Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Weekend Recap: My Camera Worked Overtime

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Normally, weekend recaps are the subject of my Monday blog. But since the Boston Marathon was yesterday, my weekend didn’t end until I got home late last night, so I’ll go with the weekend recap as my theme today. I’m warning you in advance, though — there’s a lot of pictures in here, because I told a lot of people over the weekend that I’d put them in the blog.

Real quick first, though, I ran the Charlottesville Marathon and struggled with a 3:21 on Saturday (recap here) and I ran the best race of my life yesterday in the Boston Marathon (3:03, recap here). It wasn’t my fastest, but it was my best. Period.


After the race yesterday.

Also, I snuck in a really brief blog about my wife yesterday. If you support Operation Jack and what I’m trying to accomplish, please take a minute and read what I wrote. She means the world to me and she’s a behind-the-scenes rock that Operation Jack wouldn’t be possible without.

Oh, one more plug I have to make. 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’m not where I want to be yet, so if you can spare the cost of a cheap lunch to 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.

OK, so here was my weekend. I hope you’re entertained by the truth, because it’s easier to write than fiction.

Thursday Night
I took the family out to Souplantation (Sweet Tomatoes, depending on what part of the country you live in). My kids love it and I had to leave them for four long days, so I wanted to have some fun before I left. We had a good time, and that night, I left for the airport to catch a red-eye. I only got about two hours of sleep on the flight. Bummer.

Friday Morning & Afternoon
I was heading to Charlottesville, Va., through Atlanta. In Atlanta, my flight was overbooked, and they offered 400 Delta Dollars to anybody willing to add five hours to their layover. I did this and now I’ll be able to take Tiff along on a future trip sometime. It eliminated my nap I was planning on in Virginia, but it gave me a chance to leave the airport and visit my mom, who lives in Atlanta.


The first of many pictures with redheads this weekend.

I hadn’t seen her since December, so she was excited to see me. We went to lunch with her husband at a Chinese buffet. It stank in there, but the food was pretty good and it was nice to visit, albeit briefly. Oh, I also got two free meal coupons from the airlines, so I picked myself up a breakfast sandwich and a frozen yogurt waffle cone. Beautiful. While I was walking to get my cone, my brother called me and told me he scored tickets to the Red Sox game on Sunday. Double beautiful.

On the flight from Atlanta to Charlottesville, our flight attendant on our puddle jumper told us it was her first flight and asked us to bear with her. I’d MUCH rather hear that from the flight attendant than the pilot!

Friday Evening
Here’s where I get to give props to my fraternity, Phi Delta Theta! I was a Phi Delt at Kansas State, and in Charlottesville, home of the University of Virginia, the Phi Delts supported me. They ran a 5K on Saturday that benefitted the Virginia Institute of Autism and they did so wearing custom Operation Jack/Autism Awareness/Phi Delta Theta shirts. They hosted a pasta dinner at the house on Friday night, so I went over and met the guys and had a nice time.


Me at the Phi Delt house with their philanthropy chair, Pat Dale.

I stayed in a total fleabag motel. I meant to take a picture of the room, but I didn’t. It was pretty gross, though. I knew better than to go barefoot in the room, so I walked around in my socks and they got dirty.

Saturday Morning/Afternoon
After running the race, I went to Waffle House. I’d never been. And I’m probably not going back. I wasn’t impressed. Food was blah and I would have totally rather gone to IHOP. But I tried it and I no longer have that curiosity.

After that, I went out to Monticello, but they wanted something like $15 for a ticket just to walk around on the trails there. So I left, because I didn’t have a ton of time. But it’s a very beautiful location.


Thomas Jefferson sure did pick a scenic spot.

If that first picture didn’t convince you, how about this one?

Before I hit the airport, I made good use of a coupon I got in my goodie bag.


I looked pretty cool with two 7 oz. cups of frozen yogurt on my table while I pounded out my Charlottesville race report.

Saturday Night
I wanted to watch the Mets-Cardinals game on Saturday, but it started 15 minutes before my flight left Charlottesville. I had a layover in Philadelphia, got into Boston, took three T trains and then a shuttle to get to my hotel. I called Tiff, unpacked, got a little bit of work done, then went to get some pizza. I came back, ate my pizza, called Tiff again and talked for a while, then called it a night and crawled into bed and watched the last hour of the Mets-Cardinals game. Yeah, that one went 20 innings.

