My body hates me. 5 1/2 hours of sleep Friday night, cross-country flying Saturday, 4 1/2 hours of sleep Saturday night, up at 12:30 a.m. (body time) Sunday morning to run a marathon in 70-degree, 96-percent-humidity weather, then a cross-country flight back. My flight back was delayed an hour while we were on the tarmac and when we got in, we waited on the tarmac again because there wasn’t an open gate. I had to get a little bit of work done when I got home, but I followed my day-after-a-marathon routine and got up bright and early this morning to run six miles. Am I an idiot?

I like to push myself, and as long as that keeps you entertained and coming back to follow Operation Jack, I’ll keep running myself into the ground. Yesterday’s race was a pretty difficult 3:20:03 in Miami (you can read about it here). I’m bummed about the time, but totally content with my effort. I wrecked myself out there.

This weekend should be easier. I get to sleep in my own bed! I just have to run two marathons, but big deal!

Early Intervention Is Critical
If your child is showing signs that they have autism, you have two paths you can take. One will make you feel better, but the other will make your child get better.

Early intervention is the key, and the family I stayed with this weekend is living proof of that. The father is an online running friend of mine and I spoke to him last summer when he first realized his son had autism. It’s natural for parents to want to live in denial, but that doesn’t do your child any good. The family I stay with knew to attack the problem head on and their son has made amazing progress.

Their 2-year-old had regressed and had no language as recently as last summer. But after all sorts of speech and behavioral therapy, he’s doing remarkably well. He’s talking up a storm, very engaged and he was pretty social with me. I’m so, so happy for him and for his parents. They’re great parents who would do anything for their kids and this story looks like it’s going to have a happy ending.

I always say that autism is like a knee injury. It might always be there beneath the surface, and there are varying degrees of severity, but the sooner you treat it, the better it will be long-term.

And while Jack is still straggly pretty badly, I can keep think about my brother Josh and the knee injury analogy. Josh was in a serious car accident when he was 16 and has had at least a half-dozen or so knee surgeries in the past 17 years. But he ran a half marathon in October, proof that you never say never.

Schedule Change
A lot of races are switching weekends this year, so I’m changing up my schedule. I was going to run Baltimore and Long Beach, but they each dropped back a weekend, conflicting with Kansas City and Denver, which I’m sticking with. So the weekend of October 9 and 10, I’m going to run Hartford and Chicago instead. Registration for Chicago opens today. If you’re going to run it, don’t delay and miss the boat!

Surf City Pasta Dinner
The Surf City Marathon is this weekend in Huntington Beach, Calif., and we’re going to have a pasta dinner the night before. We’re starting to get a pretty good turnout and I’d love to see you/meet you there. More details are available here. You need to confirm by about Wednesday, because we need to call in the head count to our caterer on Thursday. I hope to see you there!

How’s This For Ironic?
On the Delta flight I was on last night, the TV screen in the headrest in front of me mentioned that Delta was the official airlines of the Grammy Awards, which were on last night. The funny thing is, the show was on CBS and the satellite TV on the plane only gave us NBC. Go figure.

Thank You Danica Kooiman!
I’m trying to thank somebody in each of my blogs, because so many of you have done so many things to help Operation Jack. Today, it’s Danica Kooiman.

A lot of you know Danica because she sent you here in the first place. And that’s why I’m thanking her. Back in the summer when I was first getting going with this, she helped get the word out for me and gave me very helpful advice about using social media to help promote Operation Jack. That component has really made a big difference and she gave me a big jumpstart.

Actually, maybe I should curse her, because this is like a second full-time job now!

Ice Cream Update
I know I’m probably letting a lot of you down by announcing this, but my current ice cream streak is 1 day. I didn’t have any on Saturday, snapping a string of 101 consecutive days eating ice cream, frozen yogurt or gelato. I was only nine days shy of tying my personal best of 110 days. But I promise to work hard again to reach 111 for you guys.

That’s All For Today!
Have a great Monday (if there is such a thing)! See you tomorrow or Wednesday!

I’m doing my thing here, writing my blog and eating my ice cream and running my races. And at the same time, a lot of you are out there pounding the pavement, spreading the word and raising money and awareness for Operation Jack and Train 4 Autism. I appreciate it tremendously, but I have one question that I hope you can answer. Why?

Don’t get me wrong — I’m very, very glad you’re here. But I want to know why you’re here. Do you have expectations? Hopes? Is it for you? Me? Somebody else? I’m doing the carnival trick, running (well, at least attempting to run) 60 marathons this year. But nothing is possible without the grassroots support y’all are providing. So I want to provide you with what you’re looking for. Maybe it’s just jokes in a blog. Maybe it’s running advice. Maybe it’s some kind of inspiration if you’re a parent of a child with autism. Maybe you need help training for your first marathon.

