My body hates me. 5 1/2 hours of sleep Friday night, cross-country flying Saturday, 4 1/2 hours of sleep Saturday night, up at 12:30 a.m. (body time) Sunday morning to run a marathon in 70-degree, 96-percent-humidity weather, then a cross-country flight back. My flight back was delayed an hour while we were on the tarmac and when we got in, we waited on the tarmac again because there wasn’t an open gate. I had to get a little bit of work done when I got home, but I followed my day-after-a-marathon routine and got up bright and early this morning to run six miles. Am I an idiot?

I like to push myself, and as long as that keeps you entertained and coming back to follow Operation Jack, I’ll keep running myself into the ground. Yesterday’s race was a pretty difficult 3:20:03 in Miami (you can read about it here). I’m bummed about the time, but totally content with my effort. I wrecked myself out there.

This weekend should be easier. I get to sleep in my own bed! I just have to run two marathons, but big deal!

Early Intervention Is Critical
If your child is showing signs that they have autism, you have two paths you can take. One will make you feel better, but the other will make your child get better.

Early intervention is the key, and the family I stayed with this weekend is living proof of that. The father is an online running friend of mine and I spoke to him last summer when he first realized his son had autism. It’s natural for parents to want to live in denial, but that doesn’t do your child any good. The family I stay with knew to attack the problem head on and their son has made amazing progress.

Their 2-year-old had regressed and had no language as recently as last summer. But after all sorts of speech and behavioral therapy, he’s doing remarkably well. He’s talking up a storm, very engaged and he was pretty social with me. I’m so, so happy for him and for his parents. They’re great parents who would do anything for their kids and this story looks like it’s going to have a happy ending.

I always say that autism is like a knee injury. It might always be there beneath the surface, and there are varying degrees of severity, but the sooner you treat it, the better it will be long-term.

And while Jack is still straggly pretty badly, I can keep think about my brother Josh and the knee injury analogy. Josh was in a serious car accident when he was 16 and has had at least a half-dozen or so knee surgeries in the past 17 years. But he ran a half marathon in October, proof that you never say never.

Schedule Change
A lot of races are switching weekends this year, so I’m changing up my schedule. I was going to run Baltimore and Long Beach, but they each dropped back a weekend, conflicting with Kansas City and Denver, which I’m sticking with. So the weekend of October 9 and 10, I’m going to run Hartford and Chicago instead. Registration for Chicago opens today. If you’re going to run it, don’t delay and miss the boat!

Surf City Pasta Dinner
The Surf City Marathon is this weekend in Huntington Beach, Calif., and we’re going to have a pasta dinner the night before. We’re starting to get a pretty good turnout and I’d love to see you/meet you there. More details are available here. You need to confirm by about Wednesday, because we need to call in the head count to our caterer on Thursday. I hope to see you there!

How’s This For Ironic?
On the Delta flight I was on last night, the TV screen in the headrest in front of me mentioned that Delta was the official airlines of the Grammy Awards, which were on last night. The funny thing is, the show was on CBS and the satellite TV on the plane only gave us NBC. Go figure.

Thank You Danica Kooiman!
I’m trying to thank somebody in each of my blogs, because so many of you have done so many things to help Operation Jack. Today, it’s Danica Kooiman.

A lot of you know Danica because she sent you here in the first place. And that’s why I’m thanking her. Back in the summer when I was first getting going with this, she helped get the word out for me and gave me very helpful advice about using social media to help promote Operation Jack. That component has really made a big difference and she gave me a big jumpstart.

Actually, maybe I should curse her, because this is like a second full-time job now!

Ice Cream Update
I know I’m probably letting a lot of you down by announcing this, but my current ice cream streak is 1 day. I didn’t have any on Saturday, snapping a string of 101 consecutive days eating ice cream, frozen yogurt or gelato. I was only nine days shy of tying my personal best of 110 days. But I promise to work hard again to reach 111 for you guys.

