January 22, 2024 • 28 mins
This week we welcome in Marc! The Race Director for the Top City Half Marathon coming up April 27, 2024. We really enjoyed this race last year and can't wait to go back again to Topeka, KS to run a half in the state capital. Listen in to learn about this race and start playing your Topeka getaway come April!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Hello, everyone, greetings and salutations. Welcome back to another episode of the
Back of the Pack podcast. I'myour host, Kyle Walker. Thank you
so much for tuning in. Firstthing I want to do is thank you
all very much. So the seasonpremiere, the twenty twenty four premiere of
the Back of the Pack podcast seta new record or downloads and listens and
views in the course of a week, and so that was super great.
(00:33):
So then what do we do lastweek? On the second episode? We
do even better. So thank youall so much for showing the podcast a
little love, giving us a listen, liking us on Facebook, liking us
on Instagram, subscribing, doing allthe things. It's been great. We've
been growing just a little bit everyweek and so I love it. One
thing I want to ask you guysto do continue to subscribe to the YouTube
(00:55):
channel. Very important. And thenalso there's a feature on Facebook where you
can leave reviews and like give thelittle Stars. If you feel so inclined
to leave a review and give usa little star rating. I think five
is the best. It goes along way. It goes a long way
towards getting us recognized and getting usout to more people in the social media
realm. So if you guys wouldbe so inclined to do so, we'd
(01:19):
greatly appreciate it. A couple things, and then we're going to get to
our interview for this week, becausewe have an interview coming up and you
definitely want to stay for it.You want to listen to it because there
is there is something you can doto try and win yourself a free half
marathon. I'm not gonna say whatthat is because you're gonna have to listen
in and find out, but it'sin here, so don't miss your opportunity
to get a race in some swag, just saying, just saying, but
(01:42):
a couple of things before we jumpin. We are supposed to be at
Battle of the Being this past weekend. If you are in the Kansas City
area, hopefully you by now sawthat the race was postponed due to the
frigid temperatures and the ice, andso it is now on January twenty seventh.
So January twenty seventh, we willbe at the Battle of the Being
five k. January twenty eighth,I will be at both of the Groundhog
(02:04):
Runs, the five k and tenK, So I really hope to see
you guys all up in the cavesin Kansas City, Missouri for the Groundhog
Run. We're jumping in now fullbore. Our first race weekend of the
year is there's no hiding now.Now. It's a five K, five
K, ten k, and sincewe have been in the deep freeze now
for several weeks, that's gonna bea rough weekend. But hopefully this weekend,
(02:25):
as soon as this ice that camein last night that no one was
expecting, as soon as that melts, we should be able to get up,
get out, get running, andget a move on. Secondly,
last week, when I did thetwenty twenty four preview, I mess something
up and so I want to fixit because I don't want to give out
bad information. In October, thereis a weekend where you can run the
(02:46):
Garman Kansas City Marathon or half marathonand then go up to the IMT Des
Moines Marathon or half marathon. Icalled it the Ice seventy challenge. Well,
apparently I don't know my highway systemvery well, because that's not it's
the thirty five challenge. So Iapologize gave out the wrong information. If
you were going to do a halfon Saturday in Kansas City and a half
(03:07):
on Sunday in Des Moines. That'sthe I thirty five challenge. If you're
going to do a full marathon inKansas City on Saturday and then do a
full marathon in Des Moines on Sunday, that's the I thirty five challenge.
So again I thirty five challenge,that's what we're going to try and tackle
come October. I want to makesure you have the right information should you
decide to jump into that particular challenge. So with that, we're going to
(03:30):
bring an into this little intro andwe're going to take you to our interview.
This is Mark from the Top CityHalf Marathon being run on April twenty
seventh. We recorded a few daysago, and again I've had a great
time talking to Mark, have agreat time learning more about Top City.
Again, if you have not heard, I'm sure you've heard by now if
you've listened to the show enough.We really enjoyed that race very much.
Lonking forward to going back into April. So without further Ado, let me
(03:52):
bring you this interview. All right, everyone, let's welcome in from the
Top City Half Marathon. This isMark, Race Director. Mark. Welcome
to the Back of the Pack podcast. Oh welcome, Kyle. Good to
meet you and you as well.So we have just started talking here and
I figured we might as well hitthe record button because we're already talking running
and good stuff. Thought y' allmight want to hear that. But coming
(04:14):
up on what April twenty seventh isYes, yep, Top City Half Marathon
in Topeka, Kansas. You guyshave heard me talk about that one several
times because of how much I enjoyedthe race. So we wanted to actually
talk to the race itself and getmore information so we can get more people
to the start line in Tapeka.So, Mark, if you would be
so kind, just give us alittle history of the Top City Half Marathon,
(04:35):
kind of when it started, howit came about, anything you want
to tell us. Yeah, Soback in twenty nineteen, it actually goes
back to my wife having sinus surgeryand I was bugging her and she won
me out of the house and shehad found on Facebook a little running group
that was run by a owner ofa bakery that was nearby my house.
(04:56):
So that day I jumped out ofmy house and went up and met Joe
Vader, who owned a bakery thatwas here in town for a while,
and we started running together and throughour runs, as you know, you
talk about ideas and great ideas whenyou run, absolutely and came up with
the idea of wanting to have arace through Topeka showing off the neighborhoods.
You know, you go up toKansas City, I've gone to Des Moines,
(05:18):
went through some races in Louisville,and you always get great neighborhood support
and it makes you want to goback to those areas, and I wanted
to have that for Topeka. Soin twenty nineteen, Joe and I created
a board and started to come upwith an idea for top City Half Marathon,
and we were scheduled to have ourfirst year in twenty twenty. It
(05:38):
was April, I think it wastwenty fifth of twenty twenty, and about
end of March, world got alittle interesting. I worked for the local
county and was sitting through all ofour meetings with what was going on,
and recognized really quickly that the ideaof an in person race was not going
to happen. And at that pointwe had we had over hundred registrants maybe
(06:00):
even like closer to four hundred andhad to do a really heartbreaking decision to
what to do with the race.So we really quickly turned it into a
virtual race, offered deferments, buthad just great involvement. We went around
and did door deliveries for people intoPeka, had one of the participants from
Lawrence reach out ask if they coulddo the door deliveries for me and Lawrence.
