As the year winds down, I’m sure I’m going to start writing retrospective blogs. This has been a big year for me, one I’ll never forget, and it will be impossible for me not to reflect on everything. I always say that the purpose of this blog is for you to be able to see this journey from my perspective. So here goes, retrospective blog No. 1!

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic and I’m attempting to run 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m through 48. Sunday, I ran Chicago and you can read why Neil Diamond made me cry in my recap.

Anyways, I dream of leaving a mark on the world. I want to make it a better place. I want to make a difference. I have to think that everybody feels that way, although that takes work and you have to pick and choose the right time and method. There’s no handbook for something like this, but I truly felt like I was being called to attempt to do something.

My son has autism for a reason. As part of what I go through emotionally, I’ve tried to figure out what that reason is. I’m pretty inward with my emotions, but as you can imagine, that’s something that has always been on my mind. Also, as I’ve mentioned quite a bit around here, I broke my neck when I was 16 and was fortunate to escape paralysis. I’m not athletic and I’ve never been able to run, so to have legs that work so well now is a total blessing.

Those two things are always on my mind, and always will be. I have a lot of time to think when I run, and I was constantly thinking of ways to use my running to make something good happen in the autism world. I came up with this Operation Jack idea, but I never really had a plan, and that proved to be my biggest mistake.

I launched my site six months in advance. I started writing blogs and pushing on Twitter and Facebook. Several times, I wanted to quit before I even started because I felt like I couldn’t get through to people. I didn’t know what I expected from anybody, and I didn’t tell anybody what I expected from them, but for whatever reason, I felt like I wasn’t getting what I expected — whatever that imaginary concept was. Twice, I pulled my site down, only to put it back up at my wife’s urging.

The word eventually kind of got out there, and more and more people started finding out about my plans for this year. The schedule was up, with a system that would allow people to join teams and become team leaders. People joined teams, but I had no plan for them. I still don’t.

I had this idea, that I would run 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism. I never connected the dots to try to figure out how running 61 marathons would accomplish my goals. I jokingly told people that I had no clue what I was doing. My standard line was, “I’m learning every day, and that will be the case until December 31, 2010.” That’s all still true. I have no clue what I’m doing and I’m still learning every day.

I’ve had all sorts of people offer free help and I don’t know how to put them to work. I have shirts for people, but I can’t find the time to do something so simple as tell ask my wife (the designated t-shirt sender) to send them out. Shoot, I have a list of people who made pledges based on a race five weeks ago that I still need to contact.

I’ve tried to cram 28 hours into 24 hour days, and I’ve tried to do that without knowing what I want to do. I take each day as it comes, a blurry series of repeating weeks. Decompress and mentally check out from Operation Jack on Mondays, week is in full swing Tuesday and Wednesday (that includes my full-time job, being a dad, being a husband, exercising to take care of myself, occasionally sleeping, writing blogs, etc.) and by Thursday, it’s time to be making final arrangements for the upcoming weekend. If I’m not traveling on Friday, I’m packing. Every weekend is shot. And then all of a sudden it’s Monday again, time to decompress. What is this, the 42nd or so week of the year? 43rd?

We’re already closing in on halfway through October. I’m getting excited about finishing this, but I know I’m going to be sad when it’s all done. I’ll miss the routine in a way. I’ll go through the weekend of January 1 and 2 without running a race and even though it will be awesome to be home with the family, I’ll miss it.

I’ve thought about how I’m going to look back on this. All in all, Operation Jack will be a net gain. There are new people involved with Train 4 Autism and a lot of people all over the country now know to contact me any time they come across somebody who wants to combine running with fighting autism. Then there’s the money, of course.

But a big part of me will feel like I blew it. I feel like I had a really good opportunity that I just couldn’t take advantage of. If I had organized and planned better, I could have made so much more out of it. I left so much on the table and I know I’ll always shake my head about that. I had a window and didn’t know what to do with it. I never told anybody what to do and unfortunately, this isn’t something I’ll get a second crack at. There’s no way I’ll do this again. Well, I take that back. If some company wanted to donate $1 million to Train 4 Autism, I’d run 62 next year.

