Today’s Workout
I had my much-anticipated appointment with a sports medicine specialist yesterday and it went about as perfectly as I could have hoped! As I suspected, it’s tendinitis in my right knee. They took x-rays from several different angles and structurally, my knee is in great shape.

It’s not just that there’s nothing torn, which was a big fear of mine — it’s that it’s totally fine. All the miles, all the running, and my knee is a typical 34-year-old knee. I guess that would be a problem if I was only 27, but I’m 34. So all is well in Kneeville. I just need to stretch better and ice daily. Tight hamstrings were causing undue stress on the knee, kind of like a left knee injury will cause problems in your right quad because of overcompensation.

And finally, for the first time in a week, I got to go for a run this morning! Nothing spectacular. I pushed a little here and there just to push, but for the most part, it was a comfortable run. 16.1 miles and I feel pretty good. It’s so cliche, but what a difference a day makes! I was scared yesterday that I was at risk to do Operation Jack. Now, I feel like a runner again. Well, except for the 200 pounds I’m carrying.

Talkin’ Jack
In case this is your first time here, or if you’ve never been to the rest of the site, I’m planning on running 60 marathons next year to raise awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. My son, Jack, is severely autistic and I want to do something to make a difference in his honor. In this spot in each blog, I’ll talk about Jack a little bit.

Jack had a tough day yesterday. Major meltdowns all day — in the morning at Target, in the late afternoon during his therapy session and again several times in the middle of the night. But when I saw him at lunch at Costco, he was nothing but a treat. Totally calm, happy and pleasant. I just couldn’t help but smile looking at him. He was so cute and sweet and innocent! In the evening, when I walked in the door, he jumped up from his chair and ran over to give me a hug, and he jumped up and got pretty clingy. He was smiling, and it was pretty neat, because I don’t think he’s ever run over to me before. Never, and that’s no exaggeration. So, that was pretty neat, and it was just another sign that while he’s still behind, he’s making improvements.

Aside from lunch and when I walked in the door in the evening, though, there really weren’t a whole lot of positives for the day.

Ice Cream Update
I hit 27 consecutive days eating ice cream or frozen yogurt yesterday with a chocolate/vanilla frozen yogurt swirl at Costco with my lunch. I’ve got some butter pecan in the freezer still, so we’ll see if I can get to 28. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, but until I eat it, it’s not a done deal.

Operation Jack Update
Thanks to my friend Deirdre Edwards and Lithocraft Company Fine Lithographers, Operation Jack has a truckload of two-sided, full-color glossy flyers. I believe they’re about half the size of a sheet of paper. I’ll find out at lunch today when I meet up with my good friend Ben Delaney, who picked them up for me. Deirdre says there’s 6,000 of them. Ben estimates it might actually be double that amount.

The flyers have a little bit of information about what I’m doing on one side and the schedule on the other. If you’d like some to distribute, let me know and I’ll get some to you. I’ve got more good news, but I’ll save it for tomorrow.

Anybody Have Any Ideas?
When I jumped into Operation Jack, I jumped into the deep end, hoping I’d learn how to swim. So far, so good … kind of. I’ve been busy with other responsibilities this month, but I have a bunch of ideas in the back of my head and I’m ready to attack things starting in August. If you have any ideas of things that you think might help Operation Jack, please don’t hang onto those secrets! Post them here or send me a note through the Contact Us form. If you’d like to help or know anybody who’d like to help, please let me know!

Grandma’s Marathon
If you’re not familiar with Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., you’d think it’s just a small, nothing race. But it’s a unique race combining small-town feel with big-time race. It’s known for being a great race and it sells out every year. I’ll be there (I’m already registered) and I was pleasantly surprised with how friendly and cooperative the race staff was when I contacted them about working with Operation Jack. They’re going to help with publicity next year as the race draws near, and they’ve pledged a contribution to Operation Jack! So, I’m looking for some teammates up there. If you’re a marathoner who’s ever had Grandma’s in the back of your mind, get out there in 2010!

