January 8, 2024 • 44 mins
We are back for 2024! Before we move forward, let's take one last look back on what was one of the wildest years in running! 2023 was a great time with so many great memories. Let's talk about races both local and national. Let's get jazzed up to build up this podcast and show everyone how much we love the running community! Join us for a look back before we fire forward!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Hello and welcome. No wait,that's not right but sure and oh la,
no, boy man, it's beena minute. How did this go
again? Hello? Everyone, greetingsand salutations. Welcome back to the first
episode of twenty twenty four for theBack of the Pack podcast. I'm your
(00:32):
host, Kyle Walker. Thank youso much for tuning in. It feels
weird that we're actually back again andrecording a podcast episode. I don't know
about you, guys, but itfeels very strange to me. Also very
strange to be doing a running podcast. See look, the rust is already
showing off on a day where itis snowing heavily outside the window of the
new podcast studio, and running todayis not going to happen, maybe not
(00:59):
for a couple of days. Ashere in Kansas City the weather has turned
to garbaggio, which will happen inJanuary and is certainly happening to us right
now. But what are you gonnado. It's winter time. It's winter
in the Midwest, and that's kindof how things work. But hey,
thank you all so much for tuningin to this first episode of twenty twenty
four. I have actually missed recordingepisodes. I know that is very strange.
(01:22):
You think it's only been a coupleof weeks. It was the holidays,
you know, It's fine. Nope, I actually kind of missed doing
this. However, the time offdid allow for me to do a little
work in the house. I'm ina new room. I am not where
I was previously within my home.As you can see, we're trying to
decorate. If you happen to bewatching on YouTube or wherever else, you
(01:42):
might see the podcast. But we'vegot our cool little light system here,
which I'm gonna have to keep tinkeringwith because the lights that I am using
to shoot the podcast are kind ofdrowning that out, so you can't really
tell that it lights up. Butit's a light up microphone. That's what
it's supposed to be. It's alight up microphone. And we've got our
best of the Pack podcast stuck onthe wall, and then we've got some
medals here. This is just gonnabe kind of our featured metals section.
(02:07):
So if you look here here atthe top where I'm pointing right now,
these are the full marathons all rightall the way down here to the end.
I've got to go that way thereit is to the Memphis Marathon that
we just finished with. You know, all we over here is Tulsa from
way back when, and then we'vegot a couple of the virtual marathons we
did, and then last year's Heartlandto thirty k series with the case Hustle
(02:28):
run right there kind of featured prominently. Then down here are just some series
and some races that meant a lotto me. There's the one and only
triathlon that I'll probably ever do.That one's here on this but oh the
good life has he's right off myshoulder. So yeah, so this is
just kind of the look that we'regoing with. Hopefully it looks a little
better than what I had going before. But yeah, I'm hoping that I'm
(02:49):
in a room that has a lotless echoing action as the last one did.
So again, we're trying to improveeverything for you all. Now before
we get started, as we arejust kind of and in here's kind of
what we decided in our weeks offas myself and missus back of the Pack
podcast have been kind of trying tofigure out what this year and life and
(03:12):
things are going to look like.We are going hard on this podcast in
twenty twenty four. Okay, thisis going to be what I kind of
feel like, is the make orbreak year for the Back of the Pack
podcast. We're either going to getto the end of twenty twenty four looking
good and growing, and if we'renot, probably just you know, say,
hey, we have some fun withit for a while. But you
(03:35):
know, if you ain't growing,you're dying. And I want this thing
to grow. You guys know thatI've made no bones about that. So
for anyone who listens to this show, the ways you can help me out
are this, like it, shareit, comment on it. That's all
you gotta do. Subscribe to itwhere you can. If you like listening
to podcasts. If you are aSpotify person, please, by all means
(03:57):
Spotify subscribe or whatever or it's calledme it's free service, subscribe to it.
Leave a review, leave a fivestar review, of course I would
love five stars, but leave areview. Tell people why you like it.
Same thing. If you're on ApplePodcasts, by all means, give
it how I mean stars you feelare worthy, and then write a review
as to why you like it.We desperately need people to subscribeing to the
(04:18):
YouTube channel again. I know theYouTube thing is a little little clumsy right
now, you gotta go look forthe Back of the Pack podcast. The
the is very important to find thecorrect YouTube channel. Our old channel that
we no longer have access to isstill floating around out there in the ether
somewhere. We don't want you subscribingto that honk a junk. We want
(04:42):
you on this one, the newone with the logo that is now right
here on my hat. So pleasesubscribe to the YouTube channel. Like the
videos, comment on the videos,share it on Facebook, follow on Instagram.
We're on TikTok. Now again tothe Back of the Pack podcast.
On TikTok. I'm doing my bestwith that thing. I am not a
millennial or gen X, No,I am gen X or gen Z person
(05:06):
that knows much about this TikTok stuff. So I'm doing my best. If
you're a TikTok person, let meknow how I can get better. But
that is really how we're going togrow in this this year. We do
have a Patreon page out there.I've done nothing with it. We still
have no Patreon members. I amgoing to try and get that back out
there, get it all up todate. I'm trying to find the right
(05:27):
benefit to maybe entice people to helpout. This podcast does cost money every
month, and since I bring nothingin, that's all out of pocket.
But again I don't mind, becauseI have a lot of fun doing this.
But for the sake of twenty twentyfour, we want growth. We
want things to get better, notworse. Not that they're bad, they're
fine for what they are. Butwho doesn't want to get better. We
(05:48):
all want to get better. It'sjust like you're training. If you're training
for a marathon, you don't wantto go out there and suck. You
want to improve. You want todo better than your last marathon. So
you know, same things in thepodcast world. So audience participation is the
a number one thing that will helpthis podcast grow. Like us, comment,
review, share, subscribe, allthose things, All those things are
(06:12):
insanely important to this podcast. SoI'm going to humbly bake upon you guys
to do so a lot of youdo, and I really thank you,
And you really don't know how muchit means to me. Every time I
see you guys post something about theshow, whether you share an episode or
you just tell people, hey,check this out, or if you comment
on something like it really does meana lot to me, and so I
really appreciate it. Now one ofthe signs that I think we are starting
(06:35):
to arrive. And this happened justtoday, so you know, right before
I decided to record here, we'renow being spammed. How cool is that?
On the old Facebook, we nowhave one of those spam bots that
have gone in there and they're saying, hey, you can buy a hoodie
if you follow this link. Andyou know, they steal our logo and
(06:56):
put it on this generic looking hoodie, and so it up on a whole
bunch of messages to responded to peopleand said, oh, buy our stuff
on this. Okay, listen,y'all, my dearest of friends, there's
never going to be some name thatyou don't know that is telling you to
buy our stuff. Don't do that. That is one hundred percent a scam.
It's fraud, it's spam. It'sall that stuff rolled into one.
(07:19):
So if you see anything like thatthat does not come from the official back
of the Pack podcast page, payno mind to it. It is Garbagio.
It is just again. All Ican do is delete the comments.
But if I'm not in a placewhere I can delete quickly. They're out
there for a minute or two.Don't buy it. Do not give them
(07:39):
your information, any kind of paymentinformation. Don't do any of that because
it is one hundred percent bull dinkyand I don't want you guys getting your
debit cards compromised, shall we sayso? If you want a Back of
the Pack podcast T shirt, weare doing a pre order right now.
I am not asking you for anymoney information. The only thing I want
(08:00):
is for you to respond to something. If you go back on Facebook or
Instagram, you'll see the original postand just say I want one. I
Kyle Walker hosted the Back of thePack podcast, will reach out to you
to get size information and then wewill pay over PayPal or Venmo because that
is what is really convenient and lesslikely to have fraud. I am not
(08:22):
asking you for a debit card,No, absolutely not. We will do
it through a payment service, whetherit be PayPal or Venmo, I can
do either. So you've got afew more days on the pre order.
If you want to get a shirt, we're doing the Back of the Pack
podcast shirts again. A pre orderVenmo PayPal is all we're going to take
and I will reach out to youto get this information and to get the
(08:43):
process completed. Okay, don't listenor buy in to anyone else unless it
is I, Kyle Walker or fromthe official Back of the Pack podcast Facebook
page. So I didn't expect tohave to go into all of that today,
but yet here we are. Nowanother thing. If it sounds like
I sound a little funny, youare not wrong. So I guess the
(09:05):
one good thing about taking all thistime off around the holidays. I have
been sick as a dog for threeweeks. Now. I hear it's going
around. It is just like thisuber cold that is just decimating people.
But I started coming down with iton Christmas Eve and here on January eighth,
I still have a terrible cough andI still feel like in my head
I don't sound right. So I'msorry about that. Nothing I can do
(09:28):
about it. I'm trying. I'mtaking all the over the counter stuff,
trying to get better, but man, this thing's holding on. It just
will not go away, and itstinks. So I apologize it if I
sound weird. So Hey, twentytwenty three is in the books. It
was the wildest running year I haveever had, So I'm just gonna I'm
(09:48):
gonna spend this episode just kind ofgoing over where the podcast has been.
I feel like you don't know whereyou're going unless you know where you've been.
And if we think about it thisway, if you look at New
Year's Day in the and New Year'sEve, you know the following year,
we have the start line and wehave the finish line. Okay, so
that dash as I knocked my microphone, that dash in between the dates,
(10:09):
that's the race, all right,that's the race for us during a calendar
year, that's the race for us. When we get to a starting or
when we get to an actual course, there's the start line, which you
know, your start line is thisbig, and then there's a finish line
that's this big. The race takesplace here, and that's how our years
work out. Everything in between NewYear's Day and New Year's Eve. That
(10:30):
that's the race. And so that'swhere all the fun stuff has happened.
In twenty twenty three, myself inthis podcast did forty races, which is
a new record for me. Nowagain, I started running into twenty ten,
So in twenty twenty three, I'mrunning the most that I have ever
run before, and that is actuallya tribute to everyone here, anyone who's
(10:50):
listening to this podcast. I didall these races so that we could talk
about it together on the podcast,and so that I could see the members
of the Kansas City running community andothers because I did travel and I could
see our running friends, and Icould see the people who listen to the
show, and we could talk andbuild and strengthen our running community, which,
as you all know, is veryimportant to me. And I feel
(11:11):
like for twenty twenty three mission completelyaccomplished. I feel like the running community
here is great. I'm not gonnasay it's as best as it's ever been,
and I'm not saying it's because ofme or the podcast, no,
none of that. I think thatwe've recovered well from coronavirus in twenty twenty
and of course twenty twenty one,in the years that we kind of lost
doing a lot of the races,I feel like we're really back, and
(11:35):
I just feel like with all thestuff going on that we are a very
tight knit running community and it grows, it grows every day and people get
more and more involved, and thatis really great. One of the things
that I think I think has broughtus together. And now I'm segueing out
of twenty twenty three for just amoment. But this recently showed up.
