Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Three Cool Things For Summer

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Since it’s the middle of the summer and it’s hot everywhere, I figured I needed something cool for my blog today. So, I have details about a cool fundraiser we’re doing in October, a cool story about Jack from Tiff and a cool video of Jack from last week.

First, just in case you’ve never been here before, Click here to see why I’m running 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m through 37. I mention Tiff and Jack in this blog a fair amount. Tiff is my wife of the past 11 years and Jack is my middle child. He’s 6 1/2 and severely autistic.

We’re Having A Really Cool Fundraiser In St. Louis October 2!
On October 2 at a sports bar called Hot Shots in St. Louis suburb Fenton, at least two members of the St. Louis Cardinals will be signing autographs as part of an Operation Jack fundraiser. Second baseman Skip Schumaker and starting pitcher Adam Wainwright will both be there. More players could be announced at a later date.

Schumaker was 10th in the National League in batting in 2008 and has finished with a batting average above .300 in each of the past three seasons. Wainwright finished second in the National League Cy Young voting last year and is a leading candidate for the award again this year. We’ll be pre-selling autograph tickets in about a week. We’re still finalizing details on pricing.

In addition to the players signing autographs, there will also be a soft-tip darts tournament and Wii home run derby with prizes and proceeds going to Operation Jack, 50/50 raffles, a silent auction, plus a donation table that will get patrons wristbands good for discounted food and drinks.

Most of you aren’t in the St. Louis area. But if you are, or if you’re like me and heading into town to run the Lewis & Clark Marathon in St. Louis suburb St. Charles, you should stop by because it’s going to be a great time. I have to say, I’m pretty grateful for the efforts of the players and the management at Hot Shots because this is really going to be huge for Operation Jack.

For details about the event, head to operationjack.org/cardinals.


Skip Schumaker

Adam Wainwright

Here’s A Cool Story From Tiff
I was running on the treadmill at the gym on Saturday when I was distracted by a text that came in on my phone. As I read the text, a huge smile came across my face and my pace got a little faster. It was from Cassie, Jack’s aide. She was telling me that Jack was in a good mood … until I walked out the front door and closed it behind me. Once I left, he got really upset. I quickly texted her saying I’d be home right away.

When I returned home and walked in the front door, Jack was there to greet me with a huge smile on his face. He grabbed my arm and led me upstairs to my room. As I stood there, he ran down the hallway to his room, grabbed his teddy bear and Curious George monkey, raced back down the hallway to my room, crawled into my bed and just stared at me, locking his eyes with mine. I said,”Hi Jack!” He said,”Hi Daddy.” For once, I looked past him calling me daddy. This was a special moment between us. As I leaned down to give him a kiss, he put his arm around my neck and wouldn’t let go. He also didn’t let go of the smile that was on his face from the minute I had walked through the door. He stared at me, his teddy bear and his monkey and just kept on smiling.

After about 15 minutes of laying there with him, we left my room and headed downstairs. For about 30 minutes, Jack followed me everywhere around the house. I found out from Cassie that the entire time I was gone, Jack was sad and cranky. She said that as soon as I came home, it was like day and night with his moods. For the first time, I felt like Jack actually noticed his mommy being gone. And for the first time, I felt like he really missed me. He’s come a lone way since the day the neurologist told Sam and I that if we were to leave a room for two days, he wouldn’t even notice!

Cool Video Of Jack
What can I say? He likes the Wizard of Oz right now … I guess he knows I went to college in Kansas?

OK, that’s all for today. I have a fun announcement for tomorrow. Have a great Wednesday, everybody!

Weekend Recap: As Good As It Gets

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Wow, I just had the best weekend I’ve had so far in 2010. I had fun from start to finish and I have photos and video to prove it! Is this how the other half lives? It makes me really look forward to 2011!

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

Speaking of those 61 marathons, I’m through 37 of them. I only have 24 to go! I ran on Saturday this weekend and had an absolute blast. I needed a race like this, no question.

