Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Weekend Preview: Race #14, Shamrock Marathon (Virginia Beach)

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I’d like to give a good assessment of how I think I’ll run in the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach, Va. this Sunday, but truth be told, I have absolutely no clue. The course looks great, but I don’t have much of an idea where I stand physically, and I’m taking exhaustion to a new level this weekend.

Standard Intro
Just in case you’re new to the site, my name is Sam and I’m a marathon runner and a father of three young children. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. To take advantage of some physical gifts I’ve been given, and to try to make a purpose out the struggles Jack goes through, I’m attempting to run 60 marathons in 2010 to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m on target. I’ve completed 13 marathons. Only 47 to go!

The Contest
Before I get into details on the race, I want y’all to know about a new weekly contest I started this month based on a great suggestion from loyal Operation Jack supporter Jen Morgan. Guess my time in my race and you win your choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt.

Now, you know I’m trying to raise money, so there’s a catch to it (a small, painless catch). To guess my time, you have to make a donation. But it’s a really small donation, because I run these marathons at a fairly good pace. If you think I’m going to run a 3:10, donate $3.10. If you think I’m going to run a 3:12, donate $3.12. I don’t think you can even buy a large coffee at Starbucks. So, it’s cheap, it’s easy and if you believe in what I’m trying to do, you’d enter just because it gives me a nice psychological boost when I see the donations come across. It’s how I know I’m not alone!

Anyways, last week’s winner was Jamie Fellrath. He guessed I’d run a 3:48, and that’s exactly what I did. So, an Operation Jack tech shirt is heading his direction. Please, play along this week! Oh, for the record, the winner is the person who comes the closest without going under (this isn’t The Price Is Right — underbidding is the disqualifier!). In the case of a tie, I’ll draw a winner at random. To help, though, I’ll give you some analysis of the race. With that being said, …

Analysis Of The Race
Looking at the course map, it’s a dream. It’s absolutely a PR course. The elevation varies between 20 feet above sea level and 40 feet above sea level. That’s about as flat as it gets. There are three little bumps on the course, which I’m guessing are overpasses. That’s as perfect as you can get.

The weather forecast, as of last night, was a high of 67, low of 52, which means it will probably be in the mid- to high-50s during the race. That’s not perfect, but it’s pretty darn close to perfect. BUT, there’s a 40 percent chance of scattered thunderstorms. The math says that’s a 60 percent chance of no thunderstorms, but that’s something I’ll certainly be keeping my eye on over the next few days.

I’ve run in the rain, and that doesn’t bother me. Wind is a hassle, and it’s possible since the course is right there along the coast. All-in-all, I have a lot of favorable factors going into this race.

But there are some potential pitfalls. First, I haven’t run much this week. Last Saturday’s Catalina Marathon really tore up my quads and I’ve been in pain ever since. My only run since then was 6.5 miles on hills with six hill sprints this morning. It was OK, but I’m still a tiny bit sore. I think I’ll feel pretty good by Sunday, but I’m not where I’ve normally been five days after a marathon this year. Also, I’m taking my first red-eye flight of Operation Jack, so I’m sure I’ll be a little tired. Aside from not getting any sleep other than on the plane Friday night, my West Coast body will be running on East Coast time.

I’m going to head out trying to run miles in the 7:05 range, targeting a 3:05 or so. If I’m feeling great, I’ll push it a bit. If I struggle, I’ll do what I can to hold on for dear life. I’m not trying to win anything, but if it was (and I hope you are), I’d make a donation of $3.11. That’s my guess. Now you make yours!

Video Of The Day Week Month!
Jack does little things here and there and he likes to draw on his Magna Doodle toy. But last night, while I was hanging out in the playroom, he drew a little picture on a whiteboard toy and then erased it before I could get a picture. But I got the video camera on my phone ready just in case he did it again. And he did! Afterwards, I tried to get his attention so he would say hi, and he kind of did that, too!

