December 1, 2025 • 42 mins
No races? No problem. Today Kyle flips the script and teaches you how to Spectate Like a Pro—the art of being a runner’s MVP on race day. From picking perfect cheer spots and timing your moves, to clutch sign ideas, smarter tracking, and the right words at the right mile, this episode turns sideline chaos into smooth, fun support. You’ll get real-world tips for hand-offs, finish-line aftercare, and capturing great photos without blocking the course. We cover group tactics, kid jobs, and the unspoken etiquette that keeps race day positive for everyone. Whether you’re crewing a PR attempt or cheering first-timers, you’ll walk away with a game plan that makes you the hero of someone’s big day.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hello, everyone, greetings and salutations, Welcome back to another episode
at the Bank of the Pack podcast. I'm your House,
Kyle Walker, thank you so much for tuning in. I
hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving the holiday, whatever you
did that last weekend in November, I hope it was fun,
good friends, good family, good food, all the good stuff.
And based on what I've seen on Metal Monday, it
looks like a lot of you went out and got
(00:32):
yourself a thanks Thanksgiving Day run five K ten K.
Whatever the case might have been, so good job out
of you. Trust me, I wish I could have been
out there with you. I gave my registration to the
Ward Parkway Thanksgiving Day ten K. I give it away
to someone because I couldn't attend, or at least I
shouldn't have attended, and so I gave it away at
a time where I was feeling pretty bad about the
(00:54):
knee and whatnot. Hindsight being what it is, kind of
wish I'd kept it and giving her a shot. But
that's okay. There's plenty of other races coming up that
we can mess with coming up. Because okay, so as
I record this, Kansas City is getting hit with like
two to five inches of snow, and I think we're
going to get every bit of the five inches of
snow that I think is falling right now as I
(01:16):
look out the windows, So it's coming down here. Yeah,
So I'm not going to be able to make my appointment.
They called and rescheduled my knee appointment, so that is
now going to be in a week, which means coming
up this weekend or two races that I'm signed up for,
the Nolan Davidson Champions Run ten k on Saturday, and
(01:36):
then of course the jingle Bell Run on Sunday, the
jingle Bell Run, you know for the Arthritis Foundation. They
were on the podcast We do have a Back of
the Pack podcast team. You got one more week to
get registered, join the team and come out and do
that five k. It's at Chicken and Pickle in Overland Park.
Join my team. It looks good for us, and then
come out and run that five k Christmas themed of course,
(01:57):
and then it sounds like inside of Chicken and there
are going to be tons of things to do, So
bring yourself, bring your family, bring the whole you know,
car full of kids, whatever it might be, and bring
them out to that and then the Nolan Davidson Champions
Run again. Last year was their first year and they
had fifteen hundred runners for their very first running and
it is a great cause. If you don't know about
(02:18):
Nolan Davidson, go check that out. A very tragic story,
but they are trying to build something kind of out
of the ashes of a terrible situation, and so they
have this run going. It's its second year. It actually
takes place out at the Legends. So this goes around
the area of the speedway and Sporting Park, and it
really is mostly around Sporting Park, but they do have
(02:41):
a five k in a ten k. They did just
reach out to me very recently and say, hey, we
really need to get you know, worried out about the race.
I guess maybe numbers are down. I'm assuming I don't
know that to be sure, but on Saturday, December sixth,
if you have no other races and you want one,
then definitely come out and do that race in Kansas City, Kansas.
(03:01):
I did it last year and I thought it was
a great course. I really enjoyed the course. It might
still be or it's in my top three of ten kPr.
They measured a hair short last year, which is probably
why I'm not remembering it really well. If I did
PR it, I know in the back of my mind,
and it's like, oh, that was a short course anyway.
But what I think happened. I finished the race, I
(03:24):
saw that it was way short. I like ran down
the hill and around the corner until my watch hit
the six point two to zero. Then I hit stop.
I think when I did that it was not a PR,
but like official race team race time might have been
a PR. It was something in that. It was some
weird situation. But again, it's done at Sporting Park there
now last year, I'm assuming this year as well, they
(03:44):
open up part of Sporting Park, the inside park, so
that if it is a cold, nasty morning, there is
an indoor place to gather before the race begins. And
since we're getting already hit with snow right now, it
might be a little gross and nasty out there, and
you might I want one somewhere to hide before the race.
You have that option here, so then you hide inside,
(04:05):
you get stretched out, you get loosened up, everyone goes outside,
gets to the start line, and boom, you're off and running.
The five K had a ton of people, of course,
a lot of kids, a lot of families, a lot
of supporters of the cause. And that was great. That's
like school, soccer, church, everywhere. That Nolan Davidson and his family,
you know, kind of we're at. The ten k was
(04:27):
next to empty, and so I loved it. Yes, you're
dodging a lot of people at the start of the
five k and the five k. It's two loops for
the ten k, so one for the five k, So
your first loop can be pretty congested, not terrible because
it's very wide roads. It is not awful, I guarantee
you that, but a little you're doing a little dipping
and ducking and diving and dodging and on that first
(04:49):
five k. But that second loop, oh it was glorious.
There was no one I had. I remember it vividly.
I had this one guy running kind of behind me,
and then I had this couple kind of running in
front of me, and like it took forever and I
finally caught up with the couple. But like, you know,
three people on this gigantic wide road, it was not
(05:09):
congested at all for that second lap. So I really
enjoyed the second lap. So this weekend because I have
not gotten horrible news about my knee. I am going
to go ahead and suck it up. I'm gonna be
at both of these races, and I do plan on
participating in both of these races, so we will talk
about those on next week's episode. Should be fun. I am.
I know my fitness is bad, and I just I
(05:31):
cannot wait to get out there. So I'm gonna give
you a little update on my knee and then we'll
move on like because you know, you guys know I'm
missing races. My last race was November ninth, Good Life Havesie.
We're sitting here now in December first, and I've done
a race. I whined and complained my head off about
it last week. We're not doing that again. I think
the problem going on right now. The worst part of
(05:51):
my knee situation is that baker syst on the back
side of it. That backside of my knee is where
I'm getting the most pain. And if there's any way
we can handle that, and I think I'm good, So
I well, good enough, good enough. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I know people get yoding. No you look good, there's
still problems when you need Yeah, no, no, I get
that good enough. It's not like any of us out
there just you know, have Pristine still had the price
tag on him knees, so that's not a thing, but
it's good enough to kind of keep me going to
get to Tokyo. After Tokyo, we can replace the whole
thing for all the care. We just got to get
(06:26):
through Tokyo, got to get to March first. So really
I'm dealing with that pain pretty well. I played soccer
on Tuesday. It was my first activity a long time,
So last Tuesday I played soccer. No ill effects, felt
okay the next day, little sore just because I hadn't
played a few weeks. But I'm hoping to kind of
keep that momentum going. I'm gonna play.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Soccer again tomorrow night, as you're hearing the podcast, and
then I'm definitely gonna be at these races this weekend.
I'm not expecting a good ten k time at Nolan
Davidson's Champions Run. I don't care. Oh oh, by the way,
by the way, side note, going back to the Nolan
Davidson Run, We're blue so last year I remember going
dressed all like in Christmas e type gear. Not the
(07:05):
thing for that everyone was wearing blue. That was his color.
That's the theme of the run. That was his soccer
team color, Sporting Kings city color. We're blue. If you
come out from that race, you know, absolutely stick out
like a sore thumb like I did last year. Don't
wear Christmas gear. Wear blue anyway. Going back, I'm gonna
be doing that ten k. I'm not expecting a good time,
but it is going to just be nice being back
(07:26):
out there. We'll see how the knee responds to a
ten k and then we roll it right over the
next day to a five k, which even if my
knee was hurting, I was still gonna be at that
five k because they were on the podcast, their supporters
of the show. I want to support the Arthritis Foundation
and the jingle Bell Run, So we're gonna be there
no matter what. But I do plan on doing that race.
We'll see how back to back days feel. Yeah, that's
all we can do. Just go and test it out,
(07:47):
and if the day comes that it completely explodes all
over the road, then you know we'll worry about it. Then, right,
we're gonna figure it out. So what we're gonna talk
about today and again y'all. It is December. We're getting
into the holidays. We just got done with Thanksgiving's got
the email on last week's downloads. Holy crap. I didn't
think it could fall much farther and it did. Hello Holidays.
I know we are pretty much for ninety five percent
(08:09):
of the people in running off season. So hey, if
you're still listening to the podcast, even if you're not
training for something, or even if it is your quote
unquote off season, thank you, Thank you. We really do
appreciate it. But what we're gonna talk about today because
we're just gonna have fun. We are not taking anything
too serious. We are gonna start a new series on
Second Wind. In that series, it's gonna last for two months,
(08:30):
and we're gonna be bringing new interviews with local and
national runners, people with stories that I think you will enjoy.
That is what's coming up on the Second Wind episodes
for the next two months. I've already recorded two of
them with special guests. We're gonna have more on the way,
Like I'm super excited about that. So that's gonna be
our series. But here on the flagship show, we're just
(08:50):
kind of making it through the rest of this year
the best that we can and we're gonna have some
fun while we're doing it. So, since I've been injured,
and since we've talked about this kind of thing before,
we are going to go over being a spectator at
a race. There are right ways and wrong ways to
be a spectator at a race. If you're injured, you
(09:10):
should go out and you can be a spectator. Now,
this is not being a volunteer. Volunteering is very different.
This is you are a spectator. Let's say you were
traveling with your significant other who is about to run
a big race. Missus back in the Back podcast should
listen to this episode for our potential trip to Tokyo.
