Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Weekend Preview: Race #15, Knoxville Marathon

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These weeks are flying by way too fast. I feel like I just got back from Virginia and it’s already time to carb load. That means it’s time for another weekend forecast, plus a few new things about Operation Jack I have for you.

Weekly “Guess Sam’s Time” Contest
I’m having a weekly contest now where you can guess my time in my race and win your choice of a free Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt. Here’s how you do it: Try to guess my time (a little lower in this blog, I’ll give my analysis of the course and make my own prediction) and to enter, make a donation corresponding to your guess. So for instance, if you think I’m going to run a 3:15, donate $3.15. The winner is the person who guesses the closest without going under. In the case of a tie, I’ll draw a random winner.

It’s an easy contest, and costs about the same as an ice cream cone, which is fitting, because I’m now up to 52 consecutive days eating ice cream or frozen yogurt. And of course, this helps us nickel-and-dime our way to our goals!

To enter, click here or click the “Donate Now!” link at the top of any page on this site.

Quick Announcement About A Race Add
I’m about 98 percent sure I’m going to add the Olathe Marathon to my schedule on April 10. I’ll actually probably have that finalized by the time you read this, but I’m posting that here because the race is coming up in two weeks. I’m not expecting a lot of you to add the marathon with just two weeks’ notice (that’s something I would do, but I’m not exactly normal), but for the record, there’s also a 5K and a half-marathon. I know I have a chunk of you in the Kansas City area and I’d love to see you at the race or at least while I’m out there.

This race will actually make my April pretty challenging. I already have Dallas on the 11th, Charlottesville, Va. on the 17th, Boston on the 19th, Nashville on the 24th and Oklahoma City on the 25th (plus my Train 4 Autism race here on the 3rd). That’s seven for the month, but six in six states over a 16-day span. Forget the running … that’s a lot of race reports to write!

Oh, by the way, this isn’t going to boost the total to 61. I have another race that’s part of a double I’m planning on dropping.

Hyperbaric Chamber Update
Jenn Fellrath, a loyal supporter of Operation Jack, has asked me a few times recently about how Jack is doing at the hyperbaric chamber, so I figured I’d give an update in here for everybody. Last night, we went to Advanced Hyperbarics for another session and he did pretty well. When we first started going, it was a chore to handle him in there. He squirmed, he resisted holding the oxygen mask up to his face and it was really challenging to spend an hour in there with him.

He’s gotten a lot better with it, though. He knows the routine and hops right in. Last night, he held the mask to his face by himself for a good 80 percent of the session. For the majority of the remaining 20 percent, he didn’t resist me holding it. There’s a hood you can wear instead of holding the mask, which makes it easier and more effective, but he’s refusing that right now. We’re working on it, though, and I’m really looking forward to the day when he wears that. Part of it is a plastic collar that holds on the clear, plastic hood, and last night he was willing to at least try the collar on. That’s progress in my book.

All of that isn’t what Jenn is really asking about, though. She wants to know how he’s improving as a result of the treatment. Well, it’s really tough to say. We’ve been going for about five months now, and he’s shown incredible progress in that time. This isn’t a controlled scientific experiment, so numerous factors could be contributing to his improvements. But I really believe that the oxygen is helping. The speech is really starting to come out better in bits in pieces. He’s much more attentive and alert. It’s kind of like we’re buffing out a car and we’re seeing some shiny parts now.

He’s a different child than he was when I first launched this site and I suspect he’ll be vastly improved by the time the year is over. Exactly what is causing that, I can’t say. But we like the routine we’re in right now.

Jenn, let me know if that’s sufficient.

Race Forecast
OK, this is not a PR course. I’m sure it’s a beautiful course, since it runs through Knoxville, Tenn. But it looks incredibly hilly on the course profile. The first nice climb starts at about mile 2, there are about five solid climbs total, including a long, gradual uphill from 22 to 25 and what looks like a hill at about 25.5. This contest is going to cost you an extra dime, because I just don’t see it being a fast day.

One cool thing about the course is that it ends up on the 50-yard line in Neyland Stadium, the 107,000-seat facility where the University of Tennessee plays football. I like to kick for the last mile in a marathon, but a good friend of mine suggested I kick at the 10-yard line so I can get a 40 time in there. I’ll probably go with the last mile, but not if I’m out of gas, which I suspect is possible.

