Psycho Wyco Run Toto Run
Kansas City, KS
- 50K, 20 Miler, 10 Miler
- Trail (Unpaved)
- Official race website
The Psycho Wyco Run Toto Run features a challenging loop course on rocky, root-bound, and hilly bridle trails & single-track trails. “But it’s Kansas, how tough could it be?” Each loop is a wheel-measured 10.35 miles long. So, 2 loops for 20 miles, and 3 loops for 50-kilometers. 10-Miles: one … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Feb 21):
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| H (°F) | 40 | 25 | 70 | 59 | 70 |
| L (°F) | 24 | 1 | 40 | 33 | 38 |
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Great course, Everything else was subpar
Really good turnout which was nice. The course is a 10-mile loop, and all runners began at the same time which made for a very crowded first loop. There aren't … MORE
Really good turnout which was nice. The course is a 10-mile loop, and all runners began at the same time which made for a very crowded first loop. There aren’t a whole lot of passing opportunities with the narrow trails. Unless you know the race loop, it could get confusing as the trail were marked with utility marking flags. The course is super challenging and fun which I really liked. The page on UltraSignup was very misleading as the photos and description didn’t match the 2026 race. The page reads a party atmosphere, yet the email post-race called it a “low key event”.
The race shirt was a nice hooded shirt. I did the 20-mile race, and I got a approx. 3″ diameter wooden plaque which cracked before I even got home. If you’re in the area at the time, give it shot for the course alone. I traveled a two-hour drive and I didn’t feel it was worth it.
Same course, different outcome – I won!
Psycho Wyco is tough. Telling someone you are doing PW will surely elicit the "ewwww….why??" response. You'll humbly responded, "it'll be fun", yet your interior will scream "I HAVE NO … MORE
Psycho Wyco is tough. Telling someone you are doing PW will surely elicit the “ewwww….why??” response. You’ll humbly responded, “it’ll be fun”, yet your interior will scream “I HAVE NO IDEA!” The beauty of the race? Once you finish, you are forever cemented in the bad– class.
This is round two of PW for me, and I wanted to come back with vengeance. I missed the cutoff for lap two by FOUR MINUTES last year. Yes, FOUR MINUTES have haunted me more than a ghost on Christmas Eve. While my training has definitely increased over the past year, I was still extremely nervous. I trained for KC Marathon and I did not get the outcome I wanted on this race. Lesson learned – come in humble.
Trail runs are still a learning experience for me. I’m learning the right amount of layers, best supply carrier and getting my footing down. With an overall, 4,000 feet elevation gain (over 20 miles) the trot from the parking lot to the trail is the easy part. Once you enter the woods say good-bye to all sanity, which to be fair you probably did when you signed up for the race. The trail path is a heavy mix of hills, hard rocks, occasional flat ground, sharp turns and then even more hills. The two aid stations on the course have a variety of chips, candy, pickles, soda, water and sports drink. Sadly, they lacked the adult beverages from the prior year, but what are you going to do about it.
Thanks to the wonderfully awesome jkelling, I not only met my goal, I shed 34 minutes! Little did I know I would need that time to survive the second lap. Almost immediately (mile 11), an ongoing knee pain reemerged. I couldn’t turn back, both physically and mentally. My pace slowed to a walk and crawl. I knew I would survive, and I still haven’t determined which was worse: the knee pain or holding back jkelling (who ultimately ran an extra two miles while running back and forth for me). Thankfully, a fellow runner had Tylenol to spare and it kicked in just in time for jkelling to finish the final 5k and shed 17 minutes from his time last year.
While there were no adult beverages, the huge pot of chili smelled delicious. Major props to TrailNerds for providing that at the end of the race. It’s a tough race and no amount of bananas would be sufficient finish line goodies. As I mentioned, I am still on the learning curve for trail runs. When I saw that the 20-mile medal was a wooden disk, I stopped dead in my tracks. I think even the critters feared the rarely uttered profanities coming from my mouth. It’s a fine finish medal, but I did not endure stepping in horse droppings, a bum knee and 4,000 feet of elevation for a the same medal I got last year for doing the 10-miler. Thankfully, jkelling and Ben, from TrailNerds, secretly felt the wrath of a woman in the woods and secured the FINAL two metal medals. Yes, I wanted my bling. I really hope the metal medals return next year. This is too much of an iconic race and is worthy of such honor. You can almost hear the spinning tornado mocking runners “and I’ll get your running spirit too!”. The 50k metal medals seemed to be in place, but 50k will require a lot more training, recovery and grit. Apparently I agreed to it in my wilderness meltdown, which seems unfair, but as my sister tells me “who tells you to sign up?” Uh, the glory and honor?