Speaking of my layover in Philly, I had an interesting experience in the men’s room. I walked in, and there’s a man using a urinal shouting, “THIS IS PERSONAL! THIS IS PERSONAL!” He was just talking to himself, peeing. I was a little leery, so I went way to the far end away from him, and he started saying something else, and I noticed he had a bluetooth in his ear.

Note to dude: Wrong place and time to have that phone call.

Sunday
Got up, took an ice bath. Went to town and met people for breakfast. Went to the expo. Went across the street and met people for lunch. Went straight to Fenway to meet up with my brother and my friends Mike and Katherine. Went straight to meet people for the pasta dinner. Went straight to the hotel and about 13 hours had passed since I left. How did that happen?

Two cool notes about Sunday:
1. I was sitting at lunch and a guy came up to the table out of nowhere and asked me if I was Sam. Well, Sam I Am! He told me he’s been following along and he admired what I was doing and he asked to take a picture with me. I thought that was pretty cool. And I took the picture, of course.

2. Our seats at Fenway were standing room only ON TOP OF THE GREEN MONSTER! Does it get any better than that? I don’t think it does.


At breakfast with a runner named Meg, who said she’d really been wanting to meet me. That’s the first time anybody has ever told me that. I bet she was disappointed!

At breakfast with a runner named Katie, who I’ve talked with a bunch and finally had the opportunity to meet.

At the expo with Jen Morgan and Ally Phillips, two redheads who are incredible Operation Jack supporters.

After lunch with a runner named Julie who I finally got to meet. She’s super nice and I had a great time talking with her and her boyfriend.

Katherine said she wanted in Tuesday’s blog. So here she is. We’re ON TOP OF THE GREEN MONSTER!

Me with a bunch of my runner friends at the pasta dinner. We’ve all known each other for a few years, so it was good to hang out for a couple of hours.

Monday
We’ve been over the whole “Boston Marathon” thing that I ran yesterday. After the race, I had lunch with my brother, my friend Mike, and four other people I want to make a quick mention of.

One was a friend named Brittany, who used to be one of Jack’s therapists when he was 2 and 3. She moved back to Boston, so she came to the lunch on Sunday, then came out to the race with a homemade sign! Her parents also came out to the race and they also joined us for lunch on Monday.

Also, I had a great time meeting three new people, Danielle, Melissa and Sarah. They posted pictures on Twitter on Sunday night of a sign they had made for me. I was blown away, because I had never communicated with them at all. I know what I’m doing has a “wow” factor, which is why I’m doing it, but I don’t view myself as anything special, because to me, I’m me, and all I’m doing is making use of what I’ve been given. So when I saw that picture, I was pretty floored. I got in touch with them and insisted that we find a way to meet up. So they came out to lunch after the race and we had a good time chatting for an hour or two (I lost track of time).


Me and Brittany.

Me, Danielle, Melissa and Sarah.

When Tiff picked Jack up from school yesterday, he immediately reached for the Boston hat and put it on!

And then I went home. Finally. I missed my babies.

Race Report: Boston Marathon

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I don’t even know where to start with my race report for Monday’s Boston Marathon. I guess all I can say is that it was, without question, the best run of my life. I’ve run three marathons faster, but none better, and I say that with absolute certainty.

I entered the race with no confidence, other than the fact that I normally run well in Boston. Before Monday, two of my fastest three marathons had been in Boston and I really like running on that course. But my previous six marathons have been 3:20, 3:20, 3:23, 3:19, 3:24 and 3:21. That 3:21 was on Saturday, too. So I’ve been on a slowdown, and I’m far from fresh. But it’s Boston, and I knew I had a LOT of people following me and I was determined to do well.

People asked me before the race how I thought I’d do. I said that if I had to bet on a time, I’d go with 3:18. But I also said that I would do whatever I could to make sure that I got absolutely everything out of my body that I could. Forget those past six marathons. I was still going to go for the sub-3 if my body would have allowed it.

I was talking to a friend of mine named Louis before the race and he was saying that the 20-mile mark is what separates the men from the boys. It’s at that point that you back down and fall off, or you step it up, fight through the pain, and get the most out of yourself.

I thought about that a lot today. I was determined to run without fear or limits, to fight through pain and make people proud. I got up to corral 3, took my place, crouched down to stretch my quads because they were killing me, and then we were off.

