Chris Detzel (00:00)
All right, welcome to another DFW running talk. I'm Chris Detzel, and today's special guest is Kevin Barr. Kevin, how are you doing?
Kevin Barr (00:08)
Hey, doing well. Thanks for having me, Chris.
Chris Detzel (00:10)
You know, we we tried this the other day and you know, I I know a lot more about you and the recording didn't go well, but here we are again, so I appreciate you getting back on. And you know, I was it's funny because you've been running with the sloths for about a year now. and and I've been I I wouldn't say I've been watching you, but I have looked at some of your Strava and you know, I've seen you run with with that group and and I I think we met at a
We met a couple of times, but
you know, I was very interested to to to talk to you a little bit about your journey because you have quite the journey because it didn't start off super fast, but you got a a great background, so I'm looking forward to it.
Kevin Barr (00:51)
Yeah, me too.
Chris Detzel (00:53)
So let's start off with this. Like I know that you ran super fast, was it this year right in Boston, is that right?
Kevin Barr (01:01)
January
in Houston.
Chris Detzel (01:02)
January,
Houston, that's right, see. I already forgot. January in Houston and you actually had a PR. I'll just say that that was about a what it two thirty five, two thirty six?
Kevin Barr (01:13)
Three thirty six eleven to be precise. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (01:15)
Okay. Yeah, you know, Strava says two thirty five, so it opened.
Kevin Barr (01:18)
Yeah. Just for the record, you can't
go by your Strama time, you always go by chip time.
Chris Detzel (01:24)
Yeah, no, I agree. but you know, everybody sees the Strava, so that's what they'll go by if they see your Strava. But super fast, but you aren't always that fast, but you have been running for a little while. So let's talk a little bit about kind of your journey, you know, from high school, and then we'll go from there and I'll ask you a bunch of questions.
Kevin Barr (01:42)
Yeah, for sure. I'll actually back up a little bit and and even go back to to elementary days. you know, we we would go into to gym class and you know have all these options. Hey, you can go play basketball or you can do well, you have to do laps, right? Run laps
around once you get your designated number of laps, then you can go do whatever activity you want. and of course everyone does the bare minimum and then goes and plays basketball or does the hula hoops.
I just kept running. I I just
ran around the entire gym class every single time we had that. so
Chris Detzel (02:14)
That's great.
Kevin Barr (02:15)
I liked it from a a young age, you know. to me it was a competition with myself, like how many laps can I get? And then at the end of the year the person with the most laps gets the prize. And so, you know, I've always been motivated by just just some competitiveness. mostly
with myself but also with others. So yeah. When you can
Chris Detzel (02:34)
I mean I like to beat people, you know. I mean Yeah.
Kevin Barr (02:39)
You realize very quickly as the world gets bigger beyond your, you know, small elementary
Chris Detzel (02:43)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (02:43)
school, I can't compete with all with
everyone. But
Chris Detzel (02:47)
Yeah, there's always for us, for the most part, no matter how fast you are, there's always somebody faster. Always. You know? I mean, maybe not that day, but pretty much. You know. I know I talked to this one guy the other day and he goes, Man, I was trying to get first place in this race and I got second. You know, I was really thinking I was gonna do it, but I looked at last year's times and I thought, yeah, I got a chance and pfft, he did win. So I was like, see a lot of times there's just somebody faster, you know?
Kevin Barr (02:54)
yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. yeah. Always.
but anyway, for me my journey continued to progress. Middle school, did other sports, also did tracking cross country, realized I just I just like to run. So I dropped out of all the other sports. and you know, I I'm not tall enough or big enough anyway to have excelled truly at basketball or football or anything like that, but
Chris Detzel (03:35)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (03:35)
I wanted
to commit myself to running. So I dropped everything, did that, all through high school track and cross country where my you know some of my main focuses ran the eight hundred and and sixteen hundred mostly in track. I saw myself as a more of a shorter distance, you know, specialty kind of guy.
Chris Detzel (03:55)
Like
a eight hundred and a a mile, basically. You know.
Kevin Barr (03:58)
Yeah, you know,
I would do the thirty two hundred, the the two mile essentially, yeah, every once in a while, but really thrive in that shorter range. And then even sometimes was the the anchor f for our four by four four by four hundred relay, which was just a brutal turnaround because you know, you the mile was always the second to last event, at least
locally where I was, turnaround and the four by four is immediately after. So
I had to anchor because not because I was the fastest, but because I needed as much recovery as I could get to try to rip a
Chris Detzel (04:32)
You must have been at least the fourth fastest, so
Kevin Barr (04:35)
I was
I was at least the fourth fastest. I I was probably more like the second fastest, but you know
Chris Detzel (04:40)
And they needed to. Got it.
Kevin Barr (04:41)
they needed me, yeah. but yeah, that was that was rough. Everyone else is running on
Chris Detzel (04:46)
remember
I remember the two miler like when I was in track years ago I d was
sometime and then I'd run a mile that always being either like you said the last or second to last. I can't remember you know four hundred the four by four hundred is always kind of fun to watch, you know. but but I remember I was exhausted because I'd do the two miler and then eventually I'd do the mile and I thought, man, that's just too much for 'cause you're you're you're going all out, you know, on both of you know?
Kevin Barr (05:13)
Well now it's usually not just yeah, not just
Chris Detzel (05:13)
And you're doing like three of them possible.
Kevin Barr (05:16)
sixteen and and four hundred. I was preceded by an eight hundred earlier in the day, which if anyone's run the eight hundred knows like that's that's a leg killer. So
Chris Detzel (05:25)
Yeah. I've done that before. As a matter of fact, quick quick story that I didn't even tell you this the last time, but I remember so I don't know if it it was my maybe it was my last year in in track senior year. I get first place in the eight hundred. I beat everybody. Now it wasn't like a s a meat you know, like I didn't
I won, but I didn't, you know, go anywhere before that. It was just one of the meets. It wasn't the last meet, it was just one of the meets. And I couldn't believe I have barely won.
But it felt so good. And then quickly the last the last track meet that I ran in high school, I ran a mile. I ran a five twelve. For me that was good, but I got dead last. So that's how that works.
Kevin Barr (06:11)
That's a that's not a a you know, a bad time for for high school. It's not a great time, but it's not a bad time.
Chris Detzel (06:16)
Yeah, it was decent, you know, it was best, you know, that I've ever run and so I was slightly fast, but I wasn't obviously fast at all compared to everybody else. I mean I got dead last. Barely dead last, but I still got. Anyways, I digress. So
Kevin Barr (06:30)
Yeah.
I w I was good, you know, in high school, not great. I I always felt like I had untapped potential, but I mean I was focused on a lot of other things, other extracurriculars. I was really, you know, highly focused on academics and all that. So just what can you do in a short amount of time, which by the way is like the theme of of life and when you get older still with running like
Chris Detzel (06:51)
That's right.
Kevin Barr (06:52)
you you gotta balance everything, so
Chris Detzel (06:55)
Well, you have like four kids, and you're married, and so you're balancing a lot of stuff. So we'll get into that in a minute. But you know, so life doesn't get any easier. As a matter of fact, high school life is probably the easiest. So I mean if you think about it, go back and think about that, you know.
Kevin Barr (07:02)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (07:12)
with all the stuff that we go through as high schoolers. So y you you ran the mile eight hundred and sometimes the the four by four hundred, how
I know you mentioned one time like or you told me one time about your time. What was kind of some of your goals then?
