While out of the office last week I spent lots of extra time with Trey. First up was our first Reds game of this season on Monday night. I sent an email to my father-in-law earlier in the day to see if he wanted to join us. Turns out my timing was perfect as he had just acquired some free tickets through his work!

Seats Behind Home

We were treated to seats in the view level box, nearly directly behind home plate. Plus the weather was perfect! It was warm enough for short sleeves, though we did bring jackets for after sunset.

Trey Enjoying The Game

Trey really enjoyed the game much more than last year. He sat in his seat and watched the first couple of innings while snacking on peanuts. He started to get a little antsy halfway through the game, so grandpa took him down to the Fan Zone playground. On the way back up I bought him a snow cone to share with his uncle Nick.

Snow Cone

As far as the game goes, it was very much a pitchers duel between Bronson Arroyo and Philadelphia’s Cliff Lee. Neither team scored any runs until the Reds got two in the bottom of the seventh. Arroyo gave up two to the Phillies in the top of the eighth, to tie the game again. Fortunately the Reds were able to add two more in the bottom of the eighth before Aroldis Chapman came in to get the save in the ninth.

Reds Win!

After the game we headed over to the Fox Sports Ohio TV booth and made it on the live postgame show. I called my mom and she was able to capture a screen grab of our appearance. It was a great night out with Trey.

On TV

I really though this would be the year that I would finally attend a Red’s opening day game. I even considered buying a 10 game package to make sure that I got a ticket for opening day. But my planning fell through and I was stuck in the office all day. Next year I am definitely going to take the day off work and at the very least take Trey down to watch the parade. However I think I will also find a way to get into the stadium to enjoy the game. Go Reds!

This past Sunday I competed in the Heart Mini Half Marathon. This was my second half marathon after finishing the Cincinnati Half last October. One of my brother-in-laws signed up for the race and convinced me to join him in the fun. My dad is a frequent competitor in this race, so he joined us as well.

According to the official results I completed the 13.1 miles in 1:50:14, which barely beat my time at the Cincinnati Half of 1:50:39.  This was good enough for 483 overall out of 1593. I was also 66 of 143 in my division (male 30-34). I was very happy with the results and the run felt pretty good overall.

Finish Line

There were more than 23,300 registered participants in all the races throughout the day. And they raised nearly $2.3 million! The team I participated with from my wife’s employer raised over $23,000 with 288 members. We were the highest ranked fund-raising team.

As far as the race itself goes, I did not like the course as much as the Cincinnati Half, which was really flat. This course was filled with hills and running out and back on Columbia Parkway leaves a lot to be desired. Sure it is wide but there is very little to look at and you can see for miles and miles. I would much rather run on Riverside Drive, which runs parallel to Columbia Parkway and offers plenty more sights along the way. But at least we ran the right course, which cannot be said for the majority of the 5K runners who ended up running nearly 4 miles instead.

My complaints on the course aside, the race was fun and it definitely benefits a worthy cause. I will likely run it again in the future. Plus my son enjoyed running the kids fun run the day before. Maybe next time he won’t have to hold grandma’s hand.

Run Trey!

This past Saturday I finally made it down to Fifth Third Arena for my now yearly Cincinnati Bearcat basketball game. Last year I made it down to a game just before the end of the season, and this year was no different. In fact the game on Saturday was the last game of the regular season for the Cats, making it senior day.

There are four seniors on this year’s team. Point guard Cashmere Wright would likely be the highest rated of the bunch. Even with a career plagued by some lingering injuries, he broke the school record for steals in a career. A few points behind Cashmere in scoring for the season is JaQuon Parker, who will also be missed next season. Center Cheikh Mbodj was a late junior college transfer addition to the team. I don’t think he ever really developed into the player the coaching staff was hoping he would. Finally Alex Eppensteiner is the sole local product on the team. He is a walk-on player and saw his first start of his college career on Saturday.

The senior day game was against South Florida. It started off much like the rest of the Bearcats season, a very slow start with few points scored and yet somehow they were still in the game down the stretch. They were losing 28-23 at half and were down by eight with under six minutes left to play. Somehow they managed to come back and tie the game before the end of regulation. In overtime it was all UC and they went on to win 61-53. Even with the win many in the crowd didn’t feel positively about the teams chances in post season play.

The Bearcats take on Providence tomorrow afternoon in their first game of the Big East tournament. They lost to the Friars on the road about a month ago, 54-50. I’m hoping they get some revenge tomorrow, which would also help to get them into the NCAA tournament starting next week.

