Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Three Things Thursday: Gonna Train For A Marathon

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OK, Three Things Thursday, here we go.

1. I’m going to train for a marathon! Now, for those of you who know me, you’re probably not very impressed. I have 104 of them under my belt — probably more than the number of softball games I’ve played. But I haven’t really trained for one in two years. And I haven’t trained for one since I moved up to 5,400 feet here in Colorado from sea level in California. And it’s the Boston Marathon — my favorite race. So, I’m going to pretend like I’m a runner again. The past six months have been extremely difficult for me with all the things going on with my son Jack, so hopefully this will be a nice positive.

2. I’m on a push-up kick, and I’m not really sure why. I set a goal of doing 50,000 push-ups this year because, well, I don’t know why. I guess it’s because it’ll keep my fitness activity more well-rounded than just cardio. And maybe my wife Tiffany will think I look better with my shirt off. And those two justifications might not be listed in order. But I have a spreadsheet. Through yesterday, I have 3,420, an average of 148.7 per day. I’m on pace for 54,274 and need to average 136.2 per day the rest of the way. I’m kind of hoping I get stronger and can make a push towards 100,000. We’ll see. And yes, I’m a geek for having this data.

3. You MUST check out this book on Amazon. Even moreso, check out the reviews! This might be the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time.

P.S. Join Jack’s Army!

That’s all. Have a great weekend! You training for anything? You have any silly goals for 2013? You ever crashed into a big boat? Have you joined Jack’s Army?[subscribe2]

Three Things Thursday: Jack and Jolly

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Three Things Thursday. These weeks fly by. Can’t believe tomorrow will already be Friday.

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 9-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. So, I started a foundation in his name to try to raise money to fight autism. I ran 61 full marathons in 2010 to kick things off (I named everything Operation Jack) and with the help of Train 4 Autism, a great charity I’m proud to raise money for, I put on an annual race called the Operation Jack Marathon. Between Operation Jack and the race, we’ve generated more than $160K since 2009. Now you know.

1. Jack update

Quick update on Jack’s school situation, since I haven’t posted about it in a month. If you want the full backstory, click here. In a nutshell, we pulled him out of the school he’s in because the playground is unfenced and only 86 feet from a parking lot. Since he elopes, which means he darts and runs away out of the blue, it’s absolutely not a safe school for him. We’re trying to get him back into the local school, but we’re not able to because … well … we’re not truly sure why. We have suspicions. But the decision makers won’t answer my questions.

I have so many things I want to say and talk about. But we have a lawyer for Jack and for now, I’ll be patient and let her do her thing. It’s incredibly frustrating that he’s been in school for about six hours since May, and it’s pretty maddening that we’ve had to hire a lawyer to try to get him in school. I hate what this has done to him and what it’s done to my wife.

I really want to come out swinging (figuratively, with words, in case there’s any doubt), but now is not the time. But there will come a time when I have more to spill. For now, it’s district vs. parents and the special-needs kid is losing big-time.

2. Operation Jack Marathon Update

We’ve crossed $25,000 raised and knowing how things work out every year with last-minute registrations as the race draws near, I imagine we’re going to have a lot more coming in. I am so excited to be able to raise money and I’m really looking forward to the event. It’s going to be our biggest one yet and I’m running an early start (like, 2:30 a.m.) so I can volunteer from the start of registration until the final runner crosses the finish line.

We also have various satellite events depending on where you are. Here’s details:

– Los Angeles (main race)
– Portland, Oregon
– Kansas City
– Portland, Maine
– Everywhere else!

This is the 4-inch medal you’ll get (on a ball chain) if you participate in the any of the Operation Jack Marathon/Satellite events (medal will be different in Portland, Oregon though).

3. Jolly is at it again

If you don’t know what Elf on a Shelf is, or if you don’t know what my wife Tiffany has been doing with ours, click here and check out my post from Monday. It’s all pictures and it’s pretty funny.

Here’s a couple more from this week that she did. It’s pretty awesome to hear Ava laugh when she discovers what Jolly has been up to.

Ahh, a bath in marshmallows. That’s on my bucket list.
The funniest thing about this is Tiff thought I would get mad about her wasting toothpaste.

 

That’s all for today/this week/etc. Have a great weekend! We’re getting snow … what’s the weather like in your neck of the woods?

Five Things Wednesday … FTW?

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Normally I go with a Three Things Thursday on Thursday, but I’m not doing that this week because I have something different I want to write for tomorrow. So, I’m going with Five Things Wednesday. Because, well, why not?

Real quick, if you’ve never been here or don’t know what “Operation Jack” is, click here. Now, Five Things Wednesday. FTW.

1. Jack is doing better

I wrote a blog last week about some struggles we’ve had lately with Jack and how it really wearing us down. I got a lot of feedback from y’all and while I didn’t get back to most of you, that was because I was really struggling emotionally with what we were going through and I didn’t want to talk much about it after I wrote that blog. It’s hard to explain, but the blog was kind of like a “Dear Diary” thing for me, but I was done talking about it after that.