(06:25):
So through that I met Susan King, which you know, this running
community is really great because you domeet new people all the time. So
we did those door deliveries and youknow, then got through that and went
into okay, how do we dotwenty one? And you know quickly started
working on twenty one. So youknow, through the years is this will
be our fifth year of doing therace. We've had good numbers all throughout,
(06:48):
been growing dramatically or not dramatically,but great over the years. Last
year was the year you ran.That was what I kind of considered our
real first normal race. It wasyou know, back to you know,
participation, coming back because even followingSilver, getting questions will it be virtual?
(07:09):
What what what can be done?Will it happen, will it not
happen? The kind of other partof it was in twenty twenty the plaza
you so much enjoyed. That wasthe year that opened. They we had
just built that, and working downtownnear that, I kept seeing that as
that's the perfect place for the postrace party. Absolutely, that was one
(07:30):
of those locations. It's kind ofwas the no matter what, we're going
to finish at that plaza. Sowhy it worked out great. It's a
great location. They didn't do itlast year, but the year before it
was warmer. They actually have fountainsthey'll turn on. Oh okay. At
the twenty twenty two race, youhad kids and people after the race walking
(07:53):
through the fountains and enjoying the coolweather cooling down. So it offers a
lot because you got enjoyed the firenot the not there, not the fountain.
I I definitely enjoyed that fireplace becauseit was a pretty chilly morning last
year when we went down there forthat race. So so last year,
yeah, like you said, thatwas the first year I did it,
(08:13):
And again I really enjoyed the fireplace, and I really enjoyed the course.
Uh. For anyone who is comingdown this year. What what's a little
different, What's something maybe you've donedifferent for twenty twenty three, anything at
all? Or you you stick themwith what works, you know, we
try to stick with what works.One thing is we're kind of the two
big things were kind of become knownfor. Number one is our shirts,
(08:35):
so we you know, we've gota new design that will be coming out
here in a in a probably abouta month or two. Also, something
I've always liked is the metals.I want Harden Metals to be unique and
for our fifth year, I wantwant to definitely have it, you know,
stand out. Now. So see, if you're watching the YouTube channel
right now, you see I'm holdingup last year's metal and you can see
(08:58):
it's a nice metal. It's evengot this little Dane glass kind of in
the background here for the for thetop City part. So yeah, if
you're if you're watching on YouTube,there you go, and I'm wearing the
shirt. It's almost like we'd plannedto do this interview right now. It's
weird how that worked out. Andand I will I will admediately say there
are when I come up with themetal ideas, I am not original that
one, that one actually har harkensback to a Kansas City Marathon medal half
(09:22):
marathon medal from probably about three orfour years ago. You know, the
the second year kind of is reminiscentof a rock or third year was kind
of reminiscent of a rock the Parkway. Yeah, this one, this year's
is very reminiscent of the Kentucky DerbyHalf. When I did it a couple
of years ago, it was oneof those when I got I was like,
(09:43):
man, that is a neat metal, Okay, And I just I've
always liked as one of my favoritemetals, So I'm not original, but
I hopefully people like what I'm doing. Now. Were you going to be
able to maybe give anyone a littlesneak preview of said metal? Yeah?
So little metal reveal? Is it? Don't reveal time? Well, we
definitely can't. Well here I'll startwith the five K. So okay,
(10:03):
Yeah, the five K We've alwaysalways kind of done the best we can,
and this year, through sponsorship wewe had We've had Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Kansas step up to bethe presenting sponsor of our five K,
and with that it's actually allowed usto step up our five K and step
up our medals altogether. So forthe five K medals, it's actually our
(10:24):
first year of an actual medal.Oh look at that. If you're unaware,
that's throw out or throw back tothe first year. This is actually
what the first year metal looked likefor the half, but we've done it
for the five k this year.And that's also what the topeaka flag is.
Okay, now that looks great.Got the ribbon all right, and
(10:46):
then for the for the half,there was some great debate on how big
we wanted to go. Some ofour board members wanted to go bigger,
had to tone them down a bit, right, right, There is a
cost that, Yeah, there's acost. So went with green like the
green and yellow. Oh you guys, you've stepped up big time. I
(11:09):
think it's four inch if I remembercorrectly. Yeah. Oh that's a good
looking metal right there, and theCapitol building on it and everything. Yeah,
it's got the capitol if you look. The course is actually highlighted in
yellow yellow. Oh that's great.Oh yeah, oh yeah, now I
like that. I'm ready. I'mready for that one. So so you
(11:31):
said that was based off the KentuckyDerby Race. What aspects did you take
from that Kentucky race they had.It was so there was a square metal
with the course you ran highlighted.Okay, I mean it's obviously it's city,
it's peak and now not not aLouisville, Kentucky. Yeah, that
wouldn't make much sense what it.Yeah, but it was one of those
one of those on like that isan original medal from any i'd ever seen.
(11:52):
One thing we've tried to always dosince our first year is we highlight
the capital in our in our metals. The second year was a capital dome
that was a bottle opener. Nice. Third year was a circular that was
the capital dome. Again, itwas fairly thick. I think it was
a bronze color than last year's.That has the capital in the skyline.
(12:13):
And again we've brought the capital intoit. No I I mean it makes
all the sense in the world toincorporate the capital somehow each year. Speaking
of which or if we're going tobe running through the capitol again, because
that was a really awesome feature.I thought last year that we basically are
running right through the capital only wecould go through the lobby, but we
just kind of go right through theirproperty and around. Yeah, we talked
(12:35):
to him about going through the lobby, but we decided the time going through
the metal detectors would slow people down. Ah, but we will be going
through the Capitol again. It's anotherkind of aspect of the race. I've
always wanted to keep. The firstthree years we act well. First year
there wasn't a real race, butthe course actually was starting over by the
Capitol the first three years. Justfor logistics, it became easier to do
(13:00):
this start and finish at the sametime. But I've always wanted to keep
the capital. We are the capitalcity. I was born here, lived
in to Peak my whole life,and so that's an aspect I think we
bring to any race in Kansas,and that's unique. No one else can
have a run through the Capitol,around the Capitol, near the Capitol in
Topeak or in Kansas. So Ithink it's important. It's you know,
(13:22):
part of my been part of mylife for the forty seven years I've lived
here and always enjoyed it. Yeah. No, it really is a fun
kind of start and finish. Itwas funny because as I was coming to
the finish last year, there arepeople stopping dead in the course. When
you make that left turn and you'restaring right at the Capitol like it is
right there in front of you,there are a lot of people stopping taking
pictures, taking selfies with the capitalin the background. They didn't care about
(13:45):
their time, They wanted a goodpicture because it was it was really neat
when you make that left turn andboom there it is. So I'm glad
all that is staying in the raceand on the course. So what kind
of feedback did you get last year? I imagine you're getting primarily pretty positive
feedback. What's the what would yousay people enjoy the most about that race?
