Happy 2020, On Pace!!  What a blessed year we had in 2019 and what an awesome outlook we have for 2020!

We are grateful for all the experiences, all the relationships and all the fun from this past year.

Speaking of relationships from this past year, we'd like to introduce you to Catalina Costache.  We met Catalina at Millenium Running's event the Manchester Marathon in November.

This little spitfire from Romania was a ball of energy, literally hopping around the expo trying to keep her excitement for her first half marathon in check.  There was just something about her amazing attitude that permeated to others and really captured the essence of our first experience with John Mortimer's rocking company.

In the aftermath of the race, Catalina wrote OnPace and shared she had a life-changing experience in Manchester on that awesome day.  Not just "in the moment" either - in the lead up to the race, during the race itself and in the aftermath of the race, she has noted a fundamental change in how she attacks life and recognizes the world around her.

It was such a pleasure sitting down with Catalina to hear her story and thought on this philosophical change in life she has experienced through running.

To our community at OnPace, again WELCOME TO 2020 and let's get after having the best year ever!

WE'RE BACK!

This week on the OnPace Podcast, we're catching up on the last few weeks of pacing action!

Mandi Heidebrink Wilke talks about the Snowdrop Foundation WI, and how a group of pacers took on 24 straight hours of running to help raise money for pediatric cancer, including her daughter! For every mile a pacer ran, more money was donated to help kids and their families. Mandi even mentions a couple that were each running all 24 hours! 

Paul Miller dives into the Manchester City Marathon put on by the fantastic folks at Millennium Running. OnPace might have found some new BFF's out on the east coast! Millennium put on a fantastic race in Manchester City on a beautiful New England race day, and our smaller-than normal team of pacers killed it (per usual). 

#happypacehappyrace

At what intersection does a 40-branch bank and a pacing community meet?  When the end goal is to make it about others and boils down to one word: Relationship.

Meet Jeff Gahnz, marketing whiz at Green Bay-based Nicolet Bank, and an early adopted of supporting On Pace.

When Jeff got a call asking if Nicolet would sponsor On Pace before the 2017 Wausau Marathon, about "37 seconds" into the presentation he said YES. From that one race in Wausau, our relationship has coalesced to 10 races throughout Wisconsin in communities where Nicolet has a branch presence.

Gahnz, an admitted non-runner, believes in the mission of On Pace.  Of the five core values of Nicolet Bank - Be Real, Be Personable, Be Responsive, Be Entrepreneurial, and Be Memorable - Gahnz shares his thoughts on how OnPacers align with Nicolet's value system and what makes this partnership so right.

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We're switching things up a little bit this week, as Mandi Wilke hosts episode 13 and chats with OnPacer and all-star sweeper, Esther Sherman!

A sweeper is, as Esther describes it, someone who finishes last on purpose and with a purpose. Esther is famous for pacing with a pack that includes just about anything a runner might need to finish a marathon. She is determined to remove all the obstacles for the people she's running with, in order to help them finish what they set out to do.

Esther's evolution to becoming a sweeper was catalyzed by an experience she had running a marathon of her own. Certain she wasn't going to finish that race, the only thing that kept her going was a man who stayed back to run with her. The accountability, support and belonging she felt finishing that race with someone made her realize that there are other people out there who could find motivation in similar support.

Ester's perspective and experience is invaluable to the OnPace community, as she highlights the feelings, fears and needs of runners that might fall closer to the back of the pack. Her determination to create a running community of greater belonging and support pushes all of us to be better OnPacers, and we're so lucky to have her as a part of the OnPace family!

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Chicago native turned Northeast Wisconsinite Tim Kowols joins us this week for his first podcast. Tim has been with us since the beginning, debuting in OnPace's first event ever at the 2017 Cellcom Green Bay Marathon and never slowing down since.

In fact, Tim may just be getting faster! Although well on his way to completing his first board (after this year's Noodleini he will have his 12th and final magnet for his first board), Tim found time this summer to train for the 2019 Chicago Marathon.

Hear about the Dr. Jecklyl / Mr. Hyde that we experienced at Chicago and how this nice young man became an absolute beast on the course en route to a 2:46, his second fastest time in his life.

Thank you for joining us, Tim, for this podcast and for all the races you pace! We are so thankful for all you do!

#happypacehappyrace

Who runs their first marathon at age 54?  And then who runs minimally one every month thereafter for what projects to be 50 months so he can cover all 50 states?  The answer: Hershey, Pennsylvania man Anthony Fitzgibbons.