But I know she's not going to, not even a
(09:31):
little bit. But there are definite ways that spectators can
help their runner and be supportive and even help runners
that you don't know. You don't know who in the
world they are, you've never seen it before in your life,
but you can still be a good spectator. You never
know what's going to actually help someone along. I've had
complete strangers as spectators help me get farther along a
(09:51):
course just because of either what they offered or the
energy that they gave and I'm sure a lot of
us have had that story too. So we are going
to mass the other side of racing, and that is
being a good spectator. So if you are a spectator
and you are ready to support your runner, go team,
then here's what you're gonna do. Here is your pre
race game plan. Are you ready? All right? Number one,
(10:14):
get the map early. Every race has their map out there,
Like Nolan Davidson has two laps of the same course,
so it's really easy to know what's going on. But
let's say like a World Marathon major. Let's say we're
gonna have some people coming on the podcast on Friday
to kick off our series who are talking about Berlin
and being a supporter in Berlin and being a supporter
(10:35):
and a spectator in Chicago. There are ways you have
to do it. Get the map early, know what you're
doing right, find yourself two to three points. You can
even go more, you can go five or six, but
two to three points where you know you're gonna connect
with your runner. Of course, you want to see him
go at the start and that's great to your mom, wohoo.
(10:55):
But then you're gonna win eighty away from the corrals,
and you got to get to your next point, all right,
So you need two to three. You need to start
maybe a mid race, and then of course you want
to be there at the finish as best you can.
Not every race is gonna let you do that, Like
the New York Marathon. Unless you were some kind of
special old VIP looking thing, you weren't getting anywhere near
(11:15):
the finish of that race. You were two blocks away
in the fan gathering with your runner area. And that
was after the runners finish the race, so of course
you missed the finish line. That's when they go all
the way through Finisher Village of the finisher shoot, and
that's where they get their stuff. They get their medal,
they take the pictures, they get their little wrap around
warming up overcoat thing, and then you make the track out.
(11:37):
It takes like two blocks outside of Central Park before
you connect with your people. After the New York Marathon,
they're not there at the finish line to see you finish,
so you can't always connect. Their spectators sometimes are not
allowed near a finish line of a race, especially the
World marathon majors. Okay, great, but get your map and
fine points along the race that you want to meet
(11:58):
your runner. Okay, use pace bands. You're you or your
significant other at the XBO can get a paste band.
If you know what they're aiming for and you've got
your own pace band on, you kind of know when
you can time where they're gonna be so that you're
not getting there and you're not doing the oh man,
did I miss them? Have they already passed? Or then
(12:18):
on the way, I don't see them. I don't see
oh man, they might have already gotten past me. If
you're looking at a race band at the at the pace,
then you might actually get a little bit of a
better idea on when you can expect them. All right,
you're gonna know when they started the race, and then
you're gonna be able to do the math on the
clock that you're looking at to kind of see where
they may or may not be. And if you know
what they're aiming for on your little pacer band, then
(12:39):
you know, okay, they ought to be coming along real soon.
And then of course this isn't listened here. But I
would also say look for race pacers when the people
go running by with the pay sign. If you're out
of half marathon and your person's gonna run the two
forty five, and the two forty is going in front
of you with their pacer sign. You're like, okay, I know,
I'm good. Yep, all right, they're running just like they're
supposed to do. I know that I'm good. So spectators
(13:01):
as well can use pace bands. Pick those up at
the expo. There's plenty, trust me, Grab one for your runner,
grab one for you them by the ban easy, done,
done and done. We're still recording, right, yeah, yeah, we sure, okay,
just making sure next parking in transit arrive early and
then choose exits over closeness. There are definitely some races
(13:22):
that are just a nightmare to get in and out of.
You want to plan accordingly, even though it does not
always go to plan. You want to try and plan accordingly.
I think I told the story on the podcast, but
the one that got me lately, and I wasn't even
a spectator. I was, well, you know what, I kind
of was a spectator the garm in Kansas City Marathon
back in October. You know, we stayed for that extra
(13:43):
hour celebration to make sure we got everyone across the
finish line, and it was a great time, and I
parked where I normally park, and where I normally park.
It is so easy to just walk back to my car,
get my car, make a right turn, make a left turn,
make a right turn, and I'm gone. It worked out great.
The problem this year being I didn't know there was
the big old planned rally protest looking thing on the
plaza on the day of the race, and so, needless
(14:07):
to say, my trip out of the plaza was not
nearly as quick as it usually is. I did not
get my right turn, left turn, right turn gone. I
got a whole bunch of wrapping around trying to get
away from the throngs of people who were in the
middle of the road screaming, ran raving like oh my god,
somebody get me out of here, like y'all do you
have fun? Do you thing? But I'd been here at
(14:28):
this marathon for like nine hours. Now I want to
go home. I was tired. So it doesn't always work,
but definitely take a look. When I went to Memphis
back in twenty twenty three, you know, I had never
been to Memphis before. I did not know the ins
and outs of Beale Street and all the places where
the race takes place, but I did. I scouted out
where was a good place to park. I got right
(14:50):
into the parking garage that I wanted in the morning,
and then when we left when it was done that afternoon, boom,
it was a right turn and gone. It worked great
because I scattered it out beforehand. Not saying I'm some
parking genius, but I definitely made a good decision on
that trip down to Memphis back in December of twenty
twenty three. Another great race man, that's Saint Jude Memphis Marathon.
Who that was a fun one. And then let next
(15:12):
for your pregame plan pack list hot and cold layers.
You can bring the extra clothes for your runner. They
don't need bag check if you're gonna be there to
support them. Snacks, portable chargerer, cow bell, sharpie, small first
aid and hand warmers. Again, that's just the tib ofthy
Iceberg of the things that you could bring to support
your runner. But if you know that your runners can
need some a leave halfway through the race, make sure
(15:34):
you got it on them. Make sure you're close enough
to an aid station they can run over the side.
Get the leave, go to the aid station, get the water,
slugget gone boom. You're almost like a pit stop person
at a race, at a car race, you know you
are their crew, You are their pit stop, and so
you got to make sure you got a little bit
of everything for him. If you are a runner that
needs that pre race or now pre race I'm sorry,
(15:55):
mid race soda. Make sure you got that bottle of
coke in your bag. If you need to add, make
sure you got the apple in the bag. If they
need gummy orange slices, make sure it's there. Trust me,
we runners, we've got our weird things. It wasn't until
Berlin twenty twenty four I realized how much I enjoyed
a coke with like three miles left in a full marathon.
That sugar and just that little bubbly and that little lyft.
(16:18):
Oh life saver, Absolute life saver. And you're gonna hear
on an interview coming up. I'm not the only one
who thinks this, but you can have that soda in
your bag and it is a lifesaver. Some people need fruit,
some people need a gummy for me, my my mid
race like candy to kind of help with the sugar
and get me going. Learned it a while ago. Jolly ranchers. Oh,
(16:40):
the people who give out jolly ranchers at a race,
You guys are my freaking heroes. Because I'll take two
jolly ranchers and you guys know the size. They're little
squares whatever, and I look like a chipmunk and I
don't care. I'll put one kind of in each side
of my cheek so as you know, my mouth waters
and as I'm breathing in, I always just get that
little bit of little bit of juice going down my throat,
a little bit going in In't jolly ranchers last a
(17:02):
while and they're not going to clog up your mouth
with a bunch of gunk and goo. You just kind
of suck on them for a while. And jolly ranchers
were a game changer for me at a full marathon
because you know, I'm older and I'm not the sleek
runner sometimes of my blood sugar tanks, which is what
happened in Mississippi last year. Then if I don't have
anything with me, or I can't get to something, then
(17:24):
I I dnf because that's what happened last year, my
blood sugar tank. I had no Jolly Ranchers on me.
There was no support on the course, and so Boom
pulled there. I went if someone had been down there
who might have had a handful of jolly ranchers, that
I could have gotten off the side of the road,
that would have been a completely different race. So spectators,
you could be the difference between a DNF and a
finish for your runner one hundred percent. You absolutely could.
(17:47):
All right, next one, Signs and sounds, high impact sign ideas.
You want them to be short, bold and readable at
twenty to thirty feet. I can't stand seeing signs. We're
on squint and running by trying to read it. What
did that think? You run batter than the government? Okay, okay,
(18:08):
I got it. No, I want to be able to
read it from a way's back. Man, Make it bold,
make it big, Be proud of your sign, you know,
try and put a little spacing into it. If you
run out a room halfway off and you know you
have big bold, and then you get smaller, small, smaller,
squinch at the end. Okay, that's not easy for us
runners to read. Come on, now, we're talking about being
a spectator MVP here. Your signs have got to be
(18:30):
big and bold and readable and yes, this is twenty
to thirty feet. Yes, perfect, waw love it? Do it?
Next one personalize a name, an inside joke, a team,
or a color all perfect. Yep. If you've got a
funny funny between you and your runner, make sure you
put it on there, give them a chuckle as they
run by, and then make thousands of other runners wonder
(18:50):
what the hell is that? What are they talking about?
That's weird? Fine, but if it makes your runner lam,
that's why you're there. You're not trying to entertain thousands
of people, or maybe you are. Have the sign that
says worst parade ever, go for it. Make everybody laugh.
You know, all of it works. Just make sure it's readable.
But if you personalize the sign, it's fun. You know
it's for you, that gives you runner a little boost
(19:12):
as they go running by, and really that's what you
want to do. And then for the audio, of course,
cow bells. Cow bells are the big things, air horns
and I do like this. Keep the volume friendly, especially
if you're near kids, or more importantly than kids in
my world, dogs all right, I'm not trying to scare
a dog. I'm not trying to ring a bell on
dogs here. I'm not trying to upset a dog. Kids,
(19:34):
I don't care, but you know what, be kind to
the animals and don't be overly annoying to those around you.
There was and again, I'm gonna use the garment. Can't
see the marathon. There was another team out there that
was staying for that celebration, and credit to them. They
had a woman on a bullhorn who was screaming at
all the runners, and clearly she had been screaming for
(19:55):
hours and hours and hours and hours because her voice
was gone. But I definitely wanted to move a little
bit away because it's just that screaming, that constant screaming,
It can be kind of annoying to the other runners
around you. Now look, did I go over there and
complain to her? Now? Did I a rag on her
on social media?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
No?
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Did I just take a few steps away so the
volume wasn't so much my ear? Yeah, no big deal.
I took care of it myself. I don't need to
go rent and complain to other people. She was doing
her thing and that was great. I just am almost
very wary. I don't want to be the person annoying
someone else. Who's waiting for their runner, who's trying to,
you know, spectate their race. You know, we're all in
this together. We can all show each other a little kindness,
(20:34):
little compassion, even as spectators, because that is important as well.
