Over the past couple of days, I’ve talked about how I went from couch potato to marathon runner in 18 months. I continue along today with how I gradually pushed harder to the point that I think I’m capable of giving Operation Jack a try.

Today’s Workout
I backed out of my run yesterday and cut it short to 1.1 miles because I was having various problems stemming from an incident on Tuesday where I rolled my ankle. I was overcompensating in other areas and having problems with my hamstrings, quads and my right knee. I used the foam roller last night and got up, planning to run. My ankle is still swollen, but I hate not running, so I figured I’d give it a try.

I went out and felt fine, more or less. I changed routes today to try to meet up with some people I run with in the mornings, but I didn’t time it right and I did the whole thing solo. I ended up going 16.6 and felt OK. I’m a touch slow right now, but I feel as good as I normally do after going for a run for that distance. I haven’t done a long run in two months and I think I’ll finally do it this weekend. Not sure what I’m going to do, but I’m not going to write it here, otherwise I’ll jinx myself.

Sally, if you read this, I got your email and I saw you guys (you were wearing orange — that’s proof!), but I was on my way in after the turnaround and if I would have joined you guys, it would have stretched my run to about 19. I don’t mind running 19, but I didn’t have the time. Sorry! See you Monday!

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 went with my wife and his siblings to visit his aunt and cousin out in Murietta (for those of you not in Southern California, that’s about an hour east of where we live). He didn’t have a very good time. My wife was in Murietta, but poor little Jack was in Meltdown City. We’re guessing it’s the heat and the lack of a routine during the summer, but he’s had a rough week. It was really rough for him for a couple of hours, but he calmed down on the way back. During his therapy session, he did a good job. He duplicated the therapist’s efforts with legos and was fairly calm. He was in a good mood at the dinner table, although he didn’t do the greatest job eating his dinner. But that’s not a major surprise — he’s a 5-year-old!

Ice Cream Update
I stretched the streak to 30 days in a row with ice cream or frozen yogurt last night, finishing off the butter pecan hat was in the freezer. Tiff picked up some cookies & cream, so I figure I’ll hit 31 tonight. Until it’s a done deal, though, I’m only at 30.

Blood Drive Anyone?
I had thought about this about a week ago, and semi-decided to wait until I had more people here, but I’ve got a decent-sized crowd gathering and I’m gonna do this anyways. So here goes …

Monday will be the five-year anniversary of the death of my Uncle Bob. He died of leukemia. So, what I think I’m going to do is give blood. I hate needles I’ve given blood once, back when I was in college, and I hate the experience. But I was talking with a friend of mine named Peggy, who has one of the biggest hearts of anybody I’ve ever met, and she gives blood regularly. That sparked the idea. And for whatever reason, it came back to me on my run this morning.

So, I’m going to move my physical therapy appointment from Monday to Tuesday and go give blood in his honor. I know I’m just a stranger blogging on the internet to most of you, but if you’ve ever thought about giving blood but needed a kick in the pants, do it Monday! Post here and let me know, or contact me privately, and I’ll let my aunt (his widow) know and it will make her day. I know not all of you will, but if I can get just one person to, I think that would be awesome.

My Road To Operation Jack
On the surface, it looks a little crazy to be attempting 60 marathons next year. Most people think one marathon is crazy enough. I remember an old co-worker of mine had run 24 over the years and I thought that was nuts. I’m at 25 right now and I don’t think that’s a big deal. Maybe I’ve lost touch with reality a little bit, although to be cIear, I haven’t run 60 marathons. I’m just planning on trying to. I see the feedback, and some of you think it’s unfathomable, but really, I’m nothing special as a runner and I’ve been trying to illustrate why you shouldn’t think any goal is unreachable.

I’m no track star or athlete or anything special. As I explained on Wednesday, I’m just a recovering fat guy who was so slow he cheated on the timed mile in PE. And as I explained yesterday, the only thing I’m good at is work hard to chase a goal. I never told myself I couldn’t do something.

I went from 60 pounds overweight to a 4:06 marathon in 18 months. There’s a big difference between the two points, but the path between them is realistic and reasonable. I think it’s the same from that 4:06 to where I’m at now.

