Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Operation Jack: Reflections On Year 1

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Yesterday marked a year since I launched Operation Jack. I did a lot of planning in the spring of 2009, then launched this site on July 1 last year to give myself six months to build a base. It hasn’t gone exactly as I expected, but I didn’t know what to expect, so that’s to be expected. Or something like that.

Just in case this is your first time here, welcome! My name is Sam and I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I came up with this idea of running 60 full marathons in 2010 to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. I’m kind of, sort of hitting my goals and I’m through 31 of the 60 marathons. I launched this site July 1, 2009, and since I didn’t write a blog yesterday, that’s pretty much the subject for today.

I mentally carved Operation Jack into trimesters — the first six months were to build a base, then I had the first half of this year and the second half of this year. So in a way, I’m 2/3 of the way through this. In reality, I really am. I was concerned about the running heading into this. I had never run more than 10 or 11 marathons in a year, and while I run long distances in training, races are different and I go all-out every time. But through 31 of these things, I have all the confidence in the world about things physically. That part is going well.

Everything else is a challenge. One of my followers on Twitter yesterday asked me what has been the toughest part, and no question, it’s leaving the family every weekend. I had traveled for work at my last job, and I enjoyed going on the trips and working hard, but it was only 2-3 times a year. It took about a month this year for me to start getting homesick. I hate being on the road, sitting in a motel room, knowing Tiffany is running around doing family things with the kids. I feel like I’m being punished and I’m missing time.

I knew this going in, but I didn’t realize how tough it would be until I actually started doing this. It’s easier when I leave from work to go to the airport, because it doesn’t seem like I’m leaving anybody. But when I leave from home, it’s tough. And when everybody is awake and I leave from home, it’s really tough. Tiff is getting to the point where it’s almost not that big of a deal when I leave on a trip, because it’s every … single … week. It’s hard, though, no question.

The second thing that’s the toughest is the additional work that comes with this. I write four blogs a week and a race report. That’s a huge chunk of my spare time, and typically, I’m writing on the couch at night while sort of watching TV with Tiff. It’s a non-stop cycle that never ends. I’m always on the computer and there’s very little playtime going on with that. Blogs, Twitter, emails … I do everything I can to try to spread the word about what I’m doing and it’s exhausting and never-ending. There’s basically no time to sit back and relax, other than when I eat my dinner. I certainly go to bed tired every night.

Fundraising has also been a challenge. I have zero experience in this, and I’m shy and not really comfortable asking for anything. I don’t know how to go to companies for anything, which is why I haven’t gotten any money from any companies. Even if I did know how to do it, I wouldn’t have the time! From the beginning, I’ve always said that all I want is a little bit of help from a whole lot of people, and that’s what I’ve gotten. I think we’ve raised a little more than $30,000 to this point, which is pretty good with no corporate sponsors.

So all-in-all, if I had to give myself a grades, I’d go with A for effort, C for results and as if my running matters in all this, I’d give myself a C there.

Effort-wise, my heart is in this, probably even a little too much, and I run myself into the ground trying to do everything this year. I want to spend quality time with the family, I want to do a good job at work and I want to squeeze everything I can out of Operation Jack, because it truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference like this. I’m putting my body on the line to try to make something happen for charity, and this really isn’t something I can do twice. Like a good marathon, I have no doubt I’m leaving it all out there, and while I might regret the way certain things worked out when all is said and done, I’ll have no regrets about laying it all on the line.

Results-wise, I’m not doing as well as I hoped. I really wanted to see things explode over the course of the year, and I’ve known that the last half of the year would be the best. But I’m impatient and I want to see things explode now. I know I’m planting seeds and making progress and it’s a lengthy process. I’m optimistic that Train 4 Autism will continue to benefit from what I’ve done more and more every year. I wanted to bring in more people than I have, but I’ve brought in some quality people, which is why I’m in this. I don’t want to name names, because I might leave some out, but everybody who participates knows how much I appreciate it and I know that if not for Operation Jack, they wouldn’t have found Train 4 Autism. That’s why I do this.

Running-wise, I give myself a C. A lot of you would be happy to average a 3:20 for 31 marathons through June, but I’m disappointed with about half of my races. I expect more out of myself than the way I’ve run. I’d love to chip away and get that average down closer to 3:15 for the course of the year. We’ll see. It’s tough to get motivated sometimes, but when I run, I know those times are forever and I give it everything I’ve got.

So, six more months and Operation Jack is going to finally be done. It will be nice to spend a weekend at home and not have to get up at 4 a.m. in a different time zone to run a marathon. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be depressed at first, but I can’t go on running marathons every weekend for the rest of my life. I’m still going to try to do something next year, though. I’m building a platform of people who want to make a difference in the autism world and there’s no reason to destroy that platform just because the calendar turns to 2011. I owe it to myself for all the work I’ve put in to keep it going, and I owe it to Jack, because the reason I’m doing this is so that he can make a difference in the world.

I don’t know what I’m going to do, but it’s going to be something. I know I’m going to Maine and I’m pretty sure I’m going to Utah. I’m also going to be running the Los Angeles Marathon — Train 4 Autism was selected as an official charity and I’m going to work on building a team for that race. I’m super-excited about that one, especially because it’s going to be a big Train 4 Autism race, not just Operation Jack, though.

I don’t know what else I’m going to do, though.

So I guess that’s the first year summed up in a lengthy blog. If I summed it up in a word, it would be “exhausting,” but I feel pretty blessed to be on this path. It’s been an amazing experience.

Anyways, real quick, two things:
1. If you’re familiar with my weekly contest, Scott Yerbic won last week. The contest is you guess my time in my race with a donation (if you think I’m going to run a 3:15, you donate $3.15). I’ll just sum up Portland this weekend by saying it’s flat and I’m aiming for a 1:35:00 first half to practice for pacing next weekend. I’m going to try to hang on and then go hard late. If I was betting, I’d go with $3.11. But I think I’m going to run a 3:09. To participate, click on the “Donate Now” link at the top of any page on the site.

2. I need your help in the Chase Community Giving contest! I need 15 seconds of your time if you have a Facebook account. Just click here, vote for the Operation Jack Autism Foundation, then use their “share” feature to share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. We’re legitimately in the running for $20,000 and I REALLY, REALLY need your help!

OK, that’s all for today. Have a safe weekend, everybody!

Halfway To 18 … Really?

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I was going to write my standard weekly recap for Monday, since it’s Monday, but for reasons that I’ll explain, I had to stray from that for today. I have some nuggets from the weekend for tomorrow. Today, I’m going to be talking a little bit about my son Benjamin’s birthday. He turned 9 yesterday and we had a great day, which is going to be the subject of today’s blog.

But first, just in case this is your first time here, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. So, I’m trying to run 60 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, so good. I’m through 31 of 60 marathons, I’m reaching people, I’m raising money … we’ll see how it all works out, but all I can do is try, right? And I’m trying.

On Saturday, marathon No. 31 of the year was the Seattle Rock ‘N Roll Marathon. I was pretty happy with how the race turned out. I posted a race report here, although I don’t think it’s too interesting to read, because it’s a fairly technical report of how I executed a race according to plan. If you’re not a runner, you’ll scan over it in about 20 seconds. If you are a runner, you’ll probably do the same.

I Really, Really, Really Need Your Help!!!
There’s a contest sponsored by Chase called Chase Community Giving. They’re going to give $20,000 to 200 small charities. The recipients will be the charities that receive the most votes in the contest on Facebook. You can only vote once, so it’s not a “vote early, vote often” thing. You just need to vote once and encourage your friends on Facebook to do the same.

We’re currently in 130th place, so we’re in the running still, but we’re slowly slipping. When I wrote this last night, we only had 365 votes. So I know we have a ton of votes we can capture. If you haven’t voted, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE HEAD OVER HERE and vote. And even if you have, please head over there to re-post it on your wall or send it out via Twitter (or both). If you ever can’t find the address, it’s in the Chase button at the top left of every page on this site.

I know you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t believe in the cause. This is a really good way to raise a large amount of money and it won’t cost any of us a nickel. So PLEASE, make sure you vote and spread the word! Let’s get 200 votes today!

On To Benjamin …
I can’t believe he’s already 9! Halfway to 18? It blows my mind how fast time flies. I don’t even want to think about the fact that he’s going to be a teenager in four years.

Anyways, his birthday really started on Saturday night in our house. His actual birthday was yesterday, but we had some friends over for a sleepover party Saturday night. After my race on Saturday, I basically went straight to my motel, checked out within 20 minutes and then went straight to the airport. Side note: I didn’t have a rental car, so the three-mile run from the rail station to my motel while carrying my gear-check bag after the marathon … yeah, it wasn’t fun.

Anyways, my flight landed, I stopped off to pick up pizza for the kids on the way home and I walked through the door about 10 minutes before the first of Benjamin’s friends arrived. Perfect timing! From then, it was nothing but that, “Ahhhh, life is good” feeling through the end of Sunday.

Benjamin wanted the sleepover party for his birthday for the past year, so when I set up my schedule, there was no question I’d be running a race that would have me home in time. He had an absolute blast, which was awesome. He had a tough year in school with some of the kids in his class, so it was so wonderful emotionally for me and Tiff to see him have has much fun as he did during his party. They ate pizza, cake, had an ice cream bar, ran themselves ragged playing ball in the back yard, played against each other with their DS game systems, watched a movie, stayed up being silly until 11:30 p.m. and then woke up being silly at 7 a.m. before feasting on donuts for breakfast.

Benjamin had an absolute blast, which pretty much made my month. He’s a good kid and he deserved it. We had family over yesterday and it was nice to see everybody. He had a great time at his party and he didn’t get in any trouble for anything and he didn’t have to do any chores. One of his gifts was a Monopoly game and we started a game (just me and him) at about 7 p.m. It was his birthday, and I let his bedtime slide and we played until the game was done at about 9:45. That’s why there’s no weekend recap today. I allocate at least an hour or so for those and I wanted to get some sleep.

So all-in-all, he had a perfect day, which makes me happier than I can really explain in writing. I won the game — he had two monopolies with hotels, but I had the reds on the back row (Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky) and built hotels and gradually put him out of business. I won the game, but he had a great time and I’m glad I put my weekend blog off for a day.

Oh, one side note: I picked up some flowers for Tiff yesterday. I know it’s Benjamin’s birthday, but it’s still the day that she gave birth to him. She deserves the flowers, so she gets them on each of the kids’ birthdays. Yeah, she’s special to me like that!

OK, here’s some pictures … have a great Monday!


Proud mama, proud papa, birthday boy.

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Me and Tiff in our aprons before everybody arrived for Ben’s birthday barbecue with the relatives. Yes, that’s a sweet In-N-Out apron I’m wearing.


I hopped in my DeLorean, got it up to 88 mph and went to 2011. This is what that year looks like.

Jack playing in a tent in the playroom. The kids slept in there on Saturday night.

Me and Ben after the game.

My rad new trophy.

Ten Random Things For Tuesday

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It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for my weekly 10 random things blog. I wrote the blog and then I wrote this first paragraph. And in looking at what I have in here, I realized … I sure do like to talk about food. Oh well — I’m not going to change who I am.

Just a quick intro in case this is your first time here, I’m a father of three and marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic and to try to make a difference in his honor, I’m attempting to run 60 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, so good. I’m through 26 marathons and I’ve raised quite a bit of awareness. So who wants to help with that money part?

Anyways, I’m doing the best I can and this blog is where I ramble frequently so y’all can go on this journey with me. And with that, I’ll get on to my randomness.

1. OK, so I’ve talked about how I was unathletic when I was a kid, and I had a flashback to something that happened at summer camp one year. It was a sports camp on the beach and we had teams based on the hall we were staying in. There was a relay race at the end of the camp session. Everybody had different roles in the relay based on their strengths. One person would have to swim several laps in the pool, another would have to shoot a certain amount of free throws in the gym and some and somebody else would have to surf a wave in at the beach.

My role? I had to eat two peanut butter sandwiches, drink a glass of milk and whistle. They made those things thick with that peanut butter. It was tough. And I’m not kidding at all. That was my role in the relay.

2. Here’s my secret recipe of the day. Make pizza with ranch dressing instead of marinara. It has to be good ranch dressing, though, like Hidden Valley. Not the gross Kraft stuff in the plastic bottle.

3. I snapped this picture at 8 p.m. on Friday night. It didn’t get dark until about 9:30 p.m. or so!


This might not be extremely unusual brightness for 8 p.m. depending on where you live. If this is typical, you clearly don’t live anywhere near me.

4. When I hit mile 5.2 in the Med City Marathon in Rochester, Minn., this Sunday, I’ll be through 26.2 marathons this year. I’m a numbers junkie and I get excited about stuff like that.

5. For my contest this week, it’s not going to be a “guess Sam’s time” deal. I’m going to have a post-race pancake eating contest with a man named Lonnie Butler, who’s running his first-ever marathon in that race. I can eat, but Lonnie is also a one-time big boy. He’s at about 210 pounds, down from more than 300 at one point.

6. I accidentally walked into the girls locker room on my first day of high school. Somebody gave me directions from the gym to the office and I apparently walked into the wrong door. I scooted out of there before anybody noticed.

7. I’m weird about spending pennies. Weird as in, I don’t spend them. I have a big five-gallon water bottle full of them in the garage, and there are pennies all over the place in my house.

8. My great invention is three-legged pantyhose. That way, if you get a run in one leg, you just go switch to the spare leg. But apparently, it’s not as easy as wrapping the spare leg around your waist. I think it’s a brilliant idea, but I’ve never met a woman who agrees with me.

9. Tiffany loves this song. So when I hear it, I smile. I’m putting it in here today and I think I’ll keep this page open at work today and play it over and over.

10. If you’ve never had frozen peanut M&Ms, do yourself a favor and buy yourself a yellow bag. Leave them in the freezer for a couple of hours and then after you eat them, don’t forget to thank me.

That’s all for today. I’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Ten Random Things For Tuesday Wednesday

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Normally I do 10 random things on Tuesday, but I did my Monday weekend recap yesterday because I wrote a book about United Airlines on Monday. So you’re getting Ten Random Things for Wednesday today. Not so keen on the alliteration charts, but it’s still something to help you be unproductive for a few minutes today.

1. This Friday is the day. If I can keep going, I’ll break my all-time record for consecutive days eating ice cream or frozen yogurt. Through last night, I’m at 108 days. My personal best is 110. I’m still thinking about how I’m going to do it, but I’m thinking about ice cream on top of waffles for breakfast.

2. Those people I saw in Cleveland are REALLY concerned about whether or not LeBron James is coming back. I heard lots and lots of chatter about it. I think he will. If he goes anywhere, he has to win a championship. If he stays with the Cavs, he’s the ultimate good guy for staying in Cleveland and then it’s up to management to give him a supporting cast. He’s already the face of the NBA. He’s not going to be any more marketable or make any more money anywhere else.

3. I know I talk a lot about how I eat In-N-Out, and I had that for lunch on Monday, but it’s not like I eat that every day. Yesterday for lunch, I had chicken tortilla soup, four pieces of whole wheat toast, a banana, and apple and some saltine crackers. I had chicken with rice and mushrooms for dinner last night. And tonight, for dinner, I’m having … oh, In-N-Out.

4. I’m really, really proud of my brother.

5.Look at the following:

Just yesterday, I was kind of bored and lonely
and a friend who knows about all my marathons
called me up and wished me luck this weekend. I
keep in touch with him, but we hadn’t talked in a month!

See how the first letters of those lines spell “Jack”? One time, in college, I wrote a column in the paper and asked for responsibility to handle the layout so I could edit it. I did, and the first letter of the top 25 or so lines asked a girl out on a date. I got the date, but it didn’t last. And that’s good — I met Tiffany four or five months later.

6. Wouldn’t it be nice if instead of having to run your guts out to support Operation Jack you could, say, go bowling instead? Well if you’re in Southern California, save the date — July 17! The hyperbaric chamber facility I go to with Jack, Advanced Hyperbarics, is having a bowling tournament at Lucky Strike at the Block of Orange to benefit Generation Rescue. I’m going to be in Iowa for a marathon on the 18th, but I’d love to have an Operation Jack team there! Yes, you can participate in Operation Jack by bowling! Here’s a flyer — let’s get a team going!

AH has done a great job helping me and Jack and tons of other children with autism. I’d love to be able to show them some support back and have OJ representing! Send me an e-mail if you’re interested!

7. When I pay $3.129 for a gallon of gas, I consider that $3.13. Because really, it is. Anyways, I bought gas on May 1, the day before the Orange County Marathon. It was $3.06 a gallon and I went out and ran a 3:06 the next day. Then, on May 10, the first time I bought gas after running a 3:19 in the Grand Valley Marathon, I paid $3.18. Two days later, I spent $3.05 per gallon and subsequently ran a 3:08 in Cleveland.

