May 20, 2024 • 32 mins
No race for us this weekend. With the time off we decided to jump into the big topic of the running world. The 2024 Boston Marathon and it's finish. Let us know where you fall on this issue. It has certainly divided the running world right in half. We will talk about it again next week with a special guest, but for now, settle in and get caught up on all the gossip! No mental health segment this week. We will bring you something to make up for it during the course of the week!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
Hello everyone, Greetings and salutations,and welcome back to another episode of the
Back of the Pack podcast. I'myour host, Kyle Walker. Thank you
so much for tuning in. Hopefully, as you can see and as you
can hear, we have a lotof our technical issues over the last two
weeks, all figured out and takencare of. Back with a new webcam,
back on the microphone, no morethe little lapel pens, so hopefully
(00:33):
everything sounds and looks better, becausethat was a rough two weeks. Getting
stuff transferred over from an iPhone,over into the video production stuff and then
out to you proved to be anabsolute nightmare. So I am very glad
that that is done over with andwe are back with our regular equipment.
So yeah, go team. Anannouncement for those here in Kansas City,
(00:55):
I just saw something the other daythat I want to make sure everyone was
aware of. Apparently in August wehave all run the Spencer Seed Duncan make
it count five K that has beencanceled this year. I believe it is
the mother of Spencer Seed Duncan.He was a service member no longer with
(01:15):
us, and this race was carriedon in his name and in his honor.
I believe it is his mother hasfallen ill and so they are just
with taking care of her. Theyare not able to do the race this
year. It's been held every yearin Gardner, Kansas for quite a few
years now. But I did seethat that race was canceled, so you
might want to go ahead and updateyour race calendar if you had that listed.
(01:38):
I'm sure that if you had alreadyregistered for it, they will take
care of you. But I wantedto put that out there that was definitely
one that was on our calendar,something I've done for the last several years
that we will now need to takeoff find a different race. But you
know, all the best to thepeople affected, to those involved with the
race. Again, hopefully you guyscan be back next year better than ever.
(01:59):
But you know best way from thepodcast, all of you guys for
whatever that whole situation is. Andagain I'm not privied all of it.
This is just what I saw insocial media, but I wanted to pass
it along to the rest of you. So no Spencer Sea duncan make it
count five k this year, andagain we hope that next year they will
be back. This weekend for thepodcast. It was the first weekend in
a very long time, a verylong time, that there were no races.
(02:23):
We did not have a race thisweekend. I hope the folks who
ran the Joplin Memorial Run had agreat time. You know, down in
Joplin, Missouri, they've been doinga run ever since the F five twister
that took several lives and annihilated thattown. This was the last year for
it though. They cided decline yourregistration and just the overall effort it takes
to put on an event of thissize, So this was the very last
(02:46):
one this past weekend. I hopeit went well. I hope anyone who
ran it had a great time.You know, kudos to them. That
was a long running race and nowthey're going to head off into the sunset
and again understand, so good jobout of that. I know they ran
the Cleveland Marathon. I know theyran the Historic Half Marathon out in Virginia
that's put on by the Marine CorpsMarathon folks, they do the Historic Half.
(03:08):
That race was run this weekend.There were races around town. The
flash Dash was around Kansas City amongsome others. So there were a lot
of options. Oh, and thenthose who went out to Colorado for the
Califax Half Marathon. Great job outof everyone. I hope everyone had a
wonderful weekend of running and safe travelsand all those good things. As for
(03:29):
me and the podcast, I thinkI kept it kind of hush hush.
I know I told a few folksmy weekend consisted of this book. This
book ran here in my hands,yep, this big old monster right here.
As you can see, I wentand took a weekend course to be
a certified running coach. That iswhat I did. This is through the
Roadrunners Club of America. I tooktheir Certified Level one Running Coach course.
(03:52):
Now I have not passed the finaltest yet, as I just got that
link to take the test last night, and I hope to do that within
the next week or so, andthen I will be a certified running coach.
Do I plan on taking on clients? Well, short answer, no,
I do not expect that I'm goingto make any money off of this.
This was something I wanted to doto increase my own knowledge and there's
(04:15):
a lot in this book that I'mgoing to bring to the podcast. And
then I did it to kind oflend some legitimacy to the podcast, and
so maybe someday if there was everany interest in me being a running coach,
If anyone's like, hey, Iwould love for you to develop me
a plan and be my running coach, we'll talk. I don't see a
big demand. What was really funnyabout taking this course of course, all
(04:40):
the case studies and all the people, well not all the people, but
a lot of the people in it, and just a lot of the conversations.
They all revolve around daying near elitelevel runners, and I'm thinking myself,
Okay, none of these numbers orpieces or race strategies or whatever's pertain
to me, but I understand whythey are being used for this particular course.
(05:04):
There were, I'm sure a lotof elite level runners. The two
gentlemen who were the instructors for thiscourse elite level runners, very talented individuals.
I just was kind of chuckling tomyself all weekend. It's like,
this is why I'm not going tobe an actual running coach, and I'm
doing this more for the information andthan anything I can use to help the
(05:26):
podcast. I cannot pace you toa Boston qualifying time. I cannot.
Now, could I draw up acourse and maybe get you there? Possibly
the chance is not zero. However, I couldn't do it with you.
And one of the things I thinkit takes to be a very popular or
a very good running coach is yougot to be able to do the stuff
(05:48):
with the people rather than just standthere and hold the clipboard and just say
do this, do that. Youknow. One of the things there are
those dictator coaches that would not beme. Now, if you are perhaps
an hour five kre who wants tobring yourself down to a forty five minute
five k and then maybe you know, even get alone under that, I
could help you there and I'll doit with you. But again that is
(06:11):
a different issue for a different day. But this was a very well done
course. It was a very longweekend for yours truly. So it started
at seven am Central time and itended at four pm Central time Saturday and
Sunday, with very small breaks inbetween. This was not one of the
situations where oh, you know,we've covered everything, we'll let guys out
(06:32):
an hour early. Oh heck no. We were in it for the long
haul both days. So this wasa really, really long weekend for yours.
Truly a lot of information, alot to digest, and but there's
there's things that I was marketing inthe book. It's like, I can't
wait to take that to the podcastand talk to you guys about it so
that we all gain knowledge and wegain you know, the benefits of this
(06:57):
running coach course. So anyway,that's what I did this weekend. Super
great time. Shout out to theRoadrunners Club of America. Great course,
well done into my what thirty sixother running coach hopefuls from that class.
I hope everyone has a very verysuccessful running coaching career and best of luck
to all of you. There wasone guy shout out to Ryan who actually
(07:20):
had heard of the podcast when webefore we got to this program, so
that was super cool. Completely mademy entire weekend by knowing that. But
shout out to you, sir.It was nice to meet you and thank
you very much for listening. Sothat is kind of the pre stuff.