Now, I have to warn you. This video is deceiving. He almost looks normal, but that’s far from the case. He struggles with tasks all day and he doesn’t spontaneously use language. You’ll notice that I had to call his name three times, then nudge his chin to get him to look at me before saying “haaaaaaa”. But his drawing shows us that he’s observant and there’s some thought going on inside that head of his.

We’re really excited about this. This is huge, huge progress for Jack!

That’s All For Today, Everybody!
Have a great weekend! And don’t forget to enter the contest! I’ll have a race report up at some point on Sunday.

What's Up With OJ Wednesday

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It’s Wednesday, which means I have a great opportunity to re-use my headline. Each Wednesday, I’ll take the opportunity to run down a few miscellaneous items impacting Operation Jack. I’ve got some geek talk, clothing talk and food talk. Welcome to my boring little world.

Running Update
I’ve been battling to get over sore quads since Saturday’s race, anxious to see if I’m stronger after battling those ridiculous hills. Sunday was a scheduled rest day, Monday was a turn-back day and yesterday was a forced rest day because I was still in too much pain. For those of you who think I’m not human, I swear — I really am!

I got up to run this morning, but Jack had been getting up since 3 a.m., and during the 10 minutes I was getting ready, he had gotten up three times. So I stayed back to help with him and let Tiff sleep. Maybe I’ll try to run tonight. But I still haven’t run since Catalina, which makes me a little nervous.

Congrats To Contest Winner Jamie Fellrath!
One of my new features here is a weekly contest to guess my time. Make a guess in the form of a donation (if you think I’m going to run a 3:12, donate $3.12, etc.) and the winner gets their choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt. Jamie made a $3.48 donation and I went 3:48:39. Lucky for him, I really turned it on in the final mile and chased down two people I saw ahead of me.

The first guy I picked off finished 22 seconds behind me (gun time) and I would have run a 3:49:01 if I had finished at the same time as him. Somebody else guessed I’d run a 3:49, so Jamie owes me when I meet him in Cleveland! He’d better be wearing his gear!

Incidentally, I’m kind of a numbers geek. Well, there’s no kind of to it. I was the star of the math team in junior high. But anyways, I was bummed when I checked the results. I finished 26th overall. If one more person would have finished ahead of me, it would have been the third time this year I’d finished 27th overall! 3x3x3 = 27 so it would have been 3 x (3x3x3)!

OK, I’m done geeking out.

Actually, I’m Not Done Geeking Out
It took about two lines of code, but I made a switch yesterday and if you notice, we’re at operationjack.org now, not operationjack.com. I think that since we’re a cause, we’re better off living at .org. Any page you attempt to hit at .com will automatically go to that page at .org now. Good idea? Bad idea? I think it was a good idea, and my vote carries the most weight, but you can still let me know what you think.

OK, I’m really done geeking out now.

OJ Gear Isn’t Just For Contest Winners!
I’d love to outfit you in one of our t-shirts, tech shirts or sweatshirts! For more info, check out our donation levels on our Sponsors page. You can also earn it chasing a 10×10. Is it tacky if I beg for help like this?

Attention Orange County Runners!
On May 1, the night before the Orange County Marathon, we’re going to have a pasta dinner. It’s going to be fairly inexpensive and the focus will be on Train 4 Autism. Our leaders will be there to talk about the charity and it should be a wonderful evening. We’re still finalizing the exact time and location, but I’ll definitely be announcing that when it’s set and it’s definitely going to be on May 1 in South Orange County. If you can, keep your calendar clear, because I’d love to see you there!

Attention Virginia Beach Runners!
Huge thanks to Ryan Conrad, who put together a pasta dinner for this Saturday in Virginia Beach. If you’re going to be in Virginia Beach, I’d love to see you there. Here are the details. Gotta eat, right?

