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This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast, we head back to Lincoln, Nebraska for one of our favorite race weekends of the year: the Good Life Halfsy. With around 9,000 runners, a beautiful fall morning, strong crowd support, and the familiar energy that makes this event such a standout, we were excited to see what the day might bring. For the first several miles, things were going well, but around mile seven pain in the right foot began to change the plan and turn a hopeful PR attempt into a much tougher race than expected. Even with the setback, we kept moving forward, working through the discomfort and taking in everything that makes Good Life such an enjoyable event. The course once again delivered a great tour through Lincoln, and the final push over the bridge into downtown brought us to a finish line packed with cheering spectators and plenty of energy. We also talk about the excellent expo, volunteers, finish-line festival, swag, medals, and all the little details that continue to make the Good Life Halfsy a race we are always happy to return to. While the result was not what we hoped for, the experience was still a reminder that a difficult personal race can happen at an event you genuinely love. Good Life remains one of our favorite half marathons, and this year gave us another memorable chapter in Lincoln.

Fall marathon season is winding down, the holidays are coming, and apparently we're supposed to hang up our running shoes? We're kicking off our November Second Wind series, The Off-Season Doesn't Exist, by asking whether recreational running actually has an offseason, or whether we've just borrowed the idea from professional sports. We break down the difference between stepping away from racing, loosening up a training schedule, and taking a genuine break from running. Along the way, we talk about a race calendar that never seems to end, why start lines and running friends keep pulling us back, and how one runner's winter downtime is another runner's busiest season. Kyle brings plenty of firsthand examples, from skipping a half marathon because his body needed the rest to planning races all the way through the London Marathon. But there's a less glamorous side to year-round racing too: FOMO, social media pressure, entry fees, travel costs, and weekends booked months before they arrive. We also make the case for rest, recovery, family time, and the freedom to enjoy this sport without having to prove how dedicated we are. Whether your calendar is overflowing or your running shoes are taking a winter vacation, who says someone else gets to decide when your season ends?

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast, we start with a story that has nothing to do with running but everything to do with why sometimes an old piece of podcast equipment can find a much better purpose. One of the microphones that helped build this show is headed to an elementary-school student who loves calling the daily recess soccer game like a broadcaster, giving that well-used microphone a pretty fantastic second life. From there, we head to a dark and rainy Halloween morning for the biggest Monster Dash 5K yet, with 1,300 registered runners, a sea of costumes, and the usual podcast gear traded in for a full Jackie Moon look from Semi-Pro. Despite still carrying some fatigue from the previous weekend’s ultramarathon, we decide this is one race we actually want to race, pushing through the crowded start, the hills, and even a pair of surprisingly speedy runners sharing one unicorn costume. The goal was to break 30 minutes, and while we came up just short, the effort still landed as one of our fastest 5Ks and proved there was more speed in the legs than expected after a very heavy stretch of endurance racing. We also clean up one mistake from last week’s Kansas Rails-to-Trails review by giving proper credit to Rocking Chair Running Company for the race and those much-appreciated ultra aid stations. Then we touch on a major date change for the Liberty Half Marathon before looking ahead to another trip to Lincoln, Nebraska for the Good Life Halfsy, where the podcast will once again be at the expo before race morning. From a microphone finding a new voice to a rainy Halloween 5K and another busy weekend on the horizon, this episode is a little bit of everything that makes life around the Back of the Pack so much fun.

We close out our October Nobody Tells You This series with one of the strangest lessons runners eventually discover: we spend months chasing finish lines only to cross them and almost immediately wonder, “Okay… now what?” We talk about why a race finish is usually less of an ending and more of a marker between chapters, including the post-race emptiness that can follow a huge goal after the training, planning, anticipation, and structure suddenly disappear. We also dig into why recovery is not lost momentum, why there does not always need to be another race waiting on the calendar, and why sometimes the best thing we can do after a major accomplishment is simply let it matter before turning our attention to whatever comes next. Along the way, we challenge the idea that running progression always means going farther, because a 5K runner is no less of a runner than a marathoner or ultramarathoner, and growth can just as easily mean getting faster, running smarter, having more fun, or finding a completely different goal. We explore how our running identity changes over time, from chasing our own times and distances to volunteering, pacing, sweeping, supporting friends, and asking a very different question: not “What can I prove?” but “What can I contribute?” We also talk about aging, injuries, DNFs, changing motivation, and the importance of allowing this version of ourselves to be a different runner than the one we were five, ten, or twenty years ago without treating that evolution as failure. There will always be another race, another distance, another PR, or another shiny piece of bling available, but we do not owe anyone constant escalation, and curiosity is a much healthier reason to chase a goal than believing we need another accomplishment to prove our worth. Because when we finally look beyond the finish arch, running gives us things that last far longer than one race ever could: health, friendships, stories, travel, confidence, routine, community, stress relief, purpose, perspective, and ultimately a running life that is much bigger than any single finish line.

