Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

I Have Inspiration For This Weekend. Unfortunately, It's Not Jack.

by 9 Comments

I’ve been emailing since I got my first Prodigy Classic account back in 1991. In that time, I’d estimate I’ve received more than 500,000 emails. However, none of them have been as devastating as the one my wife received from my 8-year-old son Benjamin’s third-grade teacher Tuesday night.

In that email, we learned the father of one of the children in his class died suddenly that morning. I don’t know all of the parents in his class. In fact, I barely know any of them. But I knew him. His daughter (my son’s classmate) is one of the sweetest little girls I’ve ever met. I don’t even know the words to describe how I upset I am for her loss.

My wife Tiffany met him at a class field trip to the zoo last June (the girl was in Ben’s class last year, too). Tiff came back and told me what a crack-up he was. During that field trip, Tiff was having a lot of fun with the kids, and didn’t exactly get her group to complete the assigned project. When the teacher asked her if the kids were done, he stepped in and stalled time a little bit, preventing Tiff from getting busted by a second-grade teacher at the ripe old age of 33. When I heard this, I knew I had to meet him!

I met him shortly thereafter and the end-of-year parents vs. students softball game. We really clicked and had a blast talking to each other during the game for about an hour. He was hilarious, and kind of a big kid like me. I saw him again during the summer at Benjamin’s birthday party and again at church a few times. He was a fun guy and I can tell he was a good dad by how sweet his daughter is.

He really seemed to like my Operation Jack idea of running 60 marathons this year to help out Train 4 Autism. Tiff saw him at the gas station once in the fall and he took a bunch of flyers to distribute. At back-to-school night, he was teasing me in front of the parents, asking me if I was running 30 marathons this year. No, 60 actually, thanks for making me look like I’m bragging!

Every time I saw him, I asked for permission for Benjamin to marry his daughter. Joking, of course, because they’re only 8, but the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and you can already tell what a great little girl she is. We crossed paths while we were waiting for parent-teacher conferences in November. As always, we had a great time talking, and my son’s teacher had to separate us so I could go in for the conference and let her stay on schedule. I got busted by a third-grade teacher at the ripe old age of 34! I don’t think I saw him again after that day.

I was completely shocked when I found that out on Tuesday night. I mean, him? I was in the denial phase, wondering if she had another dad. My wife couldn’t sleep after hearing that and went down on the computer. She sent me a picture she took of him with his daughter on that trip to the zoo. I just stared at it, crying, feeling so terrible for both of them. There’s more members of the family, but I’m just vaguely talking about them. Anyways, I felt like I needed to run, but I didn’t know how I was going to do it.

I got up, opened up the front door and saw it was raining. I knew God was crying too, so I didn’t run. I knew I needed to take the day off. I went to work, but could hardly think. I was in a funk all day.

We told Benjamin about it before he went to school, because we didn’t want him to find out about it and get upset in front of all his friends. He had met him several times and was shocked. It was tough telling Benjamin and he was startled, but didn’t have a major reaction. He seemed a little bit upset, and we told him not to talk about it with other kids out of respect for his classmate. He didn’t, and even told kids to stop talking about it when he heard gossiping on the playground. A little later in the day, he broke down crying in class. In a way, I was proud to hear that, because it’s nice to know your kid has a big heart.

I’ve been praying a lot for the family. I’m totally heartbroken by this and somehow, someday, I want to help them in any way possible. I feel absolutely terrible about this. But right now is not the time.

I’m continuing with my next marathon of Operation Jack this Sunday, the Arizona Rock ‘N Roll Marathon in Phoenix. He liked what I was doing and I know he’ll be watching. I hate to sound so cheesy and say that I’m going to win one for the Gipper, but he’s going to be on my mind and I’m going all-out to make him proud. It’s my one chance to do that, and he’s going to get my all.