From an individual standpoint, I’ll know I set out to do something difficult and I got it done. I downplay the impressiveness of the 61 marathons, because since it’s within the limits of what I can do physically, it’s not a big deal. I have to work hard and fight through a lot of pain, though, and the effort I’ve put forth is what I’m the happiest about. I went all-out. I was never tough as a kid, but I feel like I was pretty tough this year.

I’ll probably hold grudges against some people who have said I shouldn’t have done this. I’m not naming names, but I have a good memory. I didn’t make this into everything I wanted to, but I at least tried. I put myself out there and gave it my all. This was a tough year on my family. We knew that going in, but that was a decision my wife and I made together. Things don’t happen unless people step up and I decided to step up and at least take a chance. This is America, land of opportunity. I tried, and had lots of failures, but at least I tried. I’m not a professional athlete, but I can imagine how much they hate armchair quarterbacks who like to second guess.

I’ve been struggling mentally since last weekend when I had a disaster of an event in St. Louis. After I posted a couple of grumpy blogs last week, Train 4 Autism Founder Ben Fesagaiga sent me a quote from Theodore Roosevelt that I really liked.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

That mentality hit me at mile 19 of Chicago on Sunday. I tried this year. I tried hard.

At this point, I have 11 weeks and 13 races left to go, only 10 trips and only eight trips without Tiff. I’m past a point where I can really push the fundraising or recruiting. The Runner’s World inclusion is coming, I have some other publicity coming, and I’ll let those things take care of themselves. The best I can really do at this point is to go out and give it my all 13 times. I’m still chasing that sub-3 and even though my legs are dead, I’m still going to sink myself into it for Tucson on December 12. That’s where my PR is from and Tiff will be there. It’s been a long journey towards that individual goal, and it’s been a long year. I want to bring it when she’s there.

The point of all this? I don’t know. This is what’s on my mind so I felt like throwing it out there. Have a great Tuesday, y’all. 76 more days — not that I’m counting!

If you read my blog yesterday, you saw that I’m pretty down right now. I don’t even know what to think or do. But I’m going to use my blog to just write about what’s on my mind. Nothing more straightforward and to the point than that, right?

Just in case you’ve never been here, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic and I’m trying to run 61 full marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m through 47. Only 14 to go! Can’t wait!

Anyways, I guess I’ll just write about what’s on my mind. I’m beat up and I’m sore. My legs are dead and I think I made a mistake in kicking hard at the end of Sunday’s race, because the outside of my right leg is killing me now. I don’t have a real good feeling about this weekend’s marathon in Chicago.

I’m not going to worry too much about brainstorming ways to fundraise any more. If it happens, it happens. I’m not going to set myself up for any more failure. I’m just going to take care of my obligations and these days will go by and I’ll run marathon No. 61 before I know it. 83 days from today, not that I’m counting.

I also want to say that I read every single comment that came through on yesterday’s blog, but I didn’t respond to everybody. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I’m not really up to talking about it once I write and post my blog. I’m in a tough place mentally right now.

Anyways, …

Thank You Sarah And Danielle
The night before the Boston Marathon this year, I was looking at my replies on Twitter and saw that two people were talking about a sign they made that they were going to hold up for me. The funny thing is, I don’t think I had ever talked to them before. They were behind what I did to the point that they were going to randomly make and hold up a sign for me. I was pretty flattered by that, because while I know I have a lot of people lurking and following me and I have no idea who you all are, it’s still pretty new to me and I’m not used to it.

So, I made sure to know where they were, and as I got close, I made sure to keep my eye out. I was excited to look for them, I saw them, and it gave me that last little boost I needed since they were at about mile 26.

I tracked them down when I got my phone after the race and we met up for lunch. They were really nice and it was fun hanging out with them for a little while. We talked and them forming a Train 4 Autism chapter in Maine, which is where they live, and they’ve done that. I’ve talked to them a fair amount since then and they’re very enthusiastic about their chapter.

