Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Weekend Recap: I Left Home To Go Home

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Kansas is the anti-Vegas. It’s a great place to live, but you wouldn’t want to visit there. Well, of course, unless you’re me. I moved away 10 1/2 years ago, but my heart is still there. I was fortunate enough to be able to head there this weekend. Oh, and I ran a couple of marathons and went to Dallas, too.

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 do something to make a difference in his honor, so on top of working full-time and doing the best job I can as a parent and a husband, I’m trying to run 60 marathons in 2010 to raise awareness and money for a charity I’m a part of named Train 4 Autism.

I’m on target so far, having completed the first 18. If you want to read about what pain feels like, you can check out my race reports from Saturday’s Olathe (Kan.) Marathon and yesterday’s Big D Texas Marathon.

The Running Is The Easiest Part
The logistics are tricky, and I’m really reaching a point where it’s tough to be away from my wife and kids. When I’m gone, I call up several times a day to say hi and see how things are going, and it’s really getting tough. It’s fun to see new places and meet new people, but it’s a lot more fun to play handball with Benjamin at his school than to get a text from Tiff telling me she played handball with Benjamin at his school. I’m the one who teaches him how to play that game well. I want to be there.

I guess Tiff and I knew what we were getting into, and we still believe very strongly in what we’re trying to accomplish. I talk about a lot of the positives of Operation Jack and the fun experiences I have, but in case you’re wondering if this is difficult and if it kills me to be away from the family so much — yes and yes.

If I Must Travel, It Might As Well Be To Kansas
I went to Kansas State University and lived in Kansas City after I graduated. I really love that part of the country and feel like I’m a Kansan at heart living in California. That was my first stop of the weekend, since I ran Olathe (a Kansas City suburb on the Kansas side of state line) on Saturday. In my book, it just doesn’t get any better than Kansas. I felt more at home than I do in California. It was wonderful.

I got to catch up with a good friend/mentor, have lunch with some good friends from college, see the places I used to shop at with Tiff when we first got married and visit with some of my pledge brothers and see one of their farms. Throw in a marathon, playtime with a pit bull and lunch at a GREAT barbecue restaurant named Oklahoma Joe’s and I’d call it a pretty solid 22 hours.

I got to hang out with another old college friend in Dallas and spend some time catching up, which was also fun. I get homesick when I’m gone, but if I’m going to be gone, it’s nice to last spend quality time with quality people.


You can’t do this in Orange County, Calif.

I don’t think they have any of these stores within running distance of my home, and I can run a pretty long ways!

I Hate United Airlines
I had a lousy experience flying to Virginia three weeks ago on United. They made me check my carry-on even though there was space in the overheads just because I was in seating group No. 4. I really, really hate them, but I think the feeling is mutual, because they seem to hate all of their passengers. They don’t even give out peanuts!

I swore I wouldn’t fly them unless I really had to, but I really had to this weekend (American’s rates from Dallas were ridiculous). I had a repeat of my incident being in seating group No. 4 flying back from Dallas yesterday. I had to check my bag, and when I got on the plane, half of the overheads were empty. I asked the flight attendant when I got on the plane if I could hold on to my bag, be the last person on the plane and put it in one of the empty spots if there was one. She said no problem.

Of course, by that point, the guy who took my bag already put my bag on the ramp down. I asked him if I could walk the eight steps down to grab it and he told me no. I’m sure it would have been way too much for him to walk down those steps, too. So I got to wait at the baggage claim last night when I got in instead of heading straight to my car. That’s exactly what I wanted to do. I wasn’t tired or anything. I only flew three times this weekend, I only ran two marathons, plus I got a whopping 10 hours of sleep between Friday and Saturday night! I was only 19 hours into my Sunday when we landed.

My United Airlines Crew On Friday Was Not Smooth
So on my flight to Kansas City Friday, I went on (oops) United and switched planes in Denver. On our way in, we encountered some fairly rocky turbulence. Normally, they’ll tell us that we’re beginning our descent and we need to discontinue use of our portable electronic devices. Well, we were way above the 10,000-foot level they typically tell us to power down at, yet they abruptly told us to shut down right while we were going through that turbulence with no explanation. Not very comforting.

A little bit later, we were coming close to landing so the pilot told the flight crew to cross check and prepare for “an excellent” landing. In all the flights I’ve taken, I’ve NEVER heard that announcement as anything other than to “cross check and prepare for landing.” The “excellent” adjective seemed pretty odd, and even if you’re used to flying, you probably don’t want to hear anything out of the ordinary, especially during rough patches. This, too, was not very comforting.