Best Rendition Of The National Anthem … Ever
I love the national anthem, especially when it’s sung well. It gets me totally excited. For starters, it’s a musical reminder of how we live in the greatest country in the world. And from a running standpoint, it’s exciting to stand at the start line of a marathon, bouncing around and getting ready to race, knowing how privileged I am to be able to go safely run 26.2 miles through unexplored territory. I’ll hear this song 60 times next year, and it’ll sound great every time. But I can’t imagine it’ll sound this good:

Enjoy Your Tuesday … See You At The Hump!
I’m out of material for today. Thanks, as always, for stopping by the booth. And as always, here’s my beg: Please try to get one person to read this blog who didn’t read it today. If you’re on Twitter, try to get one more follower of @operationjack or if you’re on Facebook, try to get one person to join the fan club today. Little tiny efforts like this will make Operation Jack a huge success. Thank you for your help and support and have a great day!

Nobody likes Monday mornings. Nobody likes going to the doctor. Going to the doctor on a Monday morning is the worst of both worlds. Unless you’re a marathon runner and it’s the “moment of truth” session about your knee you’ve anxiously awaited for several weeks. I know I can handle the truth. It’s not going to prevent next year. It’ll just be an indicator of how difficult my road to next January will be.

Today’s Workout
Yeah, right. Too much work to do and I need my knee to be 100 percent. I haven’t run since last Wednesday and I’m getting pretty antsy. I just don’t have the time to run right now, which kills me, and I’m trying to get my knee better for next year. I have an appointment with a sports medicine specialist this morning, so I’ll finally get to the bottom of this and (hopefully) get better.

It’s almost certainly tendinitis, which is just an annoyance I need to go away. I’ve run a marathon and hundreds of miles since this flared up, so I’m almost certain there’s nothing torn. I made the decision last Wednesday night to shut down the running until I saw the doctor today. There just wasn’t enough for me to gain and too much to lose between Thursday morning and today. So, at 9 a.m. Pacific time today, I’ll get the verdict. If I can be in full swing by August, which I think is very likely, I’ll have four solid months to train. Even over the past two months while I’ve had struggles, I’ve had 75-mile weeks, so I know the legs are there. I’m not nervous, just anxious. And I’m tired of not running.

Talkin’ Jack
In case this is your first time here, or if you’ve never been to the rest of the site, I’m planning on running 60 marathons next year to raise awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. My son, Jack, is severely autistic and I want to do something to make a difference in his honor. In this spot in each blog, I’ll talk about Jack a little bit.

Jack had a decent weekend. Lots of playtime, not a lot of meltdowns. We have a little kiddie pool in the backyard he swam in both days and he seemed to be in a pretty good mood. He went on outings with Tiff and his therapist on Saturday and Sunday (yeah, he has 2 1/2-hour sessions daily, even on the weekends) and did pretty well. Saturday, he did well at the library, which amazed me. Yesterday, he went to the grocery store. On Saturday, he was hungry and wanted fruit snacks and went over to the pantry and said “froo nax”! Close enough in my book!

All-in-all, I’d call it a good weekend. He’s still way behind, but in general, he seems to be “with it” a little more lately than he has been. Today is Monday … we’ll see how this week goes.

Ice Cream Update
I hit 26 consecutive days eating ice cream or frozen yogurt last night with 1 1/2 bowls of butter pecan ice cream. As a marathoner, the 26 is great to hit. I wish there was some kind of way to hit .2 more days for that 26.2, but I’m on 26 and I’ll hit 27 if I have some tonight. I guess I’m into ultra territory? I like ice cream, and last summer I think I went on a run where I went 31 of 35 days or something like this. For whatever reason, though, I’m on this streak and it’s going to be tough to let it go. I’m weird like that.

Side Ice Cream Note: We were out of milk and creamer yesterday morning, so I thought it would be a brilliant idea to use butter pecan ice cream as creamer instead. The one thing about this brilliant idea: It wasn’t a brilliant idea. I used what I thought would be more than enough, but it didn’t do a thing to make the coffee creamy when it melted. I used the non-dairy creamer instead, which was much more effective.

What Genius Came Up With This Concept?
My wife bought me some new boxers. They came in a re-sealable bag. Huh?

