August 15, 2025 • 26 mins
This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast: Second Wind, the Road to 200 takes a big step off the mic and onto the streets. We’re introducing the Chasing Rabbits Running Club, our brand-new community run club in partnership with Discourse Brewery. This isn’t just about logging miles — it’s about building on three years of friendship, laughter, and the “no runner left behind” promise that’s been at the heart of the podcast since day one. We talk about where the idea came from, what you can expect at our first meet-up on August 21st, and why this club is for everyone, regardless of pace. From the turtle shell tradition to post-run hangs at the brewery, we’re creating a space where connection matters more than competition. Whether you’re local and ready to join in person or a listener who wants to represent from afar, this is your invitation to run with the pack. Because now, the Back of the Pack runs together.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hello, everyone, Gritney's and salutations. Welcome back to another episode
at the Back of the Back podcast Second Went. I'm
host kin Walker. Thank you so much for tuning in.
We are on episode one hundred and ninety eight, if
you can believe that, on our March to two hundred
here on the Friday episodes, we've been going over things
as we get ready for our two hundredth episode, which
is now going to be one week from when you
hear this. I am surprised, shocked, amazed, astounded, I am
(00:37):
all of those things that we've made it to two
hundred episodes, and again, as we've said before and we'll
say again at nauseum, couldn't have done it without all
of you. Like, to be really fair, it's been one
heck of an incredible what three three plus years, not
quite three and a half, but three plus years that
we've been doing this, and it has been so fun
(00:57):
and mildly successful. And that's kind of what I want
to touch on today is really not what I have
done as a podcast host, not we have done as
a podcast, not even what our guests have done, even
though we covered all of them last week, and it
was so fun going over that little trip down memory lane.
But really I want to talk about what we have built.
(01:20):
We have built this community of runners. And look, I've
always known, and I think a lot of you have
always known, in the running world, there is always that
term back of the pack, you know, and there's always
those people who who know they're going to be farther behind.
And I know that there's been a few groups and
a few things. There's the Slow af group, there's the
Sloth Run Club, and then there's now the Back of
(01:42):
the Pack podcast. They've always been there, but I don't
feel like they've ever really been as as celebrated and
as accepted and as understood as they kind of become
over these last three plus years. Now, I'm not saying
it's just it's not just this pot cast in this effort.
It is this community that we're building of people who
(02:04):
can embrace that spot in their running world, and the
people who support those who embrace that spot in the
running world. Because, as we know, we have people who
listen to this podcast, from race winners to dfls. All right,
we've got the dead freaking last, and we've got the
people on the podium and everyone in between. We have
listeners of all shape, sizes, skills, and ability levels who
(02:26):
listen to this podcast, but they listen to it with
the full blown understanding that this comes from the perspective
of a more back of the pack runner. And yes,
in the last few years, as I've run more to
try and keep up with this podcast, really yeah, I've
kind of gone from back of the pack too, we'll
say mid to later part of the pack. I've gotten
a little faster, my times have gotten a little better. But
(02:49):
I will always identify as the back of the pack
runner as a guy who had that near four hour
half marathon because my conditioning was bad, or the guy
who's had the seven plus our full marathon just because
that's what my body would let me do. That is
how I always will identify. That's what I speak to.
But we have a community of people from start to
(03:09):
finish who understand that everyone who does that, everyone who
is running the seven plus hour full marathon, or the
people who are close to the four hour half marathon,
they are every bit as much runners as the people
who are on the podium and done in sixteen minutes.
We are all doing the same distance, we are all
lacing them up we're all toeing the starting line, and
we are all out there doing badass things because that's
(03:31):
what we enjoy doing. We enjoy doing the hard things.
And that's the community in which we have built up.
That's a community that I am very pleased I have
helped with, we have helped with, all of us have
helped with and the community we've built like we now
have a network of other podcasts, of podcast buddies. Who
(03:52):
would have thought, like three and a half years ago,
that I would say I have a network of podcast resources.
I have people from outside the running world. We've got
Karen and the Just Grow Something podcast. If you are
into gardening, if you're into farming, if you're into those things,
you go to the Just Grow Something podcast and you
listen to Karen, who is infinitely smarter at these things
(04:14):
than most people I know. And then we if we
want to talk fellow running but from a faster perspective,
We've got the Happy Pace podcast over in Saint Louis,
both of them faster runners than I, different geographical area,
but again, podcast buddies. And now we have another one.
She says, I'm her mentor, and it is very kind,
(04:35):
but and I'm more than happy to say that I
had a very small piece in launching that podcast, simply
because we talked about it before she launched it. But
she was gonna launch it anyway, it didn't matter what
I said. But down in Huntsville, Alabama, the whole southeast
is now covered by Lisa and the Behind the Bib podcast.
So Lisa and Behind the Bib are doing great things
in the Southeast. And then if we just go straight
(04:56):
down south into Texas, we've got our great running influence,
our friend running up that Hillary who's doing great things
for the running world, who's a Brooks ambassador, and who's
been on this podcast, and who shares our stuff at
times and influences people because she's a full blown influencer.
And again I don't even remember how we connected. I
(05:16):
think she sent me a message or liked something or
forwarded something on Instagram years ago, if we just connected.
Ever since then, she has been on my podcast, I've
been on her podcasting again, another person in the network
of podcasting now that she has hers this day in
running history, so we never would have thought that we
had had these things. It is just truly astounding the
(05:37):
community that we're building and We're not done by any
stretch of the imagination. And so, even though I have
mentioned it before, what I want to do on this
episode is really dive into the nuts and bolts of
our newest venture. Okay, and I'm wearing the shirt right now.
You can kind of see some of it. There we go.
The Chasing Rabbits Run Club, it is officially launched. We're
(05:58):
about to have our first run. Our first run is
actually going to be the evening before our two hundredth
episode drops. So hopefully I can record a little something
there and insert it into the two hundredth episode because
it's happening next week. The Chasing Rabbits Run Club is
something that I helped come up with with a local brewery, Okay,
(06:18):
and so a big shout out to Discourse Brewing. They're
at ninety seventh in Metcalf in Overland Park, Kansas. They
the owners were talking to Bill. Bill is a back
of the Pack podcast OG. He has been listening to
this from darn near the start. And they're talking. They're
talking Bill and Discourse talking what's going on? Hey, how
(06:40):
you doing? How's your mom? And them? Whatever the situation was.
