Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Random Stuff For Tuesday

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Happy Tuesday everybody! I wrote my blog, then went back to write an intro, but I don’t have time and need to get this posted. So I have stuff in here about a great race in Memphis, Jack, football, prescription costs and a killer cheeseburger. Keep reading!

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 and I’m trying to run 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a great charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m on target, through 43 with a couple of ultramarathons. 18 to go!

I Need Your Help!
OK, so I added Memphis St. Jude’s onto the schedule as my 61st race and I was really looking forward to running this race. It benefits such a great cause — the St. Jude Chidren’s Research Hospital, which does an amazing job with pediatric cancer research and treatment.

Well, last week I got a text from Operation Jack supporter Laura Sullivan letting me know that registration was full. And I hadn’t registered! I was so bummed. I contacted the race and explained to them what I was doing and asked if they had any extra entries allocated for exceptions that they’d sell me — I’ve lucked out that way a couple of times.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have any. But, they have a program called Heroes and if I participated in that and guaranteed to raise $500, then I could purchase an entry. I thought about it for about 60 seconds and decided to do it. I registered for the race and personally guaranteed that I’d raise the $500. In a way, I feel like it’s meant to be.

Autism is my cause. It still is, and it always will be. But now I take a tiny hiatus and use this base I’ve built to raise some money for pediatric cancer research and treatment. There are a lot of terrible things in this world that harm innocent kids. I’m really excited to be able to help this cause.

So, I’m going to push a little bit towards this until I reach my goal. I have a fundraising page that you can reach at operationjack.org/stjude. The sooner we hit this, the sooner I’ll stop begging you with every blog! Let’s get this done!

Quick Jack Update
Tiff is taking Jack to the DAN doctor today. Poor little guy has no idea what’s in store for him. He has to get blood drawn for testing, which I’m pretty angry about, because we went through this ordeal in June and it was miserable for him. For whatever reason, though, the lab couldn’t use the sample and we need to have blood drawn again. We had to restrain him and he was withdrawn the rest of the day. I’m pretty sure he’ll be that way again today, which kills me, because this was so avoidable. How does a lab ruin a sample?

On a side note, one of his prescriptions was ready yesterday. The co-pay through our insurance was $122. But if we just paid out of pocket for it (which we did), it was $109. I don’t talk about politics here, and I’m not going to say anything about either party, but I think that’s a pretty good indictment of the health care system. I don’t know what the solution is, but with those numbers, there’s certainly something wrong.

Maybe I Should Stick To Running, Not Football
We have an NFL pick-em pool for Operation Jack and of the people who have made their picks both weeks, I’m in last place. It’s terrible. I’m going to rewind 11 years with a quick anecdote.

I have a Super Bowl bet every year with my grandma and she dictates the terms. In 1999, when Denver beat Atlanta, she won the bet. At the time, I was working for The Associated Press and I had to get her a custom-made shirt that said, “I proved I know more about football than my grandson, and he’s a professional sportswriter!” I might need to get a shirt made for my 4 1/2-year-old daughter Ava, too.

I only picked five winners through Sunday’s games. I wanted to see how I would have done if I would have let her pick for me. So, I went down the list of games, reading the visiting team and then the home team, telling her to pick one. Sure enough, she picked seven. I tried it again, going with the home team first and then the visiting team, and she picked nine right. I said the winning team first the third time through, and she picked six. Then I went with the losers first and she picked 11.

Four different attempts, four times she beat me. Oh well.

Great Call Gaye Beckman!
I wanted to meet up with Operation Jack supporter Gaye Beckman on Sunday, so I threw out Five Guys as a suggestion. It’s good stuff and there’s no In-N-Out in Denver. She recommended a place called Smashburger instead, though. I trusted her judgment, plus I like trying places I can’t get to anywhere else.

This was dinner:


I should have taken a picture of my empty plate afterwards.

This was some kind of barbecue bacon cheeseburger with onion strings, plus an order of fried pickles. I was looking down the options for fries and saw fried pickles and it was a no-brainer. Good stuff. Good call.

For the record, I know it seems like I live on cheeseburgers, but last night for dinner, I had baked salmon, cous cous and squash. For lunch I had a turkey sandwich, banana, apple and some soy energy blend trail mix stuff that Tiff picked up at Costco.

That’s All For Today
Have a great Tuesday, everybody. See you back here tomorrow!

Weekend Decisions

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It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve really written a weekend recap on Monday. I’ve had one sort of excuse or another, but today, I actually have a weekend recap! This weekend was defined by decisions I made, and it turned out pretty well, except for when I lost fair and square to my 4-year-old daughter at Uno.