Operation Jack Update
Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to focus a ton of attention on Operation Jack during the second half of July, because I have too many other obligations with deadlines that are about to kill me. However, I’m going to be ready to do all sorts of things starting in August to get things rolling. I’ll be communicating with team leaders to let them know what they can do to help and how they can reach out to non-runners. I’ll also be developing some more tools on the site and I’ll be able to help support you as you attempt to support Operation Jack.

If you haven’t already registered here at OperationJack.com, please do so! I’ll be sending out periodic email updates to keep in touch with you. There is no obligation if you register, your information is not going anywhere, and you’ll be able to unsubscribe from mailings at any time. Also, I just built a feature last night that will send an email notification to all registered users each time I post a new blog (don’t worry — there’s a link in every email to unsubscribe with a single click). So, if you haven’t already done so, please take 30 seconds and register now! You can also automatically register by posting a comment at the bottom of this blog.

ECHO, Echo, echo … Is There Anybody Out There?
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. If you have anything you’d like me to talk about, let me know. Give me a good idea and I won’t have to talk about my boxers again tomorrow!

TV Diet Of A Marathon Runner
Last night, after sneaking three minutes of SportsCenter while Tiff was in the kitchen, I hung out on the couch with her and watched Bridezillas, Kendra Wilkinson’s reality show and the Denise Richards reality show. Yeah, I’m owned. But fortunately, I have a laptop and I was able to get some work done.

If This Doesn’t Make You Teary-Eyed, You Don’t Have A Pulse
Just about everybody has seen this, but it’s good to watch it again every here and there. What an incredible story. Jack has my genetics, so he’s much more likely to do well at a cross-country meet than in a basketball game. But still, this is great to watch.

OK, See You Tomorrow!
That’s all I have today. As always, thanks for reading the blog. While I fight to finish up my project, this is my main way of having Operation Jack reach out to you. I PROMISE, I’ll do a better job starting in August. In the meantime, you can support Operation Jack with just a tiny bit of effort. All you need to do is send one email to one person and ask them to check out the site and the blog. That’s all I need for today. Thank you, and have a great Monday!

When I say it’s tough for me to run this many miles, that’s because “this many miles” is zero. I hate not running. But I’m trying to be smart, for once (well, once aside from my decision to try to run 60 marathons next year).

Today’s Run
If you’ve been reading this, you know I have issues with my knee right now and I’m seeing a good sports medicine specialist for it next Monday. I’m fairly certain it’s tendinitis, which hurts a little, but isn’t as bad as a tear. For the most part, it takes time and rest to get over. I’m pretty sure that’s what it is, because I’ve had it before, and I’ve run plenty since it first flared up two months ago. I’ve run a marathon and a 10K (albeit both were slow), and a fair amount of training miles since then. I haven’t run particularly well, but I’m not that far off and still running better than I was when I was a 3:20 marathoner.

But I went NASCAR with my running last night. No, I didn’t go out for a 500-miler. I decided to shut it down. Sometimes a car will go to the garage in the middle of a race for some kind of problem, then head back out to the track and run laps. There’s no chance of a victory, but there is an opportunity to pick up some points by moving up. But there comes a point when there aren’t enough laps left to gain any more ground and they call it quits. There’s absolutely zero to gain and no reason to continue.

That’s the point I decided I’m at last night. I think that overall, I’m just a little banged up, but good enough to run. The goal is next year, though. Not this week. And I just don’t want to risk anything between now and then. How much fitness am I going to gain or lose in four days? What if I ran awkwardly and truly damaged something? What if I’m actually on the verge of a tear and one more mile put me over the edge? It’s just … not … worth it. So, I shut it down. I’m in the garage. And quite frankly, this is coming at the perfect time, because I’m so busy with all of my “real world” work obligations. I’m no sponsored athlete — I work way too much, although that’s what you do when you’re single-income, five mouths, especially in this neck of the woods.

For those of you reading this for the first time, wondering how many miles a guy planning to run 60 marathons ran this morning, the answer isn’t too exciting: Zero.