That’s All For Today!
Have a great Monday (if there is such a thing)! See you tomorrow or Wednesday!

I’m doing my thing here, writing my blog and eating my ice cream and running my races. And at the same time, a lot of you are out there pounding the pavement, spreading the word and raising money and awareness for Operation Jack and Train 4 Autism. I appreciate it tremendously, but I have one question that I hope you can answer. Why?

Don’t get me wrong — I’m very, very glad you’re here. But I want to know why you’re here. Do you have expectations? Hopes? Is it for you? Me? Somebody else? I’m doing the carnival trick, running (well, at least attempting to run) 60 marathons this year. But nothing is possible without the grassroots support y’all are providing. So I want to provide you with what you’re looking for. Maybe it’s just jokes in a blog. Maybe it’s running advice. Maybe it’s some kind of inspiration if you’re a parent of a child with autism. Maybe you need help training for your first marathon.

Whatever it is, I want to give it to you. Even if you just come by to read the blog, I’d love to know that. Please, please, please help me out today and let me know. If you don’t feel comfortable leaving a comment publicly on the blog, please just fill out the Contact Us form or drop me an email. Let me know why you’re here! That’s not too much to ask, right?

EDIT: I think what I’m really asking is what you expect/hope for when you support or follow Operation Jack. That’ll teach me to write a blog when I’m fall-asleep tired!

Weekend Forecast
This weekend, I’m running the ING Miami Marathon. It should be an extremely exhausting weekend. Fly out Saturday, fly back Sunday. From California, that’s quite a haul. I don’t know if I’d call it a quick weekend or a long weekend, but I’m thinking it’s going to be a combination of both and Monday morning I’ll be tired.

From what I’ve seen, it’ll be a little warmer in Miami than the rest of the races I’ve run this year. I don’t think I’ve been in temps above 45 degrees at the start and it should be in the 60s Sunday. That’s getting to the point of warm, and mixed in with the humidity, it might not be an incredibly comfortable day. But the race is supposed to be pretty flat and it’s at sea level, so that should help.

I have no idea what kind of time to expect, but whatever it is will be the best I can do. Maybe I’ll be too tired to feel any pain. The race goes off at 6 or 6:30 a.m., which is 3 (or 3:30) a.m. body time for me. I’m sure I’ll be sleeping on the plane.

Ice Cream Update
I hit triple digits last night! 100 days in a row now with ice cream or frozen yogurt, just 10 days shy of my personal best. Peanut butter fudge swirl, my personal favorite, was the flavor of the night.

Thank You Erin Ruff!
OK, so in my last blog, I said I’d thank somebody different in every blog where I discuss multiple topics. So today, I’m thanking Erin Ruff. Erin is a friend of mine and one of my biggest cheerleaders. She’s really supportive of what I’m doing and emails me here and there with positive feedback. You know how there are certain people you get emails from and you get excited to open them up? Yeah, Erin’s emails fall into that category.

Anyways, she is the one who suggested I contact the Orange County Register for their Morning Read feature. I did, then corresponded with an editor, then followed up a little later, and the next thing I knew, I heard from a reporter and this story ran on the front page of the paper last week! When it finally made it up, I dropped her a line and told her it was all her fault! That article worked out well, though, and was really nice to read. So Erin, thank you!

That’s All For Today
Have a great weekend everybody! I’ll try to get my race report posted before my flight on Sunday. If it’s not up by 4 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Pacific, I’ll have it up late that night (10 p.m. Pacific). Happy Friday!

After running the Carlsbad Marathon on Sunday, I’m five marathons into Operation Jack and I feel pretty comfortable that I’m settling into my Operation Jack routine. I’m just ignoring the fact that I have 55 to go. That kind of sounds like a lot.

But I’m starting to get the hang of taking care of my body on a weekly cycle and recovery isn’t too bad. And I’m finally starting to run a little bit better.

