the only one there with like a stroller,
and so but the more that I like came around,
I think, again, I'm not a people person, and I
think people liked Body.

Speaker 4 (48:36):
More than they liked me at time.

Speaker 5 (48:39):
But everyone was always like so welcoming to us, which
made me feel like very I don't.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
Want to say important, because that's definitely not the right
but included.

Speaker 5 (48:50):
And there were some groups around the area, like just
certain run groups that I would try to go to,
like some of them downtown, and it was just like
I did not fit in with the stroller at those groups,
but especially Casey Running Company because they also just have
a wide variety of like paces that go to their groups,
and showing up with the stroller, like it didn't make

(49:10):
me weird. And so I remember at one point in time,
Body called Brad grandpa and he's like, oh, he quickly corrected,
and so, yeah, it's just one of those like it
is very much family, and you know, we run into
people like Heather always for Halloween, like made a little
Halloween bag for Body, and so.

Speaker 4 (49:33):
Yeah, it's just it is a really great community here.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
Indeed, Cody, Yeah, so I don't know, you did well
with our running journeys.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
We've been to a lot of places. You know, we've
been to a lot of different major metropolitan cities. You've
probably been to a few more than I have. And
Haiti's been to someones that are different than I have
been to. Uh and they're all all good communities. I'm
not gonna say anything bad about their communities. They're all
very fair, good communities. I think Kansas City is very

(50:08):
unique though. There is just such a melting pot, and
I feel like Kansas City on a lot of levels
is like this. We are such a melting pot in
so many different ways when it comes to our food,
our culture, and especially our running community. There's just so
much support here. You could go to a run group
every night of the week and you can find something
for every different place. If you want to do trails,

(50:29):
if you want to do ultras, there is a group
and a community, a smaller community within the community that
is there to help you do those things and be
there for you. And so with me, you know, I
started this because what I was doing was unhealthy, yes,
and I wanted to challenge myself and a lot of

(50:49):
my friends at the time were kind of separating themselves
from me with marriage and doing other things, which is fine.
But since then, I've lost a lot of my friends
that I was friends with. I wouldn't say that we're
not friends anymore. We just don't speak on a regular
basis anymore.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
Life took different directions.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
Yeah, you know, and that's fair. But the community, you know,
I lost my dad during my running, like a year
in the running, and I really think the running community
was instrumental in me kind of going through that grieving process,
which I you know, you've never done grieving the loss
of your dad. You know, it's a weird club, but

(51:28):
it is.

Speaker 6 (51:29):
I don't know, I'm not in it me you Nick Miller, buddy,
But yeah, so it's you know, they've been everybody in
the Kansasity running community has been instrumental and a lot
of the things that have happened in my life over
the last five years.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
And I'm going to miss the hell out of Brad.
So any anybody that watches the show knows you Brad is.
Anybody from the area knows who Brad is.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
And he's fine. He's retiring. He's retiring director around the area.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Top now He's retired during as race director in like
next February, and he's gonna be missed because he's bag
you know, he's you know, bld man every once in
a while.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
But we're definitely afraid to disappoint him. That's for sure.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
Yeah, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
No, I mean he is kind of the godfather of
the Kansas City Running community. Uh, he's he's the boss
of the k c RC team that you and I
remembers up. You're on that team right now, so we're
we're all member of that team, even if we're not
at every one of their events. So yeah, no, we
will will miss Brad and I'm always gonna be disappointed.
He never brought back the Boots and Daisy Dukes five

(52:34):
K bring it back that they had one time, and
I have that somewhere up there. But yeah, Boots and
Daisy Dukes that the reinforces wall. There's a few metals
up there, just a few.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
It's a little weak anyway.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
So all right, we talked about community, and before we
get mushy, let's talk about accomplishments. Here's the chance to
brag on yourself. No multiple choice, A number one greatest
running accomplishment that you have achieved, Cody, starting with you
a number one. You only get one and it cannot