Whatever it is, I want to give it to you. Even if you just come by to read the blog, I’d love to know that. Please, please, please help me out today and let me know. If you don’t feel comfortable leaving a comment publicly on the blog, please just fill out the Contact Us form or drop me an email. Let me know why you’re here! That’s not too much to ask, right?

EDIT: I think what I’m really asking is what you expect/hope for when you support or follow Operation Jack. That’ll teach me to write a blog when I’m fall-asleep tired!

Weekend Forecast
This weekend, I’m running the ING Miami Marathon. It should be an extremely exhausting weekend. Fly out Saturday, fly back Sunday. From California, that’s quite a haul. I don’t know if I’d call it a quick weekend or a long weekend, but I’m thinking it’s going to be a combination of both and Monday morning I’ll be tired.

From what I’ve seen, it’ll be a little warmer in Miami than the rest of the races I’ve run this year. I don’t think I’ve been in temps above 45 degrees at the start and it should be in the 60s Sunday. That’s getting to the point of warm, and mixed in with the humidity, it might not be an incredibly comfortable day. But the race is supposed to be pretty flat and it’s at sea level, so that should help.

I have no idea what kind of time to expect, but whatever it is will be the best I can do. Maybe I’ll be too tired to feel any pain. The race goes off at 6 or 6:30 a.m., which is 3 (or 3:30) a.m. body time for me. I’m sure I’ll be sleeping on the plane.

Ice Cream Update
I hit triple digits last night! 100 days in a row now with ice cream or frozen yogurt, just 10 days shy of my personal best. Peanut butter fudge swirl, my personal favorite, was the flavor of the night.

Thank You Erin Ruff!
OK, so in my last blog, I said I’d thank somebody different in every blog where I discuss multiple topics. So today, I’m thanking Erin Ruff. Erin is a friend of mine and one of my biggest cheerleaders. She’s really supportive of what I’m doing and emails me here and there with positive feedback. You know how there are certain people you get emails from and you get excited to open them up? Yeah, Erin’s emails fall into that category.

Anyways, she is the one who suggested I contact the Orange County Register for their Morning Read feature. I did, then corresponded with an editor, then followed up a little later, and the next thing I knew, I heard from a reporter and this story ran on the front page of the paper last week! When it finally made it up, I dropped her a line and told her it was all her fault! That article worked out well, though, and was really nice to read. So Erin, thank you!

That’s All For Today
Have a great weekend everybody! I’ll try to get my race report posted before my flight on Sunday. If it’s not up by 4 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Pacific, I’ll have it up late that night (10 p.m. Pacific). Happy Friday!

After running the Carlsbad Marathon on Sunday, I’m five marathons into Operation Jack and I feel pretty comfortable that I’m settling into my Operation Jack routine. I’m just ignoring the fact that I have 55 to go. That kind of sounds like a lot.

But I’m starting to get the hang of taking care of my body on a weekly cycle and recovery isn’t too bad. And I’m finally starting to run a little bit better.

If you haven’t seen my race report from Carlsbad, take a look. You can see why I’m not tremendously thrilled when I run in the high 3:13s. I’m not going to declare myself 100 percent back, but I will say that I’m a lot more comfortable with how I’m running now.

Where’s The Money Going?
I have Operation Jack down to a science in my head, but that doesn’t do much good for those of you who aren’t mind readers. A lot of you have asked where the money is going, so I did a little bit of a write-up on that on the How It Works page. If you ever have any questions about anything, please e-mail me!

Also, PLEASE drop me a line if you have any suggestions. I’m learning daily as I go along, and really, I have no clue what I’m doing. I’m just trying to run my body into the ground in an attempt to help grow Train 4 Autism. So, if you have any ideas, please don’t keep them to yourself!

Surf City Pasta Dinner Reminder!
If you’re planning on running Surf City, or if you’re in the Orange County area, I’d love for you to come to our pre-race pasta dinner! It’s going to be from 5-7 p.m. on February 6, the night before the race. Cost is $20 per person, which includes two types of all-you-can eat pasta, salad, garlic bread and non-alcoholic beverages.

For more details, click here!

