Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Weekend Recap: My Encounter With Ryan Hall

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Seeing history, meeting history, seeing Operation Jack supporters, sleeping in two fleabag motels and exhaustion that actually caused me to fall asleep on one of my flights. Yep, another weekend of Operation Jack is in the books, which means it’s time for another weekend recap blog.

First, of course, I ran my third consecutive double. Finally, I only have one marathon a weekend until late September. YES! This stuff is exhausting. Whose great idea was this, anyways?

On Saturday, I really didn’t like the Country Music Marathon in Nashville (recap). Yesterday, though, I LOVED the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon (recap).

Contest For This Week
I’m not going to do the “pick my time” contest I normally do this week. Instead, I’m doing a contest with my dad. The Orange County Marathon is this weekend and he’s running (I use the term loosely) the half and I’m running the full, of course.

You all know what my time range is going to be for the full. He’s taken stats on his treadmill workouts and last week, he did an 8.02-mile workout that projected to a 2:59:41 half marathon. I think he’ll be slower than that, because it’s five miles farther, plus it’s outdoors, not on the conveyor belt. In fact, I think I’m going to beat him, period, and he only has to go half the distance.

So we’re still finalizing a bet, but we’re going to tie the contest into a bet and that’s what it will be this week. I’ll have full details tomorrow, but this was my heads-up!

Quick Pasta Dinner/Silpada Fundraiser Reminders
We’re having a pair of fundraisers this weekend. We’re having a Silpada party on Friday and a pasta dinner on Saturday. I’d love to see you at one (or both) of the events!s

Seeing History
I saw the site of the Oklahoma City bombing and the memorial that has been constructed. I spent a lot of time talking about it in my race recap. It was pretty incredible. What a tragedy, but what a unified city. I highly recommend running this race.


The memorial in Oklahoma City at the site of the bombing.

Meeting History
So I’m sitting there in the airport in Dallas, waiting at a gate where there was a flight to San Francisco before my flight to Oklahoma City, and I heard the voice on the PA say, “Will San Francisco passenger Ryan Hall please re-check at the counter?”

If you’re a marathoner, you know who Ryan Hall is. If, not, I’ll tell you. He’s the fastest marathoner in U.S. history. He ran a 2:06 in his debut in London in 2007, he dominated the field to win the Olympic Trials in New York City later that year and he’s been the fastest American finisher at Boston in each of the past two years. He’s an incredible runner, but on top of that, he has great character and is really easy to root for.

So anyways, I looked to see if it was that Ryan Hall. It’s a more common name than Sam Felsenfeld. But it was that Ryan Hall. So I stood a little ways away and let him take care of his business. I wanted to snap a picture with him, but I didn’t really want to bother him. I can imagine how annoying it must be for him to get pestered all the time.

He saw me looking his direction when he walked back and he was shaking his head. I was kind of bummed and asked, “Not in the mood to take a picture?” But he said no, he noticed my shirt from the race that day and was just saying bummer about the weather.

From there, we chatted about a bunch of stuff for a good 20 minutes. I don’t think someone can fake character for that long, so I’m pretty convinced he’s all he’s cracked up to be. Amongst the things we talked about:

– He sleeps nine hours a night, plus takes a two-hour nap in the afternoon. “I just can’t function without my nap,” he said. I jokingly told him he’s missing life because he’s only awake 13 hours a day.
– He was pretty happy with his run in Boston. He was a minute faster than last year, and he said there’s not much you can do when somebody catches a flyer like Robert Cheruiyot did with his 2:05:52.
– He laughed about how close my marathon PR is to a sub-3 (3:00:05). He totally understood why I started charity running after obsessing about those six seconds. “It’s so much better to make something happen, huh?” Yep, totally. He can’t imagine 60 in a year, but I told him it’s not like I’m running 60 2:08s. He thinks I’d be faster if I only ran two a year. I think he might be on to something.
– He has a grandfather who lives near me and he’s totally familiar with my running routes to the point that he was able to identify the name of the local high school I run by.
– He told me I really have to run London someday. I told him I’ll do it as soon as I find a sponsor.
– We were talking about his teammate Josh Cox’s half marathon in Nashville on Saturday. I thought it showed the level he’s at when he referred to it as a 67 and not a 1:07. I’ve never heard anybody refer to a half time as a number minutes instead of the hour and minutes.
– I told him he needed to watch his back, because I stayed within an hour of him in Boston and I might catch him. Duly noted.

