Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Archives for 2010

Weekend Recap: Living Like You!

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I hope you had a weekend that was half as good as mine. Because if you did, you had a great weekend. Is this how the rest of you live? I can’t wait until next year, when I get to spend two days a week with my family and not working! What a concept!

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I want to try to make a difference, and I want Jack to have an impact on the world, so I’m attempting to run 61 full marathons this year and raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. I named this endeavor Operation Jack after him, because I wouldn’t be doing this if not for him.

On Friday, I ran marathon No. 56 of the year, the Wishbone Run in Gig Harbor, Wash. It was a pretty challenging run on trails covered by snow, ice and mud. You can read my recap here.

Anyways, I frequently run down my weekend adventures in my blog. Normally, I’m out of town somewhere and I have anecdotes to relay. This weekend, since it was the Thanksgiving holiday and I raced on Friday, I actually got to take two days off and spend time with my family — something I haven’t been able to do since I ran in Texas on Friday, January 1, then flew home that night.

Thanksgiving Day
I spent the day with my family, sleeping in and then eating pumpkin pancakes with my kids. I hate to brag, but my wife Tiffany makes some incredible pumpkin pancakes.

We hit Thanksgiving Dinner #1 at my in-laws’ house, where I loaded up on turkey and stuffing. My father-in-law is a big Cowboys fan, so it was nice watching his team fall down big in a hurry. When I ran my mouth about the score, he asked me if my Kansas City Chiefs cheerleaders were on TV as much as his Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. I told him they had a much better chance of being on TV in January!

We headed over to Thanksgiving Dinner #2 at my parents’ house, which was about a mile away. I loaded up on my stepmom’s sweet potato dish, plus peanut m&ms and ice cream cake. I had to leave straight from there to go to the airport to fly to Seattle, but it wasn’t too terrible, because I knew I was going to be home and on weekend on Friday night.


Me and Ava at dinner #2.

The flight to Seattle was pretty empty, plus I had free wi-fi. I got a little bit of work done and posted some pictures to Facebook. My dad was amazed I could post pictures to Facebook from a plane. I was more amazed he was on Facebook.

Then I Ran A Race
I already mentioned it earlier in the blog. It was pretty darn tough for me. Oh well, five to go!

One Of The Benefits Of Operation Jack
Just about every week, I get to meet up with people who have been a part of Operation Jack. This week, it was Melissa Gillespie and her family. I met up with them in June when I was up in town for Seattle Rock ‘N Roll. They drove close to 80 miles to see me. This time, I figured I’d head over their way, especially since I had a considerable amount of time.

Melissa is awesome. She’s a mother of three, including a son with autism, so we have a lot in common. She’s always there as a voice of reason for me. I love to throw pity parties for myself, and she’ll always drop me a note behind the scenes that gets me back on the right track.

Her husband Quinton is in the Navy and I didn’t get to meet him in June, but I did on Friday. It was fascinating talking to him about his duties. I won’t get into details, but I’ll just say that I have huge respect for what he does to make sure we can enjoy peace and freedom. Melissa has to make sacrifices, too, and I have a ton of respect for her, too.

Anyways, I told Melissa I wanted to take a picture with him because I had a caption I wanted to write and I doubt I’ll ever have another opportunity to use it.


Sam Quinton

Cashing In My Birthday Present
Last Monday was my birthday. Tiff bought me a gift certificate for a massage and scheduled a 9 a.m. appointment for me to go in and get it. It was awesome and it came at a perfect time. I was in a ton of pain — much more than normal — after Friday’s race. It hurt for me to roll over in bed! So the massage was pretty nice. I had a sports massage once, but that was it. I had never had a relaxation massage before. The only problem was having to drive afterwards. I was totally groggy!

I Still Have Friends!
About a week ago, I coordinated having a barbecue at my house with a couple of my best friends and their families. Late Saturday morning, we were all on the fence about whether we should have the barbecue or make an In-N-Out run, so we combined the two and had everybody over and brought In-N-Out in! The food was great, the kids all played together, and the grown-ups had a great time hanging out. I’m somewhere in between a kid and a grown up, but I chilled with the big people.

Is this what you guys all do — have friends and spend time with them? It was awesome!

Date Night (Almost)
Tiff and I were going to go to the movies, but babysitting fell through at the last minute due to a family emergency. Everything is fine, but we stayed in. She rented Eat, Pray, Love from Redbox and I’m proud to say that we squashed that after about 20 minutes. What a boring flick!

We hung out, ate nachos for dinner and watched a special about Woodstock on the History Channel, then polished off some mint chocolate chip ice cream. It was nice to hang out with Tiff on a Saturday night. We haven’t done that very often this year.

I Managed Some Shopping On Saturday
From the comfort of my kitchen table, I purchased my airfare to Jacksonville on Saturday night. I now have ZERO airline tickets to purchase the rest of the year! Yeah!

Zinger Of The Week
We went to church as a family on Sunday morning. My race on Friday was on a trail course with tough conditions, so it was the slowest marathon I’ve ever run. We sat with some friends and we sat down, one of them told me, “Wow Sam, good to see you. I didn’t know if you’d still be here or if you were still finishing up that race in Washington.” OUCH!

I got my maple old-fashioned donuts I like and the message was good. This “good weekend” thing was still rolling and I was loving it!

Housecleaning Competition
Tiff took Jack to go grocery shopping and we had some housework to do. The playroom needed to be cleaned, as did the kids’ bedrooms. I had Ben and Ava competing against each other to see who could clean better. I took care of the staircase and then the kitchen. I also snuck in a little bit of the Green Bay-Atlanta game.

They both did pretty well and Tiff was pleasantly surprised when she came in. That’s all that really matters, right?

No Weekend Is Complete Without …
A trip to Home Depot, right? I didn’t do a ton of stuff around the house, but I did fix our front door handle, which was loose, plus I changed out a bad light switch. I also caught some of the Philadelphia-Chicago game.

After I got back from Home Depot and before I did the work, I had lunch with the kids. We had grilled chicken panini sandwiches. Those sandwiches Tiff makes are amazing. Absolutely my favorite sandwich. And she hooked me up with sweet potato fries!

No Weekend Is Complete Without …
A trip to the park, right? I took Ben and Ava yesterday afternoon for a little while. They had a good time. Actually, we had a good time. You know what I’m saying.

And then …
We went to Target, then came back and played with Jack as part of his therapy session for a little while. He was having a blast and was in a great mood. He was getting pretty wild, which was a lot of fun. Tiff made homemade soup for dinner (chicken noodle with chicken) that was pretty good and we ate together, which was nice.

Irony Of Ironies
If you’ve been following along this year, you know I love ice cream. I had a streak of 166 consecutive days eating ice cream or frozen yogurt this year. Well last night, Tiff sent me to the grocery store because she wanted me to pick up ice cream for her! Maybe there’s something in the air in my house and she caught the disease?

She wanted Dreyer’s Candy Cane flavor, but they were out, so I picked her up Dreyer’s Apple Pie instead after texting her to let her know what was available. Good stuff — only 120 calories per serving, plus it has chunks of apple and crust in there.

We put the kids to bed, then chilled on the couch. I wrote this blog, then got some ice cream. She ate ice cream and watched some ridiculous housewives show.

All-in-all, an amazing weekend. I can’t wait for 2011! Is this how y’all live? It was amazing!

Have a great Monday, everybody. I’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Race Report: Wishbone Run

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I headed into Friday’s Wishbone Run in Gig Harbor, Wash., knowing it wasn’t going to be an easy race for me. Granted, none of my 86 previous lifetime marathons and ultramarathons have ever been easy. But I figured this one would be unusually difficult. Sure enough, I ran my slowest-ever marathon, a 4:14.

Just in case you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to try to make a difference in his honor, so I’m attempting to run 61 marathons in 2010 to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. Friday’s race was No. 56 of the 61 — still on track!

The Wishbone Run is a small trail run with about 100 participants. It’s billed as a 27.4-mile trail race, four loops of a figure-8 style course. It was fairly cold, mid-30s to low 40s, and the footing was very difficult. Virtually the entire course was covered in snow, ice, mud and rocks. The course was a very pleasant run, though. Every step was in a plush forest.

We got going and spread out fairly quickly and I had all the space I needed within a 1/2 mile or so. Trail running is very different than road running. You have to work pretty hard to keep your balance because of the uneven footing. As a result, you’re using a lot of the muscles in your legs you don’t normally use and you felt pain differently and quickly.

Adding to the challenge was the mud and ice. The trail was slippery, plus at least a dozen times I ran across what I thought were going to be mud patches only to crash through ice into ankle-deep puddles of freezing water. I never lost my balance, but about seven or eight times I came pretty close to rolling my right ankle.

Within the first five or so miles, I knew my goal for the race would be to get through the course as quickly as possible while avoiding injury. I didn’t really have a time goal because you can’t compare a finishing time on a course like this to a road course. They’re completely different. You can strive to run your hardest and be competitive in the overall standings, though. I’m normally anywhere from top 2 to 5 percent in a road marathon if I run well, so in a trail race, I’d be content with top 10 percent.

I hit the first loop in about an hour, but the second loop was a different story. Since the course was a figure 8, there was an aid table in the middle. We hit it twice per lap. So, there were basically three segments per lap. After the second segment of the second lap, I got turned around and accidentally ran that second segment again. The segment accounted for about half of the lap, so running it twice put me at about 16 miles halfway through.

It was also a bummer, because that was the most challenging portion. There was a hill that gained about 150 feet over roughly 1/4 mile, so to run that twice in about three miles was frustrating, especially because the second time I ran in I realized I’d taken the wrong turn.

I knew on the third lap I could run just the first and third segment, and in doing so, I would have covered every step of the course exactly three times. I explained that to the guys counting laps and they were cool with that. So, I did that and was back on track with one lap to go.

I finished out the race, enjoying the scenery but struggling through a lot of pain. My legs were sore, my right knee flared up again, I was blistering and my back was hurting really bad. There were a few points where my lower back started to go and I was afraid I was going to fall over. I made it through, but there were a few hills that were at the perfect angle to really cause some problems.

I love to run, and I love challenges, but I was pretty glad when this one was over. It was a tough, tough day. I went 4:14:40, my slowest marathon ever. I’m not sure how long the course really was. It was billed at 27.4 miles and that’s what everybody seemed to have on their Garmins, but I only got 26.45. I know with 100 percent certainty I didn’t short the course a single step, so I’m thinking that maybe all the trees affected the reading?

I don’t know my overall finish position, but I think it was somewhere around fifth or so. To me, that was an indicator that it was not an easy run. I really banged myself up in this one. I have the worst blister I’ve ever had on my right big toe, my right knee hurts on the outside worse than it has all year and I scraped myself up a little bit from the branches. This one really did a number on me.

So there you have it, marathon No. 56 of Operation Jack is in the books. Only five to go! Next up, Memphis and Las Vegas next weekend!


Forgot to get a picture at the finish line, so I had to get one in the mirror at the hotel.

Proof of the mud we ran through.

A Very Happy Birthday

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I don’t know why, but it seems like for the past 10 years or so, my birthday has always seemed to go sour one way or another. Nothing really major, and nothing that anybody really did wrong, but it always seems like there’s something that comes up that makes the day a bummer. Well, yesterday, my 36th birthday, made up for all of that. It was just an awesome, awesome day.

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I’m attempting to run 61 marathons in 2010 to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far I’m through 55. I named my endeavor Operation Jack, after him. It’s my first attempt at making something good come from his struggles.

So as I mentioned, yesterday was my birthday. I’m 36 now, and I really can’t remember having a great birthday over the past 10-12 years. It’s nothing I’m going to blame on anybody at all, it’s just that sometimes things don’t work out and it’s always been something. Well, yesterday made up for all of that. It wasn’t a super-exciting day, like when you’re a kid and you turn 10. But it was just a great day from start to finish.

So much of it revolved around food, which for me is awesome.

One thing that didn’t revolve around food — I got a happy birthday text from my mom in the morning. She’s 58 … how 2010 is that? I was pretty impressed! I called her later in the day. Anyways, food …

Breakfast
My favorite cookies are white chocolate and macadamia nut. I love pancakes. So Tiff made me macadamia nut pancakes and put in white chocolate chips. They were amazing. But the best part is that the kids all joined me. When I say the kids, I’m including Jack. All three sat at the table with me. Jack had already eaten, but he was calm and playing with toys.

Tiff had Ben and Ava each say something the liked about me. Ava said she liked that I’m nice to her. Ben said he likes that I take care of the family. It put a smile on my face. As did the pancakes. The coffee was good. All-in-all, a nice start to the day.

Visit To The Doctor
I’ve had a cold for about the past week or so, and it’s not getting better, and I’ve had bronchitis two times in the past three years. I’m running six marathons over the next 34 days, which will continue to break down my immune system, and I’ll be spending time on airplanes immediately following those marathons. Ahhh, flying germ tubes.

So, I went to the doctor on my way into the office this morning to get myself taken care of. It was my first visit to the doctor in more than a year. I’m impressed that it took me this long to get sick. But I need to get everything taken care of before it gets worse. I just wanted a Z-Pak prescription to make sure I nip this cold in the bud.

I got there at 9 a.m. and there was nobody in there waiting. It took me more than 30 minutes to get called back. Frustrating! After getting my vitals checked, I spent another 20 minutes waiting for the doctor. I spent about three minutes with him, got a Z-Pak prescription, was advised to rest (that isn’t going to happen) and then went on my way. That took about an hour and 10 minutes — completely inefficient, but nothing to truly bring down my day.

Cool Gift At The Office
Some people at the office made a nice framed presentation of my Runner’s World article and the article that appeared on the front page of the Orange County Register back in January. It was pretty cool and made me smile.


My gift.

Lunch
I met Tiff and the kids at a place called Farrell’s. It’s an ice cream parlor and they serve burgers, salads, sandwiches and other similar things. All three kids were very well behaved and had a good time. It’s nice when we can bring Jack out without any help and he doesn’t have any problems. We don’t get a whole lot of chances to do normal things as a family of five, but this was one of those chances and it worked out. It was really nice.

Something funny happened when I ordered my lunch. I asked the waiter for a recommendation. I was looking at a couple of burgers or a reuben sandwich, but he highly recommended the Philly cheesesteak. I told him I’d take it, but I also warned him that I was going to put his advice to a serious test because I ate a cheesesteak in Philly the day before! He laughed, but stood by the sandwich.

It ended up being pretty good. No complaints, I enjoyed my lunch. They brought out some ice cream and sang a song afterwards. I had a great time, thanked the kids for being so well behaved when we went out to the parking lot, then I went back to work.


Me and my gang.

My and part of my gang.

Dinner
Benjamin’s soccer team had its end-of-the-season soccer party last night at a local Italian restaurant called Peppino’s. I got home from work, picked up Ben and Ava, and immediately took them back out. Jack was calm and bathed and stayed in with Tiff. That was OK — he’s better off being comfortable in his own environment in the evening.

We got to the function and Ben had a blast hanging out with his team, eating pizza and running around having fun. Me and Ava split a pizza (with plenty of leftovers) and got a little silly ourselves. It was a nice event, both kids had fun and were well behaved and heck, the pizza was good!

Dessert
My favorite marathon is the Boston Marathon. Everybody knows that, including my wife. For my cake, she picked up a Boston cream pie. Just because. I got a kick out of that. I’m not really picky. She picked that out because it’s something to associate with Boston, so she figured that would make me happy. Because of her reasoning, it did. And it was pretty tasty!

Jack was already in bed, but the four of us sat at the table, enjoying dessert. I had two of those two wax candles with the numbers “3” and “6”. I did some quick math in my head and told Benjamin that we should save them until the year 2037, because in that year, he’ll be turning 36 and I’ll be turning 63! That’s how I see the world, and apparently, that’s how my son sees the world, too. He did the math and got a kick out of that.


My Boston cream pie with the numbers.

Ava went to bed, and I hung out with Ben and Tiff, who were both reading. I watched K-State get a nice basketball win. Last year, Ben behaved very poorly and all but ruined my day. Last week, he told me was going to try very hard to make sure that wasn’t the case again this year. Well, he was great.

When I tucked him in, he asked me if he had behaved better than last year and I told him he was so good, it made me completely forget all about last year. I went downstairs and started writing my blog with SportsCenter on in the background, basically falling asleep at my computer.

There was nothing spectacular about the day. But it was super nice from start to finish and I spent a lot of time with the family. I couldn’t really ask for much more in a day.

Weekend Recap: I … Am … Exhausted

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Oh, what a weekend. I’m exhausted. I’m not as young as I used to be. This one really wore me out and I don’t even want to think about my next trip out, which is in three days. Wow. I’m writing this on the plane back from Philadelphia. I want to take a nap, but I don’t have time.

Real quick, just in case this your first time here … welcome! And to fill you in, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I’m attempting to run 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m through 55. And a couple of ultras. I would absolutely not be doing this if not for him, so I know that his autism is making the world a better place.

I ran the Philadelphia Marathon yesterday (read my recap here). It wasn’t my best or fastest marathon of the year, but I felt like I gave it my all, considering my lousy physical condition heading into the race.

OK, my weekend.

Would It Have Been Faster To Drive?
I left for the airport from the Thanksgiving celebration at Ava’s school. Really, there’s no point in putting that in here other than I wanted to post a picture!


Me and my owners.

My flight from LA to Philadelphia on Friday was at 2:10 p.m. I got to LAX a little before 1 p.m. I was flying through Atlanta, arriving at 9:25 p.m., then hopping onto a 10 p.m. flight scheduled to land in Philadelphia at 11:57. I would have been asleep by 1 a.m. and had the opportunity to sleep in and recharge on Saturday.

I’ve been sick for close to a week and I’m feeling fairly miserable. Nothing helps quite like sleep. I’m guessing that no sleep isn’t a good thing when you’re sick?

We were about to board the flight when they announced that the captain issued an order preventing people from boarding due to maintenance issues. Hey, no complaints from me on that! About 30 minutes later, they announced that the part we needed had to be flown in to Atlanta. The flight was now scheduled for 9:15 p.m.

I was flying Air Tran, which has various partners and hubs. They told us they had rescheduled everybody’s itinerary. I had a lunch to go to at noon on Saturday in Philadelphia, so I was afraid I’d miss it. I waited in line until 4:30 and found out I was indeed on that 9:15 p.m. flight, arriving in Atlanta at 4:12 a.m. My flight to Philadelphia was scheduled to leave at 8:55 and arrive at 10:51 a.m. At least I’d make the lunch.

While I had time to kill, Operation Jack supporter Jake Rome came and picked me up and showed me the course for the Operation Jack Marathon. I took a picture at the finish line!


I can’t wait to get back there! 34 days!

I got back to the airport, ate some Burger King, hopped on my plane and got about three hours of lousy sleep while listening to my iPod. I was a zombie when I got to Atlanta. My mom lives there, so I had arranged with her to meet me at the airport for breakfast. I’ve only seen her twice this year, and once was an unexpected visit there when I got bumped from a flight and had a long layover.

Earlier this year, we gave her one of our dogs, because she can provide her with a much better life. Something about empty nest vs. three kids, including one with a disability. So my mom showed up with Holly, we visited for a couple of hours and I went and boarded my flight. If you noticed, there was no nap in all of that.


Me and Holly.

I couldn’t sleep on my flight, but I finally got to Philadelphia at 10:50 a.m. Eastern time, 20 hours after I left my hometown to drive to LAX. A friend of mine picked me up and we went back to her apartment. We chatted for about 10 minutes max before I left for the lunch I had to go to. After that, I walked to look for a certain souvenir for my oldest son (couldn’t find it, though), then went to the expo and walked around for a little bit, but I felt numb and faint from the exhaustion.

I sat down on a concrete floor, leaning up against a wall, letting my friend do a little shopping. She came and got me, we walked back to her place and I took a nap for a couple of hours. I couldn’t tell you the last time I was that exhausted.

I Finally Missed Something Important
I’ve done a pretty good job of not missing things this year. Despite jetting all around the country, I’ve been home for all the birthday parties, birthdays, my wedding anniversary, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day fireworks, trick-or-treating, first day of kindergarten for Ava, back-to-school nights for the kids, Benjamin’s only goal of the season in soccer, etc.

I’ve been away a lot, but I’ve made a lot out of the time I’ve been home. This Saturday was Ben’s last soccer game — his team was in the playoffs and this was the championship game. There was a good chance of rain, and if the game got postponed, it would have been played either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.

I kept my eye on the forecast and there was a a 70 percent chance of rain. I was hoping I’d luck out on this one. I was texting with my wife Tiffany about the weather. It rained all night, but it stopped in the morning. But then it started again and it was pouring pretty nicely. I’m on the email distribution list with Ben’s coach and I was waiting eagerly for that cancellation email.

But 90 minutes before game time, he let us know that it was still on. I was hopeful that they’d cancel the game, but I was getting kind of anxious. Tiff was texting me pictures of the downpour and I couldn’t see how they would possibly play the game. I was cautiously optimistic.

They got out there, and there were teams playing another game. At that point, I knew I was going to be out of luck. They were doing whatever they could to play the games. I was so bummed knowing I’d miss the game. This was the first big miss of the year for me and it really made me sad. I know I’m doing what I’m doing for a good cause, but that doesn’t make it any easier to not be there, especially when Ben begged me to make it to the game earlier this week.

The game went on and Ben’s team won, 2-0. I got pictures of the trophy presentations and they all had a blast. That was going on at the same time I was leaning up against that wall while sitting on the concrete floor at the expo. For lack of a better word, it sucked.

Oh well. I’m glad they won.


Pretty bittersweet for me to get this picture of Ben getting his trophy, because I wasn’t there.

Other Misc. Stuff
I ate a cheesesteak for lunch yesterday. I guess that makes up for not having pizza in Chicago. Also, I’m just sneaking this in here to see if anybody actually reads this whole thing, but I was born on November 22, 1974. Now you know.


This was my lunch yesterday. It kind of made up for not getting pizza when I was in Chicago.

The Long Road Home
On October 31, it took me 4 1/2 hours to fly home from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. Yesterday, apparently there were really strong headwinds. It took us about 2:15 for the first leg of the flight back, Philadelphia to Chicago. Chicago to Los Angeles took FIVE HOURS. I can’t even begin to tell you how tired I was.


At least I had the best seat on the plane from LA to Chicago.

That’s All For Today
Like I mentioned, I wrote this on the plane last night. And I was tired. And I needed to take a nap before driving home. So that’s all for this one. I’ll see you back here tomorrow. Maybe?

Race Report: Philadelphia Marathon

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As a runner, sometimes I wake up and feel great and can’t wait to get out for my run. I feel strong, I feel alive, and I’m ready to go. Sunday was the exact opposite of that. If there was ever a race I wished I could have ducked out of, it was Sunday’s Philadelphia Marathon. I was sick, I was tired, and I had 26.2 miles ahead of me.

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic and I’m attempting to run 61 full marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. It’s my way of making lemonade out of lemons, of making sure my little guy has an impact on the world. I wouldn’t be doing this if not for him. Philadelphia was race No. 55 of the year. I’m almost there!

I had a few struggles heading into this race. Ever since I got home from San Antonio last weekend, I’ve felt sick. I had some headache and stomach problems last Sunday and Monday, then I developed a cold and a sore throat on Tuesday. When I went to the gym for easy runs on the treadmill, I got extremely winded, felt faint and had to stop.

I’ve been tired and chose to sleep instead of exercise in the morning. I’ve felt exhausted and miserable all week. On Friday, my flight out of Los Angeles was supposed to leave at 2:10 p.m., get me to Atlanta at 9:25 for a 35-minute layover, and I was going to land in Philadelphia at 11:57 p.m. I’d be asleep by 1 a.m., sleep in Saturday, and hopefully feel a little recharged.

Instead, my flight was delayed seven hours, becoming a redeye. I got three hours of bad sleep on the plane, landed in Atlanta at 4:15 a.m. for a 4 1/2-hour layover, then got into Philadelphia an hour before a lunch I had to get to. By mid-afternoon Saturday, I was exhausted to the point I could barely stand up or keep my eyes open. I took a nap for about two hours, but then had troubles falling asleep at night.

When I woke up for the race on Sunday, I was pretty exhausted, and that’s not the way to feel before running a marathon. I felt a little sick still, and I had zero desire to run. But I had to. So I did.

I was wearing pink arm warmers for the race. I made a commitment this week that I would wear them if y’all raised $1,000 for the Hearts & Smiles Foundation in Philadelphia. I tried for four weeks and only pulled in $240. But that arm warmer pledge netted $800 in 24 hours. Go figure.

I got to the start line five minutes before gun time, ready to go. My basic strategy was to run hard as long as I could, because I figured at some point my body would quit on me and I wanted to be as far through the course as possible. This marathon would simply be a matter of getting to the finish line as fast I could so I could stop. With my body in the condition it was in, I wasn’t going to attempt anything too strategic.

I got going and my legs actually felt pretty good. I suspected they would and I was moving well. I didn’t feel like I had the capacity to really go full-throttle, but I was hanging on at about a 7:05 pace early. I felt terrible, but I was moving well. I started to feel good at about mile five, but that only lasted for two miles. And then I felt sluggish again for the rest of the race.

I tried to pay attention to the course, because it was really nice running through the streets of Philadelphia, but I felt so miserable it was hard to focus. I could tell it was a course I would have really enjoyed if I felt better.

I went through the half somewhere around 1:37, which I was content with. At about mile 14, I saw Operation Jack super supporter Sarah Emerson, along with her husband and baby, and that put a big smile on my face. I’ve met a lot of people I really like this year and she’s way up there near the top of my list. I told her I felt like death. She told me I looked good in pink.

About a mile later, I heard two people running behind me talking and one of them said he lived in Los Angeles. When they caught up with me, I started chatting a bit. He saw my shirt and said, “Oh, Operation Jack — I’m thinking about running that marathon.” He didn’t know who I am, so it was pretty funny when I told him. We chatted for a couple of miles. He was looking to improve his PR of 3:29, and he was well on track to do that.

By about mile 17, I was running out of gas in a hurry and I told him, “I’ll see you later — this is where you leave me in the dust!” He ended up running a 3:12, so I was right and he had a great race. I faded, but not too bad. I think I was running miles in the 7:50 range. The second half of the race was mostly along a river and through a town that was on the outskirts of Philadelphia. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was a nice run.

I didn’t pay a ton of attention to my time. I just wanted to knock off the miles and get done with the run. I thought I was in line for somewhere around a 3:22, but I wasn’t really certain. I was slowing down and I felt miserable. There were a couple of spots late in the race where I heard some music playing along the course and I got pumped up and ran fairly quickly with relative ease. I had the confidence that I was strong, but I just didn’t have the energy to do much.

I decided to check my time with exactly two miles to go so I’d know where I stood. I was at 3:03:50. I really wanted to beat last week’s time of 3:17:59 to get faster for the fourth consecutive race, but that would basically require two 7-minute miles. I knew two 7:30s would give me a 3:18 and I would stay sub-3:20 with two 8s.

I kicked right then, knowing full well I was at risk of falling apart before I got to the finish, but I also knew that I had no other chance at a 3:17. I went hard and started passing a lot of people. My heart rate was at 181 bpm, roughly 10K pace, and I was moving. I was running, which felt good. I’m a runner, so it’s nice to move. But it also hurt. I felt miserable. I wasn’t sure if my body could handle two miles at that effort. I was locked in, although I kept my eyes open for Sarah, because I knew she was going to be somewhere around 25. I saw her, but all I really had the ability to do was point. I was in a zone.

I was counting down the fractions of that last mile, looking at my watch and knowing it would be close. When I passed 3:17, I was anxious to see the finish line. I knew I was going to do no worse than a 3:18. But I couldn’t see the finish line and the seconds were ticking away. Finally, we rounded one last curve, and there it was. I looked at my watch and I was pretty certain I had that 3:17. It’s tough to judge distances, though. I kept blazing and knew I had it about five seconds before I crossed the finish line.

3:17:45 is what I ran. Definitely not my fastest time. But I was happy with it. I improved 14 seconds over last week, and I was just not in shape to run. I won’t look back at this one as a great race, but I’ll look back at it as a good effort. I had to tough it out in Philadelphia. It was a challenging day for me physically, I tried hard to manage my body well, and I stepped up and went for broke when I had to.

So there you have it. 55 down, six little marathons to go. The Operation Jack train is getting pretty close to its final destination!


Me and Sarah after the race. I mean, me, Sarah and my pink arm warmers after the race.

Me and my friend and host Peggy after the race. Peggy was coming back from injury and not only did she stay completely healthy — she went 1:26:58 when she was realistically hoping to run a 1:35! I was really excited for her.