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 run 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for an autism-related charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m through 43. And I hurt! I named the endeavor after my little guy, calling it Operation Jack.

First Decision: Where To Run
I had originally scheduled Yonkers, N.Y. for this weekend, but three weeks ago I switched it to Boulder, Colo. because I thought it would be a more effective trip for Operation Jack. I booked my airfare to Denver, and sure enough, Boulder was postponed last Monday due to a fire. So four days before the weekend, I needed to find a race.

Fortunately, I found a race 225 miles southwest of Denver that started in a town called Crested Butte and finished in another town called Gunnison. It was a pretty challenging race, but I gave it my all, like always. If you want, you can read my recap here.

Next Decision: When To Leave
Mentally, I had written off the weekend when I had Yonkers on the schedule. To get to New York, I would have had to leave early Saturday morning and I would have gotten back late Saturday night. So when I booked Boulder, I mindlessly scheduled an early-morning flight to Denver. I say mindlessly, because I didn’t even think about checking my oldest son Benjamin’s soccer schedule.

When I did, I saw that his game was at 9 a.m., about the same time I was scheduled to land in Denver. I looked into changing the flight and the net cost (lower rental car cost) was going to be about $60. Worth $60 for a 9-year-old’s soccer game? I don’t like wasting money, but there’s only one other game I’ll be seeing this season. So yeah, it was worth $60.

Benjamin will be the first to tell you he’s not very good at soccer. And when I go out and watch him play, he’s just about the worst player on the field. It’s been two years since he scored a goal. But he has a ton of fun playing, and I like to coach him on things like sportsmanship and effort. It’s also a pure joy to sit out there at the field in my chair while it’s overcast, chatting with the parents, watching the kids have fun.

Skip to the third quarter. It’s 0-0 and one of the better players on Ben’s team had a scoring opportunity, but the opposing goalie came out a bit to cut off the angle and made a save on a shot. The ball bounced back out towards Benjamin, who was about 25 yards out. He saw the goalie was too far out, so he boomed it high and far. One bounce, and IN! He scored a goal! He was on top of the world and all of his teammates mobbed him. I was so excited!

The game ended in a 1-1 tie, so as I reminded Ben about 20 times, he made the difference between a tie and a loss! I always tell Ben that even though he might not be the best player, he’s a part of the team and he needs to work hard and contribute. Every little bit helps and you never know when something you do is going to make a difference.

He’s not going to be a professional athlete, but I know he’s going to be a good person. He’s honest to a fault. After the game, he asked me if I saw all his teammates get excited after his goal, and I told him I did. He asked me why they got so excited and I told him it was because that gave them a 1-0 lead.

With an ear-to-ear smile, he told me, “I think it’s because they didn’t expect it from me because I’m so bad!” Ah, Benjamin. He can do his little things to misbehave, but he’s a good kid and I love that little guy!

And yeah, that was worth $60.


That’s him on the left. The picture didn’t turn out too well, but the smile did.

He’s supposed to grow past 6-4, but he’ll always be my little guy.

Next Decision: To Turn Back Or Not To Turn Back?
I was on my way to Chipotle for lunch on Friday, about to turn in the parking lot, when my wife Tiffany called me up hysterical. Apparently, Jack slipped and fell and hit his chin on a chair and it was bleeding. She wanted me to come home immediately to help, so I turned the car around, but I was a good 20-25 minutes away.

When I was about 10 minutes away from getting home, she told me the bleeding had stopped and she was thinking he’d be OK. She was indecisive about whether or not I should head all the way home at that point. I made the decision to go check it out. Good call.

He had a decent gash and I wanted to take him to the doctor as a precaution. We went and they immediately said he’d need stitches. He’s difficult to treat at a doctor’s office, because he doesn’t communicate or understand what’s going on. The doctor wanted to send him to the emergency room so he could be put under to have the stitches put in. No way did we allow that, although if it had just been Tiff at the doctor’s office, she would have had no choice.

After spending 20 minutes numbing up his chin, we had to put him in a papoose, which is something that restricts him from moving his arms and legs. Tiff held him steady and I held his face in place. He didn’t like that and resisted quite a bit because he didn’t know what was happening. It was pretty tough to see him so upset. The stitches went in and he got some McDonald’s fries as a treat afterwards.

But I think it was more traumatic for me. I was in a haze the rest of the day. That was absolutely miserable. But I’m glad I was there.

