Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Archives for 2010

It's Working! It's Working! Operation Jack Is Working!

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I have all sorts of goals with Operation Jack. One is to raise money, of course. Another is to motivate people to get off the couch and live a healthier lifestyle. But above all, the reason I’m doing this is to help grow Train 4 Autism. I really believe in the way Train 4 Autism works, and I want to try to plant the seeds that will cultivate long-term growth. Well, I think I see a flower blooming down in Mississippi!

Two or three months ago, a woman in Meridian, Mississippi Googled “marathon relay” and came across Operation Jack. She registered with the site, told me how much she admired what I’m doing and started following along. When I went on some of my emotional roller coasters late last year, she chimed in and reminded me that I needed to keep my head up.

I ended up meeting her and her husband at a group dinner the night before the Mississippi Blues Marathon earlier this month. They’re both incredibly nice and she’s still one of my biggest supporters. She doesn’t really have any connection to me or autism. She’s just here because she somehow came across what I’m doing and she believes in me.

Well, much to my surprise, she dropped me an email last week asking what’s involved with leading a chapter. The answer to that question is basically whatever you want to make it out to be. If you want to join our volunteer army, Uncle Sam wants you! Or something like that. Anyways, running a chapter is not my strength. My strength is running a marathon to help generate attention for Train 4 Autism, and then running another marathon for Train 4 Autism, and then … yeah, repeat until I count to 60 and then go on vacation.

But we have people who know what it takes and will do whatever it takes to help. It’s not an overwhelming commitment. It’s just an opportunity to chip in a little to help the cause. You don’t have to be a superstar runner. Heck, you don’t have to be a runner. You don’t even have to be the parent of a child with autism.

One of our founders said, I have an extreme amount of respect and admiration for those that are not parents of, or have no direct connection to someone with autism because we as parents have no choice — we are in it for the long haul whether we like it or not. Those that do, and still choose to care, choose to give, to love deserve a tremendous amount of credit and thanks because they do simply out of their own hearts- it’s truly a beautiful act.

She’s still on the fence about becoming a chapter president, because she’s concerned she wouldn’t do a good enough job. But I think she’d do a great job, because she cares and she wants to make a difference. She knows who she is and she knows I’m calling her out in this space today.

I hope she does this. I think she will. And I hope she makes you think about it, too. I’m trying to raise money, but beyond the money, I’m really trying to boost participation with Train 4 Autism. Long-term growth is a lot more important than short-term dollars. I think I have my first new chapter president! This is like the first customer at my new shop after I spent six months getting it ready.

I know a lot of you really like what I’m doing. If have even the slightest interest in doing something to work with Train 4 Autism (there’s no high pressure, no sales, no drawing blood, no sacrificing your first born), please send me an email and let me know! We have people who can help make it easy and this will enable you to make a difference!

Have a great Wednesday!

Race Report: Arizona Rock 'N Roll Marathon

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If you read my blog on Friday, you know I ran race No. 4 of Operation Jack with a heavy heart. Last Tuesday, a man I knew passed away suddenly. We weren’t best friends or anything like that, but I had met him enough times and his daughter has been in my son Ben’s class the past two years and this really shook me up.

This race was dedicated to him. He really liked what I was doing with Operation Jack and I wanted to make him proud. I really wanted to go back down into the sub-3:10 range, but my body is still adapting to this schedule. This was my fourth all-out marathon in 17 days, so I’m not fresh. My goal was to run hard, stay at the right heart rate and not go easy at all when it got tough. There’s no going back on this race and I wanted to make it count.

I started off fine, running within myself the way I wanted to. I wanted to keep my heart rate between 170 and 173, not letting it slip when I fatigued as I’ve been doing lately. Unfortunately, I could tell by about two miles in that my legs hated me. It’s not like there’s no good reason for me to feel fatigue that early, but it was pretty startling nonetheless. I knew right then it was going to be a long, painful day.

I kept pounding out the miles and fighting to keep my heart rate high enough. The problem with fatigue is that it’s just too painful to run hard enough to get that heart rate up. But I kept pressing and pressing because I had to. I was actually pretty happy with how I was doing. It was a very uncomfortable run, but I felt like I was doing a good job accomplishing my goal, which was to put forth an effort that would make Peter proud.

