Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Am I Superman?

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Judging by the feedback I’ve been getting, I don’t think you guys like the question and answer blogs I’ve been doing. But, I still have a few more questions to answer, so I’m going to answer them. Somebody asked if I was Superman, and today, I’ll give a truthful answer to that. Are you curious? Keep reading!

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here, welcome! I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to use my running to make a difference, so I’m attempting to run 61 marathons this year to raise money for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism.

I named this endeavor Operation Jack, after my son. This year is almost done, as is Operation Jack. I’m through 60 of the 61 so far! OK, moving on …

A couple of quick things about race 61, The Operation Jack Marathon
The Operation Jack Marathon is this Sunday. If you’re in the Southern California area, come out and join us! The rain is supposed to go away tomorrow! Click here to see all about the race, registration, etc. Come out and run with us! If you’re not local, consider the Satellite Run option. We’re aiming for all 50 states and we only have 10 to go. Participants get a race shirt and a medal. And, of course, they’re helping a great cause.

Post-Race Celebration Sunday
We’ll be getting together at a local restaurant. I created an evite. Click to operationjack.org/postrace to automatically view it. The invitation is open to anybody. If you want to go, just RSVP so we know to expect you!

What was your favorite course, most memorable, most scenic, least scenic, and what the heck what I thinking course?
I’ve touched on the favorite course thing, but it was Humpy’s in Anchorage. Most memorable will probably be this weekend’s Operation Jack Marathon. How am I ever going to top that? Least scenic, I’d probably go with Arizona Rock ‘N Roll. And What the heck was I thinking? The Tahoe Triple.

That was tough, especially 46 marathons into the year in a month that featured two ultras, seven races total of at least marathon distance and five races that started above 6,000 feet, two that finished above 7,000 feet and one that was a four-story building shy of 9,000 feet. What the heck was I thinking?

Are you in fact Superman?
A supporter from Illinois asked me this question. This kind of stuff makes me blush. But I made a deal — you ask questions, I’ll give you the answers. Am I Superman? Yes. I am.

What’s been harder, the the running or the time without the fam?
The time without the fam, no question. I got homesick a lot more than I thought the running was getting too tough. In fact, the running never really fazed me. I just went through the grind and got it done.

But I hated leaving. Even last week, when I was excited because it was my last trip, I was sad to leave. I found that it was easier to leave when everybody was asleep, but I didn’t like being gone, and I got pretty upset when I missed things.

How do you recover so quickly after each marathon?
Previous high-mileage training helped with that. But I think maybe I’m just blessed to recover fairly quickly. I haven’t been 100 percent all year, and it’s been frustrating to not be able to do what I’ve been able to do in the past, but I haven’t been in a ton of pain. I’ve been more-or-less sore all year.

I went primarily protein in my diet the first three days after my races, I stretched a lot and I did slow, easy runs during the week. I took ice baths when I could, although not often enough.

What running products have you found are absolute garbage/must halves?
I don’t know of anything I haven’t really liked. I don’t buy every latest product out there and I’m pretty simple, so I couldn’t really tell you anything I don’t like. But the one thing I really came to like this year was my Zensah compression pants. I wore them after my races and they were a huge help in preventing cramping. I called them my polyester cramp removers and I loved them!

How do you deal with haters, hecklers and wiseacres?
Not too well! I knew going in I’d encounter some of that and I wasn’t looking forward to it. It’s tough to get attacked and I’d hear some things, but I think the best thing to do is tune it out and stay focused on the goal. I’m pretty thin-skinned, argumentative and defensive, so I’m glad there wasn’t a lot of it.

I had people questioning my motives and questioning my relationship with my family and it made me extremely angry. Those who witnessed it know I didn’t manage the situation well and in addition to learning how I should have handled it, I learned that absorbing criticism is a major weakness of mine.

If you trained for just one marathon, what time do you think you could post?
I’ll find out on April 18. I’m aiming for sub-2:55.