All right. Number four, our track like a boss. Use
the official app plus your own spreadsheet. Notes are splits
to figure out where your runner is. Most races these
days have some form of tracking. Race joy is something
(20:54):
you can use. If your race is offered on race joy,
then you can use that. It will alert you when
your runner hits the timing mats along the course and
to the races and race directors who may or may
not be listening to this. The more mats on the course,
the better. Oh Man, alert my people. Once I hit
the five k mark, alert, and once I hit the
ten k mark, he's halfway done. Okay, we still got
(21:16):
a ten k done now with ten k left and
here you go. I love it. Man, give me more
timing mats. I constantly want the ping ping ping on
my watch and the ping ping ping on people's phones
when they're trying to follow me along, so that they
know that I'm not lying face down and the gut
are on the course, which would not be preferable depending
on who you asked, but I'm gonna say it would
not be preferable. So yeah, no more timing mats on
(21:38):
the cours is great. Update everyone, Alert everyone. I think
more and more races are moving towards that, and of
course I support that idea fully. Next, text the runner
only at planned points. I love this one. Okay. So
if you know that you're gonna meet your person near
the halfway point, mile eight, you know whatever, text him
(22:01):
and say, Okay, I'm a Milay red hat or you know,
I'm a Milay got your shirt on, whatever, but don't
paying them constantly during the race. I don't know about you.
But as for me, I'm running along, okay, and I've
got my phone in my little zip flip belt. That's
that's on my waist all right, not easily accessible, especially
(22:22):
when it's cold outside. Maybe I got gloves on, but
my watch is still gonna go doing its thing. So
when people are texting me while I'm doing a race,
it is a sign of the times. It is the
sign of the era in which we live. I'm gonna
look at it because we're also damn addicted to our
freaking phones and alerts and messages and then puh, And
(22:46):
I'm just as guilty, trust me. But I'm always looking,
and so I'm taking my mind off what I'm doing.
I'm looking at my watch. I'm trying to hit the
right thing so that whatever message you just because on
the garment here I can see who messages me, but
I don't even get like a preview of the message, like, oh,
is this something important? Does it pretend to what I'm doing?
Is this an emergency thing? Not that I could do
anything about it right now, but you know, it gets
(23:07):
in your head and then it takes your mind off
what you're doing. So don't constantly blow up your runner
while they're out running, because then they are running distracted.
That is where people take a bad step. That's where
people trip on something. That's where you run into another runner.
That's where you can cause a whole bunch of commotion
that you didn't need to because we're looking at our
phone trying to figure out who just message does. So
(23:29):
work it out with your runner on when you're gonna
text him or when your runner needs to text you,
all right, cause again i'd have to dig it out
of my little fanny pack. I gotta pull it out,
I gotta do all the things. Okay, well, I'm if
if there's actually someone at the finish line waiting for me,
and that's not often, but I might, you know, text
him saying I'm a mile away, so they know they
got about what twelve minutes until I should come scamper
(23:52):
and across the finish line. That's really all the heads
up they need, unless you got other plan stuff like
I'll text you one a halfway down, I'll text you
when I just got a five k left. A miles
all you need. They're gonna have time to get to
the finish line or get ready to receive you, or
at least start meandering to where they will eventually meet
up with their runner. They got time, so just have
(24:14):
it planned out. I think having playing texting times is
a great idea between runners and they're people who are
spectating the race, and then next one photograph or video tips,
stand on the outside of turns, shooting burst mode, and
then avoid blocking others. All of these are true. I
don't ever try and take a picture of someone doing
(24:35):
during a race because I'm usually the guy doing the race,
so it makes sense to me, stay on the outside
of a turn, Yeah, you can. You can catch more field.
I get that. And then if you know your person
is there, you know they're waving at and screaming at
and you saw them and you're like, oh, hey, here
I come, and they're pulling their phone out. They're gonna
take a picture. Well, then you know, hit the outside
of the turn because everyone goes to the inside, so
(24:57):
it'll be more of you, more of you in the picture, beautiful.
And you can strake a pose, or you could do
the jump thing, or you could throw your arms out
wide and not smack someone in the face, whatever you
want to do. But you know, go to the outside
of the turn, catch them on the turn, shoot it
in burst mode. You're gonna look beautiful. You're gonna look
like a freaking rock star baby, and it's gonna go
all over social media and everyone is gonna give you
all the likes and all the hard emojis and everything
(25:20):
is just gonna be super great, right right, all right?
Next one, mid race support that actually helps? Next one,
all right, no, yeah, mid race support that actually helps.
Visual cues. Wear bright clothing, have a flag, have a
balloon on a stick, make it easy for your runner
to see you. I have gone to races before where
(25:41):
maybe I did have a spectator and they're like, oh, man,
I was hollering at you. I saw you a mile
nine and I guess you didn't see me or hear
me or whatever. Yeah, if it's a big race, then
there's thousands of people. I may not I may not
hear you because there's a lot of people yelling. I
have the headphones on even though they're the open ear.
I saw music playing. There's people screaming, there's you know, footsteps,
(26:01):
there's runners panting. There's all these things. I may not
If you had something bright, or if I knew you
were going to be, for example, in a back of
the pack podcast shirt, then I know I'm looking for
a bright green shirt. Okay. That makes a lot easier
to spot a person. So visual accues. If you are
a if you're a fan, tell your person, Hey, I'm
wearing I'm assuming they ride doing the race with you.
If they don't and they don't know what you're wearing,
(26:23):
I'm wearing this, it's going to be bright. I got
a balloon, I got whatever, So yeah, let them know
I got a flag. You know, we're the Chasing Rabbit
Trunk Club. We have a flag. We like our flag,
so you don't be looking for the pirate turtle, whatever
the case might be. Next, handoffs small bottles of water gels.
(26:43):
If you're a spectator and you're handing someone their gel,
if you really want to make their day, pre open it.
Rip the stupid tab off the top, because we all
hate those things when we're trying to breathe and as
you're trying to open the thing, take the tab off.
Have the gel ready, hand it to your per perfect
a pre torn. Give them their salt tab and a baggy.
(27:05):
Give them dry gloves if it's raining out there, give
them the hand warmer things they could stick in their glove.
You can do a quick handoff during a race where
they don't even really have to stop. You know, just
have the arm mount and your bright colored curate. They're
gonna see you. You text it earlier. You know where
you're gonna be, They know where you're gonna be, and
then boom, handoff, tadda here it is. Give them that soda,
give them that advil, give them whatever they need. You
(27:26):
can make it quick. Uh script quick cues like tell
them Hey, relax your shoulders, tiny steps on the hill,
you look smooth. You can you can, you know, give
them a little piece of encouragement that not that isn't
just yay, you're almost done. Oh that's the worst one.
Never tell your runner you're almost done unless like the
(27:47):
finish line is within sight, because almost done means the
finish line is right there. Not there's still a ten
k left that is not almost done. That is three
fourth the way done if you're talking about a full marathon.
So uh, just you know, think of something quick that
will help them. I will remember this, and you know,
miss back of the pack, don't listen to this. So
that's fine. Years and years and years and years and years.
(28:08):
Years ago, when I was out on a run and
I wasn't having a good run, the woman I was
seeing at the time, who was also a runner at
that point, just sent me this random text while I
was out running. And I saw it and I looked
at it and she said, hey, make sure that your
elbows are in, kid. I guess my elbows are out
while I was running, so I tuck them in. The
rest of that run was great. It just took one
(28:30):
little queue, one thing that she knew I always did
wrong to correct and then I finished up having a
great freaking run. It can be that easy. It can
be that easy, just like I remember to check your
elbows in So yeah, it doesn't have to be big
or anything. You're in depth. But if you know your runner,
you might know what they do wrong. You might know
(28:50):
what they need that reminder to fix. You just hollered
that at them. They fix it. It could change the
entire course of their race. I kid you not, it
really could. Let's see here next one where to go?
Cut this part out? Is my nose is running? Okay? Etiquette,
There is etiquette. We talked about runners etiquette before. Here
(29:11):
is etiquette for spectators. Step back after the handoff. All right,
don't run alongside them in a congested area. But like
when you come and they get the advila and they
get the soda into whatever, and you've done their stuff
and they move on, step back. You don't know. Someone
else might need that spot. Someone else might be trying
the same thing. You've seen your person. You saw them.
(29:32):
You're watching their cute little butt as they run away.
You've seen that butt before. Back it up off the
rail and let someone else move in there, all right.
You got to get along to your next spot anyway,
so you know, be kind, Remember that there are other
people there. That was kind of driving me a little
bit nuts as we were cheering along at Garmen, Like
there are people who just their person went, why are
you still there? Why a you not letting this other
(29:52):
person in niggain. I was there to cheer on everyone,
so I was gonna stay as long as I won't.
But you know, get off that rail if you have
no need to still be on it. Okay, if you
have any great. If you're waiting for another runner, super
great as well. I'm not I'm not hollering at you.
But if your runner is done and gone and the
only thing is they're a little butt fading in the distance,
get off the rail. Let's see here. Oh and then yeah,
(30:14):
don't run alongside in a congested area. I was going
to dropkick a dude in the base at the Boston
Marathon because every time he found his person, he would
jump on the course and run with that person for
far too long. I could see running along for ten steps.
(30:34):
You're relaying a message, You're telling him good job. You
give him a little pet on the head and wish
him well. This guy was just running with his person.
He had to have done half marathon for at least
from what I saw over the course of that race,
because he would just run on the course, run with
this guy, keep running with this guy, eventually eventually bounce off,
and then we'd see him later like no, No, that's
(30:57):
that's not how that's supposed to work. That's not good.
That is almost bandit in territory. Again almost, I'm not
saying it really is, but it's almost. But don't be
that person. Don't run alongside your person. Let's be honest.
Come on, if you want to do the race, do
the race, sign up for the race, you do the race.
Don't run alongside your person. If it's a world marathon major,
it's even worse because those places are too crowded for
(31:19):
you to be add an extra nonsense to the course. Yes,
do I sound like a jerk face when I say that.