Physically, I feel a lot better than I did at this point last week. I’ve been running a little bit harder this week to mix it up and I’ve been enjoying that. I think I’ll feel fine on race day. I have a personal score to settle with the 26.2-mile distance, because it kicked my butt last week in Virginia Beach. I expect to be fired up and ready to go. But I’ll be limited by the course and my body.

I want to set a personal best for the year, which would be 3:07:20. I wouldn’t call that likely, but that’s what I want to do. If I was making a donation for the contest, I’d probably go with about $3.13 in this one. I’m not making a donation, though. I already have my t-shirt, tech shirt and sweatshirt. Plus, how wrong would that be if I won my own contest?

Catch Me At Dailymile.com
OK, so I’ve seen dailymile, and I think I had an account, but I never really did anything with it because I was using runningahead.com. But for what I’m doing, which is tracking my running and trying to meet runners, it’s become pretty obvious to me that I needed to get on dailymile. So, I did. I think some folks told me that word for there is “stalk” as opposed to “follow” (Twitter) or “friend” (Facebook), so come stalk me! How weird to say that! But you can find me here.

For my next step in social media correctness, I’m going to integrate WordPress into here, but not yet. I’m getting there and there are only 24 hours in a day.

That’s All For This Week!
Please, please, please — participate in the contest! It makes my day when I see your entries come across! It lets me know that I’m not alone and running myself into the ground for nothing. Beyond that, be well, eat your ice cream and pull for my Kansas State Wildcats against Xavier tonight!

What's Up With OJ Wednesday

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It’s Wednesday which means I’m having In-N-Out for lunch and I have to fly to a race (again) in three days. But it also means it’s time for What’s Up With OJ Wednesday, my weekly opportunity to use alliteration and give you a rundown of what’s going on here.

First things first, just in case this is your first time here, I’m a marathoner and a father of three. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic, so I’m doing something this year where I’m trying to run 60 marathons this year to try to raise money and awareness for a great charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, so good. 14 down. I just don’t want to say how many there are to go, because it seems like so many. OK, 46. There, I did it.

Train 4 Autism Marathons
I can’t believe these races are going to start next weekend! With the help of Charlie Alewine, we’re going to have the Train 4 Autism Marathon Series, a set of three marathons and half-marathons starting on April 3 in Huntington Beach, Calif.

I’m pretty excited about the third race in the series, because it will be my 60th of the year. But I don’t think too much ahead, because I have enough on my plate. Really, I’m barely thinking about next week, because I need to run Knoxville this week. But I can’t just remind everybody just a few days in advance, so to you Southern California maniacs, I’d love to see you out there a week from this Saturday! We’ve got a half and a full and we even have prize money.

Help Wanted!
Please help me spread the word about Operation Jack! Tell your friends about the site, invite them to become fans on Facebook and follow me on Twitter! I haven’t thrown this out there in a while, so I figured I’d throw this out there.

When It Rains, It Pours
I hadn’t gotten Operation Jack in the paper much lately, but I hadn’t pushed much lately, either. I broke out of that slump this weekend when I contacted the daily paper in Virginia Beach and got a story in Monday’s paper. Well yesterday, I had three good interviews that should help the cause. I don’t want to name the publications here (I save some of that for my personal Facebook page and I’ll wait until the stories run to go into more detail about them here).

I had a quick 15-minute interview during the day, then two for about 30 minutes each after work. I was a journalism grad in college and my first job after I graduated was working for the AP, so it’s kind of fun being on this side of things. I know to try to use complete sentences and avoid saying um too many times. I also know that I have no clue who reads this blog, but if you’re a member of the media, or if you know anybody who’s a member of the media, I’d be happy to talk to you (them)!

Guess Who Won My Weekly Contest Last Week?
Every week, I have my contest where you guess my finishing time in the form of an easy donation. So, if you’re expecting me to run a 3:11, you donate $3.11. The winner gets their pick of an Operation Jack t-shirt, sweatshirt or tech shirt. One of my loyal followers out in Florida, Jen Morgan, gave me the idea for the contest. And sure enough, she won. I thought I’d go quicker than 3:10, and when I saw her guess of 3:18 come across, I told her I hoped she lost and she told me she was just trying to put a chip on my shoulder and motivate me. Well, she had the slowest guess and I couldn’t even pull that off, going 3:20. Grrrrrr …

I’ll forecast this weekend’s race tomorrow and y’all can take another stab at it.