Kevin Barr (07:26)
Yeah. Yeah.
So eight hundred, like I ran a two flat, two and some change, you know, under two one. I really wanted to go under two and just I could never quite get there. So I probably have to give that one up. Like that's that's tough when you get older to to go down those shorter distances.
Chris Detzel (07:45)
Yeah. It's like a s true sprint.
Kevin Barr (07:48)
Yeah. And I have no desire. Like that that's a lot of work.
and very specific, you know.
tailored work. So that's kind of out the door. But mile, I I ran a four thirty-six or four thirty-seven, four thirty-eight, something like that in in high school. and kind of segue one of my adult goals has been I want to be faster than my high school self.
Chris Detzel (08:09)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (08:09)
and so you know we'll get to my kind of current current era later, but four thirty seven thirty eight, five K in cross country I was a seventeen, low seventeen
kind of 5K runner.
Chris Detzel (08:22)
Pretty good.
Kevin Barr (08:23)
Again, I was good, not great. you know, looking back, like I I know that my mileage and training was not there. You just do what you can
Chris Detzel (08:30)
Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin Barr (08:32)
with what you're told to do. And
Chris Detzel (08:34)
That's right.
Kevin Barr (08:35)
now there's resources everywhere and so much support for high school runners and middle school
Chris Detzel (08:40)
No.
Kevin Barr (08:40)
runners. It's it's crazy. But
Chris Detzel (08:42)
Well, Kevin, I'm a lot older than you, and so when I look at high school cross country, I mean, you know, I had a good coach. He was really he was good, but you know, I just didn't get the concept of running that many miles or I didn't understand anything. I w I wore the same shoes for three years straight. That's why I got shin I remember getting shin smoked as a senior. and that's why, you know, because I wore the same shoes. I didn't know. Like
Kevin Barr (09:06)
We're probably the wrong queues anyway.
Chris Detzel (09:09)
Yeah. Well, who knows what
the right shoes were. I don't remember them being like amazing shoes back then, you know, and I'm fifty one now, so you can imagine. You know, so I just if I would have known what I know now, then, I mean, but I just was dumb. Like I didn't know anything. I wasn't even trying to learn. You know, I wasn't even thinking about it's like I didn't care. So I think there's probably there's probably a lot of that for high schoolers. I mean they try to do what they're told and things and if you have a s and I do truly think that coaching for high schoolers
is key because
Kids just don't know anything. They're just dumb as hell. You know, like that's just we all were. Like I'm not saying they're not smart kids, but we're just very ignorant of that kind of stuff, you know? So but yeah.
Kevin Barr (09:52)
Yeah. And you trust the people who are, you know, over
you. And so if you're being given bad information, bad advice, then that's what you do. So yeah. But I mean that's even that's changed now. I mean, people can be a little
Chris Detzel (10:00)
You don't know. So
Kevin Barr (10:07)
more self sufficient. Like there's so many so much advice and resources online.
Chris Detzel (10:12)
A hundred percent.
Kevin Barr (10:12)
free training plans. Hopefully it's a good one. You you don't know, but there's a lot out there.
Chris Detzel (10:18)
But I think with training plans you can get specific, you know, ask the AI to say, Hey, here's my body, here's what I'm doing, you know, go to one of these really smart people, like whoever, you know, and just kind of copy that, but here's my things or whatever. And you could tailor that and it it's actually gonna be pretty decent. I'm not saying that coaches don't matter, 'cause I still believe in a big way they do matter, you know, or they can matter. But I also think, like you said, I mean, dang, you could tailor pretty well. So
Kevin Barr (10:46)
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I'll bring it back a little bit and and go back to
Chris Detzel (10:50)
Please.
Kevin Barr (10:51)
kind of my you know, we're in Dallas, so my
Chris Detzel (10:54)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (10:54)
connection to Dallas or my real my longer distance running journey really began in Dallas because I'm not from here. I'm from San Angelo, West Texas. But in two thousand nine as a I think a senior in high school, I ran the at the time it was the White Rock half marathon.
which is now the BMW marathon, but I did the half in two thousand nine, ran a one twenty five in change at the time. Again on kind
Chris Detzel (11:20)
Pretty good.
Kevin Barr (11:21)
of lowish mileage, like I was it's decent. at the time it running had not exploded yet. I got top fifty nowadays, you're talking about, you know, top two hundred.
Chris Detzel (11:32)
Probably, yeah. Yeah. But I mean, one twenty five, even today, only it's 'cause it's I've not even run a one twenty five yet. I'm a one twenty six, but it's pretty fast. I mean when you look at it's I mean, yeah, a lot of people in Dallas are hitting one tens, one fifteens, one twenties for sure. But but yeah, I'm with it. But I still think it's fast. First one is really fast.
Kevin Barr (11:48)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it w it was
my
first one and but then I I really stepped away from, you know, I went back to high school, had chack season, then went off to college the next year and you know, I still enjoyed running. I ran pretty casually with some clubs and stuff. I actually transitioned at the time into rowing. I I know you recently talked to
David Sleer and he also wrote in college, which is kind of just a cool, unique thing. But I did that for two years. Kind of a funny story. I I was in my first couple weeks in college, and you know, there's stands and people advertising their club. Join our club, join our club. So my friend, he gets one of those advertisements and comes up to me later that day. He's like, Hey, do you want to go to rowing tryouts tomorrow morning at five AM? And I
I love, you know, just a challenge and something like that. So I'm like, sure, yeah. Like I didn't have a source to or a place to kind of direct my competitive energy. So me and him went the next day, we made the team and then later that season made the varsity rowing team and for the next two years I did that and got the opportunity to go to Boston, which is for same with running, like rowing it's kind of the mecca of
the rowing community with the head of the Charles Regatta up there. So
Chris Detzel (13:11)
That's cool.
Did you know David
Sleer was in rowing before before the episode or did you already
Kevin Barr (13:19)
I when I I forget how I learned it. I knew it before that. I had talked to him in person. I think someone told me 'cause they they knew that I had rode and they're like, did you know David rode? So you know, I've talked to him about it.
Chris Detzel (13:32)
Okay. That's cool. I mean that's and so did you you get to go to Boston and did y'all win or was it just kind of a
Kevin Barr (13:40)
No. I mean we're
talking about so I went to UT Austin. We're talking about southern schools where the people who make the team like me have zero rowing experience. I
am five foot ten, a hundred, you know, forty something pounds. At the time I weighed more 'cause we actually did weights and
kinda had to bulk up a little bit for some strength, but I'm not the conventional rower. So we
where it did perform well in the south, but when you talk and you're talking about competing with the northeastern schools where they recruit people to come row,
didn't stand a chance. So like David Sleer, yeah.
Chris Detzel (14:16)
David Slitter.
Got it. There's a difference. But hey, you know, you guys can have some good conversations. I I saw him the other day at the track, y yesterday. Yeah. This the sawser running at Lake Highlands High School, so it was kinda
Kevin Barr (14:24)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I've been going down there lately, some dropping some major workouts, some good time.
Chris Detzel (14:40)
They do, man. You
guys do. Yeah, you guys are like it's fun to watch you guys go around the track, just speeding it, you know, like I'm running fairly hard, but obviously not like you guys. It's it is fun to watch. I don't know why I like it, but it's just like, wow, you know, it's pretty cool.
