Welcome to 'Josh in the Back!'

Hello there. It's me Josh. Welcome to my new blog. As many of you have probably seen plastered all over my social media I have a new podcast and YouTube channel that I started alongside my friend Blu Robinson called 'The Party in the Back.' I was still blogging under 'Okayest Jogger' but decided to streamline it, hence the 'Josh in the Back' blog name.

I thought about keeping the 'Okayest Jogger' blog and just rebranding it all, but I honestly wanted to start from scratch. I need to hit the major reset button. Not just on the blog, but my running, fitness and life. The hard life reset was hit back in February after meeting, my now wife, MaryAnn in Disneyland. Meeting her set off a chain reaction of change that led me to reevaluate goals, priorities and even friendships.

I quit my position as co-host of Radio Ronin and RoninTV in late March, something that was hard, yet easy to do. The easiest hard decision I've ever had to make. I couldn't go in the direction Radio Ronin wanted to go and it was 100% because I now had MaryAnn in my life. She has been the best thing to ever happen to me.

After talking marriage a prospective date in October, the date kept creeping up earlier and earlier. October gave way to August, which gave way to July, which eventually gave way to June. June 2nd to be specific, just 111 days after we met. But, both of us are over 40 and really ... when you know, you know. There really was no need to wait any longer than needed.

Even after stepping away from Radio Ronin, I still had the itch to be involved in something creative. I thrive off creativity and while Radio Ronin wasn't an option for me, I knew I needed a project. I wasn't in a rush to find something because I was focused on wedding plans and my relationship with MaryAnn.

Then my friend Blu and I started talking.

Things happen when Blu and I get together. Some good. Some bad. But, most of the time in the cloud ideas. When I ended The Runcast about five years ago, I knew I wasn't done with the idea of a running podcast. It just had to be the right situation, right hosts and right focus. And, more importantly it had to be something fun and authentic.

Over the years we've had a running podcast idea brewing that focused on 'the back of the pack' runners. A podcast that would be a good mix of running knowledge but not overly geeky where beginning runners feel intimidated along with a mixture of fun. So, when Blu approached me about making this podcast a reality ... I jumped onto it. Well, after getting the blessing of MaryAnn, of course.

After working on the podcast for a few weeks we still didn't have a name for it. After a number of promising names, it struck us. It was right in front of us the whole time ... "The Party in the Back." When I swept races (the last pacer of a marathon or half marathon) I would always refer to it as "the party in the back," because that's what it was.

My tactic as a pacer was always to distract the last few runners of the race and it was usually done by having fun. If we were running in an urban area it usually meant stopping for a Slurpee mid-run or if we were in the middle of nowhere it was all about joking, laughing and having fun in hopes to relieve us all from 'the suck.' This is the spirit of what we wanted to capture into the podcast and so the name was perfectly there all along.

Blu and I decided to launch the podcast on Global Running Day which was June 1st this year. It also happened to be the day BEFORE my wedding. And, if things could get crazier, besides setting up the graphics, feeds, etc., we decided to launch the podcast by releasing the first eight episodes in the first week (a practice that a number of podcasts use when launching). So we had eight episodes to record before June 1st in the middle of wedding planning.

It was hectic to say the least.

However, the hecticness really turned out to be a welcomed distraction, especially when I needed to mentally checkout. It was fun being able to record with Blu and just have fun talking about a sport I absolutely love. It helped temporarily balance me out.

As of the launch of this blog, we've released 12 episodes and the podcast has been received really well not just in the running community, but outside of it as well. We launched a Patreon campaign and it's a mix of runners and non-runners, which makes me glad that it's resonating beyond the sport. Because the podcast is about so much more than just running. It's about mental health. It's about current events. It's about pop culture. It's about life. It's serious when it needs to be serious, and it's light and fun most of the time. It's everything you'd talk about running in the back of the pack.

So, with that back story about the podcast and YouTube channel, why this new blog? Well, partly because I wanted to create some synergy with The Party in the Back and my running blog. But, as I mentioned above I could have simply rebranded Okayest Jogger, but I needed a clean slate not just on my running blog, but entire fitness and running journey.

Since late-2019/early-2020 I've been recovering. In December 2019 I had ankle surgery to repair a torn tendon and shave off a bone spur. Thankfully that recovery has been seamless and I've had no recurring issues with the ankle. A month later in January 2020 I was in an auto/pedestrian accident where I was the pedestrian. I won't go into details of the accident because there's pending litigation, but it could have been much worse if I wasn't extra vigilant thanks to my habits of running on the road.

However that injuries from that accident has been the bane of existence for the past couple of years. My right knee took the brunt of the impact, and long story short, triggered arthritis in the joint. I've done tons of physical therapy, had a number of doctor appointments and in January of this year an injection to help get it back to where I feel good running the distances I was used to running before the injury.

I'm getting there.

But, it's impacted so much more than just a bum knee. My weight has yo-yo'd and been harder than usual to manage because not only can I not run like I used to, but there are gym exercises that are impossible for me to do. It's also affected my mental health, because running really helped me process life. I struggled a lot late last year because of it. I don't want to sound like a complaining board. It's just been hard trying to get everything back on track.

And, since I am not the same runner that I used to be, I really want a hard reset of my running and fitness. Meaning, I want to forget about what happened to me not just before the accident, but really before I met MaryAnn. This would be the 250+ races I've done, the weight I lost and personal records I achieved. Those all belong to another Josh. This is a completely new journey I'm undertaking, but thankfully one that I am bringing all the things I learned from that previous journey.

So on this blog I am still keeping my race calendar from June 2022 forward. My personal best records are all from June 2022 forward. I will still have all the previous records and calendar on Okayest Jogger, but I won't be updating that site anymore. The blog is dead to me, but the URL and link will live on forever.

I really need this reset. I want to reconnect with my "why I love this sport" and stop comparing my current speed with the much faster speeds of a different Josh. It's just not fair to put myself in that mental space. So I'm taking myself out of it and creating something new.

The launch of this blog is technically July 7th, but I will be posting a few things over the next couple of weeks that precede that date. Namely episodes of The Party in the Back from June 1st onward along with a couple of race reports, the Taylorsville Dayzz 5K and Riverton Town Days 5K. Expect a lot of crossover between The Party in the Back podcast and YouTube channel along with this blog.

Additionally you can follow the blog on Instagram @joshintheback_ and Facebook @joshintheback. I might stick with those social media platforms for now. But, you can also find me on Twitter and my personal Instagram page. I'd love to connect with anyone and everyone regardless of whether or not you run.

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