The Concert That Was … And Wasn’t … And Was …
Tiff and I had planned on going to see Trace Adkins and Toby Keith on Saturday night. We bought tickets a couple of months ago and were really looking forward to it. I’ve always wanted to see Trace Adkins and we saw Toby Keith in 2003 and had a good time.

Unfortunately, our babysitting fell through on Friday night. And then it came together on Saturday morning and fell apart again. And then it was back on. Before it could be off again, we escaped out the door and headed down to the show.

It was a much-needed event for me and Tiff. Our San Francisco weekend fell apart a couple of weeks ago and this year has certainly been anything but easy for us. The show was decent. I like Trace Adkins and liked a lot of the stuff he did, but I like a lot of his slower stuff — Then They Do, Arlington, You’re Gonna Miss This, All I Ask For Anymore — and he didn’t do any of those. But he was still fun.

Toby Keith … I like Toby Keith and when I saw him in 2003 I really liked him. I enjoyed his show on Saturday, but it seemed that he really picked it up on the vulgarity scale and I was a little disappointed in that. But it was a good show, the people watching was incredible and we had a great time.

Even better that the show, though, was the drive. It was about two hours each way and we laughed the whole way there and back. We hadn’t been that carefree and happy in a long, long time. It was awesome. I’m glad the babysitting worked out.


I don’t look like I was happy, but really, I was.

I Love My Grandpa’s Birthday
We had a nice family gathering yesterday to celebrate my grandpa’s 87th birthday, which is today. It was a lot easier and more relaxed since they live nearby now and it was really nice to see the family. I ate too much for lunch (two sandwiches, a ton of peanut M&Ms, Costco birthday cake with ice cream, chips, potato salad, a pickle, a cookie, some pineapple and … I think that was it) so I didn’t eat dinner. But it’s good to fall off the wagon like that occasionally. Or, as my wife told me, that’s why I’m not losing weight.

My brother asked my grandpa if there was anything he wanted for his birthday and he said he wanted a toilet bowl brush and some Tide, so that’s what he got him. He only needs one toilet bowl brush, but he can always use more Tide. So I picked him up some Tide and a CD set he can listen to when he relaxes in his new place.

As you can see, he loved his gifts.


To each his own, right?

I’m not going to bother writing a whole lot of words about the gathering, other than to say I love my extended family and I was very happy to spend the afternoon with everybody.

Other Random Stuff
– Happy birthday to my mom and my grandpa today. I probably shouldn’t out my mom and say how old she is, but her mom died young due to lung cancer and then hepatitis that blew up during chemotherapy for that cancer. For whatever reason, my mom always thought she was going to die at that same age, but now she’s past that number. My grandpa is 87, no shyness there.

– I think I earned Bad Joke of the Week honors. We were at Subway and the guy didn’t put many onions on my sandwich. I told him to put more on there for me and told him with a straight, grumpy face while looking towards Tiff, “I don’t want that chick to try to kiss me.” I’m not sure if he knew I was joking or not. So a minute later, Tiff told me she was going to get some chips and I told her OK, then turned to the sandwich artist and with all the grumpiness I could muster, I told him under my breath, “Wow, she’s real pushy for a blind date, huh?” He eventually figured out that I was joking when I told him about how I spilled my salad all over my lap on my first date with her.

– I washed Tiff’s Suburban yesterday with the kids, and because my back is worth a dollar to me and my kids are young, Benjamin and Ava had a wheel-cleaning competition. Benjamin won the dollar. I like this whole “weekend” thing. Is this what the rest of you do?

– Back when I was a student at Kansas State and working on the newspaper, the photographers used to always take pictures of squirrels for the last issue of the semester and then fill the paper with them. It’s a long-standing tradition. On Saturday after my race, I saw a squirrel and had to take a picture. I posted it on Facebook and tagged all my friends from the paper for fun. Everybody had a nice stroll down memory lane.


He was comfortable around me because I’m a nut.

And lastly, check out this video of Jack from yesterday. I’m not exactly sure what was going on in his mind, but it was interesting and he had fun.

Ok, that’s all for today, folks. I hope your day is at least half as good as my weekend was. You’ll be happy if that’s the case!

Race Report:Train 4 Autism Marathon Series, Race 2

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There’s not a lot to analyze from my run in the Train 4 Autism Marathon Series, Race #2 from Saturday, because very early into the race, I picked a simple strategy and stuck to it. I aimed to have fun, and that’s exactly what I did.

If you’ve been following along, you know I’ve been struggling with how I’m running lately. For my previous five marathons, I’ve struggled with lack of motivation, a slow pacing assignment (3:50), extremely hot weather, then two challenging courses. As would be expected, my times haven’t been good and I’ve been unnecessarily beating myself up over it.

Saturday’s race was the second in a series of three low-key races I’m putting on with a local race promoter named Charlie Alewine and there were a few people who came out to support the cause. I ran with one of them right at the start and immediately decided that rather than push the pace and go all-out, I’d spend the day running with people who were out there because of Operation Jack.

The course was six loops of a 4.38-mile course. We also added on a bit extra because my friend Sally, who I ran the first loop with, led us astray a tiny bit. No worries, I was out for a fun run.

I ran the first loop with Sally and my friend Ben. I run with Sally’s running group sometimes in the morning when I’m training, although that hasn’t been the case too much this year because my mid-week miles are way down. Ben, who was running the half-marathon, is one of my best friends. I used to have lunch with him every week, but he has a new job and a new work schedule and I haven’t seen him more than once or twice over the past three months or so. The three of us ran the first loop together and had a good time.

After that first loop, I waited for about three minutes for a runner named Lori who was running the half-marathon to finish the loop so I could run with her. I’d communicated with her online in the past, but aside from a two-minute conversation before the start of the race, I had never met her. I ran the second and third loops with her and had a good time. She’s really nice and fun to run with.

She’s a pretty good runner and picked up the pace a little bit as we were going along. We ran down Sally and Ben midway through the third lap and Ben switched over and ran with us. We all chatted and they finished strong, hitting the half in right around 1:45. I waited again for Sally and she came by about a minute later, but she was insistent that I keep on going at my own pace, so I did.

A few minutes later, I caught up with my friend Jeff, who was out to run the half. He won the race in 1:32 or 1:33 and was in the middle of running 6.9 miles afterwards to get 20 in for the day. We ran together for most of the fourth loop, and finally he told me to take off because he wanted to back off a bit. So, I ran the the last 2+ loops on my own. I was at about 16 or 17 miles before I even thought about the fact that I was running a marathon. I had just been out running, talking with friends, having a good time.

I had been running at roughly an 8:05 pace or so for most of the time and when you’re locked into a groove for that long, it’s tough to really step it up at that point. I ran a few miles down closer to 7:30 or so, but my legs weren’t having it. I fatigued a bit (I swear, I’m human!) and kept working on the final two loops at about an 8:30 pace.

I had no idea what time range I was in, but I checked with about a mile to go and I could see I was looking at about a 3:35 if I didn’t step it up. I wanted at least a 3:34 so I started to move at about a 7:10 pace and could tell with about a 1/2 mile to go that I could get a 3:33 if I found another gear. I got it down to about a 6:40 pace and finished in 3:33:47. Due to the small field (there were only about 30 people in the half and full), that was good for first overall, but that wasn’t any kind of big deal. I call it “first finisher” a whole lot more than I call it “winner”.

From a straight-up running perspective, I can look at this and see that I went 3:33 with about four minutes of stop time and about 2/10 of a mile out of the way and know that it could have been an effortless 3:27 or 3:28. So, to know that I can do that right now is good. The legs still work a little bit.