As the miles ticked off, I feel like I did a decent job fighting through fatigue. I also dealt with side stitches on-and-off from mile 7 until well into the 20s. I’ve been getting those a lot lately, so I’m getting kind of used to them. I don’t know if that’s a good thing, but at least they didn’t wreck me like they have in the past. I hit the half right around 1:35:10 or so and for as lousy as I felt, I was pretty happy about that.

I held strong for quite a while, running pretty good miles. I was just on the outside of 3:10 looking in, maintaining a 7:18 average pace (3:10 requires a 7:16 or something like that) through the high teens.

But I started to slow a bit at around 21. I was getting pain all up and down the back of both legs, and really feeling beat down. I don’t think any of my miles were slower than 8:00, but some of them crept up there pretty close to 7:50. Once the race starts hitting 18 or 19, I can tell what my time range is going to be. I thought I was looking at a 3:12 for a while, but that gradually crept up to a 3:16 or so. I knew I wouldn’t hit the 3:10, but I wanted a Boston qualifier (3:15:59) and I really wanted to beat my fastest time of the year, 3:13:58.

Between 22 and 25, I wasn’t happy with how hard I was running. My heart rate slipped into the low 160s and I was really struggling to turn the wheels. But right before I crossed the 25-mile marker, I decided I was going all-out and giving it everything I could. I was pretty happy with how I’d run for Peter to that point, but that last mile was for him.

I got the heart rate up into the 180s and went crazy hard. My legs hurt, I was totally toast, and my breathing was pretty labored. I was almost wondering if I was going too hard. But I didn’t worry about it. I just went. I started picking off people, one after another, so I started counting. Oh, and just so you know, in a race like this at the pace I run, there aren’t a ton of people around me when I run. They probably average 20-30 yards apart. Occasionally there are a few nearby each other, but typically they’re pretty spread out.

The more people I passed, the more I didn’t want anybody to return the favor, and I know that when you pass somebody near the end, it makes you a target. Well, I passed 27 people in that final mile. Nobody passed me. It was a good mile, and a great way to end the race. I went 3:13:56, beating my best Operation Jack time (so far) by two seconds. I was very happy with how I ran and battled through pain to get it done. My speed isn’t all there and I’m obviously not 100 percent, but I’m actually pretty happy with how I ran. I’m sure Peter is, too.


4 down, 56 to go!

I Have Inspiration For This Weekend. Unfortunately, It's Not Jack.

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I’ve been emailing since I got my first Prodigy Classic account back in 1991. In that time, I’d estimate I’ve received more than 500,000 emails. However, none of them have been as devastating as the one my wife received from my 8-year-old son Benjamin’s third-grade teacher Tuesday night.

In that email, we learned the father of one of the children in his class died suddenly that morning. I don’t know all of the parents in his class. In fact, I barely know any of them. But I knew him. His daughter (my son’s classmate) is one of the sweetest little girls I’ve ever met. I don’t even know the words to describe how I upset I am for her loss.

My wife Tiffany met him at a class field trip to the zoo last June (the girl was in Ben’s class last year, too). Tiff came back and told me what a crack-up he was. During that field trip, Tiff was having a lot of fun with the kids, and didn’t exactly get her group to complete the assigned project. When the teacher asked her if the kids were done, he stepped in and stalled time a little bit, preventing Tiff from getting busted by a second-grade teacher at the ripe old age of 33. When I heard this, I knew I had to meet him!

I met him shortly thereafter and the end-of-year parents vs. students softball game. We really clicked and had a blast talking to each other during the game for about an hour. He was hilarious, and kind of a big kid like me. I saw him again during the summer at Benjamin’s birthday party and again at church a few times. He was a fun guy and I can tell he was a good dad by how sweet his daughter is.

He really seemed to like my Operation Jack idea of running 60 marathons this year to help out Train 4 Autism. Tiff saw him at the gas station once in the fall and he took a bunch of flyers to distribute. At back-to-school night, he was teasing me in front of the parents, asking me if I was running 30 marathons this year. No, 60 actually, thanks for making me look like I’m bragging!