I asked a woman to take a picture of us and she did. She knew I was going to Oklahoma City, so she asked me if I was running the race on Sunday and I told her I was. She asked him if he ran marathons, and he said he did, so she asked if he was running Oklahoma City, too. He said he wasn’t, that he was on his way to San Francisco.

She started talking about her daughter, who runs half-marathons and is into the whole “marathon” thing. She’s trying to get her son into running, too. Hall and I kind of looked at each other and grinned a little bit because she had no idea who she was talking to. That woman ended up sitting next to me on my flight, so a little bit later, I told her who that guy I took a picture with was, and that she needed to tell her daughter she had a conversation about running with Ryan Hall and didn’t even know it. It was pretty funny.


Two guys who needed less than one minute per pound of body weight to complete the Boston Marathon last Monday.

Fleabag Motels
You know what’s worse than your motel needing to have a security gate? Your motel having a security gate that doesn’t work and stays open. That was Nashville. There was some shady guy in front of me trying to scrounge up cash to pay for one more night. Oh well, it’s just a bed and I made it out of there safely!

In Oklahoma City, there was a guy at the check-in counter trying to get a quarter, nickel and dime for 40 pennies, so he counted them all out. I checked into my non-smoking room, but it had a terrible odor, because somebody smoked in there the night before.

After the race when I went to take a shower, the hot water wasn’t working, but the lady at the front desk swore it was going to come back on any minute. I didn’t have time, so I just started taking a cold shower, which is a miserable thing to do after your second marathon in as many days. About 5 minutes into the shower, the hot water came on, which was a relief. I told the woman the hot water came on when I was checking out, and she was excited, because nobody in the motel had a cold shower all morning.

I guess that’s what happens when you get a room and rental car for $65, including all taxes. I’m kind of enjoying these little dives, though. Makes me glad to know I’m not wasting much money when I make it out alive.

Yay! OJ Supporters!
I got to meet up with a few Operation Jack supporters over the weekend, which was nice. I saw an old fraternity brother of mine, Will Rigdon, who’s pretty excited about what I’m doing. I also got to meet his wife, Nancy. They both ran their first half marathon in Nashville on Saturday! Awesome!

I also caught up with Laura Sullivan in Nashville, who I met in Mississippi in January. She inadvertently found Operation Jack through a Google search and has been a loyal supporter for quite a while. We chat a little bit here and there and it was good to see her again.

And then there’s Ally Phillips, who I saw for the third straight weekend. I also saw her in Catalina in March. Ally’s great … yeah, that pretty much sums her up. Her husband is a pretty cool dude, too. I got to see him again, too.


Me and Will at the expo in Nashville. I didn’t realize this until I edited the photo, but he wasn’t smiling for the photo and this is the only one I have. Bummer. Sorry, Will.

Laura, her husband Stephen, me, and one of their friends (I forgot his name … bad Sam!) after dinner on Friday night.

Me and Ally after the race yesterday.

That’s All For Today
Like that wasn’t enough. I ramble too much when I write my blog on the plane. Tomorrow, I’m posting what I ate last week. A lot of you wonder how I can run marathons when I just eat garbage like In-N-Out and ice cream. But I think I actually eat fairly healthy. I’ll let y’all be the judge.

Race Report: Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon

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As I run marathon after marathon this year, I experience some races I’d recommend, some I’d never run again even if I got paid to, and some that are nice, but not worth traveling to. I’m putting the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in the must-do category. For everything about it, and everything it stands for, I think this is a race that every marathoner should complete once.