(53:12):
say your fiance you ask kiss her air mups.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
Kids, I'm just madly in love. I'm sorry, so adorable.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
A number one, you get one, I'm gonna go.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
I'm gonna go back to Chicago this year. I uh yeah,
it was. There was a lot going on there. It was.
It was a long year for me, and being able
to get through that marathon and having her with me
was pretty big. It's my pr It will probably go
down as one of my top favorite marathons of all time,
no matter what happens the rest of my life. Like

(53:52):
that was core memory stuff.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
So in Chicago is an amazing race anyway, and then
add all all the other stuff on. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
amazing to most of us, to the majority of our
ounners who have done Chicago, not all.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
And I ate wild Merry William and it was really good.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
So okay, all right, Katie, you and you can't be
your fiance that is not your greatest running accomplished. But never.

Speaker 4 (54:21):
I like to keep him humble around here. I mean
probably Marine Corps. I guess, I don't know. I I
have a hard time of like.

Speaker 5 (54:39):
Looking at because I also have a wall like this
at home and like I have a hard time looking
at it and being like accomplishments because in a sense
they are just like participation medals, which I'm all for.

Speaker 4 (54:52):
I will not do a race if I don't get
a participation medal.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
It's finish your medal, not participation.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Yeah, you finishing Disney.

Speaker 4 (55:03):
Then you just have to cross the start line. That's
the whole other story.

Speaker 5 (55:07):
I did finish for the record, like I have never
not finished a race, but Disney is a special, special place.

Speaker 4 (55:14):
Yeah, but yeah, I think going back to Marine Corps,
it just was hard. And it's funny because you ran
it with me, and.

Speaker 5 (55:30):
Running a four and a half hour marathon is harder
than running almost or it's easier than running almost a
six hour marathon, like because I have also my fastest
is four twenty six for a marathon, and yeah, there's
just being out there for even longer, Like it's hard,
it's hard on.

Speaker 4 (55:48):
Your body, and that one, I think is just one
of those like.

Speaker 5 (55:53):
I just really didn't know if I was going to
be able to do it. The time was not an
impressive time for me, and just yeah, but finishing that one,
I it was my eighth marathon and I i don't
think I wanted to felt accomplished finishing any of my
other marathons, Like I did it and it was cool,

(56:15):
but this was again the one that I was like,
I don't know if I'm gonna do this, and then
I did it, and it was that sense of like.

Speaker 4 (56:22):
Yeah, you've had finish uphill too, which is.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
Cruel that uphill finishes not fun at Braincork.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Yeah, we ran twenty six point one miles together.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
Oh did someone sprint off at the end?

Speaker 4 (56:37):
Sure enough, I saw the finish line.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
Uh, to be fair, I hip be damned, I'm out
of here.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Yeah, no, there you could. You could feel the doubt
going into that one, and.

Speaker 5 (56:50):
So yeah, like I didn't want to get like I
didn't buy the photo package.

Speaker 4 (56:54):
I didn't buy like the.

Speaker 5 (56:55):
Jacket because I was like, I don't know if I'm
going to finish, Like I don't want to spend the
money to buy pictures.

Speaker 4 (56:59):
I like, I'm not going to be in them. And
that she.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Was going over like the exact time of day that
you get swepttles, and like, yeah, yeah, she was fully
prepared to be swept off that course.

Speaker 4 (57:14):
Be swept, but just like something happened if hash to
like leave withdraw.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Yeah, whass that last guntlet though you could just see
the the It was just like relief, but also like,
oh wow, I.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
Remember that relief from Marine Corps when you beat the bridge,
which is the light. Well, the year I did it was.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
All that bridge.

Speaker 1 (57:38):
Yeah, but the yeah, the relief when you beat the
bridge is next level of that race.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
The Queensboro and New York took a piece of my soul.
That bridge at Marine Corps is right up there with it.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
It's flat, but it's forever long.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
My goodness, it's like two miles and you're like they
had an eight station on the other side of the barricade.

Speaker 5 (57:59):
You had a jumper very crawl over concrete barricades to
get to the water.

