Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Weekend Recap: Work And Pictures

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I need to remember to use my camera more. When I do that, I can write my blog with more pictures and fewer words. There’s going to be some words in this weekend recap. But I have 13 pictures, too. I like pictures — they’re easy to read!

Real quick, if this is your first time here, click here and see why I’m trying to run 61 marathons for Train 4 Autism this year.

The Most Common Question I Get
Do you work?

Yeah, I work full time. I’ve missed maybe 10 days or so of work this year, all for travel. I haven’t taken a sick day or a personal day or anything like that. The only days I’m missing are when I have to travel on a Friday. Well, I missed the Monday for Boston, but I was in the next day, and I missed a day when I missed a flight and got stuck in Spokane.

But I can do my entire job anywhere as long as I have a computer, and I always have a computer with me, so I squeeze in some bonus time pretty frequently. Why am I telling you this? Because this weekend was ridiculous! Here’s a quick blow-by-blow of Friday and Saturday. I had a deadline Saturday night.

My “weekend” started super early on Friday morning. Up at 3 to catch my flight at 6 a.m. out of Los Angeles. There was a slowdown getting through security and I almost missed my flight, walking directly from security onto the plane without slowing down a step. On my first flight, I worked on the plane. Yay laptops. I had a layover of about 90 minutes and I powered away some more while I waited in San Francisco.

On that second flight, I was at it some more. I got to my destination, Missoula, Montana, but I had to wait 3 1/2 hours to pick up my rental car (once you go over 24 hours, you get charged for a second day. So I sat by the baggage claim and kept on working. When I got my car, I grabbed some pancakes, drove 165 miles to the town I was staying in, Choteau, then picked up my race stuff, checked into my motel and got to work after I spent 10 minutes getting everything ready for my race the next day.

I called it quits at 9:30, because I had to get up at 3:45 the next morning. After I got up and got ready for the race, I squeezed in another hour. After the race, I showered, hit the road, stopped for lunch, then spent a couple of hours waiting at the airport. I was productive during that time, of course, and on that first flight, I finished my project.

During my 90-minute layover in Seattle, I plugged in, uploaded files onto a development site, ran some tests and everything was ready to go. On the flight from Seattle to Los Angeles, I spent about an hour making some last-minute changes, then took a break and spent about 30 minutes writing my race report.

After landing and getting my car, I drove an hour to get home, walked in the house at 12:30 a.m., made myself a turkey sandwich and spent about 30 minutes uploading the project and making sure everything was fine. I checked my email at about 8 a.m., saw that there were some issues, then went downstairs and spent 45 minutes polishing things up. Finally, I got to relax, enjoy breakfast with my family, and then I was off for the rest of the day Sunday!

So yeah, I work. I think there was a marathon in the middle of all that, too.

After Two Exhausting Days, At Least I Had A Nice Family Day
I went to the Angels-Rangers game with my dad and my 9-year-old son Benjamin on Sunday. It was a great pitching matchup, Cliff Lee vs. Jered Weaver, plus they have something where kids get to run the bases after the game. Benjamin had a blast with that. Oh, and we stopped at In-N-Out on the way to the game. That made me happy!

After the game, I went to visit my grandparents at their house. They’ve been there since 1968, which was way before I was born, so that’s always been where I’ve gone to see them. They’re moving into an assisted living facility today, and I’m pretty excited about that, because they’re going to have a much better quality of life, plus they’re going to be five minutes from my work and 15 minutes from house. Their house they’re moving out of is 45 minutes away, so it’s tough for me to see them frequently.

While I’m excited about that, it blows my mind that they’re moving out of their house after 42 years. I went up after the game to see it for one last time. I got to visit with them too, which was nice. But I just can’t believe I’m never going back there. There have been countless family gatherings there, I used to spend the night when I was a kid … when I think of them, I think of that house. But amazingly, it’s just a memory now. Life goes on, I guess.

But anyways, the ballgame and seeing my grandparents really made for a great day.

So that’s all from my weekend. Here are the pics!


My view of the world for 3 1/2 hours in the airport in Missoula.