There is a runner that a lotof you know here in the Kansas City
(11:56):
area, Scott Green. He hasbeen diagnosed with a lot of really terrible
medical stuff and I'm not going togo into all that. There is now
a race for him that is comingup in March, and I want to
make sure that we get this outthere front and center. I put it
on the Facebook page. I sharedthe link where you can register because he
is known as the Bearded Runner.The race is the Beard Race, Okay
(12:22):
b E r D Race. Itis going to be on March tenth.
It is going to be at ShawneeMission Park that is in Lenexa, Kansas.
If you are listening to this andyou are local to Kansas City or
you are willing to make a drive, I want everyone to get out there
and register for that race. Theproceeds from the race will go to Scott
and his family to combat medical expensesand all other expenses associated with what's going
(12:46):
on. If you are hearing this, and I know you are, because
we're gonna have just people blowing upthis episode, because the show's gonna just
go and say in this twenty twentyfour year I'm just sure of it.
But until we get to that point, whoever listens. Right now, I
want you guys to go get signedup for the Beard Race. It is
a five k and ten k youknow, do whichever one you want,
(13:07):
and then family friendly. Also goingto be food and stuff following the race,
So don't just plan on coming runningand leaving. Plan on stain,
you know, bring a change ofclothes. It's early March. Who knows
what the weather's going to be.Could be super cold, it could be
super warm, it could beautifully pleasant, don't know, don't care. Dress
appropriately, but everyone get to theBeard Race March tenth. You can see
(13:30):
the sign up on our Facebook page. And I want everybody there, like
everybody, everybody, everybody. Ifyou want to wear your back of the
pack podcast shirt, get it preordered. You will definitely have it in
time, and then I want youto wear it to that race. I'll
be there. I'm already registered theback of the packets. They will be
there, They're already registered. SoI want everyone there Okay, so that
was just I had to jump intotwenty twenty four for just a second.
(13:52):
Won't be the last time I mentionedthat race. I can promise you that
it's gonna happen, So just beaware that this is a thing. Okay.
Back to twenty twenty three, weagain had forty races, not all
of them here in Kansas City.I did travel around a bit, which
was great. I really am enjoyingtraveling around and doing races, whether I
get to kind of mingle with peopleor not, even if I'm just there
(14:15):
in the back of the back podcastshirt, maybe someone sees me from a
distance, you know. Super great. But twenty twenty three is gonna be
really hard to top, although Ithink we can do it in twenty twenty
four. Not only is it gonnabe hard to top because I did my
dream race and we'll get there,but I think in twenty twenty four,
again, because of the connections we'remaking and the places we're gonna go and
(14:35):
the people were gonna meet, Ireally think we can actually top twenty twenty
three. And that was already thebest year ever. So twenty twenty three
started the same way that twenty twentyfour is gonna start Battle of the Bean
again. If you're in Kansas City, you're gonna hear a lot of races
that are familiar. There are definitelysome where we traveled around. Battle of
the Bean is where we started intwenty twenty three. A fun little five
k which is Team Coffee, FirstTeam Coco, Team Coffee right here all
(14:58):
the way to Chain Go Team andit's a fun little five k. It's
in January, it's cold. Ranthat race with our good friend Sarah,
who is a local runner around here. Mad shout out to Sarah, and
again I want to give shout outsto anyone I can think of if we
did a race together this year.But Sarah and I ran that race and
it was a fun one. Itwas a cold one. We did it,
no problem, went and had coffeewith everyone after the race. Even
(15:20):
better, all right after that,what do we do we went too?
Oh? There we go the Kickofffive k, a football themed race held
on Super Bowl Sunday. How canyou not enjoy it? So again,
that one was fun. Shout outto Terry, who's huge, huge fan.
I know she was there, willmy guy, he was there.
So another fun race then was theJohn Brown Half Marathon. Ha ha ha.
(15:41):
And I know a lot of peopleright now are either rolling their eyes
or going just giving us the bigold ug. And then there's some people
who are thrilled. The John Brownhalf Marathon was a difficult half marathon on
kind of a it's not technically atrail race, although it could have been
considered that. And again, Brad, you know I love you and I'm
not bashing your race, but nobodyliked that race. We all hated it,
(16:03):
and then we all signed up todo it again. So it was
a very difficult race. It wason a kind of a chili day.
It started chili and then it gotwarmed up, so the frozen ground kind
of thawed as we were doing therace and it kind of got muddy.
But man, that race was killerbecause it was just basically up a hill,
turn around, come back downhill.But that was a difficult race.
So John Brown. That was inOsawatamee, Kansas. Yeah say that three
(16:26):
times fast. But that was afun one and I know we all signed
up to do it again. Sonext after that we did the Cookie Run
five k It's a cook it's arace benefiting the girl Scouts. You can't
go wrong. You could pick upcookies there Tadah. Then after that we
did the Westport Saint Patrick's Day fourmiler. That race was important to me
for a few reasons. I likethe Westport Saint Patrick's Day form miler.
It's a race I do every year. It goes through Westport and Kansas City,
(16:49):
Missouri. The bar that we alwaysmeet at all Right. People have
asked why do we always go toKelly's when we do a Westport race.
Kelly's Inn and Bar was my father'sfavorite bar, so I go there kind
of in honor of him, andI like going there. It's a good
atmosphere, especially as you're getting closeto Saint Patrick's Day. You can't beat
it. And that is where wedid the one year birthday party or one
(17:11):
year anniversary for the Back of thePack podcast. It was great. People
came out, we all had drinkstogether. They even sang the podcast Happy
Birthday. The gentleman who was behindthe bar thought there was an official birthday,
so we brought over a birthday shotof Jamison Whiskey. I took it
even though it wasn't my birthday,but it was a great celebration to the
(17:33):
podcast. We had cake, wehad cupcakes, we had everyone celebrating.
That was super fun and we aredoing it again this year. So after
the Westport Saint Patrick's Day for Miler, we will be at Kelly's Inn.
We will have our drinks for thesecond anniversary for the Back of the Pack
podcast and that is actually on Marchninth. So we have a big weekend
that weekend in March March ninth,Westport Saint Patrick's Stay for Miler, Back
(17:56):
of the Pack second anniversary party,March tenth, the Beard Run. Okay,
so big weekend, but we're goingto do it because that's what we
do. After that. Saint Patrick'sDay five k. A lot of people
now are either ugging that or rollingtheir eyes at that. Why that was
the coldest race of the year.It was held on March eighteenth. You
would think in March eighteenth, maybethe temperatures are starting to inch a little
(18:18):
forward. Nope, Nope, suredidn't. That was the coldest race that
I did in twenty twenty three.I think our wind chill at the start
of the race was in negative two, negative three somewhere in there. Super
cold. That one, No Bueno. After that we went to the Liberty
Liberty Hospital Half. We heard themtalk on the podcast around that time of
(18:40):
year. We had a table upat the expo, so that was super
great. I hope to be betB at their expo again this year.
We're going to have them on now. If you haven't heard, Liberty Hospital
is going through some issues right now, some technical issues. Supposed to have
them on shortly. A lot ofit's going to depend on if we can
(19:00):
connect and get past those technical issuesthat are affecting the hospital right now.
So we're working on it. Justletting you know we're working on it.
We're gonna have Liberty on as soonas we can. Their race is coming
up at the end of March.Don't miss it. Exceedingly challenging half marathon
in Liberty, Missouri, but worthit. The bling is great. It's
one of the bigger half marathon medalsthat you're ever gonna see. The bling
(19:23):
is fantastic, The course difficult,but rewarding. Nobody finishes that course and
doesn't feel like they've accomplished something.You've done something if you finish the Liberty
Half, Okay, So just beaware, be aware that's coming up.
After that, we did Jaden's BugRun. I did the ten k on
that one. That was fine.Then we moved along to Rock the Parkway,
(19:45):
one of the biggest half marathons inthis area. Again done in Kensey
and Missouri. All the runners inKansas City do Rock the Parkway. It's
just it's a staple. It's agreat race. The folks who run at
Casey Running Company, they are onpoint with this. Now this going to
be I mean, they're definitely overten years. We're probably closing in on
year fifteen of this race. Ishclose in between ten and fifteen. They've
(20:07):
got it down. Great race,great metal, great after race party.
You're in April at that point,so normally not bad. Then I went
and did the big one, thebig one of all races, the one
that I can say that I gotoff my list, the one that was
number one on the bucket list.I got to go to Boston, Massachusetts
and run the Boston Marathon. Now, two days before the marathon, I
(20:30):
did the Boston Marathon Weekend five k. That was the biggest five K I've
ever done. I don't know howmany people ran that race, but it
was thousands upon thousands upon thousands ofpeople, the finishers of the race.
People were finishing the race before Iever crossed the start line, and they
weren't trying to do this wave startnonsense. That's how many people and how
(20:52):
long it took for us to getaround and go at the start line of
the Boston five K. The coolpart about the Boston five k about two
I was in with one mile left. You actually run through the finish line
of the Boston Marathon, so youget to see it as it's kind of
getting set up and as it's gettingready. And let me tell you,
that gets your attention real quick whenthat happens. But did the five k?
(21:12):
Took it real easy because I knewthe Boston Marathon was coming right up.
Then was the big one. Thenwas the Boston Marathon. Everyone can
go back if you so desire andsee. I did two episodes on it
back in April. I live streamedme coming down the finish line of Boston.
I can't say enough good things aboutit. My Boston Marathon charity team
(21:33):
that I was a part of,You guys are still awesome and I still
love you all to death, andI can't wait to run more races with
you to h yeah to all ofthem again, love you guys. But
to finish the Boston Marathon was justexceedingly special. I can't really put it
into words, and I don't wantto redive into it because I know we've
heard it enough if you listened lastyear. But again to everyone who helped
(21:56):
me get there through the charity team, thank you all so much. Any
one who donated to me to runBoston again, thank you number one on
my bucket list. And it wastaken care of in twenty twenty three.