2010 = 60. But What About 2011?
I touched on this a tiny bit yesterday, but I’m kind of starting to think about 2011 in the back of my mind (way, way, way in the back). I’m not going to do this 60 marathon thing again. But we’re gaining momentum and I’m suspecting we’ll have a pretty good group by the end of the year and I don’t want to just throw it all away. Those of you who follow me believe in helping others, and I’m hoping we can figure out a good way to do keep doing good things next year.

I’ll probably post something like this at least once a month the rest of the year. If you have any ideas for next year, send them my way. In the meantime, I’ll be scratching my head to come up with something.

Ice Cream Update
I haven’t touched on my ice cream streak lately, but I had a vanilla/chocolate frozen yogurt swirl yesterday, running my streak of consecutive days eating ice cream or frozen yogurt to 45 days. I’ve got about two months until I set a new all-time record. I think my best was 110 days last year, but it’s going to be tough to reach that. It can be a lot more difficult than you’d think to get ice cream when I’m on the road, which is every week.

That’s All For Today
I hope you enjoy your lunch as much as I am. I’m having that traditional Irish meal, In-N-Out. Tiff’s cooking something a little more American tonight, corned beef and cabbage.

I Crack Jokes, But It's Not Always Fun And Games

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I was prepared to write about keeping focused during the ups and downs of a long, difficult mission, and I had a perfect example to talk about. But Jack’s struggling right now, and I’m too distracted to write about anything other than him. Poor little dude is having a really rough go right now.

First a real quick introduction in case you’re not aware of who me and Jack are and what we’re doing. Jack is my 6 1/2 year old son and he’s severely autistic. I’m a runner and I’m planning on running 60 marathons this year to help raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism, a wonderful charity I’m a part of and that I believe in.

That being said, for the past couple of weeks, Jack’s been in a lot of pain. It seems like it’s been his stomach, but it’s tough to tell, because his verbal communication is very, very limited. On top of that, when he gets frustrated or upset, he punches himself in the head, which leads to headaches. It’s a vicious cycle, which has led to long days filled with meltdowns, plus long nights in which he’s been waking up crying.

For the past couple of years, we’ve suspected that Jack has various internal/digestive problems. We’ve gone to several specialists to try to get an answer, but we haven’t gotten reasonable conclusions from anybody. In the midst of these problems recently, we went to his pediatrician to try to find answers and she sent us for some x-rays of his body. That procedure was Friday morning.

On Friday night, while Tiff and I were eating dinner in Catalina, we got a call from the pediatrician, who let us know why he was in so much pain. He’s very badly constipated (like VERY badly), which is causing the pain. We have about week’s worth of things to do to help him through this, and it’s going to be a very difficult, trying process. Tiff was pretty upset, but it was pretty easy for me to see the positive side to this. First, at least we knew what was causing the pain. And even better, we knew it was nothing permanent. He’ll be through this in a week.

We started with the milk of magnesia and some laxatives, plus some adjustments to his diet, and he’s getting better, but he was laying on the ground crying tremendous pain last night. It was so upsetting to see him like that. As I watched Benjamin and Ava playing together and having fun, I was just thinking, “What did Jack do to deserve this existence?” He doesn’t get to play much, he’s in school and/or therapy seven days a week, he gets upset because he can’t fully communicate, and he’s frequently in pain. What kind of life is my little guy living? How truly happy or upset is he?

I was looking at him as he was struggling last night. He’s not the only disabled child I know and I feel so bad for kids who don’t get a fair shake. It made me start thinking about next year. I’m not doing this 60-marathon thing again. But if I have enough people rallying together to make a difference, I’m kind of starting to wonder what I want to do, because I know I’ll want to keep the momentum rolling. I want to do something and help somebody if I can. Maybe it’ll be a pretty heavy effort (just not every weekend away) to continue to help Train 4 Autism grow.

Or maybe Train 4 Autism will be fulling rolling the way I hope and I can also help towards another great cause. There are plenty of bad things in this world and I know I’ll be fighting something.

