Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

10 Songs That Will Take Me Back

by 4 Comments

I have random taste in music. Most of the stuff I listen to is stuff that’s played on the radio, but it’s from all genres. When I drive, I listen to just about everything. When I fly, I go with a random shuffle through a ton of songs on my iPod. In the office, I listen to nothing but country.

I’d say country is definitely my favorite genre, but top 40 stuff works better to get me in an upbeat mood, so I listen to that, too. Nothing takes you back in time like music, and I felt like posting the videos for 10 songs that will always bring me back to Operation Jack.

1. This song was pretty popular pretty early in the year and it will always remind me of those early months when I was getting into a rhythm.

2. Same exact comments as the first song.

3. Tiff (my wife) likes this song and it makes me think of her. I have it on my iPod, but I wouldn’t listen to it on the way out on trips — it would make me miss her! But I listened to it on the way back and it put me in a good mood. Every time I heard this (when not in an airplane), I text her and told her, “Hey Soul Sister! :)”

4. In a weird way, being away from Tiff so much brought us closer together. We really realized that we are in all of this chaos together, and we took a pride knowing it’s us against the world. Somewhere around August or so, this became our song, and we’d text each other any time we heard it. The video isn’t really what the song is about, but it’s pretty funny.

5. This is another one of those songs that Tiff likes (and I like) that makes me think of her. I’d hear this and I didn’t really like the title, because I fly a lot, but it sounds real nice. And Tiff likes it. And it will always take be back to this year.

6. This song actually came out in 2009, but I bet I heard it at more than 30 marathons. Most recently, I heard it at Marine Corps Marathon at about mile 9, and it made me smile, because there I was in Washington, D.C., and that night I was going to be celebrating Halloween in California with my family!

7. Heard this in Chicago and it was at that moment I realized I had succeeded in my goals — raising money, increasing membership in Train 4 Autism … and destroying my body!

8. I must have heard this at expos and finish lines at just about every race from September on. That’s when I started sensing the end of the 61 marathons, so it’s a finish-line song for me.

9. Like that last song, I think I heard this at just about every race from August on.

10. This song actually makes me thing more of 2009 after I launched my site and started to get ready for this year. Tiff made me listen to it for the lyrics, and as much as Miley Cyrus isn’t my kind of singer, I think that if there was one song that really captured what Operation Jack was all about internally to me, it might have been this one.

That’s all. Go ahead and laugh about Miley Cyrus making the list!

Eat Like A Champion, Plus Other Weekend Stuff

by 7 Comments

Well, it’s Monday. Normally, that means it’s time for a weekend recap. I don’t have a ton of stuff for a weekend recap, because it was fairly uneventful and there was no flying involved, but I do have a few random things to share, including me and Jack finally making into Runner’s World!

Real quick, if you’ve never been here before, click here to see why I’m trying to run 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism.

This weekend, I ran marathon No. 53 of the year, the Eye Q Two Cities Marathon in Fresno and Clovis, Calif. Read my recap here.

The Trip Before My Trip
On Friday morning, I took Jack to school. He was a little late, so I had to walk him back to his classroom, which is in portables behind the main building. When I got there, I realized I had left his sippy cup in my car. I never do that. Never. Well, except on Friday.

He had been off most of his supplements for about three days, because we needed him to be three days removed before obtaining a stool sample for a test. So, I called Tiff at home and asked her if there was anything in his sippy cup (normally, his water is spiked). Indeed, there was. So, I ran back to the car to get it. It wasn’t an all-out sprint, but it was a decent effort, probably a 7:15 or so pace.

With my 200 pounds of body weight, I have a fair amount of velocity when I run. I rounded the corner of the main building and the sun was right in my eyes. I couldn’t see a thing. While I squinted to try to see, a brick planter jumped right out in front of me. I smacked into it in full stride, kicking with my right foot, then smacking into it with my right shin and flying over it like Superman. I swear I traveled more than 10 feet in mid air.

I twisted a bit to my let, stuck out my hands and most of the impact on the ground was absorbed by my left wrist and elbow. I got some sweet road rash on the edge of my wrist and a nice, deep cut on my left elbow. I couldn’t see what happened to my right leg, but it hurt. I could see I tore my jeans, though.

I spent about 10 seconds on the ground when a woman and her special-needs son walked up. He was distraught after seeing me fall and she wanted to make sure I was OK. I picked myself up and was a little bit dizzy. I was seeing stars all over the place, so I sat back down on that mean, mean planter. I got up about 30 seconds later, then went to my car to get Jack’s cup. On the way back to the classroom, I went to the nurse’s office.

I hadn’t been to an elementary school nurse’s office in about 25 years!

I cleaned up my elbow, bandaged my elbow and went on with my day. I felt pretty sore and banged up and was walking with a limp. At least I had nearly two full days until my marathon, right?

