Well here we are, staring down the barrel of another weekend. Since the calendar says 2010, I guess that means I have a marathon to go run. This time, it’s San Francisco. With my initials, I’m totally excited to run the SF Marathon!

For first-time visitors, here’s the standard introduction. I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. As a result, I’m trying to make a difference in the autism world, so 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 34. This blog is where I ramble on about what’s going on.

Since it’s Friday, it’s time for my weekend preview, with a couple of random tidbits plus my weekly contest.

Why I Take Pacing So Seriously
I was the 3:50 pacer at the Missoula Marathon on July 11, the third time I’ve been an official pacer for a marathon this year (fourth time overall). I take pacing very seriously, because I know I’ll have a big impact on other people’s goal races. People typically thank me afterwards, but somebody posted this comment anonymously on the Missoula Marathon blog.

I would like to give two thumbs up to the Run Wild Missoula & The Missoula Marathon volunteers. What a great event you put together! I would really like to thank the 3:50 pacer dude SAM FELSENFELD…..I didn’t hear everything he was saying the last 4miles but he was amazing to have right there along side me. I had nothing left in me and had been ahead of him up until the last 4 miles or so. He just kept me motivated and told me he wasn’t going to kick it at the end so I needed to. That was enough, that was all I needed. My goal was to qualify for Boston and I did it. With his help as well as the help of a very dear friend who ran the last 6.2 miles with me! Than you Sam for your amazing ability to keep my head in the game. I will forever be grateful.

I’ve really been learning this year that it’s a lot more rewarding to run for other people than to run for yourself. Well, for me at least.

Weekly Contest
I have a weekly contest where people try to 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 make a donation, just click the “Donate Now” link at the top of any page on this site. Winner is the person who comes the closest without underbidding. If everybody underbids, then it’s whoever comes the closest. The prize is your choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt.

Last week, I was super-slow in the heat in Iowa and nobody donated the $3.42 it would have taken to accurately predict my time. Denamarie Baker was the winner, though, so she’ll have a fine article of clothing coming her way shortly. I’ll get to this week’s contest in a bit.

You Learn Something Every Day!
Yesterday, I learned that on a BlackBerry Bold, if your phone is locked and you hit a bunch of buttons, eventually it will dial 9-1-1. Silly Jack, trying to talk to the police!

What I’m Looking Forward To Most This Weekend
I’m running in San Francisco this weekend and my biggest fan is going to be there at the finish line waiting for me! No, not Mariah Carey. She’s my second-biggest fan. I’m talking about my wife! It’s a quick flight up there, and all I have on the calendar is a bunch of people to see at the expo on Saturday afternoon, a dinner on Saturday night and a marathon at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday. Aside from that, it’s going to be a vacation!

Actually, it should be a nice time. I think it will probably double the time we’ve spent together this year. Well, not really, but we’ll have a nice time in the city on Sunday afternoon.

OK, The Race
The weather is supposed to be nice and chilly, perfect for running for a marathon. The first half of the course is hilly, but the profile doesn’t look ridiculous. Somewhat challenging, yes. But for the most part, I’ve done fairly well on moderate hills this year. The second half looks favorable, primarily flat. After mile 20, it looks like there’s two good downhills to get me some momentum in the final 10K.

However, my legs have felt fairly dead this week. I’m planning on taking an ice bath on Saturday, which should help. And my travel is pretty minimal. So, I wouldn’t be surprised with anything between a 3:08 and a 3:18. I’ll be disappointed if I’m not sub-3:20, and really, I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get a Boston qualifier (3:15:59 or better).

So, I don’t know what to bet. $3.10? $3.16? Heck, I could totally blow it. I haven’t been exactly fast lately. But since Tiff is going to be there at the finish line, you can bet I don’t want to keep her waiting!

Have A Great Weekend!
I know I will! I’ll try to have a race report posted at some point on Sunday!

I normally post my weekend previews on Thursday, but I didn’t get done with everything I was doing until close to midnight on Wednesday, so there was no time to write anything. Better late than never, right? I’ve got my weekend preview, contest information plus my take on LeBron James (as if my opinion on this matters).

Just in case this your first time here, I’m a father of there and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I’m trying to make a difference, to make a purpose out of what he goes through and have him make an impact on the world. So, I’m running 60 marathons to try to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism.