I got my heart rate up to 170 pretty quickly, making sure I could take advantage of the downhills the course offered early. Gunning for a 6:52 pace as a dream, a 6:00 pace might seem too fast. But that’s where the no fear and no limits came into place. I didn’t care, and it was all heart rate. I was willing to let it occasionally creep up to 173 or so. I knew every time I crossed those mats every 5K, a lot of people knew how I was doing, and I didn’t want to let them down.

I was about on the same kind of pace I was on last year, when I went 3:01:31. It seemed a little bit unreal, because I just ran a 3:21 on Saturday. But all of that didn’t matter, because my legs were turning and I didn’t focus on the “why nots”. I knew I was in a race, the clock was ticking, and I was free to pull as much out of myself as I could.

I started to feel the fatigue at about mile 5, but I focused on pushing hard and fighting through the pain. I kept thinking about how it was going to be a tough, painful run, but I really had an opportunity to have a good day.

Miles 1-5: 6:46, 6:41, 6:38, 6:38, 6:58

I kept running hard and did my best with my fueling and hydration. I felt fairly strong and locked into a good groove. I really felt like I was redlining, but I’m supposed to. There are a lot of rolling hills in Boston, and I think the speed from the downhills, combined with a bunch of gradual uphills, helped me to move through pretty quick. I felt like I was a tiny bit behind where I was last year, but I think I’m a lot stronger.

Miles 6-10: 6:50, 6:46, 6:56, 6:53, 7:00

As I started getting closer to the 1/2, I was hoping I’d be somewhere in that 1:28 range. I think that’s where I was last year, and I thought that would give me a fighting shot at sub-3. I was in pain, but didn’t really feel like I was fading. I hit the 1/2 in 1:30:01 on my Garmin (1:30:03 officially) and realistically, I knew sub-3 was out. You can’t negative split Boston with those four hills in Newton. You just can’t. But I told myself it didn’t matter, because it wasn’t sub-3 or bust. It was do my best or bust. And if my best was 3:08, then so be it.

Miles 11-15: 7:00, 6:46, 6:56, 6:58, 7:07

I wasn’t slowing down, but I had some slower mile times going through the hills in Newton. That’s what those hills will do to you. They’re about 1/2 mile or so each, and they’re fairly decent climbs. Not impossible, but they’re just tough at that stage of the race, especially when you’re well aware of their notoriety. I think I struggled up those hills last year, but I was pretty happy with my effort this time. I wasn’t necessarily fast, but I don’t think I went soft.

Miles 16-20: 6:48, 7:30, 7:29, 7:13, 7:26

After mile 20, we finally hit Heartbreak Hill. The last of the hills, and then it’s all downhill from there. When we got to the top, I thought of what Louis told me and I knew it was time to make my race. I had worked so hard and fought through so much pain and I didn’t want to let it go to waste. 6 miles, that’s all that was left. Time to just suck it up and not let the day go to waste. I start flying from the top of the hill and felt really strong.

I was powering by people, sucking a lot of air and really pushing it. I felt strong, and I felt fast, and I couldn’t wait to get to the finish. I was running at quicker than 6:00/mile at some points. My legs felt like they were turning themselves, but it was all adrenaline because I knew I was cooked.

I hit mile 23 and I started thinking about how it was looking like it was going to be the best run I’ve ever had. And I knew I just had three more miles to fight through to get there. I was super excited, because I knew I’d nailed my run.

With one mile to go, I knew I needed about a 7:15 mile to finish sub-3:04. I fought hard, powered up Hereford and then down Boylston. I felt fast, I felt good, and I felt on top of the world. I powered down to the finish of the best run I’ve ever had.

Miles 21-26.2: 7:40, 6:44, 6:47, 6:54, 6:50, 7:00, 6:35 pace for .43 (Garmin).

All in all, the best run of my life. I was so happy with this one from an individual standpoint. And I could tell by the feedback I got that it was a great run for Operation Jack. So many people were so excited by it all. Truly a great day.


After the race.

After the race, #2.

After the race, #3.

The Other Half Of Operation Jack

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My blog today is going to be pretty short, sweet and to the point, just like the subject I’m writing about. My wife.

I know I gush about her all the time, but I can’t help it. And I just felt like today, I wanted to write something about her. She works so incredibly hard behind the scenes to do so much to help out with everything and does so in virtual anonymity. I work pretty hard doing what I’m doing, but I get all sorts of praise and feedback. That feedback is a big boost, and it helps me as I drag myself through this year.