Okay, what we talked about lastweek, what I said we're gonna do
because we didn't have a podcast,we're going to do, but we're going
(07:43):
to do it over the course oftwo episodes. So there was, as
I told you, a big oldbrew haha with the Boston Marathon this year
that I really didn't hear about untila couple of weeks ago, maybe a
week ago. We're going to talkabout it. We're gonna there's a long
article about it. I'm going toread you this long article today. Bear
with me, and then I'll giveyou a little bit of my take.
(08:05):
I have lined up a very specialguest for next week to continue this conversation
and to take it in kind ofother directions. So we're not going to
start and resolve the conversation this week. We're going to start it. And
I again I told you when Ipost this, especially on Facebook, which
is our main social media platform,when you hear this video, I would
(08:28):
love you to type in your opinionand let me know kind of what you
think about it. We keep allof our comments within the realm of good
taste. We keep all of ourcomments respectful, even when we disagree with
each other, which it's the runningworld. You can see things a thousand
different ways and agrees with no onebecause everyone has different perspective and point of
views. We are all going tobe respectful because that is how we do
(08:48):
around here, Okay, but Iwould love to know what you think after
I read this very long article,and I'll just kind of give you a
little bit of my take. I'mnot going to go crazy. I know
some people are going to be likeI hope Kyle gets on his soapbox and
absolutely annihilates these folks. I amnot going to do that, at least
not this week. That might comenext week, but uh, that's kind
(09:09):
of where we're at for this week. But yes, I have a very
very special guest coming to join usand talk about this next week, so
make sure you stay tuned for that. So let me grab my little tablet
here that has the article. Herewe go, and I've got it.
Like I said, this is along read, but I found it fascinating.
A page turner if you will,or I guess what a finger scroller
(09:31):
since everything is electronic now anyway,this is titled Controversy Arises over Boston's moving
six hour results cut off. Andthis is by Sarah lords Butler and this
is runners World, okay, andshe starts in basically with a case study.
So we're starting with a name here. Laura Castor wants to be clear
(09:52):
she knew what the Boston Marathon rulewas about official finishers. She was aware
she had six hours from the timethe last starter crossed the starting line to
finish the race in order to beconsidered official. Her problem she didn't know
what time the last starter crossed thestarting line. Castor, fifty two from
(10:13):
Idlewild, California, was in Corralseven of Boston's final wave, Wave four,
and she crossed the starting line ateleven twenty five AM. So for
how many more minutes were runners crossingthe starting line behind her? Are they
a minute behind me? Five minutes? She wondered? Every minute would count
(10:33):
for her. As it turned out, the final starter crossed the line at
eleven twenty eight AM, so Castorneeded to finish by five twenty eight PM
to be considered official. Castor typicallyruns about five forty for a marathon.
She finished Tokyo on March third atfive forty one fifty. Tokyo was her
(10:54):
fifth of the World Marathon Major sixStar Challenge. Boston was to be her
sixth star. To gain entry toBoston, she had to run for a
charity team for kids. She raisedmore than five thousand dollars, part of
more than forty million. Boston Marathonorganizers say they race though I'm sorry.
The race raises through charity runners everyyear, and she treated Tokyo as a
(11:20):
long run for Boston, but thewarm weather whoo. On marathon Monday,
April fifteenth, the slower runners startlater in the day, and from early
on, Castor knew she was introuble. Her stomach was upset, she
couldn't take in all the fluids sheneeded. She was grabbing ice every time
a spectator offered it. Still,she plugged along, hitting every timing matt,
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even though the mats are rolled upalong the course on pace. With
the six hour finished time, shepassed halfway in two fifty eight forty.
At numerous points, Castor became awareof a vehicle trailing runners like her.
We were going at about six hourpace, and she asked a volunteer at
(12:03):
one of the timing mats, howdo I know if I'm going to be
official? Cast said. He pointedat the car and told her she needs
to finish in front of it.I was like, okay, that's a
definite answer, she said. I'mnot going to look at my watch.
I'm going to focus on not throwingup and being in front of that car.
(12:24):
Castor was well ahead of the caron Commonwealth Avenue as she turned right
onto Hereford Street, just to besafe. As she approached the finish line
on Boylston, Castor took a finallook behind her. No sign of the
official car. She crossed at fivethirty one pm in six hours, five
minutes, fifty nine seconds. Volunteersput her in a wheelchair and sent her
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to the medical tent. From there, she was transported to a hospital with
high blood potassium levels. She wasreleased later that evening. At the hospital,
she looked at the results and realizedshe was not official. She had
had a gun time and a nettime, but no place. Castor was
devastated. All the training, allthe time and expense of pursuing the six
(13:07):
stars, and she wasn't really done. I've worked for years. Was so
excited to have gotten to this point, she said of her progress. I
was just leveled. Castor's coach isMEB, all right? We just know
him as MEB. I don't trythe last name, an Olympic silver medalist
in the twenty fourteen Boston Marathon champion. On the phone with him, she
(13:30):
broke down. He told her,I couldn't be prouder of you. You
missed it. We both know thatyou completed all six You're not official,
but you showed grit, you showeddetermination. So why did all this happen
all right? Allowing the roads toreopen? Castor was not alone? Chris
Latsbum, a ba spokesman, wrotein an email to Runners World, that
(13:52):
four hundred and ninety seven people appearedto have crossed the Boston finish line this
year after it officially closed. Volunteersstaffed the area and handed out medals for
approximately four hours, or until nineto forty five pm, longer than the
race had ever continued to note thetimes before. Of those four hundred and
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ninety seven, many were within fewminutes or seconds of five twenty eight pm.
Courtney Blackburn, also in pursuit ofher six star in Boston, missed
by thirty seven seconds. In anemail exchange after the race with BAA officials,
she asked how she was to knowwhat the cutoff time was after she
(14:37):
had started running. She too wastold about the car with flashing lights on
top going at a six hour pacein alerting runners if they were falling behind.
Blackburn never saw the car, shefinished well ahead of it, and
she too recorded a split at everyfinish line. Matt along the way Lotsbottom
confirmed the car was there a roadre the opening vehicle, he called it
(15:01):
meant to inform runners that roads werereopening and aid stations were shutting down.
Without knowing specifics, I can't commenton the individual instance's referenced, he wrote,
I can say that we are reviewingour processes and procedures in regards to
final finishers for future Boston marathons.Blackburn crossed the finish line and picked up
(15:22):
two medals, the Boston Marathon medaland the World Marathon Major six Star medal.
Only later did she realize she wasn'tofficial in Boston's result and therefore isn't
official in the World Marathon Major resultseither. She has the medals but no
online record of her achievement. Butif the finish line remains open and the
(15:45):
timing continues, why not allow runnersto be official or at least communicate a
time, for example five point thirtyPM that is consistent from year to year.
