Blog – Page 6 – Operation Jack

Back To The Unthinkable: The Hamsterwhizzle!

February 19, 2014 by operationjack 1 Comment

The last time I ran on a treadmill was September 27, 2012. While some runners have streaks and take pride in keeping those streaks going, I’ve been taking pride in not running on the treadmill. I’ve done a little too much of not running at all, but back in 2012, when I was living in Colorado, I told myself that if I was going to go to the gym to work out, then I was going to ride the bike. If I wanted to run, I had trails all around me and fresh air and I needed to get outside and have my me time.

Well that streak is going to come to an end pretty soon. It’s not because of the winter we’re having here in Pennsylvania — I’ve run outside here in temps that are sub-zero with wind chill. I think I ran outside last summer when it was hot (I say I think because it’s been so darn long since it’s even been warm that I don’t really remember it ever being hot … but I’m sure it was).

The real problem we’re having here is that with my wife Tiffany’s schedule of taking care of the kids and the house and me and pretty much everything, she doesn’t have the time to break away to go to the gym. Not only that, but we had a sweet deal with 24 Hour Fitness in California and Colorado ($29/person annual membership) and here I think it’s $30/month a person for the gym. That’s more than 12 times as much.

So, I’m taking the discretionary part of my last bonus and buying her a treadmill for the basement. She said that would make it a lot easier for her to exercise, and that, in turn, would make her a lot happier. For everything she’s been through in the past two years supporting the family and taking care of our severely autistic son Jack, I think it’s the least I can do for her. Actually, it’s pretty much the most I can do for her (dang kids, keep eating every day and there’s no money). But I know it will help her find happiness every day, so I’m going to buy it. No hesitation. She deserves to be happy. As I type this, I can hear her upstairs dealing with another one of Jack’s meltdowns — it’s 9:30 p.m. and he still won’t go to sleep. This is every night, so I think she deserves whatever it takes to make her happy.

Only treadmill picture I could find. This was taken before selfie was a word. And that’s not some poor woman who got caught in the background of this pic. Well actually, it is. But it’s the missus.

She misses the days when she went to the gym and was very fit. I, um, don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way she looks right now. But I know how she feels (I’m struggling to regain my fitness, too) and I want her to find that happiness she used to get when she exercised. This is what she says will help her get that, so this is what she’ll get.

And of course, if it’s going to be sitting there in the basement, I’m … going to … run on it. Uggghhh. My #notreadmill streak is going to come to an end after getting past 500 days. But it will be good for me and help me add things into my training. I’ll admit it, I did like progressive treadmill runs, and I did like the treadmill for recovery runs, and they’re good for hills. I don’t want to admit I’m excited about running on it, but I’ll admit it — I’m excited about it. I’m kind of thinking that it’s going to help me tune up in some areas I need to tune up (the speed stuff will force me to improve my turnover, because there’s no slacking off when the belt is moving). Hopefully this gets me going again.

But more important, hopefully this gets her going again. I can’t stress how tough she’s had it, and she really needs a positive outlet. So hamsterwhizzle it is for her. And me too, I guess.[subscribe2]

Doing as Well as Reasonably Possible

February 17, 2014 by operationjack 2 Comments

I should blog more often. It gives my wife something to read and it’s fun (or sometimes painful) to have something to look back at to remember what you’ve been through. Raising three kids, one of them severely autistic, and working full time and trying to run a charity makes everything fly by in a blur.

Speaking of flying by in a blur, today marks 11 months since I arrived in Pennsylvania. I can’t believe it’s almost been a year. In case you’ve never been to this site, here’s three quick links that explain the story:

OK, that out of the way, everybody I talk to, be it face-to-face, text, email, Facebook, Twitter, whatever — one question I get a lot is, “How are things in Pennsylvania?” For the amount of people who ask me that question, I have to imagine that those of you who have followed along off and on over the past four or five years might be asking the same question. I don’t blog as much as I used to, and we picked this state without even seeing it because we thought it would be the best situation in the lower 48 for our kids.

So, 11 months in (seven for my family — they didn’t get here until July), how are things?

We’re doing as well as reasonably possible.

I’d love to sit here and say life is great. And, well, I guess it is. It’s difficult. But I wouldn’t trade my path for anything, aside from Jack’s autism. But everything we hoped Pennsylvania would be when we chose it a year ago, sight unseen? So far, so good. It’s what we’d hoped it would be. Cost of living and the job are in place, although I got a job because we needed to move. We didn’t move because I got a job.