After my first marathon, I really wanted to go sub-4. I started my long runs at 13 miles, but I cut the pace down to 9 minutes a mile. I gradually stretched the runs back up to 24 miles at that rate. I wasn’t following any specific training plan. I just went out and ran 7 or 8 miles in the morning most weekdays, then my long run on the weekend. In October of 2006, 19 weeks after that 4:06, I ran a 3:49 as I continued to gain fitness. I was in marathon shape and I maintained that, then ran a 3:39:57 on a downhill Tucson course 6 weeks later. I think the 3:49 was actually a little slow for my ability and the 3:39 was a touch fast due to gravity. I was probably gaining fitness and going from 3:46 ability to 3:42 ability in that time period. That’s about 10 seconds per mile over six weeks, which at that level is reasonable if you work hard.

Five weeks later, I ran another 3:39, then attempted to run one two weeks later and struggled to a 3:54. I was disappointed with my effort that day and ran another one two weeks later. I knew that would be my last race for four months, so I gave it my all, ran a very controlled race and earned a 3:38. To this point, I hadn’t done anything spectacular. It was February of 2007, and in the back of my mind, I really wanted to run Boston in 2008.

I knew I’d have San Diego in June and then Long Beach in October. I wanted to BQ (for non-marathoners, that means to qualify for Boston) in Long Beach. I needed to run a 3:10, which required an unthinkable 7:17/mile pace. I figured I’d get after it and try to get halfway, 3:24, by June. I upped the mileage gradually from 45 miles a week to about 55 miles a week. I was running about 4-5 times a week, and one day a week, usually on a Wednesday or so, I got up a little earlier and ran a half marathon (13.1 miles) in training. I was running myself into the ground, but it was a gradual progression, one that was reasonable and required nothing more than dedication and hard work.

In San Diego that June, I thought I had worked my way up to about 3:17 or so shape, but I got greedy and went for the 3:10, even though I knew I couldn’t do it. I ran a fast first half, but struggled in the second half and finished with a 3:21. Still I exceeded that 3:24 target and only need to trim 11 minutes by October. When you start to get into that range, 11 minutes is a lot of time, but I REALLY wanted it, and I decided to bury myself in a training program for 18 weeks. Based on my mileage volume, I was on the outside limits of being able to run a plan called the Pfitz 18/70+, which was seven days a week, 18 weeks and a minimum of 70 miles a week (with a peak of 93).

It seemed impossible, but I really, really wanted that BQ, and I figured if I gave it a try and failed, I’d be in the same spot as if I didn’t even try. I trained hard through that long, hot summer. I was far from perfect. I broke down, struggled to do some of the runs as well as I needed to, missed some runs, tried to make up miles sometimes, came up short some weeks. But I gave it everything I had. Like I mentioned yesterday, I just tried to get a little bit better every day.

Race day came and I went out and did everything I could to stay within myself. I ran the miles and my target pace, avoided going too fast, and ran exactly as I intended. I ran from Long Beach to Boston in 3:07:53. Read from the top on this section, and tell me where I did anything that was amazing or unusual or unrealistic for the average person (I swear, I’m just an average guy with below-average talent). You can’t find it, because all I did was work hard. I didn’t do anything than anybody can’t do, but what I did didn’t come easy.

Since then, I stayed with a high-mileage routine. I enjoy running and it’s how I like to start my day. It’s my time where I get to think with no distractions. It’s where I came up with the idea for Operation Jack. Since that first BQ, I’ve run 17 more marathons, a 50K and a 50-miler. I have 11 Boston qualifiers and a 3:00:05 personal-best to my credit, although I think the thing I’m the most proud of was running a 3:06 with a bad left leg on a Sunday in Long Beach last October, then following with a 3:04 in Kansas City the next Saturday and a 3:09 the next day in Wichita. I was able to pull that off because I’ve run so much mileage that I’m used to running through pain and fatigue.

