The hero teen who finished half-marathon in Crocs comes from CROC-RUNNING DYNASTY

18-year-old Benjamin Pachev was raised to be a runner, and over the weekend he went to Indianapolis to run in the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. There was something a little different about Benjamin amid the sea of competitors — he was wearing Crocs.

A lot of people didn’t know what to make of it, astounded that anyone would run in those kind of shoes — but Benjamin is used to it. He finished 16th, with a time of 1:11:53, while his dad Sasha finished about five minutes behind his son, also wearing Crocs. After the race he explained why he, his wife, and his 10 children run in the shoes.

Pachev says he encouraged the family to start wearing Crocs after realizing that running shoes for all 10 of his kids would be too expensive. With Crocs, he says they save money, while also making use of an effective running shoe.

“And we find the cheapest colors. If they’re hot pink and that’s the cheapest color we buy it,” he said.

It might seem ludicrous to people used to dropped hundreds of dollars on running shoes a year, but the Pachev family love their footwear.

“It’s like having a little fan that’s just streaming air over your foot,” Benjamin said.

There’s more to this family than just a lot of runners wearing thrifty footwear. They’re on a quest to become the fastest family in the world. A 2015 profile in Runner’s World detailed their quest. There’s no official record of a time they need to beat, but their goal is to best the Christiansen family of New Hampshire as the fastest large family in the world. They averaged 18:50 for a 5K run. Now the Pachevs want to beat it.

Sasha and his wife Sarah don’t just want their kids to be amazing runners, but they want to be included in the record as well.

“It’s good if all the kids run that fast and mom and dad do their own thing—any family participation is great—but I think a deeper involvement with better health results is when every family member is required to participate and be counted,” Pachev said. “The challenge is, okay, you can have fast kids, but can you stay healthy while raising them?”

In 2015 they detailed their love of Crocs as their preferred shoe as well.

“I thought, ‘You shouldn’t have to pay $70 for a pair of shoes. It’s got to be simpler than that,’” Pachev said. “Running is so natural, you shouldn’t need something so expensive to run in.”

There’s another thrifty motive for ensuring the entire family is fast: food. Each year the Pachevs run in the Utah marathon, and there’s a little extra motivation for each member of the family — getting turkeys.

“We like to try to get as many turkeys as possible, because if you win your age division or place top five overall, you get a turkey,” Pachev said, noting that his family usually takes home eight or nine and eats them throughout the year. “So that’s our turkey hunt for the year.”

As for Benjamin, whose run in Indianapolis rekindled interest in his family: He’s enrolled in BYU and is described as a math prodigy. Time will tell if he joins the cross country team, hopefully running in Crocs again.