Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Archives for 2010

What I Would Have Normally Posted On Monday

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Normally, I post a weekend recap on Mondays. But I went with a Father’s Day edition of my blog instead. When I go with something different on Mondays, I run the weekend recap on Tuesdays. But on Monday night, I didn’t have time to write a blog (you’ll see why in a bit), so I’m finally getting to some of these things today.

So anyways, here’s my standard introduction, just in case you’ve never been here before. I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I’m attempting to run 60 full marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, so good. I’m raising money, bringing people into the charity and I’ve completed 30 of the 60 races. Only 30 to go!

Moving along, …

I Need Your Help
There’s a contest called Chase Community Giving through Facebook. Bottom line is you can vote once with your Facebook account and the top 200 vote-getting charities will receive at least $20,000. Right now, I think we’re ranked somewhere around 60 or so.

Please, please, please, take a minute to help out! Even if you’ve already voted, I could still use your help in posting it on your wall. Thank you!

Why It’s Called Grandma’s Marathon
If you’re not too deep into the marathon community, you might not know a lot about Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., which I ran on Saturday. It sounds like some small-time race in the middle of nowhere, but it’s actually a pretty big race. It’s not a top-tier major like Boston, New York or Chicago, but it’s as big of a deal as just about any other race in the country.

The race is put on very well, it’s a nice course, and they get some extremely fast elites in there. 2:20 doesn’t get you in the top 10 at Grandma’s. Anyways, it got it’s name from a restaurant right near the finish called … shoot, I don’t remember. Oh yeah — it’s called Grandma’s. I took a picture of it because, well, I was there and I had my camera.


I was bummed I didn’t have time to eat there. I had a sandwich at a place called Jimmy John’s a little later.

Hanging Out In The Dorms!
The one downside about Grandma’s Marathon is that all the hotels raise their prices a ton. Rooms are $200+ for dive motels. The University of Minnesota-Duluth (I think that’s what it’s called) charges something like $189 for two nights for a dorm room. But the University of Wisconsin-Superior, which is about a mile from Duluth, offers a dorm room for $100/night, and checkout isn’t until 6 p.m.

So, that’s where I stayed. It was awesome, in a I-got-to-turn-back-the-clock kind of way. I lived in the dorms for two summers at Kansas State and had a ton of fun. When I walked into the room on Friday night, it had same type of old, sturdy dorm furniture I remembered. It had an old, musty odor that I hadn’t smelled in 13 years. I had to shower in the community restroom down the hall. There were goofball college students manning the front desk downstairs.

It was awesome. I wanted to bust out a fake ID, but I don’t have one any more.


I’m going to look back on these parts of 2010 fondly.

I Took A Picture, Otherwise You Wouldn’t Believe It
I saw a liquor store in Minnesota advertising free wi-fi. I wanted to go in there, hang out and write my race report, but I was in a hurry to get to the airport.


I love drunk tweeters.

Monday Night: Family Movie Night!
On Monday night, we took the kids to the movies. That’s not that big of a deal to most families. But it was for us. It was Ava’s first trip to the movies. AND, it was Jack’s first trip to the movies! We have someone who helps us with Jack and she came along just in case.

He started to throw a little bit of a fit on the way in, because we made him leave a musical toy in the car. He had no clue what he was in store for, so he was a little upset. When we got into the theater, though, he was fine. He had a good time eating popcorn and Good & Plenty’s and actually sat still and had fun for about an hour.

However, he got a little restless after a while. He stood up and started spinning around to get dizzy and fall over. Then, he started shouting, “Juhhh gray!”, which is his way of saying “Just great!” He learned that from a movie or TV show. We like hearing that, because when he says that, he’s in a good mood. Anyways, he started to get a bit frustrated, so our helper had to take him out for a little bit of a walk. When she brought him back in, he wasn’t having it. So she took him home and put him to bed.

But he had a great time. So did Ava, although she’s not great at the whole “whisper” concept. It was a great time, though. We don’t get opportunities like that very often, so it was a pretty cool deal.