Every time I saw him, I asked for permission for Benjamin to marry his daughter. Joking, of course, because they’re only 8, but the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and you can already tell what a great little girl she is. We crossed paths while we were waiting for parent-teacher conferences in November. As always, we had a great time talking, and my son’s teacher had to separate us so I could go in for the conference and let her stay on schedule. I got busted by a third-grade teacher at the ripe old age of 34! I don’t think I saw him again after that day.

I was completely shocked when I found that out on Tuesday night. I mean, him? I was in the denial phase, wondering if she had another dad. My wife couldn’t sleep after hearing that and went down on the computer. She sent me a picture she took of him with his daughter on that trip to the zoo. I just stared at it, crying, feeling so terrible for both of them. There’s more members of the family, but I’m just vaguely talking about them. Anyways, I felt like I needed to run, but I didn’t know how I was going to do it.

I got up, opened up the front door and saw it was raining. I knew God was crying too, so I didn’t run. I knew I needed to take the day off. I went to work, but could hardly think. I was in a funk all day.

We told Benjamin about it before he went to school, because we didn’t want him to find out about it and get upset in front of all his friends. He had met him several times and was shocked. It was tough telling Benjamin and he was startled, but didn’t have a major reaction. He seemed a little bit upset, and we told him not to talk about it with other kids out of respect for his classmate. He didn’t, and even told kids to stop talking about it when he heard gossiping on the playground. A little later in the day, he broke down crying in class. In a way, I was proud to hear that, because it’s nice to know your kid has a big heart.

I’ve been praying a lot for the family. I’m totally heartbroken by this and somehow, someday, I want to help them in any way possible. I feel absolutely terrible about this. But right now is not the time.

I’m continuing with my next marathon of Operation Jack this Sunday, the Arizona Rock ‘N Roll Marathon in Phoenix. He liked what I was doing and I know he’ll be watching. I hate to sound so cheesy and say that I’m going to win one for the Gipper, but he’s going to be on my mind and I’m going all-out to make him proud. It’s my one chance to do that, and he’s going to get my all.

I Knew This Was Coming …

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Operation Jack is a double-edged sword for me. Ask anybody who really knows me and they’ll confirm I’m a shy person. But I need to get as much attention as possible to benefit the cause. I shy away from compliments and I really get upset about criticism. This is going to be a tough year from me. I’ve been expecting negative feedback. I just didn’t know what it would be. And I didn’t think it would come this soon.

On Monday, the Orange County Register posted a video about Operation Jack. I was excited and I posted it on my Facebook wall for everybody to see. (Side note: Check out the article that’s running in the Register on the front page today!) Anyways, a friend of mine re-posted the video on his wall, and then somebody posted the following comment:

I wonder what positive experiences could have happened with Jack in 2010…. when his Dad could have worked hand in hand with his Autistic son instead of all of the hours running the marathons. Sixty is off the wall!

I don’t know if a lot of people share these thoughts, so I figured I’d address this.

There’s no question that this is going to be a difficult endeavor. That’s the nature of the beast and that’s why so many people are jumping on the bandwagon, wanting to join me to make a difference. But I’m not taking extended vacations. My trips are going to be as quick as possible.

I’ll be gone for about 26 hours this weekend when I run in Phoenix. When I go to Miami later this month, I’m leaving on a Saturday and coming back on a Sunday. Next weekend, I’m running a double locally and I’ll be home by lunch time both days. I’m sure there are golfing dads who will spend less time at home next weekend.

I drive Jack to school Monday through Friday. I always work with him on his language when I drop him off. My weeknights are the same with him as they were last year. His weekend routine won’t change at all.

Over the course of the year, there are a few times the family will come along and some races where I’ll get to stay home. I’m estimating I won’t be staying with my family about 35 nights this year. If you do the math, that’s about 3 nights a month. I’m guessing there are plenty of businessmen with autistic children who spend more nights out of town for work. At my last job I spent about 20 nights a year on the road. The 60-marathons thing sounds crazy, but it’s not like I’m taking week-long trips to each city, spending a year on vacation. These are quick trips and I won’t be away from my family any more than necessary.

There are several factors working together to help Jack develop. He’s in special ed at school, he has in-home therapy, we have him on the diet he needs and our home is set up to provide an environment that fosters progress. There’s no question Operation Jack will be difficult for us. But there is no way I would do something that would set my kids back. We’re taking steps to make this positive and memorable for our other two children.