Saturday was really rough for me, and when I finished, yes, I was beat, hungry and exhausted. Yet, I was extremely proud of myself for completing such a hard race. I cried more than I care to admit. A huge part of my why is my grandparents. Psycho Wyco, in all its madness, allowed me to accomplish another goal and do something that my grandparents perhaps never imagined even existed. They are one of the reason why I continue to push myself.
I was the last 20-miler to finish. As I reviewed the stats, 53 ppl registered for the 20-miles, 7 did not finish, 8 did not start, and 12/38 finishers were women. I am the only one that appears to have a Hispanic surname. Yes, I am proud.
"Course" correct?
So let me tell you that I love this race, I love this course, and this is THE definitive race that trail runners and road runners both talk about. With … MORE
So let me tell you that I love this race, I love this course, and this is THE definitive race that trail runners and road runners both talk about. With a high elevation it’s one of the most challenging courses in the area, and the production is typically good enough to pull in runners of traditionally much larger road races, who enjoy the top-tier swag and a glimpse into another world, because truly, trail runners are built differently. The grace and effortlessness that they weave through loose rocks makes my ankles shudder.
What’s different this year? Well, there was no hot food on the course, and last year’s flat top warmed pizza was some of the best food I’ve ever had on a racecourse. In part because it was good pizza, but also in part because after some of the hills out there, wow was it a welcome treat. There were also no “adult beverages” this year. For those who enjoy a shot of whiskey to keep the cold at bay, no longer is the handle at the shelter coming out of the woods to prepare you for the open expanse up ahead. Admittedly, the weather was far better this year than last, so maybe the thought was that it “wasn’t needed” and you’re probably right, they weren’t NEEDED, but for us road runners, it’s nice to have that little treat that so often appears in our races. Especially if you’re going to be out there for a while, which at Psycho Wyco is quite possible.
My prior reviews cover the track pretty thoroughly. The only change is that we now have to partially circumnavigate a dog park that wasn’t there last year (where I stepped and fell into the frozen gopher hole…that was fun). It’s a good course. I’m glad it largely remained.
The shirt is a long sleeve hooded tech shirt with the race logo about 2×3 inches on the left side of the chest. This year it’s colorized and it looks really sharp. Whoever designs the shirts has a nice eye. The medal is…well how do I answer this honestly… The medal I walked away with is amazing. Repeating the 20-miler, it’s the same as last year, as is standard with trail races, but unlike many trail races that put minimal effort into the medal, this one is worthy of hanging beside the others in any road racer’s collection. The race slogan “Run Toto Run!” inspires the theme of a little black dog (Toto) running across a farm from a twister. The twister spins and the ribbon wonderfully incorporates the theme of the medal and the name of the group that puts this on, Trail Nerds. Massive kudos to whoever designed that medal. Now, they ran out, so there were some wooden coin “medals” on yarn that you get at a lot of trail races, but I managed to secure the last two of the old ones after Ben, the RD was kind enough to dig through some old boxes. My spirit animal is a raccoon so I do like my shiny medals, and my running partner, who had literally spent two years chasing this medal after having barely missed the gauntlet last year, might have actually imploded into a pulsar if she’d run 20 miles (and pushed through an injury at mile 11 to still finish the race, limping but unbroken), only to get a wooden coin medal. I’m really hoping that was just due to larger than expected size of the crowd and they’ll be going back to the metal medal next year. The 10-milers always get the wooden medal. I came with 4 friends, and while ccruiz03 and I took on the 20-miler, my other three friends did the 10-miler, and were far more impressed with our medal than theirs. I know at least one is already prepared to step it up to 20 (at least) miles next year to get the one I left with, so I’m hoping they still make that available to him, and another is considering going to 50k with me and ccruiz03. I’d like to take on the 50k for 2027, because that’s the bigger and better version of the medal one I have, but honestly, I’m not doing three loops of THAT elevation for a wooden coin with the burned-on name of the course on a piece of yarn. If you have to raise the price $10 to pay for the medal and aid station upgrade I’ll gladly pay that. This is a premier race, dare I say THE premier trail race in the area, and it deserves to have all the amenities of a race of its caliber. Nothing but love for my trail race brethren, but your wooden medals are not inspiring us to convert over. Stay tuned to the Trail Nerds social media I suppose to see what we’ll get next year. Midwest weather being what it is, the course difficulty can vary greatly depending on how wet or frozen the ground is, but it’ll be an amazing experience either way. I just hope it gets as amazing as it was…
Punishing terrain...worth every moment
This race issues humility with every entry. Great aid stations where you need them the most, but they didn't feel evenly spaced, so if you need that, you may be … MORE
This race issues humility with every entry. Great aid stations where you need them the most, but they didn’t feel evenly spaced, so if you need that, you may be disappointed. Geared to give you a pickup either before or after a major terrain feature, the spacing actually works really well. Snow and slush got punitive by the second lap, and after falling 4 times I took off my body armor for the last 8 miles. This course is a double loop of 10.4M each. MapMyRun link they have up lists just under 2k elevation per lap, but the signup page said 1300, so who knows. This was harder than the flat ultra I did, and harder than any marathon or half I’ve done. By a lot. The snow and ice on the ground made for a slick first lap and the slush and 34 degree mud made for a punitive second lap, but if you want a true feeling of accomplishment come do this race. The aid stations are wonderful, the sponsor-free shirt is legit, and the medal sticks with a theme of a little black dog (Toto) running from a tornado. As I collect medals with critters on them, I guess I’m going to have to keep going back. Well worth the cost on this one, but don’t go in undertrained. There is a 4-hour cut off to start the second lap.