You know, definitely there's a lotof people who enjoy it just for
(14:07):
being a you know, another racethat's you know, nice and local.
A lot of the Teeka runners reallylike it. Not that we don't mind
coming to Kansas City, but kindof you're you're reminiscing of what the day
was going to be like for you. Kind of was what every Teaka runner
gets when you go to Kansity Raceand Kansaity. You know, one day
(14:30):
I hope to be near have arace near as good as what you guys
put on up there. But youknow, it's nice to have those local
races. Really have got a lotof comments on the Capitol something. You
know, the the beer after therace again, Iron Rail has signed on
to provide us beer for the race. Last year. I don't know if
many people realized that they made aspecial brew for specifically for the race.
(14:52):
They will do that again. Okay, you know we we offer sandwiches after
the race, and so again we'llhave a keys barbecue. Who will be
at the post race? Still workingon, you know what we can do
to make the post race bigger andbetter. Sure, but you know that's
what I know we have for sure. Yeah, well I mean food and
beer. I'd say you're off toa pretty good start on building up that
(15:13):
post race party. Yes, andsee you think you had a DJ there
last year too? Was it?There is some music playing? There was
music playing. It's not a DJ. The the other thing we got a
lot of feedback on and we werewe were correcting this year as we're going
to have a race photographer. Wewill we will get one. I think
we're playing on having one on thecourse and definitely start and finish. Okay,
(15:37):
just it's one I know, Iknow, when we finished up last
year, I knew something we didn'thave and I knew we had to get
there. And we listened to everyonewho wanted that and are bringing that back
or not bringing it back? We'rebringing that to the race this year,
right. Yeah. People like theirphotos. I mean, what can we
say. We're all just beautiful,beautiful people, so we want to we
want to show it off, especiallywhen we come across that finish line.
So what's your what's your logic?And I'm only giving grief here, but
(16:00):
why in the world do you havea spinishing up a hill? You know?
That's that's that's cold man, that'scold. Well, we we the
old course, which we had tochange courses a little because the I seventy
Viaduct we actually ran under it twiceand about a month before the race a
piece fell off of it, andtrying to prevent anyone from being squashed,
(16:22):
and the amount of construction that's goingon related to that, we we went
with the out and back course,which has been people have questioned why,
and that that is why there ismajor, major construction going on, and
to try to get to a coursethat we could keep consistent year after year,
is why we went to this outand back course, and so we
had an uphill there. I reallydon't like people, so I'd like to
make them suffer, So put theuphill uphill. No, you know,
(16:48):
in trying to get out of awayfrom the plaza and find her out.
It just it happened. It wasnot intentional. I I have have a
tradition of actually doing better on uphillraces or or hills with or race with
a lot of hills. Yeah,so hills never bother me, and I
know that's a very unique thing.I don't mind the suffering when some people
(17:10):
definitely hate me for it. Yeah, if it weren't the last tenth of
the race that is the uphill part, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
But that's a really good point youbrought up. Though you said that it's
an out and back course. Ican tell you straight up and down,
that does not feel like an outand back. Like there are certainly races
I've run to the end, I'vegone around the cone and I come back.
Really does not feel like an outand back. I actually wouldn't have
thought it was that until you justsaid it. Maybe I'm just not paying
(17:33):
attention or does it go a blockor two off of the route or so
the first six the start and finishis really the out and back, and
I think it's to mile about fourswhere it's it's repeated. Actually it's not
even forced, maybe three and ahalf. And so then then you go
out and you leave and you goby the r Local va is the road
(17:57):
you come off the trails on andthen you go into some two well three
historic neighborhoods Westwood, Westborough and theninto Collins Park. And actually when you're
running through Collins Park, you areabout two blocks from my house. It
is the neighborhood I grew I camehome from the hospital in I grew up
(18:18):
in I went to grade school.That you're you're a block from my grade
school. But it's also the neighborhoodI still live into this day. Oh
wow, okay. So and they'revery is the very picturesque neighborhoods. It
is. You know, we're startingto get great community support from it.
They're they're enjoying us going through theirneighborhoods. And from there's where you kind
of then head back to the trailand you get on the trail in a
(18:40):
slight different place, which which mightkind of make you not feel like you're
doing a true out and back,But there there is a like I say,
I think about three miles of thefirst and ending that is the same.
Okay, well, I mean everyone, if you're listening, take note
of that. I know some peopleget really uptied, like, oh,
and out and back? How boring. This does not run like an mountain
back. It really does, andso I would not have guessed it until
(19:02):
you had just said it. So, so if you look real close here
at the medal right there what somepeople have called the little doghead or dog
I can see it. Yeah,where you loop. Okay, so that's
that's the loop part and then bagall right, say look, learn something
new every day. Let's see herewhat else can we cover about this race?
(19:22):
Registration for this year. Let peopleknow how they can get all registered
and what they're kind of looking atright now. So right now probably bad
time because I think this is comingout on Monday. We have a price
increase on the twenty first. Yeahwe're going to just miss that, but
you know, watch out because wewill be having some possibly discounts around Valentine's
(19:45):
Day. Okay, but to theqrobabe, the easiest way is to go
to Topcity dot run. It's topC I t Y dot r u in.
We've got links there to our registrationpage. We do have the half
marathon in five K if you're inTopeka. Feat Fleet is running a training
program they started this last weekend,which starting was a informational meeting because they
(20:08):
didn't think everyone getting injured on theice is probably a good idea. Right,
They're running that out of Topeka,So you've got I think you're right
out about twelve weeks or you probablymore than twelve weeks to the race,
but that would probably be the bestand quickest way. Also, we ran
a specialist last week and with theChiefs winning, hopefully we can maybe repeat
(20:30):
that this weekend. I hope wecan repeat it. Yeah, absolutely,
Okay, let's see do you trackthis is just out of curiosity? Do
you track how many different states cometo the race? I do out of
my own well, and I willsay we are actually an international race.