Oh, My Silly Work
They had a surprise ice cream party for me yesterday to celebrate me completing 30 of the 60 marathons. It was very nice, but I’m really shy about praise and to have everybody focusing on me like that was pretty embarrassing! Still, it was pretty cool and nice of them to do that.

They shipped in ice cream from a place called Graeter’s and it was ridiculously good. I could tell it was going to be good when I read the label. Normally, the ice cream I eat has about 130 or 140 calories in it per half a cup. This stuff had 310 calories! It was amazing. I had cookie dough flavored ice cream with cupcake flavored Magic Shell. As George Strait would say, there’s a difference between living and living well. That was living well.


The streak is at 143 days now.

OK, That’s All For Today
My wife tells me my blogs have been too long lately. And I’m getting tired (I write these the night before). So that’s all. Have a great Wednesday!

Weekend Recap: Father's Day Edition

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Normally, Mondays are when I write a weekend recap in my blog. But since yesterday was Father’s Day, I’m going with a Father’s Day special. I’ll have a weekend recap tomorrow and 10 random things on Wednesday.

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. I’ve wanted to make a difference in the autism community, and I do fairly well recovering from marathons, so I came up with this idea of running 60 marathons this year to try to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. I ran the idea by my wife and she made the decision that we’d do it (I say “we”, because it’s a family effort — not just me). No sense looking back and wondering what if. And no sense not stepping up when somebody needed to step up — I’ve been given a gift, so it would be a waste to not take advantage of it. We named the endeavor Operation Jack, after our special guy.

So far, so good, kind of. I’m on schedule with the races. On Saturday, I completed my 30th marathon of the year, struggling through Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn. I’m building chapters and raising money. I’m not hitting the numbers I’d hoped for, but I think I’m making a difference and if you look at the spelling of my last name (F-e-l-s-e-n-f-e-l-d), you won’t find a “q-u-i-t”. So, I carry on. With Operation Jack and with this blog.

As I Mentioned, Father’s Day Edition
Ok, so Father’s Day is a big day to me. My dad is a very special guy to me. I’m not going to say he did a perfect job raising me, because nobody is perfect. But he sure did try his best and I think he did a great job. I’ve always thought that, but I feel like I can say that more confidently now that I’m 35. Speaking of which, even though I’m halfway to 70, he hasn’t stopped being a dad. I remember when Tiffany was pregnant with our first child, Benjamin, we were worried about him reaching 12 weeks and then 20 and then 32. The worrying was making me sick, so I asked him when that would stop. “I don’t know,” he told me. “You’re 26 and I haven’t stopped. But when I do, I’ll let you know.”

Anyways, his dad, my Grandpa Milt, is still around, which I’m so grateful for. He’s everything you want your grandpa to be. Incredibly loving and friendly. We named Jack after his dad as a tribute to him. Quick funny story: My dad’s grandpa’s name was Jack Felsenfeld, and now that’s his grandson’s name. The first time my dad saw Jack, he picked him up and said, “Well, well, well … Jack Felsenfeld … who’s the grandpa now?”

OK, so for Father’s Day, a few weeks ago, Tiffany asked me what I wanted to do, so I told her that I didn’t care, as long as I could get together with my dad and my grandpa and the kids. So that’s what we did. It was also my brother’s birthday, so we had a family get-together at a restaurant that was pretty nice. We took this picture afterwards, and it’s one of my favorite pictures ever.


Four generations: My grandpa, my grandma, me, my dad, my brother Josh, plus Ava, Benjamin and Jack. I love this picture.

My grandfather on my mom’s side passed away in 1983 when I was only 9. I remember him, but he barely got a chance to know me and didn’t see me grow up like my Grandpa Milt did. I was at a funeral last year in the same cemetery he’s buried in (along with my grandmother he was married to, who passed in 1982). I went over and visited their graves and couldn’t help but wonder what they think of me and my family as they look down on us. Someday I’ll get a chance to ask.