Next Decision: How Long To Hold On To The Draw Four Card?
On Friday night, I played Uno with Ben and Ava. I had two draw four cards, but I chose to hold on to them for too long. I was wanting to hang on to them and use them as I was getting close to going out. I passed up on good opportunities to use them earlier in the game, and Ava quietly whittled down her hand.

I dropped one on her after she called Uno, but after a reversal, I had to use one on Benjamin. Soon enough, I was powerless with my hand, she called Uno again, and when it came to be my turn, there was nothing I could do. She outplayed me and Ben and won the game.

Yeah, I got beat at Uno, fair and square, by my 4-year-old daughter, because I did a poor job playing my draw four cards.

Bad decision.

Will He Or Won’t He?
Last night a big guy named Bert sitting next to me on the plane said he was going to come to the site, read the blog and leave a comment. He stored operationjack.org in his iPad and we talked for a little while, so I think there’s a fighting good chance. We’ll see!

Wow, This Ran Longer Than I Thought It Would
I like that, though … I have a ton of leftover material for tomorrow. Should make that blog easy to write. Y’all enjoy your Monday and celebrate the fact that my Kansas State Wildcats are 3-0!

Race Report: Mountain Air Marathon

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It’s taken 43 marathons this year, but I think I’ve finally gotten to the point that I’m not stressing about my finishing times. I know at this point that I’m banged up and I can’t run like I’m fresh. If all I can do is go out and beat myself up and go as hard as I can, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. Sunday’s Mountain Air Marathon in Colorado was a perfect example. I expected to be slow, I was two minutes slower than I thought I’d be, and I’m totally fine with that.

This race was a last-minute addition to the schedule. I originally planned to run in Yonkers, N.Y., Sunday, but I switched that to Boulder, Colo., about three weeks ago, because it was going to be a lot more effective for Operation Jack.

However, the race in Boulder was postponed six days in advance, which left me scrambling to find something to run. Fortunately, I found the Mountain Air Marathon, which was 225 miles southwest of Denver, starting in Crested Butte and finishing in Gunnison, and didn’t force me to change my airline tickets. It just added 450 miles of driving to the weekend.

Boulder was going to be a challenging race, because it had lots of rolling hills and the elevation varied from 5,200 feet to 5,600 feet — serious oxygen deprivation for a sea-level guy like me. The Mountain Air Marathon, appropriately named, started at 8,955 feet and ended at 7,850 feet. The highest elevation I had previously hit was in the 7,200-foot range at the peak of the Park City Marathon four weeks ago.

The elevation, combined with the fact that I was coming off of back-to-back weekends with ultramarathons, didn’t give me much hope of a great day. Regardless, I knew I’d go out and give it my all. I wasn’t hoping for much better than a 3:40, though.

Once we took off, I took it fairly easy, taking my time to get my heart rate up. Breathing was a little tough and it was chilly. I knew I was in for a long day and I did my best to make sure it wasn’t any longer than necessary. I was feeling fairly winded by about 3-4 miles in, but I comfortably locked into a groove of about a 7:30 pace. By about mile 5, my hamstrings started feeling pretty tight, which hasn’t happened yet this year. It made sense to me, though. I normally stretch my hamstrings pretty well after my training runs, but I’ve only been riding the bike at the gym for the past two weeks, so I haven’t stretched at all. I didn’t stretch after my 54-miler last weekend, because I was cramping pretty badly.

Although my hamstrings hurt, that didn’t really slow me down. I kept knocking off miles in that 7:30 range and went through the half in 1:42 and change. I felt better than I thought I would and was hoping to have enough to hang on to a sub-3:30. I kept an eye on the elevation, hoping we were dropping at a consistent pace. If the race ever leveled off, I knew I’d be toast. Everything seemed fine and I was encouraged about the second half.

However, out of nowhere, both of my legs got extremely stiff at about mile 15. I didn’t hit the wall. I was just in a ton of pain. I’m getting used to running through pain, and while I don’t like it, I deal with it. The only bummer is that it slows you down and the miles seem to drag on forever. I started running in the 9:00 – 9:30 range, just trying to hang on and breathe. I got passed by a few people and didn’t really care. It was me against myself and that’s all I could focus on.

The course seemed to be running a bit long — I know what kind of tangents I’m running and I truly believe they measured it about 2/10 of a mile long. It wasn’t a huge concern to me, though. If you’re going to run 26.4 instead of 26.2, you might as well see what I saw. It was nature at its finest. It was exactly what you think of when you think of Colorado. Mountains, plenty of trees, leaves turning gold, rivers, open fields — it was a beautiful course, definitely in the upper tier of courses I’ve run this year. Probably not a destination race, because it’s difficult to get to and it’s a small race, but it’s a great course.