And I still, I mean,it's right here behind me, look at
the thumb, there's the edge ofit, there's the Boston Metal and I
still can't say enough good things aboutit. But man, the Boston Marathon
amazing. After that, we cameback home and we did the Top City
(22:18):
Half Marathon. Now the Top CityHalf Marathon takes place in Topeka, Kansas.
A great race. I had aglowing review of them when we did
it last year. Again, arace I did not expect to be anything
special, just I'll raise I actuallyturned out to be one of the best
races I did in twenty twenty three. Can't recommend them enough. They're going
to be on the podcast here shortly. Looking forward to talking to them,
(22:41):
and we're going to talk to themall about this year's top City half Marathon.
I'll be there. I want youto be there again. A great
half marathon in Topeka, Kansas.If you want to make it down there,
I highly recommend it. Love thatrace. Was glad I did it.
Next week came back, we didout Pacing Melanoma. That is a
five k in Overland Park, Kansasthat I with my family. That is
(23:02):
the only five k of the yearthat Missus back of the pack will attend.
She does that in honor of afamily member who unfortunately had to go
through the skin cancer and things ofthat nature. So we do that to
honor Carolyn. And again a fivek in Corporate Woods. You guys know
that course, we know it well. But again Ally was glad to support
a good cost. After that,we did the Bill Snyder Highway Half Marathon,
(23:23):
my first time doing this race andit is in Manhattan, Kansas.
That is the home of the kState University ky State Wildcats. A great
race. I was super surprised.Went down there on Memorial Day weekend,
stayed the night in a hotel,bust out to the start line, or
ran back and is actually still tothis day my half marathon pr That race
(23:45):
was just everything hit right that day. I ran well, I ran well.
Good course, you're running along ahighway, like honestly, they close
a lane. You're on the BillSnyder Highway. They just kind of take
you twenty miles out. You runback to the campus. You finish on
the football field. Bill Snyder himselfwas there. I didn't stand in that
line to take a picture with him, but if that's important to you,
you can definitely do it. Thatwas a really great race. After that,
(24:07):
Heroes for Hospice five K a greatone. The Fighting Fentanyl five K.
We've had them on the show twice. They are part of Keeping Clean
for Coop to fight the epidemic ofopiods and just fentanyl and all the crap
that high school kids are having todeal with right now. That is really
freaking terrible. So I was Iwas glad to do that race yet again.
(24:29):
The Father's Day Superhero five K,that was that one's gonna hold a
spot in my heart. That wasthe first five K I ever got in
under thirty minutes. Now I'm lookingat my list right here. Twenty nine
forty seven, my own, notmy only my first five k and under
thirty minutes, my first of onlytwo, is what I was gonna say.
So that one was a big one. Next the Stars and Stripes five
(24:52):
k. That was my second fivek and under thirty minutes and the second
of only two. But they wereback to back weekend, so I guess
I was in good five k shapeby about that time, which is going
to be late June early July forthose. Next we did the Word Parkway
four and the fourth a four mileron Independence Day. Great race. Love
that one. Then I went andgot really stupid and didn't shawne Mission Triathlon,
(25:15):
so our first ever triathlon for allyou triathletes again, I still say,
and I said it back then,you guys rock, you are awesome.
I don't get it. I justdon't get it. I did the
run okay, because that's what Iknow. The swim about killed me.
Apparently I cannot be used for aflotation device because I really thought I was
(25:36):
gonna end up at the bottom ofthat lake, and then the bike whipped
my butt because I did not trainnearly well enough for it. I thought,
you know, hey, back whenI was like what four or five,
whatever it was, I learned toride a bike, so I'm sure
I'm still good now. Well,yeah, I can still ride a bike.
Doesn't mean I can ride it wellor get up the hills. But
I do have a triathlon now tomy record, and it might just stay
(25:56):
at one. Although the guys whowrote me into this one on your Mission
Triathlon, they're already trying to wroteme into another one in twenty twenty four,
which is down in Columbia, Missouri. So I don't know. I'm
always easily influenced. Oh is therea cool metal? Okay, I'm in
such a dummy sometimes. I thinkI know a few of us with that
problem. After that, and anotherone that people are gonna roll their eyes
(26:21):
an ugg over. We went outand did the Rock Island Trail half marathon,
uh half marathon at the end ofJuly. It was hot, so
hot, so stinking hot. Ican't say anything a little about the race.
Okay to the race organizers again,kudos to you. You guys open
(26:44):
it up so people could leave early, people could get on the course.
You just tell the guy, hey, I'm starting now. They wrote it
down and then they adjusted the timewhen you cross the finisher mat. We
got a head start myself and severalothers. Cody was there, He got
a head start and a few others, and thank god we did. And
I still didn't run well. Itwas the first time in a long time
I had a bad half marathon finishingtime. And when I finished it,
(27:07):
myself and others included Bethany as well, and Sarah was out there. We
were all dying, like we wereseriously dying. It was so hot and
once people sat down. I don'tknow about you, y'all, but the
room was spinning. I actually feltlike if I stood back up, I
was going to pass out. Itwas so hot. So we'll be out
there again. After that, wedid the Spencer Seed duncan make it count
(27:27):
five k that honors a falling soldierhere in this area. Good five k
out and Gardner Kansas a great cost. After that, we went and saw
our friends down in Lawrence, Kansasfor the Rexy Run, and I know
we'll be back at Rexy Run againthis year. In August, Rexy Run
had a five K and eight KThis year. They benefit Baby Jay's Legacy
of Hope again. They are ourgreat and good friends down there. We
(27:49):
love Rexy Run, we love BabyJay's, so we'll be back down there
if you guys need a race inLawrence, Kansas in August. You come
down and you see us at RexyRun, and we came back up here
for a couple five k's the Headfor the Cure five k. Another one
in Corporate Wood's Good Cause, theLeewood Labor Day five K, my first
time doing it. I should havedone better on that course than I did.
(28:11):
For whatever reason, I just rana bad race. So I'm looking
forward to going back this year andtaking another stab at it. Clearly it's
Labor Day weekend in case you canfigure that one out, which I bet
you could. Then we jumped intothe Heartland thirty K series. I have
now done it two years in arow. I actually really enjoy this series.
I would love to do it againthis year, but I'm not going
to be able to. And we'llgo over that when we do the twenty
(28:32):
twenty four preview, which won't bethis week, probably next week unless I
can get a hold of Liberty,but either which way, So we went
and did the Plaza ten K,the Plaza ten K if you were in
this area, if you can getto the Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri,
always recommend the Plaza ten K.It is a great course, it
really is. It's a fast course, it's a pretty course, and at
the beginning middle ish of September youmight get a little heat, but you're
(28:55):
probably gonna get good weather. That'snormally when the weather's getting pretty solid in
Kansas City. So I definitely recommendthe Plaza ten K for anyone who hasn't
done it. I've definitely done itmany times. Like that race. After
that we got to talk about it, we did the k C Hustle Run.
Yay, So if you don't knowthe CAC Hustle Run, that was
(29:18):
our run. That was the runthat was kind of birth by the Back
of the Pack podcast. It wasour run that we wanted to do to
help get money to Saint Jude.It was, I mean, it was
our run. I went and Italked to William. William was our race
director for this, our former productioncompany. They were involved as well,
And okay, I'll just address it. I was I couldn't decide if I
(29:40):
was going to talk about it ornot. I'm going to talk about it
this time because we're talking about twentytwenty three and then it's not going to
be mentioned anymore. So many peoplesent me the picture from a few weeks
ago, and I know, Iknow, but look it's okay. So
if you didn't hear the story,we had a former production company fell out
with them. Ugly divorce, notpretty at all. Don't go into business
(30:00):
with your friends because now that personI were not even friends anymore, you
know, taken off of social media'sand unfollowed and unfriended and just it was
ugly. I'm still not happy withthe way things worked out, but you
know what them is the way thecookie crumbles, I understand. I didn't
see it. I was sent itby several people that our former production company
had a photo op with our charitysponsor from the Casey Hustle run where the
(30:25):
big oversized check was displayed and givento them for the proceeds from the Casey
Hussel run. No I was notinvited to it. No I was not
tagged in the post. Personally,my picture is not there, nor is
the race directors. It was formerproduction company took I mean took the credit
(30:45):
ish, but look not important.Really, it's not honest to goodness,
it's not. What is important.And what made me actually smile at that
picture was, even though that racewas a debacle, and even though that
divorce was messy, that race,our efforts, me, production company,
and all of you. As Ihit the microphone again, I'm gonna have
to redo this, we were allable to get four thousand dollars to Saint
(31:07):
Jude. Okay, that is thelong and short of it, right there.
Four thousand dollars was raised from thatrace, our race that went to
the Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital.Look, I couldn't be happier about it.
I wish it was four hundred thousanddollars, but that was never in
the cards. So the fact wewere able to give them anything, the
fact that four thousand dollars was onthat check along with Casey hustle run to
(31:30):
Saint Jude, that was the importantpart. That part makes me absolutely smile.
The rest of it, I don'tcare. Don't care. So again,
I know folks send it to me. I get it. I understand
why we're done. Now we're done. It is done. It is over
all the best to former production company. We with everything in house. Now
we are going nowhere but up andI'm super stoked. Okay, but the
(31:52):
Casey Hustle runs, so that wasawesome. After that, we finished the
Heartland Series with the Bolvard tenk,a brand new race down in Missouri.
Good race. Recommend that race.Hopefully we do it again this year after
that. October Fest five k,A fun little five k. Jared Coon's
Pumpkin Run. Jared Coon's Pumpkin Runin Elitha, Kansas. If they ever
(32:13):
listen to this podcast, I don'twant them to ever say that I thought
ill or spoke ill of them.I don't a great cause and a great
race. I'll never do that raceagain to many kids. That is my
running snobbery coming out of me.But there are too many stinking kids at
that race. You can't look atit like a five k. You can't
(32:34):
look at it like I'm gonna goand run hard, or I'm gonna go
set a pr or I'm gonna goget the best race that I can.
You can't because there's too many kids. All the elementary school kids from the
Oleitha School District come out to thatrace. They have no idea what they're
doing. They have no idea whereto line up, they have no idea
what their speeds are, what theirtempo is, what they're pacing is,
what their stamina is. They gotno freaking clue. So every two hundred
(33:00):
feet you've got a kid stopping deadin front of you, coming to a
dead stop, turning around and lookingfor mom or dad or their buddies.