Why use a moving target. Boston'sstrict cutoff is part of an agreement
three has with the cities and townsalong the route. The six hour time
limit is in place to support thecommunities throughout which the race runs to allow
(16:08):
their road reopening program to commence asplanned. Lots Bomb wrote, We understand
we could do even more in communicatingthe closing time on race day, and
we are looking to enhance that messagingto all runners for next year to ensure
everyone is clear on the time limitin the time that the finish line will
officially close on race day, lotsBomb wrote, so this is a grace
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period. A few runners who aremuch slower than six hours get to start
in earlier waves, which gives themmore time to finish. For some runners
close to the five twenty eight pmcutoff, starting in an earlier corral of
Way four would have meant the differencebetween an official and unofficial finish. In
twenty fifteen, some members of Boston'squarter century Club, people with twenty five
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or more consecutive Boston finishes were consaylearned about the six hour limit which was
imposed for the twenty sixteen race,so race officials moved them to Wave two.
Problem solved. For others, theproblem remains, and the moving cutoff
appears to affect more women than men, older runners, more than younger runners,
(17:18):
and many runners of color. HectorEspinel, that's eSPI NL. Espinel,
like Blackburn, only discovered well afterthe race that he wasn't official,
he wrote on Instagram on April eighteenth, despite crossing the finish line, finishing
the race and receiving my medals,this morning, I was informed that I
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did not complete the Boston Marathon inthat time allotted to be considered an official
finisher in a World Marathon major sixstar finisher. The post has more than
ten thousand likes and one thousand comments, the majority of them supportive elite runner
Mary I can't say the last nameof Kenya, who was sixth in a
two hour, twenty four minute Ttwenty four second wrote no, no,
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you are a six time world majormarathon marathoner and a hero. Boston is
a race that has at times struggledwith its image, which critics call elitist.
Spectators last year accused the race ofover policing enthusiastic fans, most of
whom were people of color, atmile twenty one cheer zone, which prompted
a lawsuit. Runners World reported intwenty twenty two about the baas obscure largely
(18:27):
white invitation only membership group which isinvolved with governance and of the organization.
Okay, side note here, ifyou guys, go back and listen to
my episode of My Script through Bostonin twenty twenty three, I mentioned this
the the cheer station that in mymind was just down having a great time
that was actively getting shut down bythe police as I ran through it.
(18:52):
Now, I had never researched itafter that. I talked about it on
the episode, but I did notknow until I read this article that lawsuit
had actually been filed because of this. So that's huge. And again I'm
just one guy, but I wasone guy who was running through doing the
Boston Marathon as that happened. Iknow exactly what they're talking about. And
(19:14):
for me, this one guy,that crowd was awesome and they were going
ape stuff for anyone who came along. I thought they were great. They
were very motivational, very organized,and not at all in issue. So
one guy, one guy's opinion.But I definitely couldn't figure out why the
Boston p D were kind of shuttingthat down. Anyway, I continue on
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too many observers in the running community. Setting a fixed finished time would be
an easy way to help the raceshow it it is concerned about runners of
varying abilities, not just the frontof the pack. Other races in the
world marathon majors are much more laxabout their finishing times, with the exception
of Tokyo, which has nine cutoffpoints along the route and runners are stopped
(20:03):
if they lag behind. There areno questions, however, about where they
stand. It's true, but thefinishers of London, New York and Chicago
appear in the results with times hoursslower than the racist published cutoff times.
Berlin, which has a posted cutofftime of six point fifteen, stays open
for an extra fifteen to twenty minutesbefore the Brandenburg Gate closes, according to
(20:25):
previous finishers. Blackburn won't be backto Boston anytime soon. I don't know,
honestly if I would do it againwithout major changes to actually be inclusive.
Inclusive, I'm sorry of non qualifyingathletes, she wrote in a message
to Runners World. I think BAAofficials are putting out we are trying vibes
(20:45):
without actually trying cast Her, onthe other hand, plans to try again
the uncertainty while she was on thecourse in the wrong information she was given
about the official vehicle were what upsether. She doesn't know if if it
would have made a difference for herhad she been aware of the times she
had to be And then she saysin a quote, but I would like
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to have had the opportunity to havetried. She said, that's the part
that I'm sore about. SOO,that is what I read about this year's
Boston Marathon. I definitely found itsurprising, and it brings up the question
that I will tackle today, notthe one that we're going to tackle next
week. Yes, Boston is ina very elitist race. We know this.
(21:32):
This is not new information. Thisis not just my opinion. It
was clearly in the article. Itis a very elitist race. Now I
was able to run it in twentytwenty three. Yes, yes, I
got in on a charity BIB.So wast my elite level runner. No,
absolutely not. I did not qualifyfor the Boston Marathon. There are
times people ask me have you doneBoston. I say yes, oh,
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wow, that's really great. Idid it on a charity BIB. Oh,
and their excitement drops because I didnot achieve the elite level status that
a lot of Boston qualifiers achieve.I get it, I understand that completely.
It does not take away from thefact that I am a Boston Marathon
finisher, and I am an officialfinisher of my time of five hours and
(22:18):
forty eight minutes, so I didn'thave to worry about a car. Now,
the thing that gets me about thisis the car. The car in
this very very loose cutoff time,very loose for a race as elitist and
as strict as Boston, you can'tjust be well, it's after it's this
amount of time after the last personcrosses the start line. You don't know
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when that is, you have nofreaking clue. And then there's this car,
this ghost car almost that did notactually finish the race. And I
get it. If you don't wantto send your your pace car all the
way down Boilston Street and have itdrive over the finish line, okay,
that's fine. But where did itturn off and how much time is left
after it turns off? I thinkthis moving limit they have. Okay,
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it's x amount of time after thisperson starts, whenever this person may start.
I don't know. I don't likethat. I really don't like that.
I don't think that is fair tothe back of the pack runners,
who, of course we have theheart for. I think that it's too
subjective. You know, who's tosay when the last runner starts? Like
I know the timing mats can say, but is there an official, an
official official at that line with theirstopwatch and as soon as they start click
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the button, okay, car,go get them. I don't think so.
I can't see that being the case. I imagine someone for the last
person starts. I imagine they havesomeone moses over to this car and fires
it up, and then they've justgot this pace they're supposed to drive for
the rest of the course. Okay, do we know how strict the driver
(23:52):
is, do we know how intune they are with the running situation?
And again, you can't say thatanything is one hundred percent accurate with that
system. What they suggest in thearticle and what I think I like the
most, since you about know roughlywhat between eleven twenty am and eleven thirty
(24:14):
am you're gonna get that last personacross the start line? Is that fair
to say? Can they look backat all the years and find the average
start time and when that is.I am sure it's between eleven twenty am
and eleven thirty am. Fine,the five thirty cutoffs, that's really where
I think it's at five thirty onthe dot. Be ready shut it down,
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as Lisleman would say, shut itdown at five thirty. This moving
target, with this maybe car anduncertainty for runners, especially on a day
with rough conditions, You're just leavingit open for criticism, Boston, because
I'm kind of criticizing right now.I think that's a really bad look,
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and I don't think you need anymore bad looks right now. You've had
several the Cure Station last year thatyou shut down of the primarily black people,
not a great look. Your overallelitist appearance to you know, people
who aren't elite, not a greatlook. Now you are denying someone an
(25:17):
official finishing time over thirty seven seconds, a subjective thirty seven seconds. You
can't do that, especially because ofwhat it takes for someone who's gonna be
running six hours and thirty seven seconds, what it takes for us to get
there. It's not a qualifying time. It's not a lottery it's money,
(25:40):
and it's a lot of money.And so thirty seven seconds, no finish,
no sixth star, no, bebetter, be better. I get
it. You're Boston, you havethe elite. I understand all this.