Silpada Anybody?
There’s a company called Silpada that makes jewelry and we’re going to have a party to benefit Operation Jack on April 30. It’s a network marketing company that sells jewelry and I don’t know a ton about it, but I know my wife likes it and I’ve bought her a few things from there. It’s not expensive diamond stuff, it’s decent and fairly inexpensive. You’ll have to forgive me for not giving a very good description, because I’m a guy, and this really isn’t my thing. Anyways, some friends of ours hosted a Silpada party last fall with a distributor who’s a friend of theirs and all of the proceeds from the party were donated to a local shelter for abused women. I talked to that distributor and she’s going to do the same thing for Operation Jack.

So if you’re on here and you’re in Orange County, keep that date in the back of your mind. That’s the Friday before the Orange County Marathon, nine days before Mother’s Day. We haven’t set a location yet, but I’ll let you know the when and where as soon as we do. It’ll be a fun little opportunity to go to a party, pick up something for yourself or your mom, snack on some finger foods and help Operation Jack in the process. If you’re not nearby but want to see their stuff, I’ll put a link up and you’ll still be able to look and participate if you want to.

Ice Cream Update
I haven’t talked about my ie cream much lately, but I’m up to 52 days in a row now eating ice cream or frozen yogurt. I had butter pecan last night and it was fantastic. Too bad I just about fell asleep with my face in the bowl. But I kept the streak alive. Just 58 more days until I tie my all-time record!

That’s All For Today!
Thanks for stopping by! I feel like I didn’t have anything to say. Maybe that’s because I’m starting to get into a rhythm and it almost feels routine. But I do appreciate your support and I’m glad you’re here. Have a great Wednesday! I’ll see you tomorrow with my weekend forecast!

Carrying The Flag

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Do you ever feel like you’re trying to make a difference, but you keep banging your head into a wall and nothing good comes of it? I have days where I could feel that way, but fortunately, I have Chris Fales to look to for inspiration. If you don’t know who Chris is, he literally carries the flag for Train 4 Autism. If you ever feel like you’re trying to make something good happen, but all your efforts might be for nothing, you can draw inspiration from Chris, too.

Chris, like me, is an autism parent and a proud member of Train 4 Autism. He runs marathons and ultramarathons carrying a big Train 4 Autism flag. I don’t know what goes through his mind, but sometimes, there must be smaller races where he wonders if it’s worth it.

As an example, there was a 50K (31 miles) on March 8, 2009 that he ran and carried the flag. The race wasn’t huge, maybe a few hundred participants max, and in a race like this, the field spreads out and you’re running by yourself for the most part. The course has miserable hills. Aside from elite trail runners, nobody can maintain a run up those hills. They have to be walked. So, he walked up those hills, carrying that flag.


Chris and the flag.

The day got hot and it was dusty and exhausting. But he finished the race, carrying the flag. Maybe his mindset is similar to mine, that it doesn’t matter if he sees immediate results — he’ll run his body into the ground if it there’s a chance it could help in the fight against autism.

Well, when Chris crossed the finish line that day, he was pretty spent. It was not an easy race. I should know — that’s where I saw him for the first time. I’m kind of shy and didn’t talk to him. I was pretty spent, too, and I wasn’t even carrying a flag! I don’t know who he talked to that day, and it’s very possible he made the long drive home thinking he didn’t reach anybody.

But I saw the flag, even though I didn’t tell him at the time. Later that week, I contacted the race director to find out who he was. She gave me his info, I dropped him a line, and the next week, I met up with Ben Fesaigaga, the founder of Train 4 Autism. I had Operation Jack in mind, but I thought I was going to have to start a charity. Train 4 Autism already existed, so all I had to do was run 60 marathons in a year! I ran the idea by Ben when I met with him, and he was on board.

From there, the rest is history. I don’t carry a flag, but if you didn’t already know, I’m trying to run 60 marathons this year to help raise awareness for Train 4 Autism. I’m doing my best to grind it out and raise awareness for Train 4 Autism. Some days, I feel like I’m running myself into the ground and getting nowhere. Other times, I see progress seemingly come from out of nowhere and I know I made a difference. But I’m not having any long-term doubts about my efforts like I have in the past. I can just look to Chris as a role model and have an increased sense of faith and confidence in what I’m doing.

If Operation Jack works, then Chris accomplished a ton for Train 4 Autism by carrying the flag in Malibu. Even if it doesn’t, there’s no telling how things will play out in the future. I know I found Train 4 Autism through Chris and I’m definitely in it for the long haul. Operation Jack is the flag I’m carrying. There’s no telling exactly how it will benefit Train 4 Autism. But even if I don’t get the feedback I’m looking for, I’ll keep pressing on. I am dedicated to the cause and I believe in Train 4 Autism. I’ll proudly keep fighting the fight in my son’s honor.