Kevin Barr (14:57)
Well, w you know, it's funny when
we go there and I'm I'm up north, I live in McKinney, so it's it's a drive for me to get down there, but it is relatively close to my office in the morning, so I you know, part of my trying to figure out the jigsaw of life and balancing everything. it's easiest and most conducive for me to miss all the traffic in the morning, go work out, shower, go to the office and get back home, you know, at the end of the day earlier than
So I do that, but I've been going down to Lake Highland some and the atmosphere there is it's I mean incredible. Like there's people I don't know what club it is, but you know, people walking around the track and jogging and they're cheering for us. Like we're just we're just training, we're doing a workout, you know. But
Chris Detzel (15:38)
Yeah. I know. It's probably me yelling at you guys.
'Cause that was good night yesterday. but WRC meets every Tuesday night or Tuesday morning at the track and there's four to seven of us depending on the day, but
so we just d we do it every Tuesday morning.
so yeah, I get to see you guys every now and then. But it's it's been dark, so it's hard to see who's who. but eventually you kinda see, you know, it's like, that's Troy or hey, that's Matter, whatever, you know. So
Kevin Barr (16:11)
Well if you
see the guy tr hanging onto the back for dear life, that that might be me.
Chris Detzel (16:17)
Well lately it's been Troy and I'm like, Troy, catch him man, I thought you were faster than this. Just I don't know if he hears it, but hopefully he knows I'm just joking with him. So
Kevin Barr (16:28)
Well, I mean with
I think Troy feels the same way and with me when I go down there to see those guys, like I know that they are much faster than me, but you know, that's part of the strategy sometimes. Like I'm just gonna go.
Chris Detzel (16:38)
That's great. Yeah.
Kevin Barr (16:40)
I don't have to think about it just like, hang on, you know, let them do the
Chris Detzel (16:45)
Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin Barr (16:46)
work. I just have to to follow.
Chris Detzel (16:48)
So hopefully people that are following this particular podcast, you know, Kevin is runs now with the Simply Sloth and that group, super fast group here in Dallas, hence the name. Not really, but somebody I was telling somebody about Simply Sloth. It's I call them sloth, but and so completely sloth, yeah. It's
Kevin Barr (17:08)
Completely flopped so you don't get any pushbound. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (17:12)
and so I you know think of that's just why why would they call them? I was like
It's just a plain word, just I guess, you know, they're super fast and they're not slow. But anyways, go ahead, sorry. I I again digress.
Kevin Barr (17:24)
No. Yeah,
all good. I didn't have any part in the name, so I I was a like
Chris Detzel (17:29)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (17:29)
you said, I joined a year ago, so you know.
Chris Detzel (17:32)
I think it's awesome. So So y you do a little bit of rowing in college. you don't do any running though.
Kevin Barr (17:33)
Yeah.
Yeah.
I ran. that was kind of the source of my ability, aerobic ability, and that allowed me to even be competitive on the team. But you know, it wasn't a major part of my life. I didn't have time with rowing early in the morning, school. eventually I I had knee surgery, nothing major, just I I had some issues that I needed to get resolved. And
That put me out of rowing. I mean, even though it's not a major surgery, it still takes some recovery and stuff. So
Chris Detzel (18:07)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (18:09)
you know, once I came back from that, I was done with rowing. It was too much work to try to get back to it with only like a year left in college. So I did try to get back into running and had some some foot issues as I, you know, plantar fasciitis and all that. And really just kind of put me out of it like this is too much I've got enough other stuff to
So took back C for a while.
Chris Detzel (18:33)
probably
good idea anyways when I like, you know, finish up college and then figure it out from there.
Kevin Barr (18:39)
Yeah. And I and I did. I got back to it. So kind of transitioned into my beginning of my adult life. You know, I I moved to Dallas. I started working full time for the first time and
Chris Detzel (18:50)
What what kind of work do you do? What's your focus?
Kevin Barr (18:53)
I'm
I'm an accounting, so I'm a C P A. yep. Yeah. Actually so
Chris Detzel (18:56)
your CPA, okay. Yeah, didn't you tell
me you got an engineering degree, but you're a CPA? Okay.
Kevin Barr (19:01)
I did, yeah. I got
a electrical engineering degree, finished that out, knew I didn't really want to do engineering at a certain point and then got my masters in accounting, so you know. Everyone always thinks it's like a super interesting there's a story behind it, but there's not, I just didn't want to do engineering.
Chris Detzel (19:18)
I mean, you know, they're both very technical kind of jobs. So, I mean, you know, I guess that's and that's kinda where you you met was it Jeff?
Kevin Barr (19:18)
Okay.
Yes. Yep. So Jeff Pells, who you talked to recently as well, he's really the way I got plugged into the sloth group in the first place. he worked at the first place that I worked, public accounting firm. And I knew that he ran and I knew he was fast at the time. I was kinda running, kinda not running. but then fa you know, fast forward however many years and I eventually get back into running.
ran into him at some races and you know would always say hi and stuff and that was the extent of our interaction. And then you know last summer during the 1776, which is one of the running events that the sloth group hosts, ran into him there. I I just saw it, you know, publicly advertised. I'm like, that sounds fun, like do a mile on the
Chris Detzel (20:14)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (20:15)
track. ran into him and he invited me out to some of the training runs.
Chris Detzel (20:19)
So you didn't even know the sloth or anybody from the Louis Loth? And like did you you saw it on some advertis like how'd you see it? I'm always curious how you would see something like that. If no you don't know about them.
Kevin Barr (20:22)
Did I I did not know the slot.
I mean
I knew of people on that were
sloths, I you know, ran into a lot of these people at races. I kind of maybe
exchanged some words. So it's kind of funny now the people I run with, you know, weekly and multiple days a week, I'm like, they didn't know who I was, but I knew who they were. they were they were that fast group of people, you know. So
Chris Detzel (20:50)
Yeah. That's fine. Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin Barr (20:54)
I was on the outside like I w I wanna
run fast with that group one day and here I am.
Chris Detzel (21:00)
Here you are.
You know, I remember one time, it was last year at a f 5K race, I forget the I forget what it's called. I'm gonna run it this next year. But anyways, so they showed up, it was like at this brewery, and
I think it was right it was after the the 1776, maybe it was before, it's probably before. But I was starting to podcast like I the podcast was going on so but I talked to a couple of those guys before. So
All these guys come in with their, you know, tank tops on and, you know, it ha all has completely sloughed on it. You know, they all look super fit and they just kill it, right? Like they just speak almost everybody in that five K. You know, and and I think they knew, you know, I think Matt got first and some other d you
know, I think David was there and some other people. I don't know if you're there and you probably weren't since you weren't what the sloths but anyways they they show up and you knew, like, my god, these guys are it was just
Kevin Barr (21:46)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (21:55)
Kinda funny. This crew comes in, they beat everybody, they win, get their stuff and then they leave.
Kevin Barr (22:02)
You know,
honestly, and I feel differently obviously now that I run with the group and it's nothing bad to say about anyone, but you know, as an outsider I w I kind of annoyed when they would when when they would show up to like, Well, there's no chance I'm winning today, you know. and it's again nothing to say about any one person. It's just you never know who's gonna show up at a local race. It could be absolutely no one,
Chris Detzel (22:21)
I thought it was cool as hell. Like that's right.
Kevin Barr (22:25)
you get first place or
Or the slots could show up and you're gonna get eight
Chris Detzel (22:28)
Yeah. And
I come in with swagger. You guys now you're part of You guys come in with swagger like yeah, you know, I I've looked at the like I would ask Brent little so I think he's part of the sloss that at that point.
and he goes, Yeah, you know, I did some research and I think Matt said he did the same thing to see who who's there, who's not there and and I I knew I had a chance to win first if you know somebody some weird person shows up that because there are people that can run fifteens and stuff in Dallas, so you never know.
