Episodi

  • Nobody Tells You This: Your Brain Will Lie to You

    Nobody Tells You This: Your Brain Will Lie to You
    Oct 23 2026
    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.
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    1 ora e 3 min
  • The Last Blue Bib

    The Last Blue Bib
    Oct 19 2026
    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.
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    53 min
  • Nobody Tells You This: Your Best Race Might Not Be Your Fastest

    Nobody Tells You This: Your Best Race Might Not Be Your Fastest
    Oct 16 2026
    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.
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    1 ora e 3 min
  • The Miles That Didn’t Matter

    The Miles That Didn’t Matter
    Oct 12 2026
    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.
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    53 min
  • Nobody Tells You This: Race Day Starts Days Before

    Nobody Tells You This: Race Day Starts Days Before
    Oct 9 2026
    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.
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    1 ora e 4 min
  • Rocket City: Ready for Launch!

    Rocket City: Ready for Launch!
    Oct 5 2026
    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.
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    49 min
  • Nobody Tells You This: Fitness Isn’t Linear

    Nobody Tells You This: Fitness Isn’t Linear
    Oct 2 2026
    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.
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    52 min
  • The Runner’s Sick-Day Decision

    The Runner’s Sick-Day Decision
    Sep 28 2026
    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.
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    39 min