K-State Is Going To The SWEET 16! And I Went To Virginia.

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I jinxed myself on Saturday night. I’m a graduate of Kansas State University, so when Kansas lost to Northern Iowa (yeah!), I told some folks I was with at a pasta dinner that if K-State won to make it to the Sweet 16, I could run a terrible race on Sunday and it would still be a great weekend. Well, Kansas State beat BYU to make it to the Sweet 16 and I ran a terrible race on Sunday. And it was a GREAT weekend! How ’bout them Wildcats!

I’m proud of my alma mater. After big wins, we always say, “It’s a great day to be a Wildcat!” Well, it’s a great day to be a Kansas State Wildcat! Of course, every day, win or lose, is a great day to be a Wildcat. Oh, and I’m not sorry about your brackets if you picked KU. I never would have told you to do that.

OK, on to the rest of my weekend.

First Things First: The Race
I had an epic bonk in my marathon. You can read about it here and experience the misery without actually feeling the pain I got to feel! Also, there was a brief article in the Virginia Pilot about what I’m doing today.

Take United Off My List Of Preferred Airlines
My weekend got off to a rocky start with my flight out to Virginia. My flight out of Los Angeles was delayed an hour, which was a bummer for two reasons. First, I could have spent more time at home. I left at 7:30 p.m., but I could have stayed and put the kids to bed. On top of that, though, my window to switch planes in Philadelphia dropped from 1:11 to 11 minutes. So, I pretty much knew I’d be close, but wouldn’t make it.

Delayed flights happen and there’s no way I was going to make it through a year without something like that happening. But it was what happened right before my flight that really got me steamed. They were making announcements that people in Zone 4 (the last boarding zone, which I was in) would probably need to check their carry-on suitcases because the flight was full.

I was in line, and I was the first person in Zone 4 through. When they let us through, they stopped me and told me I’d have to check my bag. On Delta last month, they made me check it right before I got onto the plane, but the overheads were truly full. Here, they were clearly doing this to me because I was in Zone 4.

I could tell that they had no clue what was really going on in the plane, because there was still a line to get on. They were guessing it might be full and I was getting a bum deal. When I asked them if it was full, they said it was going to be. But the man with the two bags scooted right by when I was asking talking to the lady.

I was pretty mad, and I yelled, “You’re letting HIM on with two bags and you won’t let me take one?” So they stopped him and checked his ticket. He was in Zone 4 and they made him check one. He got pretty angry and took his bag and slammed it on the ground and started yelling. They told him they weren’t going to let him on the plane since he was irate. He eventually calmed down and checked a bag. Meanwhile, dozens of people with other bags for the overhead in Zone 4 were cruising right by. Apparently, duffel bags are OK, but a bag the same size with little tiny wheels is not.

I was concerned about checking my bag, because they had no clue what flight I would be on since I was staring at a very real possibility of a missed flight. I was actually the very last person on the plane because I was sorting things out and much to my surprise, I counted six different spots in the overheads where my bag would have fit. I asked the flight attendant why they made me check my bag, and he just gave me a shrug with a dopey smile and said, “I don’t know. I’m sorry!”

I got to Philadelphia and wanted to make sure my bag was going to make it to Virginia. I missed my flight that would have gotten me to Norfolk at 8:35 a.m. and instead got on one that got me there at 10:40 a.m., which is what I had talked about with the woman in LA. But she scheduled it on a flight to Norfolk that arrived at 12:30 p.m. and put me on a flight to Washington D.C. through Chicago. Fortunately, I got my ticket and my bag fixed.

So, thanks, United. Thanks for nothing.

Scary Sight
I was asleep on my first flight, and I heard a lady saying “Sir! Sir!” So I wake up, look in the aisle, and there’s a man in the aisle on his knees looking woozy and he’s about two feet from my face. Waking up to this was extremely bizarre, to say the least. I’ve never been trained in how to react when there’s a woozy man on his knees in the aisle of an airplane staring at you as you wake up on a red-eye flight, so I didn’t know what to do.

All of a sudden, he tipped over sideways. I caught him from my seat, and then two male flight attendants rushed over to help. So he stands up, kind of wobbly, and then passes out and falls to the ground. I asked the flight attendants if there was anything I could do to help and I got no response. They asked him if he wanted oxygen or something to drink and he said no. So they got him to sit in his seat, which apparently was the seat in front of mine. Then he went to sleep.