And another big thing in all of this: I met a man named Mark Westaway in August at a resource fair. Mark owns a business called Advanced Hyperbarics and to support what I’m doing, he offered me and Jack complimentary sessions in his hyperbaric chambers. The sessions help me with my recovery from my runs, and that’s great. But the biggest benefit of the sessions is that over time, they help bring out language from Jack. We’ve been going for several months now, and we’re really starting to see progress. We have a session tonight and again on Saturday morning before I go to the airport.

Sessions at the hyperbaric chamber were always the first thing on our “win the lottery” list. We’re on a crazy-tight budget. We can’t even afford lottery tickets. Yet we won the lottery! During my double over the weekend, at mile 15 of the second marathon my legs were starting to get heavy and I wasn’t enjoying the pain. But I was thinking about Jack and what he goes through. And I knew that Tiff was taking him up for a session later that day. As his father, it made me happy to feel that pain and know that my reward for that was the session for Jack.

We’re hoping that wonderful things happen with Operation Jack. We’re doing great, and I’m really optimistic that we’re going to plant seeds that help develop major long-term growth for Train 4 Autism. That’s what I’m focused on. But if nothing else, Jack gets the benefit of the hyperbaric chamber sessions. I’ll gladly run my legs into the ground for that.

I wonder what positive experiences could have happened with Jack in 2010…. when his Dad could have worked hand in hand with his Autistic son instead of all of the hours running the marathons. Sixty is off the wall!

Jack will be just fine. He’ll actually be better off. Nobody cares about my family as much as my wife and I and nobody means more to us than our kids. Please don’t worry about how Operation Jack will impact our family. We stick together and we’re going to be fine.

Weekend Recap: I Stayed Busy

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A lot of you might never run a marathon. And I think it’s pretty safe to say a lot of you might never run two freezing marathons in two states in two days, two time zones away from home and still be on time to work the next morning. I figured I’d journal my weekend as my blog for today, so you can see what it’s like to do what I did. I don’t know if you’ll get exhausted reading this, but I got exhausted doing this.

Thursday night:
• I played Benjamin (he’s 8) at chess and beat him. He’s getting better, but I had to put the hammer down. Competition will make him better.
• Ava colored a picture for me for my trip using lots of purple. She knows that’s my favorite color (go K-State!). I brought it with me, of course.
• By the time I was done packing, cutting my hair, playing with the kids and shaving, it was 10:45. That didn’t stop me from relaxing with a bowl of ice cream, though. I’m hardcore like that.

Friday morning:
• I got up at 4 a.m. so I could be out of the house by 4:30. I wrote my daily note for my wife, but then I played around on the computer too much and left at 5. I’m good at running late.
• Talked to the wife and kids before the flight. They had an easy morning and got donuts. NICE. Better than the whole wheat bagel and graham crackers I had.
• First leg of the flight was uneventful, except for the really big dude next to me who invaded my space with his arms and elbows, keeping me from sleeping. Oh well.

Friday afternoon:
• Free wifi in the Houston airport! YEAH! Time flies when you’re connected. I had two peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread. Better than getting a $9 five-dollar footlong at the Subway in the airport.
• Here’s a sign your flight is quick: They take drink orders and give you peanuts before the cabin doors are closed. 49 minutes, no time to waste!
• I had a choice of three rental cars in Jackson and I went with a Kia, because one of my best friends works for them. It was called a Forte. I was pleasantly surprised.
• I went straight to the expo and spent a couple of hours next to a friend of mine, Dane Rauschenberg, who was selling his book. He ran 52 marathons in 2006, so we’re going to talk a lot this year. I talked to folks walking by about Operation Jack and handed out flyers. Throw enough darts and some will hit the board, right?
• After the expo, I headed straight over to a pasta dinner at an Italian restaurant. Nice time with nice people.
• Finally got to where I was going, settled in and chatted for a little bit with the people I was staying with. Oh, and they picked me up some ice cream, which I politely ate. Am I that obvious? I set my stuff out for the morning and went to sleep a little before 11, knowing I had to wake up at 4:40 a.m. (2:40 a.m. body time).