I Knew This Was Coming …

by 24 Comments

Operation Jack is a double-edged sword for me. Ask anybody who really knows me and they’ll confirm I’m a shy person. But I need to get as much attention as possible to benefit the cause. I shy away from compliments and I really get upset about criticism. This is going to be a tough year from me. I’ve been expecting negative feedback. I just didn’t know what it would be. And I didn’t think it would come this soon.

On Monday, the Orange County Register posted a video about Operation Jack. I was excited and I posted it on my Facebook wall for everybody to see. (Side note: Check out the article that’s running in the Register on the front page today!) Anyways, a friend of mine re-posted the video on his wall, and then somebody posted the following comment:

I wonder what positive experiences could have happened with Jack in 2010…. when his Dad could have worked hand in hand with his Autistic son instead of all of the hours running the marathons. Sixty is off the wall!

I don’t know if a lot of people share these thoughts, so I figured I’d address this.

There’s no question that this is going to be a difficult endeavor. That’s the nature of the beast and that’s why so many people are jumping on the bandwagon, wanting to join me to make a difference. But I’m not taking extended vacations. My trips are going to be as quick as possible.

I’ll be gone for about 26 hours this weekend when I run in Phoenix. When I go to Miami later this month, I’m leaving on a Saturday and coming back on a Sunday. Next weekend, I’m running a double locally and I’ll be home by lunch time both days. I’m sure there are golfing dads who will spend less time at home next weekend.

I drive Jack to school Monday through Friday. I always work with him on his language when I drop him off. My weeknights are the same with him as they were last year. His weekend routine won’t change at all.

Over the course of the year, there are a few times the family will come along and some races where I’ll get to stay home. I’m estimating I won’t be staying with my family about 35 nights this year. If you do the math, that’s about 3 nights a month. I’m guessing there are plenty of businessmen with autistic children who spend more nights out of town for work. At my last job I spent about 20 nights a year on the road. The 60-marathons thing sounds crazy, but it’s not like I’m taking week-long trips to each city, spending a year on vacation. These are quick trips and I won’t be away from my family any more than necessary.

There are several factors working together to help Jack develop. He’s in special ed at school, he has in-home therapy, we have him on the diet he needs and our home is set up to provide an environment that fosters progress. There’s no question Operation Jack will be difficult for us. But there is no way I would do something that would set my kids back. We’re taking steps to make this positive and memorable for our other two children.

And another big thing in all of this: I met a man named Mark Westaway in August at a resource fair. Mark owns a business called Advanced Hyperbarics and to support what I’m doing, he offered me and Jack complimentary sessions in his hyperbaric chambers. The sessions help me with my recovery from my runs, and that’s great. But the biggest benefit of the sessions is that over time, they help bring out language from Jack. We’ve been going for several months now, and we’re really starting to see progress. We have a session tonight and again on Saturday morning before I go to the airport.

Sessions at the hyperbaric chamber were always the first thing on our “win the lottery” list. We’re on a crazy-tight budget. We can’t even afford lottery tickets. Yet we won the lottery! During my double over the weekend, at mile 15 of the second marathon my legs were starting to get heavy and I wasn’t enjoying the pain. But I was thinking about Jack and what he goes through. And I knew that Tiff was taking him up for a session later that day. As his father, it made me happy to feel that pain and know that my reward for that was the session for Jack.

We’re hoping that wonderful things happen with Operation Jack. We’re doing great, and I’m really optimistic that we’re going to plant seeds that help develop major long-term growth for Train 4 Autism. That’s what I’m focused on. But if nothing else, Jack gets the benefit of the hyperbaric chamber sessions. I’ll gladly run my legs into the ground for that.

I wonder what positive experiences could have happened with Jack in 2010…. when his Dad could have worked hand in hand with his Autistic son instead of all of the hours running the marathons. Sixty is off the wall!