But if you are gonna open itup to charities, and you're gonna open
it up to we have finished twentyfive years previous, but we're older now,
(26:00):
at least by twenty five years,or we're gonna open it up to
slower runners, you gotta start droppingsome of that elitist attitude. You really
do thirty seven seconds and you've deniedthat person everything, everything, the two
things I've wanted most in this runningworld I have one of I have Boston,
Boston and the six Stars, andin thirty seven seconds, you took
(26:22):
it away from that person. Idon't agree. I don't agree with how
you have handled the setup of thatrace, or at least how you've handled
the setup of the finish. Ifyou want to make it a five thirty
cutoff time, strict cutoff time,do it, because then every runner knows.
We all know five point thirty.You're staring at your watch, Okay,
(26:44):
I see the finish line. Fivetwenty eight fifteen. Holy crap,
here I go and you kick itand you get across the finish line.
Now, look, if someone finishesat five thirty PM and thirty seven seconds,
then you know what, they didnot finish in their time. Okay,
I hate it. I hate it, And if it were me personally,
I would have more of a graceperiod. Like you finished. We
(27:07):
did not officially tear down the finishline or stop people from coming here.
You've crossed at twenty six point twoplus because it's long. You're a finisher.
But I get it. If youhave to have that time, and
if they come in after that time, you had the time and it was
set in stone. This is amoving target, as the article says,
and I think a moving target isnot fair to runners in a moving target
(27:29):
by thirty seven seconds is absolute hogwash. That person you need to amend your
time, give them their Boston,and give them their World Marathon Major six
stars. That's my opinion, becauseyou can't be on a shadow of a
doubt say they didn't finish. Youcan't say, oh, they didn't compete
it in time. Who knows,maybe they did, maybe they didn't.
(27:52):
I don't know, and yeah,maybe they took the last they took the
time later from the very last person, and then they took their time and
they did the math and they foundout thirty seven seconds over. You allowed
them to finish. You handed thema medal. If you hand them a
medal, they're a finisher of yourfrickin' race. Man. You handed them
the medal, you handed them thesix star medal. They've got their medals,
(28:14):
They've completed it. Give them theirofficial time, give them their star
on abbot dot com or whatever itis. And look, if you want
to cut them off, fine,get the police line up. Sorry,
can't cross. Race is over,and please defer out of this gate and
go find your family. It sucksand it's harsh, but it's better than
allowing someone to finish, celebrate,think that they've done something, and then
(28:37):
you take it away from them.Just rug right out from underneath their feet,
whoop, and you done so.That is how I see this particular
brew Haha. I would love youropinion in the comments here on Facebook once
this is posted. If you listenthrough any of the other services just the
audio services or YouTube well YouTube,you can leave comments the Spotify, iHeart
(28:59):
iTunes, all that stuff. Pleasefind us on Facebook and feel free to
join join the conversation about this race. I'd love to know what you think.
Next week on this episode, we'regonna have our guest. We're gonna
be talking about the same situation,but now we're gonna be talking about the
aftermath. So I have said mypiece, you know what, I think.
A lot of people have said theirpiece, and they know what they
think in the argument now and Icannot coin this phrase. I didn't come
(29:21):
up with it. I've seen itin regards to this. Next week,
we're gonna have the conversation of eliteversus elitist, because now that is what
has reared its ugly ugly ahead,elite versus elitist. And we're gonna have
a very special guest on to talkabout that next week. So next week's
show, we're gonna talk about that. Next week, I'm supposed to be
(29:44):
in Manhattan, Kansas for the BillSnyder Memorial Highway not Memorial. I add
that every time he's alive, he'sfine, Bill's fine. Sorry, the
Bill Snyder a Highway half Marathon.I'm actually not going to be able to
make that race. I have aback injury. My back is preventing me
from running right now. I didtwo miles yesterday in agonizing pain. So
a half marathon is not going towork right now, and I'm trying to
(30:04):
get myself healthy and ready for thefull marathon in Fargo, North Dakota at
the end of this month. Soif you were going to Bill Snyder simply
because Kyle said he was going tobe there, I do apologize. I
don't think that applies to anyone.Have a great race though, at Bill
Snyder. Everyone, have a greatMemorial Day weekend if you can believe that's
what's coming up next. It isMemorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to
(30:27):
summer, but we're darn near there, so have a great run to Bill
Snyder, have a great Memorial Dayweekend. Leave your comments respectfully. If
it is not respectful, if itis just blasted with curses and insults,
I'm going to take that stuff downas fast as you as I can possibly
do it. But please, Iwould love to know what you think on
(30:48):
this issue, because it's a bigone. It certainly has made a lot
of ruckus in the running world,and rightfully so. But let's talk about
it. What do you think ofthe moving target of Boston? I have
a solution. What's your solution?Do you think? You know? Hey,
this is just this is how itis? Man like that. Then's
the breaks of running Boston. Weknow that the world marathon majors don't all
(31:10):
do the same thing. Is thatalso an issue? Isn't an issue that
it is different from Chicago to Londonand New York to Tokyo to Berlin to
Boston? What an you think?Because that's something else too. If you're
gonna be part of the Big Six. Shouldn't they all have the same rules.
Shouldn't they all have the same finish? Should they all have the same
grace period? Or should they allhave the same rigid results? Again,
(31:30):
what do you think about that?That's just a question popped into my head
right now. So that's gonna doit for this week's episode of the Back
of the Pack podcast. Hopefully itlooks better, sounds better. I thank
you all very much for tuning inevery week as you do. Our numbers
are going up, up, up, and I love it. I'm here
for it. I always welcome yoursuggestions if there's a topic you'd like,
I welcome any recommendations or braces youthink we should do. Please make sure
(31:51):
that you keep playing along on allof our social media platforms, follow us
or subscribe to the YouTube channel onthe Back of the Pack podcast. And
then I actually did a TikTok yesterday, So Back of the Back podcast does
have a TikTok, and I putsomething out there. Is it great?
No? Is it something? Yes, yes it is. So that's gonna
do it. For this week's episodeof the Back of the Back Podcast.
I am your host, Kyle Walker. It is my pleasure as Zolas.