So far, I’m through 32 of the marathons. It’s a little tough physically, but very tough mentally. There’s a lot of work and a lot of struggling. Sometimes, I’m high as a kite and totally encouraged. Sometimes, I feel like I’m banging my head into a wall for no good reason.

But there’s no quit in me with this. I’ll keep on keeping on, following the path I’ve been led down, keeping my faith that everything will be okay.

Chase Contest: Down To The Wire!
We’re in the middle of this Chase Community Giving contest. Voting has been going on for close to a month and it ends on MONDAY! We’re in the top 200 right now, but voting is tight and we’ve been bouncing between the 150s and 200 all week.

I know you’re probably tired of me plugging it, but if we stay in the top 200, we’ll win $20,000, which would be HUGE! So, you’re here, and I’m begging. Three quick things that will take zero dollars and about one minute from you.

1. Think of three friends you can tell about this and CLICK HERE to enter their first name and e-mail address to send them an automated email. Easy stuff and we’re NOT storing any data.

2. Vote in the contest! If you’ve already voted, you can’t vote again. If you haven’t, this is critical and it’s a simple, one-time thing!

3. Share this through your social media outlets with these simple links: Facebook | Twitter

That’s it! Easy, right? That will make a difference. I know how many visitors we get here — if you each do step #1 once, we’re probably going to win this. If y’all do it twice and submit send to six people, I’d be pretty shocked if we don’t.

T-Shirts And Stuff
We just got a new shipment in, so we’re going to get stuff in the mail for a bunch of you that we owe. I’m so sorry that we’ve been slow on this.

Weekend Preview
I normally have a contest every week where you guys guess my time in the form of a small donation essentially equal to my time. This weekend, though, I want the focus to be on the Chase Contest.

That being said, I’m running the Missoula Marathon on Sunday. I’m going to be pacing the 3:10 group for the first half, then running my own race the rest of the way. The goal is going to be to hit 13.1 at about 1:34:30 and then run my own race from there. There’s a hill in the second half and my legs have been fairly sore this week. So, I’m guessing I’ll go 3:14 or so. I really want to get a BQ. I’ve only gotten one since Fargo on May 22, and that annoys me.

I don’t know what else to say about the race, other than I’m looking forward to seeing Montana. I just need to book a motel room, get a rental car and check my flight schedule. Details …

My Expert Insight Into The LeBron James Saga
I don’t know the first thing about basketball, and I’m really not a big fan of the NBA, but I really wanted to see him stay in Cleveland. Like just about everybody else in this country, I think the whole “The Decision” show was such a ridiculous ego thing. I don’t know who outside of Miami can possibly cheer for the guy after he went on TV and stabbed Cleveland in the back like that. Just my opinion.

Last night, I went to cleveland.com, the online home of Cleveland’s newspaper, to see the local take on everything. The lead story was an article about bedbugs. I have no idea why it was listed as the top story, but if they made an editorial decision to place bedbugs above James out of spite … well, that’s just awesome in my book.

And That’s It For Today
Tiff was going to write some things about what Jack likes to do, but she’s going to be a guest blogger on Monday so we’ll save it for then. Plus, as I write this, she’s relaxing and laughing at a TV show and I’d rather let her stay relaxed. Poor thing needs a break!

Please, please help us out in this Chase contest. It WILL make a difference. You’ll see when the votes are final that whether or not week make it, we’re only going to be a few votes away from spot #200! I’ll be back with a race report on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

It’s Thursday, again, which means it’s time for a weekend preview, again. I’m running a marathon again and having a contest again. Wow, that was annoying. I’m heading to Seattle this weekend for the Rock ‘N Roll Marathon up there. I’m having my weekly contest, but I’m also going with something different this week, too.

Just in case this is your first time here, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, Jack (6 1/2), is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to make a difference in the autism community and try to create a legacy for him, so I’m running 60 marathons this year to try to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m through 30 of the 60 marathons and I’m reaching people and raising money. I guess it’s working?

Anyways, I have a weekly contest where I have people guess my time in my race for the weekend. Since this is a charity, it costs money to enter. But not a whole lot of money. If you think my time is going to be 3:10, you donate $3.10. To donate, you can click here or you can click on the “Donate Now!” link at the top of any page on the site. I’ll give you a little bit of insight into how I think I’m going to run to help you with your guess.

Winner is the person who comes the closest without bidding under my time. If I choke and everybody bids under, it’s the person with the highest bid. The prize is your choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt.