I’m glad that what I’ve done has brought them on board. I’m heading out there next year to pace one of them through her first marathon. They’re pretty high on my list of favorite people I’ve met through Operation Jack.

The point I’m getting to is I wrote a bitter blog yesterday and after I wrote it, I was going through my email and saw an email from them with seven photos they took while working the Maine Marathon expo over the weekend. I figured I’ll include the photos in here, then copy and paste the email I sent them.

I really liked those photos. They made me happy. And they made me feel like a jerk for being so grumpy while they were out there recruiting at the expo. So I sent them an email to let them know I appreciate their efforts.

You’re going to have to forgive me in advance for the blog I wrote for Monday. Everybody wants to put a Superman cape on me but I’m just a guy who’s away from his family a lot and running his body into the ground. I know I signed up for it, and I don’t mind what I’m doing, but as the year goes on, I’m getting more and more beat up (as is obvious with my times) and when I have miserable failures like I did with my function with the Cardinals players on Saturday night, it makes me wonder if it’s worth it or if anybody even cares.

You guys will always be two of the people who most make it worth it for me. I can’t even explain what it’s like to be me and see these pictures arrive in my inbox. It’s pure awesomeness and I’m a pretty lucky guy.

Anyways, you’ll see in Monday’s blog that I’m on the bitter bus, but it has zero to do with you. You guys are a huge boost for me and I really appreciate your enthusiasm and efforts. Definitely looking forward to getting out there next year and pacing you (Sarah).

– Sam

Time To Think About 2011
I’ve been thinking more and more about 2011. I don’t know what to do. I have a lot of you guys following who think there’s something good about me. Obviously, that’s an indicator we’ve never met, but still, it means I have a platform. I don’t want to waste any opportunities if they’re actually there. So I need to think about what I’m going to do.

Autism is always going to be my primary cause because of Jack. But I’ve thought about branching out and working to help multiple causes. I’m not running 61 marathons next year. This is too much. So, if anybody out there actually thinks I could/should do something to keep people going or to do some good, let me know if you have any ideas.

That’s All For Today
Not really much of anything, other than what’s on my mind right now. Kind of bummed that I’m not more excited heading into the fourth quarter of this. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll snap out of it. Have a great Tuesday, y’all.

I suspect some of you are going to tell me to quit my fussing, but here comes a whiny weekend recap. Good stuff and bad stuff. If you’ve been following along for any chunk of time, you know I go through mood swings. Well, Grumpy Sam is in the house. Sorry.

Just in case you’ve never been here, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic and I’m trying to run 61 full marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism.

I ran marathon No. 47 of the year yesterday, turning in a lousy performance at the Lewis & Clark Marathon in St. Charles, Mo. yesterday. Read all about it here. It was a tough run — I was probably in the worst condition, physically and mentally, that I’ve been in all year.

Anyways, the reason I write this blog is so that y’all can live vicariously through me as I go on this mission. Sometimes I’m having fun, sometimes I’m not. But you can be sure I’ll let you know when I’m struggling … like today.

Here’s the first item for today’s blog … I wrote this on my flight to St. Louis on Friday.

The Check Is No Longer In The Mail!
As a lot of you remember, we pushed and pushed in July in the Chase Community Giving Contest on Facebook and won $20,000. Well, the reality of that win came last Thursday when a senior vice president from JP Morgan Chase showed up with a check for the Operation Jack Autism Foundation! I guess people and groups really do win these contests!

As I’ve mentioned before, the net result of this is that Train 4 Autism is going to be the recipient of an extra $20,000 at the end of the year! And equally important, in my mind, is that this is roughly the cost of Operation Jack. So this, combined with a few things I’ve done outside of the donations that have come, means that all the money y’all have donated over the course of the year is going to Train 4 Autism.

I’ve made it no secret to that my Foundation is covering the expenses of Operation Jack. I can’t afford to do this, but I have firmly believed that it would be worth it and generate money and exposure that otherwise wouldn’t be there. Bringing in considerably more than the expenses has been a big concern of mine for more than a year. But this is America, land of opportunity. I took a chance and now I know with absolute certainty it paid off. And I still have the fourth quarter ahead of me, plus huge exposure coming in the December issue of Runner’s World.

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OK, now here is where I take a turn for the worse. Like, a complete 180. I wrote this on the plane back from St. Louis last night.

Saturday’s Fundraiser With St. Louis Cardinals Adam Wainwright and Skip Schumaker
We had a fundraiser on Saturday night at a sports bar with St. Louis Cardinals players Adam Wainwright and Skip Schumaker. Wainwright is a fan favorite and he’s been the best pitcher in the National League over the past two years, without question. He finished second in the Cy Young voting last year and will probably do the same this year. He led the league in wins last year and won 20 games this year. They’re rabid about their baseball in St. Louis, like you wouldn’t believe.

Schumaker, the team’s second baseman, struggled a little at the plate this year, but he hit better than .300 in 2007, 2008 and 2009, his first three full years, and fans love him. He’s a guy with a great work ethic who’s a team player and leaves it all on the field. When I talked to him about this earlier this summer, he told me that when him and Adam do autograph sessions like this, the lines go farther than the eye can see. We were pretty excited that this would raise a lot of money for Operation Jack. I did what I could to push it, I had people in St. Louis working to push it, the sports bar handed out flyers for weeks, they had posters and signs up inside advertising it and a big morning radio show in St. Louis was talking about it.

I talked to the manager of the bar about two weeks before the event and he told me he expected 300-400 people there. I recruited helpers so we could manage the line. Vendors donated items for a silent auction. I get little bits here and there from donations and various fundraising ideas, but I expected this to be one of the biggest fundraisers of the year. This had the potential to do very, very well.

So obviously, at this point, you get the hang of what this could have been. Well, I think we might have about 10 people pay for autographs. The bar was a ghost town. I’m not going to Monday morning quarterback the “why not” of this, but this was incredibly deflating. Adam and Skip were sitting at a table waiting to sign autographs and there was nothing to do. We probably waited 10 or 15 minutes for the first customer. I was beside myself. I didn’t even know what to think.

I joked with them that when they were done with their careers, they’d always remember this as the worst autograph session they ever did. They joked that it was the best, because it was easy and laid back. I felt bad for wasting their time, but they felt equally as bad for me because we were barely raising money. This was an absolute golden opportunity for Operation Jack and Train 4 Autism, and it ended up being just a little bit of sterling silver. We talked baseball and running for a little while to pass the time because there was nothing to do. It was just a painful experience. Skip told me that next year we’d give it a shot again, but he’d make sure it gets promoted better. I’ll keep that in the back of my mind, but I need to find some heart again. This was just a killer.

Now that you know what happened with the event, I’ll explain why this was such a mental smackdown for me. As you know, I’m all-in with this endeavor I’m on, and I never stop thinking of ways to raise money and attract people. That’s why I’m running 61 marathons and thrashing my body and spending the year writing blogs on airplanes. I’m perpetually exhausted, I hurt physically every day, but it’s been worth it, because I want to make a difference. I have this utopian dream of making the world a better place. Everybody has their skills and talents, and mine happens to be running marathons at a decent clip and recovering quickly. So, this is my attempt to use that ability to make the world a better place.

I have no clue what I’m doing. It’s trial and error, hit and miss. I fail a lot more than I succeed. I love, love, love succeeding. It was awesome taking that Chase check to the bank on Thursday. But I don’t think I’d be a good salesman, because I’m not good at handling rejection. I get a lot of rejection with Operation Jack. But I think this one, along with where we are in the year, might have been the one that finally did me in.

I couldn’t even fake a smile Saturday night or yesterday. It’s not just the money. I mean, we still brought in money that we didn’t have, even though it was probably about 5-7 percent of what we could have made. And yes I’m grateful that we even had this opportunity. My disappointment comes from the failure. I’m running out of gas, and that was like getting four flat tires. Right now, it’s just kind of like, “why?” I mean, I’ll finish up these 14 marathons and run every single one of them as hard as I can. But I don’t have much confidence in my ability to make any more of a difference the rest of the way. I’m not growing my base, I failed miserably with this event on Saturday, and really, I just think I’ve hit a wall in what I can do. It’s pretty much white flag time.

I feel like I’ve tried hard and put forth a hard, honest effort, and I’ve been doing it for a long time. But I think the heart switch got flicked to off. Yesterday, I had a couple of people, including my wife who I’ve been away from so much this year, reminding me that I can’t grow weary. That verse is right there at the bottom of this blog. Tiff told me God is testing me. I’m content with failing for the next 88 days.

I hear a lot of people tell me things about me inspiring them, and that scares me in a way, because I really don’t feel like I do anything out of the ordinary other than run a lot of marathons. And that ability is something that was given to me by God. He’s the one who’s inspiring. But my point is that as I write this, if you’re in the club that looks to me for any kind of inspiration, I hope I’m not letting you down. But at this point, you know I’m honest with you. I’m cooked.

Anyways, while I’m being honest, I really enjoyed going to the Cardinals game yesterday. Skip got some good karma for showing up Saturday night, going 2-for-5 with a run scored and a nice play in the field. The Rockies had one out and a runner on third when somebody lifted a lazy fly ball down the right field line and he raced over from second base to make a nice catch with his back to the infield. The runner on third tagged and tried to score, but he nailed him at the plate with a strong throw. The play wasn’t even close — the runner eased up about 20 feet from the plate and let the catcher tag him.

OK, that’s all I have for today. I’ll be back here with some updates on Jack. Have a great Monday, everybody.

I like to write a weekend recap, and with what was essentially a 3 1/2-day trip to run the Tahoe Triple, you’d think I’d have a lot to write about. But I take more of a business-like approach to this one than any other weekend, because even with all the marathons I’ve run this year, I couldn’t just show up and take the races for granted. I had three marathons to run, three marathons to finish, and there’s no way I’d allow myself to turn in a lousy effort.

Ordinarily, three marathons all-out in three days would be tough physically. But I knew it would be a little tougher than normal, because the courses are on rolling hills at elevation. I started to find that I have troubles above 4,000 feet, and the courses we ran on varied between 6,300 feet and 7,040 feet above sea level. I tried not to think about it all heading in. I knew I had three marathons, but I mentally blocked out how difficult the courses would be. I certainly wasn’t looking forward to it, though.

I left work after lunch on Thursday, flying in to Reno. When I got in, I had to drive straight to Tahoe, which was about an hour away, to attend a dinner for all the Triple runners that started at about the time I landed. I was a little late getting in, but I got there just in time to hear Dick Beardsley speak. He’s a running legend, a 2:08 guy back in the day, and it was fun to hear some of his stories. I sat at a table with a friend of mine, Lucia Lake, who is the race director for the 72-mile ultra associated with the weekend of events. I didn’t know I took the seat next to Beardsley until he was done speaking and sat down there next to me.

No big deal, but then when Lucia went up to speak, she started talking about me and went on for a little bit about Operation Jack. At that point, Beardsley started playing 20 questions with me, interested in how I was training, what I was doing to raise money and all those types of things. It was fun to get quizzed by him, but it was kind of awkward, because I’ll never be 1/10 the runner he was.

Anyways, I grabbed some pasta and some pizza and some rice krispie treats, then went to my motel and got settled in. I didn’t have to get up until 5:15 a.m. on Friday, which is fairly late for me on a race day. I think I got to sleep somewhere around 10 or 10:30, so I was fairly well rested. I’m used to running marathons on 4-5 hours of sleep this year due to the travel. I knew rest would be critical, so I was glad to start with about seven hours the first night.

After getting up and ready, I ran the first marathon (recap here) and was pretty wrecked. I texted my wife Tiffany to let her know I was done and safe (women worry about that stuff, I guess) and told her it was the most difficult marathon course I had ever run, because it was. If I had come home having just run that, I would have had a tough weekend. I finished fifth overall with a 3:49. It was that tough.

One benefit of the lake is that it’s cold water, perfect for an ice bath and easier than climbing into a tub. I went in for about 20 minutes before I went back to my motel, then stayed off my feet and got a bunch of work done on the computer. I didn’t have much of an appetite, but knew I needed to eat. About five hours after I finished the race, I went to Denny’s and forced myself to overindulge on all-you-can-eat pancakes.

I was full after three, but I forced myself to eat seven. I wasn’t convinced that I’d really be able to use all the carbs I ate for Saturday’s race, but I figured that if I didn’t burn all those pancakes, I’d use them for Sunday. I wasn’t tremendously concerned about protein after the first day. I’ve run at least 10 or so doubles before, so I know I can fight through it.

After eating, I went back to the lake for a second ice bath. It was about a 10-minute walk to the lake, so that was nice for a tiny bit of recovery. When I got back, I took some ibuprofen PM. It was only about 6:30 at that point, but I figured that would make me tired at a reasonable time. I picked up a couple of protein bars at a grocery store, then went to Burger King to get a small order of fries. My real reason to get the fries was so I could get a ton of salt packets. I had about 6-8 to get the salt back into my system, and I drank a ton of water and a couple of Gatorades to rehydrate. I called it a night, iced my right knee and right foot, and went to sleep, ready for the second day. Oh, I stretched, too. Two ice baths and stretching — definitely important when doing a triple!

I woke up on Saturday morning after getting about 7 1/2 hours of sleep and didn’t feel very tired, which was nice. My legs were a little tight, but not as bad as they normally are the day after a marathon. The ice and stretching must have helped, as did lounging around and staying off my feet for the most part.

I ran the second race on Saturday and my legs were pretty dead, but the pain wasn’t too bad. It was just tough. The run was nice, but it wasn’t a ton of fun because it was so difficult. I was pretty happy with how I did, because out of the top five finishers in the triple, I was the only one who was faster the second day. The course was easier (or, should I say, less difficult and miserable), but the other four were all slower. I went from 3:49 to 3:36 (recap here).

I went into the lake after the race again, but didn’t eat aside from a handful of pretzels. I wanted to work up an appetite, because I knew protein was important before the third race, and I was going to an all-you-can-eat stir-fry restaurant called Fire & Ice. I showered, got some work done on the computer, and about four hours after the race finally ended, I went to eat. I did a number at that restaurant, eating four full plates (each were the size of a dinner restaurant entree) and loading up. Chicken twice, mahi mahi, and then a huge serving of salmon. Lots of rice, tortillas and veggies in the mix there, too. I sat at the bar in the restaurant watching college football and the bartender was amazed by how much I was eating!

I got back to my motel, took another ice bath, then sat in bed watching football. I took some ibuprofen PMs at an early hour again, drank a couple of gatorades, had about 6-8 more salt packets, drank a ton of water and called it a night again.

I got up on Sunday and wasn’t tired but my legs were pretty tight. My left hamstring and right knee felt sore. I guess that’s to be expected after two marathons in two days. The third course is about as difficult as the first one and I knew it was going to be a tough day. It was pretty difficult to have a positive approach. I knew at the end of the day I would have completed the Tahoe Triple, which is a difficult challenge, but I really didn’t want to run 26.2 miles. There’s nothing quite like running 26.2 miles in the mountains when you don’t want when you’ve run marathons each of the previous days.

But I had to do what I had to do, and I battled through the third day (recap here). Of us top five in the Triple, I don’t think any of us finished faster the third day than the second day. But I was the only one who finished faster than I did the first day. I knew I did a good job taking care of myself and that I was ready for this. And I knew I was glad to be done! Any one of these three races would have been one of the toughest courses I’ve run. Lucky me, I got three of them in a row! I finished third overall in the Triple out of maybe 100 or so entrants.