I ate five of these on Friday afternoon and got pretty full.

Montana is my kind of place.

This is Main Avenue in Choteau, Montana. Definitely a small town.

I saw an actual log cabin in Augusta, Montana. That’s a big deal to a California native.

This was also in Augusta. They don’t have a lot of taxidermy storefronts where I live. Actually, they don’t have any. So I had to take a picture.

I don’t think they have a lot of imports on tap in this bar in Augusta.

I ate in Lincoln, Montana, where they caught the Unabomber. I had to take a picture of the menu.

This was the cheeseburger and the sweet potato fries I got in Lincoln. This place I ate at in Lincoln on Saturday, Pit Stop, came highly recommended, but I’d just call it so-so.

This was my lunch at In-N-Out the next day. Certainly better than so-so!

Me and Benjamin at the game.

Grandma’s & Grandpa’s house. I don’t need this picture because I’ll never forget it.

It’s my blog, so I can put a picture of my grandpa in his kitchen in here if I want to!

That’s all for today … have a great Tuesday!

Nothing Beats A Good Kick In The Butt

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I struggled with a rough race on Saturday, but I got a nice attitude adjustment yesterday when I desperately needed it. Normally on Mondays, I write a weekend recap filled with bad jokes. But today, I want to address some things I put in my race recap from this weekend. There were some things I want to cover from this weekend, so I’ll definitely write about that tomorrow.

In my race recap from this weekend, I complained about my time and the way I’m running. I’m struggling physically and even more than that, I’m struggling mentally.

In all of this Operation Jack stuff, I really have no clue what I’m doing with all of this. I just move forward on a daily basis, living somewhat in a vacuum. I came up with this idea of running all these marathons, but I’m not sure what to do with it. I don’t know the exact expression — something like the whole is greater than the sum of all parts — but I know the 61 is more important than any individual race. I’m competitive with myself and I dwell on my race times, and that continued again this weekend.

Now, I know it’s important to go out and give it my all every time. I owe that. But the results will be what they will be and as long as I give it my best, then I’m doing the best I can. I was pretty bitter after Saturday’s run, though, and that came through in my race report.

A good friend of mine called me up yesterday morning and chatted with me for a while after he read what I wrote. He wasn’t trying to give me a pep talk, because that’s not what I need. He was trying to help me get some perspective. He told me that some of the favorite race reports of mine he’s read are the ones where I’m an official pacer. In those, I’m helping other people achieve their goals and I’m having a completely positive experience.

He reminded me to keep my focus where it needs to be. When I started this, I knew the point of this is to help Train 4 Autism grow. It’s not about my running, because nobody really cares if my legs got sore at mile 18. Plus, while I run fairly well, I’m nowhere near spectacular or truly fast and I never will be. I took a chance that by doing something that most people would think is crazy, I could at least get them to listen to my message.

As you all know, is that I hate how my 6 1/2-year-old son Jack is severely autistic and struggles with that and I want to make a difference in his honor. I want to make things better for people. I don’t know exactly what or how, but I want to make things better. Ideally, I could somehow help tons and tons of people. Even if I just help one or two, that’s still one or two lives I made better. I know I say this all the time, but I need to remember that my goal this year is building up a charity, not lowering down my marathon times.

So that call from him came at a great time. I really needed a pick-me-up and I got it. Then, about an hour after I talked to him, I got a comment on my race report from somebody I met through him. She wrote, in part,

… I wasn’t going to share this with you ever, but today seems appropriate for it. I was a long time smoker, I mean nobody did it better than me … Seriously, I could have made a career out of it. I had tried countless times to stop, but always “gave up”. The last time I quit was after reading something you wrote. Honestly I have no idea what it was, but I remember thinking how far you had come from when we couldn’t even walk up the stairs to [our friends’] place on moving day. I thought if he can do it, I can too. I kept your picture (the black and white of you looking over your shoulder running) as my desktop wallpaper for months and looked at it every time I wanted to give up.I am still smoke free, eat healthy and am back to my daily exercise ways. So Mr. Ordinary,you may have saved my life, stop your bitching 😉

I met her years ago, and she’s very good friends with my friend and his wife, but I only started communicating with her a month ago or so. So she’s been following along with Operation Jack and using me as inspiration for a while now and I had no idea. When I realized that, it was pretty clear to me. It’s not about what Operation Jack is doing for me. It’s about what Operation Jack is doing for others. It feels a whole lot better to read something like that than it does to run a 3:10.

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is check my messages (email, text, Twitter) to see what communications came my direction while I was sleeping. This morning, the first thing I saw on Twitter, which was actually just a general message to everybody from somebody I communicate with, was “If I change just one life for the better, I’ve done my job.”

So, I get the picture. I’m doing my job, imperfectly like any human would. It was nice to get that kick in the butt yesterday and that reminder this morning. I’m where I’m supposed to be. I just need to do what I’m supposed to do.

Race Report: Grizzly Marathon

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It’s getting tough to write race reports lately. I find it difficult to find positives in my declining performance, but at the same time, nobody is going to want to read what I have to say if it’s always bitter. I had another tough run at the Grizzly Marathon in Choteau, Montana Saturday, but I’ll regroup and give it my all again next weekend.

The Grizzly Marathon course is actually pretty challenging. It’s a pretty quick, flat start for a couple of miles, but it’s an out-and-back and about 22 of the miles are run on a gravel road. There are a lot of rolling hills, including a few nice climbs early that add to the challenge. I wouldn’t totally call it a road course, although I certainly wouldn’t call it a trail run. I’d just call it challenging. Overall, I’d say the hills were a little more challenging than San Francisco last week. The footing wasn’t terrible, but it sure wasn’t a quick asphalt track.

The weather was nice, about 60 degrees. We were exposed to the sun without shade for the entire race, but we had cloud protection for about half of the run. So, it was a challenging day, but not the most challenging day I’ve faced this year.

Normally, I’ll either go all out by heart rate from the beginning or I’ll try to keep it at a pace I know I’m physically capable of. Basically, it’s go-for-broke or try to go conservative and run a 3:10 regardless of what I could have gotten. Lately, I haven’t been able to come close to 3:10, which is incredibly frustrating. I know I ran my 36th marathon of the year on Saturday, but that doesn’t make slowing down any easier on me mentally.

So, I went out gunning for a 7:20 pace. I figured I’d just go conservative, not even try to run faster than a 3:12 pace or so, and tick off consistent splits. The pace was easy at first. Really, really easy. I was tired, having slept only about 9.5 hours the previous two nights, but I truly think I could have held onto that all day on a better course, even as beat up as I am. But when we hit those gravel roads, there were hills right away and I couldn’t hang.

I didn’t panic, because I knew I’d be getting everything back on the way in, but I wasn’t getting my legs back on the downhills on the way out. I just knew it was going to be a tough day pretty quick. I remember feeling sluggish by mile 6, which is way too early for that.

The course itself was really nice. The views were great — lots of open farmland and mountains way off in the distance. I’m not the city type — I’m pretty laid back and I like calm and open space, so the sights were extremely relaxing. For me, this was my kind of place — not much around other than a few nice people here and there. The support was pretty good, too. There were aid stations every 1.5 – 2 miles and the volunteers were pretty friendly.

Anyways, I could tell by counting runners near the turnaround that I was in fourth place, a considerable distance from third, and I could tell when I turned around that there were two or three people within a minute or so behind me. I was dragging and feeling sorry for myself because I felt so sluggish.

I started to mentally think about throwing in the towel and just going through the motions. I’m getting so sick and tired of this. I believe in what I’m doing and I really believe in the cause, but it’s so hard to do this. I’m exhausted, I’m beat up and I’m sick of always worrying about how much money I’m raising. Some people tell me I’m a machine, but I’m just a guy and I struggle to stay tough. The physical issues of this are one thing, but the mental issues are pretty demanding, too.

I was thinking about the verse at the bottom of my site a lot in the middle third of the race. I’m growing weary and I know I can’t give up. But it’s just hard right now and I still have five months of this left. I started praying for strength to get through at about mile 18, because I was really dragging physically, which was bringing me down mentally. I don’t normally pray for something like that, because I don’t think getting through a marathon is that important, but I was miserable.

Anyways, between about 14 and 18, I was leapfrogging with a guy who was a little younger than me. He took me on the uphills and I got him back on the downhills. He eventually pulled about 1,000 feet ahead of me and I was firmly back in fifth place with a runner about 50 yards behind me. There was a long downhill between around maybe 21 and 23 and I decided it was now or never if I wanted to get back into 4th. Placement like that isn’t that big of a deal in a race that only had 76 finishers, but you still want to do your best.

I passed him with authority at about 23 and did what I could to stay as strong as possible for a little while. I wanted him to lose hope of catching me and not make a late kick on me. Soon after that, I saw the third-place runner about 1/4 mile up. I kept powering to keep myself from slipping back to fifth and I started reeling in the man in third. I could tell I was going to catch him, so I set him as a target.

I went through the same thought process with him. I was passing him at around 25.5, which was kind of early to make a move like that, but I was moving well and didn’t back off. I passed him on a left turn and I could see the finish line off in the distance.

I just kept kicking as hard as I could. My shirt was flapping a little bit and I couldn’t tell if that was his footsteps or me, so I kept cruising. I was running well and felt pretty confident I had him beat, so I did the unthinkable and looked over my shoulder (well, while looking to the side — it wasn’t totally obvious). I had a football field on him with about 1/4 mile to go, so I knew I had it locked up. I went hard through the finish and went 3:35:06, good for third overall.

The time is pedestrian for me, a combination of the course and me just not having it. I’ll never know what I could have run on a different course on Saturday, but I’m not going to dwell on it. I’ll just figure out ways to adjust my training so I can start swinging my times in the right direction.

Whatever the case, Operation Jack rolls on. 36 down, 25 to go.


Look, it’s me at the finish line of a marathon!

Weekend Preview: Grizzly Marathon

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I know I mention every week how the weeks fly by so quickly, but this time, it has been such a quick, quick week. My legs are still pretty wrecked from the hills of San Francisco, yet it’s time to write another weekend preview blog. That’s the blur that is Operation Jack. I’ll be glad when I’m done, but I know I’ll miss it, too. Whatever the case, I’ve got the Grizzly Marathon in Choteau, Montana on Saturday.

If you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I tend to recover fairly quickly from my marathons, so I decided (well, after consulting with my wife) to try to run 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. This is my first crack at really trying to make a difference. So far, so good. 35 down, 26 to go.

So anyways, moving on to this weekend, I’m super tired this week and have no idea what to write. And thinking about my weekend, I’m getting more tired by the minute. I have an early-morning flight out, a late-night flight landing for my return, I’ll be driving about 500 miles this weekend and there’s the requisite marathon. And to think, I’m already tired. Awesome!

This race should be interesting. It’s in a small town (population 1,700) called Choteau, Montana, and they advertise that like the local residents, the race is tough and charming with plenty of character. It’s an out-and-back measured by an F-150. Sounds like a race by runners for runners. I’m expecting a tough go just because I know I’ll be tired, I’m still pretty banged up from San Francisco and I’ve been nothing but slow lately.

This long, hot summer continues, but that’s OK. The tougher it gets, the better the memories will be. Kind of. Speaking of the Grizzly Marathon, I saw this article online yesterday. I’ll just remember that I don’t need to be able to outrun a bear. I just need to be able to outrun three people.

Anyways, what I’m really looking forward to is Sunday afternoon, because I’ll be going to the Rangers-Angels game with my son Benjamin and my dad. After the game, they have a “Kids Run The Bases” promotion and he’ll get to run the bases. Can’t complain about Benjamin having a blast!

Oh, and my weekly contest … I normally have a weekly contest, where people guess what my time is going to be and then make a donation in that amount to win a prize (for instance, a 3:15 guess requires a $3.15 donation). Well, it’s been slow lately and participation has been really low, so I’m not going to do that this week.

Anyways, I expect to post a race report on Saturday. Have a great weekend everybody!