But the part that was smooth as sandpaper came about five minutes before landing. There was no announcement necessary, but for whatever reason, the flight attendant came on and announced to us, “in the event of an emergency landing and evacuation, please leave your carry-on items behind.” ARE YOU KIDDING? They tell you that at the beginning of the flight when they go through the emergency card, but five minutes before landing? Again, I’ve NEVER heard that at the end of flight. And again, that was not very comforting.

We didn’t have an emergency landing or evacuation. I’m pretty happy about that, because I didn’t want to leave my carry-on bags behind.

Sometimes Small Gestures Mean A Lot
On the rental car shuttle in Dallas, the driver saw my Olathe Marathon shirt, so he asked he if I had run a full marathon, and I told him I had. He asked me if it was my first, and once he did that, the cat was out of the bag and Operation Jack came up in the conversation fairly quickly. He was impressed and asked my name so he could track my results, so I gave him an Operation Jack flyer.

He read it and later asked me about Jack and how he was doing and what our routine is like. I answered all of his questions and we chatted during the ride. When we got to the rental car area, he was unloading bags for passengers and collected a few dollars from some people. We were chatting and I was about to go, and he pulled out his wallet and gave me a $5 bill. “Normally, customers tip me, but I want to tip the customer this time. I think it’s great what you’re doing.” I graciously accepted it and was beaming on the inside. $5 isn’t going to make or break Operation Jack, but it sure did make my day.

Quick Housekeeping Items
Two quick things:
1. I’m making a gentle fundraising push in April to try to raise money in a painless way. I’m running seven marathons in seven states this month, so I figure that 7 is the lucky number (well, it’s been the painful number so far, but that’s a different story). So, I’m trying to raise $7 donations. Take a look at the April update I sent to the Facebook group if you haven’t already seen it.

2. We’re going to have a pasta dinner on May 1, the night before the Orange County Marathon, at Buca di Beppo in Irvine. I’d love to have as many of you there as possible. For more information, follow this link!

That’s All For Today!
Like that wasn’t enough. Have a great Monday, everybody. See you tomorrow!

Race Report: Big D Texas Marathon

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In Sunday’s Big D Texas Marathon in Dallas, I think I finally realized that yes, this attempt at 60 marathons this year is going to be difficult and painful. On paper, the schedule is daunting, and I’ve never run a marathon that wasn’t tough. But I think I’ve reached the point that I’m going to have to accept and expect physical and mental struggles. I went 3:24:05 in the race, a time I’d consider to be my slowest of the year when considering the course and elements.

This race, my 18th marathon of the year, was pure pain from start to finish. Granted, I ran the Olathe Marathon in Kansas the day before, so there was no reason to expect this to be easy. But the one recurring thing that kept running through my mind was how much I was hurting.

The course itself was fairly nice, but unspectacular. We didn’t run by anything that you’d think of when you think of Dallas — no downtown or anything like that. It was primarily a pass through a bunch of older sections of town — mostly modest neighborhoods, but there were a few nicer neighborhoods and some pretty bad parts of town. We spent some time running around White Rock Lake, which was nice, and almost the entire race went down tree-lined streets. Probably not a destination race, but it was a nice run. There was a competition amongst the aid stations, so all the volunteers were enthusiastic and had a good time.

The weather started in the low 60s and worked its way up to the high 60s by the end of the race. It was fairly humid, but overcast. Not perfect running conditions, but I’ve run in worse.

As for my running, I got going and felt kind of OK. I had told myself before Saturday’s race that I would attempt to go no faster on Sunday than I did the day before. I’m not good at exercising restraint, though. I still went out gunning for 7:15 miles to try to get back into the sub-3:10 range that’s been eluding me since February.

I was inconsistent early on and my legs were fairly sore. I tried to not think about the fact that I had run a marathon the day before, because 26.2 miles is a long ways and there’s no sense psyching yourself out. My heart rate was a little low, maybe around 160 (my target marathon HR is 170), so I stepped it up and was able to run right around a 7:00 pace for the most part for a little while. I turned in some good miles, but I didn’t have enough in me to hang on to that effort. I hit the half in 1:38:05, six seconds slower than being on pace for another BQ (3:15:59 for me). I had zero confidence I could negative-split the course, though.

I kept plugging along, trying to find some fight to run hard. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a whole lot in me. The entire race hurt pretty bad physically and I spent a lot of time praying about things. I thought back to yesterday, how I started a new Train 4 Autism chapter in Kansas City. Tony Rezek is going to be that chapter’s president, and I caught his attention with my attempt at 60 marathons, not my 3:07 in Carlsbad. It’s the effort I’m putting in, not the times I’m pulling out.