How do you manage the logistics? Meaning, how do you find the time to pick up your race packet, especially on weekends you do more than one race, and get all your flights planned for right times and arrange transportation.
The flights were pain. There are three airports I can fly out of. There are occasionally multiple airports I could fly into. And there are different websites I would use to check fares. So, sometimes I’d have to do 15 or 20 checks to find a good flight. Fares were critical, but so were timelines. I have a job. I have a family. But I had to get to where I was going, too. So I needed perfect timelines at perfect rates.

Sometimes, the rates didn’t look good and I’d investigate backup races. Sometimes I’d do 50 searches to square away a weekend. It took me six hours to book my tickets for the weekend I went to Kansas City and Denver. That part seemed like such a time killer.

As for lodging and transportation, I usually booked my room and car the night before I left. I really only had problems with that twice. I forgot to book a car when I went to Knoxville, Tenn., so when I got there, I just went to each counter and asked for rates. When I flew into Missoula, the only company left with a car was Hertz, and they were incredibly expensive, so to save money, I sat in the terminal for three hours to make sure I only had the rental for 24 hours.

I knew going in the logistics were going to be a nightmare and they were. And I got to take care of it all myself. Fun, fun stuff.

Regarding race packets, any time I had the opportunity to have somebody else pick up my packet, I took advantage of that. Race expos don’t do it for me any more. On my last double, I got from Memphis to Las Vegas in time to get to the expo. It was weird picking up my packet knowing I’d gone 26.2 on the other side of the country earlier in the day.

I usually arranged with somebody to pick up my packet for me (thank you, Ally Phillips!) for doubles, but I figured out a way when I couldn’t. That either required squaring things away with the race or getting to town on time. For weekends when I only ran one marathon, I made sure I’d arrive on time and then I’d go straight to the expo from the airport.

How many pairs of shoes did you go through?
I went through six pairs of shoes. I’m currently rotating pairs No. 7 and 8 and I’m about 25 percent through each of those.


I number them so I know which pair I’m wearing. It helps me keep track of the miles.

What are you going to do you with your first weekend off?
Well, I’ll spend plenty of time with my family, watch a little football, work on the garage and take down the Christmas lights. From a running standpoint, though, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I might take the weekend off, or I might go out for a 30-miler on my old training route. I’m not sure. I’ll see what I’m in the mood to do.

It’s probably hard to quantify tired, but how tired are you?
I’m straight-up worn out. I’m more tired than anything. I’m totally exhausted more than anything else. I’ve completely run myself into the ground. It’s not just the three hours a week that I’m running. It’s the 168 hours a week that I’m existing. I’ve been tired this entire year. I can’t even sleep more than 7 hours right now, because I’m so used to functioning on 6 that I wake up naturally after 7. I’m absolutely out of gas.

How long in 2011 before you do another race?
Boston, April 18. I hope I still have followers because it’s going to be a fun one. Oh, I’m pacing the 3:40 group at Surf City on Super Bowl Sunday, but that doesn’t really count. Physically, that’s just a training run for me.

OK, that’s all for today.
Is it really Wednesday? Wow. This week is going by way too fast. I’ll see you back here for one last blog before my last race. It’s not going to be a question-and-answer session, though. See you tomorrow!

More Questions, More Answers

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Last night while I was eating my dinner, my wife asked me how many different flights I took this year. So, I looked at my list of races and started counting. I remember when I took direct flights and when I changed planes. I had 124 flights this year. I’m glad she asked — now I’ll always know! Several of you have also asked questions and I have the answers in the third in a series of Q&A blogs. How’s that for a transition? I’d give it a C+ — it was kind of weak.

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here, welcome! I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to use my running to make a difference, so I’m attempting to run 61 marathons this year to raise money for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism.