Tony met Mandi Wilke and Carrie Miller at the Wausau Marathon Expo in mid August and they asked him if he'd ever run with a pace team before.  Tony's response? No, but sounds cool!

The next day, Tony, Mike Hennin, Ken Fattmann and Paul Miller started out as the 5:00 team and it was friendship at first step.  For five hours, Tony story told his way through the likes of Wausau, Rib Mountain, Kronenwetter, Schofield, Weston and Rothschild in completing his 24th state.

Since then, he's knocked out Montana.  But it was when Tony got a call from Ken and Paul that he showed how into this he is.  Although only a week removed from running Big Sky, Tony agreed to come out to run with Ken and Paul at Community First Fox Cities in the 5:30 age group.  After a last minute pacer injury?  Tony agreed to become an OnPacer.  Here how that turns out as we sit with Tony as he shares some of his story.

We introduced you to her yesterday, but meet Lisa Loughran!

We met Lisa in Cape Cod this year at the ZOOMA Women's Race Series where she was celebrating her 50th birthday with some girlfriends. Lisa's birthday was actually on the 1st (Happy Belated Birthday)!

When Carrie Miller and Lisa first met, she had mentioned that she wanted to finish the race in 1:55 (which was Carrie's pace time). They ran nearly the whole race together until Carrie kicked her forward at the very end!

Running with a group of 15, Lisa got to talking and by mile 4 asked if she could share an inspirational story. She told the group about TeamNora, which was started for a young mom in Upstate, NY who battled with colon cancer and who Lisa actually didn't know all too well.

However, being the wonderful person that she is, Lisa still felt inclined to  help; driven by the saying "Do small things with great love."

Nora unfortunately didn't have much time, as her cancer was only found at Stage 4, but Lisa knew her long enough to know that Nora lived by her same montra "Do small things with great love."

Team Nora launched in honor of Nora's legacy, and on TeamNora.net the community helps any family in their area that needs assistance driving to appointments, house cleaning, preparing meals and countless other small acts of kindness. Team Nora is locally funded and is run by Nora's widower Ed.

Lisa's kindness doesn't stop here. She also is a part of three different charity runs in her area including; Gold For Mac, TeamNora and Roger's Run (rogersrun4amc.com) which is held for Lisa's son Roger who was born with a physical ailment called Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita (AMC).

Within 2 minutes of hearing Lisa's story, we knew we wanted to help in supporting Team Nora and all of the great things it does for the community.

Thank you Lisa so much for sharing your story! We know it wasn't a coincidence that our paths crossed!

#happypacehappyrace

In the wake of OnPace's fearless leader Carrie Miller dominating our Social Media Director Mandi Heidebrink Wilke by a final score of 7-4 on their way to the Bismarck Marathon in BISMARCK Trivia, we sat down with another Bismarck pacer and marathon legend Ken Fattmann.

Welcome to our 8th podcast for OnPace!

Carrie Miller and Mandi Heidebrink Wilke are known for their pacing prowess but today it is a battle of their brains as they train for the “Bismarck” part of the Bismarck Marathon. Top 10 questions you may never hear again about this killer part of the country we get to run around and through on Saturday!

Special shout out to Nature's Way Brands for sponsoring OnPace at this awesome event and Dustin Erhardt - the fearless leader of this race - for inviting us to play in your great community event!

Watch to the podcast here on our Facebook page!

On this seventh On Pace Podcast we sit with David Reich, a district judge in Bismarck, North Dakota who in 2014 started a local organization called RADD, which stands for Runners Against Destructive Decisions.

Dave had seen the revolving door of an addicted lifestyle for years where the addiction ends in handcuffs.  Following their arrest, the addicts would come in his courtroom, go through the process of conviction, go to jail or probation, get out and then start the cycle over again.

Inspired by a woman out of Fargo named Leane Guerrero LeFrance who had started something similar called Radical Recovery, Dave started RADD to build community through running in hopes to create healthy lifestyle choices and change the behavioral patterns he was seeing.

Five years later and RADD is going strong!  Dave talks of one of his first members named Jack who worked his way to a 5k, then a 10k, then a half marathon and now will be setting off for Ecuador for his first marathon in October as part of the RADD team, along with Dave and another community like RADD from Los Angeles called the Skid Row Running Club.

It's these kind of stories that get us all jacked up as we prepare to take on the Bismarck Marathon.  We have Grateful Runners here in Northeastern Wisconsin, they have RADD. At the end, we weave these threads and connect these lives and communities through the simple process of one foot in front of the other until we finish what we started.

Thanks, Dave, for your time tonight and what you give to the Bismarck running community and RADD members!

#happypacehappyrace