Would I Take Something From A Grandmother? Absolutely!
Especially if its my grandmother. I called her about two minutes after the Minnesota-New Orleans game ended Sunday night to set up our annual Super Bowl bet. Actually, I set up our 22nd annual Super Bowl bet. This dates back to my freshman year of high school, when the Niners beat the Bengals on a Montana-to-Taylor touchdown pass in the final minute of Super Bowl XXIII. I took the Niners in that one.

Our wagers have varied over the years. One year I had the Bills when they got smoked by the Cowboys and the bet was for the loser to bake one dozen cookies for every point the winner won by. It was a 35-point win by Dallas, so she called me up as time expired and told me I could stop at 10 dozen. One year, when I was in college out in Kansas (she lives in California), I won and she shipped me roughly 10 dozen homemade cookies to pay up.

In 1999, I was working for The Associated Press, primarily covering sports at the time, and she won. So, per our bet that year, I had a custom-made shirt that said “I proved I know more about football than my grandson, and he’s a professional sportswriter.” She wore that to my Super Bowl party the next few years.

Last year, I had the Cardinals and the points and covered. We decided in advance that me, my wife & kids and my grandparents would go to Souplantation (my kids’ favorite restaurant, it’s also known as Sweet Tomatoes depending on where you live) and the loser would pay. Even though it’s my grandma’s bet, there was no dipping into her slush fund. My grandpa took care of the bill, but still proclaimed himself the winner since we all got together for a visit.

I have no idea what the stakes are this year. I took New Orleans and we’re going to circle back later this week.

Thank You, Jake Rome
In some blogs, like race reports and write-ups where I tackle something that’s weighing heavily on my mind, I’m not going to discuss a multitude of subjects. But when I do one of these that covers various subjects, I’m going to take the time to thank somebody who’s helping Operation Jack.

So today, it’s Jake Rome. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until the end of the year: I get really awkward and shy about getting help from y’all. But I appreciate it. Jake is somebody I’ve “known” online through running message boards, and he’s the photographer behind my Facebook avatar, but I’d never really met him before Sunday. Nonetheless, he really digs what I’m doing and has gone all-out try to fundraise for Operation Jack. Now, don’t get me wrong — it’s not all about how much money somebody raises that makes me appreciate them. And I’ll thank somebody next time who hasn’t raised any money for me.

But Jake’s enthusiasm for Operation Jack has been a big boost for me. For those of you who have followed along for a while, you know I go on my emotional roller coasters with Operation Jack because I’m so passionate about it. Well, when I come across people like Jake, I know I’m not going at it alone, and it helps give me the confidence I need to continue down this path.

So thank you, Jake!

That’s All For Taco Tuesday
Have a good day, everybody! See you tomorrow (or Thursday, or whenever I write again)!

Sometimes the glass is half empty. Sometimes it’s half full. Of course, if you’re me, it doesn’t really matter, because somebody always knocks it over. Yesterday was no exception, but fortunately the cup had a lid on it!

I got an email yesterday morning letting me know the Diamond Valley Lake Marathon, which I’m scheduled to run on Saturday, was postponed until February 6 because torrential rains have made the course (a dirt fire road) dangerous. For almost any other race on my schedule, this would probably be a pretty big problem.

If it was a race I was traveling out of state to, I’d be eating worthless airfare. If I didn’t have a double this weekend, I’d be scrambling to find a race. And if I was going out of town the weekend of February 6, I’d be looking for something else to keep me from dropping to 59 marathons this year.

Lucky for me, though, the Diamond Valley Lake Marathon is 70 miles from home, something I drive to on the morning of the race. And I’m running the Carlsbad Marathon on Sunday, so I still get a race in this weekend. And on February 7, I’m running the Surf City Marathon 25 miles from home. So Diamond Valley is no problem on February 6.

In fact, this almost works out better. I’ll be just as fresh for Diamond Valley on February 6 as I would have been this Saturday. But I’ll certainly be in better shape for Carlsbad this Sunday. For Surf City, I’m leading the 3:30 pace group, which won’t be any trouble for me, not even the day after a marathon. My legs are slowly but surely getting used to this week-in, week-out routine and they’ll handle a double a little better in a couple of weeks.

From a running standpoint, this really worked out well, and hopefully this gets one of the inevitable hiccups out of the way early and painlessly. But another cool thing about this is how this impacts me from a non-running standpoint.

I’m being recognized as one of the Carlsbad Marathon’s “Heroes of the Marathon” on Friday night at a dinner. I won’t see the kids Friday night. I would have had to get up on about six hours of sleep, run Diamond Valley without seeing them until Saturday afternoon, then run Carlsbad on six hours of sleep the next day.