I posted the following as my Facebook status that morning:

Sam Felsenfeld just came from the nurse’s office at Jack’s school. Jack is fine. Sam needs to observe the “no running on the blacktop” rule.

I went to the gym on Friday night to run five easy miles on the treadmill. I was concerned that I’d have troubles running and I wanted to discover problems with my motion BEFORE race day. I was fine, life goes on. It’s funny, though. 53 marathons this year, and my three worst injuries that have impacted my running over the past 18 months have been non-running injuries. I suffered a severely sprained ankle walking through a parking lot, my right big toe still hurts from dropping a desk on it on February 5, and now this.

Oh well, life goes on!


I cut up my leg like that through my jeans. It felt pretty bruised, too.

Get The December Runner’s World!
Finally, here it is! Not the biggest piece in the world, but it’s going to be seen by a lot of people. It’s on page 28, early in the magazine. And it’s the best picture ever of me and Jack!


That photographer was money!

This Looked So, So Wrong
On Saturday night, I went out to dinner with a friend of mine from college named Janet. I knew her from the college paper I met Tiff at, so she’s know us for 16 years, although I’ve known her for close to 18, because I met her before Tiff joined the staff. She lives near Fresno, so while I was in town, we caught up.

It was just me and her going to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, but it was no big deal. In fact, I talked to Tiff while I was out and Janet said hi to her in the background.

Well, we’re sitting there at dinner and the waitress was about to take our orders, and my cell phone rang. So I stopped mid-sentence and told her, “Hang on — it might be wife.”

No sooner did the words come out of my mouth than I realized how wrong that looked. I did some quick explaining to the waitress that I wasn’t on a date, that my wife knew and there was nothing bad going on. It felt so weird to have to explain it!

It was my brother, which was a bummer. I couldn’t tell him, “Hey babe, I’m at dinner with Janet!”

How Not To Refuel
Yesterday was November 7, the day I broke my neck in 1991. For a few different reasons, I have a standard lunch at McDonald’s every year on that date. It’s a six-piece Chicken McNuggets meal plus a hot fudge sundae. I was with my brother yesterday, and he wanted two double hamburgers, so I went in and bought those for him. Except I bought him McDoubles, which are basically double hamburgers with one slice of cheese. He doesn’t like cheese on a burger, so he didn’t eat them. Plus, McDonald’s lets you upsize to a 10-piece meal for an extra 50 cents.

So here’s what I had for lunch:

– 10 piece Chicken McNuggets with barbecue sauce
– Large fries
– Two McDoubles
– Hot fudge sundae
– Large Diet Coke (I’m counting my calories, you know?)

When we got home, my daughter’s birthday party was starting. I continued to plow.

– Enchiladas
– Chips with seven-layer dip
– Large piece of Costco cake
– Homemade vanilla ice cream
– Salad (because I want to be healthy, you know?)

I skipped dinner. But guess what I’m having for dinner tonight?

That’s All For Today
I wrote that last night, and what I really meant was, “That’s all for tonight.” I was tired. Have a great Monday, everybody! I’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Race Report: Two Cities Marathon

by 3 Comments

For me, running a marathon on November 7 is a big deal. It was the day I broke my neck back in 1991, the day I wasn’t paralyzed, the day my legs were spared. I celebrate it as a birthday for my legs, so what better way to celebrate than to run a marathon?

Sunday’s race was the Eye Q Two Cities Marathon in Fresno, Calif. This was marathon No. 53 of the Operation Jack train. 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 and I want him to have an impact on the world. Because of what he goes through, I’m attempting to run 61 marathons in his honor to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism.

I felt decent heading into Sunday’s race. Not totally solid, but I’ve been getter as my challenging September becomes more of a distant memory. My legs are coming back a tiny bit, I’m doing some speedwork and mentally, I’m in a good place. I’m starting to get pretty excited.

I don’t really set A goals, B goals or C goals — I set A hopes, B hopes or C hopes. I always go as hard as I can. I just try to guess what I think I’m going to do and I hope I can maximize what I have in me. I felt like I had a good shot at being faster that last weekend’s 3:23 at the Marine Corps Marathon. I would have been thrilled with another Boston qualifier, 3:15:59, but I didn’t think I’d be able to go much faster than 3:20. I would have been pretty disappointed if I went slower than I did last week.

So there you have my A hope, B hope and C hope. Sub-3:20 is what I was really after. Before the race, I met up with somebody I met through Twitter named Megan, who was super nice and had a great run — 3:26 and second in her age group! I also met up with somebody named Kathy who I met through an online running community.

The coolest thing happened on my warmup run, though. I was running past three women and once I passed them, I heard one of them say, “Look, it’s that autism runner!” I turned and went back and said hello. Right before the start, I saw someone I met through Operation Jack named Linda and it was great to see her. Some folks I’ve met this year have been good to talk to about various non-Operation Jack stuff, and she’s one of them. It was great to see her, give her a hug and smile for a picture.