Anyways, that’s what was on my mind last night when I started to write. I had something in mind that I was going to write, but I really couldn’t focus because I was too upset about Jack. And as I looked at him, and saw a sweet, innocent little boy suffer, it made me realize how happy I am now that I’m using my running to help kids who need help. I’ve thought about next year and talked a tiny bit about next year in very broad, vague terms to some people, but I guess I’ll just throw it out there in writing that I’m going to continue to try to capitalize on whatever I can build this year to help out next year.

So, that’s all I have for today. Sometimes the purpose of this blog is for you to live vicariously through the ding-dong who’s running 60 marathons. Well, that’s what’s on my mind today. And my quads still hurt from Saturday. I took a rest day again today.

Have a great Tuesday everybody! Wear your green tomorrow!

Weekend Recap: A Vacation And Time At Home In One Weekend!

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I was expecting a great weekend, and it was exactly as planned. In the span of about two days, I had a nice, 24-hour vacation with my wife, a great marathon and a day off with plenty of time with the kids and my relatives. What more could I ask for?

First things first, the reason I’m here and blogging is Operation Jack, my attempt to run 60 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism. This weekend was marathon No. 13 so far this year, the Catalina Marathon. The scenery was amazing and I was pretty happy with how I ran. You can read my recap here and see a pretty sweet photo of me wearing a medal with a pink ribbon that I won for taking third in my age group. My first pink medal. Probably my last.

Stuck On An Island Without The Kids!
Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids. But since this weekend’s race was on Catalina, an island 26 miles off the coast of Southern California, I dragged Tiff along with me and we had a nice little getaway. We got to eat our meals while they were warm and have grown-up conversations! It was awesome! I just had to run 26.2 miles up and down mountains to hold up my end of the bargain. One of the best parts is that we were still home by 6 p.m. Saturday night, so I also had plenty of extra time to spend with the kids.


Just before getting on the boat back from Catalina. What’s she doing with that guy?

Not The Greatest Hotel Experience
One condition I had when I booked my hotel was that I needed to check out no earlier than noon. A lot of hotels had an 11 a.m. checkout time, but with the race starting at 7, and my expected finish time somewhere in the 3:45 neighborhood, I needed it to be at least noon.

I checked with at least a dozen places and had a few that were OK with noon. I ended up going with a place called Hotel Macrae based on cost, although it was only a $6 difference over two other hotels — nothing significant. They told me their checkout time was 11 a.m., but late checkout at noon wouldn’t be a problem. They also told me they’d hold our luggage for us while we waited for our boat back.

Much to my displeasure when I checked in (after I had paid), they told me noon would be a problem and I’d have to be out by 11. They wouldn’t even let me stretch it until 11:30, although they told me they had a room I could use to shower and change in after the race.

The race started late due to a boat docking problem, so we were a few minutes late getting out. They weren’t very pleased, so I guess the feeling was mutual. I came to find out the “room” I was supposed to shower in was a public restroom on the hotel grounds. Not awesome.

I was going to ask about the luggage, but I saw an open space with cubby holes and somebody being directed to leave their bags there. I also saw a sign that said something like, “At your own risk, hotel not responsible for stolen belongings.” So yeah, we dragged our bags around Catalina for 3 1/2 hours. Again, not awesome.

As for the room, it was small and old. Nothing special. Not even a phone. Maybe we didn’t have the best room, because apparently, the one next to ours was the honeymoon suite. Definitely not awesome.

Sunday — Off!
No work, no travel, no running on Sunday. I truly had the day off. I haven’t had one of those in I-don’t-know-how-long. Even with the time change, I got eight hours of sleep. I went to church with the family and got my favorite donuts (maple old-fashioned). I went to Home Depot and then Advanced Hyperbarics with Jack.