And you're basically hurdling children as theystop directly in your path. Again,
I wish the Jared Coons pump canrun nothing but the best, and that
is the honest, to God's truth. And I'm so glad that they've been
doing it for so long and theyare doing it so well, and they
(33:22):
are raising Bookoo bucks for their cost. That is great. I just can't
can't do that race again. Outkilled me. After that, we did
the Garmin Kansas City Half Marathon.We've had Dave on this before, the
race director for the Garman Kansas CityHalf Marathon. He'll be on again this
year. We love Dave. Welove that race. That is our race,
that is the Kansas City Race.Right there, the Garmin Kansas City
(33:45):
Marathon starts in front of the NelsonAtkins Art Museum. We've got the post
race party. That dad is ourrace. I take pride in that race
because that race is Kansas City.So I love doing the half marathon.
Be back again, be out thereagain this year again everyone who in this
area, we take pride, notrace after that. Okay, So after
that, Cody and I we wentdown to Midland, Texas and did the
(34:08):
Energy City Half Marathon, and wegot in a little bit of trouble for
it because some people thought our reviewof it was too negative. Upon reflection,
I still am really sorry then anythingcame across negative. It's one of
those races that in the moment anddue to exertion from the race, because
we drove home directly after the race, like we went back to the hotel,
(34:30):
packedor crap, showered up, andhit the road, and that's a
long drive back from Midland, Texasto Kansas City. I think in our
tired state, we probably were toonegative. And again, upon reflection,
and I know Cody has said this, and I've said this, like,
we have nothing but good memories andgood feelings for that race, and I
wish to them all the best Intwenty twenty four. Who knows, maybe
I'll go back down there and doit again, because I actually feel like
(34:52):
I kind of screwed them over alittle bit when we were It wasn't overly
negative, it was slightly negative.Maybe, so I don't know, I
might act should go back down anddo it again, because this time I
know exactly what to expect, aflat course on a beautiful day. And
again, the only thing that gotme was I had thoughts and ideas that
(35:12):
weren't based in reality. So whatI thought was going to happen didn't and
so so yeah, we again wewent down there with preconceived notions. It
didn't meet those, and so wemight have been a little negative. And
again for them for the one hundredtime I offered my apologies. It was
not our intent. Maybe I'll goback there and do it again because now
I know exactly what to expect.I allt to look at the calendar,
(35:34):
but that might actually happen, becausethen I'd feel better about it. After
that, went to Lincoln, Nebraskafor the Good Life Hasie. That race
is awesome. I'm trying to geta group of us together to go in.
It is actually going to be Octobertwenty seventh of twenty twenty four.
I would love a back of thepack podcast following in the Good Life havesie
up in Lincoln, Nebraska. Ithink that's one that we would all very
much enjoy traveling up there and doingtogether, So stay tuned for that information.
(35:59):
But good Life I have. Hewas a great half marathon, then
Veterans Day ten k good ten kin Parkville, Missouri. Loggerhead Half Marathon,
Logerhead Half Marathon. For whatever reason, that has my number. This
race has my number, and I'vetalked about it before. So what happens
in twenty twenty three when I don'tfeel like I ran my best race?
I gotta go back into twenty twentyfour and I gotta run a better race.
(36:22):
So Loggerhead, I'm coming back foryou. And I heard, I
know, we've talked about it.We talked about it before the break that
you guys are calling this year lasthalf marathon the last Loggerhead A. I
hope that's not true, and Bif it is, I better go and
have my best Loggerhead race because forwhatever reason, that race kicks my butt.
Although I really enjoy it. Ienjoyed the hoodie that you give out.
I like the medals, I likethe course, I like the town,
(36:45):
and it's in Ottawa, Kansas.Why can I not do better at
this race? I don't know.I don't know, but it bugs me.
But I'm gonna be back at Loggerheadthis year. After that, the
word Parkway Thanksgiving Day run again.You can't take that run too serious.
It's on a holiday. Families,kids, everyone's out there. It's a
huge race, a lot of people. You just going you have fun with
it. That's what I did.So a good race. Then we went
(37:08):
down to Memphis, Tennessee and didthe Saint Jude Memphis Marathon. It was
awesome. You guys don't have togo back very far and you can hear
my review of that great race.Memphis fun little town for me to visit.
I had never been there before,but the race was super great.
Going through the campus of Saint Judewas amazing. Again an overall very positive,
(37:28):
very good experience for both the townand the race. And the weekend
we went down there, there wasour first time marathon finisher, Allison Allison.
Shout outs to you your very firstfull marathon. Amy was down there
doing the half Marathon, and thenI was down there plugging along on the
full and along with some others.January, you were down there, January,
who does just a ton for SaintJude, which is just freaking awesome.
(37:52):
So a great race. Go backa little bit and listen to that
review. Not that the review wasso great, but the race was so
hear about how great that race was. Then we got to the Westport Santa
Dash, the Westport Santa Dash,one that we've done previously. Not gonna
lie it wasn't my best time,although it wasn't bad, but I just
remember how much my knees were stillhurting from running the full marathon a couple
(38:12):
days before, not a couple ofdays. I think I had six days
six day recovery. And then Idid that one, and then we finished
up with the Great Santa Run.The Great Santa Rona, of course,
is my running anniversary. That wasthe very first five K I did in
twenty ten. Got to do itagain in twenty twenty three, so I
love it. And then we findout that that's it. That's it for
(38:34):
the Great Santa Run, at leastas we know it. The place where
the race is hosted Johnson County CommunityCollege has told them no more, We're
we're not doing this anymore. We'renot gonna let you hold your race here,
which you know, I'm sure acommunity college is super busy on a
Sunday morning in December on Christmas breakhe so Juco, bad on you,
like for serious bad on you,Juco. Not that any of you care
(38:57):
what I think, but yeah,I was bummed to hear that. I
hope the Great Santa Run continues,but now it's going to need a new
home on where to do it.So that stinks that it's not going to
be at the spot that it's beenat since I first started racing in twenty
ten. So what a bummer.Lastly, on New Year's Eve, I
was supposed to go to Parkville,Missouri. I was supposed to do the
Time Traveled half marathon, which isthrough Bodies Race Company. I couldn't.
(39:22):
I was sick. I've been sick. I've been sick since Christmas Eve.
I'm still not perfect now, andNew Year's Eve was one of the worst
of it. I couldn't even goto my New Year's festivities because I just
I was bad. I was bad. This thing had been kicking my rump
and I was just not having it, not having it. So that was
twenty twenty three. Again a crazyyear, but an amazing year. Meeting
(39:47):
a lot of people and again,okay, I went through all those races
and I hope this person is stillstuck with me. But still the highlight
was meeting Kelsey at the Boston MarathonExpo. That was it. The fact
that I'm just strolling around the Bostonmarithlone xpo again from one of the most
important races ever and I'm just walkingalong dumb as dirt and someone hollers at
(40:12):
me because of the podcast. Ah, that was the greatest thing ever.
So that was still a highlight oftwenty twenty three. And yeah, no,
I don't think anything's gonna top thatever. So that was super fun.
Twenty twenty four again, we're gonnatalk about it on a future episode.
It's gonna be a great year.We're gonna make this a great year
because I know you guys are awesomeenough to make this a great year.
I told you to start the showhow we're gonna do it. Now I
(40:35):
just need you guys to do it. And hopefully this episode wasn't too painful.
I'm sure i'm a little out ofpractice, as it's been a while,
it's been several weeks since we've donea new episode. But I'm super
glad to be back in the saddle. I'm glad to be here with our
new background and our new podcast studioarea. So now I get to edit
this and see what it sounds like. But hey, I'm excited. You
(40:57):
know, let me know what racesyou're excited for. Make sure you play
along with all the stuff that wedo. Don't forget that. On Mondays
it's Metal Monday. Post a medal. If you didn't do a metal or
didn't get a medal that past weekend, post one out of your collection,
one that you thought was super cool. On Thursdays, we have race Shirt
Thursday. Put on a race shirtthat you like. Either you like the
shirt, you liked the race thatyou did, you liked the area,
(41:19):
I don't know, whatever you likedabout the Take a selfie and post it
for us. You know, that'sthat's where you can, you know,
kind of show off, get yourselfie game on, and then, of
course, you know we're out onthe weekends. I'd love it if you'd
post tag us in it and tagus in anything on old Facebook or Instagram.
That's what we've got it for.There are other running communities out there
that have a very similar theme tothe Back of the Pack podcast, and
(41:43):
now, of course they've got thousandsupon thousands of followers and people just post
on their page to talk about theirruns and to get the encouragement and whatnot.
I would love for that to beus. I would love for that
to be our social media presence.It doesn't have to just be me.
God, this show is better whenI'm less involved. But hey, anytime
you want to post something on Facebook, tag us in it, put it
(42:04):
on our page. Use that asa way to get encouragement and to talk
to people and connect. Because we'regetting more people. We're almost two one
thousand likes, which I think isreally good for such a small small thing.
We're well over one thousand followers now, but we're almost two one thousand
likes on old Facebook. But now, next we need to get YouTube.
If we can start getting everything out, the subscriptions and everything going on YouTube,
(42:29):
that's when we are really cooking withgas and we're gonna get there.
We're gonna get there I'm excited aboutwhat twenty twenty four has to offer,
so I hope you are too.So anyway, Dad is going to do
it for this episode of the Backof the Back podcast. I am your
host, Kyle Walker. It hasbeen my pleasure as always. I am
so glad that we are back.Please reach out to the podcasters there's anything
(42:50):
you want us to mention, totalk about, to review, to try
and get to. We're doing moretraveling races in twenty twenty four that all
that information is coming soon. Buttrust me, we're hitting the road.
And if you have a podcast ora podcast, you do have a podcast
you love, it's this one.If you have a race that you love
that is in your area and yourareas not Kansas City, or you have
traveled to one previously and you wantus to get there, let me know.
(43:14):
I will absolutely try and get there. We went to Midland, Texas,
we went to Lincoln, Nebraska.I'm happy to take recommendations on races
and I will do my darndest toget us there. So hey, everyone,
have a great week of training,which is actually gonna be tough as
it is snowing right now and we'vegot some bad days coming reach out to
us and everyone be safe this week. Don't don't push it too hard on
(43:36):
these terrible sidewalks and roads. Besafe. We'll be back next week with
a new episode of the Back ofthe Pack podcast as we start sludging through
the winter and heading towards spring.So we'll see you next week.