I named this endeavor Operation Jack, after my son. This year is almost done, as is Operation Jack. I’m through 60 of the 61 so far! And now, the questions …

This can’t be the end of the line. What’s next for Operation Jack
Well, I’d say a nap. From a charity standpoint, I have no idea. I don’t know what I’m able to do any more. I know people got behind me because of all the marathons I ran this year, but this stuntman thing isn’t something I’m going to continue. I’d love to be able to continue to build a base and get people to make something happen. I just don’t know what I’m going to do or how I’m going to do it.

I’m going to try to build my local Train 4 Autism chapter and I’ll concentrate on helping new chapters any way I can (Maine, that’s you!). And really, I’d love to do anything I can. But I’m turning in my Superman cape for my Clark Kent glasses. I don’t know what I’ll really be able to do. If anybody has anything they want me to do to help a charity, you know where to find me.

Individually, I’ll be running the Boston Marathon, then training for a summer 5K, then I’ll move back into marathon training for the fall. I’ll also spend a lot of time with my family!

Which Marathon Was Your Favorite?
I have to answer this one with five different marathons.

1. Boston. Best run of the year for me, best quality field of runners and they put on one heck of a race.

2. Humpy’s (Anchorage). Amazing run. Very scenic, quick course. If there is one race I could go back to and run with my wife, it’s this one.

3. Oklahoma City. I loved it for everything it was about. It was a great tribute to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing and they pulled it off really well.

4. Marine Corps (Arlington, Va.). Great race, great support, amazing military presence. I loved this race, it’s a must-do for any marathoner and it’s a great race for a first-timer.

5. Operation Jack Marathon. No idea how it will turn out, but it will be one that I always remember, no question.

How do you train/mentally prepare for all these marathons?
To do something like this, high mileage is probably the best way to train. When I peaked with my mileage in 2008, I was running 100+ miles every week. I ran 26-30 miles as my long run at least three times a month or so. Attempting to run 61 marathons isn’t something I knew I could do, but I was confident it was something I could reasonably go after. The one big difference between my training and the 61 is that I’m going all-out every time when I race. It makes recovery difficult, but I’ve always recovered fairly well, so I knew I could probably do it.

On a weekly basis, I take it easy. I don’t run much more than six miles at a time. I’ve run 10 or more miles maybe five times this year aside from the marathons. If I’m feeling good, I’ll go to the track and do a speed workout to keep the wheels turning. If not, I’ll just ride the bike at the gym. I have to walk that fine line between getting exercise mid-week and staying as fresh as possible for the weekend. For the most part, I feel pretty lazy about my workouts six days a week.

Mentally, it’s tough. There have been a good 15 or 20 times this year that I’ve woken up and thought, “Man, I really don’t feel like running a marathon today.” That can be pretty tough, when you have to run a marathon. But I don’t have much choice, so I just do it. In those races, I usually lose focus and run poorly. Sometimes, I think about running fast, listen to upbeat music during the week and get myself excited to turn in a good performance. But really, when you’re running 61 marathons full speed in a year as an amateur on top of everything else you’re doing, it’s tough to find that motivation at times. It becomes a job.

How did you stay injury free?
I was blessed. I mean, I don’t know what else to say. I took 10-15 ice baths during the year (not enough), I stretched pretty regularly and I was reasonably trained for it. My injuries were minor (IT band flareups in my right leg, tendinitis in my right leg), and while they were painful, they didn’t threaten my ability to complete the races.

I did my best listening to my body, but really, I think I just have some kind of genetic makeup that helps me recover well and keeps me injury free.

What course that you ran this year will you never run again and why?
Lewis & Clark in St. Charles, Mo. It was the last running of that course, so there’s no option for me to run it again, but it was absolutely the least exciting course I’ve ever run. Nothing but … I don’t even remember. Maybe a couple of neighborhoods, plus some industrial areas I think. I couldn’t think of anything while I was running it other than, “this is the most boring course I’ve ever run.”