All-in-all, the best part is that I went out and had fun. I really needed a day like this. And of course, with no travel for this race, I was home and on my weekend by noon on Saturday. Does it get any better than this?


Me and Jeff at the finish. That Angels gnome has been EVERYWHERE!

Me and Sally at the finish.

Weekend Preview: Home Game!

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It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for a weekend preview. I’m going with a different format than I typically do, because I’m not having a contest and I have a few random things I want to talk about. I hope you guys are OK with the way I wrote this.

Normally on Thursdays, I talk about my weekend race and I have a fundraising contest. I didn’t have the contest last week and I’m not having it again this week. The reason is I want to re-focus the way I do a couple of things. I have a new concept I want to promote, but I’m still refining it so I’m just going to hang loose for a week or two.

For now, the best way I can ask you to help is to spread the word. I’ve been focused on fundraising for a little while, but I really want to get working on spreading the word. I know that a lot of you read this, but I want to bring in some new folks. Think about people you know who are impacted by autism. You all know somebody. Just tell one new person about Operation Jack this weekend and get them to the site. I’m running my 37th marathon of the year on Saturday to do my part. All I need you to do is tell one new person!

If you’re here for the first time and you’re impacted by autism somehow, please send me an e-mail because I want to tell you how Train 4 Autism can help you make a difference! Also, click here to see why I’m running 61 full marathons this year.

Anyways, moving on to this weekend’s race, it’s No. 2 in the three-race Train 4 Autism series I’m putting on with local race promoter Charlie Alewine. I’m really excited about this race. Not only will there be a fair amount of people there that I know in a fun, low-key race, but I DON’T HAVE TO TRAVEL! I’ll be home and on my weekend by noon on Saturday. I love it!

The race itself is a flat, loop course in Long Beach, Calif. I didn’t realize until yesterday that last week’s race started above 3,800 feet and climbed past 4,250 on those gravel roads. This week’s flat course at sea level should be a big breath of fresh air. Actually, it’ll be a big breath of oxygen, which will be nice. I’ll go out and run my best and I won’t worry about the race afterwards, no matter how I do.

Forget about the racee, though. The best parts of my weekend will be Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday night, me and Tiff are going down to San Diego to watch Trace Adkins and Toby Keith. We’ve already seen Toby Keith, and even if we hadn’t, I’d be more excited about Trace Adkins. Tiff is more excited about Toby Keith and I’ll enjoy watching him, too.

On Sunday afternoon, the whole family is getting together to celebrate my grandpa’s 87th birthday. The awesome thing is that it’s going to be right around the corner from my house, because my grandparents moved into their new assisted-living facility on Tuesday. They used to live 45 minutes away, but now they’re just five minutes from my work and 15 from my house.

It took until yesterday at 11:59 a.m. for them to call me for a favor and I happily obliged. This is like a really cool treat in the middle of a hot summer. Speaking of really cool treats, I stopped by yesterday for lunch and in their dining center, they have a menu my grandparents can order off of. My grandma had a tuna sandwich on wheat bread. My grandpa? All he wanted was ice cream.

I guess that’s where I get it from.

So anyways, before we can get to this weekend, we have to get through today. Jack is going to the dentist and he has to be sedated. We’re extremely nervous about this, although I know he’ll be fine. Ahhh, the joys of children who can’t communicate. Another downside of autism. I hate what Jack goes through and that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing this year. I want to make it better for other kids. He’s getting robbed of his childhood.

Well, I don’t have much else to talk about today. I probably do, but I wrote this last night and I was too tired to think so I had to call it quits. Have a great weekend, everybody. I’ll post a race report on Saturday. Let me know what you think of me rambling on like this. Is it OK?

Guest Blog: Rallying The Troops

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Today I have a guest post from Operation Jack supporter Roy Naim. Roy asked a few weeks ago if he could submit a guest blog and I have no problem with that. So, today I’m running what he wrote.