I realized that pain is just part of the deal. It’s my job to do this, my job to run myself into the ground, but people will respond and join me and Train 4 Autism to fight the fight. So I kept on running. Physically, I was miserable. I never felt comfortable. Mentally, I was more-or-less fine, just trying to ignore how thrashed I felt.

At about 17.5 miles in, I got a pretty bad side stitch that reduced me to a shuffle. For those of you non-runners, a side stitch is a bad abdominal pain that feels like someone is stabbing you. It makes it hurt pretty bad to run and to breathe. Normally when I get these, they last a half-mile or a mile. Today, though, it didn’t go away until about mile 22. By then, I had really slowed and at that point, it’s tough to pick up momentum.

I think other people were struggling because I was actually passing folks over the final few miles. With about 1/2 mile to go, there was a man and a woman who I’d passed a few minutes earlier and I could see they were making a charge to pick me off by the finish. I stepped it up and got my pace into the mid-6s to hold them off. Not exactly the way I wanted to finish off 52.4 miles of racing this weekend, but I guess it was appropriate to burn until the end.

I went 3:24:05 according to my Garmin. Somehow, that was good for 20th overall out of 598 finishers. I saw Ally Phillips and her husband at the finish — she’s a Dallas resident and a great friend of Operation Jack. She ran the half marathon and was only a minute off her PR!

All-in-all, it was a tough run for me individually and I’m not thrilled with my time, but I think something inside me clicked. I’m learning to be content with my effort and the progress of Operation Jack regardless of how long it takes me to reach the finish line.

18 down, 42 to go. Time to try to get another chapter started!


Me and Ally about 30 minutes after the finish. I tried to smile, but I couldn’t make it happen. Yeah, it was that painful!

Race Report: Olathe Marathon

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I feel pretty blessed to be in the middle of this Operation Jack journey. It’s extremely exhausting, but I have a good chance at making a difference, and there’s really no better feeling. It’s nice to run fast, but it’s even nicer to not run fast and have a day like I did on Saturday in Olathe, Kan.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a marathon runner and a father of three and my middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I’m trying to run 60 marathons this year to raise awareness and money for Train 4 Autism, a great charity I’m a part of. I named my endeavor Operation Jack after my little superstar. Today was race 17, the Olathe Marathon.

My plan going in was pretty simple. I wanted to run miles at around a 7:15 pace, stay as consistent as possible and hang on for dear life. That pace is not beyond my ability. But I’ve reached a point where my body is a little angry with this 60-marathon attempt, so I’m trying to find ways to get as much out of myself as possible.

I really enjoyed the course in Olathe. I’m biased, because I love Kansas back from the days I used to live there, but it was exactly what you’d expect running a marathon in the Heartland. We ran by a mall, through some nice neighborhoods and some older neighborhoods, past schools and parks and churches, then spent 10 miles running on an asphalt path through a wooded park area. I got to run about 1/4 mile from the first apartment I lived in with Tiffany after we got married.

For me, it was a dream course. For most other people, I’d call it a nice run, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend making it a destination race. It’s a small, local marathon with a fair amount of charm.

Anyways, I fought a little in the first mile or so trying to get into a groove. My heart rate monitor was inaccurate and I was trying to find a steady rhythm. I did, and I felt pretty comfortable with how I was running by the second mile. I started to feel a little bit of pain in my hamstrings by around 6, but nothing significant. I was ticking off miles at a pretty good rate and felt pretty comfortable with how my day was unfolding.

I really just wanted to end up with a 3:15 or better and get my first BQ in a month, but my stretch goal was to run a consistent race and get a sub-3:10 and pick up the confidence that brings. I didn’t hit the greatest tangents early and I could tell I was making the race longer than I needed it to be. My average pace was something like 7:13 at the half, but my time was right around 1:35:30.

I kept trucking along, but somewhere around 18 or 20 or so, I could tell that I had nothing left physically. I had no push and I had no power in my stride. My miles had been floating between 7:15 and 7:30 and they seemingly instantly dropped to the 8:00 – 8:30 range. Faster than a tortoise, but I knew it was the beginning of the end.

I started to feel hungry and I could tell I was getting dehydrated. I was thirstier than I normally am and my mouth felt pretty dry. There was no remarkable kick or late surge or anything like that. I think I stepped it up a tiny bit in the final mile, but it was nothing great.

I finished in 3:19:05, good for 29th overall, 6th in my age group. Not a terrible run and nothing I’m going to lose sleep over. Just something I’ll learn from as I continue to try to improve my nutrition.