This experience is why I think I can give Operation Jack a try. If you take a look at what I wrote Wednesday and yesterday, you can see that it’s all been a gradual progression. While I might be much farther along than somebody who can only walk a few miles on a treadmill, I was that person less than five years ago and no special natural ability got me to where I am.

I’m not saying everybody should think about running a dozen marathons next year, but if you want to run a marathon, the only reason you won’t be able to is if you tell yourself you can’t.

Coolest Wedding Invitation Ever
Well, except for my own, which my bride picked out! If you’ve never seen this, it’s TOTALLY worth the four minutes!

Have A Great Weekend!
You guys are really doing a great job bringing people in to the site … keep it up and keep ’em coming! Traffic is on the rise and that will do great things for Operation Jack. I know I beg everyday, but, well, so, I guess that makes today just like any other day, because I’m begging again! If you haven’t registered for the site, please do! It’s easy to because it’s automatic if you leave a comment! Also please try to send one new person here over the weekend. It’s all for a good cause, and the more people here, the better we do!

OK, that’s all I’ve got for today. Have a great weekend! Thank you for your support of Operation Jack!

Yesterday, I wrote about how horrible my health was less than five years ago. I couldn’t run a mile and my cholesterol was off the charts. But it took less than two years to get from my first walk around the block to my first full marathon. I’ll get to that a little bit farther down.

Today’s Workout
I was stiff all day yesterday. I’m used to running 15 or 16 miles a day, but I haven’t been tremendously consistent over the past few months, so two days in a row with 16.1-milers left me a little banged up. My knee is good enough to run on, but my left ankle is pretty sore after I did a nasty job rolling it in a parking lot on Tuesday afternoon. So, I didn’t really know what to expect heading into today’s run. Well, I expected painful miles, but that was about it.

I’m always a little sore when I run. I guess that’s just part of running a fair amount of miles every day. But my hamstrings were really sore this morning. Yesterday, because of my ankle, I think I ran a little unnaturally and favored my quads. They were very sore early on in my run. I think my hamstrings paid the price, because they wouldn’t loosen up today. I start by taking it easy downhill on the street I live on. It’s about a 30-foot drop over 1/10th of a mile. Usually, I’m comfortably at a 7:15 pace going down the hill. Today, I was at 8:44 and I knew I was in trouble. I mentally changed my 15-miler to 6 recover miles. Once I get down that hill, I turn up a hill that’s about 75 feet of gain over 1/4 mile. By the time I hit the top, I’m normally comfortable with an average pace in the 8:50s. Today, I was up over 10 minutes and thinking about how my hamstrings weren’t getting warm.

Well, about a minute or two later, I started to feel it in my knee. I know that tight hamstrings caused my knee problems I have right now, and I wasn’t about to wreck it. So I did the turnaround. 1.1 glorious miles in about 11 minutes today. What a workout. I went home and made some coffee, did some perfect push-ups and got some work done instead.

I took a look at my ankle and it looked a little fat, so I had Tiff take a look. Sure enough, it’s swollen. It doesn’t hurt too bad, but swelling can’t be a good thing. Hopefully it gets better sooner rather than later.

I Have The GREATEST Mother-In-Law Ever
I’m not just saying that because she bakes really good pies. I’m saying that because she registered here at operationjack.com last night and will probably read this today.

Speaking of registering here at operationjack.com, if you like this blog, you’ll automatically get an email notification every time I post a new one if you’re registered here. Of course, you have the option to unsubscribe at any time. I’ll beg again at the bottom, but I might as well throw it in up here, too. Right now, I’m just building a base here as we head into next year. Please, take just a minute and register! Free, no obligation, your info isn’t going anywhere. I just want to be able to keep in touch with you when we start rolling. You’d be surprised at how little you’ll be able to do to actually make a difference with Operation Jack and you know it’s a great cause!

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 went for a ride with me last night to drop off a ton of flyers to a friend of mine who is going to help distribute them (THANK YOU Erin!) and was chilling in the back seat, playing on his Leapster. But he fell asleep by about 6:45! Poor dude was beat. I carried him up to his bed when I got home at about 7:20. Too bad he had an early night, but he is so cute when he sleeps! Unfortunately, though, he didn’t look that cute for long. He woke up for two hours in the middle of the night last night, the second straight night he’s done that. Mama Tiff is tired today. Heck, so am I.