So moving along, I never used to feel like I deserved Father’s Day gifts from my kids, because I didn’t feel like I did a good enough job as a dad. Every year, it was the same story. I would talk to Tiff after the kids went to bed and get upset, because I didn’t feel like I deserved anything. I wanted to be a better dad and earn the holiday.

But I’m finally starting to like Father’s Day as it applies towards me. I don’t want to say that I’m a good dad, because I think that’s such a huge, important compliment, and I’m not about to be so arrogant as to bestow that upon myself. But I believe that I try hard and my kids are well off with me around. I know they like me, I know I fight for all three of them, and I know the most important thing I’ll ever do on this planet is raise them to be good people.

It was nice to spend yesterday with them (that’s why I picked Grandma’s Marathon — I wanted to be home for Father’s Day) and I feel like I deserved to celebrate. Tiff and I struggle with time and finances, and we struggle with Jack’s issues, but I really feel like I am so blessed to be a father. I am so blessed to be their father. I frequently take a step back, I look at what I have, I think, “this is the life God has chosen for me,” and I’m pretty happy about that.

My Father’s Day Started Friday
Ava is in the same preschool that Ben went to for his last year of preschool, and she’s been there for three years now, so I’m pretty used to the routine. On the Friday before Father’s Day, they have something called “Donuts With Dad”. They bring in donuts, the dads eat with the kids, then go out to the playground for a few minutes before heading inside to hear the kids sing a cute little song.

Then, we head to the classroom, where we get the artsy-craftsy gifts the kids made. Tiff gets Muffins With Mom, I get Donuts With Dad. We have this routine down.

So when I was planning my flight to Minnesota, I definitely planned it around that. Unfortunately, it did a number on my travel schedule. Instead of a direct flight from John Wayne Airport, which is about 20 minutes from my house, I got to drive more than an hour to Ontario and I had to switch planes. Minneapolis is a 2 1/2-hour drive from Duluth, so on the way there, due to the later flight, I got into town at about 11 p.m. the night before the race instead of early in the afternoon. And on the way back, instead of a direct flight into John Wayne and a quick drive to be home before 8 p.m., I got to switch planes, fly to Ontario and make the drive home.

Nothing like a marathon on 5 hours of sleep, a 2 1/2 hour drive to the airport, two flights to get home and then an hour drive to finally walk through my front door about 20 hours after I woke up. But I wouldn’t miss Donuts With Dad for anything!

On Wednesday, Ava woke up before I got back from my run and told Tiff she wanted to talk to me. So when I got in, she told me (in her cute little voice) that she really wanted me to go to Donuts With Dad. She so totally owns me, it’s not even funny. Of course I was going, and I told her that if I had to, I would miss one of my Operation Jack trips before I missed going to her school. On Friday morning, I took Jack to school and then came back home. She woke up while I was out and was so upset when she asked Tiff where I was and found out I was gone. She thought I had already gone on my trip!

But we made it to Donuts With Dad. Between the two of us, we ate three donuts. She had a half a donut. We played on the playground, they sang their song and I got my gifts. One of the items was a framed poem with one of her handprints. The poem talked about her growing older and me being able to keep her little handprint around as a reminder. I’ll admit it — I started getting a little watery-eyed.

I don’t have a favorite kid. But I do have a favorite daughter!

My First Born
Benjamin misbehaved quite a bit on my birthday last year. Kids are kids and you can’t expect them to be perfect, but he sure did misbehave that day. So the first time he slipped yesterday, we told him gently not to do to Father’s Day what he had done to my birthday.

He had a few slip-ups, and he started to get a little silly at dinner, but all-in-all, he had a good day. When I tucked him in at bedtime, I told him that nobody can possibly be perfect — not me and not him. I also told him that while neither of us were perfect yesterday, he was still well-enough behaved. We both agreed that he’s a good kid, that I wasn’t perfect and we had a nice day.

We used to butt heads a lot when he was going through his “terrible” phase about five or six years ago and when I was worse at this parenthood thing than I am now. But it’s gotten infinitely better and he’s a great son.