And then I was off. I felt fairly good early, jumping out a tiny bit quick but turning in miles in the 7:15 range early. I’m totally fine with doing that, even though I know I can’t run a 3:10 right now. I don’t fall apart after banking time. I just lose juice in my legs from a year’s worth of fatigue. It’s something you’d understand if you’ve run all-out in as many marathons as I have this year.

The course itself was pretty unremarkable. It seemed to be primarily on paved trails and alongside a park that looked like a nice area you’d hike in. There weren’t any eyesores, but I’ve seen a lot of courses this year and this one didn’t have a wow factor to me. It was a pretty flat, fast course, with only a couple of small hills and some very mild inclines and declines.

I could tell within about three miles that I didn’t have a ton of zip, but I felt like I had a fighting chance to run well if I was mentally willing to push. I started to slow down a tiny bit by mile seven, but I noticed my heart rate was low. I told myself to suck it up and I started moving more at the rate I’m capable of, around 6:45/mile. I was turning in mostly decent miles and hit the half in about 1:37.

I was doing OK for a little while in the second half, but I did my weekly fall-apart at about mile 18. My legs started getting pretty stiff and my pace was slipping. Mentally, I got kind of angry when the aid stations all started being out of Gatorade at mile 18. With the layout of the course, I didn’t come up to the very back of the half-marathon pack until about mile 19. So basically, it all went to them.

I don’t have a problem with half-marathoners getting Gatorade. I have a problem with race organizers not figuring out a way to make sure marathoners on a sub-3:20 pace get sports drink. I threw a little bit of a pity party for myself as I wrapped up the run.

I knew a 3:15 wasn’t happening, but I wanted to stay under 3:20. I knew it would be close and I knew with about 1.5 miles to go that I’d finish with either a 3:19 or a 3:20. With 1/2 mile to go, I knew I had it if I held on strong to the finish. I saw Linda holding up a sign and that sparked me on my final kick. I ran pretty hard and felt good to be running fast. It was probably about a 5K effort.

I crossed the finish line in 3:19:36, and was pretty happy with that. I’d score myself with about 18 B+ miles and 8 C- miles. Not a great run by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m content with my effort in my 53rd marathon of the year. I did what I’d hoped I’d be able to do, and I knocked another race off the schedule.

So there you have it, 53 down, only eight to go! I … can … do … this!


Me and Linda after the race.

Why Sunday Is A Huge Deal To Me!

by 13 Comments

Some things I’ll never forget. Like the day we had the senior barbecue out at the pool in high school. It was 19 years ago this Sunday and I remember the details like it was yesterday. For me, it’s the day I use as the primary reference point in my life. Everything I’ve done was either before or after November 7, 1991 — the day I broke my neck.

Me in the hospital back in 1991.

[Read more…]

Operation Jack Ends Here!

by 8 Comments

Finally, I know where Operation Jack is going to end. Right here:


Now I have something to visualize!

This is where the start-finish line will be for the Operation Jack Marathon on December 26. 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 trying to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism by running 61 marathons this year.

It’s been tough, because I still do everything I can to spend time with my family (I watched Happy Feet with Jack this morning, read Ava three books last night and lost three times, unintentionally, to Benjamin at Uno last night), I work full time, I handle all of the logistics, and then there’s that whole “running one or two or three marathons on the weekend” thing, too.

But I can see the finish line. Literally, now. I’ve completed 52 marathons and an ultramarathon. I have nine marathons to go, and that ninth and final race will be the Operation Jack Marathon on December 26. Well, unless any of you know a potential title sponsor. In that case, the name would change! You can view all the details of the race at operationjack.org/61 or by clicking the “Marathon No. 61” link at the top of any page on this site.

Anyways, I’ve had the “pleasure” of putting together this final race. I had to find a course and Operation Jack supporter Jake Rome was kind enough to help me with that. We have one along the coast and marina at Dockweiler State Beach in Manhattan Beach and Marina Del Ray, Calif.

It’s been quite the process to obtain a permit and insurance. I’ve been through close to a dozen people in various government offices, but we’re all set. It’s going to two scenic laps of a 13.1-mile out-and-back. Half marathoners will only run once. I’m working on the medals, we’ll have aid stations and shirts for participants. There’s also going to be refreshments at the finish line.

Online registration will be available starting tomorrow. The cost is going to be $45 for the half marathon, $55 for the marathon. Reasonable for a race that includes a medal, a t-shirt, aid stations and benefits a charity? I hope so! It should be a good time. I know I’m going to be celebrating when I finish!

Operation Jack started here in Kingwood, Texas, on January 1:


Talk about starting a marathon, huh?

Now, I know where and how it’s going to end!