For the last three years. Ohokay, international runners, do you know
(20:53):
where' from? We've had Spain andthen Germany now two years in a row.
From Germany. We're the biggest,you know, race in Germany.
I can't think of any other bigraces there, So we've got to be
the big one for people from Germanyto come to. Oh. Absolutely,
yeah, they've got nothing going onover there. But then then we have
fifteen states. We have fifteen states, Okay, so I'm sure everything surrounding
(21:18):
the Kansas area is pretty well covered. No, Oklahoma has always been traditionally
slow to sign up. We donot have anyone from Oklahoma yet. So
Oklahoma, what are you guys doing? Stop it? Obviously Missouri's get and
strong. We've got some a NewYork person, Illinois, Indiana, those
(21:40):
the ones. No, No,obviously, Colorado, in Nebraska, Iowa,
Yeah, might have California. Ohokay, well hey take them,
take them where you can get him. I don't know if you listened or
not. So when I talked aboutthis race last year, you know,
I actually met at the start linea guy who claimed, and according to
his Facebook it's true, he wasa professional boxer who had come down to
run his very first half marathon.John Cantrell. Yes, that's him.
(22:06):
Do you know him at all?Or well? Yeah, I know him
through friends. Actually, one ofour board members TJ. Lewson, who's
been a great supporter and sponsor atHeartland Title. He's been a sponsor of
our race from day one. They'refriends and so I know John through TJ.
And he's definitely he's getting very activein the boxing. I don't follow
(22:26):
boxing, but I know he hasa lot of matches, I think is
what they're called. So, yes, as John Cantrell, you Matt Okay,
Yeah, and that's it now thathe said his name ring about nicest
guy. I know he could removemy head from my shoulders, but he
was such a nice guy talking tohim before the race. But I think
that's you know, someone from yourpodcast. I think that's the thing.
(22:47):
You know, you meet all thesepeople at races that you you might only
know for the two or three hoursyou run, but you become good friends
with people. And it's really amazing, especially as you keep going to races
in similar areas and you meet peoplelike I say, you really do become
friends with people that, oh,absolutely you only know for running, and
it's it's an amazing, amazing it'samazing community even outside of you know,
(23:11):
the running groups locally. Yeah.Sure, And how is the Topeka running
scene. I mean, I imagineyou guys are pretty strong down there,
a lot of good runners. Youhave your own Fleet feet, So yeah,
we have our own feet. Fleetgot some really good runners. Two
years ago. The guy who actuallywon our race, he's a local runner
here actually the assistant principal at mykids high school. He did that race
(23:33):
a week well not even a fullweek, but he had run Boston that
Monday and took third in his agegroup. Oh, Kaman won the uh
the half marathon. Well, well, I will be doing a full marathon
the weekend before your race, butI can guarantee you I will not be
winning your race or even be inthe conversation of winning your race the following
(23:56):
weekend. So wow, good onthat guy. That's an elite level talent
right there. He also think thespring where the fall before he set the
age group one hundred mile record forKansas. So he did that at Prairie
Spirit and that was Rob Hayes isa very good runner, very kind guy.
(24:21):
He's and there's tons of runners likethat. There's a real strong trail
community. Hereat Fleet here has avery strong running group. They meet every
Thursday. Not right now, butthey were meeting Thursdays and do runs.
So it is a good, goodenvironment. Oh that's awesome. All right,
Well, I mean if you canbelieve it, like, we're already
getting close to the time where myrecording system will wrap us up. Is
(24:45):
there anything else you want to throwout to anyone? Kind of final word
on Top City here up? Final? I guess final word, and I
probably should talk about how to figurethis out, but I want to give
away a entry to one of yourlisteners. And and also with that entry,
we've got a top City hat.Yeah, exactly, Top City branded
(25:07):
gooders that will throw in there.Don't know what the best way to do
that though, would be. Well, here's what I'm thinking. So this
episode is going to get released onMonday. Let's go through a week,
and if you like this episode,comment on this episode and share this episode,
you're in the drawing to win afree entry into Top City, the
hat, and the sunglasses. Butyou got to do all three things and
(25:30):
I am going to keep track,but hey, it gets you a half
marathon. So I don't know whowould want to like, not start liking,
commenting, and sharing, So Ithink I think that would be perfect.
And that's awesome of you to do, and I want to thank you
on behalf of the listeners of thepodcast who are now thinking, ooh,
I can get a half marathon becausethat's always fun. All right, Well,
(25:52):
I want to thank you so muchfor coming on. I can't wait
for Top City again. I'm readyto go, and it's going to be
late April, so it's probably goingto beautiful. It might start a little
killing, but it's still going tobeautiful. Yeah, we've had a couple
warm ones and sometimes it's cool,so we've been lucky. Knock on wood,
no bad weather right now. It'salways an option, always keep an
(26:14):
eye out, but definitely half thetot we'll have water and if it's really
hot, we'll have the beer atthe end. Hey, it can be
hot, cold or indifferent. Istill want that beer at the end.
I'm coming for it, all right. Well, I want to thank Mark,
Thank you top City whoa look out. Sorry about the abrupt ending to
(26:34):
that interview, and we were kindof up against it there with the old
zoom session, so my apologies thatwe had to cut it pretty pretty short.
But again, a huge thank youto Mark for coming on from Top
City half Marathon. Good to talkto him, can't wait for the race,
and so that's going to do itfor this week's episode of the Back
of the Back podcast. As always, please like, comment, share,
(26:55):
subscribe, tell your friends, sendsmoke signals you know, and tell strangers
on the street whatever you gotta do, because we want to get the word
out about this podcast. We're doinggreat, but we could always do better,
so your help is how we getthere. If you were a pre
order for the T shirts there onthe way, I saw the proof they're
coming, so we're gonna have thosesoon. Other than that, we're about
to jump head first into running season, so everyone be very careful out there.
(27:18):
Thankfully, stuff smelting, let's bedone with it. I'm already tired
of winter and it's not even Februaryyet, but we've got a lot of
races coming up and we want everyoneto be happy, healthy and ready to
go. So that'll do it forthis week's episode. I'm your host,
Kyle Walker, my pleasure. Asalways. We'll be back next week with
a wrap up of three races,so be ready for that. Have a
(27:41):
great week of training. We'll seeyou next week.