But she doesn’t get a day off, she doesn’t get the chance to get out and meet people and see places like me, and she doesn’t get the pat-on-the-back she needs aside from when I thank her (and I thank her often). A lot of you say a lot of nice things about Operation Jack. You think it’s great, you find it inspiring and you’re totally behind it. Well, I just want everybody to know that none of this would be possible without Tiffany. I totally depend on everything she does to help, and she never lets me down.

Operation Jack is a total team effort, and she’s the ultimate team player. This blog is my best way to shout from the mountaintop, so I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell her that I love her and I appreciate everything she does!


Ahhh, she makes me smile!

Race Report: Charlottesville Marathon

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My month-long slowdown continued Saturday in the Charlottesville Marathon in Charlottesville, Virginia, although fortunately, so did my ability to shake it off and not really worry about it. I know that all I can really do is go out and give it my all. Today, my all was worth a 3:21 marathon.

The course was probably the most scenic I’ve ever run, and that includes the incredible Catalina Marathon I ran last month. We ran through the University of Virginia, which has a beautiful campus. We went out into the plush countryside and passed ranch and after ranch bordered by white wooden fences. We ran several miles on roads tunneled by bright green trees. We spent four of the miles running along a path that was also tunneled by trees and bordered a pretty wide river. Even when we spent a little bit of time running through some unsavory parts of town, it was pretty scenic.

I know it sounds like I’m gushing, and that’s because I am. I HIGHLY recommend this course, even if you don’t live nearby. There’s one downside (well, more like 8-10 downsides). There are quite a few challenging hills to climb. Nothing like Catalina, but still, I wouldn’t call this course easy at all. It’s worth it, though.

I decided to push by heart rate today instead of trying to hold a pace. Monday in Boston will be completely by heart rate, so no sense not doing that today. I caught little glimpses of how I’m doing, and I feel pretty comfortable with my ability right now. I just don’t feel comfortable with my ability to maximize my ability, or something like that.

I felt pretty good early on, staying on track early and maintaining an average pace in the low 7s. I wasn’t scared to push the pace quicker than 6:30 when the declines allowed, and I took what the course gave me. Of course, just as quick as the course gave me, it took away.

I train on hills every day, but for some reason, I just can’t race on them. We went through a pretty nice gradual downhill about 5 or 6 miles in, but we went up a pretty tough uphill right after that, and that was the beginning of the end for me. I struggled and never got it back. We did a turnaround, and I didn’t move as fast as I’d have liked to coming back down. And when we went back up that gradual downhill, I was pretty much done.

I hit the half right around 1:35:30, which I was OK with, but I knew I was moving in the wrong direction. There were plenty of hills in the second half that continued to wreck me, but that’s what marathons will do to you, I guess. The weather was fine — mid 60s and not sunny. But I just couldn’t hang on over the final six miles. My back started to hurt a little bit and my legs were pretty stiff. I was certainly enjoying the run, though.

I barely had any kick at the end, but I guess I can’t really do much more than I’m capable of, which is what I feel like I did today. I think my time was 3:21:24 or something like that. It’s not really about me, though. It’s about reaching people for Operation Jack and Train 4 Autism. Today, I had a guy come up to me during the race and tell me he’s been following along and he really digs what I do, which was cool. Also, after the race, a local TV crew interviewed me for a little bit for their show today, so hopefully that reaches people, too.


After the race.

So, I guess, 19 down, 41 to go. Time to go to Boston.

Weekend Preview: Races #19, 20

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I can’t believe it’s already Thursday. I just got back from Dallas and it’s already time to go to Virginia. This is a tough stretch right now, because I have to be away from my family so much, but it will make next month (and next year) seem so easy. Anyways, another weekend is on the horizon and a pair of marathons are on the schedule. I guess that means it’s time for my weekend preview.

Weekly Pick Sam’s Time Contest
Each week, I have a contest where you guys try to guess what my time will be by making a super-easy donation. Basically, if you think my time is going to be a 3:04, you donate $3.04 by clicking the “Donate Now!” link at the top. If you guess 3:04, I thank you for your confidence. But anyways, that’s the contest. Winner is the person who comes the closest without under-bidding.

The prize is your choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt. Two weeks ago, the winner was Katey Williamson. I think she chose a sweatshirt. Maybe it was a tech shirt. Not sure. Anyways, she said she was going to keep playing until she won one of each. Sure enough, she won again this past week. She apparently knew I was going to struggle miserably in Dallas. Thanks Katey! I need a lot of you to compete against her so that she doesn’t win again. If she does, that’ll be $3 and change less coming to Operation Jack!