Last week’s winner was Sarah Emerson, an Operation Jack supporter out in Maine. She plays every week and finally won last week. I hope she keeps playing and tries to win the entire collection.

I Need Your Help
There’s a contest called Chase Community Giving through Facebook. Bottom line is you can vote once with your Facebook account and the top 200 vote-getting charities will receive at least $20,000. Right now, I think we’ve slipped somewhere to around 80th or so. We were in the 30s and then in the 60s. Not a lot of votes separate the positions, but I’d love to reverse this trend!

Please, please, please, take a minute to help out! Even if you’ve already voted, I could still use your help in posting it on your wall. Thank you!

Does Anybody Want To Race Me?
OK, so if you’re running this weekend, we can have a virtual race. Send me an email and we’ll figure out the details, but I’m handicapping myself at 3:15. I’ll handicap you based on your estimated finish time, goal, recent results, etc., even for a distance other than a full marathon. Say you’re going to try for a 2:15 half. I’ll tack an hour onto your finish time as a spread. So if you go 2:12 and I go 3:09, I win. But if you go 2:17 and I go 3:21, you win. Make sense?

I’ll pick the spread to make it fair, and like I said, I’ll do it for pretty much any distance between 10K and a marathon. You pick what you want the bet to be, but basically, I have three main donation levels. One is $26.20 and that gets a t-shirt. $60 is a t-shirt and a tech shirt and $100 is a t-shirt, tech shirt and sweatshirt. You pick the level you want to bet. You win, I send the clothing to you. If you don’t win, I send the clothing to you, but you have to make the donation.

If you want to do this, send me an email or hit the Contact Us link and drop me a line.

This Week’s Race
OK, here’s the deal. On July 11, I’m running as a pacer for the 3:10 group in Missoula, Montana. I’m only pacing the first half, so I’m going to run even splits and get to 1:35 and then I’m going to run the rest of the race on my own while somebody else takes the lead for the second half.

I’m not worried about hitting 1:35 in the half. I absolutely have the ability to do that, and it’s not really a huge stretch for me. But when I’m a pacer, I take it very seriously, because I don’t want to impact anybody else’s race. I would guess that I’ve hit 1:35 or better in a good 80% of my races this year, although I don’t really aim for that, so if I did, I’m sure it would be a higher percentage. My fastest first half this year was 1:30:03, and for 13.1 miles, five minutes is quite a bit of time at that level.

But here’s the thing: I blew up last week and went 1:37 and it freaked me out. So my goal on Saturday is to run tight splits for the first half and hit 13.1 in 1:34:50 to 1:35:00. That is, by far, my biggest goal. Not faster, not slower. I presume I’ll be able to hit that and then I’ll be in a groove. There are some uphill climbs that look moderate in the second half, but the last 10K looks pretty quick.

I never know how I’m going to feel once I get running, but if nothing goes wrong, I think I can run this race conservatively and go 3:10. It’s going to be a similar execution to what I did in Tampa, where I went out with a goal of running in the 7:10 range and not straying, and I did just that until stiff headwinds slowed me down over the final few miles and I went 3:09:44.

I don’t think there’s any chance I’d go any faster than 3:09, unless I was absolutely flawless, in which case I could be in the mid-3:08s. But 3:07 or better will absolutely not happen. I’m not feeling fast right now, but I do feel strong, so I think there’s a good chance I could kick well over the last 10K if I’m in range for a good time.

That being said, if I was betting, I’d go with a 3:12. But I think I really have a chance at a sub-3:10 with the way I plan to run. So, that’s all. I really, really hope you play along! The hot summer is beginning and I could really use your support! And if you’re running this weekend and you want to race me, let me know! Or keep it in mind for a future weekend if you have something on the calendar down the road.

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

I blinked twice, which means it’s Thursday all of a sudden and time for my weekend preview.

Real quick, just in case this is your first time stopping by, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to try to make a difference in the autism world, because that is my cause. So I decided to try to run 60 marathons this year to raise money for a charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, so good. I’m through 29 marathons and I’m reaching people.

Every week, I have a contest where you guys guess my time and win a prize. I’m going to get into that in just a minute, though. There’s a contest Operation Jack is participating in and we need your help!

Chase Community Giving Contest
I’m probably going to blog about this every day until the contest is over. 200 small charities are going to win at least $20,000 from the Chase Community Giving Contest. You can vote one time only with your Facebook account. I’m trying to get this to go viral and all I need is two simple things from everybody.