Maybe I'll own it. I accept it. But who don't
be that person, especially at a biggin, especially at a
big race. All right, next one finish line and after
care again, you want to be a stud spectator, you
(31:39):
gotta keep going even after the race is done. Have
a meetup plan before the race, all right. Had to
do that at New York, Like I said, two blocks
away before I can meet up with anyone. So we're
gonna meet at the corner of here and here. You
might want to meet at the sign. When I was
done with the Chicago Marathon, Ah, there was like a
there's like a statue. I'll meet at the statue. It
(32:02):
is just meet here and meet here, meet hear me here.
Have it planned. Have a plan beforehand. Don't even expect
I'll just text after the race. Cell Phone saturation is
a thing, especially big races. On race morning, messages may
not come through as quick as usual. It may not
be as easy to communicate. Just know where you at
least need to start meandering to when you're done with
(32:22):
the race to meet up with your people. Now, I
can almost tell you nine times out of ten you're
gonna bump into them before you even get to that spot.
So don't you worry. But have that spot already planned
out so that even with marathon brain, you know, okay,
I'm at least gonna start heading towards the al Bundy
Fountain from married with children in that park in Chicago.
(32:42):
Easy uh post race bag, have a towel, have a
dry top, have easy carbs, protein, electrolytes, flip flops and wipes.
If you are a spectator, your runner should not have
to jack around with bag check. If you are there
to support them over the course of this race, they
do not need to check a bag. You should have
(33:03):
their stuff because when you're done with the race, you
don't want to get your metal, get your stuff, walk
down the hill and stand in bag check line for
however long it might take, just to get the crap
that you could have had right there on your person.
And the best part is when I see runners in
the bag check line and their person who found them
at the finish line is now standing next to them
as they're relying for the bag check. It's like, Yo,
(33:24):
you could have had that bag on your person, or
at least most of that stuff anyway, and just give
it to him. He could already be warm right now.
She it could be warm at this moment. Instead, you're
freezing in bagcheck line because you didn't want to carry
a bag with you. Again, just my opinion, I could
be wrong. What's happened before and then emotional check ask
them how they feel before what was your time? That
(33:46):
is becoming a really big thing in the running world.
People are not so much interested in times anymore as
how do you feel? Was it a good race? Did
you have fun? Was there a struggle? Yeah? Things not
time related, because you can have a crap time but
still have a great race, Like, oh, my gosh, I
saw so many things. I took so many pictures with
all the dogs on the course, I saw every Disney
(34:06):
mascot there was. Your time might have sucked, but you
might have had a great freaking time. It might have
been wonderful for you. So you know, always ask kind
of about the race experience before your finishing time, like
did you meet your goal? Might even be better? Nah,
I missed it by a couple of minutes, but I
still had so much fun. All right? Cool? Easy? You
know a lot of times, well what was your time?
Almost feels accusatory, like my time was what it was,
(34:28):
It wasn't what I wanted. NA let me alone, and
just it kind of sets the whole the whole tone wrong,
at least in my in my opinion, I get be wrong. Uh.
And then photos, if you're there, take a picture for them.
Don't make them rely solely on their shaking hands trying
to bust out a selfie after the race. Hey, hold
up your metal, let me get your picture, you know,
(34:49):
ask someone else, you know, another spectator, Hey, can you
get our picture here? Whip out your phone and do it.
Let your runners suffer a little bit without having to
think of extra stuff to take care of her. Let
me get my phone or okay, oh, are we gonna sellfie?
I can't even hold my phone up. Nope, nope. If
you're if you are the spectator, if you are the crew,
if you are the help, You're in charge of the
post race selfies. Right, just accept it. I've now bestowed
(35:13):
that responsibility upon you. Tadah. All right, next onne, kids,
pets and groups spectating. If you have a kid, maybe
not so much as a pet, but a sign rolls.
Here is the person in charge of the signs, here's
the person in charge of the tracking. Here is the photographer.
And then I'm gonna assume spouse type person ish thing.
You are probably the logistics leader, all right, but you
(35:36):
can give roles to the kids. You're in charge of
carrying our signs, You're in charge of making sure that
sign is being held up. You are in charge of
watching on your phone where mom is right. You can
have the tracking person, so then it makes them feel
totally involved in what's going on, and you will. You
will feel great. Then you don't have to cover everything yourself.
You got your little helpers doing their thing, and they're
(35:57):
gonna feel like a million bucks because they get to
help mom or dad through this marathon process. It'll be cool.
Another kid job. They can give away stickers, they can
ring the bell, or they can count runners. I remember
back when my daughters were much, much, much younger, and
they actually cared about anything I did and wanted to
go to races. They loved being at the finish line
(36:19):
to see the winners come in, and there was a
time they would count finishers. Thankfully that was small races,
but otherwise they might have had to take their shoes off.
But they loved watching the people come in. They liked
cheering for the leaders and cheering for the really fast
people coming in. And I get it, they're impressive. They're
far more impressive than me, rumbling, bumbling, stumbling down to
finish line. So they always wanted to be there watching
(36:39):
fast people and I thought that was cool. You know,
go have fun. Yeah, and then pet rules, keep your
pets away from the barricade and keep them on a
short leach, and then kind of have an exit planned
if the dog gets a little aggressive or gets a
little spooked and you guys just kind of need to
get away from the situation. There's a video that's been
pretty famous right now going around on the run now world.
(37:00):
The guy at the aid station who was running through
and this dog who was with its owner just must
have gotten spooked or something jumped up and bit that
runner as he went by, and he got a bill
o chunk of him too. So if you take your
pet and you got look, and you know me, I'm
a dog person. I like my dog's moorn, I like
my kids. It's because I got teenagers. But you still
(37:24):
you can't. You can't set your dog up for failure.
Not every dog does great in these situations, all right.
Not every dog is as chill and cool and used
to this as our officially unofficial mascot Scout. The scout's
a pro. He's been to one hundred races. He knows
what he's doing. It's it's gonna take a lot to
spook him. You get a dog that maybe doesn't understand
(37:45):
what's going on, never done this before, and you give
it a little too much of freedom. You could end
up with a runner getting hurt or the dog getting hurt.
And nobody wants that. Absolutely nobody wants that. So keep
keep the dog. He's away from the barricade, no problem.
Keep them on a shortly kind of keep close, and
I see a lot of people do that, and that's good.
I think that's right. And then make sure you can
get the dog out of there if things just kind
(38:07):
of aren't going the way you want it. You know,
noble thought good idea didn't work. Next one, spectator etiquette.
Don't block the course or aid stations, all right. I
can't stand people who kind of spilling on the course
to wave with their runner and they're blocking me from
getting to the volunteer trying to hand me water. Don't
do that. I'll run right through you. And I got
more size than you, dude, trust me. Let's see here.
(38:30):
Don't don't bring a bike, I mean unless previously cleared. Okay,
so years and years ago, some good friends of mine,
the wife me. I'm not gonna throw anyone under the
bus here. The wife wanted to run her first half
marathon super great. She is also super diabetic has medical needs.
Her husband went to the race officials said, here's the situation.
(38:51):
Can I follow along on a bike as support on
the course for my wife who is a very diabetic
situation so that if anything happens with blood sugar over
the course of this race, I'm immediately there to help,
whether it be medicine, food, sugar, whatever. He got approval
from the race to be on the course on the bike, playfect.
(39:12):
That's how it's supposed to work. That's how you're supposed
to do it. Don't just bring your bike and start
following along. Because we as runners don't like bike bicyclers.
You guys are not our friends. We don't like you. You
guys take up too much of our trail when we're
trying to run, and I know we take up too
much of your trail while we're trying to run and
you're trying to ride. But yeah, no, don't. Don't just
(39:32):
jump on a bike and you're gonna be with your
runner through the whole race. I am not a fan
of that. Kyle does not approve. Next one cheer for everyone,
all right. And that's not even something I have to
dive deeper into. I've never seen someone be like, Man,
I'm not gonna cheer for them. No, No, we're supportive.
Everyone cheer for everyone. If you're standing there, you might
(39:53):
as well cheer for him while they're running in, right,
might as well. Oh. We do watch the language, though,
And I'm guilty there are times I've gotten a little
you fired up, or maybe I've not used the most
politically correct language out there. I'll admit it. I'm just
as guilty, and then be respectful to the locals. Do
not leave your trash in someone else's yard. Don't just
(40:15):
leave your signs on the side of the road for
someone else to have to clean up. Be mindful. I
think of the old boy scout rule, try and leave
the course a little better than you found it. That
seems reasonable. If there's some pieces of trash around you
and you're gathering up your stuff, grab that trash too,
Why not just get it out of here? Like, why
are we gonna hope somebody else gets it? It could
get rained on, it could get mushy, it could get gross.
(40:37):
Just take care of your stuff, Take care of the
stuff around you leaves the course better. Okay, so really
that's kind of it for being a spectator MVP. This
of course feeds over into real life too. Most of
these things. You can be a great supporter. You can
support your people, you show up, you're plan well, you
celebrate others. That can be family, work, community, whatever you want.
(40:57):
It's all right there. So I would love to know
what the best sign you've seen on the courses? All right,
please respond to the comments on Facebook or wherever you're
seeing this or YouTube if you're watching, what is the
best sign you have seen while running a race? It
doesn't even have to be a sign that your person
brought or it could be. But what's the funniest sign
that you've ever seen. I've seen some good ones. None
(41:18):
of them are not all of them are family friendly,
for darn sure, but they are really really funny. So
don't forget that. On Friday, we're gonna have our first
round of interviews. You do not want to miss our
first one. It was I'm going to have to pre
record in opening because we were so ridiculous from the
moment that we hit record, like, there's not even been
(41:38):
good opening on the show, so I'm gonna pre record
one and then we'll have the interview. But it was
just goofy start to finish. I think you guys are
really enjoy it when I say that the unofficial or
the officially unofficial slogan of this show is runners talking running.
That's what this was. This was three runners just sitting
around talking about running, trying to ask some pre arranged questions,
(41:59):
and some of them we did and some of them
we just bunny trail to other places. It is pretty funny.