And Of Course, There’s Jack
Do I really need to go into detail about Jack here? I have no idea what he understands, although I’ve been told by his therapists that he understands a lot more than we think he does. When I tuck him in at night, I frequently tell him that I’m proud of him for how hard he works to fight through everything, because I am. I also tell him I’ll always have his back and I’ll take care of him until the day I die, because I will.

That’s All For Today
Sorry the blog was a little long. That’s what was on my mind today, though. I’ll see you tomorrow with a weekend recap. Have a great Monday, everybody!

Race Report: Grandma's Marathon

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Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., a race with a great reputation in the running community, fully lived up to my expectations on Saturday. If only I could say the same thing about myself!

The race seemed to be very well executed, and the course was beautiful. The first 19 miles were along a road leading from Two Harbors to Duluth. Normally, I get bored with long stretches of the same scenery, but this road, which was lined with a ton of pine trees, also ran right along the edge of Lake Superior. There were also a sporadic buildings, homes and businesses with a small-town feel. Heck, I saw my first highway sign pointing the direction to a Yarn Store! The final seven miles were into Duluth, first the outskirts, then through downtown, and finally into the finish area which was near the water. It was a great, great race and I definitely recommend it.

Anyways, within the past month or so, I targeted this race as a potential big day. I had what was essentially a week off last week, running only one 6-mile training run during the week to give my strained IT band a chance to heal, then pacing the 3:40 group at the Utah Valley Marathon.

I had a lot of inspiration for this race. I thought of Jack, who had a tough morning on Friday, but was a little angel on the drive to school. I kept picturing his cute little face. I was thinking about my son Benjamin, who’s had some tough things going on lately that just break my heart. I was thinking about a running friend of mine named Terry, who is injured and just snapped a running streak of several thousand days last week. He’s always proud of how I run and I wanted to turn in a good performance. And then I have a running friend named John who lost his dad two years ago. It ‘s Father’s Day weekend, so I was hoping to make him proud with a good run.

The Grandma’s course is a downhill net, and on paper, it looks like a fairly quick track. So I looked at this one as a potential big day. I always go as hard as I can, but I thought I had a legitimate chance at sub-3 in this one. Last week’s race was a big downhill course, so even though I ran it slow, my quads were thrashed all week. I didn’t have any quick runs in training and I really haven’t turned the wheels in a good two weeks.

I figured that would work itself into being a taper, and I’d be ready move pretty well. I moved pretty well early, turning my first three miles in 6:50, 6:49 and 6:51 while keeping my heart rate in the mid-160s. My marathon heart rate is 170, but I was mentally prepared to push it as high as 174 if that’s what it took.

I never got there, though. I slowed down to the 7:10 range for the next few miles and I could tell by about mile 6 that I didn’t have it. I hit the 5K in low 21, but I was mid-44 by 10K and I knew I had no chance at sub-3. For the first time this year, it really seemed like work out there. The course was beautiful, but I wasn’t enjoying it. It seemed like a job.

By mile 10, I felt like I was totally out of gas. I didn’t take my carb loading very seriously this week, and I think I paid the price. The 3:10 group passed me before the half. Normally, I start looking forward to race ending when I hit 22 or 23, but today, I reached that point by about mile 12. I hit 13.1 in 1:37, a time I was not at all pleased with.

While I was slow, I didn’t continue to get worse. I stayed in the 7:45 – 8:00 range and I was able to maintain that. Also, I didn’t have any significant problems with the IT band in my right leg, which was good. I could feel it a little bit, but none of the pain that had been making me limp lately.

The 3:20 group came up on me and passed me with about four or five miles to go. I kept on going as hard as I could, which wasn’t very hard, and could tell that I was in line for about a 3:22-3:25 kind of day. I tried to hang on, because while I can kind of live with a time in the low 3:20s (barely), when it starts creeping up towards 3:25, I really get disappointed in myself.