They say they have a group that every once in
a while stops by their brewery and does a group run. Well,
they want to start one of their own. They want
to make it their thing where it's not just a
once a month or even maybe once a quarter. It's
the brewery is always us. The runners are our people,
(07:01):
and you know, how can we make that happen? And
so they were picking the brain of a fellow runner
in Bill. Bill knows us, Bill knows back Ofpack podcast.
Bill knows me. He and I have drank beer together.
He reaches out to me and says, hey, this is
a thing. What do you think? Interested? Yes, yes, interested?
And so I go over there. I meet with Bill,
and I meat with the owners of Discourse Brewing Match
(07:25):
Made in Heaven, and we're going to do this thing.
So what's going to happen? All right, every other Thursday.
We're starting with every other So we what we got
two a month, maybe three if the months and weeks
line up correctly. But every other week we're going to
get together and we're going to have a group run. Now,
I said it on the other when I mentioned this
on another podcast, and I'm saying it again to you.
(07:46):
I am not trying to replace your brew crew run.
I am not trying to replace your running club. I
am not trying to replace or compete with any of
the other and there are many here in town that
run throughout the evening. I'm not competing with the ones
that go to the local breweries. I'm not competing with
(08:08):
the ones that run at local tracks. I am We
are in competition with no one. If you have a
brew crew group that you look, that you like, that
you adore, that you were having a grand old time with,
then I don't want to see you at our run.
I want you to be with your group and be
with your people, and be with whatever organization or team
(08:29):
or function that you have really enjoyed and that has
been the best benefit to you. We are not in
any kind of competition. I am not in competition with
any local brew crews. You guys are all doing amazing things.
And you guys, I see your pictures, I see your
stuff on social media, and everyone else is out there
running and drinking their best life. And I tell you,
(08:50):
I am here for it. I love it. I try
and thumbs up it on Facebook anytime I see it.
I'm not taking anyone. What this is for is the
people who do not have that, the people who do
not have a brew crew group or a run club
or a running group that they are comfortable going to.
And here's why I know some of you aren't comfortable,
(09:11):
because you're exactly like me, who has never gone to
a brew crew run, who has never gone to a
group run, who's never gone to a running club run.
I haven't been to any of them. I've been running
a real long time. And that is because the fear
for people like us, those who identify more as back
of the pack runners, the fear, of course, is being
left behind, and that they're gonna say, go in all
(09:34):
the gazelles, all the rabbits, if you will, are gonna
go scampering along. And you're there just looking around, doing
your run, doing your pace, and you're by yourself. There's
no one around. The course, of course is the course
of course, and the horse is a horse of course
of course, but the courses aren't supported for most I'd
say ninety nine percent of group runs. Just everyone. You
(09:55):
bring your own little water bottle or you drink it. Nothing.
You can get through the run. There's no aid station.
The roads are not closed, not every sidewalk is perfect.
Not every street light is turned on. There are things
that can go wrong, and if you're by yourself, then
those things are going to worry you. And again we've
talked about female runner safety before, this is another part
(10:15):
of female runner safety. If you're at the back and
everyone's gone, you're by yourself, maybe in an area you
don't know, a place you've never been around, a brewery
and a questionable part of town. All these things can
contribute to you having a very bad time and having
a horrible experience. We eliminate that. So with the Chasing
Rabbits Running Club, we have eliminated that. We are always
(10:36):
going to meet at Discourse Brewing. Okay, that's ninety seventh
to Metcalf every other Thursday starting August twenty. First, you
don't have to find a new part of town. You're
not on map quest or whatever they call them these days,
google maps looking for a new place you've never been before.
Once you're there, once you know where it is, you
know how to get back there. It's right off Metcalf Avenue.
That is not exactly a lightly traveled road. Everybody in
(11:01):
this area who's been here more than five minutes knows
Metcalf ninety seven at the Metcalf, we're talking. This is
a big area. We already have a course mapped out.
It is three miles. We will never do more than
three miles unless there is some huge demand and we
set up a special night where you know, we're doing
three and a half four and I don't foresee that happening.
(11:23):
I think three is where we're going to be. Three
is the sweet spot, baby, And we have a course
that lines up perfectly, that keeps us on good streets
with good sidewalks for exactly three point one miles. Perfect.
You can't measure much closer than that. But you will
never do more than three miles, and you will never
be last. How do I know you will never be last?
(11:43):
Because I will. I am taking it personally upon myself
to always be the last person back. So when we start,
whoever is let's say, at the slowest pace, whoever's out
there walking, whoever might be pushing a stroller, whoever's recovering
from an injury, whoever, just this is my speed. I'm
(12:06):
with you, and we're gonna do our three miles at
your pace, whatever pace is comfortable to you. I am
not there getting my miles. I'm not there getting my run.
I am there for this group and for the community
that we are building, and so I can't wait to
meet new people or talk to old friends as we
do our three miles on a Thursday night at your pace.
(12:28):
And now I'm gonna make it fun. Don't get me wrong.
I'm gonna make it fun because I got something for
me and this is actually going to be a little
badge of honor. I am sure that a Thursday is
going to appear where I can't be there, and so
we will have an honorary person to do this on
weeks I'm not there, and I know there won't be
many of them. But we have the turtle shell. I
(12:51):
will always be wearing the turtle shell because I will
always be the last one back to the barn when
I can't make it. Honorary turtle shells will be worn
whoever wants to take it, whoever says I will be
the turtle. I will be the last one, and they
will wear the turtle shell of honor. And now what
(13:13):
we're gonna do with the turtle shell? Because the motorcycle
enthusiast in me starts to come out. I have patches,
and every week we're gonna put a new patch until
this thing's covered. On the turtle shell. You want to
know here, I've got a feel already. I've already ordered some.
So the turtle shell maybe the first week. Because we
(13:33):
are the turtles, there's gonna be a lot of tortoise
and hair references. Just be aware. Our first one might
be bunny patrol. We're out there hunting the rabbits. We're
hunting the bunnies. And don't worry you fast runners. You
are welcome to We'll get to you in a second.