(32:13):
Everyone have a safe week of training. We will be back next week with
our very special guest to continue talkingabout the Boston Marathon brew haha. Elite
versus elitist, So please join usnext week
Hello everyone, Greetings and salutations,and welcome back to another episode of the
Back of the Pack podcast. I'myour host, Kyle Walker. Thank you
so much for tuning in. Hopefully, as you can see and as you
can hear, we have a lotof our technical issues over the last two
weeks, all figured out and takencare of. Back with a new webcam,
back on the microphone, no morethe little lapel pens, so hopefully
(00:33):
everything sounds and looks better, becausethat was a rough two weeks. Getting
stuff transferred over from an iPhone,over into the video production stuff and then
out to you proved to be anabsolute nightmare. So I am very glad
that that is done over with andwe are back with our regular equipment.
So yeah, go team. Anannouncement for those here in Kansas City,
(00:55):
I just saw something the other daythat I want to make sure everyone was
aware of. Apparently in August wehave all run the Spencer Seed Duncan make
it count five K that has beencanceled this year. I believe it is
the mother of Spencer Seed Duncan.He was a service member no longer with
(01:15):
us, and this race was carriedon in his name and in his honor.
I believe it is his mother hasfallen ill and so they are just
with taking care of her. Theyare not able to do the race this
year. It's been held every yearin Gardner, Kansas for quite a few
years now. But I did seethat that race was canceled, so you
might want to go ahead and updateyour race calendar if you had that listed.
(01:38):
I'm sure that if you had alreadyregistered for it, they will take
care of you. But I wantedto put that out there that was definitely
one that was on our calendar,something I've done for the last several years
that we will now need to takeoff find a different race. But you
know, all the best to thepeople affected, to those involved with the
race. Again, hopefully you guyscan be back next year better than ever.
(01:59):
But you know best way from thepodcast, all of you guys for
whatever that whole situation is. Andagain I'm not privied all of it.
This is just what I saw insocial media, but I wanted to pass
it along to the rest of you. So no Spencer Sea duncan make it
count five k this year, andagain we hope that next year they will
be back. This weekend for thepodcast. It was the first weekend in
a very long time, a verylong time, that there were no races.
(02:23):
We did not have a race thisweekend. I hope the folks who
ran the Joplin Memorial Run had agreat time. You know, down in
Joplin, Missouri, they've been doinga run ever since the F five twister
that took several lives and annihilated thattown. This was the last year for
it though. They cided decline yourregistration and just the overall effort it takes
to put on an event of thissize, So this was the very last
(02:46):
one this past weekend. I hopeit went well. I hope anyone who
ran it had a great time.You know, kudos to them. That
was a long running race and nowthey're going to head off into the sunset
and again understand, so good jobout of that. I know they ran
the Cleveland Marathon. I know theyran the Historic Half Marathon out in Virginia
that's put on by the Marine CorpsMarathon folks, they do the Historic Half.
(03:08):
That race was run this weekend.There were races around town. The
flash Dash was around Kansas City amongsome others. So there were a lot
of options. Oh, and thenthose who went out to Colorado for the
Califax Half Marathon. Great job outof everyone. I hope everyone had a
wonderful weekend of running and safe travelsand all those good things. As for
(03:29):
me and the podcast, I thinkI kept it kind of hush hush.
I know I told a few folksmy weekend consisted of this book. This
book ran here in my hands,yep, this big old monster right here.
As you can see, I wentand took a weekend course to be
a certified running coach. That iswhat I did. This is through the
Roadrunners Club of America. I tooktheir Certified Level one Running Coach course.
(03:52):
Now I have not passed the finaltest yet, as I just got that
link to take the test last night, and I hope to do that within
the next week or so, andthen I will be a certified running coach.
Do I plan on taking on clients? Well, short answer, no,
I do not expect that I'm goingto make any money off of this.
This was something I wanted to doto increase my own knowledge and there's
(04:15):
a lot in this book that I'mgoing to bring to the podcast. And
then I did it to kind oflend some legitimacy to the podcast, and
so maybe someday if there was everany interest in me being a running coach,
If anyone's like, hey, Iwould love for you to develop me
a plan and be my running coach, we'll talk. I don't see a
big demand. What was really funnyabout taking this course of course, all
(04:40):
the case studies and all the people, well not all the people, but
a lot of the people in it, and just a lot of the conversations.
They all revolve around daying near elitelevel runners, and I'm thinking myself,
Okay, none of these numbers orpieces or race strategies or whatever's pertain
to me, but I understand whythey are being used for this particular course.
(05:04):
There were, I'm sure a lotof elite level runners. The two
gentlemen who were the instructors for thiscourse elite level runners, very talented individuals.
I just was kind of chuckling tomyself all weekend. It's like,
this is why I'm not going tobe an actual running coach, and I'm
doing this more for the information andthan anything I can use to help the
(05:26):
podcast. I cannot pace you toa Boston qualifying time. I cannot.
Now, could I draw up acourse and maybe get you there? Possibly
the chance is not zero. However, I couldn't do it with you.
And one of the things I thinkit takes to be a very popular or
a very good running coach is yougot to be able to do the stuff
(05:48):
with the people rather than just standthere and hold the clipboard and just say
do this, do that. Youknow. One of the things there are
those dictator coaches that would not beme. Now, if you are perhaps
an hour five kre who wants tobring yourself down to a forty five minute
five k and then maybe you know, even get alone under that, I
could help you there and I'll doit with you. But again that is
(06:11):
a different issue for a different day. But this was a very well done
course. It was a very longweekend for yours truly. So it started
at seven am Central time and itended at four pm Central time Saturday and
Sunday, with very small breaks inbetween. This was not one of the
situations where oh, you know,we've covered everything, we'll let guys out
(06:32):
an hour early. Oh heck no. We were in it for the long
haul both days. So this wasa really, really long weekend for yours.
Truly a lot of information, alot to digest, and but there's
there's things that I was marketing inthe book. It's like, I can't
wait to take that to the podcastand talk to you guys about it so
that we all gain knowledge and wegain you know, the benefits of this
(06:57):
running coach course. So anyway,that's what I did this weekend. Super
great time. Shout out to theRoadrunners Club of America. Great course,
well done into my what thirty sixother running coach hopefuls from that class.
I hope everyone has a very verysuccessful running coaching career and best of luck
to all of you. There wasone guy shout out to Ryan who actually
(07:20):
had heard of the podcast when webefore we got to this program, so
that was super cool. Completely mademy entire weekend by knowing that. But
shout out to you, sir.It was nice to meet you and thank
you very much for listening. Sothat is kind of the pre stuff.
Okay, what we talked about lastweek, what I said we're gonna do
because we didn't have a podcast,we're going to do, but we're going
(07:43):
to do it over the course oftwo episodes. So there was, as
I told you, a big oldbrew haha with the Boston Marathon this year
that I really didn't hear about untila couple of weeks ago, maybe a
week ago. We're going to talkabout it. We're gonna there's a long
article about it. I'm going toread you this long article today. Bear
with me, and then I'll giveyou a little bit of my take.