Sweet Schwag For A 5K
I have enough race tees to clothe an overcrowded classroom. I have enough freebie tech shirts to outfit a PE class. Yet I’m pretty excited about the giveaway being offered at a 5K at Angels Stadium on August 1. $30 is the entry fee, and ordinarily, I’d call that a tiny bit high. But ordinarily, race entries don’t include two tickets to a ballgame. So, if you’ve been wondering, “Where will Sam be on the morning of August 1?” … now you know! (Thanks to my friend Danica for telling me about this race!)

Talkin’ Jack
In case this is your first time here, or if you’ve never been to the rest of the site, I’m planning on running 60 marathons next year to raise awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. My son, Jack, is severely autistic and I want to do something to make a difference in his honor. In this spot in each blog, I’ll talk about Jack a little bit.

Jack had a little bit of a tough day early on yesterday. He got upset for no good reason several times in the first part of the day and had a few meltdowns. That happens often enough, unfortunately, because of the problems caused by his inability to effectively communicate. However, yesterday was his day off from therapy — that’s like a day off of work for him, and he only gets one of those per week. On top of that, he got to go to Us Too Gymnastics, a gymnastics center for special-needs kids. We take him there every other week, but the lucky guy went Tuesday as a make-up session and again yesterday. No therapy, two days in a row at Us Too … yeah Jack!

Ice Cream Update
My kids finished off the ice cream in the freezer yesterday afternoon, so come early evening, there was nothing in there for me and I hadn’t extended my streak yet. So, I did what any rational person would do: I went down to the grocery store and picked up a couple of half-gallons. Peanut butter fudge swirl was the flavor of the day, and it was pretty good. Generic, and only $2.39 per 1/2 gallon, yet very good. The streak is now at 22 days with ice cream or frozen yogurt. I’m not going to get over confident, but I feel good about my chances of pulling within 33 of Joe DiMaggio tonight.

In-N-Out Today!
This is my first week blogging every day, so some of you might not be used to my eating habits. Well, I make a weekly trip to In-N-Out on Fridays. Those of you on the West Coast know what that means. Most of the rest of you probably know what it means. For those of you who don’t, I feel bad for you. Dollar for dollar, it’s the best food on the planet. You might find a slightly better meal (might), but it’s going to cost you a whole lot more that $6. I normally go on Fridays, but I’m switching to Thursday this week because I think I’m meeting up with a friend of mine for Chipotle on Friday.

Sign Up For A Team And I’ll Do The YMCA In A Chicken Suit In Front Of 16,000 People!
Oh wait, I’ve already done that. Yeah, that’s me, in a packed MGM Grand Garden. Don’t ask. For the record, I couldn’t see down or more than three feet in front of me, hence some of the awkward movements. Oh, and I’m totally not coordinated, plus I’m a computer guy, not a professional mascot. Yeah, that might’ve had something to do with it! I’m at the beginning, blindly going down the stairs and scared to death of falling in front of everybody, and I reappear at about the 1:10 mark. I actually fell on top of people, because I couldn’t see, but that’s not on the video.

That’s All I Have For Today
I say this every day, but I really appreciate you reading this. I can tell during the day how many times it’s being read, and I get excited when I see the number jump. You all read this because you are supporting my cause and you believe in what I’m trying to do, and that means a lot to me. I’m going to beg this every day, so here goes: If you’ve read this far, please do me a huge favor and encourage just one person to come to the site! Operation Jack is going to succeed due to tiny efforts by a ton of people, not just huge efforts by a couple of people (well, I’m going to have to work hard, but that’s a different story). You can truly make a difference by bringing 2 or 3 people to the site each week.

Thanks for your help! Have a great Thursday, everybody!

Today, I’ll finally do it. I’m calling the doctor. I got a good recommendation to a doctor (I don’t know what kind — I just know it’s a doctor that takes care of your knees). I have tendinitis in my right knee and it just … won’t … go … away. I had the same exact thing in March 2008, and four days off along with some kind of a prescription did the trick. This time, it flared up after my 50-miler May 9, and while it’s died down 99% at times, it just won’t go away.