Kevin Barr (22:56)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (22:58)
But so it was just kind of fun to talk about and less and they did their homework then. So it it just it was a cool conversation and and also cool just to walk I was there like it was gonna pay guys. I felt star struck, you know, a little bit
Kevin Barr (22:58)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (23:11)
like from them. So but all right.
Kevin Barr (23:13)
I don't know a few
related story, to Big Star this past year, you know,
Chris Detzel (23:18)
yeah.
Kevin Barr (23:19)
in April. I was not signed up, not planning on running it. I just done Houston, I was, you know, decompressing a little bit and some of the people in my my group, you know, I I mo primarily run with I'd say with the core group up north, Jennifer
Pope and Eric Bretel and Aaron Pearson and Maddie Steyer are some of the main people up there. But
Some of them were gonna run and I was like, fine, like I'll I'll do it, but only I knew that they had some cash prizes. So I
didn't really want to put forward an race effort. I wasn't mentally at that point yet. And so I'm like, okay, it cash all the way to fifth place. Like,
Chris Detzel (23:58)
Chance.
Kevin Barr (23:59)
there's a chance. I can just show up, like, not have to exert myself all the way, just do just enough to get
top somewhere in the top five. Didn't know who was running. I knew like a handful of people and so I'm like, okay, that's one, two, three, so maybe fourth or fifth. So I show up. Sergio show some
Chris Detzel (24:13)
Sergio showed up to that one, didn't he? Yeah.
Kevin Barr (24:16)
yeah. I sh I came, I started looking around, I see Sergio, I'm like, crap, there's there's another one.
Chris Detzel (24:22)
He's
probably pretty much gonna beat well and then Casey, did he did he show up for that one? If he didn't Okay. He I mean, any of those guys would have had a chance. Sergio definitely is one of the fastest half marathoners anyways.
Kevin Barr (24:27)
he did not. No. No.
Well
there were so I counted four people that I knew for sure would be me, no ma even if I was trying to race. So I'm like, all right, fit,
Chris Detzel (24:44)
That's funny.
Kevin Barr (24:45)
like I'm gonna start the race, keep everyone in sight, count all the people.
Chris Detzel (24:50)
Like it.
Kevin Barr (24:51)
and then what happened? Five people went out in front of me and I'm like, my gosh. So
Chris Detzel (24:54)
Well.
That's just it's the front. Keep going, sorry.
Kevin Barr (24:59)
It's the it was the fun
of the race, but unfortunately that group I I wasn't with them. I was, you know, just like holding back my effort, but keeping them in sight. They went on for eight miles. So I had to, you know, kind of put in some work for eight miles, then
eventually one of them fell back and I had to make the decision like, all right, I'm just gonna like push past this guy and break their will essentially. So I ended up getting getting fifth, but
It may be worth
Chris Detzel (25:26)
Tell me more
about that, because that's way more interesting to me. I'll give you a little story. I don't know if you heard the story, but when I was talking to when I talked to Casey and when I talked to Steven. So Stephen was there yesterday. But so I when I was talking to him, and Casey said somewhat something similar, right? And so
Steven's just kind of a laid back runner. Like he's a very smart runner, racer specifically, just from what I could tell. And so he knew, like, he was like four people back at Dallas Maryland.
So maybe five, I don't remember. Or he was staying with this, he was staying with
I interviewed him too. look it is think it was the anyways, he was staying with this one guy, right? And he said, I was just keeping people in front of me just to to know that they're there and if I want to try to make a move, I can make a move. And and so he said, Then I had to go to the bathroom. I was like, what? He had to go to the bathroom. This guy stopped from the bathroom and still went first. But the point was.
He talked about, okay, I'm gonna make a move, you know, see what happens. And he and he passes the third place guy.
Okay, and then he passes the second place guy. And then he started going to the first place guy. So the funny thing is, and I just I just think this is the coolest thing because I'll tell you what the other guy said. He goes, so I was so when I passed that first place guy, it was Casey at that time, he goes, I pass him, and then I knew from then I wanted to see what he had.
Kevin Barr (26:46)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (26:52)
So from twenty-three to twenty-four or something like that, I don't know exactly. But from twenty-three to twenty-four, I just kicked on the gas like 30 seconds faster or 50, whatever it was. And he broke Casey's will, right? With that said, Casey did the same thing to the guy before him to pass you know what I mean? Like, and so, but then Casey saw Steven go past him. He's he broke my will. And he goes, 'cause Casey was staying with him for that one, but then just died. So
Kevin Barr (27:03)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (27:21)
Talk about that, you know, if you can, like I mean if you have something kind
of
Kevin Barr (27:22)
Yeah.
Yeah, well I
I mean, it's kinda interesting 'cause, you know, I was not going in with the race mentality, like I wasn't going
for time. There I was going for a place. Like there is a huge difference in in racing to to win or racing for a place
versus just solo weight solo effort like I want my own PR today.
Two totally different mentalities.
So when I got to that position, I saw this guy way in the distance just slowly fading from the group of four. I didn't do anything crazy at that point. They were they had got a a pretty good gap on me at that point. So I just, you know, maintained the effort. Saw I wasn't sure, you know, what he was gonna do if he would continue to die. I didn't know him at all. So I had no idea his his capability, but slowly reeled him in. As I got closer,
I was like, okay, I'm definitely catching this guy. I need to make my move. And, you know, again, this is racing for for place.
when you do that, it's the same in track, maybe even more so in in track. When you make your move, like you have to be decisive and confident. it mentally, psychologically, like does something for you and the other person. So, you know, I sped up
pretty significantly once I got about twenty, thirty meters back. Cause then they're hearing you coming, they
Chris Detzel (28:42)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (28:42)
see you pass, they see you go, and they either have to immediately react and respond, or they're almost done for.
Chris Detzel (28:49)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (28:51)
About twenty seconds after I passed him, I I turned a corner which gave me pretty good visibility. He was walking. So I
Chris Detzel (28:59)
well. So you knew you had him. But you didn't want somebody
to come bu behind you, you know, because you never know.
Kevin Barr (29:05)
for yeah, for sure. I was, you know, checking and making sure 'cause once once I saw he was done, done done, I'd had to make sure that wasn't gonna happen to me too. So but
Chris Detzel (29:15)
Yeah,
and then you mentioned something like, you know, it it's kinda like track track, you you have a very fine out you know, the time is not there for you, right? You have to make that move and just kinda keep going and then you're done, kinda thing. With the half, depending on where you were, I mean you could have been three miles out, you know, but still have Yeah. So I mean so even yeah, y you have to just keep going. So that that's pretty cool. Thank you for sharing that.
Kevin Barr (29:29)
Yeah. I was like it was about mile nine, so yeah, four more miles to go. But I couldn't stop.
Yeah. I did slow back down. I
mean I made my move. I was decisive. I I saw he had he had broken. I kept it for a little bit and then I I did ease back in to make sure that
I myself didn't just completely blow up.
Chris Detzel (29:53)
Hundred percent. So did you get some prize money, Ben? I mean
Kevin Barr (29:55)
Yeah, like
I mean it was you know, it was fifth so I didn't get a lot, but got some gift cards, got some money, got some glasses, some socks, so
Chris Detzel (30:02)
What?
Kevin Barr (30:02)
it was a pretty good haul.