My Non-Running Past
Yesterday, as I mentioned earlier, I wrote about how horrible my health was and how unathletic I am. If you didn’t read it, you should check it out, otherwise the next portion of this blog won’t make a ton of sense. There’s a pretty sweet video of Sam 1.0, an outdated version that required a LOT more bandwidth!

How I Went From Not Being Able To Run A Mile To Finishing A Marathon In About 18 Months
Well, I started walking in about December of 2004. It was tough. I live in a hilly area (hence the name Foothill Ranch), which doesn’t make things easy. There’s a 1.7-mile loop near my home and I took two laps per morning. I thought I was covering four miles, but I learned later than it was only about 3.4 It took about an hour and I enjoyed listening to music on the iPod. The mileage wore me out and my legs would be sore all day, but gradually, it got a little easier. Nothing unusual or impossible to do.

I started to get antsy and wanted to run a little bit, so after the first loop, I’d jog the downhill and then walk the uphill to finish. When that got easier, I’d start to jog the uphill. Well, for a little bit. I couldn’t make it the whole way. My weight started to drop, from 261, right through the 250s, and then gradually through the 240s. After about six or seven months of that, by July of 2005, I was able to jog about half the time, mostly on the downhills. I really wanted to jog the whole thing, so for about a month, I moved my workouts to the treadmill in the garage. My goal was to run 4 10-minute miles without stopping. It took a month, but I got past two miles, then got past three miles, and eventually, I pulled it off. Again, nothing unusual or impossible to do. It just took a little bit of work and determination.

I ran those 4 miles in 40 minutes about 4 times in one week, and then decided to give it a go outside. I finally went back out around the loop in the morning, and I made it around twice. And that became my daily run, about 4 times a week (weekends off!). For the next three months, I fought hard to finish those miles in 40 minutes. I did, although I thought I was running 10-minute miles, when it was really about 11:45/mile. I started to watch what I ate a little more closely. I didn’t want to waste my run on a candy bar. I dipped into the high end of the 230s. I was totally content with what I was doing, knowing it was just a matter of time until I got down to 225. I figured that would be good enough and I’d be good and healthy if I was only 25 pounds overweight. 10 months in the books, down from 60 pounds overweight to about 40 pounds overweight and slowly jogging 3.4 miles a day. Nothing unusual or impossible to do. It took some work, but I’d love to hear somebody tell me why they couldn’t do that.

I was in a nice little routine. And then it happened. Somebody brought donuts to work. My co-worker Rhett asked me if I wanted one, and I told him, “No way — I didn’t run four miles this morning to go waste it on a donut!” Rhett didn’t know I ran four miles a day. Actually, I didn’t. I slogged 3.4 miles. But that’s not the point. He was registered for a 1/2 marathon about 6 weeks later and he asked me if I wanted to run it. I asked him how long a 1/2 marathon was, because certainly he didn’t think a human being could actually run 13.1 miles. But yeah, that’s what he meant. Wow. No way. I’d heard of people running those crazy long races, but I didn’t know where you could actually find one and there was NO WAY I was going to do it.

He partially convinced me I could do it, then partially chickened me into it. I went for it, never mind the fact that my wife was about to give birth to our third child. Going from 3.4 lousy miles to 13.1 in six weeks with a newborn was a challenge, but I gave it a good try. One of my co-workers ran the LA Marathon about 10 or 12 years earlier, so I asked her what I should do to get ready. She told me that as long as I could run 6 miles a day and one 10-miler, I’d be fine. So, I picked it up to what I thought was 6 miles (nope, my miscalculated route was just 5.1) and then ran an 8 (er, 6.8) and eventually a 10-miler (tape-measured at 8.5, of course). This took some effort, but it certainly wasn’t anything impossible to do. It was painful, but not unrealistic.