I sat there for a couple of minutes observing, because I’m always a little suspicious on a plane. But everything seemed OK, so I went back to sleep. Weird.


At least while I was waiting in Philly, I got to start working on this blog.

There’s my plane, pulling away from the gate … I JUST missed it! Note: It was a JET!

There’s my new plane, with PROPELLERS!

I Really Exist!
I got to meet a nice man named Dwight Kane on Saturday at the expo. He’s been following along since last summer and we’ve communicated quite a bit. It’s kind of cool traveling around the country and meeting everybody. Dwight really exists! And so do I!


One of these guys ran a terrible race on Sunday. The other guy is Dwight … he got a PR!

I met this guy at the expo, too. I told him the picture was for my kids, but I think he was on to me.

Thank You, Peterson Family!
I stayed with an old college friend and her family over the weekend. She has two adorable little girls and a really nice husband and we did some young-family things, like playing with the kids, going to a park for a walk with the dog, etc. Of course, we also watched our Kansas State Wildcats advance to the Sweet 16, something Kansas couldn’t do!

Here’s a picture from the park. You just don’t see stuff like this where I live.


The only way you see something like this where I live is if somebody posts a picture taken in Virginia.

I was going to take a picture of a turtle I saw pop out of the water, but by the time I got my camera out, it was gone. Yeah, I was too slow for a turtle. I should have taken that as a sign about my race on Sunday.

On Sunday, Jill told me her dog Boomer really wanted to be in my blog, so here he is:

They got him when her husband, an officer in the Air Force (thank you for your service, Cory!) was stationed in Oklahoma. Boomer is named after “Boomer Sooner,” the University of Oklahoma’s fight song. As a K-State grad, that’s unacceptable and I was going to out her in here. BUT, they rescued him and that was already his name. So, that’s acceptable. He’s a pretty cool dog.


There you go, Jill. I posted the photo like I promised!

Thank You, Ryan Conrad!
A runner named Ryan Conrad put together a pasta dinner on Saturday night and I got to meet quite a few runners who were interested in Operation Jack. I do so much from my computer and interact with a lot of people, but it’s nice to meet people and talk to people. I spent about 2 1/2 hours there Saturday night and willingly sacrificed watching the first half of the Kansas State Wildcats’ win over BYU to advance to the Sweet 16, so that’s a pretty good indication that it was a nice time.

Ryan gave me a really nice card that really made my weekend. It’s pretty cool to be on my side of things. It’s tough and exhausting, but it’s certainly pretty rewarding at times. I’m still looking forward to 2011 big-time, though!

Oh, and of course, I was an idiot and left my camera in the car and forgot to take pictures. So you’ll just have to believe the dinner really happened.


Me and Ryan about 15 hours after dinner.

My Daughter Is Bad Luck!
I recorded this literally on my way out the door to the airport on Friday night. Yeah, that didn’t happen.

I Feel So Disloyal!
I TOTALLY cheated on In-N-Out yesterday, eating Five Guys. And I’m not gonna lie. It was good. Good, good, good. Here’s how good it was: It was re-heated and probably an hour or so old when I ate it, and it was good, good, good.

I’m having Five Guys again next Sunday (fresh this time) in Knoxville, and I think I’m going to have In-N-Out later that night when I get home to California. I’ll definitely report back to y’all on that one.


Yeah, this was CRAZY good.

OK, That’s Enough For Today
Sorry about the blog overload today. I wonder how many of you actually made it to the bottom. If you did, then you can see that I said thank you for making it to the bottom, and have a great Monday!

Race Report: Shamrock Marathon

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I get a lot of positive feedback on Operation Jack, but I try to deflect compliments, because I have a tough time really believing that I’m worthy of them. All I’m really doing is taking advantage of a gift I’ve been given — big deal! But when I receive cards like the one I received from a runner named Ryan Conrad on Saturday night, I know I’ve made the right decision to attempt this. And I know I made the right decision to run Sunday’s Shamrock Marathon in his city, Virginia Beach.

I won’t get into too many details of his card, but he so totally believes in what I’m doing that he dedicated his race Sunday, only his second marathon, to Jack. That’s the kind of stuff that can almost make a grown man cry. I said almost, because I didn’t. And I said almost because it was almost. Nevertheless, I was pretty excited to run Virginia Beach on Sunday. I liked the course profile and I was expecting a big day.