So that's gonna do it. For this week's episode of
the Back of the Pack podcast. I am your host,
Kyle Waka. It is my pleasure as always, everyone, have
a safe week of training. I hope to see you
Saturday at the Nolan Davids Championship Run champions Run in Casey,
k and Sunday at Chicken and Pickle in Overland Park
(42:20):
for the Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell Run. I'd love to
see it both. It is not too late to sign
up for either, so get signed up now and then
I will see you this weekend.
Hello, everyone, greetings and salutations, Welcome back to another episode
at the Bank of the Pack podcast. I'm your House,
Kyle Walker, thank you so much for tuning in. I
hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving the holiday, whatever you
did that last weekend in November, I hope it was fun,
good friends, good family, good food, all the good stuff.
And based on what I've seen on Metal Monday, it
looks like a lot of you went out and got
(00:32):
yourself a thanks Thanksgiving Day run five K ten K.
Whatever the case might have been, so good job out
of you. Trust me, I wish I could have been
out there with you. I gave my registration to the
Ward Parkway Thanksgiving Day ten K. I give it away
to someone because I couldn't attend, or at least I
shouldn't have attended, and so I gave it away at
a time where I was feeling pretty bad about the
(00:54):
knee and whatnot. Hindsight being what it is, kind of
wish I'd kept it and giving her a shot. But
that's okay. There's plenty of other races coming up that
we can mess with coming up. Because okay, so as
I record this, Kansas City is getting hit with like
two to five inches of snow, and I think we're
going to get every bit of the five inches of
snow that I think is falling right now as I
(01:16):
look out the windows, So it's coming down here. Yeah,
So I'm not going to be able to make my appointment.
They called and rescheduled my knee appointment, so that is
now going to be in a week, which means coming
up this weekend or two races that I'm signed up for,
the Nolan Davidson Champions Run ten k on Saturday, and
(01:36):
then of course the jingle Bell Run on Sunday, the
jingle Bell Run, you know for the Arthritis Foundation. They
were on the podcast We do have a Back of
the Pack podcast team. You got one more week to
get registered, join the team and come out and do
that five k. It's at Chicken and Pickle in Overland Park.
Join my team. It looks good for us, and then
come out and run that five k Christmas themed of course,
(01:57):
and then it sounds like inside of Chicken and there
are going to be tons of things to do, So
bring yourself, bring your family, bring the whole you know,
car full of kids, whatever it might be, and bring
them out to that and then the Nolan Davidson Champions
Run again. Last year was their first year and they
had fifteen hundred runners for their very first running and
it is a great cause. If you don't know about
(02:18):
Nolan Davidson, go check that out. A very tragic story,
but they are trying to build something kind of out
of the ashes of a terrible situation, and so they
have this run going. It's its second year. It actually
takes place out at the Legends. So this goes around
the area of the speedway and Sporting Park, and it
really is mostly around Sporting Park, but they do have
(02:41):
a five k in a ten k. They did just
reach out to me very recently and say, hey, we
really need to get you know, worried out about the race.
I guess maybe numbers are down. I'm assuming I don't
know that to be sure, but on Saturday, December sixth,
if you have no other races and you want one,
then definitely come out and do that race in Kansas City, Kansas.
(03:01):
I did it last year and I thought it was
a great course. I really enjoyed the course. It might
still be or it's in my top three of ten kPr.
They measured a hair short last year, which is probably
why I'm not remembering it really well. If I did
PR it, I know in the back of my mind,
and it's like, oh, that was a short course anyway.
But what I think happened. I finished the race, I
(03:24):
saw that it was way short. I like ran down
the hill and around the corner until my watch hit
the six point two to zero. Then I hit stop.
I think when I did that it was not a PR,
but like official race team race time might have been
a PR. It was something in that. It was some
weird situation. But again, it's done at Sporting Park there
now last year, I'm assuming this year as well, they
(03:44):
open up part of Sporting Park, the inside park, so
that if it is a cold, nasty morning, there is
an indoor place to gather before the race begins. And
since we're getting already hit with snow right now, it
might be a little gross and nasty out there, and
you might I want one somewhere to hide before the race.
You have that option here, so then you hide inside,
(04:05):
you get stretched out, you get loosened up, everyone goes outside,
gets to the start line, and boom, you're off and running.
The five K had a ton of people, of course,
a lot of kids, a lot of families, a lot
of supporters of the cause. And that was great. That's
like school, soccer, church, everywhere. That Nolan Davidson and his family,
you know, kind of we're at. The ten k was
(04:27):
next to empty, and so I loved it. Yes, you're
dodging a lot of people at the start of the
five k and the five k. It's two loops for
the ten k, so one for the five k, So
your first loop can be pretty congested, not terrible because
it's very wide roads. It is not awful, I guarantee
you that, but a little you're doing a little dipping
and ducking and diving and dodging and on that first
(04:49):
five k. But that second loop, oh it was glorious.
There was no one I had. I remember it vividly.
I had this one guy running kind of behind me,
and then I had this couple kind of running in
front of me, and like it took forever and I
finally caught up with the couple. But like, you know,
three people on this gigantic wide road, it was not
(05:09):
congested at all for that second lap. So I really
enjoyed the second lap. So this weekend because I have
not gotten horrible news about my knee. I am going
to go ahead and suck it up. I'm gonna be
at both of these races, and I do plan on
participating in both of these races, so we will talk
about those on next week's episode. Should be fun. I am.
I know my fitness is bad, and I just I
(05:31):
cannot wait to get out there. So I'm gonna give
you a little update on my knee and then we'll
move on like because you know, you guys know I'm
missing races. My last race was November ninth, Good Life Havesie.
We're sitting here now in December first, and I've done
a race. I whined and complained my head off about
it last week. We're not doing that again. I think
the problem going on right now. The worst part of
(05:51):
my knee situation is that baker syst on the back
side of it. That backside of my knee is where
I'm getting the most pain. And if there's any way
we can handle that, and I think I'm good, So
I well, good enough, good enough. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I know people get yoding. No you look good, there's
still problems when you need Yeah, no, no, I get
that good enough. It's not like any of us out
there just you know, have Pristine still had the price
tag on him knees, so that's not a thing, but
it's good enough to kind of keep me going to
get to Tokyo. After Tokyo, we can replace the whole
thing for all the care. We just got to get
(06:26):
through Tokyo, got to get to March first. So really
I'm dealing with that pain pretty well. I played soccer
on Tuesday. It was my first activity a long time,
So last Tuesday I played soccer. No ill effects, felt
okay the next day, little sore just because I hadn't
played a few weeks. But I'm hoping to kind of
keep that momentum going. I'm gonna play.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Soccer again tomorrow night, as you're hearing the podcast, and
then I'm definitely gonna be at these races this weekend.
I'm not expecting a good ten k time at Nolan
Davidson's Champions Run. I don't care. Oh oh, by the way,
by the way, side note, going back to the Nolan
Davidson Run, We're blue so last year I remember going
dressed all like in Christmas e type gear. Not the
(07:05):
thing for that everyone was wearing blue. That was his color.
That's the theme of the run. That was his soccer
team color, Sporting Kings city color. We're blue. If you
come out from that race, you know, absolutely stick out
like a sore thumb like I did last year. Don't
wear Christmas gear. Wear blue anyway. Going back, I'm gonna
be doing that ten k. I'm not expecting a good time,
but it is going to just be nice being back
(07:26):
out there. We'll see how the knee responds to a
ten k and then we roll it right over the
next day to a five k, which even if my
knee was hurting, I was still gonna be at that
five k because they were on the podcast, their supporters
of the show. I want to support the Arthritis Foundation
and the jingle Bell Run, So we're gonna be there
no matter what. But I do plan on doing that race.
We'll see how back to back days feel. Yeah, that's
all we can do. Just go and test it out,
(07:47):
and if the day comes that it completely explodes all
over the road, then you know we'll worry about it. Then, right,
we're gonna figure it out. So what we're gonna talk
about today and again y'all. It is December. We're getting
into the holidays. We just got done with Thanksgiving's got
the email on last week's downloads. Holy crap. I didn't
think it could fall much farther and it did. Hello Holidays.
I know we are pretty much for ninety five percent
(08:09):
of the people in running off season. So hey, if
you're still listening to the podcast, even if you're not
training for something, or even if it is your quote
unquote off season, thank you, Thank you. We really do
appreciate it. But what we're gonna talk about today because
we're just gonna have fun. We are not taking anything
too serious. We are gonna start a new series on
Second Wind. In that series, it's gonna last for two months,
(08:30):
and we're gonna be bringing new interviews with local and
national runners, people with stories that I think you will enjoy.
That is what's coming up on the Second Wind episodes
for the next two months. I've already recorded two of
them with special guests. We're gonna have more on the way,
Like I'm super excited about that. So that's gonna be
our series. But here on the flagship show, we're just
(08:50):
kind of making it through the rest of this year
the best that we can and we're gonna have some
fun while we're doing it. So, since I've been injured,
and since we've talked about this kind of thing before,
we are going to go over being a spectator at
a race. There are right ways and wrong ways to
be a spectator at a race. If you're injured, you
(09:10):
should go out and you can be a spectator. Now,
this is not being a volunteer. Volunteering is very different.
This is you are a spectator. Let's say you were
traveling with your significant other who is about to run
a big race. Missus back in the Back podcast should
listen to this episode for our potential trip to Tokyo.
But I know she's not going to, not even a
(09:31):
little bit. But there are definite ways that spectators can
help their runner and be supportive and even help runners
that you don't know. You don't know who in the
world they are, you've never seen it before in your life,
but you can still be a good spectator. You never
know what's going to actually help someone along. I've had
complete strangers as spectators help me get farther along a
(09:51):
course just because of either what they offered or the
energy that they gave and I'm sure a lot of
us have had that story too. So we are going
to mass the other side of racing, and that is
being a good spectator. So if you are a spectator
and you are ready to support your runner, go team,
then here's what you're gonna do. Here is your pre
race game plan. Are you ready? All right? Number one,
(10:14):
get the map early. Every race has their map out there,
Like Nolan Davidson has two laps of the same course,
so it's really easy to know what's going on. But
let's say like a World Marathon major. Let's say we're
gonna have some people coming on the podcast on Friday
to kick off our series who are talking about Berlin
and being a supporter in Berlin and being a supporter
(10:35):
and a spectator in Chicago. There are ways you have
to do it. Get the map early, know what you're
doing right, find yourself two to three points. You can
even go more, you can go five or six, but
two to three points where you know you're gonna connect
with your runner. Of course, you want to see him
go at the start and that's great to your mom, wohoo.