(08:05):
I have lined up a very specialguest for next week to continue this conversation
and to take it in kind ofother directions. So we're not going to
start and resolve the conversation this week. We're going to start it. And
I again I told you when Ipost this, especially on Facebook, which
is our main social media platform,when you hear this video, I would
(08:28):
love you to type in your opinionand let me know kind of what you
think about it. We keep allof our comments within the realm of good
taste. We keep all of ourcomments respectful, even when we disagree with
each other, which it's the runningworld. You can see things a thousand
different ways and agrees with no onebecause everyone has different perspective and point of
views. We are all going tobe respectful because that is how we do
(08:48):
around here, Okay, but Iwould love to know what you think after
I read this very long article,and I'll just kind of give you a
little bit of my take. I'mnot going to go crazy. I know
some people are going to be likeI hope Kyle gets on his soapbox and
absolutely annihilates these folks. I amnot going to do that, at least
not this week. That might comenext week, but uh, that's kind
(09:09):
of where we're at for this week. But yes, I have a very
very special guest coming to join usand talk about this next week, so
make sure you stay tuned for that. So let me grab my little tablet
here that has the article. Herewe go, and I've got it.
Like I said, this is along read, but I found it fascinating.
A page turner if you will,or I guess what a finger scroller
(09:31):
since everything is electronic now anyway,this is titled Controversy Arises over Boston's moving
six hour results cut off. Andthis is by Sarah lords Butler and this
is runners World, okay, andshe starts in basically with a case study.
So we're starting with a name here. Laura Castor wants to be clear
(09:52):
she knew what the Boston Marathon rulewas about official finishers. She was aware
she had six hours from the timethe last starter crossed the starting line to
finish the race in order to beconsidered official. Her problem she didn't know
what time the last starter crossed thestarting line. Castor, fifty two from
(10:13):
Idlewild, California, was in Corralseven of Boston's final wave, Wave four,
and she crossed the starting line ateleven twenty five AM. So for
how many more minutes were runners crossingthe starting line behind her? Are they
a minute behind me? Five minutes? She wondered? Every minute would count
(10:33):
for her. As it turned out, the final starter crossed the line at
eleven twenty eight AM, so Castorneeded to finish by five twenty eight PM
to be considered official. Castor typicallyruns about five forty for a marathon.
She finished Tokyo on March third atfive forty one fifty. Tokyo was her
(10:54):
fifth of the World Marathon Major sixStar Challenge. Boston was to be her
sixth star. To gain entry toBoston, she had to run for a
charity team for kids. She raisedmore than five thousand dollars, part of
more than forty million. Boston Marathonorganizers say they race though I'm sorry.
The race raises through charity runners everyyear, and she treated Tokyo as a
(11:20):
long run for Boston, but thewarm weather whoo. On marathon Monday,
April fifteenth, the slower runners startlater in the day, and from early
on, Castor knew she was introuble. Her stomach was upset, she
couldn't take in all the fluids sheneeded. She was grabbing ice every time
a spectator offered it. Still,she plugged along, hitting every timing matt,
(11:43):
even though the mats are rolled upalong the course on pace. With
the six hour finished time, shepassed halfway in two fifty eight forty.
At numerous points, Castor became awareof a vehicle trailing runners like her.
We were going at about six hourpace, and she asked a volunteer at
(12:03):
one of the timing mats, howdo I know if I'm going to be
official? Cast said. He pointedat the car and told her she needs
to finish in front of it.I was like, okay, that's a
definite answer, she said. I'mnot going to look at my watch.
I'm going to focus on not throwingup and being in front of that car.
(12:24):
Castor was well ahead of the caron Commonwealth Avenue as she turned right
onto Hereford Street, just to besafe. As she approached the finish line
on Boylston, Castor took a finallook behind her. No sign of the
official car. She crossed at fivethirty one pm in six hours, five
minutes, fifty nine seconds. Volunteersput her in a wheelchair and sent her
(12:46):
to the medical tent. From there, she was transported to a hospital with
high blood potassium levels. She wasreleased later that evening. At the hospital,
she looked at the results and realizedshe was not official. She had
had a gun time and a nettime, but no place. Castor was
devastated. All the training, allthe time and expense of pursuing the six
(13:07):
stars, and she wasn't really done. I've worked for years. Was so
excited to have gotten to this point, she said of her progress. I
was just leveled. Castor's coach isMEB, all right? We just know
him as MEB. I don't trythe last name, an Olympic silver medalist
in the twenty fourteen Boston Marathon champion. On the phone with him, she
(13:30):
broke down. He told her,I couldn't be prouder of you. You
missed it. We both know thatyou completed all six You're not official,
but you showed grit, you showeddetermination. So why did all this happen
all right? Allowing the roads toreopen? Castor was not alone? Chris
Latsbum, a ba spokesman, wrotein an email to Runners World, that
(13:52):
four hundred and ninety seven people appearedto have crossed the Boston finish line this
year after it officially closed. Volunteersstaffed the area and handed out medals for
approximately four hours, or until nineto forty five pm, longer than the
race had ever continued to note thetimes before. Of those four hundred and
(14:15):
ninety seven, many were within fewminutes or seconds of five twenty eight pm.
Courtney Blackburn, also in pursuit ofher six star in Boston, missed
by thirty seven seconds. In anemail exchange after the race with BAA officials,
she asked how she was to knowwhat the cutoff time was after she
(14:37):
had started running. She too wastold about the car with flashing lights on
top going at a six hour pacein alerting runners if they were falling behind.
Blackburn never saw the car, shefinished well ahead of it, and
she too recorded a split at everyfinish line. Matt along the way Lotsbottom
confirmed the car was there a roadre the opening vehicle, he called it
(15:01):
meant to inform runners that roads werereopening and aid stations were shutting down.
Without knowing specifics, I can't commenton the individual instance's referenced, he wrote,
I can say that we are reviewingour processes and procedures in regards to
final finishers for future Boston marathons.Blackburn crossed the finish line and picked up
(15:22):
two medals, the Boston Marathon medaland the World Marathon Major six Star medal.
Only later did she realize she wasn'tofficial in Boston's result and therefore isn't
official in the World Marathon Major resultseither. She has the medals but no
online record of her achievement. Butif the finish line remains open and the
(15:45):
timing continues, why not allow runnersto be official or at least communicate a
time, for example five point thirtyPM that is consistent from year to year.