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast, we officially step into the ultramarathon world with our first traditional 50K at the Kansas Rails-to-Trails Ultramarathon in Ottawa, Kansas. Running along the Prairie Spirit Trail, the day begins with a stripped-down ultra-style start, a mandatory hydration vest, unfamiliar gear, and the realization that this is a very different world from the big road marathons we are used to. Once the race reaches the crushed-limestone trail, what initially feels like a beautiful fall morning slowly becomes a very long out-and-back adventure filled with endless trees, farmland, lonely miles, and plenty of time inside our own heads. The biggest problem appears early when we realize that just seven days after sweeping the Garmin Kansas City Marathon, the legs have nowhere near the energy or bounce needed for another 31-mile effort. Along the way, we discover some of the best parts of ultra running, including incredible aid-station volunteers, bacon, waffles, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Coke, pickles, and the surprisingly serious business of managing food and hydration when aid stations can be many miles apart. The return trip brings warmer temperatures, dwindling water, increasingly tired legs, and a final seven miles that turn the race from difficult into pure survival mode. The finish time may have landed well outside the original goal, but crossing that line meant completing something completely new and earning the traditional ultramarathon prize waiting at the end: a Kansas Rails-to-Trails 50K belt buckle. We close with the lessons learned from stacking too much endurance work into three weeks, the decision to finally give the body some real recovery, and one very important conclusion: this first 50K may not have gone according to plan, but it definitely will not be the last one.

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast: Second Wind, our Nobody Tells You This series heads into the place where some of the hardest miles happen: right between our ears. We talk about the voice that tells us we’re done, the race is ruined, everyone else looks stronger, or there’s no possible way we can keep going, even when our body may still have plenty left to give. From breaking huge distances into manageable pieces to surviving one bad mile without turning it into a prediction for the entire race, we explore practical ways to quiet the mental spiral and stay focused on the mile we’re actually running. We also look at race-day bargaining, the temptation to “bank time,” negative self-talk, temporary low points, and the mysterious finish-line miracle where we somehow find another gear after spending miles convinced the tank was completely empty. Of course, there is an important difference between ordinary running discomfort and genuine warning signs, so we make one thing very clear: listen to your body and question your brain. We share a simple reset for those moments when quitting sounds awfully tempting: check for danger, solve whatever problem we can, shrink the task, keep moving, and reassess before making a permanent decision during a temporary low. We also talk about why experience, humor, mantras, other runners, volunteers, crowds, and even helping somebody else can change the story our brain is telling us in the middle of a difficult race. The first voice saying “stop” does not always get the final vote, because becoming a stronger runner sometimes means training the conversation in our head just as much as we train our legs.

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast, we open Season 5 with the full story of Garmin Kansas City Marathon weekend and a race experience unlike any Kyle has had before. After two packed days at the Union Station expo meeting runners from around the country, race morning arrived with nearly perfect fall weather and one very specific assignment: serve as the official sweeper for the full marathon. Instead of chasing a personal time, the goal was simple: stay behind the final marathoners, keep an eye on every blue bib, and help as many runners as possible make it safely to the finish line. Along the way, we break down the Kansas City course, from the early hills and downtown landmarks to the brutal second half where the marathon begins asking some very serious questions. As the miles pile up, Kyle begins collecting runners who are dealing with cramps, exhaustion, undertraining, pain, and the creeping doubt that maybe this just is not going to be their day. What follows becomes less of a race review and more of a story about six runners who simply refused to stop moving forward, even when nearly every part of their bodies was telling them otherwise. With incredible support from the Kansas City Missouri Police Department and more than seven hours on the course, the final group eventually reaches the finish line and earns every inch of those marathon medals. This is a celebration of Kansas City, the back of the pack, the people who fight for every final mile, and why sometimes the most meaningful marathon finish is not the one you run for yourself.

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast: Second Wind, we continue our Nobody Tells You This series with a lesson runners usually discover only after enough finish lines: our fastest race and our best race are not always the same thing. We dig into why finish time tells only part of the story and why smart pacing, adapting to conditions, overcoming problems, fueling well, and simply executing the day we were given can sometimes matter more than a PR. From brutal weather and difficult courses to comeback races and days when Plan A disappears almost immediately, a slower clock can still represent some of our strongest racing. We also talk about the races where we help another runner, support a meaningful cause, return from injury, or simply allow ourselves to enjoy the experience instead of staring at our watch for every mile. Sometimes the races that stay with us forever are not the ones sitting at the top of the spreadsheet, but the ones filled with people, places, challenges, and moments that a finishing time could never measure. We break down the difference between performance races, training races, experience races, comeback races, and support races, because knowing why we are standing at the start line keeps us from grading the wrong exam afterward. The clock absolutely still matters when time is the goal, but it is only one definition of success, and we can be disappointed with a result while still being proud of how we raced. Fast is great, PRs are great, but the best race is ultimately the one that succeeds at what that particular race was supposed to be.