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here, click here to see why I’m running 61 marathons this year to try to raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism.

Now, here’s what Roy wrote (follow Roy on Twitter at @roynaim).
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Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.

Autism effects 1 in 150 children in the United States.

Autism has no cure that is known.

What does this all mean? Often I see different medical words and diagnoses and I wonder, does this really mean anything to me? Is it really just another one? Is it just something that we are sympathetic for and say “oh man”?

Often it is “something” we just throw money at and hope we don’t hear about it again. And if we do hear about it again or know someone who has “something”, at times we tend to separate ourselves and try not to know what is really going on. There are MANY who do their part to help those who they know are affected somehow by any illness. Sadly, however, there are those who try to run the other way.

Individually, I decided to change that. I no longer just wanted to just sympathize with these families. I wanted to see what they are going through. I wanted to see how it changes their lives. I wanted to see why people are afraid of getting involved and helping out. I wanted to help out and try to be closer to empathizing with them.

Me and a few close friends started to volunteer at the hospitals and get to know these families. We started becoming a member of the families. The kids knew us. The families invited us into their homes. We laughed. We cried. We took them out for dinner, often drawing funny looks from others. We learned about feeding tubes. We pushed wheelchairs. We gave shots. In a way, we became big brothers. We learned more about these kids and their diseases and at the same time our lives changed.

We saw parents staying up all night to tend to their child. We saw how this affected the other siblings at home and at school. We saw how people tend to give them the “pity look” when they were out with the family when they just wanted to be a normal family.

They don’t want pity. They don’t want sympathy. They just want normal. Something that they may never have and this is why many try to stay away from them. They don’t want to be associated with non-normal families.

However, this was our job. We tried to make everything seem normal. We tried to take these special kids and give them a normal time. We took them on roller coasters, we did arts and crafts activities and we just talked like friends typically do. We took their siblings out and gave them much-needed attention. We tried to make living with the illness normal as possible.

I will never forget this little girl, a daughter of the medical director at the time, as she played with her little doll and stuck a G-Tube in it. Her father did such a great job in not discriminating against those with disabilities that his own kid felt it was normal. The kids and the families don’t want to be discriminated. They want to feel like they’re part of society.

Though many are volunteering across the country to help out in these situation, some want to do something more.

I was once 360lbs. A full circle. And to be honest about it, though I always acted like it fun to be fat (I got to sit in the front of the car every single time), I knew something had to change. This is when a mother of one of these children came over to me and talked to me about participating in a marathon to raise money for the organization that had helped them throughout the years. I started laughing at them. Why don’t I just give you the money? Why run for it? What is the point? Well, long story short, I ran for it.

And then I understood. There is something special when someone marches or runs for a cause. When someone parades through town screaming the “Red coats are coming” it rallies up the troops. It is not just about the money. It is about the cause. The awareness. It is about making people realize there is something out there. It is to show people that Autism is not just another word but rather something very real.

What Sam is doing here, though quite challenging and extraordinary, is something that has been done throughout history. Not the running part but the rallying. Whether it was to rally to fight the red coats, whether it was to blow the vuvuzela (I am suffering from post world cup withdrawal) to rally up the troops in African countries and scare their opponents away … the run is a battle cry. The run is a form of rallying. And this run is to rally for Autism.

Though Tiffany a few weeks ago what is it like to have a child who is autistic, we will never truly understand. So I ask of you, what are you going to do for it? Will you let autism be another word for you? Will you just throw money at it? Or will you stand up and rally for it? Take your time to learn more about it and maybe even volunteer somewhere for it. Doesn’t have to be autism per se, anything will do. It will open you eyes. It will open your heart.

So, let’s look up the word Autism. Is it just a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior OR will it mean something more? Will it be something you are rallying for?

And the next time you see someone running for a cause, it is not just about the fundraising, they are rallying up the troops.