I went to a family function celebrating my Uncle Marty’s 50th birthday and got to see a bunch of relatives, which was nice. I played soccer with Benjamin and Ava in the backyard, then ate dinner with them. I gave Ava a bath, worked on her with her reading then lost to her at Candyland. I got a chance to lick a bowl when my wife made some banana nut bread. I had some peanut butter fudge swirl ice cream, stretching my streak to 43 days in a row now.

In other words, I had a perfect Sunday. Or, maybe I just had a normal Sunday and I’m not used to this. How long until 2011? I could do this every week!


I took a picture of Jack when we were at Home Depot just to document our trip. But he stuck his tongue out at the perfect moment, which made the picture take a whole new twist.

We played some game that Benjamin made up and Ava actually won. I’m not an athlete. I just go left-foot, right-foot, repeat. I’m a one-trick pony.

I’m Human! I Really Am!
I get a lot of comments like, “I don’t know how you do it” and “I don’t know how you’re still walking around” and all that kind of fun stuff. Well, I’m really just a guy, and for those of you who think I’m superhuman, I’d like you to know that my quads were KILLING ME yesterday! It hurt to walk downstairs, it hurt to get up when I was sitting down … I was pretty beat up.

This morning, I tried to run, but it hurt too much so I quit after 3/10 of a mile. I didn’t want to overcompensate for quad pain and injure something else with an altered stride. I know nobody wants me to feel pain, but I am human! Be glad to know I’m just like you!

A Restaurant We Just Couldn’t Pass Up
We saw a place called “Jack’s Country Kitchen” and there was no way we could go without eating there. So, we went there to eat after the race on Sunday.


I’m sure we looked like tourists taking this picture. Sitting without our suitcases right by our table probably clued people in, too.

The meal was great, and really, I only wrote that because I’m dying to post these pictures I put up on Facebook and Twitter on Saturday.


Before.

After.

OK, That’s All For Today
I write these the night before and I’m pretty tired right now (Sunday night). So, I’m calling it quits for now. I’m pretty sure I know who won the contest to pick my race time, but I’ll confirm that Monday, notify that person and put it in the blog on Wednesday.

Have a great Monday, everybody!

Race Report: Catalina Marathon

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I’m a superstitious guy, especially with the number 13. I might never have that fear again though, with the way my 13th Operation Jack marathon of the year went Saturday in Catalina.

Before the start of the race, I met up with two Operation Jacksters, Jake Rome and Ally Phillips. They were both sporting their Operation Jack tech shirts and it was great to see them. They’ve both been really supportive of what I’m doing and it was awesome to see them sporting the logo!

The race started and we got rolling and my gameplan was to keep it fairly conservative, pushing hard but not killing myself on the hills. I knew they were coming immediately, with a good 1,000 feet of climbing within the first 2 1/2 miles or so. Pace didn’t matter. I knew that if I kept it under control, my time would take care of itself. But I couldn’t truly worry about my splits.

On the hills, walking is typical. For somebody with my ability, and really for anybody this side of Superman, it’s really not possible to run the entire way up. So on the big uphills, my strategy was to run until my heart rate reached 174, then power walk until it dropped to 165, then repeat. I’ve run two trail ultras before and it’s easy to start walking, but it takes some willpower to start running again. I put the willpower in the hands of my heart-rate monitor.

On the downhills, my goal was to run as fast as I could without falling. It’s tricky footing to go down a very steep dirt path covered with small rocks and pebbles when you’re used to fairly smooth roads. But if you’re going to lose time on the uphills, you still need to make it up on the downhills.

That all being said, I kept in under control early, getting my legs rolling but not really attacking. I took that first bit easy as we headed into the climb, then stayed true to my heart-rate strategy. I was pleasantly surprised with how I hit that first hill, although I didn’t get down the first descent as well as I would have liked.

The scenery for the course as amazing. Catalina is an island 26 miles off the coast of Southern California. There’s nothing but plush green hills and canyons and undeveloped land. It’s essentially the way it was created. The climbs weren’t much fun, but the simultaneous views of the canyons, hills and ocean made it worth the effort.