One, please vote! If you haven’t voted yet, click here now … PLEASE! Also, once you vote, or if you have voted, please post it on your Facebook wall. Super simple, and it will help a ton! Right now, vote totals are low because the contest just started. But we’re #32. Help us keep it up!

My Weekly “Pick Sam’s Time” Contest
So I have a contest every week. You try to guess my time by making a small donation as your guess and the winner gets Operation Jack gear. So, if you think I’m going to run a 3:12, you donate $3.12. Whoever comes the closest without underbidding wins their choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt. To participate, you just click on the “Donate Now!” link at the top of any page on this site, or you can click here.

Last week, I had a variation of the contest. Since I was pacing the 3:40 group, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I was going to run a 3:39. So the contest was $3 plus the number of seconds past 3:39 I was going to run. So, if you thought I was going to run a 3:39:30, you would have donated $3.30 to enter. Well, I went 3:40:00 Garmin, 3:39:58 chip. The winner was Sarah Reade of St. Joseph, Mo., a fellow graduate of KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY! Us Wildcats are s-m-a-r-t, smart!

This week, we’ll be back to guessing my time, because I’m going all-out. I’ll have some analysis in just a minute.

San Francisco Runners Out There?
My friend Heather Hawkins is having a party at a place called Stray Bar. She has all the information here. It’s going to be a fun time with BBQ and beer, plus a raffle with a bunch of goodies she’s lined up.

Check it out and stop by if you can!

This Week’s Race
It’s Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. I was actually looking forward to this one as a potential fast, fast race. They draw a good field, which always helps me push myself. The course itself looks fairly fast. I haven’t looked at the profile in about a month, but I remember some moderate rollers and a downhill net. I saw it, and I thought it would be a pretty fast race.

My IT band in my right leg, which has been bothering me, felt good all week. But it flared up a little bit last night. And my quads are still a little sore from the pounding they took on last Saturday’s downhill course. And I land in Minneapolis at about 8:!5 p.m. Friday and then have to drive 2 1/2 hours to Superior, Wisc. (where I’m staying) and the race is on Saturday morning. So I’m not too optimistic that I’m going to have a great race at this point.

But I’m going to go out there and try. I have a funny feeling I’ll be running well early, but then I’ll be in a lot of pain in my right leg and it will all come down to how well I fight through pain.

So, I guess, if I was betting on this race, I’d probably go with a 3:15. Let me know what you think I’ll do. Just $3 and a dime and a nickel … simple stuff and it’s going to a great cause! And you might even win something!

OK, That’s All
Have a great Father’s Day Weekend, everbody! I don’t know if I mentioned it, but the reason I picked this race on Saturday is that it’ll get me home in time to spend Sunday with my family. Looking forward to seeing my dad and my grandpa and celebrating my brother’s birthday with him. I’m also looking forward to “Donuts With Daddy” at my daughter’s preschool tomorrow morning. I planned my airfare around it — yeah, that’s why I’m getting into Minneapolis late!

Anyways, I’ll have a race report posted Saturday and a weekend recap on Monday! See you later!

Time flies when I skip a day on the blog, as I did yesterday. It’s Thursday (except in Australia, where it’s already Friday), which means it’s time for my weekend preview and contest. Since I skipped my What’s Up With Operation Jack Wednesday this week, I have a few things I want to mention.

First, the standard intro, 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. Super long story short, I’m trying to run 60 full 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 28 of the 60.

Moving right along, every week I have a weekly contest where you guys try to guess my time based on feedback I give you. You make a small donation ($3.09 if you think I’m going to run a 3:09) and whoever comes closest without bidding under is the winner and gets their choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt.

Last week’s winner was Emily Yantis of San Antonio. I thought I would go 3:07 or so I think and I went 3:25. She was smart enough to know how stupid I am. Well, she still thought I’d do fairly well, but I never pass up an opportunity to put myself down.

This week’s contest will be a little different. I’ll explain why in a bit.

My Job Is Easier Than My Wife’s
My wife Tiffany stays home and takes care of the kids. Really, there’s no other way we could do it, especially with Jack’s demands. But just because she doesn’t have an employer doesn’t mean she doesn’t work. Quite the contrary, she works WAY harder than I do. If you’ve been following along with my blog, you know we just saw a DAN doctor last week and we have a new routine for Jack.

Aside from everything else she does, here’s Jack’s supplement board:

Yeah, I’d much rather write code.