Are you satisfied with the way Operation Jack turned out?
Content? Yes. Satisfied? No. I say content, because I view the year as a gain for Train 4 Autism. Not only in the short term, but I also think there will be long-term benefits. But I’m not satisfied. It’s not like me to be satisfied. I’m hard on myself and I think I could have done better. There are things I would have done differently that would have made the year more successful, so no, I’m not satisfied.

Is there a course that you will run year after year after discovering it this year?
I don’t have the budget to run anything year after year. But if I did, it would be Humpy’s up in Anchorage. I loved that course and I could take a trip up there every summer, no question.

Is there a course you missed out on this year that you wish you could have run and hope to run in the future?
New York City! I really, really want to run that course someday and run through all five boroughs. I know it does a great job showcasing the city, which in my book is the most interesting city in the country. I want to qualify my way in, so I need to run a sub-2:55. I’m a little ways away from that, but I’ll get there.

When you look back at this year, what is the first thing that comes to mind?
The first thing that comes to mind is the first race of the year in Kingwood, Texas. That’s where it all started. I can’t believe I spent an entire year doing this and I’ll always think back to how it all started there on that nice run on New Year’s Day. In a broader perspective, I think the first thing I’ll always think of is going in and out of airports every single weekend.

I think that’s enough for today
I still have more questions on the list that you guys gave me. If there’s anything you want answered, let me know. I’ll see you back here tomorrow, probably with a few more Q&As. Have a great Tuesday.

One Last Weekend Recap

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One last weekend recap, finally! I took my last trip of Operation Jack this weekend. It was a tough weekend for me, because I had so much going on behind the scenes, but it’s over and done with, and I can move on now.

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to make a difference, and I want Jack to have an impact on the world, so I’ve been attempting to run 61 full marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism.

I named the endeavor Operation Jack, after him. If not for his autism, I wouldn’t have attempted this. So I know that anything I do through all this running to help Train 4 Autism, or really, anybody, wouldn’t have happened if not for him. So, I know that through his struggles, he’s making the world a better place, even though he doesn’t know it and he probably never will.

Yesterday, I ran marathon No. 60 of the year, and to put it mildly, I was THRILLED with how it went! I ran a Boston qualifier in Jacksonville. My time, 3:14, wasn’t the greatest time I’ve ever run, but I really wanted to find a way to dig deep enough to pull out a BQ in my 60th marathon of the year, and I did just that. Click here to read my recap.

Misc. Pictures From The Weekend
There’s a few pictures from this weekend I really liked and I’m going to share.


I saw this on Facebook while I was switching planes on my way to Jacksonville on Saturday. Tiff and Jack, both really happy for a picture. If it makes you smile, just imagine how much it makes me smile.

Jack woke up super-early Saturday morning, while I was leaving for the airport. Then he decided to kick Tiff out of her bed, take her laptop and start playing with his Easter eggs. Y’all need to know it’s Jack’s world and we’re just living in it!

I saw this and thought, yeah, this needs to make it into the blog.

Jack loves Curious George so I brought a small one along this weekend.

I’ve got another picture a little farther down in the blog.

I have a video, too. Last Friday was Jack’s holiday presentation at school. This video is a perfect example of why I love my wife. She doesn’t care about anything other than what’s best for Jack. In this case, she saw that he wasn’t dancing the way he should have during the presentation.

She didn’t care what anybody thought about her jumping up on stage to get him going. Last year didn’t go too well, and that wasn’t going to be the case this year — she made certain of that. She’s one tough, proud mama, and nothing will get in the way of her and what’s best for Jack. Period.

Down To The Wire
OK, it’s THIS WEEKEND, y’all! Operation Jack Marathon and Operation Jack Satellite Run — who’s not in? If you’re going to be in Southern California, come on out and join us! If not, we could use more people everywhere for the satellite runs.