I’m probably going to talk more about the race than my race. The marathon is a tribute to the Oklahoma City bombing victims from 1995, both those who perished and those who whose lives have been forever changed. I knew that going in, but the magnitude of it didn’t hit home until I actually got down there.

The race starts right around the corner from the memorial that’s in place now, which is where the federal building stood. Aside from Ground Zero in New York City, I don’t think there’s a spot in this country that saw a more devastating act. I’ve seen Ford Theater in Washington, where Lincoln was assassinated, and I’ve been to the Texas School Book Depository/grassy knoll in Dallas where Kennedy was assassinated. But the magnitude of the bombing and the number of deaths make it pretty surreal to be right there in Oklahoma City, participating in a race that’s solely dedicated as a tribute to the victims.

Prior to the race, they held a 168-second moment of silence, one second for each person who was killed. It seemed like it went on and on forever. That’s a lot of people if each one only got one second. Two people next to me were chatting about their sub-2 half-marathon goal during that moment of silence, as if that couldn’t wait for, say, two hours during the race. I totally wanted to smack them for being so disrespectful.

After that, they played the song (or maybe somebody sang it — I couldn’t tell) “One Moment In Time”. I’ll admit it, that song isn’t on my pre-race playlist. But on Sunday, it just seemed right. And then of course, the national anthem. I was right there overlooking the memorial at that point. It was chilling and I was completely inspired to run.

Normally, I think a lot about my family and my kids during a race, but today, I spent a lot of time thinking about the bombing victims. I saw a lot (hundreds) of people running with signs on their back stating who they were running in memory of. They told us at the beginning of the race that we’d see 168 names on the course and I did the math. If they spread them out over the course of a marathon, they’d be about 800 feet apart. One victim, every 800 feet, for an entire marathon.

To be honest, I don’t remember a ton about what I saw on the course because I felt pretty bad physically and I didn’t pay a ton of a attention. But from what I remember, it was a lot of running through a midwest city, which I always enjoy. Nice people, spirited aid stations, plus big homes and yards. We had one spot where we ran alongside a lake that had a pretty strong wind whipping us. The wind was a bummer, but the view was nice.

Normally in a marathon, there’s plenty of noise, whether it’s from spectators, surroundings, etc. At about mile 19 or 20, we hit a spot that I’ll never forget. I’m not sure if it was a cemetery (I don’t think it was, because I didn’t notice headstones), a park, a golf course (didn’t see bunkers or greens) or what, but it was big and spacious with huge lawn areas. It must have been a good mile or two through there. Anyways, on the light poles, they had banners and each one displayed the name of a victim.

Out of nowhere, it was dead silent. There wasn’t a peep from anybody. Silence that a baby could sleep through. For that stretch of a mile or two, the only noise I heard was the horn from a train that sounded like it was about two miles away. It was extremely serene, and I thought it was perfectly fitting while I was reading the names one after another. It was pretty sad knowing each person had a story and a life and surviving friends and family. I passed a few people wearing names on their back during this stretch and I wanted to pat them on the back.

We came out of that and people were pretty upbeat the rest of the way. The last few miles had quite a few spectators, playing music, having a good time and thanking us for running. I enjoyed being a part of Oklahoma City for three hours and change.

After the race, I took my finish-line picture at the memorial instead of at the finish line. I just thought it was appropriate. I almost got teary-eyed going in there. The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon was a great race, a great tribute. The course seemed nice, the aid stations were constant and well-staffed with friendly volunteers and the post-race spread was great. They did a great job handling 22,000 participants. All-in-all, a great race, one every marathon runner should run at least once.

Anyways, I’ll talk briefly about my running. I felt terrible physically Saturday night after a miserable race in Nashville earlier in the day. I felt a little better Sunday morning, but doubles are tough, no question. I felt OK for the first 7 miles and was actually running pretty well, but then I started to feel nauseous for about 5 miles. That passed, but then I just started to feel pretty rough physically.

I burned worse than normal in my quads and when that wind was getting us, I lost a lot of fight. I know I didn’t push hard enough today, because my average heart rate was only 160, but I’m just exhausted right now. I’ve been away from home for 10 of the past 17 nights, and I’ve averaged maybe 6 hours of sleep a night max in the past three weeks, and I just completed 6 marathons in 16 days (and I won’t even get into the travel). I think I just ran out of gas today.

Final time, 3:17:42. I don’t really care about the time much one way or the other. It’s not great, but it’s not something I’ll lose sleep over. It’s a 3:17, and I’m now 22 down, 38 to go.


Me at the memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing victims. I don’t know the actual name of the memorial, but it’s a pretty chilling place. It was tough to force a smile in there.

Me and Operation Jack super supporter Ally Phillips after the race. This was her fourth marathon, I think, and her first was just five months ago. I think she caught the bug!

The memorial.

They have a chair for each victim there. I’m guessing one of this person’s survivors ran the race for them on Sunday.

Race Report: Country Music Marathon

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If Monday’s Boston Marathon was the best race I’ve ever run (and it was), today’s Country Music Marathon in Nashville balanced things out because it might be the worst marathon I’ve ever run. I tried my best, but nothing went right — from before the start until the finish — and I struggled through a 3:34 today.

This race report will probably come off as a rant, but I’m not a big fan of Competitor (Rock ‘N Roll) events, and this one was another example why. In a nutshell, I don’t think Competitor cares about much other than over-hyping their events and squeezing every last dollar from everybody, and as a runner who is more interested in a race than an event, these aren’t my cup of tea.

As is always the case, the expo/bib pickup was a nightmare. Traffic all over the place, $10 to park, and I couldn’t let any of my friends pick it up for me. They have this policy because they want as much foot traffic through their expo, so they can charge a ton for the booths, and that’s understandable. But I just get annoyed when it costs me $10 to pick up my bib.

I’ll also admit that I’m pretty bitter with how they “help” charities. I put all the Competitor events on my list because they’re so big, so I thought that would be a great idea. But the break they offered me to build a team was something like a 50 percent surcharge on race entries and in exchange they’d give me 10 percent off a $2,000 expo booth and they’d help me with PR (not that I can’t contact media on my own). Such a deal, and it kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth last year. But whatever.

I figure that for all the money they bring in, they’d be able to put on a perfect event. I got within 1.5 miles of where I parked 90 minutes before the start. The parking and finish are at the Tennessee Titans’ football stadium, so it’s built to handle an influx of 80,000 or so people. 30,000 should be easy. But I moved only a mile over the next hour. It got me into a cranky mood. The last 1/2 mile only took out 10 minutes, and I parked at 6:40 for a 7 a.m. start. About five minutes later, I got a phone call informing me that they bumped the start up 15 minutes so they could beat the thunderstorms that were rolling in.

I still had to take the shuttle over to the start and drop off my gear bag, so I knew it would be fighting through crowds for a while. When I got over there and dropped off my bag, I could see that people were waiting in the corrals and not running, so I thought maybe the race hadn’t started. I ran up to the front and felt queasy for some reason. I had a little trouble catching my breath, but I was able to get within four or five rows from the start, and about 30 seconds after I got there, right at 7 a.m., we went.

I was happy because I actually started on time and wasn’t going to have to fight through the traffic. But I heard the announcer say something about corral 15, and I realized I was in the second wave. I saw a sea of people about 1/4 mile ahead and knew I was in for a long day dodging. I was in a grumpy mood about it because of the traffic situation. I don’t know whose fault it was (by default, I blame Competitor — it’s their event), but I shouldn’t have had any issues making it to the start even by 6:45 when I was 1.5 miles from where I parked at 5:30.

I led the wave 2 pack right into the back of wave 1 and had to start weaving by about half a mile into the race. I couldn’t do anything to get in a groove and wasted a ton of energy slow down, speeding up and moving side-to-side. I enjoyed the first couple of miles of the course, because we hit the area of town where all the country bars are, but after that, I don’t remember much of the course.

To compound things, the weather was terrible for a marathon. That’s obviously not Competitor’s fault, but it added to the difficulty of the run. It was 68 degrees at the start and climbed into the low 70s. It was extremely humid — I’d say at least 90 percent.

