I haven’t blogged in FOREVER. Well, not forever. But since Halloween, which is probably the longest I’ve gone without writing a blog since the first time I wrote a blog. Been super busy putting on the Operation Jack Marathon, helping with the Operation Jack KC Run/Walk In The Snow and helping with CJ’s Resolution Challenge. I think that amounts to three races in three time zones in nine days to fight autism. I love doing that. But I also love sleeping. I think. Well, I don’t really remember. It’s been a while.
I have a ton of things I’m excited about for 2014, some of which I have to wait to officially announce. But fighting autism through running is my hobby and I’m really optimistic that I’m turning the corner on some things I want to accomplish, which is always to reach as many people as possible and raise as much money to give to autism charities as possible.
So anyways, I’ve put on the Operation Jack Marathon for the past four years. It’s named after my son Jack and it’s pretty special to me. It’s not special to Jack — he is severely autistic and has no clue about any of this — but I guess that’s a big part of why I do what I do. Jack will always struggle and I feel like doing what I do in his honor is my way of helping him make a difference in the world. What parent doesn’t want that for his kid? And then I also think it’s a coping mechanism. I’m numb to what my life is, and I know everybody has problems, but I really think the life my family has is pretty crappy in a ton of ways because of Jack’s autism. That’s for me, my wife, and all three of my kids. So doing this gives me a positive outlet. I enjoy working myself into the ground fighting autism in my own little way.
Including last week’s Operation Jack Marathon, Operation Jack KC Run/Walk In The Snow and Saturday’s CJ’s Resolution Challenge, Operation Jack and Operation Jack events have grossed more than $235,000 since 2010, which makes me pretty happy. As my wife told me when I originally brought up the idea of Operation Jack back in 2009, “Don’t not do it and always wonder, what if?”
So, I do it. But man, it’s exhausting. Here are three days I just went through that I don’t advise anybody take on:
Christmas Day:
This isn’t one of the three days I’m talking about, but it’s good to know my starting point. On Christmas Eve, I was an elf.
I got to sleep at 2:30 a.m. and sure enough, the kids were excited on Christmas and I was rolling at 7. I knew this was setting me up for a huge fail over the next few days, but you can’t control time.
I ate Christmas dinner with the fam at home in PA.
And then said goodbye to the kids and left for the airport.
Got to the airport, flew to LA through Dallas. Got about 3 hours of dozing in on the plane. And that’s when the three days started.
December 26
I got to my gate at 12:02 a.m. Pacific time. Took a cab to my friend Jake’s house. Changed into running gear. Was on the Operation Jack Marathon course to start running 26.2 miles by 12:40 a.m. I like to take the early start because I like to be with the volunteers and participants for the duration of the event. I finished my 26.2 in, well, a lot longer than I wanted to (4:05). I hadn’t run longer than 15 miles since Sept. 8, plus I had just flown cross country, basically pulling an all-nighter the night after sleeping 4.5 hours.
I showered and got down to the race by about 5:30 a.m. I was there until the last little bit of everything was done. That was a little after 3 p.m. The race went fine, everybody seemed to have a great time, and while there were plenty of areas for improvement, there weren’t terrible catastrophes. It got hot, though, and that wore me out. I went with volunteers to return a pair of cargo vans, which took about 30 minutes, then drove to downtown Los Angeles in a 20-foot UHaul truck to pick up shirts I needed to carry to Kansas City. I drove 50 miles in that same big truck south to my parents’ house so I could unpack it with everything we had from the marathon. Got there at 6 p.m. (traffic!), unpacked and left by 6:30 to head 50 miles north back to the airport. I had an 8:20 flight to Kansas City and made my flight, carrying two large boxes of shirts, a roller suitcase and my backpack.
During my 20 hours and 18 minutes in LA, I ran 26.2 miles, stood on my feet in the sun working a marathon (after running a marathon) for 10 hours, drove a moving truck close to 100 miles, was a passenger for another 50 miles, had more conversations with race participants than I could count and did plenty of physical labor. Nowhere in there was a meal. Oh well. I’m calling December 26 done at about 8:20 p.m. Pacific time, because that’s when I fell asleep on the plane. I think.
December 27
For me December 27 started at maybe 1:30 a.m. Central time, which was about three hours after we took off in LA. I landed in Kansas City, got my rental car, and fortunately I’m familiar with the Kansas City area because my phone was dead and I didn’t have GPS or know exactly where my hotel was. I started driving to the general direction I was staying at (95th and I-35) and my phone came to life and I figured out where I was going. I got there, checked in, went up to my room and got to sleep at about 3 a.m. I set my alarm for 10, but woke up at 9. So at this point, for the previous three nights, I was going on 10.5 hours of sleep (plus six hours of plane-sleep, which is not super awesome), with a marathon, a day of labor in the sun and plenty of driving and flying as wear and tear.
I had some race errands to take care of and I got those done in time for packet pickup, which started at 3 p.m. That was done at 7, and from there, I went shopping for some race supplies. I then went to McDonald’s for dinner and had Dr. Pepper as my drink. I went to my hotel, wrote some code to develop a quick little web app to use for timing software at the race the next day. I shut down at 1, with an alarm set for 6.
From 1 a.m. to 3:30, I learned the hard way that Dr. Pepper does, in fact, have caffeine. You’d think that on Friday night, having slept just 10.5 hours (plus those six hours on the plane) since Tuesday morning, that I’d be tired. And actually, I was! VERY TIRED! But I couldn’t fall asleep. So I slept from 3:30 to six, bringing my total of bed sleep up to 13 hours over the previous four nights. I got some breakfast, got over to the race, and stayed there until I think a little after 3 p.m.
When I finished that race, and everybody left, I had a bit of an emotional breakdown. I’d worked really hard on a lot of things to make these races happen for months, and it was done. And of course, I was super tired, which always makes me a little nutty.
I sat in an empty parking lot for a little bit, getting teary eyed, and I don’t even know why. I was listening to music and staring at emptiness.
I went and got some barbecue (Oklahoma Joe’s!), headed to the airport, had a snafu with my airfare, then my flight ended up being delayed and I was 2 1/2 hours late getting back in to Philly. I was going to sleep on that first flight (KC to Chicago), but it was super turbulent with people screaming, and while I wasn’t worried, I wasn’t able to sleep more than 20 minutes. I stayed awake on the second flight (Chicago to Philly) because I had a beer ticket and I had been craving that beer for months and months. That was probably the best beer I ever had in my life considering how hard I worked for it.
I finally got home at 2 a.m. At that point, in the previous 114 hours, I’d had 13 hours of bed sleep, barely more than six hours of plane sleep, I’d run a marathon and Philly to Dallas to LA to KC to Chicago to Philly and worked and worked and drove and worked.
Unfortunately, for me, running myself into the ground is what it takes to fight autism. But these two events grossed close to $50,000, so it was worth it. I’m sure I would do it again. Who am I kidding? I’m sure I will do it again.
Anyways, that’s it for today, whatever today is. Have a great day!
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Kathy says
I didn’t even realize we hadn’t eaten or had enough to drink until I got home! I almost passed out in the shower. Next time we’re ordering pizza to be delivered.
Sam says
“Next time” … so you’re saying there’s a chance?!?
Kathy says
P.S. Thank you for all that you do!