Either way, you’re going to get the race shirt and the medal! So register … NOW! The list of satellite participants is missing a few. I don’t think I’ve updated it since Saturday. I’ll get to it later today.


Get yourself one of these!

No More Travel!
As my flight was touching down and landing last night, I was thinking about there would be no more travel. I felt like a kid getting out of school on the last day when I checked out my hotel yesterday, my last hotel of the year. Like a geek, I tweeted, “Cue Annie Lennox: ‘No More Hotel Rooms.'” I don’t think anybody got it.

I had a few hours to kill and I got to hang out at a sports bar and watch some football with two people I featured in my race report. That was about the first time I’ve gotten to chill after a race all year. I felt like it was a nice, little reward after a long, long year. And the Chiefs won!

When I checked in my rental car, it was my last time going through that routine, too. That was kind of weird, too. No more of that, either. It sounds kind of dumb, but I’ve checked in more than 50 rental cars this year. I have everything down to a routine and that’s one routine I won’t have any more.

And then finally, the flying. I used to be afraid of flying. Nothing fazes me now. I think taking propellor planes through thunderstorms this summer sealed the deal on that one. I got an upgrade to first class on the first flight, from Jacksonville to Atlanta. That was cool. The benefits of frequent flyer status!


This was my second plane on Saturday, only one seat on the left side of the aisle! I would have never flown on this thing in the past!

I’m pretty superstitious, and for the last flight, I chose seat 13A. I would have never done that in the past because of the number 13, but when I picked the seat, it was in a preferred row (the benefits of frequent flyer status!), the aisle was taken and the middle was open. I knew that if I took the window, it was pretty likely that nobody would be in the middle. Sure enough, that seat stayed empty, I put my backpack under the seat in front of the middle and had plenty of legroom. I figured out the routine, I got over the worries, and now I don’t have to do it any more.

When we touched down, I was thinking about how it was my last flight of this whole thing. But there was no real sadness or excitement. It just was. But I had a ton of obstacles getting home. First, we had to wait on the tarmac for a gate to open up. At this point, it’s 10:30 Pacific time and I had been up, without a nap, since 1:45 a.m. Pacific time. I’d spent 6 1/2 hours on two flights, plus I’d run a marathon. I was tired and wanted to get home!

But, my phone had died. So when we got into the terminal, at about 10:45, I had to charge it for about five minutes. I needed to call Tiff, because I knew she’d be worrying about whether or not I’d landed safely. Wives are funny like that. So I waited. And called her. When I fly out of Orange County, I park for free at my brother’s work, which is about 1/2 mile from the airport. Lucky for me last night, when I finally got outside for the walk, it was pouring. Then, I got to my car and changed my windshield wipers. I bought new ones on Friday night, but didn’t change them outside my house in the rain. I knew the right place to be would be inside the covered parking garage Sunday night. I just didn’t know how tired I’d be.

Finally I got on the road and drove cautiously through the rain, walking through the door about 11:40 — 22 hours after I woke up in Jacksonville. Tiff asked me if it had sunk in yet that there was no more travel, but it hadn’t. It’s still the same as normal right now — I just traveled home from a marathon and I have a race this weekend.

But I’m getting close. And I’m definitely tired today!

That’s All For Today
I need to get to the office. Y’all have a great day. I’ll be back tomorrow to finish up those Q&As.

Race Report: Jacksonville Marathon

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This is probably going to be a weird race report, because most of it might not be about the race. I was preoccupied with a few things during Sunday’s Jacksonville Marathon, but I knocked out marathon No. 60 of the year and I’m pretty happy with how the race went.

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I’m attempting to use my running to help him have an impact on the world, so I’m attempting to run 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. I wouldn’t be doing this if not for Jack, so I know that any good that comes out of this is because of him.

I named my endeavor Operation Jack, after him. As I mentioned, Jacksonville was No. 60. The finish line of my longest marathon ever is getting pretty close!