Or we might be done with bunny patrol, and then
we're gonna throw on. After this, we're getting beer. We're
(13:54):
going back to a brewery. Of course, we're having a beer.
You kidding me. Let's see what else do we get here?
I got some fun. Oh all right, Ricky, Bobby, if
you ain't first your last, that will someday go on
the turtle shell and then our last one. What a
terrible idea. When do we start? And I've got more
in the mail. They're on the way. So we've got
(14:15):
the turtle shell, we've got the patches. That's just gonna
be some of the stuff that we're gonna do every week.
We're going to have so many themes for the different
weeks because look, I know week one everyone's coming out
to Week one. Week one is gonna be so packed
and it is going to be so cool, and I
cannot wait for August twenty first. We're gonna have a blast.
We're gonna go we're gonna take all the pictures, see
(14:37):
all the people. We're gonna do, all the things. We're
gonna do our three miles. I'm gonna wear my turtle shell.
We're all gonna get back to discourse. Everyone's gonna have
a beer or two, and then they're gonna go home.
It's the second week, that's the one I'm worried about.
It's the third time we get together. The first is
always the most fun, and the first is where everyone's
gonna come try it out. And again, if you get
there and you decide, hey, this wasn't my jam, no worries,
(14:59):
go find what is. But I'm hoping, I'm hoping that
between a good experience on night one and then all
the themed stuff that we're gonna have coming up, you're
going to want to come back every other Thursday to
Discourse Brewery, and you're gonna want to do the Chasing
Rabbits run club with us. That is my hope. So
there's definitely going to be a night We're all gonna
wear ninja turtle masks. Yep, you can choose your red, blue, orange,
(15:22):
or purple. There's gonna be a night we all wear
ninja turtle masks. They're already on the way. Just letting
you know they're already on the way. There's going to
be nights wear. You wear a beer shirt, You'll wear
the shirt. Whatever t shirt you got a home of
your favorite beer. Okay, and it doesn't even have to
be your favorite beer. You might be like, oh my god,
I have a Bud Light shirt or a Corona shirt.
(15:43):
Everyone bought a Corona shirt during coronavirus. We were all
so smart, Alegy. You wear your Corona shirt, you wear
your old Bud Light shirt, you wear your your chief's
Budweiser shirt, you wear your Royals Miller Light shirt from
a giveaway. There's gonna be nights everyone wears a beer shirt. Now,
for you faster runners, we are going to have honorary
bunny ears. Okay, So when if you are the first
(16:07):
one to finish the group run. You get to put
on the honorary bunny ears for that night of drinking,
and then when you come back the next week, you
can choose to wear your honorary bunny ears for the run. Now,
if you are not first one again, you have to
give up the honorary bunny ears. The turtle shell is
reserved for last. The bunny ears will be reserved for first. Now.
I ordered a pack of like eight of them, so
(16:28):
you can pick a color, and then if a pair
gets gross, we're just gonna get rid of them, and
ye know, well substitute them out for a cleaner version.
But the fast people have the bunny ears. We got
the turtle shell for the last people. We're gonna have
Ninja Turtle Night. We're gonna have beer shirt night. Of course,
some night it's gonna be crazy socks. I can't wait
for this one. It's gonna be in the fall, maybe
around Halloween. We're having a glow night. Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah,
(16:52):
We're having a glow knight. Everyone's gonna get glow sticks.
You're gonna get glow necklaces, glow headbands, glow whatever. If
we're gonna have a glow night for our runs. Because again,
this is just every other week. This is not an
every week thing. It's not a big commitment. You're not like,
oh my god, I gotta go again and again every
two weeks is no big deal. But we're just gonna
try and have some fun with it. Now. Look, I
(17:12):
know I'm putting out my ideas right now. Other run
clubs might be ooh, that's a fantastic idea. We want
to do that, We'll do it. If you like an
idea of mine, absolutely put it out there and do it.
And if trust me, if I see a good idea
that you guys have, I mean, if you ever have one,
I'm gonna totally snipe that as well. That's what we do. Again.
There's no competitors in the running world. There's just everyone
trying to get better. There's communities that are being built
(17:35):
and are being built stronger by us all coming together.
All right, there's a reason I'm not doing this on
Friday nights. That's run nine to one three, a huge
running group that I'm not competing with them because I
don't want to compete with them. And maybe someday I'm
comfortable enough to join them, but I'm not competing with
them by any stretching the imagination. There's run eight, one, six,
(17:55):
I'm not competing with them. I'm in all of them.
I think I called them all sexy back starts the
last time we talked about this, So again, I am
not trying to steal anyone. I am more than happy
for you to use any of my ideas, and I
hope you would not mind if I used one of yours.
But that's what we want to do. When everyone gets
back to the brewery again, drink responsibly, have one or two.
(18:18):
If you want to have more than that, that's on you.
But this just we're about to get into fall. We're
about to have perfect weather for getting some miles in
and then sitting on their outside patio having a beer
or two and then you go home. To me, it
sounds perfect. And again, we've got the shirts. You can
see this one. I have three of them. I got
three different colors. They're not available for purchase yet, but
(18:38):
we're gonna work on that, and whether it be through
discourse or through the back of the pack podcast merchandise
on our website, we're gonna try and get these shirts
out because I think these are gonna be popular shirts
again if you're wondering. So you've got the you got
the microphone and the color splatter from the Back of
the Pack podcast. That's kind of our contribution. The rabbit
is Discourse Breweries logo. They're they're all about the rabbits.
(19:01):
And then of course we're back at the pack, so
we got a turtle on here, all right, So we
got tortoise in the hair, we got the back of
the Pack logo, and then Chasing Rabbits Run Club because
again we're most of us are always chasing the rabbits
at the race. We're never the rabbit. We're always chasing
the rabbits. But if you're a rabbit, then you are
absolutely welcome to come to this event and we would
absolutely love to have you. So that's it. Like that,
(19:24):
that's where we're at again. The first run is on Thursday,
August twenty first, twenty twenty five, no more than three miles.