Jack will be just fine. He’ll actually be better off. Nobody cares about my family as much as my wife and I and nobody means more to us than our kids. Please don’t worry about how Operation Jack will impact our family. We stick together and we’re going to be fine.

Weekend Recap: I Stayed Busy

by 14 Comments

A lot of you might never run a marathon. And I think it’s pretty safe to say a lot of you might never run two freezing marathons in two states in two days, two time zones away from home and still be on time to work the next morning. I figured I’d journal my weekend as my blog for today, so you can see what it’s like to do what I did. I don’t know if you’ll get exhausted reading this, but I got exhausted doing this.

Thursday night:
• I played Benjamin (he’s 8) at chess and beat him. He’s getting better, but I had to put the hammer down. Competition will make him better.
• Ava colored a picture for me for my trip using lots of purple. She knows that’s my favorite color (go K-State!). I brought it with me, of course.
• By the time I was done packing, cutting my hair, playing with the kids and shaving, it was 10:45. That didn’t stop me from relaxing with a bowl of ice cream, though. I’m hardcore like that.

Friday morning:
• I got up at 4 a.m. so I could be out of the house by 4:30. I wrote my daily note for my wife, but then I played around on the computer too much and left at 5. I’m good at running late.
• Talked to the wife and kids before the flight. They had an easy morning and got donuts. NICE. Better than the whole wheat bagel and graham crackers I had.
• First leg of the flight was uneventful, except for the really big dude next to me who invaded my space with his arms and elbows, keeping me from sleeping. Oh well.

Friday afternoon:
• Free wifi in the Houston airport! YEAH! Time flies when you’re connected. I had two peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread. Better than getting a $9 five-dollar footlong at the Subway in the airport.
• Here’s a sign your flight is quick: They take drink orders and give you peanuts before the cabin doors are closed. 49 minutes, no time to waste!
• I had a choice of three rental cars in Jackson and I went with a Kia, because one of my best friends works for them. It was called a Forte. I was pleasantly surprised.
• I went straight to the expo and spent a couple of hours next to a friend of mine, Dane Rauschenberg, who was selling his book. He ran 52 marathons in 2006, so we’re going to talk a lot this year. I talked to folks walking by about Operation Jack and handed out flyers. Throw enough darts and some will hit the board, right?
• After the expo, I headed straight over to a pasta dinner at an Italian restaurant. Nice time with nice people.
• Finally got to where I was going, settled in and chatted for a little bit with the people I was staying with. Oh, and they picked me up some ice cream, which I politely ate. Am I that obvious? I set my stuff out for the morning and went to sleep a little before 11, knowing I had to wake up at 4:40 a.m. (2:40 a.m. body time).

Saturday morning:
• Woke up on five-plus hours of sleep, ate my pre-race meal while writing my wife a note, then got ready for the race. I was late getting out of the house, because I spent an extra 15 minutes looking for a hunting contraption one of my hosts gave me that would keep my head, face and ears warm. I’m good at running late.
• Is it a bad sign when you squint through the ice on your windshield on the way to your marathon and you see a bank marquee indicating a temperature of 18 degrees? I think it’s a bad sign when you’re de-icing that windshield and you see snow flurries.
• I ran the Mississippi Blues Marathon in 3:18. I can sum the race up in one word: COLD.
• In 15 minutes in the WARM finishers tent, I knocked out two pieces of pizza, three sections of turkey sandwiches, two gatorades and about five cookies. I like to eat.

Saturday afternoon:
• Got lost on the way back to where I was staying, but the scenic route was nice. When I got in I did a little bit of work, took a HOT shower, packed, had some chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate then hit the road in a hurry. Had to get to Mobile. Picked up Dane because we were riding together.
• Stopped off at Taco Bell about an hour into the drive (I like to eat). Their chicken burritos might be the best 99-cent creation ever. While there, I ran into a couple of grads of my alma mater I’d never met who knew a running friend of mine and Dane’s. We sang “It’s A Small World” together. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.
• Does it get any better than hearing Iesha by Another Bad Creation on satellite radio on a road trip? Yeah, it does. We heard Song of the South by Alabama while driving to Alabama. Awesome.
• Checked into my hotel and went to take an ice bath (indoors, although I probably could have just sat in the pool outside if it wasn’t heated). My feet were stinging so it took four tries. Mission accomplished, though, just in time for the pasta dinner.