One cool thing about the race was a buddy of mine from college named Dan Merker who ran the half-marathon sporting his Operation Jack tech shirt. It was only his second time running the 13.1 distance and he nailed his sub-2 goal. He knew me back in the day when I was the last person you’d expect to run 60 miles in a year, let alone 60 marathons in a year. I think I’ve had some impact on him taking up running, so it was pretty cool to be out there at race with him.

Also, the Kansas City Star ran an article about Operation Jack the day before the race, and a man named Tony Rezek saw the article. I ended up meeting up with him during lunch after the race and he’s going to start a new Train 4 Autism chapter!

So what can I say? I didn’t hit my time, but I don’t care. This was a successful race because of Dan and Tony. And I got to run 26.2 miles through a beautiful course in Kansas. Does it get any better than that?

17 down, 43 to go!


Me and Dan after the race.

Weekend Preview: Races #17 and 18

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Here we go again, and again. It’s time for my next marathons of Operation Jack, and I’m using the plural form of the word marathon, because I have my third double of the year this weekend. I’ll be running Olathe, Kan. on Saturday and Dallas on Sunday to bring me to within 42 marathons of completing Operation Jack.

Just in case this is your first time here, I’m a marathon runner and a father of three. My middle son, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I hatched up this crazy idea of trying to run 60 full marathons this year to try to raise awareness and money for a charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, things are going well. I’m raising money, building new Train 4 Autism chapters and doing a fine job running my body into the ground.

As I frequently mention, while I want to tackle the world this year, I know that it will be a lengthy process that takes more than just 2010. I’m planting seeds this year. I really hope to see growth down the road! But right now, it’s just one day at a time. And it’s already Thursday. Wow, these weeks fly by.

Weekly Pick-My-Time Contest
Every week, I have a contest where people guess my time in the form of a small donation. Basically, if you think I’m going to run a 3:15, you donate $3.15. To donate, you can click here or you can click on the “Donate Now!” link at the top of any page on this site.

It’s an easy way to support the cause and I really appreciate it because it tells me that you believe in what I’m doing. It’s the proverbial pat-on-the-back. Last week, Dina Williams was the winner. She also won her NCAA Tournament bracket and donated her winnings to Operation Jack!

Anyways, to help with this contest, I give you my insight on the course. One thing that’s different this week is that I’m running two races. So, we’re going to go with Sunday’s race as the one I use for the contest. I’ll get to details on that in just a minute.

Orange County Marathon Weekend
I’ve mentioned a couple of times that we’re going to have a Silpada party on Friday night, April 30. We’re waiting on one last confirmation and then we’ll post the evite next week.

Also, we finally nailed down a location for a pasta dinner on May 1. This one should a little less hectic than the one we had the night before Surf City. I don’t want to totally announce the exact details because we’re still confirming the time, but it looks like it’s going to be an all-you-can-eat thing for a reasonable price at an Italian restaurant in Irvine. If I have this confirmed today, which is very likely, I’ll update this blog. E-mail me if you’re interested and I’ll get back to you.

This Weekend’s Races
OK, I have the Olathe Marathon on Saturday and the Big-D Texas Marathon on Sunday.

Olathe is a suburb of Kansas City and starts just a few miles from the first apartment Tiff and I lived in after we got married in 1999. I’ll actually run within about 1/2 a mile of that apartment in Overland Park, Kan.! I’m so excited! The course is pretty flat. The elevation profile I saw shows some rollers, but there’s only about 40 or 50 separating the highest point from the lowest point. So, I’m mentally treating this as a flat course. I’m not expecting anything (other than having to run 26.2 miles) that’s going to cause much trouble.

One problem I really have right now is a lack of confidence. Catalina was a 3:48 and that was a decent run because it was a hilly trail course, but I followed that up with two 3:20s and a 3:23. I have no confidence in myself right now, and I haven’t really decided how I’m going to run. I’m thinking I’ll resist any kind of temptation to run anywhere significantly below 3:10 regardless of how I feel. I’ll try to keep the pace between 7:10 and 7:15 and if I get the feeling that’s conservative, maybe I’ll try to push a little bit starting at around 21. Otherwise, I’ll just hang on for dear life.

I’m thinking that if I run smart, which I’m going to try my best to do, I can go 3:13.

Sunday’s race in Dallas isn’t terribly hilly, but it’s not flat. There will be a few more challenges than I expect to see. In my five previous doubles, I’ve gone 3:17/3:16, 3:04/3:09, 3:24/3:19, 3:18/3:21, 3:28/3:29. For the first three, I’d say the course/elements were slightly easier on the second day. The fourth time it was a little tougher the second day. The fifth time, I ran in wind, mud and hail the first day, then had perfect weather and had an easy time leading the 3:30 pace group the second day.

