Top City Half Marathon

04/29/2023

Topeka, KS

What a beautiful day for a race. My goodness this day could not have been more perfect weather wise. Our race started with temps in the upper 40’s. Very light wind and clear blue sky. It’s a little chilly standing around before the race, but once the run is underway, it was absolutely perfect.

This was my first time doing the Top City Half Marathon. Gotta say, I really enjoyed it. Topeka, KS, y’all did very well Saturday morning! The support around town was really great. All the course monitors and police officers were great. They were kind and very supportive of the runners.

I guess there was some guff thrown about in the area due to the road closures and some minor difficulties the drivers were going to have to face, HOWEVER I hope people will calm down on that front as the race was very well done. The traffic issues were certainly not THAT bad. Calm down Topekians!

The race started at Evergy Plaza in the heart of Topeka. Once the race was kicked off you first ran straight to the state Capitol Building. It was a beautiful way to start the race.

The course was fast. Really damn fast. I hate saying it, but I missed a PR by just 49 seconds. That was coming off of the Boston Marathon just twelve days earlier. I had nothing left in my legs with about a 5k left in the race. I powered through and just missed a new record. That shows you how fast that course is.

If I had one gripe about it, putting the finish line at the top of the tallest hill on your course was just dirty! That finish was rough for sure. Upon finishing the race though, there was some local beer for the runners to enjoy. There were some BBQ sandwiches for people to enjoy, and a wide open area (Evergy Plaza) for runners to meet, talk, and take pictures in. It was a very nice post-race environment.

Best part of the race though was the before and after. Meeting a newby runner before and talking race strategy with him, and meeting a mildly new runner after the race and being able to talk to him about running. It is always so great to meet runners and people who have or might listen to the podcast. That connection is what makes things about doing the Back of the Pack Podcast so great! We love adding to and expanding our running family!

Next weekend we are doubling up on the 5k’s with the Casfirsts County Health 5k Saturday and the Outpacing Melanoma on Sunday. We hope to see you out there! Have a great week of training!