I stayed steady in miles 23, 24 and 25, knowing I was only going to have enough to turn in on for a mile. When I reached one mile to go, I needed about a 7:50 or so to make sure I came in at 3:22. All-in-all, I could live with that. I didn’t have a lot of giddy-up, but I was able to move at some points during that final mile, even though the sun had come out and was beating down on me.

I don’t know what my official time is, but my Garmin told me 3:22:53. I can live with that — good thing, because I have no choice. I’m not pleased from an individual standpoint, but in the grand scheme of things, I ran my 30th marathon of the year in June, and felt like I had absolutely nothing, and I went 3:22. So I guess it could be worse. I just feel a little embarrassed, because I know I’m capable of so much more.

I’m going to take my carb-loading a lot more seriously in the future. It’s easy for me to look past certain aspects of race preparation, because I have races every weekend, but that’s a recipe for disaster. I also think I might really buckle down with my fitness. I need to improve my body composition and lose a little weight. I want to run well so I need to work for it. If I want to perform like an athlete, I need to act like one.

And that, I guess, is my experience at Grandma’s Marathon in a nutshell. It’s a great race. I just had a bad day. Oh well — I’ll give it another go in Seattle next week.

30 down, 30 to go!


This is what I look like after a bad race.

Weekend Preview: Grandma's Marathon

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I blinked twice, which means it’s Thursday all of a sudden and time for my weekend preview.

Real quick, just in case this is your first time stopping by, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to try to make a difference in the autism world, because that is my cause. So I decided to try to run 60 marathons this year to raise money for a charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, so good. I’m through 29 marathons and I’m reaching people.

Every week, I have a contest where you guys guess my time and win a prize. I’m going to get into that in just a minute, though. There’s a contest Operation Jack is participating in and we need your help!

Chase Community Giving Contest
I’m probably going to blog about this every day until the contest is over. 200 small charities are going to win at least $20,000 from the Chase Community Giving Contest. You can vote one time only with your Facebook account. I’m trying to get this to go viral and all I need is two simple things from everybody.

One, please vote! If you haven’t voted yet, click here now … PLEASE! Also, once you vote, or if you have voted, please post it on your Facebook wall. Super simple, and it will help a ton! Right now, vote totals are low because the contest just started. But we’re #32. Help us keep it up!

My Weekly “Pick Sam’s Time” Contest
So I have a contest every week. You try to guess my time by making a small donation as your guess and the winner gets Operation Jack gear. So, if you think I’m going to run a 3:12, you donate $3.12. Whoever comes the closest without underbidding wins their choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt. To participate, you just click on the “Donate Now!” link at the top of any page on this site, or you can click here.

Last week, I had a variation of the contest. Since I was pacing the 3:40 group, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I was going to run a 3:39. So the contest was $3 plus the number of seconds past 3:39 I was going to run. So, if you thought I was going to run a 3:39:30, you would have donated $3.30 to enter. Well, I went 3:40:00 Garmin, 3:39:58 chip. The winner was Sarah Reade of St. Joseph, Mo., a fellow graduate of KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY! Us Wildcats are s-m-a-r-t, smart!

This week, we’ll be back to guessing my time, because I’m going all-out. I’ll have some analysis in just a minute.

San Francisco Runners Out There?
My friend Heather Hawkins is having a party at a place called Stray Bar. She has all the information here. It’s going to be a fun time with BBQ and beer, plus a raffle with a bunch of goodies she’s lined up.

Check it out and stop by if you can!


Heather lined up all this stuff. That’s because she’s awesome.

This Week’s Race
It’s Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. I was actually looking forward to this one as a potential fast, fast race. They draw a good field, which always helps me push myself. The course itself looks fairly fast. I haven’t looked at the profile in about a month, but I remember some moderate rollers and a downhill net. I saw it, and I thought it would be a pretty fast race.

My IT band in my right leg, which has been bothering me, felt good all week. But it flared up a little bit last night. And my quads are still a little sore from the pounding they took on last Saturday’s downhill course. And I land in Minneapolis at about 8:!5 p.m. Friday and then have to drive 2 1/2 hours to Superior, Wisc. (where I’m staying) and the race is on Saturday morning. So I’m not too optimistic that I’m going to have a great race at this point.