If you haven’t seen my race report from Carlsbad, take a look. You can see why I’m not tremendously thrilled when I run in the high 3:13s. I’m not going to declare myself 100 percent back, but I will say that I’m a lot more comfortable with how I’m running now.

Where’s The Money Going?
I have Operation Jack down to a science in my head, but that doesn’t do much good for those of you who aren’t mind readers. A lot of you have asked where the money is going, so I did a little bit of a write-up on that on the How It Works page. If you ever have any questions about anything, please e-mail me!

Also, PLEASE drop me a line if you have any suggestions. I’m learning daily as I go along, and really, I have no clue what I’m doing. I’m just trying to run my body into the ground in an attempt to help grow Train 4 Autism. So, if you have any ideas, please don’t keep them to yourself!

Surf City Pasta Dinner Reminder!
If you’re planning on running Surf City, or if you’re in the Orange County area, I’d love for you to come to our pre-race pasta dinner! It’s going to be from 5-7 p.m. on February 6, the night before the race. Cost is $20 per person, which includes two types of all-you-can eat pasta, salad, garlic bread and non-alcoholic beverages.

For more details, click here!

Would I Take Something From A Grandmother? Absolutely!
Especially if its my grandmother. I called her about two minutes after the Minnesota-New Orleans game ended Sunday night to set up our annual Super Bowl bet. Actually, I set up our 22nd annual Super Bowl bet. This dates back to my freshman year of high school, when the Niners beat the Bengals on a Montana-to-Taylor touchdown pass in the final minute of Super Bowl XXIII. I took the Niners in that one.

Our wagers have varied over the years. One year I had the Bills when they got smoked by the Cowboys and the bet was for the loser to bake one dozen cookies for every point the winner won by. It was a 35-point win by Dallas, so she called me up as time expired and told me I could stop at 10 dozen. One year, when I was in college out in Kansas (she lives in California), I won and she shipped me roughly 10 dozen homemade cookies to pay up.

In 1999, I was working for The Associated Press, primarily covering sports at the time, and she won. So, per our bet that year, I had a custom-made shirt that said “I proved I know more about football than my grandson, and he’s a professional sportswriter.” She wore that to my Super Bowl party the next few years.

Last year, I had the Cardinals and the points and covered. We decided in advance that me, my wife & kids and my grandparents would go to Souplantation (my kids’ favorite restaurant, it’s also known as Sweet Tomatoes depending on where you live) and the loser would pay. Even though it’s my grandma’s bet, there was no dipping into her slush fund. My grandpa took care of the bill, but still proclaimed himself the winner since we all got together for a visit.

I have no idea what the stakes are this year. I took New Orleans and we’re going to circle back later this week.

Thank You, Jake Rome
In some blogs, like race reports and write-ups where I tackle something that’s weighing heavily on my mind, I’m not going to discuss a multitude of subjects. But when I do one of these that covers various subjects, I’m going to take the time to thank somebody who’s helping Operation Jack.

So today, it’s Jake Rome. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until the end of the year: I get really awkward and shy about getting help from y’all. But I appreciate it. Jake is somebody I’ve “known” online through running message boards, and he’s the photographer behind my Facebook avatar, but I’d never really met him before Sunday. Nonetheless, he really digs what I’m doing and has gone all-out try to fundraise for Operation Jack. Now, don’t get me wrong — it’s not all about how much money somebody raises that makes me appreciate them. And I’ll thank somebody next time who hasn’t raised any money for me.

But Jake’s enthusiasm for Operation Jack has been a big boost for me. For those of you who have followed along for a while, you know I go on my emotional roller coasters with Operation Jack because I’m so passionate about it. Well, when I come across people like Jake, I know I’m not going at it alone, and it helps give me the confidence I need to continue down this path.

So thank you, Jake!

That’s All For Taco Tuesday
Have a good day, everybody! See you tomorrow (or Thursday, or whenever I write again)!