Chris Detzel (30:04)
I might go there next year just to to watch you guys, you know. I mean I'll go and run, but it won't be you know, to race it. Yeah. is it? Okay. Would you run?
Kevin Barr (30:09)
Good a good race. Tough course. Tough course though.
It is.
I think it was one eighteen. it
Chris Detzel (30:17)
Okay.
Kevin Barr (30:18)
was it was hot, windy, hilly. So, you know, I was very happy with no, no. November
Chris Detzel (30:22)
Isn't that your fastest or no? Okay, okay. What's your fastest?
Kevin Barr (30:29)
in Dallas, so Dallas twenty twenty five, I ran one fourteen twenty nine.
Chris Detzel (30:35)
gosh, yeah. Yeah, it's way faster. Dude, you've you've got really so you started off your first half marathon at one twenty-five. Now you're down to one fourteen, so that's pretty significant. and I know that you mentioned that or you didn't mention it on this, but you and I spoke and you mentioned that you've run like one twenty five a couple of times, and it took you a little bit to kinda get down to that half type stuff. So did you good.
Kevin Barr (31:02)
Yeah.
I was just gonna say that progression, it's kinda kinda funny. I said my running journey started in Dallas and then I moved to Dallas. I got plugged into the running community here. when I lived actually in the Dallas area. I did the 2016 Dallas half marathon, so seven years after the first one, ran almost the same time, one twenty five.
Chris Detzel (31:25)
That's correct.
Kevin Barr (31:26)
I told you this the other day and I I want to mention it again because like I ran with these people.
weekly basis, you know, Wednesdays, Luke's Locker, I think it was Wednesday mornings, Luke's Locker, Saturday long runs. I don't remember anyone that I used to run with. It was 10 years ago at this point. And I was
around for maybe a year, but you know just I life and all sorts of other things got in way. And so if anyone knows who I am, recognizes me, reach out.
Love to reconnect.
Chris Detzel (31:55)
Yeah, Kevin Barr,
you know, make sure you say hello. He's he's on Instagram sorta. So I say sorta. I mean you're you at least check it every now and then. So did you so when did you start thinking about running a marathon? When was your first marathon and how'd you do and let's go for
Kevin Barr (32:01)
Kind of I'm not that accurate. Yeah, but so
Yeah.
So I went through a long lull after twenty sixteen of not running, like basically at all. you know, had some again life went through a divorce and work was just not pleasant. so kind of turned that corner, met my my wife and got a new job, you know, all these sorts of things.
Chris Detzel (32:34)
All newer happy things.
Kevin Barr (32:36)
newer,
happier things, just you know, finding fulfillment and trying to figure out, you know, how to live my life in a healthy and and happy and conducive way. And
Chris Detzel (32:46)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (32:46)
you know, it's kind of funny when I met my wife, she I was not running. She knew that I liked running. And so she was one of the kind of motivating factors to me getting started running again. just her
Chris Detzel (32:59)
Really?
Kevin Barr (32:59)
encouragement and supporting me in in the journey.
so I started running again in twenty twenty three.
Chris Detzel (33:05)
What'd she say? She said, Hey, you're you're a stress ball dude. Like, go do
something. You said you like running, why don't you try that again?
Kevin Barr (33:12)
Not so much a stress ball, just you know, we were both in a you know, she I have two step kids, so she you know, she was married before too, and we wanted to live our lives in a way that was meaningful to us and what's important to each of us and let's pursue those things together and supporting each other in in that process. So
yeah, I'll say I couldn't do what I do now and all the running that I do without her. like you said
have I have four kids at home and that r is a lot of effort.
Chris Detzel (33:39)
How old are your kids?
Kevin Barr (33:42)
So I have thirteen, nine, two, and two months. So the whole spectrum.
Chris Detzel (33:49)
All right, so let me ask you this then. I've had a lot of people on a and I ask a similar question. So how do you manage that? How do you kind of, you know, you know, have that conversation with your partner? I mean, obviously she supports you, you know, you wanna be able to do the things that you would without her, but you know, how does that conversation go? How do you support her and maybe her endeavor? I don't know. I'm I'm just curious.
Kevin Barr (34:10)
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, if you ask her today, you know, and compared to when we met, it's like what did I what did I unleash here? 'Cause you weren't running at all and now you're running nine
Chris Detzel (34:23)
Yeah, that's a different.
Kevin Barr (34:24)
to ten hours a week, you know. so I don't I wouldn't say she regrets it, but it's like goodness,
what what are you now? but all jokes aside, you know
It's a constant conversation and making sure that everyone's needs are being met and you know, obviously the kids and the the family
life comes comes first. so just checking in with your partner, making sure that
It's not a a one time like, yeah, go and do this thing, like continuing
to make sure that that support is there. And then pivoting or you know, shifting to meet maybe unmet expectations or or needs. So
Chris Detzel (35:00)
Yeah, and think sh
you know, you're right. I mean, shifting a is big and I remember so I have a son, he's sixteen now, so it's a lot easier to to manage, but I don't have him full time. But when I had him, I d so I've got remarried my wife and I have been married since twenty eighteen, but we've been together since twenty fourteen. And so we've been together for a while now. But, you know, my son he was three and so when I'd have him on the weekends, you know, she's a runner already and s and's been one, but
You know, when I had to go run and she was very kind and watching
or do different things and and it was just always, do you mind? 'Cause you know, for for her that's not her kid, you know. So but you know, she was very open and very kind about it and and helped out, you know, where she could and you know, and I was very appreciative. And I think that, you know, for for us it was more supportive. And even for the folks that have been on it, like talking to Maddie and some others that, you know, they have multiple kids and
Kevin Barr (35:38)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (35:58)
you know, both kinda talk about it. They you know, s some guys
that I talked to were like, Well, I'll get up at five AM and run till six and then she does from six thirty to seven thirty and I'll do you know, so there's always a a balance, you know, between things and it's just a cons constant kind of like you said, collab, if you will. So
Kevin Barr (36:18)
Yeah. For sure. One of the
things that I've I've gotten enjoyment out and it it supports her too is Sunday I run with my son so in the and jogging stroller, you know. And when my daughter who's two months old can't take her yet, but when she gets old enough I we we already have the double stroller, so yeah, I'll
Chris Detzel (36:38)
Sweet.
Kevin Barr (36:39)
take them out Sunday mornings and I enjoy it 'cause I get time with them. we sing and
You know, it's just an easy run, but my son loves to
Chris Detzel (36:46)
Love it.
Kevin Barr (36:47)
sing, I love to sing, we just have a good time, you know. And then she gets time away from the the constant
Chris Detzel (36:53)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (36:54)
needs of toddlers and babies. So that's been fun and that's kind of morphed into my son Colin. He loves to go on runs with me now. He knows that I run. I come back with my sweaty clothes and he he immediately recognizes Daddy ran.
Chris Detzel (37:09)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (37:11)
And now he goes out
and just recently he started running with me. you know, he's two almost two years old, so I say run, but we ran about three quarters of a mile a couple of weeks ago. And he ran the whole time. We just
he was having a blast. So it's fun for me.