Anyways, at mile 22.5, we were at about 7,800 feet. And then at mile 23.5, we were at about 7,950 feet. It was a brutal mile that seemed to leave a lot of us for dead out there. By mile 25, I saw three guys a few hundred yards up. I don’t have much speed right now, but I have endurance and I decided to kick for the last mile and try to pass them. I caught two of them at about 25.4 and I could tell they weren’t going to catch me. The third guy had passed me at about mile 22 and was moving pretty well, but I felt good and went by him with about a 1/2 mile to go. I kept pounding because I didn’t want to give him any hope of passing me back.

As luck would have it, there was final climb at about 25.9 before we headed into the football stadium on the campus of Western State College to finish with 300 meters on the track. I was limping a little bit but kept going as hard as I could. The WSC track team was there volunteering and cheering us on, which was a bit of a boost. I went somewhere right around 3:42 flat, good for 9th overall. They had an ice tub, which was nice to sit in for a little bit. I also stretched afterwards this time!

All in all, a tough day, but really, I can’t complain about running a 3:42 at that altitude in my 43rd marathon of the year after running ultras each of the previous two weekends.

So there you have it, 43 down, two ultramarathons in the books, 18 to go! Next weekend, the Tahoe Triple.


If I looked like I was on top of the world, that’s because I was. This race finished at about 7,850 feet above sea level.

Happy Birthday To My Baby Boy!

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Seven years ago today, my wife Tiffany answered a furniture saleswoman’s question with a completely unexpected response. We were couch shopping and Tiff was very obviously pregnant. You never want to ask a woman when she’s due, because maybe she’s just overweight, but in looking at Tiff that day, that saleswoman was pretty certain she was expecting.

“So, when are you giving birth?” she asked.

“In about an hour,” Tiff told her. “We have a little bit of time before we have to be at the hospital.”

Now, she was not in labor. It was a scheduled c-section. But sure enough, we were on our way to the hospital and we needed a couch so we stopped off at a furniture store that was on the way. And less than two hours later, we welcomed little Jack, who turns 7 today, into the world. I’ll never forget that week. We were finishing up on an addition to our house (we had a floor dropped in to add a playroom) and the crew finished it the day after Jack was born.

I shuttled back and forth between the house and the hospital, painting everything while nobody was staying at home, and then moving (and re-moving) all the furniture upstairs because we had new carpet put in. At the same time, I was doing the best I could to regulate visitors at the hospital, because we made the mistake of allowing too many when Benjamin was born two years earlier.

There was a chair next to her bed that I slept in for the four nights of her stay, which wasn’t particularly comfortable, but it was a whole lot better than recovering from a c-section. On Saturday the 20th, we went home with little Jack, our precious newborn.

As you know if you’ve been here before, we had no idea we were holding a baby who had autism. We didn’t live in denial as he developed very slowly, though, and he’s been in intensive therapy for more than five years now. If there’s one thing I would stress to parents of slow-developing children, it’s that denial might do you some good, but it won’t help your child.

Last year, when I wrote a blog on his birthday, I was pretty upset. I could remember my sixth birthday and he was nowhere near where I was on that day. He was so far behind typical, calling me “Miss Anne” instead of “Daddy,” still in diapers and obviously headed towards a not-at-all-typical childhood.

This year, though, it’s different. He’s still in diapers. And his speech is limited. But he’s really made a lot of progress since last year. I think some of the biggest changes have come from this DAN protocol we have him on. His insides are clearly getting better and as a result, he’s been happier. Way fewer meltdowns and much more Happy Jack. He’s been more responsive in therapy and he’s doing a lot of little things better.

I was just talking to Tiff about this the other night, and I think the biggest improvement that I’m excited about is that he realizes he’s a part of the family and he wants to be with us. He has his own unusual ways of interacting with us, which is fine. One of the key components of autism is social awkwardness. But he interacts with us. We’re not just trees in his world like we used to be.

He likes to be with his brother and sister and he’s clingy with Tiff and I. I kid you not, two years ago, I wasn’t really sure that he understood we were his parents. We’ve always accepted him, but I’ve always had some doubt about his future. I’ve always held out hope that he’ll be able to mainstream, but I haven’t really had anything to make me truly believe that other than my faith that things will get better.

We know that he understands a lot of what we’re saying and we know the speech is going to come. And this might sound bad, but it’s a lot easier on us emotionally when we get feedback and reciprocation from him. So last year his birthday was upsetting for me, because I compared him to myself as a 6-year-old. But this year, I’m comparing 7-year-old Jack to 6-year-old Jack and I’m pretty excited. I’m really looking forward to 8-year-old Jack.