Hold off for the Three Sisters
....or their other name, which is less polite. These are the last three hills that come in the last few miles. These things put the KC Marathon or Hospital Hill's … MORE
….or their other name, which is less polite. These are the last three hills that come in the last few miles. These things put the KC Marathon or Hospital Hill’s hills to shame. I do a lot of hill work, and my prior job had hill work as a big component of it. These were rough. The hills earlier which had ropes tied into trees to use in case of mud were not easy, but the ones at the end could really suck the motivation out of ya.
The shirt is a long sleeved, quarter-zip tech shirt. Simple bright red, no sponsors, just a 3×4″ name and logo of the race on the left breast. I’d actually wear this shirt around town, and not because it’s laundry day. I wish I’d bought two actually.
The race is on a 10-mile loop with 1300 feet of elevation gain. Do it once, twice, or three times. I only did the 10-mile because I’m recovering from a knee injury and the 34lbs I was carrying was going to get real heavy with the rough knee.
That said, here comes my only complaint: the medals shown online are apparently only for the 20 and 30 miler. The 10 miler gets a completely different medal that’s just a wood coin with the race name burned on it, strung to a piece of yarn. Honestly, it feels cheap for an $80-something dollar race when I got a nearly identical medal at a $18-dollar race last year for a local high school. Since the tagline of the race is Run, Toto Run! The (other) medal has a little black dog on it. I collect medals with critters on it (suggestions welcome!), so while I wanted to do the race anyway because it is so famous here, I really wanted the little black dog one. Despite the knee, I could have easily done 20 miles without the body armor and kit (or 10 and 10…whatever) and get the medal I thought I was going to get, but since the 10-mile medal wasn’t shown anywhere on the website, I assumed we were all getting the same (maybe different size and ribbon). Nope. No critter medal for me. I would have given 3 shoes for the swag except the shirt is so nice. Production lost a shoe for lack of specification on the website, but the chilli set up at the end was a nice touch. That said, the website said regular and vegetarian chilli, and there was only one pot of regular. I’m not vegetarian, so didn’t bother me, but it did seem unfortunate that something else on the website could use some updating.
The aide stations were 4 I believe (one you hit twice, before and after a loop). They were all well stocked with gatorade, nutella/tortilla rollups, M&Ms, some kind (ham?) of sandwich, but I didn’t pay a lot of attention to them since I was only doing 10 miles and I had gummies and potato chips in my kit which was fine for what I was doing. I did see enough to know there was a very extensive selection well beyond what I named here. All the volunteers were motivated and friendly and it was probably the best marked trail race I’ve ever been in. They had arrows and “wrong way” signs up at every intersection, some things that might have been intersections, and one or two things that looked like a good place to put an intersection but never made it. Seriously, they made it real clear where you’re going. Great job on that to all the great people at Trail Nerds, who gained a new follower today.
52 weeks from now I’m going to be back to get my little black dog medal.
A fantastic early season trail run
I've run this race twice and will be doing it again in 2020. My hope is to run it every year, because it is that great! The course is a … MORE
I’ve run this race twice and will be doing it again in 2020. My hope is to run it every year, because it is that great!
The course is a 10 mile horse trail around Wyandotte Lake County Park (or is it Wyandott County Lake Park…I can never keep that straight). You run it once, twice, or three times depending on the race. The two years I’ve run it the course has been brutal with rivers of cold, sloppy mud, or cold slushy mud. I hear it can be dry and fast as well. Mud aside, the course is challenging though not to the point that it should scare anyone off. Some may give it a higher course difficulty rating but I’d put it right in the middle of what I’ve run.
Ben Holmes, the RD, and his band of volunteers doing a fantastic job with this race. There are four well staffed, and well stocked, aid stations on the 10 mile loop. I spend far too much time at these aid stations because the people and food there are great…and they often offer shots of fireball or other booze 😉
Post race, the chili is kick ass! They may run out of the good beer though, so run fast. Great race swag too. Love my hoodie! Unless you are in the 50K you have to take the shuttle from a church parking lot, but no worries, the parking is easy there and the shuttles swing through frequently.
If you’re looking for a great February trail race, this is it!