Chris Detzel (37:28)
I think that's awesome. I remember having my son run w with me back when he was four to about eight. And you know, I remember he got his mile down to like literally run a mile. He'd run five Ks starting from, you know, eight to ten or whatever, you know, but he c he I think he ran ten K in twenty seven, twenty eight minutes, which for, you know, little kid was really fast. Now now he struggles because he doesn't run at all.
know, he's he plays band and stuff like that. But, you know, I I think some of the stuff that I taught him
and things like is just work hard, you know, and and I think that whether your son or daughters or whatever, if they run or not, you know, at the end of the day, you're just teaching exercise is a good thing. And and if you know, if one day you decide to exercise, you know that running is one of the things you can do, which probably should do, you know, so
Alright, so you get it so thank you for for talking about that a little bit. It I think people want to hear about, you know, how you kind of manage the relationships through, you know, how do you go through that? Because a lot of people will just say, that's too difficult. It is difficult, but it's not impossible. so yeah, let's talk a little bit about the marathon stuff.
Kevin Barr (38:22)
Yeah.
Yeah,
so you know, I really get back into running in twenty twenty three. it was about August, this time three years ago, started running. It w at the time it was two to three days a week at most. I signed up for the Dallas half, so kind of just a interesting thing. Two thousand nine to twenty sixteen was seven years.
Then 2016 to 2023 was seven years. so with the same race, half marathon each time. I did such little running though to that point. I ran a 130, so I I I regressed, but it
Chris Detzel (39:13)
Still pretty fast.
Kevin Barr (39:15)
I was being consistent though. I was showing up, it was you know two to three days a week, and I decided after that race I'm gonna commit to this. I want to run a marathon. My goal
For a long time, even while I was not running in the late twenty tens, I wanted to qualify for Boston. I wanted to run a sub three hour marathon. nowhere
Chris Detzel (39:35)
Well, back then.
Kevin Barr (39:37)
close to doing that. But you know, now that I was running again, I'm like, okay, I can commit to this and I targeted the Dallas marathon because that was, you know, the only one I had really done to that point for twenty twenty four.
Chris Detzel (39:47)
But
Did a lot of
halves in that one. So
Kevin Barr (39:51)
Yeah. so I got a coach in January twenty twenty four. I knew that I needed some extra accountability, I need to establish more consistency. And one of the things he told me, which it's kind of obvious, but you know, maybe not, it's like the most gains you're gonna get is just running more often, running more miles. You're
Chris Detzel (40:10)
That's right.
Kevin Barr (40:11)
running two days a week.
Let's update to three days. Okay, now you you've got three days down, let's get that to four. and just that, you know, continual increase of mileage month after month. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (40:21)
Yeah, that's all you needed at that time. I mean,
speed to help a little, but really is you just need the miles on that, you know. That's gonna help you for the first year. And then to to me, if if I mean you've been running some, so I'm not saying you should add in and you know, some s speed, but at the same time, like people that don't run a lot, you know, just add in the miles and slowly and but surely. You do that for a year, you're gonna get faster, period. I mean that's just that's just the reality, you know, and then the next year because
Kevin Barr (40:32)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (40:50)
you and I talked about this once, but you know, the
more miles you put on, you know, your body just has to adjust, you know, and it takes for a marathon especially a year it could take years for you to hit your true abilities, you know? And so I mean I think this is a sound device, it's really it.
Kevin Barr (41:06)
Well, you it's
I mean I had lofty goals and I went into ran that whole year that was a
Chris Detzel (41:13)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (41:13)
long year. Like I that was twelve months out, you know.
Chris Detzel (41:17)
Okay.
Kevin Barr (41:17)
but I was starting from pretty minimal. So
Chris Detzel (41:21)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (41:22)
by the time I got to December, you know, obviously was able to refine my goal and expectations to that point and felt like I was in two fifty shape at that point. That was kind of the
workouts that I was doing and the training I was I was going towards. And so my fitness had obviously gone way up over the year, but I I went into that
Chris Detzel (41:41)
I mean two
fifty's pretty lofty, you know, for your first, but
Kevin Barr (41:44)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (41:45)
But I I mean, why not? They can all have goals.
Kevin Barr (41:48)
It w it wasn't the goal, you know. so
Chris Detzel (41:51)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (41:51)
why not why not go for it? and I didn't have a lot to, you know, really base it on. I I did a I
think I did a half in I did a Toyota Music Factory half in November to as kind of a baseline, ran a one nineteen
Chris Detzel (42:04)
well that was that that had to give me confidence then, at least to so that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah. I mean she did gotta run a marathon for the first time, so that's the that's the hard part.
Kevin Barr (42:07)
It did. Like that, you know, the conversions, which only means so much, told me two fifty was realistic. So Yeah.
So went into the the race. It was a hot day, very humid. and I was on pace through halfway at two fifty and then I ended up at three
Chris Detzel (42:27)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (42:27)
ten. So it was a rough last six miles. May probably more like eight last eight miles was pain
and suffering and cursing and all kinds of things. Twenty twenty four, yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel (42:38)
Twenty twenty four you said? Yeah. Yeah. I
ran the half marathon I was pacing the one fifty and I remember that day and it was really hot and and I was like, we're gonna have some carnage today. So but it's good learning for you, right? Like I mean, three ten's not bad, but yeah, it certainly didn't hit your potential.
Kevin Barr (42:52)
Yeah.
Yeah. and I've learned a lot since then, you know, looking back I could say I mean it was a bad day to try to go for two fifty, but I also just did not have the miles and the accumulation of years to have really been able to confidently go into that race saying I can run two fifty. but I didn't learn that yet. I that was one
Chris Detzel (43:17)
How about fueling? Did you were you fueling well or what how what did that look like?
Kevin Barr (43:22)
of the aspects I would say I did have down.
Chris Detzel (43:24)
Okay.
Kevin Barr (43:25)
My coach was very, very
Chris Detzel (43:27)
Good.
Kevin Barr (43:27)
emphasizing he he does he's in the ultra world now and does a lot of trail running, which they're, you know, ahead of the curve on fueling, so
Chris Detzel (43:35)
Sure. Well I mean they have eight stations, they eat tacos and stuff, but some of their stuff's they food.
Kevin Barr (43:39)
Yeah, exactly. So I actually had a a running running
belt, which, you know, is is useful. It was kinda interesting
Chris Detzel (43:46)
Hmm.
Kevin Barr (43:46)
though because of people who are generally running a little faster, like you don't see that. and so I was by myself and in having a a belt, but I had, you know, bottles full of fuel and and Morton mixes, so
Chris Detzel (44:01)
I mean yeah, I mean like do whatever it takes. I mean it does look it would look kinda weird, honestly, to see a fast guy like you wearing a belt. But for a marathon, but I mean, who cares? I'm not saying I'll I'm I'm like if I saw two fifty or two forty, you I mean, you see like Maddie with big bulky pockets sometimes, you know, like you know, but you gotta carry ten gels. So or however many she's carry. So yeah.
Kevin Barr (44:01)
I
Years. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. You ha I mean you have to. So I
switched to just just the gels and on course, you know, aid and stuff. because that's it really is a lot of weight and it gets kinda cumbersome when you're trying to go that fast and and bouncy. But maybe that was my approach
Chris Detzel (44:42)
Yeah, it does.
Kevin Barr (44:43)
at the time. So anyway, you know did that race. I didn't quite learn my lessons yet and I immediately turned around and signed up for the Woodlands, which was two to th two to three months later.
Chris Detzel (44:54)
Smart. Rookie move.
Kevin Barr (44:54)
Basically the same experience. Yeah, rookie
move. went out two fifty pace and then ended up at three two. So not quite as bad.
Chris Detzel (45:02)
I mean that's progress though.