Hello and welcome. No wait,that's not right but sure and oh la,
no, boy man, it's beena minute. How did this go
again? Hello? Everyone, greetingsand salutations. Welcome back to the first
episode of twenty twenty four for theBack of the Pack podcast. I'm your
(00:32):
host, Kyle Walker. Thank youso much for tuning in. It feels
weird that we're actually back again andrecording a podcast episode. I don't know
about you, guys, but itfeels very strange to me. Also very
strange to be doing a running podcast. See look, the rust is already
showing off on a day where itis snowing heavily outside the window of the
new podcast studio, and running todayis not going to happen, maybe not
(00:59):
for a couple of days. Ashere in Kansas City the weather has turned
to garbaggio, which will happen inJanuary and is certainly happening to us right
now. But what are you gonnado. It's winter time. It's winter
in the Midwest, and that's kindof how things work. But hey,
thank you all so much for tuningin to this first episode of twenty twenty
four. I have actually missed recordingepisodes. I know that is very strange.
(01:22):
You think it's only been a coupleof weeks. It was the holidays,
you know, It's fine. Nope, I actually kind of missed doing
this. However, the time offdid allow for me to do a little
work in the house. I'm ina new room. I am not where
I was previously within my home.As you can see, we're trying to
decorate. If you happen to bewatching on YouTube or wherever else, you
(01:42):
might see the podcast. But we'vegot our cool little light system here,
which I'm gonna have to keep tinkeringwith because the lights that I am using
to shoot the podcast are kind ofdrowning that out, so you can't really
tell that it lights up. Butit's a light up microphone. That's what
it's supposed to be. It's alight up microphone. And we've got our
best of the Pack podcast stuck onthe wall, and then we've got some
medals here. This is just gonnabe kind of our featured metals section.
(02:07):
So if you look here here atthe top where I'm pointing right now,
these are the full marathons all rightall the way down here to the end.
I've got to go that way thereit is to the Memphis Marathon that
we just finished with. You know, all we over here is Tulsa from
way back when, and then we'vegot a couple of the virtual marathons we
did, and then last year's Heartlandto thirty k series with the case Hustle
(02:28):
run right there kind of featured prominently. Then down here are just some series
and some races that meant a lotto me. There's the one and only
triathlon that I'll probably ever do.That one's here on this but oh the
good life has he's right off myshoulder. So yeah, so this is
just kind of the look that we'regoing with. Hopefully it looks a little
better than what I had going before. But yeah, I'm hoping that I'm
(02:49):
in a room that has a lotless echoing action as the last one did.
So again, we're trying to improveeverything for you all. Now before
we get started, as we arejust kind of and in here's kind of
what we decided in our weeks offas myself and missus back of the Pack
podcast have been kind of trying tofigure out what this year and life and
(03:12):
things are going to look like.We are going hard on this podcast in
twenty twenty four. Okay, thisis going to be what I kind of
feel like, is the make orbreak year for the Back of the Pack
podcast. We're either going to getto the end of twenty twenty four looking
good and growing, and if we'renot, probably just you know, say,
hey, we have some fun withit for a while. But you
(03:35):
know, if you ain't growing,you're dying. And I want this thing
to grow. You guys know thatI've made no bones about that. So
for anyone who listens to this show, the ways you can help me out
are this, like it, shareit, comment on it. That's all
you gotta do. Subscribe to itwhere you can. If you like listening
to podcasts. If you are aSpotify person, please, by all means
(03:57):
Spotify subscribe or whatever or it's calledme it's free service, subscribe to it.
Leave a review, leave a fivestar review, of course I would
love five stars, but leave areview. Tell people why you like it.
Same thing. If you're on ApplePodcasts, by all means, give
it how I mean stars you feelare worthy, and then write a review
as to why you like it.We desperately need people to subscribeing to the
(04:18):
YouTube channel again. I know theYouTube thing is a little little clumsy right
now, you gotta go look forthe Back of the Pack podcast. The
the is very important to find thecorrect YouTube channel. Our old channel that
we no longer have access to isstill floating around out there in the ether
somewhere. We don't want you subscribingto that honk a junk. We want
(04:42):
you on this one, the newone with the logo that is now right
here on my hat. So pleasesubscribe to the YouTube channel. Like the
videos, comment on the videos,share it on Facebook, follow on Instagram.
We're on TikTok. Now again tothe Back of the Pack podcast.
On TikTok. I'm doing my bestwith that thing. I am not a
millennial or gen X, No,I am gen X or gen Z person
(05:06):
that knows much about this TikTok stuff. So I'm doing my best. If
you're a TikTok person, let meknow how I can get better. But
that is really how we're going togrow in this this year. We do
have a Patreon page out there.I've done nothing with it. We still
have no Patreon members. I amgoing to try and get that back out
there, get it all up todate. I'm trying to find the right
(05:27):
benefit to maybe entice people to helpout. This podcast does cost money every
month, and since I bring nothingin, that's all out of pocket.
But again I don't mind, becauseI have a lot of fun doing this.
But for the sake of twenty twentyfour, we want growth. We
want things to get better, notworse. Not that they're bad, they're
fine for what they are. Butwho doesn't want to get better. We
(05:48):
all want to get better. It'sjust like you're training. If you're training
for a marathon, you don't wantto go out there and suck. You
want to improve. You want todo better than your last marathon. So
you know, same things in thepodcast world. So audience participation is the
a number one thing that will helpthis podcast grow. Like us, comment,
review, share, subscribe, allthose things, All those things are
(06:12):
insanely important to this podcast. SoI'm going to humbly bake upon you guys
to do so a lot of youdo, and I really thank you,
And you really don't know how muchit means to me. Every time I
see you guys post something about theshow, whether you share an episode or
you just tell people, hey,check this out, or if you comment
on something like it really does meana lot to me, and so I
really appreciate it. Now one ofthe signs that I think we are starting
(06:35):
to arrive. And this happened justtoday, so you know, right before
I decided to record here, we'renow being spammed. How cool is that?
On the old Facebook, we nowhave one of those spam bots that
have gone in there and they're saying, hey, you can buy a hoodie
if you follow this link. Andyou know, they steal our logo and
(06:56):
put it on this generic looking hoodie, and so it up on a whole
bunch of messages to responded to peopleand said, oh, buy our stuff
on this. Okay, listen,y'all, my dearest of friends, there's
never going to be some name thatyou don't know that is telling you to
buy our stuff. Don't do that. That is one hundred percent a scam.
It's fraud, it's spam. It'sall that stuff rolled into one.
(07:19):
So if you see anything like thatthat does not come from the official back
of the Pack podcast page, payno mind to it. It is Garbagio.
It is just again. All Ican do is delete the comments.
But if I'm not in a placewhere I can delete quickly. They're out
there for a minute or two.Don't buy it. Do not give them
(07:39):
your information, any kind of paymentinformation. Don't do any of that because
it is one hundred percent bull dinkyand I don't want you guys getting your
debit cards compromised, shall we sayso? If you want a Back of
the Pack podcast T shirt, weare doing a pre order right now.
I am not asking you for anymoney information. The only thing I want
(08:00):
is for you to respond to something. If you go back on Facebook or
Instagram, you'll see the original postand just say I want one. I
Kyle Walker hosted the Back of thePack podcast, will reach out to you
to get size information and then wewill pay over PayPal or Venmo because that
is what is really convenient and lesslikely to have fraud. I am not
(08:22):
asking you for a debit card,No, absolutely not. We will do
it through a payment service, whetherit be PayPal or Venmo, I can
do either. So you've got afew more days on the pre order.
If you want to get a shirt, we're doing the Back of the Pack
podcast shirts again. A pre orderVenmo PayPal is all we're going to take
and I will reach out to youto get this information and to get the
(08:43):
process completed. Okay, don't listenor buy in to anyone else unless it
is I, Kyle Walker or fromthe official Back of the Pack podcast Facebook
page. So I didn't expect tohave to go into all of that today,
but yet here we are. Nowanother thing. If it sounds like
I sound a little funny, youare not wrong. So I guess the
(09:05):
one good thing about taking all thistime off around the holidays. I have
been sick as a dog for threeweeks. Now. I hear it's going
around. It is just like thisuber cold that is just decimating people.
But I started coming down with iton Christmas Eve and here on January eighth,
I still have a terrible cough andI still feel like in my head
I don't sound right. So I'msorry about that. Nothing I can do
(09:28):
about it. I'm trying. I'mtaking all the over the counter stuff,
trying to get better, but man, this thing's holding on. It just
will not go away, and itstinks. So I apologize it if I
sound weird. So Hey, twentytwenty three is in the books. It
was the wildest running year I haveever had, So I'm just gonna I'm
(09:48):
gonna spend this episode just kind ofgoing over where the podcast has been.
I feel like you don't know whereyou're going unless you know where you've been.
And if we think about it thisway, if you look at New
Year's Day in the and New Year'sEve, you know the following year,
we have the start line and wehave the finish line. Okay, so
that dash as I knocked my microphone, that dash in between the dates,
(10:09):
that's the race, all right,that's the race for us during a calendar
year, that's the race for us. When we get to a starting or
when we get to an actual course, there's the start line, which you
know, your start line is thisbig, and then there's a finish line
that's this big. The race takesplace here, and that's how our years
work out. Everything in between NewYear's Day and New Year's Eve. That
(10:30):
that's the race. And so that'swhere all the fun stuff has happened.
In twenty twenty three, myself inthis podcast did forty races, which is
a new record for me. Nowagain, I started running into twenty ten,
So in twenty twenty three, I'mrunning the most that I have ever
run before, and that is actuallya tribute to everyone here, anyone who's
(10:50):
listening to this podcast. I didall these races so that we could talk
about it together on the podcast,and so that I could see the members
of the Kansas City running community andothers because I did travel and I could
see our running friends, and Icould see the people who listen to the
show, and we could talk andbuild and strengthen our running community, which,
as you all know, is veryimportant to me. And I feel
(11:11):
like for twenty twenty three mission completelyaccomplished. I feel like the running community
here is great. I'm not gonnasay it's as best as it's ever been,
and I'm not saying it's because ofme or the podcast, no,
none of that. I think thatwe've recovered well from coronavirus in twenty twenty
and of course twenty twenty one,in the years that we kind of lost
doing a lot of the races,I feel like we're really back, and
(11:35):
I just feel like with all thestuff going on that we are a very
tight knit running community and it grows, it grows every day and people get
more and more involved, and thatis really great. One of the things
that I think I think has broughtus together. And now I'm segueing out
of twenty twenty three for just amoment. But this recently showed up.