To help you play the game, I give you my insight on the course. In weeks like this one where I have two marathons, we go with the second race for the contest. This week, that’s Boston. I’ll be honest, though. I have no idea how that one’s going to go. No clue. I’ll get to that in a minute, though.

The Glamorous Life Of A Traveling Marathon Runner
So, I know I blog about some of the fun and interesting things involving Operation Jack, but this weekend is going to be pretty exhausting. Here’s what I’m looking at:
– Red-eye flight to Virginia.
– Working on my laptop in the airport in Virginia for two hours after I arrive, then for at least three hours before my flight before I leave to avoid an extra day on the rental-car charge (29-hour stay … bummer!)
– Friday night, there’s a pasta dinner with a group of students at the University of Virginia who are members of the same fraternity I was in at Kansas State (Phi Delta Theta). A lot of them are participating in a 5K Saturday morning that benefits the Virginia Institute for Autism. Awesome!
– Renting a car in Boston Saturday night and driving to the outskirts of town. Hotel rooms are ridiculously overpriced in the city for the race, and I’m not there for vacation.
– Driving to the T (subway station) Sunday morning to take that into town. I have a breakfast, lunch and dinner scheduled with different groups of people at each meal. Plus a stop to get my stuff and visit some people at the expo. In between those meals, I’ll find a Starbucks to plug in my laptop and get some work done.
– Monday morning, I’ll have to check out of my hotel before the race because it doesn’t start until 10:30 a.m. I’m also flying home that night, probably getting not much more than six hours of sleep before work on Tuesday.
– Oh, and I’m getting my car serviced today, and since that includes warranty work (2007 Camry!), they’re giving me a rental car from Enterprise at the dealer. So yeah, I’m picking up three rental cars in three different states in three days. Fun.

I’m getting tired just thinking about it. I always say the running is the easiest part of this. If you notice, in that list I didn’t include running a pair of marathons. But that’s definitely on the agenda, Nos. 19 and 20 of the year.

Race Previews
I haven’t looked at the Charlottesville course yet. I know that I’ve gone 3:20, 3:20, 3:23, 3:19 and 3:24 in my last five races, but I still truly believe that on a good day, even right now with my fatigue, there’s no reason I can’t go 3:10. Period. And that’s what I’m going to aim for. I’ll head out, trying to get into a 7:15/mile rhythm and I’ll see what I can do.

I’ve been back on some anti-inflammatory supplements this week that I hadn’t taken in three weeks, plus I had a visit to the hyperbaric chamber last night, plus I’m planning on taking at least one ice bath before Saturday’s race and hopefully three before the race in Boston. The optimist in me is running sub-3:10 on Saturday. The realist is going sub-3:20.

So on Monday, I have Boston. This will be my third time running this course. I went 3:03:29 the first time and 3:01:31 last year — two of my fastest three times ever. I’ve trained and tapered both times. The course has a little bit of a downhill net and you can start out and get into a pretty quick groove early based on the layout of the course. I knew my mistakes in 2008 and I ran it stronger last year.

I’m very confident that I know how to get the most out of myself in Boston. I feel very strong on that course. I’ll be taking ice baths on Saturday night and Sunday night and I suspect I’ll get at least 15 hours of sleep between those two nights. But I have no idea what to expect out of myself. I go all-out every time, but there’s almost a different gear in Boston. I love that race — I always call it my reward for all the training I do.

Nothing will surprise me on Monday, not a time starting with a 2 or a time with a 3:2X. If I had to bet, I’d probably go with a 3:12. But that could swing 13 minutes either way. I have no idea what to expect, other than four big hills in Newton.

But make a guess anyways. Show Operation Jack some support! It only costs about $3 and it’ll give me a boost when I see your donation come across! Either click here or click on the “Donate Now!” link on the top of any page on this site!

One Last Thing
My daughter Ava, who’s 4, told me Tuesday night that she knows she’s a troublemaker. She’s not a bad kid, but she can get into a little bit of mischief and she knows it. Nothing out of the ordinary for a kid her age. Last night, when I tucked her into bed, she told me, “Daddy, I was a goodmaker today!” And that is why she owns me.

I Lied — One More Last Thing
I’m running seven marathons in seven states this month. So, I’m running a campaign to try to collect $7 donations to help Operation Jack. If you haven’t seen the update I sent to the Facebook group, please check it out!

OK, That’s All For Today
Have a great weekend, everybody! Hope it’s less exhausting than mine! I’ll be posting race reports on Saturday and Monday.