10 Random Things For Tuesday

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I didn’t think I was going to write a 10 random things for Tuesday blog, but then I came up with 10 random things. And it’s Tuesday. So here we go, 10 random things for Tuesday!

One not-so-random thing first, though — my standard introduction! If this is your first time here, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I recover fairly quickly from marathons, so I decided to try to take advantage of that gift and I’m trying to run 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m through 35 marathons, I’ve raised a fair amount of money and people from Washington to Florida to Maine are now aware of Train 4 Autism. So, I think it’s working.

OK, so I like to come up with 10 random things on Tuesdays. Here we go!

1. I thought this year was flying by pretty quick and I just did the math in my head and I have five months left until race 61. What a mirage this calendar is — I thought I was so close! But I know the year will be over before I know it and then I’ll miss it.

2. We got through a bunch of testing and final start our new bio-medical routine with Jack yesterday. Just when we thought our daily grind was tough, we cranked it up even more. Creams, supplements, dietary restrictions … you name it, Tiff is consumed with administering it right now. We don’t have enough on our plate, so maybe this will help us pass the time. Obviously, that’s sarcasm, but we don’t mind this. Any of you who are parents understand that there’s nothing you won’t do for your kids.

3. I’m going to hit you with a couple of fundraising things in here. I haven’t pushed the fundraising much here lately, but that’s still a big goal. We have t-shirts, tech shirts and sweatshirts. If you have one, do me a favor and leave a comment and let others know what you think. I know most people seem to like them.

The point is, we use them as a fundraiser, but they’re also a great tool to help get the word out. If you want a t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt, leave a comment and tell me you want one. If you want to wear one, I want you to wear one. I just need to cover our costs, which aren’t as bad as you’d think. E-mail me and we’ll get it rolling. Or if you just want to go with the standard donation, check the levels here.

There are I think three of you out there who we still need to get shirts to. They’re coming, they’re coming.

4. That San Francisco course was a killer. I feel like I got run over by a truck. And not a little toy Tonka truck. I’m talking F-350 here. It was the day before yesterday and now I have to start carb loading tomorrow. These Saturday races following Sunday races are a killer!

5. Benjamin didn’t like tee ball and turned away from tee ball/baseball after kindergarten. That’s three years he’s been away from the game and he’s never really face live pitching. He wants to play little league in the spring, but I’m concerned with how far behind he might be. I’ve played with him a little bit and hit seems like his hand-eye coordination is at least OK, so I’m thinking of spending the summer and fall working hard with him with wiffle balls so he can get used to adjusting his swing on pitches that move. Then we’ll start going to the cages. I’m guessing that might help? Anybody have any other ideas?

6. You know what Manhattan, Minneapolis, Arkansas City, Ottawa and Pittsburg all have in common? They’re all cities in Kansas! Another reason why the Sunflower State is my favorite!

7. I don’t know that there’s a better value out there than all-you-can-eat pancakes at Denny’s for $4. Seriously, $4? That’s about the cost of a happy meal.

8. Booking travel is probably the biggest pain of this whole thing. Sometimes, it only takes me an hour for a trip. But sometimes, there are so many different options that it takes me a lot more. I’ve probably spent five or six hours trying to figure out the weekend of August 14-15 and I absolutely must book today.

9. Just want to point you towards the 10×10 program I have. I haven’t pushed it in a little while, but it’s a really easy way to help. I get a lot of visitors here and I have no idea who a lot of you are, but if you believe in the cause and want to try to help by doing something that’s a whole lot easier than running 61 marathons, take a look at this. I’ve said all year that I’m counting on a lot of people to do a little tiny bit, not a few people to do a lot. So, if you want to do a little tiny bit, this is a great way.

10. One week from today until my grandparents move to an assisted living facility that’s about 5 minutes from my work and 15 minutes from my house! They currently live about 45 minutes away, so I’m pretty excited! I think I have to go say goodbye to their house on Sunday, though. They’ve been there since 1968 (way before I was born). It’s gonna be sad to go up there for the last time.

Wow … look at that. That’s 10. Have a great Tuesday everybody! See you tomorrow!