Hello, everyone, greetings and salutations. Welcome back to another episode of the
Back of the Pack podcast. I'myour host, Kyle Walker. Thank you
so much for tuning in. Firstthing I want to do is thank you
all very much. So the seasonpremiere, the twenty twenty four premiere of
the Back of the Pack podcast seta new record or downloads and listens and
views in the course of a week, and so that was super great.
(00:33):
So then what do we do lastweek? On the second episode? We
do even better. So thank youall so much for showing the podcast a
little love, giving us a listen, liking us on Facebook, liking us
on Instagram, subscribing, doing allthe things. It's been great. We've
been growing just a little bit everyweek and so I love it. One
thing I want to ask you guysto do continue to subscribe to the YouTube
(00:55):
channel. Very important. And thenalso there's a feature on Facebook where you
can leave reviews and like give thelittle Stars. If you feel so inclined
to leave a review and give usa little star rating. I think five
is the best. It goes along way. It goes a long way
towards getting us recognized and getting usout to more people in the social media
realm. So if you guys wouldbe so inclined to do so, we'd
(01:19):
greatly appreciate it. A couple things, and then we're going to get to
our interview for this week, becausewe have an interview coming up and you
definitely want to stay for it.You want to listen to it because there
is there is something you can doto try and win yourself a free half
marathon. I'm not gonna say whatthat is because you're gonna have to listen
in and find out, but it'sin here, so don't miss your opportunity
to get a race in some swag, just saying, just saying, but
(01:42):
a couple of things before we jumpin. We are supposed to be at
Battle of the Being this past weekend. If you are in the Kansas City
area, hopefully you by now sawthat the race was postponed due to the
frigid temperatures and the ice, andso it is now on January twenty seventh.
So January twenty seventh, we willbe at the Battle of the Being
five k. January twenty eighth,I will be at both of the Groundhog
(02:04):
Runs, the five k and tenK, So I really hope to see
you guys all up in the cavesin Kansas City, Missouri for the Groundhog
Run. We're jumping in now fullbore. Our first race weekend of the
year is there's no hiding now.Now. It's a five K, five
K, ten k, and sincewe have been in the deep freeze now
for several weeks, that's gonna bea rough weekend. But hopefully this weekend,
(02:25):
as soon as this ice that camein last night that no one was
expecting, as soon as that melts, we should be able to get up,
get out, get running, andget a move on. Secondly,
last week, when I did thetwenty twenty four preview, I mess something
up and so I want to fixit because I don't want to give out
bad information. In October, thereis a weekend where you can run the
(02:46):
Garman Kansas City Marathon or half marathonand then go up to the IMT Des
Moines Marathon or half marathon. Icalled it the Ice seventy challenge. Well,
apparently I don't know my highway systemvery well, because that's not it's
the thirty five challenge. So Iapologize gave out the wrong information. If
you were going to do a halfon Saturday in Kansas City and a half
(03:07):
on Sunday in Des Moines. That'sthe I thirty five challenge. If you're
going to do a full marathon inKansas City on Saturday and then do a
full marathon in Des Moines on Sunday, that's the I thirty five challenge.
So again I thirty five challenge,that's what we're going to try and tackle
come October. I want to makesure you have the right information should you
decide to jump into that particular challenge. So with that, we're going to
(03:30):
bring an into this little intro andwe're going to take you to our interview.
This is Mark from the Top CityHalf Marathon being run on April twenty
seventh. We recorded a few daysago, and again I've had a great
time talking to Mark, have agreat time learning more about Top City.
Again, if you have not heard, I'm sure you've heard by now if
you've listened to the show enough.We really enjoyed that race very much.
Lonking forward to going back into April. So without further Ado, let me
(03:52):
bring you this interview. All right, everyone, let's welcome in from the
Top City Half Marathon. This isMark, Race Director. Mark. Welcome
to the Back of the Pack podcast. Oh welcome, Kyle. Good to
meet you and you as well.So we have just started talking here and
I figured we might as well hitthe record button because we're already talking running
and good stuff. Thought y' allmight want to hear that. But coming
(04:14):
up on what April twenty seventh isYes, yep, Top City Half Marathon
in Topeka, Kansas. You guyshave heard me talk about that one several
times because of how much I enjoyedthe race. So we wanted to actually
talk to the race itself and getmore information so we can get more people
to the start line in Tapeka.So, Mark, if you would be
so kind, just give us alittle history of the Top City Half Marathon,
(04:35):
kind of when it started, howit came about, anything you want
to tell us. Yeah, Soback in twenty nineteen, it actually goes
back to my wife having sinus surgeryand I was bugging her and she won
me out of the house and shehad found on Facebook a little running group
that was run by a owner ofa bakery that was nearby my house.
(04:56):
So that day I jumped out ofmy house and went up and met Joe
Vader, who owned a bakery thatwas here in town for a while,
and we started running together and throughour runs, as you know, you
talk about ideas and great ideas whenyou run, absolutely and came up with
the idea of wanting to have arace through Topeka showing off the neighborhoods.
You know, you go up toKansas City, I've gone to Des Moines,
(05:18):
went through some races in Louisville,and you always get great neighborhood support
and it makes you want to goback to those areas, and I wanted
to have that for Topeka. Soin twenty nineteen, Joe and I created
a board and started to come upwith an idea for top City Half Marathon,
and we were scheduled to have ourfirst year in twenty twenty. It
(05:38):
was April, I think it wastwenty fifth of twenty twenty, and about
end of March, world got alittle interesting. I worked for the local
county and was sitting through all ofour meetings with what was going on,
and recognized really quickly that the ideaof an in person race was not going
to happen. And at that pointwe had we had over hundred registrants maybe
(06:00):
even like closer to four hundred andhad to do a really heartbreaking decision to
what to do with the race.So we really quickly turned it into a
virtual race, offered deferments, buthad just great involvement. We went around
and did door deliveries for people intoPeka, had one of the participants from
Lawrence reach out ask if they coulddo the door deliveries for me and Lawrence.