I showed up on race day, totally nervous, not really believing that I was actually going to run a 1/2 marathon. I weighed 232 pounds that day. This was totally going to be a one-and-done thing. I’m not a racer, and it’s just not something I wanted to do. But I figured I’d do it, brag about it for a bit and then move on. My goal was 10-minute miles. I held that pace for the first three miles, but then I couldn’t hang and I dropped off the pace. I struggled miserably and finished with a 2:29:45, about 11:30 or so per mile. I had, uh, racing stripes (OK, bloody nipples … there — I wrote it) and it took me about 10 minutes to catch my breath when I finished. It was a terrible day. I felt embarrassed by my time and I didn’t want to show my face at work the next Monday. I struggled in that race and my perseverance got me to the finish line. Like everything else to that point, I didn’t do anything that took any kind of skill or natural ability. It took work, and I had to push myself and suffer a little bit, but what I did is FAR from impossible for the averge person.

Anyways, I’m competitive, and I decided that there was NO WAY that was going to be my last showing. I needed to average 10-minute miles before I could retire. So, I signed up for another one that was five weeks later. I needed a 2:11:00 to avenge my miserable showing, and then I could get back to doing anything else. I trained a little harder, bought a Garmin, figured out my actual miles and pace, and trained as hard as I could for the next five weeks. I got my miles up over 30 per week, and I got my weight down to about 227. This was where the hard work started to come in. It wasn’t any kind of natural gift and it’s nothing that anybody else couldn’t do if they wanted to.

I ran a 2:11:18 in that second race. Yep, I missed retirement by 18 seconds. So, I signed up for a third 1/2 marathon, four weeks later. I smashed through that 10-minute barrier, running a 2:08:38, a “scorching” 9:53 pace, but a funny thing happened during those four weeks. A buddy of mine, who probably can’t even run a mile, dared me to run a full. He virtually chickened me into it. I think that might be my weakness, because it worked. I was in, and looking ahead to the full before that third 1/2. At this point, I was only about three months past running farther than 4 miles. I hadn’t done anything unrealistic or impossible, and I was registered for a full marathon.

Training for the full, I stretched my morning runs from 5 miles to 6 miles and when I felt strong, I even made it 7. I’m a proud graduate of Kansas State University, and our football coach, Bill Snyder, used to talk about his program getting just a little bit better every day. I always thought about that, thinking I’d push myself a little harder every day. I might not see the difference in the mirror, but I knew that with every workout, I pushed as hard as I could to make myself a little bit better every day, and that’s what was happening. It’s not an outrageous work ethic.

I had to push myself, but I wanted it, and I was willing to try, and that made all the difference. I pushed my long runs by a mile a week. 14, 15, 16 … next thing you know, I’m running 20 miles. 20 miles! This is April 2006, and a year before, I couldn’t even run four miles. What I had done to that point was not incredible or impossible. It was just work and determination. I feel like I’m plagiarizing Coach Snyder, but that’s really what I thought about, getting a little bit better with each run. I didn’t take it easy. I took it hard.

On June 4, 2006, I ran San Diego Rock ‘N Roll in 4:06:25 and became a marathoner. Unless you have physical disabilities, I don’t know why you can’t do the same if you want to. Unless you tell yourself you can’t, you can. Ok, I said I’d get into how I qualified for Boston, but I’m running short on space. Technically, it’s a web page built to flow infinitely, and there’s plenty of storage space in the database, but I need y’all to get to the point at the bottom where I beg you to bring people to the site! I’ll continue with this tomorrow.

Best Race Ever
I’m going running-related with the video today. Check out 800m from the 1972 Olympics if you’ve never seen it. It’s a quickie, only two laps. Watch Dave Wottle (in the hat) on the second lap. Watch where he comes from and then his final kick. Wow.

Happy Thursday!
I’ll be sure too enjoy my lunch today — I meeting up with two of my best friends at In-N-Out to celebrate one of their birthdays. Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy your day, too! If you’re looking for ideas of things to do, you can always post a comment here, register with Operation Jack (no obligations and your info isn’t going anywhere!) or, even better, bring one new person to the site today! That’s all I’ve got for today, friends. Thanks as always for your support of Operation Jack!

