Check Out Kyle Walker’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Walker

Hi Kyle, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
In 2010 during the process of divorce recovery I took up running as a way to deal with stress and try to live a healthier life. At that time I weighed around 300lbs. It started with a 5k in December 2010, leading up to a half marathon in April 2011, and a Full Marathon by November 2011. I was hooked with the sport. For the next six years I ran everything from 5k’s, to 10k’s, halves, and fulls. Until July of 2016 when it was decided that I had to have open heart surgery to fix a defective valve in my heart. On 07/20/2016 I underwent open heart surgery for an aortic bicuspid, After a week of recovery in the ICU, I was sent home. Three weeks after my surgery, complications arose and on 08/11/2016 I underwent my second open heart surgery to clear out blood clots that had formed all around my heart. The recovery from the second surgery was infinitely more difficult. After cardio rehab and a lot of healing, I returned to walk my first 5k post open heart surgery in November of 2016. For all of 2017 I did one to two 5k’s every month. Slowly trying to build back. In March of 2018 I returned with my first half marathon.

In February 2022, I again needed to refocus on health. I was again at an unhealthy weight. In November of 2021, I ran the New York City Marathon at a weight of 318lbs and it took me over seven hours to do it. Not good. In February 2022 I recommitted to getting healthy. As a way to keep myself interested and on track, I started The Back of the Pack Podcast. A running podcast for non-elite runners. At the time, I had twelve years of running experience and felt like I could help other runners out with my knowledge I had gained over the years. Our un-official slogan of the Podcast is that “We make the mistakes, so you don’t have to”. The podcast talks about tips and tricks, race reviews, and previews. The podcast has grown in these three years now. We wen from a dozen listeners to now about 1200 weekly listeners. We grow a little more every week.

Since beginning the podcast, we have covered races such as The Little Rock Marathon. The Fargo Marathon. The Las Vegas Half Marathon twice. Also two World Marathon Majors: The Berlin Marathon in September of 2024 and The Boston Marathon in April of 2023. Our Facebook page is over 5000 followers at this point. It’s been a heck of a three year ride. We’re hoping to continue to grow as much as we can!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Growing is never easy. No one here is a celebrity. Just a person trying to help others, so growth is slow without people really knowing who and what we are. Word of mouth is our best avenue for growth. We interact with anyone that we can!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are a podcast. Creative and entertaining speaking (or so we hope). I have had three podcasts before. A religious based podcast for divorced men that reached over a million listeners. A Mental Health podcast that went on for two years before Corona Virus kind of ended things. Now The Back of the Pack Podcast for runners.

We have found quite a niche as a podcast for non-elite runners. Which is about 98% of the people you see weekend after weekend lined up at local races. I am most proud of the community of runners we are building.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Being authentic. People can spot frauds a mile away. If I was just some guy hiding behind a microphone talking down to the listeners, no one would care about what I say. I’m not though. I am at every race we review. I am out there with the people running the races right beside them. They see me out there every time and we can talk and chat at the races or race expos that we’re at. It is a great way to connect with the listeners.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.botppod.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/backofthepackpodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/backofthepackpodcast/
• Twitter: https://x.com/BackPackPodcast
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBackofthePackPodcast