Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Archives for 2010

Weekend Recap: Great Weekend!

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What a weekend! It started with the kids and ended with the kids, included visits with old friends and meet-ups with new friends, and all-in-all, I was only away for 29 hours. If not for running my race poorly, I’d call it a pretty-close-to-perfect weekend!

Operation Jack Race 12
First things first — I ran the Napa Valley Marathon yesterday. It was marathon No. 12 so far for 2010, my third-fastest of the year. I went 3:11:47, but I was pretty disappointed with how I ran. I posted a recap here. I’m still sorting out the winner of the “pick Sam’s time” contest. I’ll update this later today with that info.

Science Fair!
Somehow, my wife and I helped our oldest son Benjamin get through the science fair on Friday. Last year, we totally messed it up. We were going to take him, but Tiff showed up fashionably late with him, because I spent a little too much time at the gym that day, and he missed it. The year before, I showed up fashionably late with him but everything was fine. Ben was really upset last year when he missed it, so Tiff vowed to him that he’d be able to actually be in the science fair this year.

The science fair was this past Friday night, so we guided him through his project. The big problem with that, though, is that I failed five science classes in high school and Tiff isn’t that much better with science than I am. She might actually be worse. But we helped him anyways. Seriously, it’s third-grade science.

His project was “Investigating Alternate Uses For Coca-Cola” and we did a bunch of experiments. I helped him write up the reports, but we asked the questions and made him come up with the answers. We could have come up with the answers for him, but I’m not the kind of parent to get into a competition with another parent to see which parent can do grade-school homework better. His project turned out fine, and it wasn’t necessarily world-changing, but it’s not supposed to be. It’s a third-grade project. He had a blast and got a medal and got to participate in the science fair.

I wanted to take a picture with him with both of us wearing the medals we earned this weekend, but he misplaced his. Typical Benjamin, but I love him anyways.

Trip To Napa
We had originally planned to make this a family trip up to Napa, but because of the science fair, we couldn’t leave Friday (we would have had to drive) so I flew solo on Saturday. It was nice — I slept in at home on Saturday, had a nice, big pancake breakfast with the family and then hung out at home for a little bit. But eventually, I had to go take care of business and fly to Oakland. I had a sweet flight up on Southwest — the flight was about 2/3 empty!


Sweet! My own row!

Catching Up With New Friends
At the expo in Napa, I went to meet somebody I’ve talked to a bunch but never met in person. Unfortunately, she got sick and I missed her. I got to meet her husband, though. She had a booth selling running skirts at the expo, and he came down to man it. He’s a firefighter, so I asked him if it would be a bad thing if the guys back at the station knew he was selling running skirts at an expo. Yes, he said, they’d give him plenty of grief. I should have taken a picture and collected some ransom. But then again, who wants to get beat up by a firefighter?

Later, I met a man I’ve talked to a lot named Ron. He’s super nice and super friendly, and I’ve had a ton of respect for his positive attitude and outlook on things. I’ve always wanted to meet him in person, and finally, I did! He was as friendly as I expected. We chatted for a while, then hung out at the pasta dinner for a few hours. He’s crazy fast (2:54:15 last year in Napa at age 45!) and crazy smart (graduated from MIT!). Even better, though — he’s crazy nice. We also hung out for a bit after the race on Sunday. He “only” went 2:56!


One of these guys is really fast and really smart. The other guy is me!

Catching Up With Old Friends
On my way to the airport, I caught up with an old friend from high school named Bobby. I say “old friend” because we were talking about how old we’re getting. We graduated high school in 1992, which seems like yesterday, but we realized that this year’s high school seniors were born in the year we graduated. So we’ve decided we’re old.

Anyways, we had a good time catching up for a little while and I now have a place to stay when I run San Francisco in July. I’m running myself into the ground, but I feel pretty fortunate that I’m able to meet up with people like Ron and Bobby when I go out of town.

Sunday’s Post-Race Dinner
Last night I went out with the family and my parents to Souplantation (it’s Sweet Tomatoes, depending on what part of the country you live in). Nothing beats an all-you-can-eat buffet on race day, especially when you can make the food healthy. One of the highlights of the meal came when Jack didn’t like the looks of one of the pieces of focaccia bread he was eating. He raised it in his hand like he was going to throw it, but he didn’t. We panicked for a split second.

We should have panicked for about 15 seconds, though, because that’s how long it took for him to chuck it. It bounced off a booth that another family was at. I guess he thinks he can get away with stuff like that just because he has his own website, his own line of t-shirts, tech shirts and sweatshirts, plus close to 1,300 fans on Facebook. Silly guy.

Later, that family left and the next family to sit there was that of one of Tiff’s trainers from the gym named Dee. I’d never met her, but Tiff told me that was her, and she hid her bowl of ice cream. “Oh my goodness, it’s Dee! She can’t see I’m eating ice cream!” So I turned over towards her and said, “Are you Dee?” She said yes. So I pointed over at my wife and said, “Yeah, she doesn’t want you to know she’s eating ice cream.” I’ve got Tiff’s back like that.

That’s Enough For Today
I’m crazy tired (writing this on Sunday night). It’s bed time. Have a great Monday!

Race Report: Napa Valley Marathon

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Heading into Sunday’s Napa Valley Marathon, I was pretty excited about the having a good run. I was overflowing with confidence, I felt good physically, I liked the course profile, and I was coming off a well-executed race in Tampa last weekend. But I put on a display of how NOT to execute a race strategy and I paid the price. My time was fairly respectable at 3:11:47, but I finished about six minutes later than I should have and it was a lot tougher physically than it should have been.

Based on my race last week, I really thought I had a legitimate chance at going after that elusive sub-3 (2:59:59). Everything was working against me in Tampa. I ran a 15K and a 5K the day before. I flew across country and was tired the entire weekend. The race went off at 6 a.m. Eastern time, which was 3 a.m. Sam’s body time, and I woke up at 12:40 a.m. body time. I was also coming off a marathon in Pasadena that really beat me up. But I went out with a semi-conservative strategy, ran a 3:09:44, and probably could have been a few minutes quicker if I had red-lined it and gone for broke.

So, since I was well-rested, running in my own time zone and feeling pretty fresh physically, I decided to go for the sub-3. My plan was to go out and hold at a 6:50 pace and not fluctuate regardless of what the course gave me. I thought that was at the edge of my capabilities, but I really thought it was possible. 6:52 is the pace required for a sub-3, so 6:50 would keep in range depending on the tangents I ran.

Before the start of the race, I didn’t feel as light on my feet as I thought I would. My confidence was down a little bit, but it didn’t really matter. I had enough confidence to try for it, so I did.

Miles 1-5: 6:59, 7:07, 7:07, 6:51, 6:55
Out of the gate, I’m trying to find a rhythm but it’s not there. The pace is fluctuating a little bit, but I’m not overly concerned, because there are some rolling hills early. I’m starting to think it’s really going to be a longshot by about two miles in. I had some tightness in my achilles and calves early, but that’s pretty standard for me for the first four miles or so, especially when I’m really pushing the pace. I felt like the pain was slowing me down, and I really wanted it to go away, because I wouldn’t be able to get into a zone if it didn’t. I was good by four miles in.

Miles 6-10: 7:32, 7:16, 7:19, 7:10, 7:16
I was doubting that I had enough by mile 2, and I never really had confidence that I’d pick it up, but I was hoping for a miracle. I knew there was zero chance by 6.5 miles in. By 6.75 miles in, my right foot was numb and I felt like my gait was a little off. It was better by 8.25, but then my left foot went a little numb. I was better within a mile.

But this is where I wrecked myself. I went into the race optimistic that I could chase the sub-3. But I didn’t have a backup plan. At this point, I was trying to settle into a 7:05 kind of groove. I couldn’t find any consistency, and when a race is underway, you can’t stop and figure it out. So I tried to step it up by heart rate and my body wasn’t responding. I had enough hindsight to know I should have been prepared to call it off at mile two before my body was really rolling and aim for that 7:05 pace. But I knew that all I could was run hard, so that’s what I did. That’s not a good way to run a marathon.

Miles 11-15: 7:21, 7:19, 7:15, 7:28, 7:08
So, I just continued running as hard as I could, trying to hit the best tangents I could. Not a great strategy, but it’s all I had. I really don’t remember a whole lot about this portion, other than the scenery was amazing. I had never really seen vineyards before, but I certainly have now. It was a very peaceful run through a beautiful, serene environment. Well, peaceful aside from the pounding my body was taking.

I got annoyed at one point by a woman who seemed like she thought she was too good to be concerned about anybody other than herself. When I run, I don’t litter. I always throw garbage (cups, water bottles, empty gel packs, etc.) as close to a trash can at an aid station as possible. There’s just no good reason to litter. Well, after we passed through the halfway point (I hit it in the high 1:34 minute), she looked at two pacing bands on her wrist, tore one off and threw it on the ground. That could have easily waited until an aid station, but she littered in the middle of nowhere, messing up a clean, natural environment.

Later, when we were by an aid station, she had a cup of water and took her sweet time drinking it, and that’s fine. We approached a volunteer holding a trash bag and she slammed it down on the ground about one step past her. A mile or two down the road, she had an empty gel pack in her hand. There was a trash can on her left. So she threw it down on the ground on her right. I don’t know if she though she was some superstar elite athlete who was too good to be ocncerned about anything other than her performance, but she wasn’t that special. I made it a point to beat her in the race and I did. But enough about that.

Miles 16-20: 7:40, 7:24, 7:15, 7:17, 7:41
Yeah, so I had nothing. I think mile 16 had a hill in it. I know mile 20 was a long, gradual uphill. I spent these miles knowing that I just had to keep knocking off the miles and get the day over with. I stayed true to my updated strategy of running as hard as I could, nothing else. And I learned the hard way about how terrible that strategy is.

Miles 21-25: 7:15, 7:23, 7:22, 7:30, 7:25
I continued to have nothing. These miles were pretty flat. I went through spurts where I got in a rhythm, but I didn’t hold it too well. The scenery was still awesome, and amazingly, I was picking off runners. I felt a little bit strong, but certainly not fast. I’m starting to get to the point where the weekly races are getting routine. Every mile in the 20s is something different to me psychologically, because the run is nearing an end. These miles seemed to go by pretty quickly. For most of the day, I thought I was going to run in the high 3:09s, but I knew when I couldn’t get moving on flat ground that it wasn’t going to happen. By 22, I knew I was looking at a 3:10 at best, but I could feel it slip away.

Miles 26, .35 (Garmin): 7:22, 2:21 (6:43 pace)
And I finished my 12th marathon of the year. I was glad to have the run done with because it just wasn’t clicking for me today. I get the consolation prize of a BQ with my 3:11, but I’m not thrilled with how the day turned out. I really feel like I could have run a 3:05 or so today, but I blew it. I don’t think I’m really going to dwell on it too much, because I know that if I can run a race poorly while obviously not 100% and still turn in a 3:11, I’m doing something right. I’ll get another chance to run hard in a couple of weeks, but next week is Catalina, a difficult, hilly trail race that I’ll be lucky to run sub-3:45 on.

I know I need to get back to basics and take better care of my body. I could be and should be in better shape. I need to lose weight. I need to work on my core and upper body. I’m going to start taking my fitness a little more seriously, because there’s no good reason not to.

And that’s about it. 12 Operation Jack marathons in the books, 20 percent done! Only 48 to go!


Me and my friend Ron Duncan after the finish. Ron struggled, too. He was trying to best his PR of 2:54:15, but he “only” ran a 2:56!

Weekend Preview: Race #12, Napa

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It seems like just a few days ago I was enjoying a great run in the Tampa Gasparilla Marathon. Is it already time to take a close look at my next race? Oh yeah, this is the joy of Operation Jack. My legs finally started feeling better yesterday. I’m carb-loading starting today. And I’m running the Napa Valley Marathon on Sunday.

First real quick, I’m trying something new as a fundraiser and contest all rolled into one. Guess my time this weekend in the form of an easy donation — donate $3.12 if you think I’m going to run a 3:12 or donate $3.03 if you think I’m going to run a 3:03. If you’re the closest without guessing too fast of a time, I’ll send you your choice of an Operation Jack tech shirt or an Operation Jack sweatshirt. If there’s a tie, I’ll randomly select a winner.

To make your donation, click the “DONATE NOW!” link at the top of any page on this site. Or, just click here. It’s super-simple, it’s less than the cost of a cup of coffee at Starbucks (unless you think I’m going to be really slow) and it helps Operation Jack. So please, show me some love! Here’s my guess about how fast I’m going to run and why:

Race #12: Napa Valley Marathon
I really wanted a good confidence boost last week in Tampa, not only because I haven’t been too thrilled with how I’ve been running, but because I wanted to feel comfortable giving Napa Valley a good run.

I knew I had a few things working against me last week. First, I was coming off of a 3:15. I had to fly from coast to coast. I ran a 15K and a 5K all-out the day before. I didn’t enough sleep the two nights prior. And the race went off at 6 a.m. Eastern, which was 3 a.m. according to my body, and I was up more than two hours before the start.

There’s plenty of physical aspects to a marathon. But there’s a big mental aspect to it, too. And to have run a semi-conservative 3:09 under those conditions, as I had planned, gives me all the confidence in the world heading into this weekend’s race.

In thinking back to last week, I think I could have been 2 to 3 minutes faster. I also think the run made me a little bit stronger. I’m obviously not 100 percent, nor will I be before next year, but I think I have a pretty good chance at running my fastest race of the year this weekend.

The course in Napa, from what I’ve seen, looks like it has some moderate rollers and has a small downhill net. Slight inclines don’t faze me right now, and I’m feeling pretty strong on gradual downhills. In Pasadena, I wasn’t very motivated, but there was one mile at about 12 on the south side of the Rose Bowl that was a very slight downhill. It felt essentially flat with a tiny, tiny bit of boost. I looked at the chart and it looks like the mile had a bout a 20-foot drop. For about the only time that day, I felt like I was in a zone and I turned a 6:53 mile. That’s one second slower than a sub-3 pace.

So, I know I can turn my legs a little bit. I think I got a good speed workout in last Saturday in with the 15K and the 5K. I’m feeling stronger physically, like I can keep my effort for the duration of the race. I’ll be well rested — I should be able to get eight hours of sleep Friday night and seven hours of sleep Saturday night. My flight is only an hour and I’m not switching time zones. I think the course is something I should be able to run well on. Oh, and I have a little bit of confidence for once.

I haven’t decided on my goal pace yet, and I probably won’t until about 1/2 mile in. But I’m planning on giving sub-3 a long look early on. I’ll dial in to a 6:50 pace and see how it goes. If I can stay there, I’ll give try stay between 6:45 and 6:50. Any faster and I’ll blow up. Any slower and it’ll just end up being another close call. I think it’s at the outside edge of what I’m capable of. I’ll be able to tell within a mile or two if it’s impossible, and if so, I’ll dial back and try to tick off miles consistently between 7:00 and 7:05. The weather forecast says high of 60, low of 44, so I expect it to be pretty ideal. There’s a possibility of showers, but I’m not at all worried. Weather should be very good for running.

So stretch goal for this week is sub-3. B goal is sub-3:05. C goal is a 3:07:20, which would be my fastest time so far this year. I really feel that all things considered, I should be able to pull off that C goal. That’s not a gimme — of my 39 marathons, only six have been that fast. But at this point, I expect at least that much out of myself.

If I was participating in the contest I mentioned at the top, I’d probably pledge $3.06. But that’s just me. As I’ve learned 39 times, running 26.2 miles as hard as you can is not easy and there are no guarantees.

Post-Race Dinner
Souplantation! That’s like Sweet Tomatoes depending on where you live. They have tomato soup and grilled cheese focaccia bread right now! And ice cream! I love these nearby races because I don’t miss much time with the kids. We’ll get to over-indulge together on Sunday and I can’t wait. Ice cream for dessert, of course!

That’s All For This Week
I think I’ve left you with enough to read. Please participate in the contest to guess my time! It’s super easy and it gives me a big boost when I see your guesses come across … thank you in advance! And have a great weekend!

Train 4 Autism Marathon Series!

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I’m pretty late in announcing this, but I just got it finalized last week and I use Wednesdays to give Operation Jack updates. We’re going to have a series of three Train 4 Autism races, featuring marathons and half-marathons. The good news? I’ll be offering prize money for the overall series championship. The bad news? The first race is a month from today. Like everything associated with Operation Jack, though, participation trumps everything else, so you don’t want to miss a race!

Here’s how it’s going to work: I’m working with Charlie Alewine, who puts on a series of low-key races, and we’re going to stage races on April 3, August 8 and December 27. The December 27 race will be the 60th and final race I run for Operation Jack! The races will work as a fundraiser, but we’ll also offer $750 in total prize money. FULL DETAILS HERE

There will be a half-marathon and a marathon at each event. Series points will be awarded for the top five finishers at each event (5, 4, 3, 2, 1). Beyond that, each finisher will receive 10 series points for participation. So, the fewest amount of points you can earn for completing all three races is 30 (10×3) and the most is 45 (10+5 bonus, x3).

The first tiebreaker will be total races completed and the second tiebreaker will be average time. So, if somebody wins the first two races and doesn’t show for the third, and somebody else shows up and finishes dead last in all three races, they’d both have 30 points (10×3 and 15×2). Since the first tiebreaker is total races completed, the runner finishing dead last in all three races will end up ranked higher in the series.

Prize money will be $250 for 1st place, $150 for 2nd place and $100 for 3rd place in the marathon series and the same in the half-marathon series. And of course, by showing up to race, you’ll be supporting Operation Jack.

The races are low-key and low frills, but you’ll get a tech shirt and a medal.

