Back of the Pack Podcast

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast, we are catching up on a very busy June with a stack of race reviews, a heat warning, and one massive personal announcement. We start with the big news: Kyle is officially heading to the 2027 London Marathon, which will complete his original World Marathon Majors journey after Chicago, New York, Boston, Berlin, Tokyo, Sydney, and finally London. From there, we dive into the June race review backlog, beginning with the Heroes 4 Hospice 5K in Overland Park, a meaningful race supporting hospice care and one of the few local 5Ks still skipping finisher medals in favor of keeping the focus on the cause. The next day brought the I Wanna Rock 5K, run on nearly the same course but in the opposite direction after a massive pre-race thunderstorm turned the morning into a soggy, humid rock-and-roll sweat fest. We also revisit the cancelled Clinton Historic Half Marathon, where severe storms and flooding wiped out the final running of the half marathon distance and threw Kyle’s race-count math into chaos. Then we head to Tulsa for the Treat Trot 15K, a last-minute race added during a podcast planning getaway that featured three repetitive out-and-backs, summer heat, a second-place age-group finish, and a glorious post-race Bomb Pop. Finally, we review the Sunglasses Run 10K at Longview Lake, where excessive heat, limited shade, and thick humidity made the new 10K option a true summer sufferfest, even if the medal turned out to be one of the best sunglasses-themed medals yet. This episode is a full June running junk drawer: local races, travel miles, cancelled plans, hot-weather lessons, big goals, and the next step toward London.