Your feedback was really nice, though, and lifted me up. I really appreciate it. Jack has turned the corner and is sleeping and we’re not as miserable as we were. It’s still a challenge — now he’s into staying up and giggling until 10 p.m., but that beats the heck out of middle-of-the-night meltdowns.

Thanks again for all the feedback here, on Twitter and on Facebook. Gave me a nice lift.

2. Friday Night Lights

Last Friday I had a moment I’d been looking forward to for the past decade. I took my oldest son Benjamin to his first high school football game! Now, we don’t live in a small town in a Colorado, but there’s more of a community feel here than there was in California. Seemed like everybody was there, and it was a rivalry game — the two high schools in this city were playing each other. “Our” high school is ranked a little lower than the other high school, but they won 17-14 on a wobbly 39-yard field goal that barely made it over the crossbar with two seconds left to play. I couldn’t have written the script any better!

This was our view. The stadium backs up to Main Street. I think everybody should live in a city where the high school football stadium backs up to Main Street.

3. Truly making an impact!

As I mentioned here several times over the past few months, my friend Jonathan Gunderson put on a race in San Francisco on Saturday to raise money for the World Harvest Mission to build wells for villages in Uganda that don’t have clean water. Well, he raised enough money to build nine wells for villages in need!

4. I’m a jerk

I saw this posted by a friend of mine on Facebook the other night and couldn’t help but to … well, be a jerk I guess.

5. I have no game

Played Chutes and Ladders Monday night against my daughter Ava. Lost. Played her again. Lost again. Played Candy Land. Lost. So I sent her up to bed.

OK, that’s all for today. Am I a jerk? Is there anything more American than high school football on Friday nights? How good are you at Chutes and Ladders? Have a great Wednesday!

Three Things Thursday: Best Age Group Awards Ever!

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Three things Thursday, here we go. 1, 2, 3 and then I can focus on item #3.

Best Age Group Awards Ever!

Run enough marathons and you’ll probably age group here and there. The first time I age grouped, I was so excited to earn a a painted tile that I displayed it on a bookshelf in my house. Then I age grouped again. And in a 5K. And a 10K. I’ve probably age grouped 30 or so times in marathons and maybe 10-15 times in other races. All but two of those awards are in a box in my garage. The two I have on a shelf in my office at home are one that I got from the first Operation Jack Marathon and the other is from the 2010 Banktrust First Light Marathon.

It’s a no-brainer displaying an award from my 61st marathon of 2010, a race with my son’s name on it. But why the Banktrust First Light Marathon? Well, the race is put on as a fundraiser for L’Arche of Mobile, a charity that helps provide a group home living environment for adults with intellectual disabilities. There’s a real chance that Jack could end up living with a similar organization. He won’t be in Mobile, but that doesn’t matter to me. It’s an organization I can get behind.

The award I received was a canvas that was hand-painted by a L’Arche resident. On the back, there was a bio of the woman who painted it. I absolutely loved winning it and it’s a reminder to me of what I do and why I do it. The first two years of the Operation Jack Marathon, we’ve gotten trophies from a trophy shop to give to our winners. But this year, I contacted L’Arche to check about making a reasonable donation for these same hand-painted canvases. And … they said yes! We went back and forth on the details and finally got it finalized yesterday. I’m so excited!

Why would I want to send money to a trophy shop when I can send it to L’Arche? I’m really, really excited about this. It’s what an award from the Operation Jack Marathon should be.

This is the sample one of the residents came up with. The sun, the mountains and the ocean, along with a space for information about the race/category/division/etc. I can’t wait to hand these out!

We’re giving them out for age group winners and top three overall for men and women in the marathon and half marathon. Whaddaya think? Would something similar be a good fundraising incentive?

Oh, and a quick final reminder: Operation Jack Marathon prices for the full marathon and half marathon go up on Tuesday! Right now, it’s only $45 for the half and $55 for the full, a ridiculously low price for a race. That’s jumping to $60/$70 on Sept. 4, so if you know you’re going to run it, CLICK HERE and get in! [Read more…]

Tuesday Randomness: Best Kid Carwash Picture Ever, Two Great Charity Races

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I went back to California for my 20th high school reunion over the weekend and I have some stuff I wanted to post about that, but I’m in the middle of carb depletion for a marathon this weekend, plus I haven’t been sleeping much the past week, so I haven’t had time to write it. I do have some randomness I want to share, though.

– Best burger combo you’ve never thought of

2/3 pound burger with bacon crushed into the beef, topped with bacon and peanut butter and jelly. Sounds weird, but the server swore on it and it was pretty darn good.

This was ridiculously good.

– Best Kid Carwash Picture Ever

My kids on Sunday. Benjamin is actually working, which is good. He should be. He’s 11. Ava is having fun stepping in a bucket, which is good. She’s 6. Jack is Jack. He’s having a blast. He should be — that doesn’t happen often enough. I saw this from California when Tiff posted it on Facebook and tagged me and I loved it!

I love this picture!

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