There is a runner that a lotof you know here in the Kansas City
(11:56):
area, Scott Green. He hasbeen diagnosed with a lot of really terrible
medical stuff and I'm not going togo into all that. There is now
a race for him that is comingup in March, and I want to
make sure that we get this outthere front and center. I put it
on the Facebook page. I sharedthe link where you can register because he
is known as the Bearded Runner.The race is the Beard Race, Okay
(12:22):
b E r D Race. Itis going to be on March tenth.
It is going to be at ShawneeMission Park that is in Lenexa, Kansas.
If you are listening to this andyou are local to Kansas City or
you are willing to make a drive, I want everyone to get out there
and register for that race. Theproceeds from the race will go to Scott
and his family to combat medical expensesand all other expenses associated with what's going
(12:46):
on. If you are hearing this, and I know you are, because
we're gonna have just people blowing upthis episode, because the show's gonna just
go and say in this twenty twentyfour year I'm just sure of it.
But until we get to that point, whoever listens. Right now, I
want you guys to go get signedup for the Beard Race. It is
a five k and ten k youknow, do whichever one you want,
(13:07):
and then family friendly. Also goingto be food and stuff following the race,
So don't just plan on coming runningand leaving. Plan on stain,
you know, bring a change ofclothes. It's early March. Who knows
what the weather's going to be.Could be super cold, it could be
super warm, it could beautifully pleasant, don't know, don't care. Dress
appropriately, but everyone get to theBeard Race March tenth. You can see
(13:30):
the sign up on our Facebook page. And I want everybody there, like
everybody, everybody, everybody. Ifyou want to wear your back of the
pack podcast shirt, get it preordered. You will definitely have it in
time, and then I want youto wear it to that race. I'll
be there. I'm already registered theback of the packets. They will be
there, They're already registered. SoI want everyone there Okay, so that
was just I had to jump intotwenty twenty four for just a second.
(13:52):
Won't be the last time I mentionedthat race. I can promise you that
it's gonna happen, So just beaware that this is a thing. Okay.
Back to twenty twenty three, weagain had forty races, not all
of them here in Kansas City.I did travel around a bit, which
was great. I really am enjoyingtraveling around and doing races, whether I
get to kind of mingle with peopleor not, even if I'm just there
(14:15):
in the back of the back podcastshirt, maybe someone sees me from a
distance, you know. Super great. But twenty twenty three is gonna be
really hard to top, although Ithink we can do it in twenty twenty
four. Not only is it gonnabe hard to top because I did my
dream race and we'll get there,but I think in twenty twenty four,
again, because of the connections we'remaking and the places we're gonna go and
(14:35):
the people were gonna meet, Ireally think we can actually top twenty twenty
three. And that was already thebest year ever. So twenty twenty three
started the same way that twenty twentyfour is gonna start Battle of the Bean
again. If you're in Kansas City, you're gonna hear a lot of races
that are familiar. There are definitelysome where we traveled around. Battle of
the Bean is where we started intwenty twenty three. A fun little five
k which is Team Coffee, FirstTeam Coco, Team Coffee right here all
(14:58):
the way to Chain Go Team andit's a fun little five k. It's
in January, it's cold. Ranthat race with our good friend Sarah,
who is a local runner around here. Mad shout out to Sarah, and
again I want to give shout outsto anyone I can think of if we
did a race together this year.But Sarah and I ran that race and
it was a fun one. Itwas a cold one. We did it,
no problem, went and had coffeewith everyone after the race. Even
(15:20):
better, all right after that,what do we do we went too?
Oh? There we go the Kickofffive k, a football themed race held
on Super Bowl Sunday. How canyou not enjoy it? So again,
that one was fun. Shout outto Terry, who's huge, huge fan.
I know she was there, willmy guy, he was there.
So another fun race then was theJohn Brown Half Marathon. Ha ha ha.
(15:41):
And I know a lot of peopleright now are either rolling their eyes
or going just giving us the bigold ug. And then there's some people
who are thrilled. The John Brownhalf Marathon was a difficult half marathon on
kind of a it's not technically atrail race, although it could have been
considered that. And again, Brad, you know I love you and I'm
not bashing your race, but nobodyliked that race. We all hated it,
(16:03):
and then we all signed up todo it again. So it was
a very difficult race. It wason a kind of a chili day.
It started chili and then it gotwarmed up, so the frozen ground kind
of thawed as we were doing therace and it kind of got muddy.
But man, that race was killerbecause it was just basically up a hill,
turn around, come back downhill.But that was a difficult race.
So John Brown. That was inOsawatamee, Kansas. Yeah say that three
(16:26):
times fast. But that was afun one and I know we all signed
up to do it again. Sonext after that we did the Cookie Run
five k It's a cook it's arace benefiting the girl Scouts. You can't
go wrong. You could pick upcookies there Tadah. Then after that we
did the Westport Saint Patrick's Day fourmiler. That race was important to me
for a few reasons. I likethe Westport Saint Patrick's Day form miler.
It's a race I do every year. It goes through Westport and Kansas City,
(16:49):
Missouri. The bar that we alwaysmeet at all Right. People have
asked why do we always go toKelly's when we do a Westport race.
Kelly's Inn and Bar was my father'sfavorite bar, so I go there kind
of in honor of him, andI like going there. It's a good
atmosphere, especially as you're getting closeto Saint Patrick's Day. You can't beat
it. And that is where wedid the one year birthday party or one
(17:11):
year anniversary for the Back of thePack podcast. It was great. People
came out, we all had drinkstogether. They even sang the podcast Happy
Birthday. The gentleman who was behindthe bar thought there was an official birthday,
so we brought over a birthday shotof Jamison Whiskey. I took it
even though it wasn't my birthday,but it was a great celebration to the
(17:33):
podcast. We had cake, wehad cupcakes, we had everyone celebrating.
That was super fun and we aredoing it again this year. So after
the Westport Saint Patrick's Day for Miler, we will be at Kelly's Inn.
We will have our drinks for thesecond anniversary for the Back of the Pack
podcast and that is actually on Marchninth. So we have a big weekend
that weekend in March March ninth,Westport Saint Patrick's Stay for Miler, Back
(17:56):
of the Pack second anniversary party,March tenth, the Beard Run. Okay,
so big weekend, but we're goingto do it because that's what we
do. After that. Saint Patrick'sDay five k. A lot of people
now are either ugging that or rollingtheir eyes at that. Why that was
the coldest race of the year.It was held on March eighteenth. You
would think in March eighteenth, maybethe temperatures are starting to inch a little
(18:18):
forward. Nope, Nope, suredidn't. That was the coldest race that
I did in twenty twenty three.I think our wind chill at the start
of the race was in negative two, negative three somewhere in there. Super
cold. That one, No Bueno. After that we went to the Liberty
Liberty Hospital Half. We heard themtalk on the podcast around that time of
(18:40):
year. We had a table upat the expo, so that was super
great. I hope to be betB at their expo again this year.
We're going to have them on now. If you haven't heard, Liberty Hospital
is going through some issues right now, some technical issues. Supposed to have
them on shortly. A lot ofit's going to depend on if we can
(19:00):
connect and get past those technical issuesthat are affecting the hospital right now.
So we're working on it. Justletting you know we're working on it.
We're gonna have Liberty on as soonas we can. Their race is coming
up at the end of March.Don't miss it. Exceedingly challenging half marathon
in Liberty, Missouri, but worthit. The bling is great. It's
one of the bigger half marathon medalsthat you're ever gonna see. The bling
(19:23):
is fantastic, The course difficult,but rewarding. Nobody finishes that course and
doesn't feel like they've accomplished something.You've done something if you finish the Liberty
Half, Okay, So just beaware, be aware that's coming up.
After that, we did Jaden's BugRun. I did the ten k on
that one. That was fine.Then we moved along to Rock the Parkway,
(19:45):
one of the biggest half marathons inthis area. Again done in Kensey
and Missouri. All the runners inKansas City do Rock the Parkway. It's
just it's a staple. It's agreat race. The folks who run at
Casey Running Company, they are onpoint with this. Now this going to
be I mean, they're definitely overten years. We're probably closing in on
year fifteen of this race. Ishclose in between ten and fifteen. They've
(20:07):
got it down. Great race,great metal, great after race party.
You're in April at that point,so normally not bad. Then I went
and did the big one, thebig one of all races, the one
that I can say that I gotoff my list, the one that was
number one on the bucket list.I got to go to Boston, Massachusetts
and run the Boston Marathon. Now, two days before the marathon, I
(20:30):
did the Boston Marathon Weekend five k. That was the biggest five K I've
ever done. I don't know howmany people ran that race, but it
was thousands upon thousands upon thousands ofpeople, the finishers of the race.
People were finishing the race before Iever crossed the start line, and they
weren't trying to do this wave startnonsense. That's how many people and how
(20:52):
long it took for us to getaround and go at the start line of
the Boston five K. The coolpart about the Boston five k about two
I was in with one mile left. You actually run through the finish line
of the Boston Marathon, so youget to see it as it's kind of
getting set up and as it's gettingready. And let me tell you,
that gets your attention real quick whenthat happens. But did the five k?
(21:12):
Took it real easy because I knewthe Boston Marathon was coming right up.
Then was the big one. Thenwas the Boston Marathon. Everyone can
go back if you so desire andsee. I did two episodes on it
back in April. I live streamedme coming down the finish line of Boston.
I can't say enough good things aboutit. My Boston Marathon charity team
(21:33):
that I was a part of,You guys are still awesome and I still
love you all to death, andI can't wait to run more races with
you to h yeah to all ofthem again, love you guys. But
to finish the Boston Marathon was justexceedingly special. I can't really put it
into words, and I don't wantto redive into it because I know we've
heard it enough if you listened lastyear. But again to everyone who helped
(21:56):
me get there through the charity team, thank you all so much. Any
one who donated to me to runBoston again, thank you number one on
my bucket list. And it wastaken care of in twenty twenty three.
