Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Mother's Day Weekend Preview: Grand Valley Marathon

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A lot of people ask how I picked my race schedule. Quite a few things went into selecting each of the 60 marathons on my schedule for this year, but being home with my family for Mother’s Day outweighed everything else for this weekend.

There are races on Sunday, but I didn’t even consider those. I originally scheduled a race for this Saturday in Wisconsin, but the flight schedule getting back was pretty tight. I was looking at running a race starting at 8 and the last flight of the day leaving the local airport (30 miles away) was at about 1 p.m. The schedule would have been possible, although extremely tight, but it wasn’t worth the risk.

Luckily, about three weeks ago, I found a race just outside Grand Junction, Colo. I only need to leave work about two hours early to catch my flight on Friday, and I’ll be back fairly early on Saturday night. On top of that, the race director was very friendly to deal with, which is always a treat.

So, I’m running the Grand Valley Marathon in Palisade, Colo. on Saturday, my 24th full marathon of the year. Every week, I have a contest where you guys make a small donation and guess my time (for example, if you think I’m going to run a 3:07, you donate $3.07). I analyze the course and give you my best guess as to what I think I’m going to run. And then you give me a pat on the back by clicking here or on the “Donate Now!” link at the top of any page on this site. $3 and a nickel or two (or three or four if you have no confidence in me) is all it takes. The winner gets their choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt. I’ll get to that in just a bit.

First, since it’s Mother’s Day Weekend, I’m going to talk about mothers briefly. I have a bunch of mothers in my life. I talk about my wife a lot, but I never really talk about my mom or my stepmom. I’m not going to go into huge details, because I view their privacy in regards to Operation Jack a whole lot differently than I do Tiff’s.

Anyways, my parents split more than 30 years ago, but in my mind, it was for the best for everybody. My mom found her soulmate and has been happily married since 1993, and my dad found his soulmate, and they just celebrated their 18th anniversary on Monday.

My mom lives in Atlanta, but I keep in pretty close contact with her. She’s a huge supporter of Operation Jack and does crazy things like stopping random runners on the street to tell them what I’m doing. I’ve told her that’s bad etiquette with runners, but she’s proud and there’s not a lot I can do to stop her. She loves me unconditionally the way a mother should.

My dad met his wife when I was a sophomore in high school. That’s a difficult time to come into the picture, but she’s been a big part of the equation for the majority of my life. My world has been pure chaos for a good 12-15 years as I went through college and then got married and started a family, but she’s been there with me and for me the whole time. She, too, loves me unconditionally the way a mother should.

Anyways, the way I see it, God leads you down paths for a reason. I wouldn’t be who I am today if not for both of them. I’m not saying I’m anything special, but I am who I am, and there’s no question they have both shaped me. And since it’s Mother’s Day Weekend, I figured I’d give them a shout-out.


Me and my mom in Atlanta on April 16. I volunteered to get bumped off my connecting flight to Virginia and I was able to sneak out of the airport and go to lunch with her.

Me, my dad, my stepmom Nancy and my brother after the Orange County Marathon last weekend. She ran the half-marathon, the first time she’d ever covered that distance, to support Operation Jack.

I’m also pretty lucky to still have one of my grandmas. My Grandma Bea, still ticking at 85 (she’d kill me if she knew I put her age in here!) is a one-of-a-kind. I’m grateful for every opportunity I get to see her. She’s got her little quirks, but all-in-all, she’s a sweet grandma. If you’ve been following along this whole year, you know that we’ve had a Super Bowl bet for each of the past 22 years. This year, I won, so she took me and my family out to lunch. The way she sees it, she really won. For starters, my grandpa paid. Plus, she got to see all of us!


Me and my grandma on February 21. She loves penguins, and I got one from my first race of the year, so I gave it to her.

But really, I’m biased. I have a favorite mom … my wife! I know everybody thinks their wife is the best mom, so I guess I’m just like everybody. She sometimes gets upset that she doesn’t have a “job” or a career, but she does an amazing job with our three kids. It’s really tough to raise a special-needs child, and it’s even tougher to raise a special-needs child and two more children. But she does, and she takes care of me, and she takes care of herself. The older my oldest son Benjamin gets, the more I can tell that we have a very sweet, loving son who’s going to grow up to be a good man.

And I should clarify. Her taking care of them goes way beyond taking care of them. She has grown into her role so naturally since I met her back when she was 18. She’s the type that knows every little detail about each one of them in order to take care of them perfectly. She’s their biggest defender and their first source of comfort.

We all have our talents. I run marathons, I’m good with numbers and computers and I can write pretty well. She was born to be a mother and her impact will live on for generations through our children and their children. I tell her all the time that I’m glad our kids are so fortunate as to have a mother like her. She likes it when I’m around, and in my book, Sunday is HER day. That’s why I’m running on Saturday. I picked out this song for her today:


Ben!

Jack!

Ava!

OK, The Race …
The race doesn’t look tremendously easy or difficult. There’s a pretty steep climb of mabye 150-200 feet in mile 4, but there’s an equal drop in about mile 21 or so. It looks like an out-and-back with some rollers, nothing tremendously significant. The biggest problem is that it’s going to be at elevation, varying between 4,700 and 4,900 feet. I have strengths and weaknesses in my fitness and I’ll find out how oxygen deprivation impacts me.

Lately, I’ve been hit-and-miss with my races, but I have pretty good confidence right now. I feel strong, although not particularly quick, and I know what’s slowed me down lately. I really think I can go sub-3:10, although if I was betting, I’d go with a 3:12 to be conservative.

So go ahead, make your guess. Winner gets some Operation Jack gear. I didn’t have a contest last week, but two weeks ago, Dina Williams, a loyal Operation Jack supporter who used to work with my father-in-law, guessed I’d run a 3:19 in Oklahoma City and I went 3:17:42. I hope you play this week!

That’s All For Today
I’ll post a race report at some point on Saturday. Have a great weekend everybody!

What's Up With OJ Wednesday

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Ahhh, Wednesday. The middle of the week. It’s time for me to come up with another creative way to say “It’s time for my What’s Up With OJ Wednesday Blog.” Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is I don’t have a creative way to announce my WUWOJW blog today. But the good news is at least I wrote it.

First things first, 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 decided I wanted to find a way to use my running to make a difference in the autism world. My idea is to try to run 60 marathons in 2010 to try to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m through 23 since January 1. Only 37 to go. Sort of. I’ll explain that in a bit.

Anyways, I write about various things here in my blog about four times a week and give a little glimpse about what it’s like to go through all of this. I’m going to read all these blogs at the end of the year, because it’s all such a blur and I’m going to want to see what happened.

Since today is Wednesday, I’m giving my weekly rundown on what’s going on with Operation Jack. Most of it is going to involve fundraising today.

What You’ve Done
I don’t have the exact numbers of what has been raised. I do certain things well, like running. I went 3:06 last Sunday in my 23rd marathon of the year. Finances aren’t my thing, though. I messed up on a transfer this week and bounced a payment. My wife will probably be mad at me for mentioning that. Oh well.

Anyways, my dad does certain things well, too. He ran his first half-marathon last Sunday in 2:53. A for effort, but maybe running isn’t totally his thing. But he’s been a CPA for the past 42 years. So he does a little better managing finances than I do and he takes care of the Operation Jack Autism Foundation. So according to him, plus according to what I can see from our Kintera site, I think we’re at somewhere around $19,000 raised. So we’re doing well, although I’d like to be better. I’m sure things will pick up as the year goes on and I’m still holding out hope that we’ll hit $100,000.

But that’s where we are for now. I get asked how we’re doing pretty frequently, so I know a lot of you probably wonder. That’s how we’re doing.

What You Can Do
Well, I haven’t asked in a while, but if you support what I’m trying to accomplish, the biggest thing I can ask you to do is to try to spread the word. If you’re on Twitter, let people know about me (@operationjack). If you’re on Facebook, “like” the fan page, join the group and invite your friends to do the same. If you know people outside of Facebook and Twitter who might be interested, drop them a line and invite them to check out the site.

Runners and people impacted by autism tend to take an interest in Operation Jack, but other folks thing I’m crazy, too, which is why I’m doing this. So please, spread the word. If nobody finds out, it’s almost a waste.

Also, I won’t lie … fundraising is a big part of this. Creating chapters for Train 4 Autism is a big part of it, but I’m definitely trying to raise money. I have sponsor levels, there are easy ways for you to raise money without even contributing money (I know, the economy is tough) … I’m not counting on any one person to make or break Operatoin Jack (unless Bill Gates finds the site), but I’m hoping that little tiny efforts from a whole lot of people can go a long ways.

If you have any ideas for anything, don’t hesitate to send them my way. If you work for a company that might be able to donate something for raffles we’ll have in the future or if you have a good idea that I’m not using (I’m smart enough to know I have no clue what I’m doing), PLEASE email me! I don’t know everything about everybody who’s following along, so if you have a unique way you think you can help, let me know!


What I Might Do
I’ve repeated this, but I’ll probably keep repeating it for a little while. I was talking with a runner named Lance Haney who lives in Alabama and he wants me to run Memphis on December 4. The problem is, I’m not dropping my race on December 5, so this would boost the total for the year to 61.

I’ve talked with Lance a little, and he’s a good guy and wants me to try to pace him to a 3:10 in Memphis. And I really want to do that for him. So we came up with a deal. He set up a fundraising page and if he hits his goal, I’ll be out there. I’d love to be there — I’ve heard great things about the race and I need to avenge my two poor races I’ve already run in Tennessee this year.

I Think That’s All For Today
I write these at night and I’m starting to get a little sleepy. Plus, I want to take an ice bath. So I need to get off the computer. Have a great Wednesday, everybody. I’ll be back tomorrow for my weekend preview.

Ten Random Things For Tuesday

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Sometimes I have serious issues I want to tackle, and when I do, I cover them in my Tuesday blog. As you can probably guess by the headline, though, I’m not doing that today. I’m going with 10 random things for Tuesday. These are fun to write, as long as I can come up with 10 things. Lucky for me, I did today!

Real quick, 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’m trying to make a difference in his honor and create a legacy for him, so I’m trying to run 60 marathons this year. I named the endeavor Operation Jack and so far, so good. I’m through 23 marathons since January 1.

OK, now 10 random things.

1. I went to McDonald’s on Saturday to get Jack two things from the dollar menu — a 4-piece Chicken McNuggets and a small order of fries. I was shocked when they wanted $2.49 for the chicken when they charge $4.99 for 20. I asked how much a 4-piece chicken happy meal was, and it was going to be something like $4.68. Do they rip off parents for the meals for kids? They have a bunch of those $2.99 meals now, but it costs more than that for four nuggets (worst chicken ever) and fries. We’ve been over the fact that I’m cheap, so we relocated to Burger King.

2. I got to spend a lot of time in Jack’s therapy sessions this weekend. Normally, that doesn’t happen. I get home from work as he’s wrapping up during the week, and I’m gone on the weekend. When I’m home on the weekends, I observe and the therapist explains what he’s doing while he’s doing it. But this weekend, he put me in the driver’s seat and I got to conduct the session. On Saturday, Jack figured it out pretty quickly that I was the one doing the session, and he got a big ol’ kick out of that, giggling hysterically for a little bit. The therapist was happy with how I did and was very happy with some of the things I did to creatively pull language out of Jack. It was a lot of fun, something I don’t normally get to do.

3. Jack was was due on September 12, 2003, the day Johnny Cash died. When I found out that morning that Johnny Cash had died, I told Tiff that if Jack was born that day, we had to name him Cash. Yeah, um, that’s not a good thing to suggest to a woman who’s nine months pregnant. It didn’t matter, because he wasn’t evicted until September 16. And as one of my Operation Jack followers pointed out, it’s a good thing we stuck with Jack as the name. “Operation Cash” probably would have sounded like a scam.

4. One thing I love about music is that it brings you back in time. “Right Here, Right Now” reminds me of the first summer I had a car. “Baby Got Back” reminds me of a ridiculous night in New Orleans. I’m thinking that this “Carry Out” song by Timbaland will always bring me back to the beginning of Operation Jack.

5. This is borderline inappropriate, but what the heck. I have a supporter in Colorado named Erin Fortin who will be running the Cleveland Marathon as part of Operation Jack. I’m going to finish ahead of her, but I want to wait to see her finish. There’s a flight I could probably catch, but I’d have to rush and I’d miss her at the end. I found a schedule that worked, but it was a touch more expensive. I went with it, because I want to be there at the end of her race.

I told her, “I’m sure you’ve never been told this, but you’re worth $49 and a red-eye flight.” It was totally appropriate in this circumstance, and I’m sure I’ll never have an opportunity to use that sentence again. So when I booked my ticket, that’s what I told her.

6. My bride Tiffany stopped in the middle of her 5K on Sunday to take a picture with some firefighters. Typical chick.


I’m so jealous of my wife. I wish I had groupies, too.

7. If you don’t have an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt, please check them out on our Sponsors page! These are one of our big fundraisers and (I think) the prices are pretty reasonable. If you dig what I’m doing, please consider picking one of these up and showing your support!

8. I’m considering adding a 61st race this year, Memphis on December 4. Lance Haney, a grad student at Auburn University, wants me to run that race with him. He created a fundraising page and if he reaches his goal, I’ll be there.

9. I saw this as my friend Susan Hill’s Facebook status last week and I couldn’t resist using it as my own: TICK WARNING! I hate it when people post bogus warnings, but this one is real. Please repost this as your status! If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT! THIS IS A SCAM! They only want to see you naked. I wish I’d gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

10. I started a new training plan today, the Pfitz 12/55. Not the highest-mileage plan, but now that I’m through my doubles that I had in April, I want to start working on my speed. The strength and endurance is there, but the speed isn’t. We’ll see how it goes. Today called for 8 miles with 10x100m strides. I went 8 on some pretty nice hills with 11x100m hill sprints. So far, so good.

That’s all for today. Have a great Tuesday, everybody. See you tomorrow!

Weekend Recap: Weekend At Home!

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I had an extremely difficult week last week, but my weekend totally made up for it. It was the best weekend I’ve had in a long, long time. Sleep, plenty of quality time with my family, a fair amount of time with some good friends, no travel and a pretty good race. What more could I ask for?

First things first, I ran the Orange County Marathon yesterday. I posted a race recap here. It was a great day with a bunch of friends and relatives coming out to support Operation Jack. I have to give huge thanks to my brother-in-law Andy and his wife, my sister-in-law Jacqueline, who got their kids out of bed and drove a good 80+ miles to participate in the 5K. They looked pretty good in their shirts!


My mother-in-law and wife also participated in the 5K.

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, so I’m trying to run 60 marathons to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m on track and through 23 of them. Just 37 to go. Maybe.

I talked with a runner named Lance Haney last week who wants me to run in Memphis with him on December 4. The problem is, I’m running Las Vegas on December 5 and I’m not taking that off my schedule. So, adding Memphis would bump me up to 61 and make for another long weekend. He really digs what I’m doing, though, and wants me to head out there and try to pace him to a BQ (he needs a 3:10:59 or better).

This is the deal I worked out with him: He set up his fundraising page at operationjack.kintera.org/lancehaney. His thermometer goal is set to $3,000 and we’re both going to push this. If he hits it, I’ll make it 61 for the year, not just 60. So we’ll see. I’m trying to run 60, or maybe 61, marathons this year.

Family Weekend!
I had a great, great time at home this weekend. I think this is how the rest of you live and I can’t wait to get to 2011 and do this every weekend. I didn’t have to travel, I got to sleep in (until 7 a.m.!) in my own bed on Saturday, and I got to do cool things with each of my kids.

I got to play games with Benjamin, go to his track & field practice on Saturday morning, work with Ava on her swing skills in the back yard (and develop a severe allergy attack from the pollen or grass out there), participate extensively in Jack’s therapy sessions, work with Ben and Ava to help them cook their own blue-box mac and cheese, go to a family brunch at IHOP, watch Sesame Street with Jack in the hyperbaric chamber on Saturday, dish out a time-out or two … it was an awesome weekend.

I even found time to do dishes, fold laundry and change lightbulbs. Yesterday, when I got home from the race and showered, I just sat there on the couch with Tiff and Jack in the playroom chilling. Tiff said she was bored. I loved it. I don’t normally get to do that this year. We relaxed with a steak dinner after the kids went to bed. I got to go for an easy, quiet run on Saturday morning while the sun was up and others were out for a slow, weekend jog.

Life is good. The time I spend away really makes me appreciate what I have when I’m home.


My little kitchen helpers!

Chaos at IHOP.

Me and Jack at IHOP.

The Felsenfeld Five after brunch yesterday.

Friends Too!
I didn’t realize how many people I know until I ran a local race. I must have seen a good two dozen people I know at the marathon yesterday. I don’t see many people I know when I’m on the road, so this was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, there were a few people who were at the race who I didn’t see at all and I was totally bummed about that (that’s you, Erin, Jaritt, Ben F. and Toni).

After the post-race brunch I went to with my family, I headed over to another meal with some runner friends of mine. At IHOP, I ate three pancakes, hash browns, three eggs, half my wife’s sandwich and half of her hash browns, so I wasn’t very hungry at that second meal. I was wired, though, because I had five cups of coffee at my brunch. I had a good time with my friends, and while I didn’t eat, I did have two more cups of coffee.


My friends Alan, Rachel, Billy, Lori and Emil. That’s not really me in the picture. That’s some spaz who was bouncing up and down on seven cups of coffee.

I’m A Loser. I’ll Admit It.
My dad and my stepmom registered for the half several months ago and I’d been talking up a storm about how I’d beat them with my time in the full. Even heading into the race, I didn’t think they’d complete their 13.1 faster than 3:15. But they went 2:53 and all I had was a 3:06. So I admit it. I was slow. They beat me.


The loser, the winners and my brother Josh.

Ice Cream Streak
Tiff hooked me up with some peanut butter frozen yogurt from Golden Spoon yesterday. That’s why I love her so much. Or maybe it’s because she has such beautiful hair. Whatever the case, my streak is up to 92 days now. I’m only 18 short of tying my record of 110 days, 19 short of history! I’m feeling pretty strong, but you never know what’s going to happen over the course of three weeks. I’m pretty confident, though.

That’s All For Today
I write my blogs the night before. I woke up at 3:51 naturally Sunday morning. It’s 9:51 as I type. That means it’s pretty much time to call it a day. I think I got enough out of this one. Have a great Monday, everybody. See you back here tomorrow!

Race Report: Orange County Marathon

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I was really looking forward to Sunday’s Orange County Marathon for a lot of reasons — my family would be there at the finish line, I felt fairly good physically, I ran the course fairly quickly last year and I didn’t have to travel. When all was said and done, it was more than I hoped it would be.

Out of my 60 races, the Orange County Marathon was without a doubt my biggest “home race” of the year. Most of my relatives and lots of my friends were running in the 5K or the half-marathon and it’s only about 15 minutes from home. A lot of people asked me what I was aiming for, and all I wanted to do was get as much out of my body and the course as I could. I went 3:11 on this course last year on a humid day when I fell apart a little bit, so I thought I had a legitimate chance at sub-3:10 if I ran hard and didn’t back down when I started to feel pain.

I remembered the first few miles being quick from last year, and I knew it was going to warm up, so I wasn’t thinking about even splits. The race started at around 60 degrees and ended probably in the low 70s. I was counting on banking time, trying to keep my heart rate at 170, and hanging on for whatever I could earn.

I jumped out pretty quickly, running the first few miles in the 6:30s or so. There was a spot early where I let my heart rate get too high last year and I think that hurt me, but I kept it in check today in the same spot. The early part of the course is pretty nice — it’s a run through a big-money town on the coast called Corona del Mar. I got to see a lot of houses I’ll never be able to afford!

My average pace started to gradually creep, but I wasn’t concerned because I was expecting it. The sun started peeking out, but it didn’t feel too warm. My sub-7 miles started turning into 7:10s or so and I wasn’t worried. I just kept on running. We ran by an area called Back Bay. It’s … a bay, kind of marshy. Late in that stretch, a friend of mine named Jeff Cate came up on me and we ran together for a bit. He entered the race with a 3:11 PR and sub-3 ability, but he’s struggled to put it all together in marathons. We were on about a 3:02 pace and he was looking strong. I told him to take off because I knew he had more in him than I did, so he left and I hoped not to see him again. I’ll get back to him later.

As has been the case a lot this year, I felt strong but I didn’t feel fast. I relied on that strength to carry me through and I was content with how I was doing. I could tell when I was with other runners that my turnover was slower, but I was getting pretty good power with my stride. I hit the half in 1:32, an improvement of about two minutes from last year on the same course.

I kept cruising and gradually slowing down. I was turning miles, I think, in about the 7:20 range. The second half of the course was pretty boring. I was running with a runner named Sabrina for a while. Her coach is Operation Jack coach John Loftus, a friend of mine. We had talked at the start line about her using me to block the wind if necessary (she’s short and petite; I’m 6-1, 200 pounds … I make a good shield). I worked hard to pull her along. We knew that she was the fourth-place woman and that second and third were within striking distance.

I was breaking down a little bit, but I really wanted to pull her forward. We were moving pretty good and I stayed stronger than I thought I could. It reminded me of the Carlsbad Marathon, when I worked with a runner named Julie Brekke. However, I pulled away a little bit by about mile 23.

I knew a 3:06 or 3:07 was in range, which I was pretty excited about, but I knew I was really going to have to push. A lot of mile 24 was across a dirt path and I didn’t move too well. I started to move at 24. Mentally, that’s when I feel that there’s not much left in the race.

I passed about six or seven people in the final two miles, including the second- and third-place women I was trying to pull Sabrina past. I made a mad charge over the last half mile or so, getting my heart rate as high as 184. I really wanted that 3:06. I finished in 3:06:32, my second-fastest time of the year and my seventh-fastest ever.

Over the last 1/10 mile, I saw my in-laws, my wife and kids, my brother and my parents. It’s nice having a local race! I saw John Loftus right afterwards. He’s been battling injury and went 2:50, a slow time for him. He told me that Jeff went 2:59 and change and I was really happy for Jeff. He TOTALLY deserved that sub-3! He’s trained really hard this year.

Tiffany participated in the 5K and pushed Jack in the jog stroller. My mother-in-law ran the 5K, as did my brother-in-law Andy and sister-in-law Jacqueline. My dad and stepmom ran the half marathon (their longest distance covered ever!) and went 2:53. We’d been talking a lot of smack about who would be faster. They beat me by 13 minutes, although they covered 13.1 fewer miles. My brother was also out there, although he’s been injured and he couldn’t run.

I had a bunch of friends out there, too. It was so nice to be on a course so close to home and see so many people I knew. I don’t normally see a lot of people when I’m out on the road, so I really appreciated everybody who was there supporting Operation Jack.

All-in-all, it was a great day. 23 down, 37 to go!


Me and Jeff after the race. Tiff didn’t notice my eyes were closed and we only snapped one picture. Oh well.

The Felsenfeld Five after the race. The shot came out terribly, but that’s the way it is with Jack’s autism. It’s difficult to get a good picture of him.

Me, my dad, my stepmom Nancy and my brother after the race.

My mother-in-law, wife, brother-in-law Andy and sister-in-law Jacqueline after their 5K. Nice shirts!

My mother-in-law and father-in-law. Nice shirts!

Jack getting ready for the 5K!

Ben and Ava waiting for me to finish.

With my friends Emil and Lori after the race. Lori went 3:24!