I’m glad he had a lot of fun at his party on Sunday. I’m glad he’s skipping school and going with Tiff to Disneyland. And really, while I’m glad he’s going to Disneyland with her, I’m also glad she’s going to Disneyland with him. I view the kids’ birthdays as a big day for her, because she gave birth to them after carrying them for nine months.

That’s why this morning, after I went by the gym, I stopped off to pick up some flowers for her. That’s something I always do and she wasn’t surprised. I’m glad they’re going to enjoy a special day together. They both deserve it.


I love this little guy.

About seven years ago.

I Rock And The Bling Proves It!

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Happy Wednesday y’all! I have nothing clever or catchy to start this blog out with and I need to get out the door to take Jack to school (and then go to work). So here you go — a bunch of stuff. Read it and see a picture of the most ridiculous bling I’ve ever gotten from a race!

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. Take a look and see why I’m trying to run 61 marathons this year for Train 4 Autism.

Got A Surprise In The Mail
I got this in the mail the other day, apparently for running four Rock ‘N Roll Marathons this year — Arizona, Nashville, San Diego and Seattle.


This is pretty discreet.

Now really, what am I supposed to do with this? I posed the question on Facebook and Twitter and got quite a few responses.

– Get a huge gold chain and grill and wear it at the San Antonio and Las Vegas Rock ‘N Roll marathons.
– Carry it with me at all times so that if I see Chris Rock or Dwayne Johnson, I can give it to them.
– Put it on a chain and wear it everywhere I went just so everyone would know what a bada– I was.
– Wear it every day and tell people my name is Rock.
– Get finger holes added and wear it as jewelry.
– Encrust my teeth with it.

I kind of like the thought of wearing it every day and telling people my name is Rock.

My Current Facebook Status
Sam Felsenfeld picked the wrong week to stop eating peanut m&ms.

Very Important Question For Those Of You In Southern California
Marathon No. 61 this year, the final race of Operation Jack, will be in Southern California. If you have any interest in attending the finish or participating in the marathon or half-marathon, do you have a preference between Sunday, December 26, or Monday, December 27? The Sunday is the day after Christmas but the Monday is a Monday. It’s holiday time, though.

Let me know what you think, especially if you’d be interested in showing up. I’m going to be making a decision on this very, very soon!

Los Angeles Marathon Anybody?
Anybody in Southern California interested in running the 2011 Los Angeles Marathon with Train 4 Autism? We’re an official charity for the race and we’re looking for runners! We have people heading groups in different areas of Southern California. I’m the leader for Orange County and will be entertaining folks with my terrible humor on group runs.

We don’t have any fundraising minimums, but if you raise $300, we’ll cover your race entry fee and I think we’ll hook you up with some gear. I know we’ll provide coaching if you at least try. No matter what happens, you’ll be under zero obligation. And if you go beyond $300 with fundraising (and we’ll help you with that), 85 percent of what you raise will go to the autism-related charity of your choice.

So, I’m looking for folks who are interested in running the race. If that’s, email me and let me know! This program by Train 4 Autism inspired a program I’m doing called Race 4 Free. That’s my cheesy transition into the next item.

First Free Racer!
I have a program I just launched called Race 4 Free where if you raise $300, we’ll reimburse you for a race entry fee and send you some Operation Jack gear. Now, I can’t do this for previous fundraising, but I can going forward. The race entry should be any Operation Jack race, but it can be any race you’re doing with an entry fee up to $150. If you have any questions, contact us!

Anyways, we got our first free racer! Mackenzie Smith went after it and raised the money with his free fundraising page in about two days. I’ll admit it, I’m pretty excited to have my first pioneer hit this goal. I know a lot of you lurk and follow along and support what I’m doing … if I can get enough of you to be like him, or to even try to be like him, you’ll make a huge difference in this mission.

To set up a fundraising page, it’s REALLY simple and there’s NO obligation. Just click here and it’ll take you about two minutes. And there’s no obligation! I ran for more than nine hours in the hot Kansas sun last weekend to try to do my part. All you need to do is be like Mackenzine and take two minutes to set up a page — that’s a whole lot easier than doing what I did!

Runner’s World Update
I’ve mentioned Runner’s World a little bit in the past and I thought I was going to be in the November issue, but I got confirmation yesterday that it’s definitely the December issue, which will be out in November. Now you know.

That’s All For Today
I’d say something clever to close this out, but I wrote this last night and I was really sleepy! Have a great Wednesday!