Speaker 4 (58:04):
That bridge, it was something special.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
It's stupid, that's yeah, it's a stupid bridge.

Speaker 1 (58:10):
Stupid bridge, all right.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
It was running a very comfortable place at that point too.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
Bridge. All right. Last question, because this is going to
be one long episode.

Speaker 4 (58:19):
I know I saw the watch check you picked on.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
Oh no, it's because it vibrated announce I look when
it does that, it was to his heart.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
Rate is spiking, So his watch is vibrating yeah, no,
it was.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
Telling me what the weather is going to be tomorrow.
So tomorrow's racing's gonna be fun. Except this, this is
going to air much later than the day we're recording this,
all right. Your advice to new runners, so someone started running?
What what is one thing? One thing? And it's no,
don't find your fiance. What's one thing you would tell
a new runner who is starting this running jointy?

Speaker 5 (58:50):
To be fair, my advice is to never date a runner.
It obviously didn't work for me.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
Yeah, way to follow your own advice there.

Speaker 5 (58:58):
But that's yeah, my advice.

Speaker 4 (59:04):
My Okay, I have like serious advice and I have
not serious advice.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
Let's go serious first and then we'll go not serious.

Speaker 5 (59:11):
You just have to find what works for you, Like
there isn't a magic solution of like if you do X,
y Z, then you will be successful. I don't do
any like sport food based things, Like I don't do
goo or gels or anything like.

Speaker 4 (59:28):
To me, it's disgusting. I'm not gonna do it. Like
I eat sour bunny gummy bears. They're from Target. They're delicious,
they're anti an's, Like I eat real food when I'm running.

Speaker 5 (59:43):
I drink pepsi or coke, and I don't run with
tailwind or like I'll pick up a gatorade at a run.
But you out here having all these things like marketed
to you, of like this.

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Is what you have to do to like be fat,
and it is just.

Speaker 5 (01:00:02):
Yeah, it's because what works for Cody isn't gonna work
for me. And if you like running by yourself and
run by yourself, I ninety nine percent of the time
don't listen to music or have headphones on when I run,
and people think I'm psychotic for that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:17):
But like that's just what works for me.

Speaker 5 (01:00:19):
And so I think, especially in the running world, people
are always like you have to do this, and you
have so many people yelling at you, so many different opinions,
and like it's cool to like take advice, but like
if you try and if it doesn't work for you,
then don't do it. If you don't like gooz, don't
try to choke them down, Like find something that does
work for you and find a community, because I think

(01:00:43):
that makes a big difference. And my silly advice, which
isn't silly advice at all, And again, I don't throw up.

Speaker 4 (01:00:51):
You do not have to push yourself to the point
of throwing up. That is the stupidest advice that, like,
because you hear it all the time, right, like you're
not giving one hundred percent if you don't puke.

Speaker 9 (01:01:02):
At the finish line, Like it's disgusting, like for you will,
don't do it, and it's not necessarily like you do
not need to push your body to that point of.

Speaker 5 (01:01:14):
Like exhaustion, because it's just not healthy. Don't do it
because you know what you'll ruin my brace experience too, Okay, Like,
please don't do it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Someone fukes at mile six and she's out and you
got just twenty miles left.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
Anxiety it's a phobia.

Speaker 1 (01:01:31):
It is, it is.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
It's got a name. I forgot it.

Speaker 4 (01:01:35):
Metaphobia.

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
There you go.

Speaker 4 (01:01:37):
I have that, But yes, do that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Coding advice for the newbies other than listen to the
Back of the Pack podcast Mondays and Fridays.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
I think the couple things wrapped into one. Don't take
yourself too seriously a running just like in general, yep,
there's a very very very select few people that are
blessed enough to be elite level runners that could be
competitive with other people. So compete to get yourself, don't

(01:02:07):
be don't take yourself too seriously, and laugh at yourself
a little bit. Scott Green tell me that always be
able to laugh at yourself a little bit. I think
that's important. I think the most important thing, though, probably
is to start slow. It's really easy to jump head
first into the thing. Yeah, like I did you know?
I did a five k and then next thing I know,
I'm signed up for multiple races a weekend, and that's

(01:02:30):
just asking for an injury.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
Yeah, So start.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
Slow, increase your mileage at a comfortable rate, and then
go do stupid stuff. But the biggest thing is just
don't take yourself too seriously. Have fun, have fun, find
your community and enjoy it, enjoy the miles.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
All right, Well, I'm gonna throw out one more bonus question.
They have not been warned about this all time favorite race.
Don't tell me why, just tell me the race. Go.