Kevin Barr (45:03)
It was progress. I was
Chris Detzel (45:05)
You didn't
sound too happy about that. I mean, progress is progress for a marathon, and like
Kevin Barr (45:09)
At the time
I mean I was unhappy because it hurt so bad to to bonk, you know, and and die out that that badly
Chris Detzel (45:13)
Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin Barr (45:16)
in the second half of the race really hurts. and I did not want to experience that feeling again after Dallas, but I did.
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (45:23)
It sucks, dude. That's
that that I mean I that's happened to me twice and after the well it happened to me once, a really bad bunk during a marathon, it was Dallas Marathon. And I decided never to run a marathon again. I didn't I ran three and that was my third and I'm like, mm, I'm not doing that shit again. No way. And I d
Kevin Barr (45:44)
Very done.
Chris Detzel (45:46)
Yeah, I've been done for ten years for marathons. I mean I've run half marathons and I've run fifty K's, I've done you know
Kevin Barr (45:48)
wow.
Chris Detzel (45:53)
different things, but for me, like I don't know, like the the training is a lot. And back then trying to train and I had a young son and it was just hard. You know,
maybe I c you know as I get older I just not that interested in running marathons, you know. But but yeah anyways, I digress a little but that's I know exactly how you feel. I I've I see it today, you know, like I've I'm I was like
Kevin Barr (46:12)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (46:19)
I don't ever want to feel like that. Again, that's how bad a balk for me felt. You know, it was just
Kevin Barr (46:24)
Well, I
I truly thought I was not gonna ever do a marathon again after Dallas and that lasted about two weeks and then I signed up for New. So, you know.
Chris Detzel (46:32)
I haven't got this idea. All right, so you did that twice.
Kevin Barr (46:36)
I did it again. I signed up for Irving 'cause I I still wanted I felt like I could get that two fifty or or something I you know, at that point I
Chris Detzel (46:43)
Yeah. Good.
Kevin Barr (46:45)
was like, All right, I'm gonna ignore the two fifty. I just wanna go sub three. I'm only two minutes off and I bonked, so
I know that I can get
If I just target sub three, I could get it. So a
month after Woodlands, I did Irving Marathon in March or April twenty five and got two fifty seven. You know, I had different ri race plan,
Chris Detzel (47:04)
Yes.
Kevin Barr (47:04)
like I'm just gonna go out conservative and just finish at the time I wanna finish. And it went according to plan. So, you know, I was copy.
Chris Detzel (47:12)
Mindset, you know.
Kevin Barr (47:14)
And I saw it as a a long game at that point. I just wanted to get that sub three just to
I knew I was in shape to do it, and then
Chris Detzel (47:21)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (47:21)
focus on getting faster for the next marathon season. And so that
Chris Detzel (47:25)
Love it.
Kevin Barr (47:27)
really brings us to kind of today's world. Heading into that summer of 25, that's when I, you know, saw Jeff at that race, met the sloth group, started running with them, and that kind of conflicted with having a coach because I was showing up with
I had my own workouts to designate it, but then I wanted to run with this group who were doing different things. And so
it made sense for me to kind of just go solo without a coach and tech onto this group that is super knowledgeable, very fast, supportive. and it made the difference for me. It was kind of the the next step that I needed to take. Like I I had established the consistency to that point.
with the coach
Chris Detzel (48:03)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (48:04)
and now I needed that intensity and aggressive mileage to get me to the next level. So all throughout the fall of twenty-five, I had already targeted Houston, 26. That was my big plan to finally get my, you know, Boston qualifier and all this stuff. really aggressive that that year, just chasing the the group, really. and
you know, every single long run I was going out and you look at my Strava, you know, activities or achievements, it's like 18 mile run, but I set my two mile PR and set my mile
Chris Detzel (48:37)
Ha ha.
Kevin Barr (48:38)
PR and five KPR and half marathon PR all during these long runs.
Chris Detzel (48:44)
Pretty cool.
Kevin Barr (48:44)
and so it was a wild experience and just kind of a rush that honestly like you I could only experience once.
I'm never gonna have a a training season like that again. No, I mean I shouldn't. I shouldn't, you know.
Chris Detzel (48:56)
Probably not getting PRs. Hopefully not. Well I mean, maybe, but yeah.
Kevin Barr (49:02)
like I'll be, you know, fortunate if I get a PR every year. so
Chris Detzel (49:09)
Yeah. I mean,
you never know what's gonna happen. You
know, you just y you could pick smart races, which it seems like you guys are doing, you know, a lot of people are picking CIM or Houston or, you know, things like that as the kind of the the race to to race or Indianapolis because that's probably where you're gonna get PRs at those places. Not in general and not a Dallas Marathon. I'm not saying you won't, but probably won't.
Kevin Barr (49:34)
Right. No, yeah, probably not.
Chris Detzel (49:37)
In Boston, I mean I know that some people have got PRs in Boston like David,
Kevin Barr (49:42)
Yeah.
Chris Detzel (49:43)
but I mean that guy ran like really fast. I was like you got a PR in Boston. I mean, he's already kind of fast, so I mean it wasn't like he was slow or anything, but I mean just next level. so yeah, I mean it makes sense. You gotta be smart about your you where you're gonna race because you only have in general you you're not gonna do
three or four marathons in one year. I I mean I know you did, but that's not
Kevin Barr (50:03)
Yeah. Yeah. One or two shots truly
at it, you know, each year. So
Chris Detzel (50:08)
Really kind of the I think the recommendation. Yeah. So
Kevin Barr (50:11)
Yeah, yeah.
So I mean, you know, during that time, it was kind of hard to manage expectations. Like I was being called a sandbagger because my you know, my time, my true PR at that point was two fifty seven for the marathon. And I'm setting these half marathon PRs during these runs, they're like, You're faster than that I'm like, Well, I don't know, am
Chris Detzel (50:36)
Obviously.
Kevin Barr (50:36)
So it really made it
hard to gauge like what is my true fitness level right now? What can I target at at Houston?
Chris Detzel (50:44)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (50:44)
so the the Dallas half, which I did in December 25, was kind of the first indication of where my fitness was. And I mentioned that time the you know, one fourteen, twenty nine really gave me more confidence like heading into Houston. the the group I was running with was telling me I should go for
you know, two thirties, somewhere in the two thirties. I'm like, I w I just want to go for two forty five. Like let's let's
Chris Detzel (51:09)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (51:09)
slow down here. But that race gave us the first indication like I can maybe target this. I can base my
Chris Detzel (51:15)
Yeah. I
mean it's a big jump. And then it's a big mind kind of Yeah, I mean it
Kevin Barr (51:20)
Scary.
Chris Detzel (51:22)
it it's scary because you're like, I I don't know if I could do that because I mean two fifty seven to you know w what's crazy though is think about it, the first time you ran a marathon you thought I want to get under three. And that was already a lofty goal. So I mean you were close. It wasn't like you were way far off. Make some better decisions, you might have got that like run a little bit more. But you've you got to that, right? And but never have you set a
You know, ne you probably never in your maybe you did, but it feels like from what you're talking about, you never thought you were gonna hit a two thirty something. You
know, like especially not in the next year. So
Kevin Barr (51:53)
So I thought my stretch goal was
like two forty, you know,
Chris Detzel (51:59)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (52:00)
at most. So you know, I I the the group I was running with, Aaron and Jennifer and Eric and them, they ran CIM and they hit two thirty, all three of them got two thirty-five. And so you know, I had been doing
Chris Detzel (52:13)
Yeah. huh.
