We started the week with the boys having practice at the same track where my group meets for track workouts with our coach, Kyle. The boys had been slacking at practice and I wouldn't have it. I was doing very fast 800s (8:30-8:40 pace) in high heat and humidity with 1 minute recovery (I got 7 out of 10 in before Kyle stopped me, I was struggling), they could at least walk around the track a few times. They joined their team and got a decent workout in before their meet.
Tuesday included an easy run early with Kendra (4 miles) and Boy Scouts for Mark. Wednesday I also got my run in early with Kendra since we had the track meet that evening (4 miles plus strides). I felt bad about missing my three 800s at the track so I added a few more strides since I was also feeling good. I really wanted to make up the mileage.
 |
| Mark Long Jump |
Wednesday night we headed to the track meet. The boys competed in Long Jump and the 100 meter dash. We were eager to see how they would do. Both Mark and Enzo struggled on the Long Jump (I would coach them on this, but I didn't want to infringe on the coach). In the end, Enzo scratched 2 attempts, Mark scratched 1, and Enzo's one good jump (4'4") was 2 inches further than Mark's best jump (4'2"). It was nice to have them compete like this since they really didn't know how their brother did until after they were both done. Sometimes I think that they look at their brother and base their effort on how their brother is doing. For example, if Enzo is beating Mark at a race then Enzo thinks it is fine to slow down some and take it easy instead of pushing to do his best. They couldn't do that.
 |
| Enzo Long Jump |
Next came the 100 meter dash. Again they were not in direct competition so we could see who could really do well. Enzo raced in the last heat of his age group. Mark ran in the last heat of his age group so they were far apart from each other. They both ran the entire way, which made me very happy, and they were both trying their hardest. In the end, Mark came in 4 seconds (25.21) ahead of his brother (29.8) showing that Mark can move quickly over short distances if he puts some effort into his running. The boys could have done one more event at the meet if they wanted, but we knew we had a busy Thursday ahead of us.
Thursday, for me, involved fitting multiple runs into the day. For Enzo, Thursday meant his 8th birthday. I had to make time for my little man as well as the workouts I needed to complete. First, I had to get my tempo run in, 1.5 mile warm up, 5 miles between a 9:10 and a 9:30 pace, 1 mile cool down. This had to be done before Nick went to work. I went out and worked hard. I got the tempo run in before 10 am and met my times for the 5 miles. I came home, Nick went to work as Enzo and I made waffles on his birthday gift waffle maker. We went to lunch at McDonald's for the 8 year old then prepared to head out to the race.
 |
| Enzo's Excited! |
Enzo had seen a race advertised by ORRRC on my Facebook that took place on his birthday. He instantly wanted to run this race and even wrote that he would be running it on the Can't Stop Running Co. dry erase board. He was super excited for the 1 Mile Dash 4 Cash in Tipp City. This is the race we went to Thursday night. Nick and I could run the race for free, we're ORRRC members, and so could the boys, under 14 race free, so this worked out well. We headed to Tipp City and signed in for the race. Chips went onto shoes and I went out for a 1 mile warm up. Both Nick and I wanted to PR our best mile and the boys just wanted to run this fun race. It felt odd to run a 1 mile warm up for a 1 mile race, but I knew I couldn't PR without warming up and by the end of that mile I was feeling loose.
 |
| I went back out for the boys. This is what I'm talking about when I say they adjust their effort. Though Enzo is "in flight" which is cool. |
Friday didn't involve running, but it did include a long car ride and lots of walking. We went to the Detroit Zoo as a gift for Nick for Father's Day. He loves this zoo due to that fact that their are very few visible barriers between the guests and the animals. Heck, you walk through the Australian exhibit and the Butterfly house where there are no barriers between you and the animals. He loves to take pictures and they had a new multi-million dollar penguin exhibit. We got there at about noon and had 5 hours to walk around before the zoo closed, we used every minute. The boys, including Nick, enjoyed all the animals and had a lot of fun. It was a great day at the zoo.