The services here are what we were told they would be. The collaboration has been what we were told it would be. Jack’s teacher is as awesome as we were told she would be. She cares about him, which isn’t something I can say about the folks at the school in Colorado. We love the neighborhood and the town we live in, we have nice neighbors we feel comfortable and there’s kids everywhere. We miss our neighbors in Colorado, but we did what we had to do for our kids and here we are.

That doesn’t mean that everything is fantastic, though. Jack still has serious separation issues from Tiffany, which I blame on what they went through in Colorado. He has meltdowns daily. There’s plenty of this:

This was Sunday. But this could have been taken yesterday or Saturday, too. — This was Sunday. But this could have been taken Monday or Saturday, too.

He still has issues with his gut and self-injurious behaviors. Tiff just a great job pressing forward to constantly learn more about what he can and can’t handle, but there’s still a ways to go. It’s heartbreaking to see a 10-year-old suffer the way he does on a daily basis. But that would be the case no matter where lived. Everything we thought would be a positive about Pennsylvania has been a reality so far. And there’s still plenty of this:

And we just had something cool happen tonight:

Is it unreasonable to dream of your kids playing with each other?

The five of us still have plenty of challenges — more than our fair share in my opinion. But we are in the right spot. Pennsylvania is everything we’d hoped it would be. So about a year after we decided another relocation was in order, that’s how we’re doing — as well as reasonably possible.[subscribe2]

Jack Got In For Boston!

January 14, 2014 by operationjack 4 Comments

As a marathon runner, getting into the Boston Marathon is a goal of mine every year. For my 10-year-old son Jack, who is severely autistic, that’s not so much the case. However, we’ve been working for years to get him in for Boston and today is finally his day.

For him, Boston means Massachusetts General Hospital, where there are some world-class gastroenterologists who focus on kids with autism and specialize in what troubles Jack. In addition to all the problems with his brain, he has severe problems with leaky gut. His food allergy list is ridiculous and it’s a daily battle to keep him from being in pain with every meal he eats. Throw in the communication problem (he can’t tell us what bothers him) and it’s a pretty bad situation.

We’re hoping for answers, and while today is just an initial eval, we’re praying it’s a step in the right direction. I’m sure me or my wife Tiffany will post more soon. She’s up in Boston with him today. I’m holding down the fort with our other two kids.

Side note, when I took my daughter to the bus stop, a fellow parent asked me how Jack was doing. I had no choice but to show her a picture Tiff had texted me moments before. I’d say he’s doing pretty good!

Breakfast in bed in a hotel room with a harbor view. Aside from the autism, life is good. — Breakfast in bed in a hotel room with a teddy bear and a harbor view. Aside from the autism, life is good!

OK, that’s all for now. Have a good day!

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Update on Jack's Progress (With Fun Pictures!)

January 8, 2014 by operationjack Leave a Comment

Jack loves doing Photo Booth on my Mac. A couple of months ago we took these and I never posted them so I figured I’d share. I love it when he has fun!

I love this little guy, even when he is super exhausting to take care of (which is every day, of course).

Speaking of Jack, I’ll give a super-quick update because I’m short on time. We had his first IEP in Pennsylvania for him yesterday and it was amazing. It went so well, it made me happier to be in Pennsylvania than at any time since we moved here. It’s pretty much the opposite here of what we went through living in Colorado.

On a somewhat depressing note, we got official confirmation that Jack is intellectually delayed or something like that — whatever the term is, it’s basically the new PC term for what used to be called “mentally retarded”. It’s tough to hear and sad to look at him and know he’s stuck with that as a handicap (this isn’t the case for everybody with autism). But he’s still the same kid I saw yesterday morning and it doesn’t change my resolve to sacrifice whatever I have to for the rest of my life to make sure that his time in this world is as good as it can be.

So that’s it. Like I said, my time is short today. Thank you for reading.[subscribe2]

Do Not Try These Three Days At Home

January 1, 2014 by operationjack 3 Comments

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.

Tiff sat with us, but isn't in the pic because the pic wouldn't take itself. — Tiff sat with us, but isn’t in the pic because the pic wouldn’t take itself.

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.

Me with the race winner, Barry Sackett, in Los Angeles.

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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