I was dodging people for the first 11 miles. I could tell that as I wasn’t able to get it going, I was falling apart at the same time. By about mile 10, I knew there was no way it was going to be a good day. I was thinking about how glad I am I’m running a ton of marathons this year. If this had been a goal race I’d been training for and focusing on, I would have been incredibly bummed. The word that kept coming to my head was “throwaway” … that’s what this race was for me. I knew I was going to continue to break down and fade, and I had to finish it just to finish it.

I kept pounding along because DNFing is not an option. If I was rich and just running for myself, I probably would have cut down to the half. But that’s not the case. Oh well.

At mile 18, I heard a police officer say there was a serious storm that was going to hit within 40 minutes. At 22, it started to rain. There was quite a bit of thunder and lightning and 24. We were on an out-and-back portion late and I could tell that they had re-routed people. A police officer drove by and warned us about the storm. I couldn’t tell what he said, but I knew I had to keep shuffling as fast as I could, because I didn’t want to get pulled from the course.

I wouldn’t have resisted the DNF, because my safety is way more important than the medal, but it would have been a major bummer to have a 25-mile DNF! The thunder and lightning kept coming rapidly up until the finish and I was thinking about a woman named Nancy Bennett, the wife of a football coach at my alma mater who was struck and killed by lightning while jogging in 1999. I just wanted to get in and done.

The rain turned into a downpour and I crossed the finish line 3:34 after I went through the start. It was an absolutely miserable and painful run, from 90 minutes before the start until the finish — an extremely difficult day that makes me wonder how lousy tomorrow is going to feel when I go 26.2 in Oklahoma City.

Oh well, another day, another marathon for Operation Jack. This isn’t supposed to be easy, otherwise nobody would be jumping on the bandwagon.

21 down, 39 to go!


Me with Operation Jack supporter Laura Sullivan at the finish. I met her in person in Jackson, Miss. in January and got to hang out with her, her husband and some of their friends in Nashville. She had a great time completing the half … it was awesome to see her at the finish!

Weekend Preview: Races #21, 22

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Yesterday at work, somebody was talking about how it didn’t seem like Wednesday. Well, if you’re like me, and you were out Monday running the Boston Marathon, it was like Tuesday. Or, if you’re like me and you have to take Friday off to travel to run a marathon in Nashville on Saturday, it might have seemed like Thursday. So now, I don’t even know what today seems like to me. Certainly not a Thursday. But that’s what the calendar says it is, which means it’s time for my weekend preview.

Just in case this is your first time here, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner and my middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I decided I wanted to use my running to make a difference in the autism world and I came up with the idea to run 60 marathons in 2010 to help raise money and awareness for a great charity I’m a part of named Train 4 Autism.

Train 4 Autism helps people like me or you train for races and raise money for the autism-related charity of their choice. So far, everything is cruising along pretty well. I’ve completed 20 marathons this year and next week I’ll let everybody know how much we’ve raised so far. I’m working on figuring out what the total is.

Anyways, every Thursday, I give an analysis of my race(s) for the weekend and I have a contest. You guess my time by making a small donation (for instance, if you think I’m going to run a 3:12, you donate $3.12 by clicking on the DONATE NOW! link at the top of any page on this site. The winner is the person who comes the closest without going under. The prize is your choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt.

Last week’s winner was Julie Dural, who had faith I’d go sub-3:10 in Boston! Yeah Julie! I was fortunate enough to meet her in Boston on Sunday. She’s super-nice and I think it’s cool that she won.


Look — a winner and a loser! Just kidding … it’s me and Julie after lunch on Sunday.

Oh, one thing to clarify: I have two races this weekend, so you’re going to be betting on the second race, Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Fundraising Plug #1
OK, so I haven’t plugged these in a while, but we have Operation Jack clothing we want to put you. If you haven’t seen our stuff, check it out on the Sponsors page. We have t-shirts, tech shirts and sweatshirts, and everybody seems to love them, especially the sweatshirts.

