diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/repair/RepairRunnable.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/repair/RepairRunnable.java
index 9c000254121f..c5b0facfffd0 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/repair/RepairRunnable.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/repair/RepairRunnable.java
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ protected void fireErrorAndComplete(String tag, int progressCount, int totalProg
     protected void runMayThrow() throws Exception
     {
         final TraceState traceState;
-
+        final UUID parentSession = UUIDGen.getTimeUUID();
         final String tag = "repair:" + cmd;
 
         final AtomicInteger progress = new AtomicInteger();
@@ -121,10 +121,9 @@ protected void runMayThrow() throws Exception
                                                                                                 columnFamilies);
 
         final long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
-        String message = String.format("Starting repair command #%d, repairing keyspace %s with %s", cmd, keyspace,
+        String message = String.format("Starting repair command #%d (%s), repairing keyspace %s with %s", cmd, parentSession, keyspace,
                                        options);
         logger.info(message);
-        fireProgressEvent(tag, new ProgressEvent(ProgressEventType.START, 0, 100, message));
         if (options.isTraced())
         {
             StringBuilder cfsb = new StringBuilder();
@@ -134,6 +133,8 @@ protected void runMayThrow() throws Exception
             UUID sessionId = Tracing.instance.newSession(Tracing.TraceType.REPAIR);
             traceState = Tracing.instance.begin("repair", ImmutableMap.of("keyspace", keyspace, "columnFamilies",
                                                                           cfsb.substring(2)));
+            message = message + " tracing with " + sessionId;
+            fireProgressEvent(tag, new ProgressEvent(ProgressEventType.START, 0, 100, message));
             Tracing.traceRepair(message);
             traceState.enableActivityNotification(tag);
             for (ProgressListener listener : listeners)
@@ -144,6 +145,7 @@ protected void runMayThrow() throws Exception
         }
         else
         {
+            fireProgressEvent(tag, new ProgressEvent(ProgressEventType.START, 0, 100, message));
             traceState = null;
         }
 
@@ -194,7 +196,6 @@ protected void runMayThrow() throws Exception
             cfnames[i] = columnFamilyStores.get(i).name;
         }
 
-        final UUID parentSession = UUIDGen.getTimeUUID();
         SystemDistributedKeyspace.startParentRepair(parentSession, keyspace, cfnames, options);
         long repairedAt;
         try