Anyways, I wasn’t too into the race mentally. I’m tired, I had a disappointing race last weekend in Tucson and I’m really busy. Back home, my wife is sick, my oldest son hasn’t been on his best behavior this weekend and Jack’s been waking up early. He woke up at 4:50 a.m. yesterday morning, leaving my wife Tiffany tired all day while she felt sick. I feel terrible when things don’t go well when I’m gone.

Today’s race started at 7 a.m., which is 4 a.m. back home. 30 minutes before the start, I got a text from Tiff that Jack was up and she didn’t think he was going back to bed. I figured she was a little middle-of-the-night groggy and tried to give her some advice to get her to go back to sleep. But I had to power down my phone about 10 minutes before the race and I knew I’d spend the entire race wondering what was exactly what happened.

I was also thinking about the race of Luke Thompson, who was running his second lifetime marathon in Jacksonville. I met him through Operation Jack and hung out with him and his friend Andy last night. I knew from his training times that we was ready to go sub-3 with ease, but he seemed nervous because he blew up in his first marathon. I talked to him about how I would run the race with his legs, and really, really hoped not to see him during the race.

And then, of course, there’s this whole Operation Jack Marathon I’m putting on next week. That’s keeping me busy and stressed. I’m worried about all the details of everything, and it’s weighing on my mind. It’s fair to say that I was looking ahead to that one.

So, my mind, while barely awake, was focused on everything but the race. But I still had to run it. My strategy, since I’ve done such a good job blowing up, was to go out, run 7:20s and accelerate my heart rate after 6 miles.

The course is flat and fast and fairly boring. I’d say 23 miles of it wrapped through residential areas. It was a nice, calm run, but it was still pretty boring. But it was a flat course and the weather was great for running. High 40s, some humidity, some wind. Not perfect, but perfect never happens and this was pretty good.

By about mile 4, I adjusted my plan. I decided to stretch that 7:20 thing to mile 10. My heart rate was in the low 160s and I wanted to remain conservative and not go for broke. I really wanted to get a Boston qualifier, so I tried to play it somewhat safe and not risk a blow-up. I’ve done enough of that lately.

I haven’t hit all of my individual performance goals this year, but I figured it would be pretty cool to BQ in my 60th marathon of the year. I’d be content with that.

As I closed in on mile 10, I was running consistently. My miles were all in that 7:20 range. Some as quick as 7:15, some as slow as 7:30 or so. Most of them were right on target and I was pretty consistent, although slowly slightly — maybe 2-3 seconds per mile by mile 10. My average pace for the race slipped from 7:18 to 7:21.

I decided to not step up my effort by heart rate. I was more interested in fighting to stay consistent since I was on target for that BQ. I decided I’d see what I had at mile 20. So, I kept rolling and started to gradually fatigue. I felt some pain in my left leg, but nothing in my right leg like I have so much over the past few months.

When I hit 20, I did the math and saw I needed to close with a 48-minute 10K to hit a 3:15, which I was confident I could do. I started to push when my body would let me. Sometimes it cooperated, sometimes it didn’t. It was nice and cool, but there was some headwind at times.

As I started to knock down those final few miles, I was doing the math in my head and could tell I was starting to build a little bit of a cushion. With three to go, I needed to average about 7:40 to get that BQ. With two to go, I needed closer to 8:00. With a mile to go, I was in great shape, although I wanted sub-3:15 — I didn’t want the extra 59 seconds you’re allowed (a 3:15:59 is a BQ).

All of a sudden, my legs got really stiff, like they wanted to quit on me. I know the feeling. They’ve been doing that a lot lately. I started thinking, “Oh, not now Sam. Not now. You’ve come too far.” I really wanted to nab that BQ in my 60th marathon of the year. I had run a solid race for 25.2 miles and I couldn’t let it slip away in one little mile.