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast, we are catching up on a busy couple of weeks with the Oktoberfest 10K, the Run for Paws 5K, and a very different kind of endurance adventure at the Octoginta Bike Ride. Kyle starts by wrapping up the Heartland 30K Series with one of his strongest 10K performances in quite a while, finishing Oktoberfest with his fourth-fastest 10K time ever and, more importantly, a run that simply felt good. From there, it is on to the Run for Paws 5K, where a race that looked small on paper suddenly exploded in participation and Kyle decided to see just how close he could get to the very optimistic 5K prediction his Garmin had handed him. Then Sunday takes us to Lawrence for Octoginta, where the original goal of completing a metric century quickly starts unraveling thanks to limited bike training, a poorly fitted borrowed bike, heat, wind, and an upcoming marathon that made pushing too far a questionable idea. But the day takes an unexpected turn when Kyle comes across an older cyclist who crashes hard on a steep hill and needs help getting back on his feet, getting his bike working again, and eventually finding his way back toward the finish. What follows becomes less about mileage and more about what it actually means to help someone when doing the right thing changes your own plans. Kyle reflects on the frustration that briefly crept in, the realization that kindness loses something when it comes with resentment, and why sometimes the race you thought you were there to complete is not actually the most important thing happening that day. We close by looking ahead to a huge hometown weekend at the Garmin Kansas City Marathon, where the podcast will be at the expo and Kyle will take on a very different responsibility as the official marathon sweeper.

In this week’s Second Wind, we continue our Nobody Tells You This series with a lesson every runner eventually learns: the race may officially begin at the starting line, but our race-day experience starts several days earlier. We talk about why the final 48 to 72 hours are not the time to squeeze in more fitness, but instead to protect the training we have already built through recovery, preparation, and a little good old-fashioned restraint. From banking sleep and staying consistently hydrated to eating familiar foods and avoiding the legendary pre-race carb-loading feast that leaves our stomach waving a white flag, the boring decisions really do matter. We dig into the golden rule of nothing new on race weekend, including shoes, socks, nutrition, hydration products, and whatever miracle concoction somebody with impressive calves is handing out at the expo. Traveling adds another layer, so we also talk about expo fatigue, sightseeing, long drives and flights, unfamiliar hotel rooms, and why a destination race can accidentally turn into a ten-mile walking tour before we ever reach the start line. Race-morning logistics matter too, from knowing where to park and when to leave to charging the watch, laying out our gear, planning breakfast, and developing a bathroom strategy before 300 other runners have the exact same idea. We also tackle pacing, race goals, nerves, and the importance of making those decisions before adrenaline, a pace sign, or somebody dressed as Batman convinces us to throw months of planning out the window. Training gets us physically ready, but preparation gives that fitness a chance to show up, because the race begins at the gun while race day starts days before.

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast, Eric Fritz and Rhonda Hayden return to the show as we officially begin the countdown to December’s Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Alabama. With race weekend now just a couple of months away, registrations are climbing, the course is locked in, volunteers are being recruited, and preparations are underway for what could become the biggest Rocket City Marathon weekend yet. We get an inside look at an expanded expo featuring new Rocket City merchandise, Podcast Alley, interactive vendors, and even a little vendor bingo before turning our attention to what runners can expect on race morning. Eric and Rhonda explain the unique setup of the full marathon and back-half marathon, the warm indoor staging area at the Von Braun Center, pacer groups, and an important change coming to the early-start program after this year. We also spend plenty of time talking about the back of the pack, including how Rocket City handles sweepers, course support, and the runners who may need a little extra time and encouragement to reach that finish line. Then we get to the fun stuff: medals, shirts, Hat Trick swag, finisher gifts, and plans to make the indoor finish at the Von Braun Center even more memorable for the marathon’s 50th anniversary. There is also some major news for the event with PNC Bank joining as title sponsor, plus a look at how race weekend will once again support the pediatric department at Huntsville Hospital, this year helping toward a pediatric-specific ambulance. From running through Huntsville’s Christmas-lit Tinsel Trail to the growing Back of the Pack team making the trip south, this episode is our final big preview before we finally meet Eric and Rhonda in person and launch into Rocket City race weekend.