If you can’t afford to make a donation, I totally understand — it’s a terrible economy. But we’ll still send you some gear if you’re willing to hit people up for easy little $10 donations. Check out the 10×10 page.

Fundraising Plug #2
I’ll keep pushing this, but I’m running seven marathons in seven states this month, so since 7 is the number of the month, I’m trying to collect as many $7 donations as possible. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the April update I sent out at the beginning of the month.

Finally, The Course Preview For The Contest
I’m running another double this weekend — Nashville on Saturday and Oklahoma City on Sunday. I finally took a look at the course profiles last night, and wow do I wish they were reversed!

Nashville’s looked extremely reasonable, possibly even a very slight downhill net. It looks essentially flat with some small rollers. On paper, it looks like a pretty manageable course, although through 48 lifetime marathons, I have yet to run one that was easy. The only downside is the weather. I saw yesterday that there will like be a storm during the race. But the weather forecast can always change.

Since I ran well in Boston on Monday, I’ll be entering this one pretty confident about going all-out. I’m going to be disappointed if I don’t go sub-3:10, because right now, I don’t feel like I have any excuse not to. It should be a fun race. It’s a Rock ‘N Roll race, which means it there will be a ton of people, and since it’s Nashville, I know I’ll get a kick out of all the country bands.

Sunday in Oklahoma City looks a little more challenging. There’s a fairly quick start, with a fairly long, gradual downhill in the first six miles. Hopefully, that will get my wheels turning, because I’ll certainly be tired. The middle section of the race doesn’t look too bad, but there’s a long, gradual uphill from about 21 to 24. I’m expecting this to be a fairly challenging run.

The race in Oklahoma City commemorates the 15-year anniversary of the bombing, and the race is a tribute to the victims. They have a 168-second moment of silence before the start of the race, which should be chilling. It should be a very memorable experience.

Anyways, if I had to bet, just based on my recent results, I’d probably go with a 3:17 Sunday. It’s really tough to say. Am I the guy who showed up in Boston? Or the guy who was 21 minutes slower than that in Dallas? I’m really anxious to see how much heart I have.

Let me know what you think by entering the contest. This Operation Jack thing is a grind, physically and mentally. Your little, tiny $3 donation gives me a huge boost! Thank you!

Video Of The Day
When you go to Fenway Park in Boston, they play Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond in the middle of the 8th. It’s totally awesome. I took a video on Sunday when I had tickets on top of the Green Monster. If you’re a baseball fan, you need to experience this at least once!

OK, That’s All For Today
Sleepy time for me (yeah, I write these the night before). Have a great day/weekeend, everybody! I’ll have race reports posted on Saturday and Sunday!

What's Up With OJ Wednesday

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Monday marathons followed by Saturday marathons sure do wreck a week in a hurry. I’m not even 48 hours removed from the finish line of the Boston Marathon (as of posting this) and I’m already carb-loading for this weekend. And I’m already writing What’s Up With OJ Wednesday, my weekly attempt at re-using a headline and writing a state-of-Operation Jack blog.

Just in case this your first time here, I’m a marathon runner and a father of three. Not really in that order, though, because running is just my hobby. My middle son, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to make a difference in his honor, so the idea that came to me was to try to run 60 marathons in 2010 to try to raise money and awareness for a great charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism.

I didn’t ask my wife for permission to do this. I just ran the idea by her. This wasn’t something to ask for permission for, because it’s such a huge commitment on the entire family. But we decided that we were better off taking a chance and trying to make an impact than always looking back and wondering if we could have made a difference.

Anyways, I don’t really have a clue as to what I’m doing — I try to figure it out daily and I’ll continue to do so until December 31. This blog is where you can follow along with me and see what goes on in my mind.

Orange County Marathon Announcements
We’re only about 10 days away from the Orange County Marathon. Maybe 11. I don’t know. I’m permanently tired nowadays and I don’t feel like doing math. But I know it’s next Sunday. It’s the most local race of the year for me, since the start line and finish are both within about 15 miles of my house.

