Four years ago, I wanted to do something to make the world a better place. I liked running and I was doing it pretty well, and I was heartbroken that my son Jack (now 9 1/2) is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to use my running to make the world a better place. I hated the way my son suffered and while I’m never going to throw in the towel on him, I’m realistic and know that he’s probably not going to make a huge contribution to this world on his own.

I made a decision to plan to run 60 marathons in a year (in 2010) as an attempt to raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism. I ended up running 61 marathons along with a couple of ultra marathons and raised about $90,000 that year. I made a deal with myself that if I permanently damaged my body but made the world a better place, that was a trade-off I would accept. I felt like this was my purpose and I wanted to do it. It was worth it.

It was an amazing year. Long and exhausting and over in a heartbeat, yes. But it was amazing. I’ll never regret doing it and I’m grateful that God gave me the ability to make it happen. The last race of the year was something that was thrown together last-minute because the original race I was planning to run the final weekend of the year fell through.

So behind the urging of my friend Jake Rome, along with Train 4 Autism we put together the Operation Jack Marathon. I was hoping for 20 or so participants just to break even and have a race, but we ended up getting 151 to register in just six weeks. December 26, 2010. A day I’ll never forget. Individually, it was a lot of fun. I literally and figuratively ran myself into the ground that year and a lot of people came out to congratulate me on my efforts. It was pretty flattering, plus it made me smile to know that Jack was out there and everybody knew he was the Jack in Operation Jack! It was a really nice day for Train 4 Autism. When I saw everything out there, I just couldn’t believe that a crazy idea that came to me nearly two years earlier had come to life this way.

There was the Train 4 Autism pop-up, people wearing shirts with my son’s name on it, everybody on the course slapping me high-fives, a film crew following me around and a tv crew at the finish. It was an awesome experience, folks out there for a good time supporting a good cause. I had ZERO intention of ever putting on another race, but before I even changed out of my race clothes that day, I had a good dozen or so people ask me if we were going to put on the race again. The thought hadn’t crossed my mind, but with the feedback we got from surveys, I knew we had to.

We went up to about 350 participants in 2011 and then nearly 400 last year. It’s the most amazing thing to me, to see so many people out there running a race and wearing a shirt with my son Jack’s name on it. That little guy is loved and he inspires people and people pray for him and he has no clue. It’s just awesome to me and I feel so blessed that I get to be in the middle of something like this.

But then life (courtesy of autism) started kicking Jack and my wife and my other two kids and me in the face about a year ago. I feel like I’m about 90 years old right now. I haven’t been able to exercise much and I’ve lost a ton of my fitness. I’ve withdrawn so much because of what’s been going on that I’ve pretty much stopped blogging and tweeting. I’ve been living apart from my family for more than three months as we complete a relocation to Pennsylvania (because of autism) and I’ve felt very alone and isolated.

In 2010, I had a lot of people follow along and it gave me a huge boost to know how much people cared. But now, as I’ve crawled into my corner and stopped talking, nobody is talking to me. Lately, I’ve been thinking that my days of being able to do any good are long gone, that 2010 is just a fading memory and being able to run well is in the past. It’s pretty depressing when you want to do something but don’t know what to do or if you can do anything. Quitting my fight has seemed like a viable option many times in the past year.

But I got the shot of enthusiasm I needed yesterday. My good friends with Train 4 Autism met yesterday in California to talk about the race. I didn’t know what the future held and I really hoped there would be a race this year. I knew that the feedback I got from the meeting would tell me if I’d still have a way to keep fighting or if Operation Jack would be nothing but a memory. Well, we’re opening registration for the race today! We’ve hired some help to get us through this and I have no doubt it’s going to be our best event yet. I’m so excited about this now, you have no idea.

Fighting autism through my foundation drives me. It’s a huge positive for me in a life that’s filled with a lot of struggle and pain. I truly believe that I’m making things better, one small step here and there.When I woke up Tuesday morning, I didn’t know if Operation Jack would still be a reality by the time I went to bed, but it looks like it is.

I put on this race for about the purest reasons you’re going to find. This race exists to fight autism. It wouldn’t exist if my son didn’t suffer. You’re not going to find a race director more passionate about the cause or more concerned that you enjoy the race as me. Plus, where are you going to find a $60 marathon that has aid stations, custom t-shirts and 4″ medals, an expo plus a run along the beach in 60 degree temps in December? We also have satellite options, so you don’t have to be in California to support the cause and get the medal and t-shirt.

So come out and fight autism with me. Last year, I flew in Christmas night, got 90 minutes of sleep and then ran the marathon at 2:30 a.m. so I could be at the start area before the race to talk with participants and thank them. This year, I’ll be doing the same thing, although I’m coming from Philadelphia this time.Go to the site and take a look at operationjack.org/marathon or, better yet, go register at bit.ly/OJM2013! And share this on your Facebook and Twitter … keep it going, keep spreading the word, keep fighting the fight![subscribe2]