Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

One Stupid Twizzler …

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One stinkin’ Twizzler. That’s all it took to make me feel like a terrible dad this weekend.

I went to a family-friendly sports-bar type of place on Sunday afternoon with a friend of mine and my oldest son, Benjamin. Ben is coming up on 11. My daughter Ava is 6 and was home with my wife and my friend’s daughters. My 8-1/2-year-old son Jack** was also at home with some helpers we have for him.

** If you’ve never been here before, Jack is severely autistic. He’s the “Jack” in Operation Jack. My hobby is using running to help various causes, primarily fighting autism. And it’s all for him. Together we’re going to make this world a better place. So far, we’re getting there. Lemons => lemonade, you know? [Read more…]

After Autism Awareness Month, Autism Still Sucks

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Long time no write! I’m glad I remembered my password to get in here. Last time I blogged was in December, the day after the second-annual Operation Jack Marathon. I thought I was going to write a follow-up blog the next day. Yeah, maybe not.

Quick standard disclaimer, if you’ve never been here: I’m an ordinary guy, married father of three, and I go to work every day. My claim to fame is that I was the state math champion in the 6th grade. I also ran 61 marathons in 2010 to raise money for Train 4 Autism, because my middle child (8-year-old Jack) is severely autistic and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to take lemons and make lemonade.

In all fairness, I’ve been a little busy since then. Something about getting a new job and relocating my family to the Denver/Boulder, Colorado area. I started a new job here on March 1. But I got here three weeks before my wife and kids did, so I had to do everything I could in a hurry to prep for the move before driving out from California. Then, I spent three weeks trying to get settled in.*

* Getting settled in: I slept on an air mattress, ate oatmeal and frozen burritos and pirated wi-fi off a neighbor from my vacant house. No TV, no vegetables and no furniture other than two bar stools. [Read more…]

Operation Jack Marathon Recap, Part 1

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I don’t blog much any more — I don’t have much time and I’ve been waaaaaay too busy with work the second half of this year. But I feel like I need to get something up, if for nothing other than to post this video that ran on the ABC station in Los Angeles yesterday:

I LOVED this piece. You know why? It didn’t even acknowledge my existence! I ran all those marathons last year because I figured I could raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism. I was right, and I was interviewed a lot. Every story was all about a guy running a lot of marathons. This one, though, was about Jack and the cause. It was all about people coming out and running a race to raise money and fight autism. [Read more…]

Last Call To Get In On The Satellite Runs!

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We’re having our annual satellite runs on Monday and while I haven’t pushed them too much, I wanted to push it one more time since it’s turning into an annual event. Last year, I ran 61 marathons in an endeavor I named Operation Jack. I did it in honor of my 8-year-old son Jack, who is severely autistic. For the final race, we hosted a marathon. Lots of y’all participated in satellite runs across the country on the same day. It was a great day and collectively, we raised about $25,000 to help fight autism.

Well, we’re doing it again! Monday is basically Operation Jack Day. There are 25 soldiers in Kabul, Afghanistan participating in a satellite marathon. We’ve got about 30 people participating in a satellite marathon/half-marathon in Houston. I need to check about participation about our Operation Jack Northwest Challenge in Portland, Oreg., but that event had about 70 participants last year. The signature event, the Operation Jack Marathon in Manhattan Beach, Calif., will have about 350 participants, up considerably from the 135 who started the race last year. [Read more…]

Picturing Regression

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I’m not going to get into a lot of writing for this blog. I think the pictures I’m posting will say enough. Just in case you’ve never been to this site, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I decided I wanted to do something to try to make a difference so in 2010, I ran 61 full marathons to raise money for a charity I’m proud to be a part of called Train 4 Autism.

For a while, I used to think Jack never regressed, that he just never got there. It’s all been a blur for the past six years and I don’t really remember. But after looking at some pictures of him recently, I’m thinking my memory was off. It’s really hard to think about this, and I really don’t want to get on a big soapbox about vaccines, but it’s really hard to look at these pictures and think that we might have done this to him and ruined his life.

I’m not anti-vaccines. But I think you should be safe about them. Make sure your kiddo can handle them. That’s all I’m saying (for now).

Jack pot!

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