We're gonna meet at Discourse, Okay, so you can go
and sign and see the place if you haven't been
in there. If you've never been there, I suggest you
go and sign and see the place. I can't confirm
they just got a brand new air conditioner, so it
feels wonderful in there. Ask me how I know, as
(19:45):
I was there last night and enjoined a few adult beverages.
But go in there, see the place, try a few beers.
They brew their own beers right there on site. So no,
you're not gonna just walk out with a MODELO or
a bud light. Nope, you're gonna drink some of their
good stuff. And boy do they have some good stuff.
Holy cow. And they don't outprice you like you're not
gonna be paying eight dollars for you know this much beer.
(20:06):
That's not a thing that's gonna happen. There's now who
I omed hard Ooh boy, call me out on that, Kyle,
you idiot. Our sticker is now on one of the pillars,
so you'll know you're in the right place. If you
look at the pillar that's back there by all the
brewing barrels and stuff. Look at the very top you'll
see the back of the pack podcast sticker. So we're there.
Feel like we've arrived. They have signs inside talking about
(20:28):
the run club. You can follow them on social media.
Just look up Discourse Brewery. They're on social media. You
will see their calendar. They have events going on most days,
and again I'm hoping I think that sometime around the holiday,
we're gonna take over the place on a Tuesday night
where they're usually closed, and we're gonna either host host
a live Packies our Fake Award show, or maybe we'll
(20:49):
just do a live episode from there, or it might
just be the back of the pack podcast Christmas party.
That could be really fun too. But I think they
might be willing to open up for us on a
Tuesday night so over them can come out and just
enjoy the holiday season and have a drink together and
a talk podcast, talk running and talk that kind of stuff.
But I am super excited about this, this partnership. I
(21:10):
think it's it's gonna go wonderfully again. They got these
shirts made for me. They got in super fast. They
do sell merchandise. I'm hoping sometime I'm gonna talk them
out of like a T shirt for a giveaway and
you might walk away with a Discourse Brewery T shirt,
which is super cool. They've got stickers, they sell pint glasses.
The beer is good, the patio is outside, it's wonderful.
(21:31):
The ac works on the inside. You're gonna get a
run in and we're gonna have stuff to talk about
on the podcast. We are just winning all over the place,
all over the place. And then I am gonna try
and start using a hashtag, hashtag Chasing Rabbits RC. So
if you come out and you post about it, we're
gonna use Chasing Rabbits RC as our hashtag. And I
(21:52):
got to get better about using that myself. So there
go again, Episode one and ninety eight. Super cool. We'll
be back on Monday's episode with kind of a breakdown
of the weekend that was, of course REXI Run being
the biggest thing, and then hearts for runn of McDonald
ho's charity ten K being the secondary thing. It's a
two race weekend coming up for us, and then we'll
(22:12):
we'll head into group run week and then other stuff
after that. So it's pretty cool. So we only got
Monday's episode one ninety nine and then next week is
two hundred. If you wanted to contribute to the two
hundredth episode with a little video, turn your phone sideways,
record something, send it to me. You can send it
to me personally over Facebook, Insto Messenger. You can send
(22:33):
it to the podcast over Facebook, insta Messenger, or probably
better email me at Kyle kyl E at botppod dot com,
email zoomy. And you can do that whether you're at
a race this weekend, or if you're just out on
a run, or you're just sitting at home thinking, oh okay,
be fun. If you want to email me something and
(22:55):
be on the two hundredth episode, I will put your
little video out there again. You can come on here
and say, oh, hey we like the podcast. Here is
my favorite episode, or hey, we like the podcast it
made me run this race which was really great, or
I hate the podcast, you're an absolute moron. I'll put
it on there as well. What do I care? I've
been called worse by better, so you have those options.
(23:16):
I hope you will take us up on it. It's again,
two hundred is amazing to me. I'm super ecstatic about it,
as you can tell. I am so thankful to everyone
for contributing, listening, interacting again the interactions on social media
where it's at. Please go like our Instagram account. It
is woefully short and woefully small compared to what our
(23:38):
Facebook is. Facebook is over six thousand and Instagram is
over six hundred. We got to build that up. Those
are rookie numbers. You've got to build those up again.
If you've seen the rest of that movie, you'll know,
holy caw, how's it referencing that that movie's nuts? And
it is so do that get on our social media
because it will really play into the run club stuff
because Discourse they're big on social media and I think
(24:00):
they're really big on Instagram as well. I've seen posts
that they put out there. And then we just continue,
we continue to build this community, and I am so
glad to even have my small pardon in building up
what we're doing here. And then on the fall running
season we go onto episode three hundred. I hope we
go here in some amount of time off to four years.
That will celebrate in March, and everything is great. So
(24:22):
again a big thank you to Discourse Brewery. I think
this is the start of a beautiful relationship, a beautiful
partnership again, wonderful people, lovely place. I'm really excited and
I think this is this is going to really help
people who want to run club. It's gonna help Discourse,
gonna help us. I'm super excited. And then the last
thing I want to mention, then I promise I will
(24:43):
shut the hell up. I hope you saw on Facebook
and on Instagram that I posted. We can now say
this is so cool. We can now say that this
is the Back of the Pack podcast as seen in
Runners World. Yes, the article dropped in which they reached
out to me for some quotes about an article they
were doing, and so they used my quotes. They credit
(25:06):
Kyle from the Back of the Pack podcast out of Kansas,
and throughout the course of the article they actually use
my quotes several times in several different places about several
different things I talked to. The interview were for thirty minutes.
She was lovely said anytime they want to do a
big old feature on yours, truly, I'm in. Yeah, we'll
see if that happens. But you can now say you're
(25:26):
listening to a podcast that has been mentioned in Runners
World magazine and that is super cool. So thank you
to Runners World. I'm still on cloud nine. That you
guys even thought of me, included me, reached down to me,
it was great. I hope we can do more together.
But again, just we're building right now. We're building, and
there's some more cool things than the works. I'm not
going to say them right now because then I'll feel
(25:47):
like I jinxed them and they won't actually happen. But
there's some cool stuff that is being discussed that would
really help help us all out and be really neat things.