(10:55):
But then you're gonna win eighty away from the corrals,
and you got to get to your next point, all right,
So you need two to three. You need to start
maybe a mid race, and then of course you want
to be there at the finish as best you can.
Not every race is gonna let you do that, Like
the New York Marathon. Unless you were some kind of
special old VIP looking thing, you weren't getting anywhere near
(11:15):
the finish of that race. You were two blocks away
in the fan gathering with your runner area. And that
was after the runners finish the race, so of course
you missed the finish line. That's when they go all
the way through Finisher Village of the finisher shoot, and
that's where they get their stuff. They get their medal,
they take the pictures, they get their little wrap around
warming up overcoat thing, and then you make the track out.
(11:37):
It takes like two blocks outside of Central Park before
you connect with your people. After the New York Marathon,
they're not there at the finish line to see you finish,
so you can't always connect. Their spectators sometimes are not
allowed near a finish line of a race, especially the
World marathon majors. Okay, great, but get your map and
fine points along the race that you want to meet
(11:58):
your runner. Okay, use pace bands. You're you or your
significant other at the XBO can get a paste band.
If you know what they're aiming for and you've got
your own pace band on, you kind of know when
you can time where they're gonna be so that you're
not getting there and you're not doing the oh man,
did I miss them? Have they already passed? Or then
(12:18):
on the way, I don't see them. I don't see
oh man, they might have already gotten past me. If
you're looking at a race band at the at the pace,
then you might actually get a little bit of a
better idea on when you can expect them. All right,
you're gonna know when they started the race, and then
you're gonna be able to do the math on the
clock that you're looking at to kind of see where
they may or may not be. And if you know
what they're aiming for on your little pacer band, then
(12:39):
you know, okay, they ought to be coming along real soon.
And then of course this isn't listened here. But I
would also say look for race pacers when the people
go running by with the pay sign. If you're out
of half marathon and your person's gonna run the two
forty five, and the two forty is going in front
of you with their pacer sign. You're like, okay, I know,
I'm good. Yep, all right, they're running just like they're
supposed to do. I know that I'm good. So spectators
(13:01):
as well can use pace bands. Pick those up at
the expo. There's plenty, trust me, Grab one for your runner,
grab one for you them by the ban easy, done,
done and done. We're still recording, right, yeah, yeah, we sure, okay,
just making sure next parking in transit arrive early and
then choose exits over closeness. There are definitely some races
(13:22):
that are just a nightmare to get in and out of.
You want to plan accordingly, even though it does not
always go to plan. You want to try and plan accordingly.
I think I told the story on the podcast, but
the one that got me lately, and I wasn't even
a spectator. I was, well, you know what, I kind
of was a spectator the garm in Kansas City Marathon
back in October. You know, we stayed for that extra
(13:43):
hour celebration to make sure we got everyone across the
finish line, and it was a great time, and I
parked where I normally park, and where I normally park.
It is so easy to just walk back to my car,
get my car, make a right turn, make a left turn,
make a right turn, and I'm gone. It worked out great.
The problem this year being I didn't know there was
the big old planned rally protest looking thing on the
plaza on the day of the race, and so, needless
(14:07):
to say, my trip out of the plaza was not
nearly as quick as it usually is. I did not
get my right turn, left turn, right turn gone. I
got a whole bunch of wrapping around trying to get
away from the throngs of people who were in the
middle of the road screaming, ran raving like oh my god,
somebody get me out of here, like y'all do you
have fun? Do you thing? But I'd been here at
(14:28):
this marathon for like nine hours. Now I want to
go home. I was tired. So it doesn't always work,
but definitely take a look. When I went to Memphis
back in twenty twenty three, you know, I had never
been to Memphis before. I did not know the ins
and outs of Beale Street and all the places where
the race takes place, but I did. I scouted out
where was a good place to park. I got right
(14:50):
into the parking garage that I wanted in the morning,
and then when we left when it was done that afternoon, boom,
it was a right turn and gone. It worked great
because I scattered it out beforehand. Not saying I'm some
parking genius, but I definitely made a good decision on
that trip down to Memphis back in December of twenty
twenty three. Another great race man, that's Saint Jude Memphis Marathon.
Who that was a fun one. And then let next
(15:12):
for your pregame plan pack list hot and cold layers.
You can bring the extra clothes for your runner. They
don't need bag check if you're gonna be there to
support them. Snacks, portable chargerer, cow bell, sharpie, small first
aid and hand warmers. Again, that's just the tib ofthy
Iceberg of the things that you could bring to support
your runner. But if you know that your runners can
need some a leave halfway through the race, make sure
(15:34):
you got it on them. Make sure you're close enough
to an aid station they can run over the side.
Get the leave, go to the aid station, get the water,
slugget gone boom. You're almost like a pit stop person
at a race, at a car race, you know you
are their crew, You are their pit stop, and so
you got to make sure you got a little bit
of everything for him. If you are a runner that
needs that pre race or now pre race I'm sorry,
(15:55):
mid race soda. Make sure you got that bottle of
coke in your bag. If you need to add, make
sure you got the apple in the bag. If they
need gummy orange slices, make sure it's there. Trust me,
we runners, we've got our weird things. It wasn't until
Berlin twenty twenty four I realized how much I enjoyed
a coke with like three miles left in a full marathon.
That sugar and just that little bubbly and that little lyft.
(16:18):
Oh life saver, Absolute life saver. And you're gonna hear
on an interview coming up. I'm not the only one
who thinks this, but you can have that soda in
your bag and it is a lifesaver. Some people need fruit,
some people need a gummy for me, my my mid
race like candy to kind of help with the sugar
and get me going. Learned it a while ago. Jolly ranchers. Oh,
(16:40):
the people who give out jolly ranchers at a race,
You guys are my freaking heroes. Because I'll take two
jolly ranchers and you guys know the size. They're little
squares whatever, and I look like a chipmunk and I
don't care. I'll put one kind of in each side
of my cheek so as you know, my mouth waters
and as I'm breathing in, I always just get that
little bit of little bit of juice going down my throat,
a little bit going in In't jolly ranchers last a
(17:02):
while and they're not going to clog up your mouth
with a bunch of gunk and goo. You just kind
of suck on them for a while. And jolly ranchers
were a game changer for me at a full marathon
because you know, I'm older and I'm not the sleek
runner sometimes of my blood sugar tanks, which is what
happened in Mississippi last year. Then if I don't have
anything with me, or I can't get to something, then
(17:24):
I I dnf because that's what happened last year, my
blood sugar tank. I had no Jolly Ranchers on me.
There was no support on the course, and so Boom
pulled there. I went if someone had been down there
who might have had a handful of jolly ranchers, that
I could have gotten off the side of the road,
that would have been a completely different race. So spectators,
you could be the difference between a DNF and a
finish for your runner one hundred percent. You absolutely could.
(17:47):
All right, next one, Signs and sounds, high impact sign ideas.
You want them to be short, bold and readable at
twenty to thirty feet. I can't stand seeing signs. We're
on squint and running by trying to read it. What
did that think? You run batter than the government? Okay, okay,
(18:08):
I got it. No, I want to be able to
read it from a way's back. Man, Make it bold,
make it big, Be proud of your sign, you know,
try and put a little spacing into it. If you
run out a room halfway off and you know you
have big bold, and then you get smaller, small, smaller,
squinch at the end. Okay, that's not easy for us
runners to read. Come on, now, we're talking about being
a spectator MVP here. Your signs have got to be
(18:30):
big and bold and readable and yes, this is twenty
to thirty feet. Yes, perfect, waw love it? Do it?
Next one personalize a name, an inside joke, a team,
or a color all perfect. Yep. If you've got a
funny funny between you and your runner, make sure you
put it on there, give them a chuckle as they
run by, and then make thousands of other runners wonder
(18:50):
what the hell is that? What are they talking about?
That's weird? Fine, but if it makes your runner lam,
that's why you're there. You're not trying to entertain thousands
of people, or maybe you are. Have the sign that
says worst parade ever, go for it. Make everybody laugh.
You know, all of it works. Just make sure it's readable.
But if you personalize the sign, it's fun. You know
it's for you, that gives you runner a little boost
(19:12):
as they go running by, and really that's what you
want to do. And then for the audio, of course,
cow bells. Cow bells are the big things, air horns
and I do like this. Keep the volume friendly, especially
if you're near kids, or more importantly than kids in
my world, dogs all right, I'm not trying to scare
a dog. I'm not trying to ring a bell on
dogs here. I'm not trying to upset a dog. Kids,
(19:34):
I don't care, but you know what, be kind to
the animals and don't be overly annoying to those around you.
There was and again, I'm gonna use the garment. Can't
see the marathon. There was another team out there that
was staying for that celebration, and credit to them. They
had a woman on a bullhorn who was screaming at
all the runners, and clearly she had been screaming for
(19:55):
hours and hours and hours and hours because her voice
was gone. But I definitely wanted to move a little
bit away because it's just that screaming, that constant screaming,
It can be kind of annoying to the other runners
around you. Now look, did I go over there and
complain to her? Now? Did I a rag on her
on social media?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
No?
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Did I just take a few steps away so the
volume wasn't so much my ear? Yeah, no big deal.
I took care of it myself. I don't need to
go rent and complain to other people. She was doing
her thing and that was great. I just am almost
very wary. I don't want to be the person annoying
someone else. Who's waiting for their runner, who's trying to,
you know, spectate their race. You know, we're all in
this together. We can all show each other a little kindness,
(20:34):
little compassion, even as spectators, because that is important as well.