The reason we went this weekend instead of 2 weeks ago is because I was also pacing a half marathon in Michigan on Saturday. We figured we would combine the trips to save on gas and allow all of us to enjoy a hotel and overnight in Michigan. After we were done at the zoo we needed to pick up my bib and shirt from a running store a half hour away so we headed there as soon as we left the zoo and got stuck in traffic. That half hour turned into nearly an hour. I got to the packet pick up minutes before it was supposed to close, whew.
That night we enjoyed some Hungry Howie's Pizza (our favorite pizza place when we lived in Michigan) after we checked in to the hotel. At another hotel near us we saw the Wiener Mobile and a Planters Nut Mobile. This plus the zoo and pizza made Nick giddy, I think it was a good Father's day present.
 |
| My 2nd Half Fanatics Group Picture |
Since this was my 2nd time pacing, I was feeling more confident but I wanted to get my finish time even closer to the goal time than I did in Cincinnati. In Cincinnati I lost my whole group and I didn't want that to happen again. As runners were coming into the start, I had a different experience than last time. In Cincinnati most people avoided me and told me they didn't want to see me. At this race they were coming up and introducing themselves. They told me that I was their pacer and that they would stick with me. I few people were even admiring me for what I was doing, it was nice. There were more pacers at this race too. I saw one for 1:40 and one for 2:00 but both of them were wearing the race shirt rather than something bright and it took a while for a 2:00 pacer to get into the starting area, a lot of people were looking for him. Then, about 10 minutes until the start, I was joined by Krissy who told me that she was also a 2:30 pacer for this race. I was so excited that I would have a pacing buddy for this race and I was hoping we could help keep each other in check. We started the race together with our group of runners and headed onto the course.
 |
| Pace Buddies |
This time I set my pace slower (fast 11:20, slow 11:35) and I set my laps to manual so I wouldn't have to do so much math while running. I was very glad I did this when Krissy and I started running. She had also set her watch for a fast and slow pace so it was beeping as we were running too. The only problem was that hers was beeping too slow when mine was beeping too fast. I asked her what she set her watch to and she told me, fast 10:45 and slow 11:20. To finish a half in 2:30 you need to keep an 11:27 pace, she was going to kill these runners with the pace she set. So, I let her know that we needed to go a little slower than she planned and that her watch would be yelling at her a lot. She understood and we kept going. The course was flat, so, so, flat and the weather was perfect with temps around 60 degrees. There was a cool breeze coming off the river and it was a perfect race day. The only difficult parts were the bridge and the gravel/grass area around the lighthouse. To be honest, I didn't really see the lighthouse since I was more worried about my footing at the time. Our pace was good, if a little fast. I announced it at each mile and our little group cheered when we were right on pace. The course was a bit long again, so the manual laps helped. Krissy thought we had 5 minutes to spare at one point when I knew we had a bit over a minute banked. We actually kept a lot of runners with us for the entire course. We talked to them, we talked to each other, I tried to dance while running, and I made some jokes. Krissy and I had a lot of fun with our group. In the last mile, most of our group left us behind to finish under 2:30. I was happy to see them speed off. We came in at 2:28:27 which was, again, about 1 minute and 30 seconds too fast but due to the fact that I was helping a new pacer to pace her first race, I am happy with that time. We could have come in a lot faster than we did if we had paced an 11:00 mile.
 |
| Finisher Picture |
The best part was at the end. As I milled around the finisher area, gathering free food and returning the flag, I was stopped by a few runners. They thanked me for pacing, told me I kept a good pace, and whether they were able to stick with us or not told me that we helped them to reach their goal. In Cincinnati I got evil glares passing people at the end and people who didn't want to see me after the race. Here I had people tracking me down to thank me and runners were able to push that last mile to finished faster than they hoped. They are 2 very different races with different weather, routes, and people but it was nice to feel appreciated.
This race marks my first official out of state half marathon and the end of my pacing for the time being. Right now all the races I am signed up for are races I am running, not pacing. I must admit that I'm a little sad that I don't have another race to pace on my calendar. Now that I've done 2 I feel comfortable doing this for more races. It has been so much fun with less physical pressure. Maybe next year I will pace some more for Race 13.1 and maybe I'll find some other races to pace for. I can tell you one thing though, I am not done pacing. You will see me running with a flag, joking with runners, and helping others achieve their goals in the future.
