10 Random Things For Wednesday

I normally write 10 random things for Tuesday, although really, I’ve been pretty out of my weekly routine lately and writing my “random things” column on Wednesdays. And that’s the case again this week. It’s Wednesday, time for 10 random things for Tuesday. Or something like that.

Just in case this is your first time here, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. To try to make a difference in the autism world in his honor, I’m trying to take advantage of my ability to recover well from marathons by running 60 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, so good. I’m reaching people and raising money and I’m through 31 of the 60 marathons.

With that being said, here’s my 10 random things for … today.

1. We’re a part of a contest on Facebook called Chase Community Giving. Chase is giving out at least $20,000 to 200 different small charities and we’re somewhere around No. 130 or so. So, if you haven’t voted yet, I need you to vote! You can only vote once, so it’s super easy. If you haven’t voted, PLEASE CLICK HERE and vote! It’s a simple contest and you can vote once and once only using your Facebook account. Your vote makes a huge difference, so please do it and use their features to easily share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter!

If you’ve already voted, I certainly wouldn’t complain if you took a minute to click that link in the previous paragraph and re-share it with your friends!

2. I blogged about this yesterday, but a friend of mine named Jonathan Gunderson is an amazing distance runner — he’s completed the Bandwater Ultramarathon four times, including an 11th-place finish last year. He competed in the Western States 100 this past weekend, one of the most prestigious trail races in the country.

One of the most common lofty goals that participants aim for is a sub-24-hour finish. It’s a tough course and weather is always a problem. A sub-24 gets you a silver belt buckle, but Jonathan set his sights higher than that. He was aiming for somewhere around 19 hours and possibly a top-10 finish if all went well.

Unfortunately, he severely sprained his ankle 10 miles into the run and he battled nausea for the majority of the race. He still worked his way to a 23:47 to get the belt buckle. So yes, he ran 90 MILES of the Western States 100 with a severely sprained ankle and still nailed the sub-24. Amazing, just like his character. He’s a great guy and he works tirelessly to raise money to build wells in Uganda.

So, I’m asking, PLEASE, take a look at his site. He’s awesome and deserves a visit!

3. This is why I’m doing what I’m doing … this right here came from nothing the other day and the kids had to leave the park early.

We deal with meltdowns out of the blue on a daily basis. We keep fighting to do what we can for Jack, and I’m still holding out hope that he’ll mainstream. But the reality is that he’s not going to have the same childhood as a typical kid. I’m trying to help Train 4 Autism increase people’s ability to raise funds for autism-related charities. I’ll never really see where the money goes, nor will I know exactly what the impact is.

But I have faith that somewhere, someday, 10 kids like Jack will somehow have better days as a result of the charities that are the recipients of the money raised through Train 4 Autism. That makes it worth it, no question.

4. Sometimes my 4 1/2-year-old daughter Ava misbehaves. She knows that’s called being a troublemaker. Last night, when I tucked her into bed, she told me, “Daddy, I was a goodmaker today!” Ahhh, kids. They say the darndest things!

5. I don’t care if Stephen Strasburg has only made five major-league starts. I think he should play in the All Star Game. The game is for the fans and I want to see him throw two innings against the best the American League has to offer.

6. One of my wife’s best friends just gave birth and she’s going out of town to visit her from July 12 – 14. It’s going to be me and the three short people along with quite a bit of help from my mother-in-law. A lot of you say nice things about me as a dad. Please reserve any future comment until July 15.

7. I went to Kansas State University, one of the 10 members of the Big XII Conference. I have followers from two of our conference rivals, the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri, who are starting up Operation Jack fundraising teams and talking smack about who’s going to win their competition. Well the answer, of course, is Operation Jack and Train 4 Autism. But I think I’m going to recruit K-Staters into the mix. I just need to figure out a good competition to give people incentive to participate. It probably boils down to me humiliating myself, but for charity, I’ll do almost anything. Almost.

8. My ice cream streak is up to 150 days now thanks to a bowl of peanut butter fudge swirl with s’mores flavored Magic Shell last night. I know you were wondering.

9. My streak of consecutive days eating at In-N-Out is at one through yesterday. My streak of not eating at In-N-Out was 16 consecutive days heading into yesterday. I know, incredibly sad.

10. That Chase contest I mentioned in item No. 1 is a really big deal to Operation Jack, so I’m using two items to cover it. PLEASE vote and spread the word!

OK, that’s all for today! Get over that hump and I’ll see you tomorrow!