For a distance runner, I’m in decent shape. I’m not elite, and I never will be, and some days are better than others. But all in all, I’ve gotten fairly decent at this. However, it hasn’t always been this way. I was never fast as a kid (I had to push just to be slow) and I spent the first 12 years of my adult life doing nothing but abusing my body. As a runner, that’s where I come from, and I’ll talk about that right after I squeeze in a few words about my run and my son.

Today’s Workout
I loved going to amusement parks when I was a kid, but I could do just fine without roller coasters right now. After going through some miserable lows for a couple of months, I finally got great news on Monday that my right knee is in good shape. I had been suffering with some pains since early May. I was pretty certain I was just suffering from tendinitis, but with Operation Jack looming, I was nervous that it was something more than that.

Well, in case you didn’t read the blog yesterday, it’s just tendinitis and I got the green light to run. Not only that, the doctor knows what I’m doing next year and he didn’t raise any red flags. Phew! So yesterday, I ran 16.1 miles! Yeah! Back on track! And then at lunch, I went and picked up about 14,000 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 flyers that were printed free for Operation Jack! Yeah — we’re rolling!

And then I stepped on a rough patch in the parking lot after lunch. Miserably twisted my ankle. I think I’m going to be fearing every step I take until I complete Operation Jack. How long until 2011?

I was nervous to wake up this morning, because I didn’t know how bad my ankle would be. It’s still pretty sore, but it’s not discolored or swollen, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I was on the fence, but I went for it, thinking it was probably stupid. I just hate not running, though. So I went out and I could tell that I was keeping my left foot a little more stiff than normal. When I’d shake it around, it hurt. So I didn’t do that! Within the first mile, I started to feel it in my quads more than I normally do. I knew I was favoring something, and that’s how I injured my knee.

But you know me — I like to do stupid things and I don’t always practice what I preach. So, I went on with the run. It wasn’t particularly comfortable at any point, but for the first 12 or so miles, my speed was fine. I ran the exact same distance as yesterday, 16.1, although I slowed down a bit at the end and wound up about 10 seconds per mile slower. Not worried about anything, though. I’ll just keep ice on it all day.

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 good day yesterday. He had fun swimming out in the kiddie pool in the backyard and interacted well chasing Benjamin and Ava in the playroom in the evening. During the day, when Tiff went shopping with the kids, he was actually the best behaved out of the three. Later, his therapist played a game with him where Ben and Ava would dance to music and we would stop it and start to control the game. He realized the cause and effect of what he was doing and had a blast. Of course the greatest part of his day yesterday is that he slept in!

Where I Came From
On Monday, the following comment was posted beneath my blog: I am so inspired by your story! How did you go from where you were then to where you are now? I guess what I’m really asking is: is it really possible for me to go from my rocker to running by next June?

First of all, of course it’s possible to go from your rocker to running by next June … as long as you don’t tell yourself you can’t do it. You can. Here’s my story, the reason I think it’s possible to achieve anything you want as long as you work for it.

Some of you know the story, some of you don’t. I was never athletic growing up. I loved to play sports, but I wasn’t any good. And I certainly wasn’t very fast. I was small, but played on the line in football, because I was too slow to play anywhere it else. It was fun getting my butt kicked in practice. I was always the last guy done with sprints and I was dead last in any kind of race. I cheated on the mile in PE, and never ran a single mile faster than 8:30 before my 31st birthday. My parents have a tortoise, which is totally fitting, because that’s how fast I was.

So that’s my pedigree. For my history, I’ll start with November 7, 1991. For everybody other than me, that’s the day Magic Johnson announced he had HIV. For me, that’s the day I broke my neck. You know those rules they have about pushing people in the shallow end of the pool? Yeah, those rules exist for a reason. The first time they let me out of bed in the hospital, it took me about 10 minutes to walk 50 feet, and I then proceeded to vomit and pass out from the strenuous activity. So, my ability to move with my legs, which was already lousy, was even worse. I saw my x-rays, and I know how blessed I am not to be paralyzed. At this point, I feel like my legs were spared for a reason.