(06:25):
So through that I met Susan King, which you know, this running
community is really great because you domeet new people all the time. So
we did those door deliveries and youknow, then got through that and went
into okay, how do we dotwenty one? And you know quickly started
working on twenty one. So youknow, through the years is this will
be our fifth year of doing therace. We've had good numbers all throughout,
(06:48):
been growing dramatically or not dramatically,but great over the years. Last
year was the year you ran.That was what I kind of considered our
real first normal race. It wasyou know, back to you know,
participation, coming back because even followingSilver, getting questions will it be virtual?
(07:09):
What what what can be done?Will it happen, will it not
happen? The kind of other partof it was in twenty twenty the plaza
you so much enjoyed. That wasthe year that opened. They we had
just built that, and working downtownnear that, I kept seeing that as
that's the perfect place for the postrace party. Absolutely, that was one
(07:30):
of those locations. It's kind ofwas the no matter what, we're going
to finish at that plaza. Sowhy it worked out great. It's a
great location. They didn't do itlast year, but the year before it
was warmer. They actually have fountainsthey'll turn on. Oh okay. At
the twenty twenty two race, youhad kids and people after the race walking
(07:53):
through the fountains and enjoying the coolweather cooling down. So it offers a
lot because you got enjoyed the firenot the not there, not the fountain.
I I definitely enjoyed that fireplace becauseit was a pretty chilly morning last
year when we went down there forthat race. So so last year,
yeah, like you said, thatwas the first year I did it,
(08:13):
And again I really enjoyed the fireplace, and I really enjoyed the course.
Uh. For anyone who is comingdown this year. What what's a little
different, What's something maybe you've donedifferent for twenty twenty three, anything at
all? Or you you stick themwith what works, you know, we
try to stick with what works.One thing is we're kind of the two
big things were kind of become knownfor. Number one is our shirts,
(08:35):
so we you know, we've gota new design that will be coming out
here in a in a probably abouta month or two. Also, something
I've always liked is the metals.I want Harden Metals to be unique and
for our fifth year, I wantwant to definitely have it, you know,
stand out. Now. So see, if you're watching the YouTube channel
right now, you see I'm holdingup last year's metal and you can see
(08:58):
it's a nice metal. It's evengot this little Dane glass kind of in
the background here for the for thetop City part. So yeah, if
you're if you're watching on YouTube,there you go, and I'm wearing the
shirt. It's almost like we'd plannedto do this interview right now. It's
weird how that worked out. Andand I will I will admediately say there
are when I come up with themetal ideas, I am not original that
one, that one actually har harkensback to a Kansas City Marathon medal half
(09:22):
marathon medal from probably about three orfour years ago. You know, the
the second year kind of is reminiscentof a rock or third year was kind
of reminiscent of a rock the Parkway. Yeah, this one, this year's
is very reminiscent of the Kentucky DerbyHalf. When I did it a couple
of years ago, it was oneof those when I got I was like,
(09:43):
man, that is a neat metal, Okay, And I just I've
always liked as one of my favoritemetals, So I'm not original, but
I hopefully people like what I'm doing. Now. Were you going to be
able to maybe give anyone a littlesneak preview of said metal? Yeah?
So little metal reveal? Is it? Don't reveal time? Well, we
definitely can't. Well here I'll startwith the five K. So okay,
(10:03):
Yeah, the five K We've alwaysalways kind of done the best we can,
and this year, through sponsorship wewe had We've had Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Kansas step up to bethe presenting sponsor of our five K,
and with that it's actually allowed usto step up our five K and step
up our medals altogether. So forthe five K medals, it's actually our
(10:24):
first year of an actual medal.Oh look at that. If you're unaware,
that's throw out or throw back tothe first year. This is actually
what the first year metal looked likefor the half, but we've done it
for the five k this year.And that's also what the topeaka flag is.
Okay, now that looks great.Got the ribbon all right, and
(10:46):
then for the for the half,there was some great debate on how big
we wanted to go. Some ofour board members wanted to go bigger,
had to tone them down a bit, right, right, There is a
cost that, Yeah, there's acost. So went with green like the
green and yellow. Oh you guys, you've stepped up big time. I
(11:09):
think it's four inch if I remembercorrectly. Yeah. Oh that's a good
looking metal right there, and theCapitol building on it and everything. Yeah,
it's got the capitol if you look. The course is actually highlighted in
yellow yellow. Oh that's great.Oh yeah, oh yeah, now I
like that. I'm ready. I'mready for that one. So so you
(11:31):
said that was based off the KentuckyDerby Race. What aspects did you take
from that Kentucky race they had.It was so there was a square metal
with the course you ran highlighted.Okay, I mean it's obviously it's city,
it's peak and now not not aLouisville, Kentucky. Yeah, that
wouldn't make much sense what it.Yeah, but it was one of those
one of those on like that isan original medal from any i'd ever seen.
(11:52):
One thing we've tried to always dosince our first year is we highlight
the capital in our in our metals. The second year was a capital dome
that was a bottle opener. Nice. Third year was a circular that was
the capital dome. Again, itwas fairly thick. I think it was
a bronze color than last year's.That has the capital in the skyline.
(12:13):
And again we've brought the capital intoit. No I I mean it makes
all the sense in the world toincorporate the capital somehow each year. Speaking
of which or if we're going tobe running through the capitol again, because
that was a really awesome feature.I thought last year that we basically are
running right through the capital only wecould go through the lobby, but we
just kind of go right through theirproperty and around. Yeah, we talked
(12:35):
to him about going through the lobby, but we decided the time going through
the metal detectors would slow people down. Ah, but we will be going
through the Capitol again. It's anotherkind of aspect of the race. I've
always wanted to keep. The firstthree years we act well. First year
there wasn't a real race, butthe course actually was starting over by the
Capitol the first three years. Justfor logistics, it became easier to do
(13:00):
this start and finish at the sametime. But I've always wanted to keep
the capital. We are the capitalcity. I was born here, lived
in to Peak my whole life,and so that's an aspect I think we
bring to any race in Kansas,and that's unique. No one else can
have a run through the Capitol,around the Capitol, near the Capitol in
Topeak or in Kansas. So Ithink it's important. It's you know,
(13:22):
part of my been part of mylife for the forty seven years I've lived
here and always enjoyed it. Yeah. No, it really is a fun
kind of start and finish. Itwas funny because as I was coming to
the finish last year, there arepeople stopping dead in the course. When
you make that left turn and you'restaring right at the Capitol like it is
right there in front of you,there are a lot of people stopping taking
pictures, taking selfies with the capitalin the background. They didn't care about
(13:45):
their time, They wanted a goodpicture because it was it was really neat
when you make that left turn andboom there it is. So I'm glad
all that is staying in the raceand on the course. So what kind
of feedback did you get last year? I imagine you're getting primarily pretty positive
feedback. What's the what would yousay people enjoy the most about that race?