Saturday evening:
• Went to the expo to get my bib, then over to the pasta dinner. It was 4 degrees with wind chill. It never gets like that in Southern California. Loaded up on pasta.
• Had a Snickers ice cream bar for dessert. Good stuff.
• Wrote my race report and posted it, handled some emails, then went went to bed planning on getting at least 7 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, the hotel had a loud nightclub on the 17th floor and I was on the 16th floor. Needless to say, I moved rooms. I got to sleep just in time for 6 1/2 hours of shut-eye.

Sunday morning:
• I felt surprisingly well physically for the day after a marathon. Then I saw that it was 22 degrees outside (11 with wind chill) and I didn’t feel quite so well any more.
• The start line was about 50 yards from the hotel lobby, so I listened to my iPod in my room for a while. Went to the lobby 20 minutes before race time, where some people told me they read about me in the paper Saturday. Sweet!
• I ran the Firstlight Bank Marathon in 3:21. I can sum the race up in three words: WINDY AND COLD.
• Didn’t eat much after the race because I was waiting for lunch. Trekked back to the hotel to get my camera, then back to the finish line to take some pictures. It was still WINDY AND COLD.
• Showered, packed, picked up Dane and went back to the finish area and found out I won an age group award. Picked that up, but passed on lunch, because I needed to get to the airport in time for my 2:45 flight. I got there at 1:55, enough time for my … OOPS … flight’s at 2:20! But I made it.
• That flight was on a really small plane — only 12 rows! And of course, on that small plane, somebody decided to have a gas attack. Awesome.
• Switched planes in Atlanta, but I had to go from the D gates to the A gates. No time to grab food. All I ate on the plane was ginger snaps, peanuts and pretzels.
• The plane had TVs in the headrest. YES! But no Fox, so I couldn’t watch the football game. NO! Saw the highlights on ESPNews, though. Nice pick-six by the Cards to get the win.
• The lady sitting next to me was knitting. How did she get those needles through security?
• Watched No Country For Old Men on my portable DVD player. Well, until the battery died. So far so good … can’t wait to see the rest!
• Landed in Los Angeles and got in the car to head home. Was totally starving and kind of hoped Tiff wouldn’t mind if I drove through In-N-Out. But she made chicken and vegetables for me. No complaints here. I love the baked chicken she cooks. And she’s cooking it tonight, too!
• Wrote my blog, took care of some emails and all of a sudden it was 10:25. I had a critical need for ice cream at that point, and that’s what I ate. Streak is now 82 consecutive days if you’re keeping track. If you are keeping track, you’re crazy.

And that’s it. My weekend in a nutshell. I didn’t write about the spare time, because there was none. Now it’s back to the grind. Busy day at work ahead and I can kind of start thinking about Phoenix this weekend.

Have a great day!

Race Report: Firstlight Bank Marathon (Mobile)

by 3 Comments

I woke up Sunday and actually felt better than I had for any of my three prior doubles, and really, I felt better than I typically do the day after a marathon. I took a ice bath Saturday when I got to Mobile, but I think the real key was that I spent a good 20 minutes stretching last night.

I felt good, although I was tired. I had only slept 10 1/2 hours combined Thursday and Friday night and I really wanted to get at least 7, preferably 8. Unfortunately, my hotel had a nightclub directly above my room and at 10 p.m., the music started. 15 minutes later I decided to change rooms, and my attempt at 8, which was already only looking like 7, became 6 1/2.