I arrived at the start in plenty of time and was interviewed by a reporter from the daily paper in Virginia Beach for a story that’s running Monday (yeah!). After that, I headed over to the start to find Ryan. We caught up about 10 minutes before the gun and I wished him well. I went up near the 3:10 pacers, because I thought I could go somewhere around 3:07 or so.

I want to give a quick rundown on the course, because I really, really liked it. I’m seeing a lot of them, so it’s getting easier to make comparisons. This one had a little bit of everything. We ran in the city, along the boardwalk by the beach, through wooded areas, into neighborhoods, onto military bases, past lighthouses and through what I believe was some kind of nature preserve. There was a little bit of everything, the volunteers and organization seemed great and I’m really glad I ran this race. It’s one that’s going to be tough for me to get to again, just because it’s so far away, but it’s a race I’d definitely recommend.

Anyways, the race … I decided about two minutes before the race to go with a similar strategy that I had at Napa a couple of weeks ago. I was going to try for a sub-3 again (6:52 pace), but instead of waiting six miles to back off if it wasn’t there, I was only giving myself two miles this time and then I’d immediately drop into running between a 7:05 and 7:10 pace. The first two miles were pretty good and I was holding up, but I wasn’t feeling it and I backed off a bit. I just had a feeling I was better off easing up a bit.

Unlike Napa, where I waited until mile six before falling apart and struggling to find any kind of rhythm, I got into a pretty good groove and started ticking off miles the way I wanted to. I don’t specifically remember my times, but I was watching and I really thought I was in line for somewhere in between a 3:05 and 3:10. Probably in that 3:08 range, depending on how well I kicked.

I felt fairly strong, although not too fast, but I was comfortable with my strength and consistency. I had no cause for alarm. I got a nice little boost at about mile 12. I was just moving along, running my race, when a runner named Shawn came up next to me out of nowhere. Apparently, he had sprinted up from the 3:10 group just to chat with me for a minute. He told me he followed my blog online and was really excited about what I’m doing. I don’t think words can really explain how cool it is to hear something like that! It didn’t almost make me cry, but it was pretty cool! I’m not the greatest talker during a race, but I basically told him thanks and told him to drop me a line.

That gave me a huge boost. Somebody I didn’t even know and wasn’t expecting to see sought me out and had nice things to say! I was on cloud nine! And then about four miles later, I crashed down to earth.

On Saturday, I caught a red-eye out to Virginia and didn’t make time for breakfast or lunch. Mile 16 is where I ran out of gas on Sunday. I had been running consistently in the 7:10 range, and I dropped off instantly to slower than an 8:00/mile pace. I was actually pretty close to 8:30 or so. My 3:08 disappeared in a hurry. So did 3:10. I was hoping I could pull it together for a 3:15 and still get another Boston qualifier, but I had nothing. It started getting warm (it had to have been in the 70s when I finished) and I actually started feeling faint. I knew this was an epic bonk, and I wasn’t liking it. Lesson learned — my body needs food!

I started slipping towards a 3:18 or 3:19, and tried as hard as I could to stay under 3:20. I knew I was going to be tight and it all depended on how well I had run the tangents. The mile markers seemed a tiny bit inconsistent to me, so I wasn’t sure how far I really had to go. We made the final turn onto the boardwalk and I could see the finish line up ahead. I didn’t know how far it was, but it was roughly half a mile and I was at 3:17.

I powered with everything I had, but I was cramping in both of my calves. I NEVER cramp during races, so this was a first. I altered my stride a little bit to be careful, and I did all I could, but it wasn’t enough. I went 3:20:23. Definitely a disappointing day. I gave it all I had, but I didn’t have enough and I can blame myself for that.

Ryan finished two minutes behind me, an 18-minute PR! It was good to see him at the finish and we hung out for a bit. I struggled to get on track physically. I was thisclose to going to the med tent because I felt pretty faint. I tried and failed to eat a banana, but a bag of pretzels did the trick and I got my bearings back after about 20 minutes.


Me and Ryan after the race. He had an 18-minute PR in a race he dedicated to Jack! YEAH!

All-in-all, it was a beautiful course and a nice race. I just blew it with my nutrition on Saturday. I wasn’t particularly well-rested, but I’m getting used to that and I don’t think that was a factor. The Los Angeles Marathon was also on Sunday, and I committed to Virginia Beach before LA locked in its date, but I’m definitely glad it worked out this way. I met some good people and I think Operation Jack and Train 4 Autism are better off with me hitting this one.

14 down, 46 to go!