Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Wordless Wednesday, Powerful Pic

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2013-05-10 17.14.22

My wife Tiffany’s caption on Facebook:

“So long, Colorado. You didn’t want to teach me. Maybe, you didn’t see my potential. But my parents see my potential. So, I’m off to bigger and better things!” – Jack

Of all the photos I’ve ever seen of my son, this one is the most powerful to me. It stopped me dead in my tracks and makes me tear up. I’ll never apologize for fighting for him and I’ll never stop trying to make his life better.

That’s as close to wordless as I’ll ever get. Click on the photo and see it larger.

I'm Not In Shape For 26.2 … So I Ran 50?

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About a month ago, one of my favorite running friends named Lori asked me if I was going to be in town on the weekend of May 4 to run a 50K. We go way back and I love running with her. I ran my first 50K with her and I ran my first 50-miler with her, both back in 2009. Back at that time, she was running 50-milers every other weekend and winning her age group and I was rolling out of bed and rolling through sub-3:10 marathons on back-to-back days.

We were having fun and running well. Good times, no doubt. But life has gotten in the for both of us in the past couple of years. I’ve documented the struggles we’ve had with our severely autistic 9-year-old son Jack. Lori finished up med school and is working a ton of hours doing her residency at a hospital in New York City. Training has taken a hit for both of us and we’re both a shadow of our 2009 selves. But when she asked me if I wanted to run the race, I had no hesitation. We hadn’t run together in years and I love catching up and spending time with friends. [Read more…]

Travis Barker Woke Me Up On Friday

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I love what music does to my mind. Lots of songs bring me back in time and take me down Memory Lane. I have a series of songs I listen to every day on my way to work to get me in a good, positive mood to start my day. Lots of songs make me think of friends I have all over the country and I’ll drop them a text to say hi when I hear a song on the radio that makes me think of them.

But then there’s the songs that get me fired up. I have my pre-race playlist. I don’t know if I’m a pavlovian dog and they trigger me or if I really like the songs, but I don’t run a marathon without hearing Zombie Nation or Lose Yourself, amongst others.

On Friday, I was on a plane, and a song came on my iPhone that triggered something in me. It was a song I didn’t even know was on there. I don’t know if my wife Tiffany downloaded it at one point or if I added it years ago and don’t remember. Whatever the case, I’m glad I heard it. It woke me up. It was some version by Travis Barker of the hip-hop song Soulja Boy. I’ve heard the normal version of that song, but never this one. It had guitars and drums that gave it that Linkin Park/Limp Bizkit kind of edge. And like I said, it woke me up. [Read more…]

The Race After The Race: Getting Out Of Boston

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Before Monday, I had run 104 marathons in my lifetime. When people asked me what my most memorable race was, I had a few different ones that came to mind. Different races stuck in my mind for different reasons. That was a tough question to answer. That’s no longer the case, though. For the rest of my life, the 2013 Boston Marathon will absolutely be the one marathon I never forget. And like just about everybody else who was there, the aftermath of the race will be the true memory.

I ran the race, went for broke, fell apart by mile 8, struggled miserably the rest of the way, left everything I had out there and ended up going med tent afterwards for only the second time in 105 marathons. 3:43. Miserable. There’s not much more to talk about from the running standpoint and really, with the way the day was, there’s not much more that matters. [Read more…]

What if …

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If you’ve ever read my blog, you know I’m pretty strong in my faith. I trust God and I trust His plan and I don’t always understand it (and I frequently don’t) but I know His plans for me are good.

Well, this bombing at the Boston Marathon on Monday has me doing the What If game. While I find it very difficult to say I’m grateful for the way things turn out considering people died and people lost limbs, I know that that it’s possible me, my brother and two of my best friends could have been amongst the injured if not for my son Jack. Now, I’m making a couple of big leaps here, but stick with me.

Quick background: If you don’t know what Operation Jack is, CLICK HERE. If you don’t know about the issues we’ve had with Jack over the past year, CLICK HERE. In short, he’s 9 1/2, severely autistic and I relocated from Colorado to Pennsylvania because of a nightmare school situation with Jack in Colorado. It’s absolutely disgusting to read, but it’s important so you can see how life got in the way of my training. [Read more…]