Weekly Contest Idea
Give me some feedback on this. I’m always scratching my head for ideas, so fortunately, other people are actually thinking. My friend Jen Morgan came up with one yesterday and I’m going to give it a shot for a week and see if it flies. I’ll mention it again tomorrow, but here’s the deal … make your guess as to what you think my time will be in my race this weekend and whoever is closest without guessing too fast of a time will win their choice of an Operation Jack tech shirt or sweatshirt.

Now here’s how you guess: Click on the Donate Form and make a donation in the amount that you think my time will be. If you think I’m going to run a 3:13, then donate $3.13. If you think it’s going to be a 3:08, donate $3.08. Whoever gets the closest without guessing too fast of a time will win. I’ll do a random drawing if there’s a tie. I’m figuring it’s an easy way to make a contribution and I’m hoping that collectively, enough of you will play along to make a difference over the course of the year. I’ll talk about this again tomorrow, but go ahead and start making your guesses now!

I’m Going To Leave It At That For Today
That’s enough for today. I know the shorter I keep this thing, the more likely y’all are to read to the bottom. And if you don’t read to the bottom, you won’t know that my ice cream streak is at 31 days now! Have a great Wednesday, everybody. I know I will — I’m hitting In-N-Out for lunch!

I Can't Believe I'm Blogging About Chelsea Lately

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I might lose my Man Card for admitting this, but I started watching Chelsea Lately on E! a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was funny. I didn’t watch it every night, but I saw it a couple of times and I really liked it. I don’t think I’ll ever watch it again, though.

The show is kind of a cross between a gossip show and a late-night talk show. The host is Chelsea Handler, a comedienne I’d never heard of before. I’m kind of clueless on a lot of pop culture things, so maybe she’s pretty famous. I don’t know. But she’s really funny, at least to me. She has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor. She’s pretty witty and I could watch her every night. I could care less about the stuff she talks about, but I like her jokes.

I don’t know much about the show, but it seems she has a few sidekicks on the show and they’re OK, but together, they complement each other pretty well and it’s a good show. I won’t tune in again, though, until a legitimate apology is issued through the media for their discussion on “pajama jeans” last Wednesday.

They joke about all sorts of things, and since each person on the show has a different sense of humor, the approach on the same issue is a little different and it’s funny to hear them go back and forth. They were talking about “pajama jeans,” which apparently is a pair of pajama pants that’s designed to look like denim. It’s an idea made for one of those “Not sold in stores!” commercials on cable television that probably won’t be successful.

My memory of the show is a little foggy, but the lazy, vulgar woman at the roundtable thought they’d be cool, because she doesn’t care what people think of her and they seemed easy. The guy wouldn’t be caught dead in them. I can’t write it to come across funny, but they did a good job with their jokes on the show.

But then there was the woman sitting next to Chelsea Handler, who tried to be sharp and witty, but wasn’t too funny. She went way too far, in my book. She started saying she wouldn’t wear them, because they’re something a special-needs kid would wear. And she went on and on for a good minute or so. I was sitting there watching with my wife, and we were both shocked at what she was saying.

If you say that one time, it’s a big screw-up. But she was just ripping into special-needs kids for way too long. I’m biased, obviously, because I have a special-needs kid, but that kind of humor went out of style with parachute pants in the 80s. We just sat there with our jaws dropped, totally stunned.

After a minute or so, Tiff told me she didn’t think it was a very funny show. I totally agreed and changed the channel. I sent a pretty long email to the show the next day. I thought I might actually get some kind of response, but I didn’t. I know not every letter writer is going to get feedback, but I know that somebody there read what I wrote and I am actually surprised they didn’t get back to me. I’ve been checking online to see if there was any flack from it, and there wasn’t. It kind of annoys me that something like this would happen and nobody spoke up on it.

I don’t care if nobody with the media’s ear picked up on it, though. I did, and I think it was terrible. I did a little bit of reading on Chelsea Handler, because I don’t know much about her. Apparently, she’s pretty close friends with Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy. As most of you probably know, they’re very actively involved in the autism community because McCarthy’s son has autism. In my letter to the show, I mentioned that if those two were on the show that night, they probably wouldn’t have laughed at the special-needs jokes.

Chelsea didn’t look like she was laughing all that much during those jokes, but she was smiling a little bit. I told Tiff that maybe she was just kind of shocked and didn’t know how to react. Whatever the case, I haven’t heard a thing about it, and until I do, I’m not watching the show. I hope there’s a lot of people out there like me doing the same thing.