I spent the next dozen years wrecking my body. I rarely exercised, I drank a ton, I smoked for four years and I ate very unhealthy food (and lots of it). I was in horrible condition. I’d lose weight occasionally, but I’d put it all back on and more. I was the poster child of what not to do.

In May 2003, my wife was concerned about my health. I was extremely overweight (261 pounds), I was still drinking too much and eating poorly and I didn’t exercise at all. My brother had a blood test that revealed high cholesterol and my wife was worried about me. So, she sent me in for a physical. When I went to the doctor, I felt like I was going to school without my homework. I knew I was in trouble. I got lectured by the doctor and sent for blood work. The results were terrible. My cholesterol was at 307. My mother-in-law called me a walking heart attack. My liver was the worst of my concerns. Years of drinking had caught up with me. I was instructed not to drink alcohol for 24 hours before my bloodwork, and I stretched that to 72 just to be safe.

But the numbers were so bad, the doctor asked me, in complete seriousness, if I had been drinking hard alcohol on the way to the test. He told me he wanted to put me on prescription medication for my cholesterol, but he was afraid he’d blow up my liver. So he told me I’d have to work it down through diet and exercise. I was afraid I’d drop dead, and I wasn’t yet even 29. “Well, you’re OK to walk around the block,” he told me, “but don’t go out and run a marathon!” I kid you not, that’s exactly what he told me. Of course, there was no way I was going to exercise. Did he know who he was talking to?

On November 20, 2004, two days before my 30th birthday, my wife gave me an iPod as a gift, suggesting that maybe I’d want to start walking. I just shook my head, because that was such a waste of a gift. No way was I going to start walking. Get up early in the morning and exercise? No way, not even if she couldn’t touch her fingertips when she gave me a hug! The iPod sat on top of the TV for close to a week. It was a $300 discman and I didn’t need that. What a waste. I told Tiff to take it back, but she begged me to keep and enjoy it, even if I wasn’t going to exercise (she gave up that fight!).

Finally, on November 25, I opened it up. It was pretty cool. I loaded some music on it and started flipping through the songs. The only problem was I had no idea when I’d ever use it. When would I use an iPod? At the dinner table? When I was sleeping? So, I started walking so I could listen to the music. I covered 3.5 miles around my neighborhood in about an hour four times a week.

Tomorrow, I’ll explain how I qualified for the Boston Marathon less than three years later.

What’s Your Story?
I’d love to know your story — let me know where you came from, why you’re participating and who your special star is. I want to start featuring your stories on the site. I might be leading the way, but it’s not all about me. It’s about all of us stepping and making a difference to help those affected by autism. So, drop me a line. Let me know why you’re here. If you want don’t want to post as a comment, hit the Contact Us form (it’s really the Contact Me form)!

Here’s Proof That I Used To Be A Tad Bit Larger Than I Am Now
We took this video because we thought we would look back and laugh at my hair. I’m superstitious, and right before the start of football season, I cut my hair. My two favorite teams — my alma mater (Kansas State) and the Kansas City Chiefs started winning, so I didn’t cut my hair all season. K-State won its first conference championship since 1934 that year, beating a heavily-favored Oklahoma team by four touchdowns in the Big XII Championship Game. Kansas City had the best regular-season record in the AFC, 13-3. So despite my wife’s nagging, I didn’t cut my hair. This video was taken the day I returned from my trip to the Fiesta Bowl. Tiff insisted I cut my hair, even though the NFL playoffs hadn’t started. Enough was enough. So I did, later that day. And the Chiefs promptly lost their first game in the postseason to Indianapolis. It had to be the hair.

Enjoy Your Wednesday!
Thank you so much for reading today and for believing in this cause. Keep sending folks to the site and we’ll keep growing. Remember, this is all about participation, not finding the golden ticket. By bringing people here, and increasing the size of our club, we’re going to have a bigger base to build from when we really start to attack 2010. Thank you to everybody who is helping and offering help, and to everybody else just for showing up and supporting Operation Jack! Have a great Wednesday and I’ll see you back here tomorrow!