Last night we officially wrapped up another season of Fountain Square Broomball. This year the Little Kings finished 2-3 and barely missed the playoffs. Our last game was against our new nemesis, the Krogerizers. Had we beaten them I think we would have made the playoffs. Despite a hard fought game a few weeks ago, we just couldn’t pull out the victory.

To celebrate another average season we all gathered at Market Wines last night for pizza and the always humorous award ceremony. Last year I was awarded the title of “Best Beard” and though I was hoping for a repeat victory this year I believe the award has been retired. Instead I was given the coveted “Ed Paff Sr. Best Name Award!” I should be a lock for this award years to come, unless someone like Ickey Woods or Cashmere Wright join our team.

My Swag

I attended my second Cincinnati Cyclones game of the season over the weekend and just like the first time it was dollar beer night. Typically dollar beer night only happens during their “Wet Wednesday” promotions, but Saturday’s “Throwback Night” was a special occasion with $8 Tickets, $1 hot dogs, pizza, soda, and beer. This brought out a regular season record crowd of 12,228 people! Unfortunately the large crowd left us in a large traffic jam trying to get a parking spot and we missed the Cyclones first goal and the ensuing “Teddy Bear Toss” when stuffed animals to be collected for charity were thrown out onto the ice.

Missing the toss was a disappointment, even though we caught the tail end of it with a police cruiser on the ice, but fortunately we had tickets in a private suite compliments of my wife’s cousin whose husband works as a chiropractor for Beacon orthopedics and sports medicine. This was my first time in the suite seats, and though they are way up in the rafters of US Bank Arena, the view is pretty cool. It can be hard to tell how high an airborne puck truly is, but that was my biggest complaint of the night.

Suite Seats

The Cyclones were sporting throwback jerseys that matched closely to one that I actually had as a kid. Plus the Inflatamaniacs were there to provide between period entertainment, which had my brother and I cracking up. The game itself was close throughout, but unfortunately the Fort Wayne Komets squeaked out a 5-4 win.

In just a couple of hours is the tip-off for the much-anticipated and renamed Crosstown Classic on ESPN2. Most people in Cincinnati are still referring to it as the Crosstown Shootout. After last years bench clearing brawl, the game was renamed and it was moved to a neutral location. Time will tell if it makes any difference. I’m hoping for a clean game but one that still has all the rivalry and passion from before. Go Cats!

Before hunkering down at our Williamstown Lake house for a Thanksgiving celebration with my in-laws, I ran the 103rd annual Thanksgiving Day Race in downtown Cincinnati. My dad has run this race for years and he had no issue convincing me to run it with him this time around. It was my first time running the race, but he made sure to warn me of the large crowds that we would likely encounter.

The beautiful weather on race day brought out an estimated 17,500 runners and walkers! With such a large crowd it was definitely a little hard to navigate the course without nearly bumping into one another, but it was a great time and I will absolutely run it again in the future. My dad and I finished with a time of 53 minutes flat, or just over 8:30 page. Not bad for a crowded course and a nearly 10 minute long first mile.

I’ve run three of four times since the big half marathon last month. Immediately after the race I caught a nasty chest cold that I didn’t kick for a week or so. I was also having some pain in an old snowboarding injury to my ankle. Plus I really wasn’t feeling all that motivated to get out and run. Today I finally went out and ran something longer than a 5K and my 5 mile run felt good. So I just decided to register for the 103rd Thanksgiving Day Race. My dad runs this every year and always says how much fun it is. I guess in one weeks time I will find out for myself.

Friday night I had my first experience with indoor high-speed go karting at Competition Racing in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Kim’s family has always loved racing go karts and this track was on their list to try so I headed out there with them to enjoy the fun.

Suit Up

These high-speed karts really fly down the track, reaching speeds of up to 40 mph! The track isn’t very long but there are enough hairpin turns to keep it interesting. Eventually we were able to cover the 900 foot track in just over 20 seconds per lap. Each race was 8 minutes long, so there was plenty of time for a little bumping and passing.

On the Track

Kim’s brother Jason won each of our 3 races. I had a bad first race, which I blamed mostly on my car, and steadily improved in the second and third races. When it was all said and done I posted the third fastest lap in our group (20:466). Not too bad for an old guy.

Winners Stand

Champs

Runner Ups

We all had a great time and I know that I would love to race these karts again in the future.