I’m really hoping that oil prices drop and gas hits $2.59 around here.


Tough to see, but it’s $3.059, $3.179 and $3.049.

8. When I was in college, I used to like to take my clothes off and run through campus. I loved the thrill of it. My fraternity brothers kept telling me I was going to get in trouble one time if I got caught, but I just couldn’t stop. But finally, I drank Windex one day. That stopped the streaking.

9. I spent some time on the phone last night with United Airlines, working on rectifying my situation from last weekend. 15 minutes on hold, 20 minutes on the phone, still not resolved. But I’ll keep at this until they do me right. The lady on the phone last night was very nice, but it’s Wednesday, and the sky is still blue, and I still hate United.

Oh by the way, I found out that if I come across the same lady who forced me to check my bag, I can demand that I speak to her supervisor on the spot. And believe me, I will.

10. If you want to hear me say “um” and “uh” a lot, check out this interview I did with a sports talk radio station in Colorado last week.

I’m no math major, but I was on the math team back in the day and I know when I hit 10. So, that’s all for today! See you tomorrow!

Ten Random Things For Tuesday

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It’s the day after Monday, which means it’s time for 10 random things for Tuesday. You know what’s even better than having something in here about Jack and something in here about eating ice cream? Having something in here about Jack eating ice cream!

1. You’re going to want to pick up the August edition of Runner’s World.

2. I went to open house last night at Ava’s preschool. I can’t believe she’ll be in kindergarten next year. Am I getting so old that all of my kids will be at the elementary school? I guess I am.


Me and Ava at open house last night. Apparently, I had the camera on the wrong setting. That’s why the picture is so grainy.

3. I don’t think there could have been any more amazing timing for a perfect game than Dallas Braden on Sunday. He goes out and rips the guy who’s No. 8 all-time in home runs and says that he doesn’t care what kind of career A-Rod has had — he (Braden) is in the major leagues and has earned the right to compete just like anybody else. I liked the competitive fire in that statement last Wednesday, and then he goes out and throws the 19th perfect game in MLB history in his next start. Awesome. Period.

4. Kids say the darndest things: Last night at the grocery store, Ava was whining for me to get her some mints in the check-out line. The answer was no, but she seemed like she was going to be fussy, so I just told her to ask Mommy the next time they were there. But she whined and said, “But you’re in charge, Daddy!” So I said, “OK, then the answer is no.” And she was totally content with that.

5. On Sunday, about an hour before dinner time, Jack walked over to the freezer and used his PECS cards and verbally attempted to ask for ice cream. I’m not one to give my kid a dessert that soon before dinner, but considering a) it was Jack and b) he asked for it correctly and c) it was ice cream, he got the ice cream. For the record, he’s on a dairy-free diet, so it’s a special kind of ice cream. But he liked it. And nothing beats a happy Jack!

6. When I was in the fifth grade, we had a substitute teacher who taught us a song to remember the 40 presidents in order (this was in 1985). I learned them in a day, and a quarter-century later, I still have them down (along with Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama). I’m think they’re in my memory for good.

7. Last night at about 7:30, I was waiting to pull out of the parking lot at the grocery store. There were two cars in front of me, a white Mercedes and a black BMW. A little girl fell off her bike in front of the Mercedes and the man in that car got out and helped her and her dad get to safety. It probably delayed me about two minutes. It also delayed the BMW, and the driver of that car got angry with the man from the Mercedes for taking too long to help. There was some gesturing going on from inside that BMW, which angered the man who was helping the little girl, but everybody eventually went on their merry way. And that, in a nutshell, is why I don’t like California.

8. If you want an ice cream recipe, you go to the king. And that’s me. So here’s my suggestion: Mint chocolate chip ice cream with Magic Shell. That’s pretty much heaven in a bowl. A close runner-up is peanut butter ice cream with Magic Shell. Definitely a winner.

9. I’m a decent writer. I have a journalism degree, I won all sorts of state and national awards when I was in college and in a previous life (well, in a previous decade) I worked for the AP. But once, I paid somebody to write a comp paper for me in college. I was more in the mood to part with $30 than I was to write the paper.

10. This is what I look like when I write my blog. Fascinating stuff.


Me at the kitchen table. Sometimes, though, I’m on the couch. And sometimes, I’m on a plane.

OK, that’s 10 random things for today. See you tomorrow!