Right then, I thought about my friend Ashley I met in St. Charles and Memphis. She has a saying about feeding a dog. There’s some profanity in there, but I ignore that part of it. The point is, when you need to suck it up and dig down and get something done, you just need to feed the dog. Feed the dog. I was telling myself, “Feed the dog, feed the dog” … I needed to own that mile. I kept repeating that to myself for a good quarter mile.

And I sure as heck owned that mile. I went 7:06, my fastest of the day. I kicked really strong at the end and hit the final 0.3 at a 6:10 pace. I went 3:14:21. I was so happy, you have no idea. It wasn’t my fastest run, it wasn’t my best run. But I dug down hard and this time I got it done. I was really happy about that. I’ll look back at this race and not really remember much of anything except for getting it done in that last mile. I’m completely content with this one.

After the race, I found Luke. I figured with his talk of how he was going to approach the race, he would go conservative and run a 2:57. But he went for it because he felt great and went 2:54:51. Also, I talked to Tiff and Jack went back to sleep. She woke up feeling well rested and she didn’t feel as sick as she did.

All-in-all, a great day. And to top it all off, I’m going to fly home tonight and I won’t have to leave any more for Operation Jack! Next week’s race is less than a one-hour drive from my house!

So there you have it — 60 down, ONE to go!


Andy, Luke and me after the race.

Happy Birthday To My Best Friend!

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If you’ve been around here at all, you know I like to talk about my wife, Tiffany. Today, I’m going to do that one last time for the year, because it’s her birthday. It’s a birthday I’ve been thinking about for a while because of a promise I made about 10 years ago. I haven’t fulfilled the promise, but I’m optimistic she’ll forgive me.

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. To try to make a difference and help him have an impact on this world, I’m attempting to run 61 full marathons this year to raise money for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism.

So far, I’m through 59 of the 61. Only two to go. But none of this would be possible without Tiff. As I tell everybody, we’re like a NASCAR team. I’m the driver, so I get the attention. But she’s the crew chief. Jimmie Johnson gets nowhere without his team. I get nowhere without her.

Anyways, about 10 years ago, we were walking into a mall here called South Coast Plaza. At the time, we were both working, we had a mortgage of just $700 and we only had two mouths to feed. We were saving money, building up our investments and doing well. That’s when I made the promise.

By the time you’re 35, we’ll be millionaires.

A couple of times over the past several years, she joked around and told me she was coming up on 35. I kept joking back that we still had a little time. Even right now, I’m still thinking that technically I have 364 more days.

But no, I didn’t get us there. Heck, just last week, I checked and saw that we only had $740 available to write checks with. The reason I checked was because I got a call from a credit card company telling me our $750 payment bounced. Ah, the joys of not being a millionaire!

I’m sure you guys know by now I set high standards and chase big goals. When we were at the mall, that’s what I thought we could do, and that was the goal I set. She laughed and told me she’d believe it when she saw it, but I truly believed that would be the case. I love Tiffany and feel it’s my responsibility to make sure her journey through life is as wonderful as possible.

But I don’t think I’ve failed at that just because we don’t have a big bank account. We have three kids and a tight-knit family. We don’t have a huge house, but we have a great home. We struggle through everything together, but we’re proud of our “us against the world” mentality. We have our faith that things will get better and we know it could be worse. It’s all the cliché stuff, but it’s all true. We know chasing money won’t get us anywhere, so we don’t do that. I still want to provide her with a comfortable life, but that’s not anywhere close to a be-all, end-all for us.

We’re not millionaires, like I promised. But we’re still best friends. I still suffer through watching reality shows with her because that’s better than being in another room watching ESPN by myself. She still laughs at my jokes and then tells me I’m not funny. And of course, we have the kids. We both always wanted to have a family, and we didn’t know what to expect, but we have our family and we’re thrilled about that. As we always say, we’re just glad we get to ride this roller coaster together.

I really hope she has a great day today. I also hope she has a great day tomorrow. And then again the next day. If she does, I’ll know she has what she needs.