You know, definitely there's a lotof people who enjoy it just for
(14:07):
being a you know, another racethat's you know, nice and local.
A lot of the Teeka runners reallylike it. Not that we don't mind
coming to Kansas City, but kindof you're you're reminiscing of what the day
was going to be like for you. Kind of was what every Teaka runner
gets when you go to Kansity Raceand Kansaity. You know, one day
(14:30):
I hope to be near have arace near as good as what you guys
put on up there. But youknow, it's nice to have those local
races. Really have got a lotof comments on the Capitol something. You
know, the the beer after therace again, Iron Rail has signed on
to provide us beer for the race. Last year. I don't know if
many people realized that they made aspecial brew for specifically for the race.
(14:52):
They will do that again. Okay, you know we we offer sandwiches after
the race, and so again we'llhave a keys barbecue. Who will be
at the post race? Still workingon, you know what we can do
to make the post race bigger andbetter. Sure, but you know that's
what I know we have for sure. Yeah, well I mean food and
beer. I'd say you're off toa pretty good start on building up that
(15:13):
post race party. Yes, andsee you think you had a DJ there
last year too? Was it?There is some music playing? There was
music playing. It's not a DJ. The the other thing we got a
lot of feedback on and we werewe were correcting this year as we're going
to have a race photographer. Wewill we will get one. I think
we're playing on having one on thecourse and definitely start and finish. Okay,
(15:37):
just it's one I know, Iknow, when we finished up last
year, I knew something we didn'thave and I knew we had to get
there. And we listened to everyonewho wanted that and are bringing that back
or not bringing it back? We'rebringing that to the race this year,
right. Yeah. People like theirphotos. I mean, what can we
say. We're all just beautiful,beautiful people, so we want to we
want to show it off, especiallywhen we come across that finish line.
So what's your what's your logic?And I'm only giving grief here, but
(16:00):
why in the world do you havea spinishing up a hill? You know?
That's that's that's cold man, that'scold. Well, we we the
old course, which we had tochange courses a little because the I seventy
Viaduct we actually ran under it twiceand about a month before the race a
piece fell off of it, andtrying to prevent anyone from being squashed,
(16:22):
and the amount of construction that's goingon related to that, we we went
with the out and back course,which has been people have questioned why,
and that that is why there ismajor, major construction going on, and
to try to get to a coursethat we could keep consistent year after year,
is why we went to this outand back course, and so we
had an uphill there. I reallydon't like people, so I'd like to
make them suffer, So put theuphill uphill. No, you know,
(16:48):
in trying to get out of awayfrom the plaza and find her out.
It just it happened. It wasnot intentional. I I have have a
tradition of actually doing better on uphillraces or or hills with or race with
a lot of hills. Yeah,so hills never bother me, and I
know that's a very unique thing.I don't mind the suffering when some people
(17:10):
definitely hate me for it. Yeah, if it weren't the last tenth of
the race that is the uphill part, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
But that's a really good point youbrought up. Though you said that it's
an out and back course. Ican tell you straight up and down,
that does not feel like an outand back. Like there are certainly races
I've run to the end, I'vegone around the cone and I come back.
Really does not feel like an outand back. I actually wouldn't have
thought it was that until you justsaid it. Maybe I'm just not paying
(17:33):
attention or does it go a blockor two off of the route or so
the first six the start and finishis really the out and back, and
I think it's to mile about fourswhere it's it's repeated. Actually it's not
even forced, maybe three and ahalf. And so then then you go
out and you leave and you goby the r Local va is the road
(17:57):
you come off the trails on andthen you go into some two well three
historic neighborhoods Westwood, Westborough and theninto Collins Park. And actually when you're
running through Collins Park, you areabout two blocks from my house. It
is the neighborhood I grew I camehome from the hospital in I grew up
(18:18):
in I went to grade school.That you're you're a block from my grade
school. But it's also the neighborhoodI still live into this day. Oh
wow, okay. So and they'revery is the very picturesque neighborhoods. It
is. You know, we're startingto get great community support from it.
They're they're enjoying us going through theirneighborhoods. And from there's where you kind
of then head back to the trailand you get on the trail in a
(18:40):
slight different place, which which mightkind of make you not feel like you're
doing a true out and back,But there there is a like I say,
I think about three miles of thefirst and ending that is the same.
Okay, well, I mean everyone, if you're listening, take note
of that. I know some peopleget really uptied, like, oh,
and out and back? How boring. This does not run like an mountain
back. It really does, andso I would not have guessed it until
(19:02):
you had just said it. So, so if you look real close here
at the medal right there what somepeople have called the little doghead or dog
I can see it. Yeah,where you loop. Okay, so that's
that's the loop part and then bagall right, say look, learn something
new every day. Let's see herewhat else can we cover about this race?
(19:22):
Registration for this year. Let peopleknow how they can get all registered
and what they're kind of looking atright now. So right now probably bad
time because I think this is comingout on Monday. We have a price
increase on the twenty first. Yeahwe're going to just miss that, but
you know, watch out because wewill be having some possibly discounts around Valentine's
(19:45):
Day. Okay, but to theqrobabe, the easiest way is to go
to Topcity dot run. It's topC I t Y dot r u in.
We've got links there to our registrationpage. We do have the half
marathon in five K if you're inTopeka. Feat Fleet is running a training
program they started this last weekend,which starting was a informational meeting because they
(20:08):
didn't think everyone getting injured on theice is probably a good idea. Right,
They're running that out of Topeka,So you've got I think you're right
out about twelve weeks or you probablymore than twelve weeks to the race,
but that would probably be the bestand quickest way. Also, we ran
a specialist last week and with theChiefs winning, hopefully we can maybe repeat
(20:30):
that this weekend. I hope wecan repeat it. Yeah, absolutely,
Okay, let's see do you trackthis is just out of curiosity? Do
you track how many different states cometo the race? I do out of
my own well, and I willsay we are actually an international race.