Why use a moving target. Boston'sstrict cutoff is part of an agreement
three has with the cities and townsalong the route. The six hour time
limit is in place to support thecommunities throughout which the race runs to allow
(16:08):
their road reopening program to commence asplanned. Lots Bomb wrote, We understand
we could do even more in communicatingthe closing time on race day, and
we are looking to enhance that messagingto all runners for next year to ensure
everyone is clear on the time limitin the time that the finish line will
officially close on race day, lotsBomb wrote, so this is a grace
(16:32):
period. A few runners who aremuch slower than six hours get to start
in earlier waves, which gives themmore time to finish. For some runners
close to the five twenty eight pmcutoff, starting in an earlier corral of
Way four would have meant the differencebetween an official and unofficial finish. In
twenty fifteen, some members of Boston'squarter century Club, people with twenty five
(16:56):
or more consecutive Boston finishes were consaylearned about the six hour limit which was
imposed for the twenty sixteen race,so race officials moved them to Wave two.
Problem solved. For others, theproblem remains, and the moving cutoff
appears to affect more women than men, older runners, more than younger runners,
(17:18):
and many runners of color. HectorEspinel, that's eSPI NL. Espinel,
like Blackburn, only discovered well afterthe race that he wasn't official,
he wrote on Instagram on April eighteenth, despite crossing the finish line, finishing
the race and receiving my medals,this morning, I was informed that I
(17:38):
did not complete the Boston Marathon inthat time allotted to be considered an official
finisher in a World Marathon major sixstar finisher. The post has more than
ten thousand likes and one thousand comments, the majority of them supportive elite runner
Mary I can't say the last nameof Kenya, who was sixth in a
two hour, twenty four minute Ttwenty four second wrote no, no,
(18:03):
you are a six time world majormarathon marathoner and a hero. Boston is
a race that has at times struggledwith its image, which critics call elitist.
Spectators last year accused the race ofover policing enthusiastic fans, most of
whom were people of color, atmile twenty one cheer zone, which prompted
a lawsuit. Runners World reported intwenty twenty two about the baas obscure largely
(18:27):
white invitation only membership group which isinvolved with governance and of the organization.
Okay, side note here, ifyou guys, go back and listen to
my episode of My Script through Bostonin twenty twenty three, I mentioned this
the the cheer station that in mymind was just down having a great time
that was actively getting shut down bythe police as I ran through it.
(18:52):
Now, I had never researched itafter that. I talked about it on
the episode, but I did notknow until I read this article that lawsuit
had actually been filed because of this. So that's huge. And again I'm
just one guy, but I wasone guy who was running through doing the
Boston Marathon as that happened. Iknow exactly what they're talking about. And
(19:14):
for me, this one guy,that crowd was awesome and they were going
ape stuff for anyone who came along. I thought they were great. They
were very motivational, very organized,and not at all in issue. So
one guy, one guy's opinion.But I definitely couldn't figure out why the
Boston p D were kind of shuttingthat down. Anyway, I continue on
(19:38):
too many observers in the running community. Setting a fixed finished time would be
an easy way to help the raceshow it it is concerned about runners of
varying abilities, not just the frontof the pack. Other races in the
world marathon majors are much more laxabout their finishing times, with the exception
of Tokyo, which has nine cutoffpoints along the route and runners are stopped
(20:03):
if they lag behind. There areno questions, however, about where they
stand. It's true, but thefinishers of London, New York and Chicago
appear in the results with times hoursslower than the racist published cutoff times.
Berlin, which has a posted cutofftime of six point fifteen, stays open
for an extra fifteen to twenty minutesbefore the Brandenburg Gate closes, according to
(20:25):
previous finishers. Blackburn won't be backto Boston anytime soon. I don't know,
honestly if I would do it againwithout major changes to actually be inclusive.
Inclusive, I'm sorry of non qualifyingathletes, she wrote in a message
to Runners World. I think BAAofficials are putting out we are trying vibes
(20:45):
without actually trying cast Her, onthe other hand, plans to try again
the uncertainty while she was on thecourse in the wrong information she was given
about the official vehicle were what upsether. She doesn't know if if it
would have made a difference for herhad she been aware of the times she
had to be And then she saysin a quote, but I would like
(21:07):
to have had the opportunity to havetried. She said, that's the part
that I'm sore about. SOO,that is what I read about this year's
Boston Marathon. I definitely found itsurprising, and it brings up the question
that I will tackle today, notthe one that we're going to tackle next
week. Yes, Boston is ina very elitist race. We know this.
(21:32):
This is not new information. Thisis not just my opinion. It
was clearly in the article. Itis a very elitist race. Now I
was able to run it in twentytwenty three. Yes, yes, I
got in on a charity BIB.So wast my elite level runner. No,
absolutely not. I did not qualifyfor the Boston Marathon. There are
times people ask me have you doneBoston. I say yes, oh,
(21:52):
wow, that's really great. Idid it on a charity BIB. Oh,
and their excitement drops because I didnot achieve the elite level status that
a lot of Boston qualifiers achieve.I get it, I understand that completely.
It does not take away from thefact that I am a Boston Marathon
finisher, and I am an officialfinisher of my time of five hours and
(22:18):
forty eight minutes, so I didn'thave to worry about a car. Now,
the thing that gets me about thisis the car. The car in
this very very loose cutoff time,very loose for a race as elitist and
as strict as Boston, you can'tjust be well, it's after it's this
amount of time after the last personcrosses the start line. You don't know
(22:41):
when that is, you have nofreaking clue. And then there's this car,
this ghost car almost that did notactually finish the race. And I
get it. If you don't wantto send your your pace car all the
way down Boilston Street and have itdrive over the finish line, okay,
that's fine. But where did itturn off and how much time is left
after it turns off? I thinkthis moving limit they have. Okay,
(23:07):
it's x amount of time after thisperson starts, whenever this person may start.
I don't know. I don't likethat. I really don't like that.
I don't think that is fair tothe back of the pack runners,
who, of course we have theheart for. I think that it's too
subjective. You know, who's tosay when the last runner starts? Like
I know the timing mats can say, but is there an official, an
official official at that line with theirstopwatch and as soon as they start click
(23:32):
the button, okay, car,go get them. I don't think so.
I can't see that being the case. I imagine someone for the last
person starts. I imagine they havesomeone moses over to this car and fires
it up, and then they've justgot this pace they're supposed to drive for
the rest of the course. Okay, do we know how strict the driver
(23:52):
is, do we know how intune they are with the running situation?
And again, you can't say thatanything is one hundred percent accurate with that
system. What they suggest in thearticle and what I think I like the
most, since you about know roughlywhat between eleven twenty am and eleven thirty
(24:14):
am you're gonna get that last personacross the start line? Is that fair
to say? Can they look backat all the years and find the average
start time and when that is.I am sure it's between eleven twenty am
and eleven thirty am. Fine,the five thirty cutoffs, that's really where
I think it's at five thirty onthe dot. Be ready shut it down,
(24:36):
as Lisleman would say, shut itdown at five thirty. This moving
target, with this maybe car anduncertainty for runners, especially on a day
with rough conditions, You're just leavingit open for criticism, Boston, because
I'm kind of criticizing right now.I think that's a really bad look,
(24:56):
and I don't think you need anymore bad looks right now. You've had
several the Cure Station last year thatyou shut down of the primarily black people,
not a great look. Your overallelitist appearance to you know, people
who aren't elite, not a greatlook. Now you are denying someone an
(25:17):
official finishing time over thirty seven seconds, a subjective thirty seven seconds. You
can't do that, especially because ofwhat it takes for someone who's gonna be
running six hours and thirty seven seconds, what it takes for us to get
there. It's not a qualifying time. It's not a lottery it's money,
(25:40):
and it's a lot of money.And so thirty seven seconds, no finish,
no sixth star, no, bebetter, be better. I get
it. You're Boston, you havethe elite. I understand all this.