Instead, I get to go to the dinner with my bride on Friday night, then sleep in (well, until the kids wake me up at 7) and catch up on some rest on Saturday. For what a race postponement could have done to Operation Jack, this actually worked out pretty well.

Coming Soon, Zensah Compression Pants!
My legs have gotten a little twitchy on my flights back, but I have help coming soon from the good folks at Zensah. They were nice enough to ship me some compression pants and I’m looking forward to wearing them underneath my basketball pants on the way back from Miami next weekend. I’ve heard from several people that compression pants will help me big-time if I wear them after a race.

I think they help your body keep all your blood from flowing to your legs, or something like that. I don’t know … I failed biology three times in junior high school and high school. Science isn’t my thing. But whatever the case, I’m really looking forward to giving them a try.

Anybody Running The Napa Valley Marathon March 7?
The Napa race director is very supportive of Operation Jack and is offering a rate of $85 for the full marathon (current rate is $130) for anybody I bring on the Operation Jack team. If you want to run Napa, and you haven’t registered, here’s all I ask: Try to do a 10×10. The way I see it, if he’s being supportive and offering a $45 discount to help Operation Jack, I want to respect his generosity and not just give away the discounts like candy. Try to support this cause, which he believes in, and run Napa at a discount! If you’re interested, send me an email!

Ice Cream Update
I’m now at 92 consecutive days eating ice cream or frozen yogurt after my typical peanut butter fudge swirl last night. That’s just 18 days short of my personal best, a 110-day streak last June through October. I’m not going to count my chickens before they hatch, but I have a pretty good feeling about setting a new personal record.

That’s All For Today!
And really, that’s all for this week. I’ll post a race report after Carlsbad on Sunday afternoon. I’m going all-out, as always, gunning for a Boston Qualifier (sub-3:16) and ideally I’m hoping my fitness is getting closer to the sub-3:10 neighborhood I like to live in.

Have a great weekend everybody!

I have all sorts of goals with Operation Jack. One is to raise money, of course. Another is to motivate people to get off the couch and live a healthier lifestyle. But above all, the reason I’m doing this is to help grow Train 4 Autism. I really believe in the way Train 4 Autism works, and I want to try to plant the seeds that will cultivate long-term growth. Well, I think I see a flower blooming down in Mississippi!

Two or three months ago, a woman in Meridian, Mississippi Googled “marathon relay” and came across Operation Jack. She registered with the site, told me how much she admired what I’m doing and started following along. When I went on some of my emotional roller coasters late last year, she chimed in and reminded me that I needed to keep my head up.

I ended up meeting her and her husband at a group dinner the night before the Mississippi Blues Marathon earlier this month. They’re both incredibly nice and she’s still one of my biggest supporters. She doesn’t really have any connection to me or autism. She’s just here because she somehow came across what I’m doing and she believes in me.

Well, much to my surprise, she dropped me an email last week asking what’s involved with leading a chapter. The answer to that question is basically whatever you want to make it out to be. If you want to join our volunteer army, Uncle Sam wants you! Or something like that. Anyways, running a chapter is not my strength. My strength is running a marathon to help generate attention for Train 4 Autism, and then running another marathon for Train 4 Autism, and then … yeah, repeat until I count to 60 and then go on vacation.

But we have people who know what it takes and will do whatever it takes to help. It’s not an overwhelming commitment. It’s just an opportunity to chip in a little to help the cause. You don’t have to be a superstar runner. Heck, you don’t have to be a runner. You don’t even have to be the parent of a child with autism.

One of our founders said, I have an extreme amount of respect and admiration for those that are not parents of, or have no direct connection to someone with autism because we as parents have no choice — we are in it for the long haul whether we like it or not. Those that do, and still choose to care, choose to give, to love deserve a tremendous amount of credit and thanks because they do simply out of their own hearts- it’s truly a beautiful act.

She’s still on the fence about becoming a chapter president, because she’s concerned she wouldn’t do a good enough job. But I think she’d do a great job, because she cares and she wants to make a difference. She knows who she is and she knows I’m calling her out in this space today.

I hope she does this. I think she will. And I hope she makes you think about it, too. I’m trying to raise money, but beyond the money, I’m really trying to boost participation with Train 4 Autism. Long-term growth is a lot more important than short-term dollars. I think I have my first new chapter president! This is like the first customer at my new shop after I spent six months getting it ready.

I know a lot of you really like what I’m doing. If have even the slightest interest in doing something to work with Train 4 Autism (there’s no high pressure, no sales, no drawing blood, no sacrificing your first born), please send me an email and let me know! We have people who can help make it easy and this will enable you to make a difference!

Have a great Wednesday!