So, I’m thinking that whatever I do on Saturday, I’m going to head out and try to run at the same pace to maybe two minutes slower per mile on Sunday. So, if I average 7:22s on Saturday, I’ll try to run between 7:22 and 7:27 per mile on Sunday. I’m thinking I’ll start to struggle no later than mile 20 on Sunday, but I’ll still push forward as hard as I can.

What does that all mean? I think I’m going to be about 2-4 minutes slower on Sunday and if I were betting, I’d probably go with a 3:22 just based on how I’ve been running lately. But don’t get me wrong — I’d be very disappointed if I went 3:22 either day.

April Campaign Plug
I’m making a push on an easy campaign in this month. Take a look at what I’m trying to do!

OK, That’s All For Today
Have a great weekend, everybody. And please enter the contest! Please, please, please!

What's Up With OJ Wednesday

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It’s Wednesday, so I’ll give you my weekly quick rundown of what’s going on with Operation Jack. It’s spring break for my kids and I’m kind of taking a tiny bit of a break mentally. This relaxing thing is nice, but I need to get back on track. On the bright side, though, I’m a world-record holder now, and I have a photo to prove it!

Real quick, just in case this is your first time here, I’m a marathon runner and a father of three. My middle child, Jack, is severely autistic, and I wanted to do something to use my running and make a difference in his honor. So, I’m running 60 marathons this year (well, trying to, at least) to help raise money and awareness for a charity I really like called Train 4 Autism. I named this endeavor Operation Jack in his honor.

Train 4 Autism helps people raise money for the autism-related charity of their choice while training for event, such as a race or a triathlon. I really believe in the model, because it’s very similar to Team In Training, which has raised about $1 billion over the past two decades. There’s room in the market for Train 4 Autism, because there isn’t a big autism-related organization like this. We’re at the grassroots level right now, but I’m hoping that Operation Jack can help provide some of the boost we need. So far, we’re doing well, with new chapters popping up all over the country!

Weekly Contest Winner!
I have a contest every week where you guess my time with a small donation (for instance, if you think I’m going to run a 3:15, you donate $3.15) and the winner is the person who comes the closest without bidding under. If I choke, and run slower than everybody’s guesses, then the person who came the closest wins. Oh, the prize is your choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt.

For the second straight week, I choked and ran slower than all of the predictions. I thought I was going to be down in that 3:15 range and I ended up going 3:23. But, somebody has to win. And this week, it’s Dina Williams. She’s played every week, so I’m glad she won.

I’m not sure if I’m going to do the contest this week. I have two races, so I don’t know what I would do — pick one of them? Make folks make their guess for both times combined? That would be a little bit more expensive for everybody. So, I’m kind of thinking I’ll pass on the contest this week. I might change my mind by tomorrow.

April Donation Push
This is a long year and I’m quickly learning that fundraising is extremely difficult! My goal for the year is to raise $100,000. So far, I think we’re at somewhere around $15,000 or $16,000. We’re a touch behind, but still doing raising funds at a fairly decent rate.

This month, I’m running seven marathons in seven states, so I figured I’d start a campaign focusing on the number 7. I figure a $7 donation is pretty easy to obtain, so I’m pushing for those. Just like everything else with Operation Jack, a little bit of help from a lot of people can go a long ways! I spelled out details in my April update I sent to everybody. It’s pretty simple … just read that page, and if you’re on Facebook, post a link to it with a tiny explanation on your wall. Super simple stuff!

Cleveland Marathon
I just got an email from the Cleveland Marathon. If you’re planning on running that on May 16, they’re running out of space in a hurry in the half-marathon. There’s information on the event here, including a charity code to use to get a discounted entry.

I’m A World Record Holder!
About a month ago, I saw an article about how the Angels were giving a way Snuggie-type blankets on April 6 and were going to set a world record for the most people covering up with blankets in one place at one time. I posted a link to the article on my Facebook page, complaining that I thought was the cheesiest promotion I’d ever seen.

And then a friend of mine commented that he thought it was a great idea that his kids would love. And then I thought about my 8 1/2-year-old son Benjamin, who’s really into reading the Guinness Book of World Records right now. So I told him to tack a couple of tickets on to the order. I told Benjamin last week that we’d be going to a ballgame AND getting a free blanket AND setting a real world record and he just about jumped out of his chair.

So, last night, we went.


My little goofball.

Lots of red.

They even played a baseball game!

There, it’s official.

Maybe on Saturday, I’ll turn to the runner next to me at the start line, and say, “I hate to brag, but I’m a world-record holder.” Yeah, or maybe not?

OK, That’s All For Today
Enjoy your Wednesday, see you tomorrow!