Speaker 4 (01:03:00):
You were supposed to prop us for these questions.

Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
No. I wanted one surprise.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
All time, so I would say Chicago, but you've already
heard that like three times. So I will say Rock
Island half a marathon. You line, I love that race.

Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
Oh never mind. They didn't change the course on that one.
It was the other one.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
Okay, never mind, Roland, get out of here with them
so hot?

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
Reason do you think you would hate it?

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
It's so hot it I wasn't.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
Supposed to tell you that.

Speaker 4 (01:03:36):
I don't know if I have a favorite race.

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
You don't have an all time favorite race?

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
Girl Disney?

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Oh yeah, Disney? Oh no, no, Okay.

Speaker 4 (01:03:47):
Like I said, Disney is a special breed of races.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
I have not done the Disney race.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Dopey challenged twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
Seven, working on it, deep done, Dopey, David.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
Okay, miss the turnaround? If you listen to me.

Speaker 5 (01:04:07):
I feel like each I don't know if I've come
across like a perfect race, which I think is good.
There are some races that like I will repeat every year,
whether it's for the cause or the metals are cool.
But there isn't a race where I'm like, my heart
is there, Like, I don't know if any race is
like profoundly change me.

Speaker 4 (01:04:32):
I don't know if I have a favorite race.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
What a great non answer.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
Geez, yeah, all right, Well.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
I wanted to spring a question on him. I did,
what's your favorite race? Kyle? New York Still New York City,
Marathon still my favorite race, so maybe it wins your
heart over when you do it next year.

Speaker 5 (01:04:52):
Very nervous about New York because again I don't like people.

Speaker 1 (01:04:57):
Yeah, you're gonna struggle with that.

Speaker 4 (01:04:59):
I go to like.

Speaker 5 (01:05:00):
National parks and cities and public trains. I had to
get on the subway train whatever is in Chicago, and
during the marathon, I swore that I was going to
catch every single like disease possible because of how like
sardine packed we.

Speaker 4 (01:05:17):
Were in that train, and I was very uncomfortable.

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
You're gonna love New York and.

Speaker 4 (01:05:23):
Yeah, so I'm very nervous about New York.

Speaker 1 (01:05:25):
Uh, enjoy the race, experience the rest of it, you
mind not like very much. And you started late in Berlin,
you'll start later in New York. Yeah, and just remember
the unofficial race is beating the sun because it's all
of the day and daylight saving time, so when you start,
you're racing the sun.

Speaker 5 (01:05:46):
My honestly, my goal, which I don't know if I'm
going to be fast enough.

Speaker 4 (01:05:50):
I want my name in the paper. And this year
the cutoff was like four thirty nine. I think what
I right now?

Speaker 5 (01:05:58):
I mean broken hit broken, but fine, like I'm not
at that pace, but I really want my name in
the paper.

Speaker 1 (01:06:05):
Okay, well now you got to go all right. Well,
that's gonna do it for this very long but I hope,
hopefully very fun. We're gonna have a lot more of
these coming up episode of the Back of the Back podcast.
I'm skya Walker. Thank you to Cody and Katie for
dropping by and doing this in studio. They were the
test subjects, so if this was great, it's all because
of them. Uh you want to show them YETI there's yetty,

(01:06:29):
there's something I can't mention folks. Anyway, that's gonna do
it for this week's episode. Everyone, We'll see you next week. Okay.

Speaker 4 (01:06:35):
Bye,