And I still, I mean,it's right here behind me, look at
the thumb, there's the edge ofit, there's the Boston Metal and I
still can't say enough good things aboutit. But man, the Boston Marathon
amazing. After that, we cameback home and we did the Top City
(22:18):
Half Marathon. Now the Top CityHalf Marathon takes place in Topeka, Kansas.
A great race. I had aglowing review of them when we did
it last year. Again, arace I did not expect to be anything
special, just I'll raise I actuallyturned out to be one of the best
races I did in twenty twenty three. Can't recommend them enough. They're going
to be on the podcast here shortly. Looking forward to talking to them,
(22:41):
and we're going to talk to themall about this year's top City half Marathon.
I'll be there. I want youto be there again. A great
half marathon in Topeka, Kansas.If you want to make it down there,
I highly recommend it. Love thatrace. Was glad I did it.
Next week came back, we didout Pacing Melanoma. That is a
five k in Overland Park, Kansasthat I with my family. That is
(23:02):
the only five k of the yearthat Missus back of the pack will attend.
She does that in honor of afamily member who unfortunately had to go
through the skin cancer and things ofthat nature. So we do that to
honor Carolyn. And again a fivek in Corporate Woods. You guys know
that course, we know it well. But again Ally was glad to support
a good cost. After that,we did the Bill Snyder Highway Half Marathon,
(23:23):
my first time doing this race andit is in Manhattan, Kansas.
That is the home of the kState University ky State Wildcats. A great
race. I was super surprised.Went down there on Memorial Day weekend,
stayed the night in a hotel,bust out to the start line, or
ran back and is actually still tothis day my half marathon pr That race
(23:45):
was just everything hit right that day. I ran well, I ran well.
Good course, you're running along ahighway, like honestly, they close
a lane. You're on the BillSnyder Highway. They just kind of take
you twenty miles out. You runback to the campus. You finish on
the football field. Bill Snyder himselfwas there. I didn't stand in that
line to take a picture with him, but if that's important to you,
you can definitely do it. Thatwas a really great race. After that,
(24:07):
Heroes for Hospice five K a greatone. The Fighting Fentanyl five K.
We've had them on the show twice. They are part of Keeping Clean
for Coop to fight the epidemic ofopiods and just fentanyl and all the crap
that high school kids are having todeal with right now. That is really
freaking terrible. So I was Iwas glad to do that race yet again.
(24:29):
The Father's Day Superhero five K,that was that one's gonna hold a
spot in my heart. That wasthe first five K I ever got in
under thirty minutes. Now I'm lookingat my list right here. Twenty nine
forty seven, my own, notmy only my first five k and under
thirty minutes, my first of onlytwo, is what I was gonna say.
So that one was a big one. Next the Stars and Stripes five
(24:52):
k. That was my second fivek and under thirty minutes and the second
of only two. But they wereback to back weekend, so I guess
I was in good five k shapeby about that time, which is going
to be late June early July forthose. Next we did the Word Parkway
four and the fourth a four mileron Independence Day. Great race. Love
that one. Then I went andgot really stupid and didn't shawne Mission Triathlon,
(25:15):
so our first ever triathlon for allyou triathletes again, I still say,
and I said it back then,you guys rock, you are awesome.
I don't get it. I justdon't get it. I did the
run okay, because that's what Iknow. The swim about killed me.
Apparently I cannot be used for aflotation device because I really thought I was
(25:36):
gonna end up at the bottom ofthat lake, and then the bike whipped
my butt because I did not trainnearly well enough for it. I thought,
you know, hey, back whenI was like what four or five,
whatever it was, I learned toride a bike, so I'm sure
I'm still good now. Well,yeah, I can still ride a bike.
Doesn't mean I can ride it wellor get up the hills. But
I do have a triathlon now tomy record, and it might just stay
(25:56):
at one. Although the guys whowrote me into this one on your Mission
Triathlon, they're already trying to wroteme into another one in twenty twenty four,
which is down in Columbia, Missouri. So I don't know. I'm
always easily influenced. Oh is therea cool metal? Okay, I'm in
such a dummy sometimes. I thinkI know a few of us with that
problem. After that, and anotherone that people are gonna roll their eyes
(26:21):
an ugg over. We went outand did the Rock Island Trail half marathon,
uh half marathon at the end ofJuly. It was hot, so
hot, so stinking hot. Ican't say anything a little about the race.
Okay to the race organizers again,kudos to you. You guys open
(26:44):
it up so people could leave early, people could get on the course.
You just tell the guy, hey, I'm starting now. They wrote it
down and then they adjusted the timewhen you cross the finisher mat. We
got a head start myself and severalothers. Cody was there, He got
a head start and a few others, and thank god we did. And
I still didn't run well. Itwas the first time in a long time
I had a bad half marathon finishingtime. And when I finished it,
(27:07):
myself and others included Bethany as well, and Sarah was out there. We
were all dying, like we wereseriously dying. It was so hot and
once people sat down. I don'tknow about you, y'all, but the
room was spinning. I actually feltlike if I stood back up, I
was going to pass out. Itwas so hot. So we'll be out
there again. After that, wedid the Spencer Seed duncan make it count
(27:27):
five k that honors a falling soldierhere in this area. Good five k
out and Gardner Kansas a great cost. After that, we went and saw
our friends down in Lawrence, Kansasfor the Rexy Run, and I know
we'll be back at Rexy Run againthis year. In August, Rexy Run
had a five K and eight KThis year. They benefit Baby Jay's Legacy
of Hope again. They are ourgreat and good friends down there. We
(27:49):
love Rexy Run, we love BabyJay's, so we'll be back down there
if you guys need a race inLawrence, Kansas in August. You come
down and you see us at RexyRun, and we came back up here
for a couple five k's the Headfor the Cure five k. Another one
in Corporate Wood's Good Cause, theLeewood Labor Day five K, my first
time doing it. I should havedone better on that course than I did.
(28:11):
For whatever reason, I just rana bad race. So I'm looking
forward to going back this year andtaking another stab at it. Clearly it's
Labor Day weekend in case you canfigure that one out, which I bet
you could. Then we jumped intothe Heartland thirty K series. I have
now done it two years in arow. I actually really enjoy this series.
I would love to do it againthis year, but I'm not going
to be able to. And we'llgo over that when we do the twenty
(28:32):
twenty four preview, which won't bethis week, probably next week unless I
can get a hold of Liberty,but either which way, So we went
and did the Plaza ten K,the Plaza ten K if you were in
this area, if you can getto the Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri,
always recommend the Plaza ten K.It is a great course, it
really is. It's a fast course, it's a pretty course, and at
the beginning middle ish of September youmight get a little heat, but you're
(28:55):
probably gonna get good weather. That'snormally when the weather's getting pretty solid in
Kansas City. So I definitely recommendthe Plaza ten K for anyone who hasn't
done it. I've definitely done itmany times. Like that race. After
that we got to talk about it, we did the k C Hustle Run.
Yay, So if you don't knowthe CAC Hustle Run, that was
(29:18):
our run. That was the runthat was kind of birth by the Back
of the Pack podcast. It wasour run that we wanted to do to
help get money to Saint Jude.It was, I mean, it was
our run. I went and Italked to William. William was our race
director for this, our former productioncompany. They were involved as well,
And okay, I'll just address it. I was I couldn't decide if I
(29:40):
was going to talk about it ornot. I'm going to talk about it
this time because we're talking about twentytwenty three and then it's not going to
be mentioned anymore. So many peoplesent me the picture from a few weeks
ago, and I know, Iknow, but look it's okay. So
if you didn't hear the story,we had a former production company fell out
with them. Ugly divorce, notpretty at all. Don't go into business
(30:00):
with your friends because now that personI were not even friends anymore, you
know, taken off of social media'sand unfollowed and unfriended and just it was
ugly. I'm still not happy withthe way things worked out, but you
know what them is the way thecookie crumbles, I understand. I didn't
see it. I was sent itby several people that our former production company
had a photo op with our charitysponsor from the Casey Hustle run where the
(30:25):
big oversized check was displayed and givento them for the proceeds from the Casey
Hussel run. No I was notinvited to it. No I was not
tagged in the post. Personally,my picture is not there, nor is
the race directors. It was formerproduction company took I mean took the credit
(30:45):
ish, but look not important.Really, it's not honest to goodness,
it's not. What is important.And what made me actually smile at that
picture was, even though that racewas a debacle, and even though that
divorce was messy, that race,our efforts, me, production company,
and all of you. As Ihit the microphone again, I'm gonna have
to redo this, we were allable to get four thousand dollars to Saint
(31:07):
Jude. Okay, that is thelong and short of it, right there.
Four thousand dollars was raised from thatrace, our race that went to
the Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital.Look, I couldn't be happier about it.
I wish it was four hundred thousanddollars, but that was never in
the cards. So the fact wewere able to give them anything, the
fact that four thousand dollars was onthat check along with Casey hustle run to
(31:30):
Saint Jude, that was the importantpart. That part makes me absolutely smile.
The rest of it, I don'tcare. Don't care. So again,
I know folks send it to me. I get it. I understand
why we're done. Now we're done. It is done. It is over
all the best to former production company. We with everything in house. Now
we are going nowhere but up andI'm super stoked. Okay, but the
(31:52):
Casey Hustle runs, so that wasawesome. After that, we finished the
Heartland Series with the Bolvard tenk,a brand new race down in Missouri.
Good race. Recommend that race.Hopefully we do it again this year after
that. October Fest five k,A fun little five k. Jared Coon's
Pumpkin Run. Jared Coon's Pumpkin Runin Elitha, Kansas. If they ever
(32:13):
listen to this podcast, I don'twant them to ever say that I thought
ill or spoke ill of them.I don't a great cause and a great
race. I'll never do that raceagain to many kids. That is my
running snobbery coming out of me.But there are too many stinking kids at
that race. You can't look atit like a five k. You can't
(32:34):
look at it like I'm gonna goand run hard, or I'm gonna go
set a pr or I'm gonna goget the best race that I can.
You can't because there's too many kids. All the elementary school kids from the
Oleitha School District come out to thatrace. They have no idea what they're
doing. They have no idea whereto line up, they have no idea
what their speeds are, what theirtempo is, what they're pacing is,
what their stamina is. They gotno freaking clue. So every two hundred
(33:00):
feet you've got a kid stopping deadin front of you, coming to a
dead stop, turning around and lookingfor mom or dad or their buddies.