All right. Number four, our track like a boss. Use
the official app plus your own spreadsheet. Notes are splits
to figure out where your runner is. Most races these
days have some form of tracking. Race joy is something
(20:54):
you can use. If your race is offered on race joy,
then you can use that. It will alert you when
your runner hits the timing mats along the course and
to the races and race directors who may or may
not be listening to this. The more mats on the course,
the better. Oh Man, alert my people. Once I hit
the five k mark, alert, and once I hit the
ten k mark, he's halfway done. Okay, we still got
(21:16):
a ten k done now with ten k left and
here you go. I love it. Man, give me more
timing mats. I constantly want the ping ping ping on
my watch and the ping ping ping on people's phones
when they're trying to follow me along, so that they
know that I'm not lying face down and the gut
are on the course, which would not be preferable depending
on who you asked, but I'm gonna say it would
not be preferable. So yeah, no more timing mats on
(21:38):
the cours is great. Update everyone, Alert everyone. I think
more and more races are moving towards that, and of
course I support that idea fully. Next, text the runner
only at planned points. I love this one. Okay. So
if you know that you're gonna meet your person near
the halfway point, mile eight, you know whatever, text him
(22:01):
and say, Okay, I'm a Milay red hat or you know,
I'm a Milay got your shirt on, whatever, but don't
paying them constantly during the race. I don't know about you.
But as for me, I'm running along, okay, and I've
got my phone in my little zip flip belt. That's
that's on my waist all right, not easily accessible, especially
(22:22):
when it's cold outside. Maybe I got gloves on, but
my watch is still gonna go doing its thing. So
when people are texting me while I'm doing a race,
it is a sign of the times. It is the
sign of the era in which we live. I'm gonna
look at it because we're also damn addicted to our
freaking phones and alerts and messages and then puh, And
(22:46):
I'm just as guilty, trust me. But I'm always looking,
and so I'm taking my mind off what I'm doing.
I'm looking at my watch. I'm trying to hit the
right thing so that whatever message you just because on
the garment here I can see who messages me, but
I don't even get like a preview of the message, like, oh,
is this something important? Does it pretend to what I'm doing?
Is this an emergency thing? Not that I could do
anything about it right now, but you know, it gets
(23:07):
in your head and then it takes your mind off
what you're doing. So don't constantly blow up your runner
while they're out running, because then they are running distracted.
That is where people take a bad step. That's where
people trip on something. That's where you run into another runner.
That's where you can cause a whole bunch of commotion
that you didn't need to because we're looking at our
phone trying to figure out who just message does. So
(23:29):
work it out with your runner on when you're gonna
text him or when your runner needs to text you,
all right, cause again i'd have to dig it out
of my little fanny pack. I gotta pull it out,
I gotta do all the things. Okay, well, I'm if
if there's actually someone at the finish line waiting for me,
and that's not often, but I might, you know, text
him saying I'm a mile away, so they know they
got about what twelve minutes until I should come scamper
(23:52):
and across the finish line. That's really all the heads
up they need, unless you got other plan stuff like
I'll text you one a halfway down, I'll text you
when I just got a five k left. A miles
all you need. They're gonna have time to get to
the finish line or get ready to receive you, or
at least start meandering to where they will eventually meet
up with their runner. They got time, so just have
(24:14):
it planned out. I think having playing texting times is
a great idea between runners and they're people who are
spectating the race, and then next one photograph or video tips,
stand on the outside of turns, shooting burst mode, and
then avoid blocking others. All of these are true. I
don't ever try and take a picture of someone doing
(24:35):
during a race because I'm usually the guy doing the race,
so it makes sense to me, stay on the outside
of a turn, Yeah, you can. You can catch more field.
I get that. And then if you know your person
is there, you know they're waving at and screaming at
and you saw them and you're like, oh, hey, here
I come, and they're pulling their phone out. They're gonna
take a picture. Well, then you know, hit the outside
of the turn because everyone goes to the inside, so
(24:57):
it'll be more of you, more of you in the picture, beautiful.
And you can strake a pose, or you could do
the jump thing, or you could throw your arms out
wide and not smack someone in the face, whatever you
want to do. But you know, go to the outside
of the turn, catch them on the turn, shoot it
in burst mode. You're gonna look beautiful. You're gonna look
like a freaking rock star baby, and it's gonna go
all over social media and everyone is gonna give you
all the likes and all the hard emojis and everything
(25:20):
is just gonna be super great, right right, all right?
Next one, mid race support that actually helps? Next one,
all right, no, yeah, mid race support that actually helps.
Visual cues. Wear bright clothing, have a flag, have a
balloon on a stick, make it easy for your runner
to see you. I have gone to races before where
(25:41):
maybe I did have a spectator and they're like, oh, man,
I was hollering at you. I saw you a mile
nine and I guess you didn't see me or hear
me or whatever. Yeah, if it's a big race, then
there's thousands of people. I may not I may not
hear you because there's a lot of people yelling. I
have the headphones on even though they're the open ear.
I saw music playing. There's people screaming, there's you know, footsteps,
(26:01):
there's runners panting. There's all these things. I may not
If you had something bright, or if I knew you
were going to be, for example, in a back of
the pack podcast shirt, then I know I'm looking for
a bright green shirt. Okay. That makes a lot easier
to spot a person. So visual accues. If you are
a if you're a fan, tell your person, Hey, I'm
wearing I'm assuming they ride doing the race with you.
If they don't and they don't know what you're wearing,
(26:23):
I'm wearing this, it's going to be bright. I got
a balloon, I got whatever, So yeah, let them know
I got a flag. You know, we're the Chasing Rabbit
Trunk Club. We have a flag. We like our flag,
so you don't be looking for the pirate turtle, whatever
the case might be. Next, handoffs small bottles of water gels.
(26:43):
If you're a spectator and you're handing someone their gel,
if you really want to make their day, pre open it.
Rip the stupid tab off the top, because we all
hate those things when we're trying to breathe and as
you're trying to open the thing, take the tab off.
Have the gel ready, hand it to your per perfect
a pre torn. Give them their salt tab and a baggy.
(27:05):
Give them dry gloves if it's raining out there, give
them the hand warmer things they could stick in their glove.
You can do a quick handoff during a race where
they don't even really have to stop. You know, just
have the arm mount and your bright colored curate. They're
gonna see you. You text it earlier. You know where
you're gonna be, They know where you're gonna be, and
then boom, handoff, tadda here it is. Give them that soda,
give them that advil, give them whatever they need. You
(27:26):
can make it quick. Uh script quick cues like tell
them Hey, relax your shoulders, tiny steps on the hill,
you look smooth. You can you can, you know, give
them a little piece of encouragement that not that isn't
just yay, you're almost done. Oh that's the worst one.
Never tell your runner you're almost done unless like the
(27:47):
finish line is within sight, because almost done means the
finish line is right there. Not there's still a ten
k left that is not almost done. That is three
fourth the way done if you're talking about a full marathon.
So uh, just you know, think of something quick that
will help them. I will remember this, and you know,
miss back of the pack, don't listen to this. So
that's fine. Years and years and years and years and years.
(28:08):
Years ago, when I was out on a run and
I wasn't having a good run, the woman I was
seeing at the time, who was also a runner at
that point, just sent me this random text while I
was out running. And I saw it and I looked
at it and she said, hey, make sure that your
elbows are in, kid. I guess my elbows are out
while I was running, so I tuck them in. The
rest of that run was great. It just took one
(28:30):
little queue, one thing that she knew I always did
wrong to correct and then I finished up having a
great freaking run. It can be that easy. It can
be that easy, just like I remember to check your
elbows in So yeah, it doesn't have to be big
or anything. You're in depth. But if you know your runner,
you might know what they do wrong. You might know
(28:50):
what they need that reminder to fix. You just hollered
that at them. They fix it. It could change the
entire course of their race. I kid you not, it
really could. Let's see here next one where to go?
Cut this part out? Is my nose is running? Okay? Etiquette,
There is etiquette. We talked about runners etiquette before. Here
(29:11):
is etiquette for spectators. Step back after the handoff. All right,
don't run alongside them in a congested area. But like
when you come and they get the advila and they
get the soda into whatever, and you've done their stuff
and they move on, step back. You don't know. Someone
else might need that spot. Someone else might be trying
the same thing. You've seen your person. You saw them.
(29:32):
You're watching their cute little butt as they run away.
You've seen that butt before. Back it up off the
rail and let someone else move in there, all right.
You got to get along to your next spot anyway,
so you know, be kind, Remember that there are other
people there. That was kind of driving me a little
bit nuts as we were cheering along at Garmen, Like
there are people who just their person went, why are
you still there? Why a you not letting this other
(29:52):
person in niggain. I was there to cheer on everyone,
so I was gonna stay as long as I won't.
But you know, get off that rail if you have
no need to still be on it. Okay, if you
have any great. If you're waiting for another runner, super
great as well. I'm not I'm not hollering at you.
But if your runner is done and gone and the
only thing is they're a little butt fading in the distance,
get off the rail. Let's see here. Oh and then yeah,
(30:14):
don't run alongside in a congested area. I was going
to dropkick a dude in the base at the Boston
Marathon because every time he found his person, he would
jump on the course and run with that person for
far too long. I could see running along for ten steps.
(30:34):
You're relaying a message, You're telling him good job. You
give him a little pet on the head and wish
him well. This guy was just running with his person.
He had to have done half marathon for at least
from what I saw over the course of that race,
because he would just run on the course, run with
this guy, keep running with this guy, eventually eventually bounce off,
and then we'd see him later like no, No, that's
(30:57):
that's not how that's supposed to work. That's not good.
That is almost bandit in territory. Again almost, I'm not
saying it really is, but it's almost. But don't be
that person. Don't run alongside your person. Let's be honest.
Come on, if you want to do the race, do
the race, sign up for the race, you do the race.
Don't run alongside your person. If it's a world marathon major,
it's even worse because those places are too crowded for
(31:19):
you to be add an extra nonsense to the course. Yes,
do I sound like a jerk face when I say that.
Maybe I'll own it. I accept it. But who don't
be that person, especially at a biggin, especially at a
big race. All right, next one finish line and after
care again, you want to be a stud spectator, you
(31:39):
gotta keep going even after the race is done. Have
a meetup plan before the race, all right. Had to
do that at New York, Like I said, two blocks
away before I can meet up with anyone. So we're
gonna meet at the corner of here and here. You
might want to meet at the sign. When I was
done with the Chicago Marathon, Ah, there was like a
there's like a statue. I'll meet at the statue. It
(32:02):
is just meet here and meet here, meet hear me here.