Chase Community Giving Contest
Last fall, there was a contest sponsored by Chase Community Giving on Facebook and I think something like 100 charities won $25,000 or something like that. It was a voting contest. Well, they’re doing it again, starting June 15. That’s next Monday. 195 charities will earn $20,000, four will get $100,000 and one will get $250,000.

I still have work to do on the Operation Jack Autism Foundation page at Chase Community Giving on Facebook, but it will be ready and I’m going to beg you guys over and over again for a month. You can only vote once, but you can be sure I’ll remind you!

Anyways, I’m going to beg you to help and spread it through your Facebook and Twitter. I created a page on this site, operationjack.org/chase that is easy to remember and will redirect you there. Starting Monday, post it on your wall, encourage your friends and send it out on Twitter. Some charities are going to get a very nice bonus from Chase for sending this viral. Why not us?

OJ Gear!
I don’t push it as often as I should, but we have Operation Jack clothing available for sale as one of our key fundraisers. Our donation levels are $26.20 for a t-shirt, $60 for a t-shirt and a tech shirt and $100 for a t-shirt, tech shirt and hooded sweatshirt. We’ll also list you on our Sponsors page.

Those are our standard donation rates. But we’ll also just sell them to you. We won’t list you as a sponsor, but we’ll send you out the gear. T-shirts are $15, tech shirts are $25 and sweatshirts are $30. You need to tack on $5 for shipping for those.

Everybody really seems to love these things, especially the sweatshirts. I’d love to put you in these for a couple of reasons. One, obviously, they’re a fundraiser for us. But also, when you wear the clothing, you’re spreading the word.

So click on the Donate Now! link on any page on the site and order up some gear!

This Week’s Race & Contest
This weekend, I’m running the Utah Valley Marathon in the Provo, Utah area. There’s really not a lot to say about this one. It’s going to be a beautiful, scenic run. It’s on a big downhill course that’s very, very fast. And I’m the 3:40 pacer. Guessing my time shouldn’t be too tricky. 3:40 is the Boston qualifying time for women between 18 and 34. So, I guess for one time in my life, I can get away with telling my wife I have to get on a plane and go take a bunch of women to Boston.

Now, while I’m not worried about running a 3:40, I am a human being, not a robot. Nothing is guaranteed. Heck, I ran a 3:57 two weeks ago. Of course, there was pretty severe heat (87 degrees) and it was humid. But really, I’m not concerned about Saturday. And I take my pacing pretty serious. If I mess up my own race, that’s one thing. But if I ruin somebody else’s, that’s a different story.

I’ve paced twice, both times the 3:30 group at the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, Calif. In my book, 3:29:59 would be a perfect job pacing. I absolutely don’t want to come in any slower than the goal time, and one second fast means we hit the sub-3:30 goal without truly going too fast. I aim to keep consistent miles … it’s not like I’m going to run a 3:10 pace for the first 25 miles and the crawl on my knees to the finish to slow it up. I like to stay within about a 15-second range unless elevation changes dictate otherwise.

Anyways, in 2009, I paced 3:30 on only one hour of sleep, because I had a work emergency the night before. I always thought I could run a 3:30 in my sleep and I went 3:29:54. Five seconds off! This year, I ran a marathon the day before I paced 3:30, which freaked out my group when they found that out before the race, but I ran consistent miles and went 3:29:39 — less than one second per mile off.

So, that brings us to …

This Week’s Contest
Marathons aren’t easy, even if I’m running them more than 30 minutes slower than I’m capable of. But I would be truly surprised if I didn’t run a 3:39 on Saturday. I’d also be extremely disappointed in myself. So the contest is to guess the number of seconds past 3:39 I’m going to go and attach that as the cents to the typical $3. So, if you think I’m going to run a 3:39:42, you’ll donate $3.42. If you think I’m going 3:39:50, it’s $3.50. If I was betting, I’d probably say 3:39:46. But I’m not betting. I already have my gear. Plus, I’d be one heck of a jerk to win my own contest!

To participate, just click on the Donate Now! link on any page. Come on, it’s three bucks … less than a coffee at Starbucks!

Video Of The Day
I saw this online yesterday and thought it was hilarious. Check out the drummer. Please don’t watch this while you’re drinking your coffee. You might spit it out.

That’s All For Today
Have a great weekend, everybody! I’ll post a recap on Saturday. I have a vision of a 3:39!