So that all. That's where I'm gonna leave that, though,
not saying another word about it. Nope. So there's been
another episode. Well, it's been another episode. It's been episode
one and ninety eight of the Back of the Pack Podcast,
second one. I'm gro S Kyle Walker. It is my
(26:08):
pleasure as always, everyone, have a safe week of training,
think about joining us at the group run next week
and we will see you next week
Hello, everyone, Gritney's and salutations. Welcome back to another episode
at the Back of the Back podcast Second Went. I'm
host kin Walker. Thank you so much for tuning in.
We are on episode one hundred and ninety eight, if
you can believe that, on our March to two hundred
here on the Friday episodes, we've been going over things
as we get ready for our two hundredth episode, which
is now going to be one week from when you
hear this. I am surprised, shocked, amazed, astounded, I am
(00:37):
all of those things that we've made it to two
hundred episodes, and again, as we've said before and we'll
say again at nauseum, couldn't have done it without all
of you. Like, to be really fair, it's been one
heck of an incredible what three three plus years, not
quite three and a half, but three plus years that
we've been doing this, and it has been so fun
(00:57):
and mildly successful. And that's kind of what I want
to touch on today is really not what I have
done as a podcast host, not we have done as
a podcast, not even what our guests have done, even
though we covered all of them last week, and it
was so fun going over that little trip down memory lane.
But really I want to talk about what we have built.
(01:20):
We have built this community of runners. And look, I've
always known, and I think a lot of you have
always known, in the running world, there is always that
term back of the pack, you know, and there's always
those people who who know they're going to be farther behind.
And I know that there's been a few groups and
a few things. There's the Slow af group, there's the
Sloth Run Club, and then there's now the Back of
(01:42):
the Pack podcast. They've always been there, but I don't
feel like they've ever really been as as celebrated and
as accepted and as understood as they kind of become
over these last three plus years. Now, I'm not saying
it's just it's not just this pot cast in this effort.
It is this community that we're building of people who
(02:04):
can embrace that spot in their running world, and the
people who support those who embrace that spot in the
running world. Because, as we know, we have people who
listen to this podcast, from race winners to dfls. All right,
we've got the dead freaking last, and we've got the
people on the podium and everyone in between. We have
listeners of all shape, sizes, skills, and ability levels who
(02:26):
listen to this podcast, but they listen to it with
the full blown understanding that this comes from the perspective
of a more back of the pack runner. And yes,
in the last few years, as I've run more to
try and keep up with this podcast, really yeah, I've
kind of gone from back of the pack too, we'll
say mid to later part of the pack. I've gotten
a little faster, my times have gotten a little better. But
(02:49):
I will always identify as the back of the pack
runner as a guy who had that near four hour
half marathon because my conditioning was bad, or the guy
who's had the seven plus our full marathon just because
that's what my body would let me do. That is
how I always will identify. That's what I speak to.
But we have a community of people from start to
(03:09):
finish who understand that everyone who does that, everyone who
is running the seven plus hour full marathon, or the
people who are close to the four hour half marathon,
they are every bit as much runners as the people
who are on the podium and done in sixteen minutes.
We are all doing the same distance, we are all
lacing them up we're all toeing the starting line, and
we are all out there doing badass things because that's
(03:31):
what we enjoy doing. We enjoy doing the hard things.
And that's the community in which we have built up.
That's a community that I am very pleased I have
helped with, we have helped with, all of us have
helped with and the community we've built like we now
have a network of other podcasts, of podcast buddies. Who
(03:52):
would have thought, like three and a half years ago,
that I would say I have a network of podcast resources.
I have people from outside the running world. We've got
Karen and the Just Grow Something podcast. If you are
into gardening, if you're into farming, if you're into those things,
you go to the Just Grow Something podcast and you
listen to Karen, who is infinitely smarter at these things
(04:14):
than most people I know. And then we if we
want to talk fellow running but from a faster perspective,
We've got the Happy Pace podcast over in Saint Louis,
both of them faster runners than I, different geographical area,
but again, podcast buddies. And now we have another one.
She says, I'm her mentor, and it is very kind,
(04:35):
but and I'm more than happy to say that I
had a very small piece in launching that podcast, simply
because we talked about it before she launched it. But
she was gonna launch it anyway, it didn't matter what
I said. But down in Huntsville, Alabama, the whole southeast
is now covered by Lisa and the Behind the Bib podcast.
So Lisa and Behind the Bib are doing great things
in the Southeast. And then if we just go straight
(04:56):
down south into Texas, we've got our great running influence,
our friend running up that Hillary who's doing great things
for the running world, who's a Brooks ambassador, and who's
been on this podcast, and who shares our stuff at
times and influences people because she's a full blown influencer.
And again I don't even remember how we connected. I
(05:16):
think she sent me a message or liked something or
forwarded something on Instagram years ago, if we just connected.
Ever since then, she has been on my podcast, I've
been on her podcasting again, another person in the network
of podcasting now that she has hers this day in
running history, so we never would have thought that we
had had these things. It is just truly astounding the
(05:37):
community that we're building and We're not done by any
stretch of the imagination. And so, even though I have
mentioned it before, what I want to do on this
episode is really dive into the nuts and bolts of
our newest venture. Okay, and I'm wearing the shirt right now.
You can kind of see some of it. There we go.
The Chasing Rabbits Run Club, it is officially launched. We're
(05:58):
about to have our first run. Our first run is
actually going to be the evening before our two hundredth
episode drops. So hopefully I can record a little something
there and insert it into the two hundredth episode because
it's happening next week. The Chasing Rabbits Run Club is
something that I helped come up with with a local brewery, Okay,
(06:18):
and so a big shout out to Discourse Brewing. They're
at ninety seventh in Metcalf in Overland Park, Kansas. They
the owners were talking to Bill. Bill is a back
of the Pack podcast OG. He has been listening to
this from darn near the start. And they're talking. They're
talking Bill and Discourse talking what's going on? Hey, how
(06:40):
you doing? How's your mom? And them? Whatever the situation was.
They say they have a group that every once in
a while stops by their brewery and does a group run. Well,
they want to start one of their own. They want
to make it their thing where it's not just a
once a month or even maybe once a quarter. It's
the brewery is always us. The runners are our people,
(07:01):
and you know, how can we make that happen? And
so they were picking the brain of a fellow runner
in Bill. Bill knows us, Bill knows back Ofpack podcast.
Bill knows me. He and I have drank beer together.
He reaches out to me and says, hey, this is
a thing. What do you think? Interested? Yes, yes, interested?
And so I go over there. I meet with Bill,
and I meat with the owners of Discourse Brewing Match
(07:25):
Made in Heaven, and we're going to do this thing.
So what's going to happen? All right, every other Thursday.
We're starting with every other So we what we got
two a month, maybe three if the months and weeks
line up correctly. But every other week we're going to
get together and we're going to have a group run. Now,
I said it on the other when I mentioned this
on another podcast, and I'm saying it again to you.
(07:46):
I am not trying to replace your brew crew run.
I am not trying to replace your running club. I
am not trying to replace or compete with any of
the other and there are many here in town that
run throughout the evening. I'm not competing with the ones
that go to the local breweries. I'm not competing with
(08:08):
the ones that run at local tracks. I am We
are in competition with no one. If you have a
brew crew group that you look, that you like, that
you adore, that you were having a grand old time with,
then I don't want to see you at our run.
I want you to be with your group and be
with your people, and be with whatever organization or team
(08:29):
or function that you have really enjoyed and that has
been the best benefit to you. We are not in
any kind of competition. I am not in competition with
any local brew crews. You guys are all doing amazing things.
And you guys, I see your pictures, I see your
stuff on social media, and everyone else is out there
running and drinking their best life. And I tell you,
(08:50):
I am here for it. I love it. I try
and thumbs up it on Facebook anytime I see it.
I'm not taking anyone. What this is for is the
people who do not have that, the people who do
not have a brew crew group or a run club
or a running group that they are comfortable going to.
And here's why I know some of you aren't comfortable,
(09:11):
because you're exactly like me, who has never gone to
a brew crew run, who has never gone to a
group run, who's never gone to a running club run.
I haven't been to any of them. I've been running
a real long time. And that is because the fear
for people like us, those who identify more as back
of the pack runners, the fear, of course, is being
left behind, and that they're gonna say, go in all
(09:34):
the gazelles, all the rabbits, if you will, are gonna
go scampering along. And you're there just looking around, doing
your run, doing your pace, and you're by yourself. There's
no one around. The course, of course is the course
of course, and the horse is a horse of course
of course, but the courses aren't supported for most I'd
say ninety nine percent of group runs. Just everyone. You
(09:55):
bring your own little water bottle or you drink it. Nothing.
You can get through the run. There's no aid station.
The roads are not closed, not every sidewalk is perfect.
Not every street light is turned on. There are things
that can go wrong, and if you're by yourself, then
those things are going to worry you. And again we've
talked about female runner safety before, this is another part
(10:15):
of female runner safety. If you're at the back and
everyone's gone, you're by yourself, maybe in an area you
don't know, a place you've never been around, a brewery
and a questionable part of town. All these things can
contribute to you having a very bad time and having
a horrible experience. We eliminate that. So with the Chasing
Rabbits Running Club, we have eliminated that. We are always
(10:36):
going to meet at Discourse Brewing. Okay, that's ninety seventh
to Metcalf every other Thursday starting August twenty. First, you
don't have to find a new part of town. You're
not on map quest or whatever they call them these days,
google maps looking for a new place you've never been before.
Once you're there, once you know where it is, you
know how to get back there. It's right off Metcalf Avenue.
That is not exactly a lightly traveled road. Everybody in
(11:01):
this area who's been here more than five minutes knows
Metcalf ninety seven at the Metcalf, we're talking. This is
a big area. We already have a course mapped out.
It is three miles. We will never do more than
three miles unless there is some huge demand and we
set up a special night where you know, we're doing
three and a half four and I don't foresee that happening.
(11:23):
I think three is where we're going to be. Three
is the sweet spot, baby, And we have a course
that lines up perfectly, that keeps us on good streets
with good sidewalks for exactly three point one miles. Perfect.
You can't measure much closer than that. But you will
never do more than three miles, and you will never
be last. How do I know you will never be last?
(11:43):
Because I will. I am taking it personally upon myself
to always be the last person back. So when we start,
whoever is let's say, at the slowest pace, whoever's out
there walking, whoever might be pushing a stroller, whoever's recovering
from an injury, whoever, just this is my speed. I'm
(12:06):
with you, and we're gonna do our three miles at
your pace, whatever pace is comfortable to you. I am
not there getting my miles. I'm not there getting my run.
I am there for this group and for the community
that we are building, and so I can't wait to
meet new people or talk to old friends as we
do our three miles on a Thursday night at your pace.
(12:28):
And now I'm gonna make it fun. Don't get me wrong.
I'm gonna make it fun because I got something for
me and this is actually going to be a little
badge of honor. I am sure that a Thursday is
going to appear where I can't be there, and so
we will have an honorary person to do this on
weeks I'm not there, and I know there won't be
many of them. But we have the turtle shell. I
(12:51):
will always be wearing the turtle shell because I will
always be the last one back to the barn when
I can't make it. Honorary turtle shells will be worn
whoever wants to take it, whoever says I will be
the turtle. I will be the last one, and they
will wear the turtle shell of honor. And now what
(13:13):
we're gonna do with the turtle shell? Because the motorcycle
enthusiast in me starts to come out. I have patches,
and every week we're gonna put a new patch until
this thing's covered. On the turtle shell. You want to
know here, I've got a feel already. I've already ordered some.
So the turtle shell maybe the first week. Because we
(13:33):
are the turtles, there's gonna be a lot of tortoise
and hair references. Just be aware. Our first one might
be bunny patrol. We're out there hunting the rabbits. We're
hunting the bunnies. And don't worry you fast runners. You
are welcome to We'll get to you in a second.
Or we might be done with bunny patrol, and then
we're gonna throw on. After this, we're getting beer. We're
(13:54):
going back to a brewery. Of course, we're having a beer.
You kidding me. Let's see what else do we get here?