After the race, I went and took another dip in the lake. It felt pretty nice to soak my legs. I was pretty exhausted! When I finally got back to my hotel, I showered, checked out, drove back to Reno and stopped at In-N-Out, then flew home (with a stopover) and finally walked through my door at 9:30 p.m.

I had a snack, posted my race report, worked on my blog, then called it a night. I have to get out the door before 7:30 to get Jack to school on time, which I did yesterday morning.

So, that was my weekend. Normally I have a function, I see something interesting or have fun anecdotes to tell. But for this weekend, I had to take a very serious approach, because if I didn’t, I’d be setting myself for a miserable experience.

Like this entire year has been, it was fun, challenging and memorable, but I’m not so sure I ever want to do it again!

I’m not going to write a ton today for my weekend recap, because to be quite honest, I’m short on time and I want to do a blog on the anatomy of a three-marathon weekend. But I do have three fun things from this weekend that I want to share.

Real quick, in case you’ve never been here before, click here to see why I’m trying to run 61 marathons this year to help raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism.

Over the weekend, I ran three marathons as part of the Tahoe Triple.
– Friday: Emerald Bay Marathon
– Saturday: Cal-Neva Marathon
– Sunday: Lake Tahoe Marathon

I finished third overall in the Tahoe Triple to cap off a tough month. I ran two ultramarathons (timed races in which I ran 45 and 54 miles) plus five marathons with an average starting elevation of more than 7,100 feet and an average finishing altitude of more than 6,400 feet. Seven races … thank goodness all I have on the schedule for October is six marathons!

I’m calling three as the number of the day, since I finished in third place in a three-marathon competition. I’m pounding myself into the ground for charity, not for fun. So if you’re glad you have your legs and not mine this morning, I’m begging you to make a contribution of $3 (or more if you so desire) to help fight pediatric cancer. I know I’m taking a slight detour from my passion, which is fighting autism, but it’s for a great cause.

And heck, while I’m at it, can I ask you for another favor? I haven’t done a “spread the word campaign in a little while, so if you’re on Twitter, don’t hesitate to let people know about me, and if you’re on Facebook, direct people to the fan page!

Now, on to the three funny things I wanted to share from this weekend.

My Flight Attendant Had More Jokes Than Me!
If you’ve ever been on a flight, you’re probably familiar with the safety instructions they tell you at the beginning. Seat belt, flotation device, emergency exits, etc. Well, the flight attendant giving the instructions over the PA on my flight back last night was firing off the jokes, and I just had to share. Here were some of her nuggets:

– “Just in case you haven’t been in a car since 1950, this is a seat belt.”

– “In the event this flight turns into a cruise, underneath your seat you’ll find a Big Bird flotation device with a matching Louis Vuitton belt. Look for the exits. When you get out there, row, row, row. We’ll be behind you with peanuts and an open bar. When you’re safe, the flotation device will be yours to keep.”

– “If the cabin loses pressure, these cups will drop down. Don’t scream or panic — that will really annoy your neighbors. Instead, just put the mask over your face and breathe normally. If you don’t know how to breathe normally, just breathe however you normally breathe. If you’re traveling with two or more children, what are you thinking? On the bright side, this will be a great time for you to pick the one with the most potential.”

– “It is a federal offense to tamper with the smoke detectors and web cams in the lavatories …”

– “Soft drinks are complimentary. Beer, liquor and cheap wine are all $5.”

– “Raise your hand if you’re feeling warm! Good, now while your hand is up, turn on your fan.”

– “If you look up, you’ll see a button with a hairy lightbulb. If you press that button, it will turn on the light. Next to it, you’ll see a button with a flight attendant. If you press that button, it will not turn on the flight attendant.”

Sign Of The Week
I’ve never seen a sign like this one. So I took a picture.

I Wonder If This Has Ever Been Booked
So here’s the motel I stayed in over the weekend.

They have a gazebo for weddings in the parking lot. I mean, I guess to each their own, but do people actually get married at the parking lot of the Rodeway Inn?

OK, that’s all for today. Oh yeah, and my Chiefs are 3-0! And my Wildcats are 4-0! I’ll see you back here tomorrow!