Kevin Barr (52:14)
my training runs with them. So I'm like, again, another boost of maybe I can
do this. I unfortunately had to spend the next like six weeks training solo 'cause they were done, but
Chris Detzel (52:24)
That'll suck, but you know, you're not gonna lose much fitness anyways.
Kevin Barr (52:27)
No, I, you know,
kept it going. Get to Houston and even race day, you know, my approach was I just wanna target two forty and and see where I'm at, you know, halfway through. and that's I pretty much executed that plan for the first little bit and during that race
Chris Detzel (52:46)
Yeah.
Kevin Barr (52:47)
I didn't know many I I was there with some of the guys from the McKinney Running Club that I didn't mention
that but
I had run with them when I first kind of got back into running here in McKinney.
Chris Detzel (52:57)
Yeah, I talked to Chris Sheldon not too long ago, so yeah, great group of guys and he's a great leader it seems. So super nice.
Kevin Barr (52:59)
Yeah. yeah.
Yeah, that group has really exploded, so
I'm happy for them. but I was really running the race solo, you know, just solo in the midst of a month a bunch of strangers. but was running with this guy early on and we started talking, you know, miles three, four, five and had similar goals, so we kind of stuck together for a little while and then around mile eight or nine we started seeing this group ahead of us.
Yeah, it was we realized it was the women's Olympic, you know, OTQ, the the qualifying pace group, all the women trying to get to the trials. And that was too yeah. Exactly.
Chris Detzel (53:40)
That's T thirty seven, so you know you're doing pretty well.
Kevin Barr (53:44)
Their pace was two thirty seven. So I'm like, Well, wow, that's that's kinda crazy. And there were some guys sprinkled in there too. so we were running solo, me and this guy and we're like, Man, we're we're catching them.
It would be really nice mentally if we just, you know, make our way there, not too fast, just slowly progress, latch onto the group and then again just the mental effort and load just drop.
Chris Detzel (54:07)
Did y'all
say this to each other or was it just kind of no? No, okay.
Kevin Barr (54:09)
Yeah, no, we we it we it was verbalized,
you know, that early in the race, like you should be able to to pick
Chris Detzel (54:15)
Yeah, yeah.
Kevin Barr (54:15)
the words out. and so we we verbalized it, we made sure we weren't pushing it too fast and burning ourselves out to get there. But I mean seriously, once we got to that group, the effort just dropped because we didn't have to think, we just had to had to run. and we realized Fiona O'Keefe, who's a professional runner and
I think was one of the Olympians for the US, she was facing
Chris Detzel (54:39)
Yeah, doing the pacing.
Kevin Barr (54:41)
that group. So that was a really cool and surreal experience. Like I'm right here amongst really great people, elite
Chris Detzel (54:45)
That is cool. With all these stars, elites, yeah.
Kevin Barr (54:49)
athletes, right? so that group kind of made its way through my like 18 together. I went through halfway at about 118 in some change.
And so that was
beyond my initial goals. At that point I was committed. Like I'm I want a negative split. Like I wanna do this.
Chris Detzel (55:06)
Yeah, I love it.
Kevin Barr (55:07)
So it got hard of course, twenty plus, but I was feeling pretty good and pushed pushed the pace some of the last few miles and ended up negative splitting. I think I had
a one seventeen thirty or forty second half, finished
Chris Detzel (55:22)
Awesome.
Kevin Barr (55:23)
in two thirty six eleven. So
Chris Detzel (55:26)
Congratulations, man. And by the way, that that day was a beautiful day, you
know.
Kevin Barr (55:31)
It was
so perfect weather for the race. so couldn't have asked for better conditions. The course is amazing.
Chris Detzel (55:38)
Two what is your ceiling, man? What is it? You know, that's what I I can't wait to see you kind of surpass even two thirty six. Yeah, all you guys. I think what's next for you? What's what's your goal? You know, I mean, just realistically, what do you what can you do?
Kevin Barr (55:43)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, so
signed up for Houston again. Like it went so well. I'm like, I just want to run it back and and you know, hopefully have good
Chris Detzel (55:58)
A hundred percent.
Kevin Barr (56:01)
weather again. But there's a a group of us, the same group that I've mentioned already. we've got two thirty as our kind of standard that we're shooting for.
Not really two thirty, more like two two twenty nine. We want to bring two thirty just 'cause it's a nice round number. but that's the goal.
Chris Detzel (56:13)
twenty nine. Hundred percent.
Well, th you'd be in
the two twenties, you know, that's the that'd be even better. I mean, whatever you get is gonna be great, but you know, two twenty nine'll be you know that's what I was telling Troy. Like Troy was saying, Well, you know, I wanna hit a two thirty, two I
Kevin Barr (56:22)
Yeah, yeah.
Chris Detzel (56:30)
don't know, whatever. I was like, dude, why don't you just set your goal like a two twenty nine? Like why why is two thirty this magical number? Just hit two twenty nine. You know, just okay, two twenty nine or something like that, you know. Yeah.
Kevin Barr (56:40)
He's on our group, so the the group
right
now that we we all have the stated goal, it's verbalized now, so they can't take it back. It's me, Troy,
Chris Detzel (56:48)
That's right.
Kevin Barr (56:49)
Greg, I don't know if you've talked to him yet, Eric, Reddle, and Aaron. So that's that's the goal. It's out there. Now they have to, you know, they can't back out now.
Chris Detzel (56:59)
Yeah, Jennifer and Mimi have to do it as well. You know, Mimi's right there. So so yeah, it'd be interesting. any last words? I mean this was great. I really appreciate it. Any kind of last thoughts around, you know, running or, you know, some advice around that stuff or
Kevin Barr (57:04)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I think I kinda mentioned this briefly earlier, but you know, I've as I've gotten back into running and had multiple periods where I've not been running, you know, I've really as I'm getting s a little older, I'm still young, but a little older, have regretted and wished that I could go back and, you know, think, Well, where could I be now if I had been running all that time? But you know, I had lofty goals when I started. You can't make it up all at once.
you know, this journey for me, while it's progressed really quickly over the last year, it's three years
really truly building to this point.
so be realistic about where you're at and know that if you don't hit the goal the first time, which I didn't hit it first, second, third, just keep working for it and be consistent. Show up each day and you know, the results will follow.
Chris Detzel (58:07)
I mean that's you know,
that's what running really is about is is consistent doing the miles, showing up every day. I mean somebody said this the other day, like ninety eight percent of what you do is training. One or two percent is racist. You know, you're you're you're gonna have to train your butt off to to to get those marathon times and a lot, you know, if you wanna accomplish big goals. And you know, the beauty is is that you you've shown that.
Other people that have been on the podcast have shown that, you know, it and and it's not
it's just not a secret. It's not like, you know, we c we it's funny because your story is similar to others from a you know, mileage standpoint. It's the miles you run, it's the showing up every day. So I love that message. And I think it's the marathon message. You know? No. You can't. So well Kevin, that's been really great. I really appreciate you coming on.
Kevin Barr (58:54)
Yeah. Yeah, it is. There's no shortcut to it.
Thanks for having me, Chris.
Chris Detzel (59:05)
Thank you everyone for tuning in to another DFW Running Talk. As most of you know, we have a new website, DFWRunningTalk.com. We also have a newsletter. You can go to the newsletter page on that same website and a bunch of other stuff like training plans, whether it's 5k, half, full, they're all free. different races. I have 400 and something races on that website that you can go check out. So check it out. again, Kevin. Thanks for coming. Thanks again for listening. Take care.