I got some fun. Oh all right, Ricky, Bobby, if
you ain't first your last, that will someday go on
the turtle shell and then our last one. What a
terrible idea. When do we start? And I've got more
in the mail. They're on the way. So we've got
(14:15):
the turtle shell, we've got the patches. That's just gonna
be some of the stuff that we're gonna do every week.
We're going to have so many themes for the different
weeks because look, I know week one everyone's coming out
to Week one. Week one is gonna be so packed
and it is going to be so cool, and I
cannot wait for August twenty first. We're gonna have a blast.
We're gonna go we're gonna take all the pictures, see
(14:37):
all the people. We're gonna do, all the things. We're
gonna do our three miles. I'm gonna wear my turtle shell.
We're all gonna get back to discourse. Everyone's gonna have
a beer or two, and then they're gonna go home.
It's the second week, that's the one I'm worried about.
It's the third time we get together. The first is
always the most fun, and the first is where everyone's
gonna come try it out. And again, if you get
there and you decide, hey, this wasn't my jam, no worries,
(14:59):
go find what is. But I'm hoping, I'm hoping that
between a good experience on night one and then all
the themed stuff that we're gonna have coming up, you're
going to want to come back every other Thursday to
Discourse Brewery, and you're gonna want to do the Chasing
Rabbits run club with us. That is my hope. So
there's definitely going to be a night We're all gonna
wear ninja turtle masks. Yep, you can choose your red, blue, orange,
(15:22):
or purple. There's gonna be a night we all wear
ninja turtle masks. They're already on the way. Just letting
you know they're already on the way. There's going to
be nights wear. You wear a beer shirt, You'll wear
the shirt. Whatever t shirt you got a home of
your favorite beer. Okay, and it doesn't even have to
be your favorite beer. You might be like, oh my god,
I have a Bud Light shirt or a Corona shirt.
(15:43):
Everyone bought a Corona shirt during coronavirus. We were all
so smart, Alegy. You wear your Corona shirt, you wear
your old Bud Light shirt, you wear your your chief's
Budweiser shirt, you wear your Royals Miller Light shirt from
a giveaway. There's gonna be nights everyone wears a beer shirt. Now,
for you faster runners, we are going to have honorary
bunny ears. Okay, So when if you are the first
(16:07):
one to finish the group run. You get to put
on the honorary bunny ears for that night of drinking,
and then when you come back the next week, you
can choose to wear your honorary bunny ears for the run. Now,
if you are not first one again, you have to
give up the honorary bunny ears. The turtle shell is
reserved for last. The bunny ears will be reserved for first. Now.
I ordered a pack of like eight of them, so
(16:28):
you can pick a color, and then if a pair
gets gross, we're just gonna get rid of them, and
ye know, well substitute them out for a cleaner version.
But the fast people have the bunny ears. We got
the turtle shell for the last people. We're gonna have
Ninja Turtle Night. We're gonna have beer shirt night. Of course,
some night it's gonna be crazy socks. I can't wait
for this one. It's gonna be in the fall, maybe
around Halloween. We're having a glow night. Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah,
(16:52):
We're having a glow knight. Everyone's gonna get glow sticks.
You're gonna get glow necklaces, glow headbands, glow whatever. If
we're gonna have a glow night for our runs. Because again,
this is just every other week. This is not an
every week thing. It's not a big commitment. You're not like,
oh my god, I gotta go again and again every
two weeks is no big deal. But we're just gonna
try and have some fun with it. Now. Look, I
(17:12):
know I'm putting out my ideas right now. Other run
clubs might be ooh, that's a fantastic idea. We want
to do that, We'll do it. If you like an
idea of mine, absolutely put it out there and do it.
And if trust me, if I see a good idea
that you guys have, I mean, if you ever have one,
I'm gonna totally snipe that as well. That's what we do. Again.
There's no competitors in the running world. There's just everyone
trying to get better. There's communities that are being built
(17:35):
and are being built stronger by us all coming together.
All right, there's a reason I'm not doing this on
Friday nights. That's run nine to one three, a huge
running group that I'm not competing with them because I
don't want to compete with them. And maybe someday I'm
comfortable enough to join them, but I'm not competing with
them by any stretching the imagination. There's run eight, one, six,
(17:55):
I'm not competing with them. I'm in all of them.
I think I called them all sexy back starts the
last time we talked about this, So again, I am
not trying to steal anyone. I am more than happy
for you to use any of my ideas, and I
hope you would not mind if I used one of yours.
But that's what we want to do. When everyone gets
back to the brewery again, drink responsibly, have one or two.
(18:18):
If you want to have more than that, that's on you.
But this just we're about to get into fall. We're
about to have perfect weather for getting some miles in
and then sitting on their outside patio having a beer
or two and then you go home. To me, it
sounds perfect. And again, we've got the shirts. You can
see this one. I have three of them. I got
three different colors. They're not available for purchase yet, but
(18:38):
we're gonna work on that, and whether it be through
discourse or through the back of the pack podcast merchandise
on our website, we're gonna try and get these shirts
out because I think these are gonna be popular shirts
again if you're wondering. So you've got the you got
the microphone and the color splatter from the Back of
the Pack podcast. That's kind of our contribution. The rabbit
is Discourse Breweries logo. They're they're all about the rabbits.
(19:01):
And then of course we're back at the pack, so
we got a turtle on here, all right, So we
got tortoise in the hair, we got the back of
the Pack logo, and then Chasing Rabbits Run Club because
again we're most of us are always chasing the rabbits
at the race. We're never the rabbit. We're always chasing
the rabbits. But if you're a rabbit, then you are
absolutely welcome to come to this event and we would
absolutely love to have you. So that's it. Like that,
(19:24):
that's where we're at again. The first run is on Thursday,
August twenty first, twenty twenty five, no more than three miles.
We're gonna meet at Discourse, Okay, so you can go
and sign and see the place if you haven't been
in there. If you've never been there, I suggest you
go and sign and see the place. I can't confirm
they just got a brand new air conditioner, so it
feels wonderful in there. Ask me how I know, as
(19:45):
I was there last night and enjoined a few adult beverages.
But go in there, see the place, try a few beers.