We’re kicking off our October Second Wind series, Nobody Tells You This, with one of the most frustrating truths in running: fitness does not improve in a perfectly straight line. We talk about why one bad run, ugly race, or sluggish week does not automatically mean all our training has disappeared, because fitness and that day’s performance are not the same thing. We break down the other pieces that can affect what shows up on race day, including fatigue, sleep, weather, stress, nutrition, travel, course conditions, and plain old day-to-day variation. We also look at why training can temporarily hide the fitness we are building, how plateaus can still contain real progress, and why improvement sometimes shows up as better recovery, stronger finishes, smarter fueling, or easier effort instead of another PR. Of course, modern runners have watches, apps, readiness scores, VO₂ max estimates, heart-rate data, and enough numbers to turn every morning into a tiny performance review, so we talk about using that information for trends without letting it run the whole show. We dig into the danger of panic training, the fear that a few missed workouts erase months of work, and why training plans should be treated as maps we can adapt rather than contracts we must obey perfectly. Most importantly, we make the case for zooming out, judging progress over weeks and months instead of one miserable Tuesday, and remembering that race results are snapshots rather than report cards on our entire running lives. Fitness isn’t a staircase, it’s a messy trend, and sometimes the progress is happening long before the clock finally shows it.

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast, we start with a few updates from around the World Marathon Majors before getting to the race that was supposed to happen but never did. Kyle was scheduled to run the St. Joseph Half Marathon, but cold and flu symptoms made the decision for him and resulted in the dreaded DNS: Did Not Start. That missed start line becomes the jumping-off point for an honest conversation about one of the questions runners are notoriously bad at answering: When are you actually too sick to run? We break down the difference between a mild cold and a more systemic illness, the familiar “neck check,” and the symptoms that should make you seriously reconsider lacing up at all. We also look at why an easy jog and racing a half marathon are two completely different demands on a body already trying to recover. Then we get into the runner bargaining process, from “it’s probably allergies” all the way to “but I already paid for the race,” plus the part we sometimes forget: showing up sick can affect everyone packed into the corral with us. Kyle also talks about easing back into running after illness and why one missed week or one missed race is far better than turning a short sickness into a much longer problem. Sometimes the smartest running decision is the one where the shoes stay in the closet, the race bib stays unused, and the chicken noodle soup gets the start instead.

In this week’s Second Wind, we wrap up The Ultra Curious by finally asking the question all this September learning has been building toward: if we’re actually going to try an ultramarathon, how do we choose the right one? We look at why distance alone tells us almost nothing about the true difficulty of an ultra, and why terrain, elevation, course format, weather, cutoffs, and aid-station support can completely change the experience. We break down the jump from marathon to 50K, 50 miles, 100K, and beyond, while making the case that a first ultra does not need to be a sufferfest just to “count.” From crushed gravel and rail trails to technical mountain courses, we talk about choosing terrain we can actually train for and why course-specific preparation matters so much. We also dig into loop courses, out-and-backs, point-to-point events, timed races, cutoff rules, required gear, weather, and the kind of race support that can make a first ultra much more manageable. Just as important, we ask whether the race actually excites us, because training is a whole lot easier when the challenge means something beyond simply sounding impressive. Along the way, we lay out the red flags and green flags to watch for before hitting REGISTER and remind ourselves that success can mean learning, adapting, finishing healthy, or even discovering that ultrarunning simply isn’t our thing. After a month of learning the culture, understanding the game, rethinking our pacing, and figuring out how to choose the challenge, The Ultra Curious comes to a close with one final idea: pick the race that fits the runner we are today, then go find out what lies beyond 26.2.

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast, we are recapping a two-race weekend with the Kansas City Zoo Run 4 Miler and the Woodstock 10K. The Zoo Run brought nearly 90-degree heat, narrow zoo paths, plenty of congestion, and a unique course through one of Kansas City’s most recognizable attractions. The next morning, Woodstock delivered cooler temperatures but a 68-degree dew point and 93% humidity, proving once again that “cooler” does not always mean “comfortable.” Both races were well organized, both had plenty to like, and both left Kyle disappointed with his own performance. So after the race reviews, we turn toward something every runner eventually has to deal with: what happens when an entire race weekend just doesn’t go the way you expected? We look at the difference between excuses and legitimate factors, the things runners can actually control, and why one or two bad races do not automatically mean your training, fitness, or entire running existence has gone off a cliff. We also talk about the temptation to overreact, why more training is not always the answer, and how recovery, hydration, nutrition, pacing, and consistency can all become part of the investigation. Sometimes the most useful thing a bad race can do is make us curious enough to figure out what happened, make a small adjustment, and see what the next start line has to say.