For the last three years. Ohokay, international runners, do you know
(20:53):
where' from? We've had Spain andthen Germany now two years in a row.
From Germany. We're the biggest,you know, race in Germany.
I can't think of any other bigraces there, So we've got to be
the big one for people from Germanyto come to. Oh. Absolutely,
yeah, they've got nothing going onover there. But then then we have
fifteen states. We have fifteen states, Okay, so I'm sure everything surrounding
(21:18):
the Kansas area is pretty well covered. No, Oklahoma has always been traditionally
slow to sign up. We donot have anyone from Oklahoma yet. So
Oklahoma, what are you guys doing? Stop it? Obviously Missouri's get and
strong. We've got some a NewYork person, Illinois, Indiana, those
(21:40):
the ones. No, No,obviously, Colorado, in Nebraska, Iowa,
Yeah, might have California. Ohokay, well hey take them,
take them where you can get him. I don't know if you listened or
not. So when I talked aboutthis race last year, you know,
I actually met at the start linea guy who claimed, and according to
his Facebook it's true, he wasa professional boxer who had come down to
run his very first half marathon.John Cantrell. Yes, that's him.
(22:06):
Do you know him at all?Or well? Yeah, I know him
through friends. Actually, one ofour board members TJ. Lewson, who's
been a great supporter and sponsor atHeartland Title. He's been a sponsor of
our race from day one. They'refriends and so I know John through TJ.
And he's definitely he's getting very activein the boxing. I don't follow
(22:26):
boxing, but I know he hasa lot of matches, I think is
what they're called. So, yes, as John Cantrell, you Matt Okay,
Yeah, and that's it now thathe said his name ring about nicest
guy. I know he could removemy head from my shoulders, but he
was such a nice guy talking tohim before the race. But I think
that's you know, someone from yourpodcast. I think that's the thing.
(22:47):
You know, you meet all thesepeople at races that you you might only
know for the two or three hoursyou run, but you become good friends
with people. And it's really amazing, especially as you keep going to races
in similar areas and you meet peoplelike I say, you really do become
friends with people that, oh,absolutely you only know for running, and
it's it's an amazing, amazing it'samazing community even outside of you know,
(23:11):
the running groups locally. Yeah.Sure, And how is the Topeka running
scene. I mean, I imagineyou guys are pretty strong down there,
a lot of good runners. Youhave your own Fleet feet, So yeah,
we have our own feet. Fleetgot some really good runners. Two
years ago. The guy who actuallywon our race, he's a local runner
here actually the assistant principal at mykids high school. He did that race
(23:33):
a week well not even a fullweek, but he had run Boston that
Monday and took third in his agegroup. Oh, Kaman won the uh
the half marathon. Well, well, I will be doing a full marathon
the weekend before your race, butI can guarantee you I will not be
winning your race or even be inthe conversation of winning your race the following
(23:56):
weekend. So wow, good onthat guy. That's an elite level talent
right there. He also think thespring where the fall before he set the
age group one hundred mile record forKansas. So he did that at Prairie
Spirit and that was Rob Hayes isa very good runner, very kind guy.
(24:21):
He's and there's tons of runners likethat. There's a real strong trail
community. Hereat Fleet here has avery strong running group. They meet every
Thursday. Not right now, butthey were meeting Thursdays and do runs.
So it is a good, goodenvironment. Oh that's awesome. All right,
Well, I mean if you canbelieve it, like, we're already
getting close to the time where myrecording system will wrap us up. Is
(24:45):
there anything else you want to throwout to anyone? Kind of final word
on Top City here up? Final? I guess final word, and I
probably should talk about how to figurethis out, but I want to give
away a entry to one of yourlisteners. And and also with that entry,
we've got a top City hat.Yeah, exactly, Top City branded
(25:07):
gooders that will throw in there.Don't know what the best way to do
that though, would be. Well, here's what I'm thinking. So this
episode is going to get released onMonday. Let's go through a week,
and if you like this episode,comment on this episode and share this episode,
you're in the drawing to win afree entry into Top City, the
hat, and the sunglasses. Butyou got to do all three things and
(25:30):
I am going to keep track,but hey, it gets you a half
marathon. So I don't know whowould want to like, not start liking,
commenting, and sharing, So Ithink I think that would be perfect.
And that's awesome of you to do, and I want to thank you
on behalf of the listeners of thepodcast who are now thinking, ooh,
I can get a half marathon becausethat's always fun. All right, Well,
(25:52):
I want to thank you so muchfor coming on. I can't wait
for Top City again. I'm readyto go, and it's going to be
late April, so it's probably goingto beautiful. It might start a little
killing, but it's still going tobeautiful. Yeah, we've had a couple
warm ones and sometimes it's cool,so we've been lucky. Knock on wood,
no bad weather right now. It'salways an option, always keep an
(26:14):
eye out, but definitely half thetot we'll have water and if it's really
hot, we'll have the beer atthe end. Hey, it can be
hot, cold or indifferent. Istill want that beer at the end.
I'm coming for it, all right. Well, I want to thank Mark,
Thank you top City whoa look out. Sorry about the abrupt ending to
(26:34):
that interview, and we were kindof up against it there with the old
zoom session, so my apologies thatwe had to cut it pretty pretty short.
But again, a huge thank youto Mark for coming on from Top
City half Marathon. Good to talkto him, can't wait for the race,
and so that's going to do itfor this week's episode of the Back
of the Back podcast. As always, please like, comment, share,
(26:55):
subscribe, tell your friends, sendsmoke signals you know, and tell strangers
on the street whatever you gotta do, because we want to get the word
out about this podcast. We're doinggreat, but we could always do better,
so your help is how we getthere. If you were a pre
order for the T shirts there onthe way, I saw the proof they're
coming, so we're gonna have thosesoon. Other than that, we're about
to jump head first into running season, so everyone be very careful out there.
(27:18):
Thankfully, stuff smelting, let's bedone with it. I'm already tired
of winter and it's not even Februaryyet, but we've got a lot of
races coming up and we want everyoneto be happy, healthy and ready to
go. So that'll do it forthis week's episode. I'm your host,
Kyle Walker, my pleasure. Asalways. We'll be back next week with
a wrap up of three races,so be ready for that. Have a
(27:41):
great week of training. We'll seeyou next week.
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