If I need to take time off, now is the time. I have to be good to go next year. I get concerned about losing fitness, but my wife just took 9 weeks off due to injury and after being back on for just 9 weeks, she’s already back to where it was. I have more experience than her and I should be able to handle time off even better than her, but it’s tough to look at yourself objectively. I go back and forth between wanting to run and wanting to take time off and get better. Actually, I take that back — I go back and forth between being willing to risk injury and knowing to be smart and take the day of.

But I need to get this done right, so I’m calling the doctor today. I’m a computer guy … why should I be following my plan to make my knee better ? I’ll leave that up to the experts.

So yeah, no run today, not that I could have, considering I was up 2 1/2 hours past my bedtime working last night. That makes two days off in a row, three out of four. I’m doing a lot of perfect pushups, but I don’t think those are helping me much with my running! Better July than December, though. It’s kind of convenient, because I have a ton of work to do and a big project due August 1. I’m just looking forward to next month, when I should be able to get back on track.

Badwater starts today
Anybody who thinks I’m crazy should check out Badwater (or twitter.com/adventurecorps), which started today. A friend of mine, Jonathan Gunderson is running it. Nothing like running 135 miles in 115+ temps from 282 feet below sea level up to Mt. Whitney. The toughest race I did was a 50-miler with moderate elevation gains (varied between about 4,000 feet and 6,000 feet) in 85-degree temps. It was a miserable day for me, but it was 85 miles shorter and 30 degrees cooler than what Gundy will be doing. It’s mind-boggling and something I will never, ever do.

Site changes, Operation Jack update
I made a change to the way this site functions. You don’t totally need to go through the registration process to leave a commeunt. Well, you kind of do, but it’s part of leaving a comment. When you post a comment, name & email are required, but putting those in will automatically register you. You can add a URL if you want to. Also, you can subscribe to the blog via RSS feed now.

I’m getting some positive feedback from various groups around the country. Several organizations are thinking of coming on board to try to help make a difference. It’s a win-win … Train 4 Autism gains awareness, and those organizations raise funds they wouldn’t have raised.

Thought I had …
I love ice cream and frozen yogurt. Right now, I’m on a streak of 19 consecutive days of having one or the other. A friend of mine, knowing this, told me she received two certificates for a free pint of ice cream at Baskin Robbins for donating blood that she wasn’t going to use. She’s going to give them to me, but it gave me an idea. I’m so focused on doing what I can to help the Autism community, but there’s no reason to only help in that area.

I was thinking (which is when I always get myself in trouble) that we can do various things that are easy to do that will make a difference. The blood donation idea was a no-brainer. Right now, there aren’t enough people following, so I want to save the first blood-drive attempt for later. But I’d love it if at some point we had people all over the country donating blood as part of this. I hate needles, but I’d do it. I think it would be cool if 100 or 200 people went out and donated blood on a designated day at some point in the future.

Jack, my super star!
I’m doing Operation Jack in honor of my son, and I talk a lot about Train 4 Autism and running and all sorts of things in between, but I realized I never really talk about Jack. So, I figured I’d throw in a happy Jack story.

Jack is off in his own world quite a bit. He’s oblivious, he doesn’t communicate too well … he just kind of does his own thing. As parents, it’s like Tiff and I have two sets of kids — Ben and Ava, the older brother and little sister, and then Jack, the only child. Last night, we were at Lucille’s, a BBQ restaurant, and he was playing with Ben and Ava, getting wild and having a blast. All three of them were having blast with each other, which is something we never see. Ordinarily, I don’t let the kids run around and make noise in a restaurant. But fortunately, we were in a back room and nobody else was in there (smart hostess!) and it was loud anyways. Ahhhh, the joys of parenthood!

Randomness: I heard this song today and I hadn’t heard it in a while
Big and Rich, Lost In This Moment. I love country music and I listen to it all day long. For whatever reason, I can’t stand Big and Rich. But I love this song. Anything that makes me pause and think of my wife is a good song. This one qualifies.

That’s all I’ve got for today
Thanks for reading. Don’t hesitate to sign up for Operation Jack! Register for a team — there’s no obligation! There are no fundraising minimums and you don’t have to run a marathon. I’m just trying to drive participation and awareness, so please — sign up and tell a friend! You can follow me at twitter.com/operationjack.