But I’m going to go out there and try. I have a funny feeling I’ll be running well early, but then I’ll be in a lot of pain in my right leg and it will all come down to how well I fight through pain.

So, I guess, if I was betting on this race, I’d probably go with a 3:15. Let me know what you think I’ll do. Just $3 and a dime and a nickel … simple stuff and it’s going to a great cause! And you might even win something!

OK, That’s All
Have a great Father’s Day Weekend, everbody! I don’t know if I mentioned it, but the reason I picked this race on Saturday is that it’ll get me home in time to spend Sunday with my family. Looking forward to seeing my dad and my grandpa and celebrating my brother’s birthday with him. I’m also looking forward to “Donuts With Daddy” at my daughter’s preschool tomorrow morning. I planned my airfare around it — yeah, that’s why I’m getting into Minneapolis late!

Anyways, I’ll have a race report posted Saturday and a weekend recap on Monday! See you later!

10 Random Things For Wednesday

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I normally do 10 random things on Tuesdays, but this week, I’m doing it today, because I wanted to go with the Chase Community Giving Contest as my focus yesterday. I normally write something catchy at the top to get you to read the rest of the blog, but today I’m not feeling very clever. So can I just beg you to keep reading?

Just in case you’ve never been here, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack is severely autistic and I’m taking my first shot at trying to make a difference in the world. I’m attempting to run 60 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, so good. I’m through 29 of the 60 and I’m reaching a lot of people!

10 Random Things!

1. OK, so I’m going to start with that Chase Community Giving Contest. They’re giving out $5 million combined to 200 different charities. I’m all in favor of us being one of them. If you haven’t already voted, please take 30 seconds to vote and help us out! If you have voted, please click this link to post this page on your Facebook wall!

2. Video of the day: Jack dancing! I took this on Monday night.

3. A friend of mine in San Francisco, Heather Hawkins is having an Operation Jack fundraiser at a bar this weekend. If you’re looking for something to do, here are the details!

4. What’s E.T. short for? I’ll have the answer a little bit later.

5. Downhills kill your quads. I was so excited to have a “week off” last week by pacing 3:40 at Utah Valley. But the course was downhill. Even though I ran slow, I pounded my quads. I’m writing this blog about 85 hours after I finished the race and it hurts 10 times as bad to walk as it normally does. That’s just because of my quads, though. Everything else feels pretty good.

6. My wife thinks I’m not very funny. At one point, I decided to start counting every time I mad her laugh. Eventually (I think it took a year or two) I got past 100 and I stopped counting. I am funny. I am, I am, I am.

7. My ice cream streak is up to 136 days now. It’s also 239 out of the past 240 days. I had peanut butter fudge swirl with s’mores flavored Magic Shell last night. That flavor of Magic Shell is amazing.

8. I picked up a pacing gig for Missoula (July 11) that has me a little bit nervous. I’m pacing the 3:10 group. I’m not pacing the entire race, though. Just the first half. I’m going to run consistent 7:14s, get the group to the half at 1:35, and then somebody else will jump in and pace the second half. I’ll be free to run my own race at that point. I’m very confident in my ability to get this done, but I don’t have a huge margin for error.

9. I watched the Lakers-Celtics game a little bit last night. I think I have less confidence in the integrity of the NBA than I do in the integrity of boxing. I think the NBA is totally fixed. I’m not the least bit shocked this series is going seven games. I played Chutes and Ladders last night with Benjamin and Ava – that game was more exciting than the one being played at Staples Center.

10. Oatmeal is healthy, right? And raisins? Because I had a lot of oatmeal and raisins yesterday, so I feel healthy. Well, except the oatmeal and raisins were mixed with a lot of butter and sugar … I think the word is “cookies”?

Answer to the question about E.T.: Because he has little legs!

OK, that’s all I have for today. I am funny, I am funny, I am funny. And I’ll see you tomorrow!