Saturday morning:
• Woke up on five-plus hours of sleep, ate my pre-race meal while writing my wife a note, then got ready for the race. I was late getting out of the house, because I spent an extra 15 minutes looking for a hunting contraption one of my hosts gave me that would keep my head, face and ears warm. I’m good at running late.
• Is it a bad sign when you squint through the ice on your windshield on the way to your marathon and you see a bank marquee indicating a temperature of 18 degrees? I think it’s a bad sign when you’re de-icing that windshield and you see snow flurries.
• I ran the Mississippi Blues Marathon in 3:18. I can sum the race up in one word: COLD.
• In 15 minutes in the WARM finishers tent, I knocked out two pieces of pizza, three sections of turkey sandwiches, two gatorades and about five cookies. I like to eat.

Saturday afternoon:
• Got lost on the way back to where I was staying, but the scenic route was nice. When I got in I did a little bit of work, took a HOT shower, packed, had some chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate then hit the road in a hurry. Had to get to Mobile. Picked up Dane because we were riding together.
• Stopped off at Taco Bell about an hour into the drive (I like to eat). Their chicken burritos might be the best 99-cent creation ever. While there, I ran into a couple of grads of my alma mater I’d never met who knew a running friend of mine and Dane’s. We sang “It’s A Small World” together. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.
• Does it get any better than hearing Iesha by Another Bad Creation on satellite radio on a road trip? Yeah, it does. We heard Song of the South by Alabama while driving to Alabama. Awesome.
• Checked into my hotel and went to take an ice bath (indoors, although I probably could have just sat in the pool outside if it wasn’t heated). My feet were stinging so it took four tries. Mission accomplished, though, just in time for the pasta dinner.

Saturday evening:
• Went to the expo to get my bib, then over to the pasta dinner. It was 4 degrees with wind chill. It never gets like that in Southern California. Loaded up on pasta.
• Had a Snickers ice cream bar for dessert. Good stuff.
• Wrote my race report and posted it, handled some emails, then went went to bed planning on getting at least 7 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, the hotel had a loud nightclub on the 17th floor and I was on the 16th floor. Needless to say, I moved rooms. I got to sleep just in time for 6 1/2 hours of shut-eye.

Sunday morning:
• I felt surprisingly well physically for the day after a marathon. Then I saw that it was 22 degrees outside (11 with wind chill) and I didn’t feel quite so well any more.
• The start line was about 50 yards from the hotel lobby, so I listened to my iPod in my room for a while. Went to the lobby 20 minutes before race time, where some people told me they read about me in the paper Saturday. Sweet!
• I ran the Firstlight Bank Marathon in 3:21. I can sum the race up in three words: WINDY AND COLD.
• Didn’t eat much after the race because I was waiting for lunch. Trekked back to the hotel to get my camera, then back to the finish line to take some pictures. It was still WINDY AND COLD.
• Showered, packed, picked up Dane and went back to the finish area and found out I won an age group award. Picked that up, but passed on lunch, because I needed to get to the airport in time for my 2:45 flight. I got there at 1:55, enough time for my … OOPS … flight’s at 2:20! But I made it.
• That flight was on a really small plane — only 12 rows! And of course, on that small plane, somebody decided to have a gas attack. Awesome.
• Switched planes in Atlanta, but I had to go from the D gates to the A gates. No time to grab food. All I ate on the plane was ginger snaps, peanuts and pretzels.
• The plane had TVs in the headrest. YES! But no Fox, so I couldn’t watch the football game. NO! Saw the highlights on ESPNews, though. Nice pick-six by the Cards to get the win.
• The lady sitting next to me was knitting. How did she get those needles through security?
• Watched No Country For Old Men on my portable DVD player. Well, until the battery died. So far so good … can’t wait to see the rest!
• Landed in Los Angeles and got in the car to head home. Was totally starving and kind of hoped Tiff wouldn’t mind if I drove through In-N-Out. But she made chicken and vegetables for me. No complaints here. I love the baked chicken she cooks. And she’s cooking it tonight, too!
• Wrote my blog, took care of some emails and all of a sudden it was 10:25. I had a critical need for ice cream at that point, and that’s what I ate. Streak is now 82 consecutive days if you’re keeping track. If you are keeping track, you’re crazy.

And that’s it. My weekend in a nutshell. I didn’t write about the spare time, because there was none. Now it’s back to the grind. Busy day at work ahead and I can kind of start thinking about Phoenix this weekend.

Have a great day!