So, we’re having a couple of fundraising events to go along with them. First, next Friday (April 30), we’re going to have a Silpada party. Silpada is jewelry, and I don’t know anything about jewelry. Well, except my wife likes that stuff. It’s not very expensive, like with diamonds or anything like that. But it’s fairly nice stuff. 20 percent of all the sales from the party are going to go to Operation Jack. If you’re local, stop by, grab some finger foods and pick up a Mother’s Day gift. We created an evite for this that you can RSVP with and pass along to anybody. It’s an open party. And when I say we created an evite, we = Tiff. If you’re not local, you can still order and benefit Operation Jack. There’s information on that evite.

Also, we’re going to have a pasta dinner on Saturday, May 1, the night before the race. It’s going to be at Buca di Beppo in the Tustin Marketplace. It’s going to be at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $25 a person for all-you-can-eat … well, I already created a page so I might as well just direct you over there so you can see the full details. I’d love to see you out there!

I Need Your Input
On Monday, after the race in Boston, I met up with three new Operation Jack supporters from Maine — Danielle, Melissa and Sarah. They really want me to run a marathon in Maine with them next year. Sarah has been on the fence about running a marathon, but she said she’d make it her first if I went out there and ran it with her. I told them I’d do it, but they’d need to build a good team.

I’m going to set a tangible goal and if they hit it, I’ll keep my word and go out there and help Sarah through her marathon. I’ll carry her gels, fetch her water from the aid stations, carry her favorite sports drink, whatever. But I’m going to set them a good goal and I want to know what you guys think I should do.

For starters, they’re going to need to start a new Train 4 Autism chapter out in Maine. And I think I’m going to set a fundraising goal for them for an Operation Jack team. We provide them with a fundraising site to help them out. What’s a good goal? $20? $3,000? $1 billion?


Me, Danielle, Melissa and Sarah on Monday.

Quick April Fundraising Plug
I’m running seven marathons in seven states this month. Since 7 is the number of the month, I’m trying to collect as many $7 donations as possible. I haven’t reached my goal, so for less than the cost of a martini, you can support a great cause! Check out the fundraising page or read the update I sent to the Facebook group at the beginning of the month.

Day-After-The-Boston-Marathon Lunch
This is where I take advantage of the fact that it’s my blog and I can post what I want. I love to post pictures of food. Yesterday, the day after the Boston Marathon, I had In-N-Out for lunch. I took a picture so I could post it. And really, the only reason I wanted to post it was so I could post pictures of my lunch from the day after the Boston Marathon last year.


This was lunch yesterday.

This was lunch the day after the Boston Marathon last year. I held my brother’s iPhone next to the burger to illustrate how big it is.

This was my plate when I was done with my lunch the day after the Boston Marathon last year.

On the subject of nutrition, I know I talk a lot about the garbage I eat, and I’m up to 80 consecutive days now eating ice cream or frozen yogurt, but I really don’t think I eat all that poorly. So I’m keeping a food journal of everything I eat this week and I’ll post it next Tuesday and let y’all decide. I’m not off to the greatest start this week, but I still have five days to go.

On the subject of me posting pictures I want to post, here’s one from over the weekend of my daughter sneaking some of Jack’s drink.


This better be the only time I see a girl taking advantage of my Jack.

Proof That I’m A Geek
I was all excited because I finished in 27th place on Saturday. It was my third 27th place this year. 27 is 3x3x3. So, for me, it was 3x(3x3x3). Like I said, I’m a geek.

Jack Is Good With Numbers, Too!
This morning, Tiff showed me a worksheet that Jack did in school. They had boxes with pictures in it and he had to count them and write down the number of items in the box. He got all six boxes correct. It’s kind of cool to see this. We know he’s a smart kid and there’s a lot going on in that little head of his, but when we see him put down on paper, it’s pretty cool for us. Keep the faith, keep the faith!


That’s a “15” … count the shoes for yourself!

OK, That’s All For Today
I got too tired writing this thing. I’m calling it quits for this one. I’ll see you back here tomorrow!