Have it planned. Have a plan beforehand. Don't even expect
I'll just text after the race. Cell Phone saturation is
a thing, especially big races. On race morning, messages may
not come through as quick as usual. It may not
be as easy to communicate. Just know where you at
least need to start meandering to when you're done with
(32:22):
the race to meet up with your people. Now, I
can almost tell you nine times out of ten you're
gonna bump into them before you even get to that spot.
So don't you worry. But have that spot already planned
out so that even with marathon brain, you know, okay,
I'm at least gonna start heading towards the al Bundy
Fountain from married with children in that park in Chicago.
(32:42):
Easy uh post race bag, have a towel, have a
dry top, have easy carbs, protein, electrolytes, flip flops and wipes.
If you are a spectator, your runner should not have
to jack around with bag check. If you are there
to support them over the course of this race, they
do not need to check a bag. You should have
(33:03):
their stuff because when you're done with the race, you
don't want to get your metal, get your stuff, walk
down the hill and stand in bag check line for
however long it might take, just to get the crap
that you could have had right there on your person.
And the best part is when I see runners in
the bag check line and their person who found them
at the finish line is now standing next to them
as they're relying for the bag check. It's like, Yo,
(33:24):
you could have had that bag on your person, or
at least most of that stuff anyway, and just give
it to him. He could already be warm right now.
She it could be warm at this moment. Instead, you're
freezing in bagcheck line because you didn't want to carry
a bag with you. Again, just my opinion, I could
be wrong. What's happened before and then emotional check ask
them how they feel before what was your time? That
(33:46):
is becoming a really big thing in the running world.
People are not so much interested in times anymore as
how do you feel? Was it a good race? Did
you have fun? Was there a struggle? Yeah? Things not
time related, because you can have a crap time but
still have a great race, Like, oh, my gosh, I
saw so many things. I took so many pictures with
all the dogs on the course, I saw every Disney
(34:06):
mascot there was. Your time might have sucked, but you
might have had a great freaking time. It might have
been wonderful for you. So you know, always ask kind
of about the race experience before your finishing time, like
did you meet your goal? Might even be better? Nah,
I missed it by a couple of minutes, but I
still had so much fun. All right? Cool? Easy? You
know a lot of times, well what was your time?
Almost feels accusatory, like my time was what it was,
(34:28):
It wasn't what I wanted. NA let me alone, and
just it kind of sets the whole the whole tone wrong,
at least in my in my opinion, I get be wrong. Uh.
And then photos, if you're there, take a picture for them.
Don't make them rely solely on their shaking hands trying
to bust out a selfie after the race. Hey, hold
up your metal, let me get your picture, you know,
(34:49):
ask someone else, you know, another spectator, Hey, can you
get our picture here? Whip out your phone and do it.
Let your runners suffer a little bit without having to
think of extra stuff to take care of her. Let
me get my phone or okay, oh, are we gonna sellfie?
I can't even hold my phone up. Nope, nope. If
you're if you are the spectator, if you are the crew,
if you are the help, You're in charge of the
post race selfies. Right, just accept it. I've now bestowed
(35:13):
that responsibility upon you. Tadah. All right, next onne, kids,
pets and groups spectating. If you have a kid, maybe
not so much as a pet, but a sign rolls.
Here is the person in charge of the signs, here's
the person in charge of the tracking. Here is the photographer.
And then I'm gonna assume spouse type person ish thing.
You are probably the logistics leader, all right, but you
(35:36):
can give roles to the kids. You're in charge of
carrying our signs, You're in charge of making sure that
sign is being held up. You are in charge of
watching on your phone where mom is right. You can
have the tracking person, so then it makes them feel
totally involved in what's going on, and you will. You
will feel great. Then you don't have to cover everything yourself.
You got your little helpers doing their thing, and they're
(35:57):
gonna feel like a million bucks because they get to
help mom or dad through this marathon process. It'll be cool.
Another kid job. They can give away stickers, they can
ring the bell, or they can count runners. I remember
back when my daughters were much, much, much younger, and
they actually cared about anything I did and wanted to
go to races. They loved being at the finish line
(36:19):
to see the winners come in, and there was a
time they would count finishers. Thankfully that was small races,
but otherwise they might have had to take their shoes off.
But they loved watching the people come in. They liked
cheering for the leaders and cheering for the really fast
people coming in. And I get it, they're impressive. They're
far more impressive than me, rumbling, bumbling, stumbling down to
finish line. So they always wanted to be there watching
(36:39):
fast people and I thought that was cool. You know,
go have fun. Yeah, and then pet rules, keep your
pets away from the barricade and keep them on a
short leach, and then kind of have an exit planned
if the dog gets a little aggressive or gets a
little spooked and you guys just kind of need to
get away from the situation. There's a video that's been
pretty famous right now going around on the run now world.
(37:00):
The guy at the aid station who was running through
and this dog who was with its owner just must
have gotten spooked or something jumped up and bit that
runner as he went by, and he got a bill
o chunk of him too. So if you take your
pet and you got look, and you know me, I'm
a dog person. I like my dog's moorn, I like
my kids. It's because I got teenagers. But you still
(37:24):
you can't. You can't set your dog up for failure.
Not every dog does great in these situations, all right.
Not every dog is as chill and cool and used
to this as our officially unofficial mascot Scout. The scout's
a pro. He's been to one hundred races. He knows
what he's doing. It's it's gonna take a lot to
spook him. You get a dog that maybe doesn't understand
(37:45):
what's going on, never done this before, and you give
it a little too much of freedom. You could end
up with a runner getting hurt or the dog getting hurt.
And nobody wants that. Absolutely nobody wants that. So keep
keep the dog. He's away from the barricade, no problem.
Keep them on a shortly kind of keep close, and
I see a lot of people do that, and that's good.
I think that's right. And then make sure you can
get the dog out of there if things just kind
(38:07):
of aren't going the way you want it. You know,
noble thought good idea didn't work. Next one, spectator etiquette.
Don't block the course or aid stations, all right. I
can't stand people who kind of spilling on the course
to wave with their runner and they're blocking me from
getting to the volunteer trying to hand me water. Don't
do that. I'll run right through you. And I got
more size than you, dude, trust me. Let's see here.
(38:30):
Don't don't bring a bike, I mean unless previously cleared. Okay,
so years and years ago, some good friends of mine,
the wife me. I'm not gonna throw anyone under the
bus here. The wife wanted to run her first half
marathon super great. She is also super diabetic has medical needs.
Her husband went to the race officials said, here's the situation.
(38:51):
Can I follow along on a bike as support on
the course for my wife who is a very diabetic
situation so that if anything happens with blood sugar over
the course of this race, I'm immediately there to help,
whether it be medicine, food, sugar, whatever. He got approval
from the race to be on the course on the bike, playfect.
(39:12):
That's how it's supposed to work. That's how you're supposed
to do it. Don't just bring your bike and start
following along. Because we as runners don't like bike bicyclers.
You guys are not our friends. We don't like you. You
guys take up too much of our trail when we're
trying to run, and I know we take up too
much of your trail while we're trying to run and
you're trying to ride. But yeah, no, don't. Don't just
(39:32):
jump on a bike and you're gonna be with your
runner through the whole race. I am not a fan
of that. Kyle does not approve. Next one cheer for everyone,
all right. And that's not even something I have to
dive deeper into. I've never seen someone be like, Man,
I'm not gonna cheer for them. No, No, we're supportive.
Everyone cheer for everyone. If you're standing there, you might
(39:53):
as well cheer for him while they're running in, right,
might as well. Oh. We do watch the language, though,
And I'm guilty there are times I've gotten a little
you fired up, or maybe I've not used the most
politically correct language out there. I'll admit it. I'm just
as guilty, and then be respectful to the locals. Do
not leave your trash in someone else's yard. Don't just
(40:15):
leave your signs on the side of the road for
someone else to have to clean up. Be mindful. I
think of the old boy scout rule, try and leave
the course a little better than you found it. That
seems reasonable. If there's some pieces of trash around you
and you're gathering up your stuff, grab that trash too,
Why not just get it out of here? Like, why
are we gonna hope somebody else gets it? It could
get rained on, it could get mushy, it could get gross.
(40:37):
Just take care of your stuff, Take care of the
stuff around you leaves the course better. Okay, so really
that's kind of it for being a spectator MVP. This
of course feeds over into real life too. Most of
these things. You can be a great supporter. You can
support your people, you show up, you're plan well, you
celebrate others. That can be family, work, community, whatever you want.
(40:57):
It's all right there. So I would love to know
what the best sign you've seen on the courses? All right,
please respond to the comments on Facebook or wherever you're
seeing this or YouTube if you're watching, what is the
best sign you have seen while running a race? It
doesn't even have to be a sign that your person
brought or it could be. But what's the funniest sign
that you've ever seen. I've seen some good ones. None
(41:18):
of them are not all of them are family friendly,
for darn sure, but they are really really funny. So
don't forget that. On Friday, we're gonna have our first
round of interviews. You do not want to miss our
first one. It was I'm going to have to pre
record in opening because we were so ridiculous from the
moment that we hit record, like, there's not even been
(41:38):
good opening on the show, so I'm gonna pre record
one and then we'll have the interview. But it was
just goofy start to finish. I think you guys are
really enjoy it when I say that the unofficial or
the officially unofficial slogan of this show is runners talking running.
That's what this was. This was three runners just sitting
around talking about running, trying to ask some pre arranged questions,
(41:59):
and some of them we did and some of them
we just bunny trail to other places. It is pretty funny.
So that's gonna do it. For this week's episode of
the Back of the Pack podcast. I am your host,
Kyle Waka. It is my pleasure as always, everyone, have
a safe week of training. I hope to see you
Saturday at the Nolan Davids Championship Run champions Run in Casey,
k and Sunday at Chicken and Pickle in Overland Park
(42:20):
for the Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell Run. I'd love to
see it both. It is not too late to sign
up for either, so get signed up now and then
I will see you this weekend.
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