And you're basically hurdling children as theystop directly in your path. Again,
I wish the Jared Coons pump canrun nothing but the best, and that
is the honest, to God's truth. And I'm so glad that they've been
doing it for so long and theyare doing it so well, and they
(33:22):
are raising Bookoo bucks for their cost. That is great. I just can't
can't do that race again. Outkilled me. After that, we did
the Garmin Kansas City Half Marathon.We've had Dave on this before, the
race director for the Garman Kansas CityHalf Marathon. He'll be on again this
year. We love Dave. Welove that race. That is our race,
that is the Kansas City Race.Right there, the Garmin Kansas City
(33:45):
Marathon starts in front of the NelsonAtkins Art Museum. We've got the post
race party. That dad is ourrace. I take pride in that race
because that race is Kansas City.So I love doing the half marathon.
Be back again, be out thereagain this year again everyone who in this
area, we take pride, notrace after that. Okay, So after
that, Cody and I we wentdown to Midland, Texas and did the
(34:08):
Energy City Half Marathon, and wegot in a little bit of trouble for
it because some people thought our reviewof it was too negative. Upon reflection,
I still am really sorry then anythingcame across negative. It's one of
those races that in the moment anddue to exertion from the race, because
we drove home directly after the race, like we went back to the hotel,
(34:30):
packedor crap, showered up, andhit the road, and that's a
long drive back from Midland, Texasto Kansas City. I think in our
tired state, we probably were toonegative. And again, upon reflection,
and I know Cody has said this, and I've said this, like,
we have nothing but good memories andgood feelings for that race, and I
wish to them all the best Intwenty twenty four. Who knows, maybe
I'll go back down there and doit again, because I actually feel like
(34:52):
I kind of screwed them over alittle bit when we were It wasn't overly
negative, it was slightly negative.Maybe, so I don't know, I
might act should go back down anddo it again, because this time I
know exactly what to expect, aflat course on a beautiful day. And
again, the only thing that gotme was I had thoughts and ideas that
(35:12):
weren't based in reality. So whatI thought was going to happen didn't and
so so yeah, we again wewent down there with preconceived notions. It
didn't meet those, and so wemight have been a little negative. And
again for them for the one hundredtime I offered my apologies. It was
not our intent. Maybe I'll goback there and do it again because now
I know exactly what to expect.I allt to look at the calendar,
(35:34):
but that might actually happen, becausethen I'd feel better about it. After
that, went to Lincoln, Nebraskafor the Good Life Hasie. That race
is awesome. I'm trying to geta group of us together to go in.
It is actually going to be Octobertwenty seventh of twenty twenty four.
I would love a back of thepack podcast following in the Good Life havesie
up in Lincoln, Nebraska. Ithink that's one that we would all very
much enjoy traveling up there and doingtogether, So stay tuned for that information.
(35:59):
But good Life I have. Hewas a great half marathon, then
Veterans Day ten k good ten kin Parkville, Missouri. Loggerhead Half Marathon,
Logerhead Half Marathon. For whatever reason, that has my number. This
race has my number, and I'vetalked about it before. So what happens
in twenty twenty three when I don'tfeel like I ran my best race?
I gotta go back into twenty twentyfour and I gotta run a better race.
(36:22):
So Loggerhead, I'm coming back foryou. And I heard, I
know, we've talked about it.We talked about it before the break that
you guys are calling this year lasthalf marathon the last Loggerhead A. I
hope that's not true, and Bif it is, I better go and
have my best Loggerhead race because forwhatever reason, that race kicks my butt.
Although I really enjoy it. Ienjoyed the hoodie that you give out.
I like the medals, I likethe course, I like the town,
(36:45):
and it's in Ottawa, Kansas.Why can I not do better at
this race? I don't know.I don't know, but it bugs me.
But I'm gonna be back at Loggerheadthis year. After that, the
word Parkway Thanksgiving Day run again.You can't take that run too serious.
It's on a holiday. Families,kids, everyone's out there. It's a
huge race, a lot of people. You just going you have fun with
it. That's what I did.So a good race. Then we went
(37:08):
down to Memphis, Tennessee and didthe Saint Jude Memphis Marathon. It was
awesome. You guys don't have togo back very far and you can hear
my review of that great race.Memphis fun little town for me to visit.
I had never been there before,but the race was super great.
Going through the campus of Saint Judewas amazing. Again an overall very positive,
(37:28):
very good experience for both the townand the race. And the weekend
we went down there, there wasour first time marathon finisher, Allison Allison.
Shout outs to you your very firstfull marathon. Amy was down there
doing the half Marathon, and thenI was down there plugging along on the
full and along with some others.January, you were down there, January,
who does just a ton for SaintJude, which is just freaking awesome.
(37:52):
So a great race. Go backa little bit and listen to that
review. Not that the review wasso great, but the race was so
hear about how great that race was. Then we got to the Westport Santa
Dash, the Westport Santa Dash,one that we've done previously. Not gonna
lie it wasn't my best time,although it wasn't bad, but I just
remember how much my knees were stillhurting from running the full marathon a couple
(38:12):
days before, not a couple ofdays. I think I had six days
six day recovery. And then Idid that one, and then we finished
up with the Great Santa Run.The Great Santa Rona, of course,
is my running anniversary. That wasthe very first five K I did in
twenty ten. Got to do itagain in twenty twenty three, so I
love it. And then we findout that that's it. That's it for
(38:34):
the Great Santa Run, at leastas we know it. The place where
the race is hosted Johnson County CommunityCollege has told them no more, We're
we're not doing this anymore. We'renot gonna let you hold your race here,
which you know, I'm sure acommunity college is super busy on a
Sunday morning in December on Christmas breakhe so Juco, bad on you,
like for serious bad on you,Juco. Not that any of you care
(38:57):
what I think, but yeah,I was bummed to hear that. I
hope the Great Santa Run continues,but now it's going to need a new
home on where to do it.So that stinks that it's not going to
be at the spot that it's beenat since I first started racing in twenty
ten. So what a bummer.Lastly, on New Year's Eve, I
was supposed to go to Parkville,Missouri. I was supposed to do the
Time Traveled half marathon, which isthrough Bodies Race Company. I couldn't.
(39:22):
I was sick. I've been sick. I've been sick since Christmas Eve.
I'm still not perfect now, andNew Year's Eve was one of the worst
of it. I couldn't even goto my New Year's festivities because I just
I was bad. I was bad. This thing had been kicking my rump
and I was just not having it, not having it. So that was
twenty twenty three. Again a crazyyear, but an amazing year. Meeting
(39:47):
a lot of people and again,okay, I went through all those races
and I hope this person is stillstuck with me. But still the highlight
was meeting Kelsey at the Boston MarathonExpo. That was it. The fact
that I'm just strolling around the Bostonmarithlone xpo again from one of the most
important races ever and I'm just walkingalong dumb as dirt and someone hollers at
(40:12):
me because of the podcast. Ah, that was the greatest thing ever.
So that was still a highlight oftwenty twenty three. And yeah, no,
I don't think anything's gonna top thatever. So that was super fun.
Twenty twenty four again, we're gonnatalk about it on a future episode.
It's gonna be a great year.We're gonna make this a great year
because I know you guys are awesomeenough to make this a great year.
I told you to start the showhow we're gonna do it. Now I
(40:35):
just need you guys to do it. And hopefully this episode wasn't too painful.
I'm sure i'm a little out ofpractice, as it's been a while,
it's been several weeks since we've donea new episode. But I'm super
glad to be back in the saddle. I'm glad to be here with our
new background and our new podcast studioarea. So now I get to edit
this and see what it sounds like. But hey, I'm excited. You
(40:57):
know, let me know what racesyou're excited for. Make sure you play
along with all the stuff that wedo. Don't forget that. On Mondays
it's Metal Monday. Post a medal. If you didn't do a metal or
didn't get a medal that past weekend, post one out of your collection,
one that you thought was super cool. On Thursdays, we have race Shirt
Thursday. Put on a race shirtthat you like. Either you like the
shirt, you liked the race thatyou did, you liked the area,
(41:19):
I don't know, whatever you likedabout the Take a selfie and post it
for us. You know, that'sthat's where you can, you know,
kind of show off, get yourselfie game on, and then, of
course, you know we're out onthe weekends. I'd love it if you'd
post tag us in it and tagus in anything on old Facebook or Instagram.
That's what we've got it for.There are other running communities out there
that have a very similar theme tothe Back of the Pack podcast, and
(41:43):
now, of course they've got thousandsupon thousands of followers and people just post
on their page to talk about theirruns and to get the encouragement and whatnot.
I would love for that to beus. I would love for that
to be our social media presence.It doesn't have to just be me.
God, this show is better whenI'm less involved. But hey, anytime
you want to post something on Facebook, tag us in it, put it
(42:04):
on our page. Use that asa way to get encouragement and to talk
to people and connect. Because we'regetting more people. We're almost two one
thousand likes, which I think isreally good for such a small small thing.
We're well over one thousand followers now, but we're almost two one thousand
likes on old Facebook. But now, next we need to get YouTube.
If we can start getting everything out, the subscriptions and everything going on YouTube,
(42:29):
that's when we are really cooking withgas and we're gonna get there.
We're gonna get there I'm excited aboutwhat twenty twenty four has to offer,
so I hope you are too.So anyway, Dad is going to do
it for this episode of the Backof the Back podcast. I am your
host, Kyle Walker. It hasbeen my pleasure as always. I am
so glad that we are back.Please reach out to the podcasters there's anything
(42:50):
you want us to mention, totalk about, to review, to try
and get to. We're doing moretraveling races in twenty twenty four that all
that information is coming soon. Buttrust me, we're hitting the road.
And if you have a podcast ora podcast, you do have a podcast
you love, it's this one.If you have a race that you love
that is in your area and yourareas not Kansas City, or you have
traveled to one previously and you wantus to get there, let me know.
(43:14):
I will absolutely try and get there. We went to Midland, Texas,
we went to Lincoln, Nebraska.I'm happy to take recommendations on races
and I will do my darndest toget us there. So hey, everyone,
have a great week of training,which is actually gonna be tough as
it is snowing right now and we'vegot some bad days coming reach out to
us and everyone be safe this week. Don't don't push it too hard on
(43:36):
these terrible sidewalks and roads. Besafe. We'll be back next week with
a new episode of the Back ofthe Pack podcast as we start sludging through
the winter and heading towards spring.So we'll see you next week.
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