They brew their own beers right there on site. So no,
you're not gonna just walk out with a MODELO or
a bud light. Nope, you're gonna drink some of their
good stuff. And boy do they have some good stuff.
Holy cow. And they don't outprice you like you're not
gonna be paying eight dollars for you know this much beer.
(20:06):
That's not a thing that's gonna happen. There's now who
I omed hard Ooh boy, call me out on that, Kyle,
you idiot. Our sticker is now on one of the pillars,
so you'll know you're in the right place. If you
look at the pillar that's back there by all the
brewing barrels and stuff. Look at the very top you'll
see the back of the pack podcast sticker. So we're there.
Feel like we've arrived. They have signs inside talking about
(20:28):
the run club. You can follow them on social media.
Just look up Discourse Brewery. They're on social media. You
will see their calendar. They have events going on most days,
and again I'm hoping I think that sometime around the holiday,
we're gonna take over the place on a Tuesday night
where they're usually closed, and we're gonna either host host
a live Packies our Fake Award show, or maybe we'll
(20:49):
just do a live episode from there, or it might
just be the back of the pack podcast Christmas party.
That could be really fun too. But I think they
might be willing to open up for us on a
Tuesday night so over them can come out and just
enjoy the holiday season and have a drink together and
a talk podcast, talk running and talk that kind of stuff.
But I am super excited about this, this partnership. I
(21:10):
think it's it's gonna go wonderfully again. They got these
shirts made for me. They got in super fast. They
do sell merchandise. I'm hoping sometime I'm gonna talk them
out of like a T shirt for a giveaway and
you might walk away with a Discourse Brewery T shirt,
which is super cool. They've got stickers, they sell pint glasses.
The beer is good, the patio is outside, it's wonderful.
(21:31):
The ac works on the inside. You're gonna get a
run in and we're gonna have stuff to talk about
on the podcast. We are just winning all over the place,
all over the place. And then I am gonna try
and start using a hashtag, hashtag Chasing Rabbits RC. So
if you come out and you post about it, we're
gonna use Chasing Rabbits RC as our hashtag. And I
(21:52):
got to get better about using that myself. So there
go again, Episode one and ninety eight. Super cool. We'll
be back on Monday's episode with kind of a breakdown
of the weekend that was, of course REXI Run being
the biggest thing, and then hearts for runn of McDonald
ho's charity ten K being the secondary thing. It's a
two race weekend coming up for us, and then we'll
(22:12):
we'll head into group run week and then other stuff
after that. So it's pretty cool. So we only got
Monday's episode one ninety nine and then next week is
two hundred. If you wanted to contribute to the two
hundredth episode with a little video, turn your phone sideways,
record something, send it to me. You can send it
to me personally over Facebook, Insto Messenger. You can send
(22:33):
it to the podcast over Facebook, insta Messenger, or probably
better email me at Kyle kyl E at botppod dot com,
email zoomy. And you can do that whether you're at
a race this weekend, or if you're just out on
a run, or you're just sitting at home thinking, oh okay,
be fun. If you want to email me something and
(22:55):
be on the two hundredth episode, I will put your
little video out there again. You can come on here
and say, oh, hey we like the podcast. Here is
my favorite episode, or hey, we like the podcast it
made me run this race which was really great, or
I hate the podcast, you're an absolute moron. I'll put
it on there as well. What do I care? I've
been called worse by better, so you have those options.
(23:16):
I hope you will take us up on it. It's again,
two hundred is amazing to me. I'm super ecstatic about it,
as you can tell. I am so thankful to everyone
for contributing, listening, interacting again the interactions on social media
where it's at. Please go like our Instagram account. It
is woefully short and woefully small compared to what our
(23:38):
Facebook is. Facebook is over six thousand and Instagram is
over six hundred. We got to build that up. Those
are rookie numbers. You've got to build those up again.
If you've seen the rest of that movie, you'll know,
holy caw, how's it referencing that that movie's nuts? And
it is so do that get on our social media
because it will really play into the run club stuff
because Discourse they're big on social media and I think
(24:00):
they're really big on Instagram as well. I've seen posts
that they put out there. And then we just continue,
we continue to build this community, and I am so
glad to even have my small pardon in building up
what we're doing here. And then on the fall running
season we go onto episode three hundred. I hope we
go here in some amount of time off to four years.
That will celebrate in March, and everything is great. So
(24:22):
again a big thank you to Discourse Brewery. I think
this is the start of a beautiful relationship, a beautiful
partnership again, wonderful people, lovely place. I'm really excited and
I think this is this is going to really help
people who want to run club. It's gonna help Discourse,
gonna help us. I'm super excited. And then the last
thing I want to mention, then I promise I will
(24:43):
shut the hell up. I hope you saw on Facebook
and on Instagram that I posted. We can now say
this is so cool. We can now say that this
is the Back of the Pack podcast as seen in
Runners World. Yes, the article dropped in which they reached
out to me for some quotes about an article they
were doing, and so they used my quotes. They credit
(25:06):
Kyle from the Back of the Pack podcast out of Kansas,
and throughout the course of the article they actually use
my quotes several times in several different places about several
different things I talked to. The interview were for thirty minutes.
She was lovely said anytime they want to do a
big old feature on yours, truly, I'm in. Yeah, we'll
see if that happens. But you can now say you're
(25:26):
listening to a podcast that has been mentioned in Runners
World magazine and that is super cool. So thank you
to Runners World. I'm still on cloud nine. That you
guys even thought of me, included me, reached down to me,
it was great. I hope we can do more together.
But again, just we're building right now. We're building, and
there's some more cool things than the works. I'm not
going to say them right now because then I'll feel
(25:47):
like I jinxed them and they won't actually happen. But
there's some cool stuff that is being discussed that would
really help help us all out and be really neat things.
So that all. That's where I'm gonna leave that, though,
not saying another word about it. Nope. So there's been
another episode. Well, it's been another episode. It's been episode
one and ninety eight of the Back of the Pack Podcast,
second one. I'm gro S Kyle Walker. It is my
(26:08):
pleasure as always, everyone, have a safe week of training,
think about joining us at the group run next week
and we will see you next week
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