I struggled to find a rhythm early, battling the uphills and downhills and trying to find a groove. I was hoping to run about a 3:40 to 3:45 and definitely below a 4:00, but those were just guesses for my ability based on what I’d heard from other runners on the course. I knew that to do that, I needed my average pace to be considerably below 9:00/mile, but my average pace was hovering around 9:10. I didn’t worry, though. I knew that all I could do was do my best to run as well as I could and my time would be whatever it was.

Just to reiterate, though, the views were amazing. I’ve now run 41 marathons and two ultras and this one was absolutely the most scenic course I’ve been on.

Moving along, though, from about 6 to 10, I was physically struggling a bit. The trails aren’t really my thing and I’m not that fresh. I was passing people, but I was also getting passed by quite a few. Finally, at about mile 11, I passed a woman, who then passed me back a minute or two later. I told her, “leapfrog!” as a joke, and she laughed. I passed her back and told her, “you’re it!” and she laughed at my second bad joke in as many minutes.

A few minutes later, I could hear a spectator tell her she was the third-place woman. By the time we were at 12, I heard her footsteps getting pretty loud and I found a gear and started pushing, trying to pull her along. But she didn’t have it. From there, it was a long, gradual uphill climb. We went up 1,000 feet over the next eight miles with only one tough stretch of about 1/2 mile. around 17 1/2. I hit the half in 1:59, not sure if I’d get sub-4.

But on that gradual uphill, it seemed like I was consistently turning miles in the low 8s. I felt like I was in a zone and I was getting stronger. From the time I pulled away from that third-place woman, not a single person passed me the rest of the race that I didn’t eventually pass back. My confidence really started to grow with the way I was picking people off, because I knew I was running a good race.

I have to give a quick shout-out to the mile 18 marker. I’ve never seen such an amazing view during a race in my life than from there. Green mountains everywhere, and an incredible view of the ocean. My body was pretty beat up, but it was worth it. I felt pretty blessed to have the ability to enjoy that.

So moving along, I knew there was a big downhill finish, but I didn’t remember where. We had rolling hills throughout the early 20s, and longer they continued, the more antsy I became. We were still hanging out at 1,500 feet and I knew we were headed for sea level. When we were still up there at 22, I knew it was going to be a crazy-steep drop. And sure enough, it was. The course got a little rocky (literally — rocks) and I was being as careful with my footing as possible. I wanted to make up some time, but not at the expense of a sprained ankle or a bloody tumble.

By about 24, we were onto pavement! THAT is my playground! And it was downhill, so I started flying. I got rolling, then really turned it on the last mile. I passed a guy who was moving pretty well and was just locked in. I averaged a 6:19 pace for the last mile, which is pretty good for me for mile 26 of a marathon. It felt good to move.

I finished at 3:48:42 and saw my beautiful wife there at finish line! It wasn’t a surprise, because we headed over to Catalina together the day before, but it sure was nice to see my biggest fan for the first time for an Operation Jack race!

I ended up taking third place in my age group. When I enter, I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to enter the Buffalo (200+ pounds) division or just run with the skinny kids, but I chose the skinny kids. I would have won the Buffalo division by 42 minutes, but I think I’m happier with the third place. For my prize, I earned a medal with a pink ribbon. I guess there’s a first time for everything.

We saw Ally finish a little later. She did pretty well considering her recent times and the difficulty of the course. Jake did OK, although he seems to really enjoy the run and the Catalina experience more than just going for a time. His brother went something like 3:35 to take second in his age group.

All-in-all, a great day on a great course. 13 down, 47 to go!


Me and Tiff at the finish.

Me and Ally at the finish.

Me and Jake. I totally messed up and forgot to take a picture with him, so I’m glad Tiff snapped this. There I am with my sweet pink ribbon.