Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

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…]

I'll Tell You Why; You Tell Me Why Not

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Long time no write! I really haven’t blogged since July, more-or-less. I’ve been beyond busy and have barely had time to sleep, let alone blog. Since July, when I ran the San Francisco Marathon to raise money to fight cancer, I’ve been buried with side work beyond my full-time job, I’ve struggled to get back physically with my running (still not myself and it’s been, what, 10 weeks?), and we’ve put our house up for sale.

I’ve done something else that I really want to talk about though, something that’s also sitting nice and heavy on my plate but I’m really excited about. I’ve added another Operation Jack race! I’m putting on the Richard Leary 6-Hour Challenge on October 30 (with satellite option!) to benefit TAPS and Train 4 Autism and I figured it’s about time I start telling everybody about it! (REGISTER HERE!) [Read more…]

My Toughest Marathon Ever

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Click here to get a $50 gift card with a pledge of about $40 to help me fight cancer.

On Sunday, I’ll be running the San Francisco Marathon. It’ll be the 94th time I’ve laced my shoes up for a 26.2-mile footrace and I’m pretty sure this one’s going to be tougher than any of the others I’ve ever run. Granted, San Francisco isn’t a fast, flat course. There are plenty of hills and it’s anything but easy (as if there’s an easy marathon out there). But the reason this one’s going to be tough isn’t the course. It’s Sue. [Read more…]

It's Marathon Week, So I'm Not Eating Carbs

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Six days from today, I’m running the San Francisco Marathon. I’ll need all the energy I can to run the best 26.2 miles I possibly can. So, I haven’t had any carbs since Friday night and I won’t have any until Thursday morning. If you think that’s a typo, it’s not. Before a goal race, which is what Sunday is for me, I carb deplete for five days. Five long days. Five long, miserable days. Five long, miserable, terrible days. [Read more…]

Ask What You Can Do

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Note from Sam: The day after Osama Bin Laden was killed, I contacted Operation Jack friend John Atilano, who is deployed to Afghanistan, and asked him what the mood was like over there. He said it was basically business as usual, but if the war ended and everybody came home, then they’d be up celebrating all night. So I followed up with a quick DM conversation on Twitter with him.

Sam: U have any interest in writing a guest blog?
John: Sure. Do you have a topic in mind?
Sam: I think it would be awesome if u could talk about what ur doing over there and really anything that comes to your mind. There’s …
Sam: an amazing sense of national pride right now with the news and I think people would love to hear from you, no matter what u have to say.
Sam: Gonna blog about Flat Stanley on Wed and if u know when u can send something, I’ll tell folks u have a guest blog coming. They’ll love it.
All I was hoping for was something like, “It’s hot and dusty and we drive tanks and watch out for bad guys and help good guys.” This is what I got from John:

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This is the third time I’ve been featured on Operation Jack. The first was on Veteran’s Day and the second time was last week. I’ve never met Sam in person but I truly admire everything he has accomplished. He is a testament to dedication, hard work, and the reality that one man can truly make a difference. I love reading his blog. My heart breaks when Jack has a bad day. I “watched” Sam go sub-3 at Boston via twitter and rapidly refreshing the BAA tracker; I cheered out loud when he did it! Although I am blessed with three healthy children I understand his fight against autism. Daddies slay dragons. Jack’s dragon is Autism. You can’t slay a dragon without a sword and a shield.

After the announcement of Osama Bin Laden’s (OBL) demise, Sam asked if I’d like to write a guest post given the jubilant national pride that has swept across our nation in the past few days. I accepted this honor with pride and a little hesitation. OperationJack.org is not a political blog. It is kind of a running blog. Mostly it is about helping others. It’s Sam doing everything he can to help his son, Jack, and the other families who deal with autism on a daily basis. It is about helping to fight cancer. It’s a glimpse into one family’s struggle to provide normalcy for their family. As a guest, I wanted to ensure I remained true to this theme. I thought to myself, “How am I going to write about OBL in such a way that it relates to Operation Jack?” After much deliberation, I think I have figured out a clever way of relating the death of OBL, Operation Jack, running, military families, and helping others together. It’s not pithy but I do believe it is cogent. Stay with me for the next few paragraphs and I promise I will tie it all together! [Read more…]