But if you are gonna open itup to charities, and you're gonna open
it up to we have finished twentyfive years previous, but we're older now,
(26:00):
at least by twenty five years,or we're gonna open it up to
slower runners, you gotta start droppingsome of that elitist attitude. You really
do thirty seven seconds and you've deniedthat person everything, everything, the two
things I've wanted most in this runningworld I have one of I have Boston,
Boston and the six Stars, andin thirty seven seconds, you took
(26:22):
it away from that person. Idon't agree. I don't agree with how
you have handled the setup of thatrace, or at least how you've handled
the setup of the finish. Ifyou want to make it a five thirty
cutoff time, strict cutoff time,do it, because then every runner knows.
We all know five point thirty.You're staring at your watch, Okay,
(26:44):
I see the finish line. Fivetwenty eight fifteen. Holy crap,
here I go and you kick itand you get across the finish line.
Now, look, if someone finishesat five thirty PM and thirty seven seconds,
then you know what, they didnot finish in their time. Okay,
I hate it. I hate it, And if it were me personally,
I would have more of a graceperiod. Like you finished. We
(27:07):
did not officially tear down the finishline or stop people from coming here.
You've crossed at twenty six point twoplus because it's long. You're a finisher.
But I get it. If youhave to have that time, and
if they come in after that time, you had the time and it was
set in stone. This is amoving target, as the article says,
and I think a moving target isnot fair to runners in a moving target
(27:29):
by thirty seven seconds is absolute hogwash. That person you need to amend your
time, give them their Boston,and give them their World Marathon Major six
stars. That's my opinion, becauseyou can't be on a shadow of a
doubt say they didn't finish. Youcan't say, oh, they didn't compete
it in time. Who knows,maybe they did, maybe they didn't.
(27:52):
I don't know, and yeah,maybe they took the last they took the
time later from the very last person, and then they took their time and
they did the math and they foundout thirty seven seconds over. You allowed
them to finish. You handed thema medal. If you hand them a
medal, they're a finisher of yourfrickin' race. Man. You handed them
the medal, you handed them thesix star medal. They've got their medals,
(28:14):
They've completed it. Give them theirofficial time, give them their star
on abbot dot com or whatever itis. And look, if you want
to cut them off, fine,get the police line up. Sorry,
can't cross. Race is over,and please defer out of this gate and
go find your family. It sucksand it's harsh, but it's better than
allowing someone to finish, celebrate,think that they've done something, and then
(28:37):
you take it away from them.Just rug right out from underneath their feet,
whoop, and you done so.That is how I see this particular
brew Haha. I would love youropinion in the comments here on Facebook once
this is posted. If you listenthrough any of the other services just the
audio services or YouTube well YouTube,you can leave comments the Spotify, iHeart
(28:59):
iTunes, all that stuff. Pleasefind us on Facebook and feel free to
join join the conversation about this race. I'd love to know what you think.
Next week on this episode, we'regonna have our guest. We're gonna
be talking about the same situation,but now we're gonna be talking about the
aftermath. So I have said mypiece, you know what, I think.
A lot of people have said theirpiece, and they know what they
think in the argument now and Icannot coin this phrase. I didn't come
(29:21):
up with it. I've seen itin regards to this. Next week,
we're gonna have the conversation of eliteversus elitist, because now that is what
has reared its ugly ugly ahead,elite versus elitist. And we're gonna have
a very special guest on to talkabout that next week. So next week's
show, we're gonna talk about that. Next week, I'm supposed to be
(29:44):
in Manhattan, Kansas for the BillSnyder Memorial Highway not Memorial. I add
that every time he's alive, he'sfine, Bill's fine. Sorry, the
Bill Snyder a Highway half Marathon.I'm actually not going to be able to
make that race. I have aback injury. My back is preventing me
from running right now. I didtwo miles yesterday in agonizing pain. So
a half marathon is not going towork right now, and I'm trying to
(30:04):
get myself healthy and ready for thefull marathon in Fargo, North Dakota at
the end of this month. Soif you were going to Bill Snyder simply
because Kyle said he was going tobe there, I do apologize. I
don't think that applies to anyone.Have a great race though, at Bill
Snyder. Everyone, have a greatMemorial Day weekend if you can believe that's
what's coming up next. It isMemorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to
(30:27):
summer, but we're darn near there, so have a great run to Bill
Snyder, have a great Memorial Dayweekend. Leave your comments respectfully. If
it is not respectful, if itis just blasted with curses and insults,
I'm going to take that stuff downas fast as you as I can possibly
do it. But please, Iwould love to know what you think on
(30:48):
this issue, because it's a bigone. It certainly has made a lot
of ruckus in the running world,and rightfully so. But let's talk about
it. What do you think ofthe moving target of Boston? I have
a solution. What's your solution?Do you think? You know? Hey,
this is just this is how itis? Man like that. Then's
the breaks of running Boston. Weknow that the world marathon majors don't all
(31:10):
do the same thing. Is thatalso an issue? Isn't an issue that
it is different from Chicago to Londonand New York to Tokyo to Berlin to
Boston? What an you think?Because that's something else too. If you're
gonna be part of the Big Six. Shouldn't they all have the same rules.
Shouldn't they all have the same finish? Should they all have the same
grace period? Or should they allhave the same rigid results? Again,
(31:30):
what do you think about that?That's just a question popped into my head
right now. So that's gonna doit for this week's episode of the Back
of the Pack podcast. Hopefully itlooks better, sounds better. I thank
you all very much for tuning inevery week as you do. Our numbers
are going up, up, up, and I love it. I'm here
for it. I always welcome yoursuggestions if there's a topic you'd like,
I welcome any recommendations or braces youthink we should do. Please make sure
(31:51):
that you keep playing along on allof our social media platforms, follow us
or subscribe to the YouTube channel onthe Back of the Pack podcast. And
then I actually did a TikTok yesterday, So Back of the Back podcast does
have a TikTok, and I putsomething out there. Is it great?
No? Is it something? Yes, yes it is. So that's gonna
do it. For this week's episodeof the Back of the Back Podcast.
I am your host, Kyle Walker. It is my pleasure as Zolas.
(32:13):
Everyone have a safe week of training. We will be back next week with
our very special guest to continue talkingabout the Boston Marathon brew haha. Elite
versus elitist, So please join usnext week
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