I got up, ate my breakfast and hung out in my nice warm room because weather.com said it was 22 (11 with wind chill) outside. Fortunately, the start was about 50 yards from my hotel lobby, so I didn’t go out until five minutes before the start. Before I made it out, I met some people who told me they had read about me the day before in the paper! I did a phone interview with a reporter from Mobile earlier in the week, but he said the story was probably not going to run, so this was a pleasant surprise. I was later told the story ran on the front of marathonguide.com!

To the start, I saw my friend Dane Rauschenberg, who also ran Jackson on Saturday and rode down to Mobile with me. He ran 52 marathons in 52 weeks in 2006, so I know we’ll be talking a lot this year about things only we would understand. Amazingly, with all the things he’s done running, running a double is something he hadn’t done, so this was his first. We were both happy that it felt slightly warmer than yesterday at the start — probably about 23-25 degrees compared to 18 the day before. At that point, every degree counts!

The gun went off and we started cruising. We didn’t go to hard — he said he wanted to run a 3:17 (which he did), but I wanted to get as much out of my body that I could. I really wanted to negative-split my weekend (go faster than the 3:18:44 I ran the day before), but like always, I just go out and give it all I have. My time is whatever I can get.

We ran together for the first three miles or so, but I felt good and my heart rate was low, so he told me not to hold back. I kept rolling and told him he’d pass me later. I got into a groove and felt really good.

I noticed that my legs felt heavy at about 5, but it wasn’t much of a problem. It felt like I typically do on a training run — not terrible, but not completely fresh. I was turning 7:18s consistently and didn’t need to bump my heart rate up to my typical marathon heart rate (170ish).

However, there was a pretty nice climb between miles 10 and 11. In hindsight, I don’t remember much about that hill, except by the time I got to the top of it, I was cooked. My pace for the race went from 7:18 to 7:28 in a mile. I knew I was going unravel. About 1/2 mile later, Dane passed me up with the eventual women’s winner. He actually passed me twice, because they made a wrong turn and I yelled to them to get back on the course.

There were some gradual rollers over the next few miles that really sealed the deal for me and brought on the permanent fade. I tried to focus on the positive. For starters, I started thinking about why I was out there, for Operation Jack. I’m trying to make a difference, and in order to do that, I literally have to run myself into the ground. 60 has wow factor, and this is what that takes. One side benefit we get out of all this is we’ve been given services at a hyperbaric chamber facility for Jack as a result of this and if nothing else, what I’m putting myself through will get that for him. As a parent, it felt pretty satisfying to know that my pain was his gain. While I wrote this on the plane, he was in the chamber.

I was having those thoughts at around 15. Not too far after that, we went through something that I think was called the Mobile Botanical Gardens or something like that. There was a really cool looking lake and a forest area and a view way off into the distance of quite a bit of undeveloped land. I live in master-planned suburbia, so it’s nice to see the world as it was created.

I’m sure I’ll say this a lot this year, but one thing that’s going to be cool for me is seeing a lot of America. There’s so much variety out there and I’m going to get to run through a lot of it. Today, I got to see a lot of Mobile, seeing schools, parts of the city, neighborhoods and I really enjoyed it. Well, except when I ran by a KFC and smelled the chicken and got hungry! OK, enough rambling …

There was one last decent climb somewhere around 18 or 19 and from there, it was all downhill or flat, which I really appreciated. I run up hills a lot, but I race better on the downhill. Obviously I’m faster, but I get more out of the course than I should on the downhills and I don’t get enough on the uphills. I got into a nice little rhythm over the final 10K. I wasn’t necessarily fast, but I wasn’t fading.

I’m really starting to like hitting mile 20, because it gets really easy to count down the miles at that point. I started to make a little bit of a move with about 3 to go, picked it up with two to go and finished fairly strong over the last mile, picking off a couple of people.

I finished in 3:21:45, good for 33rd overall, 2nd in my age group. I’m pretty competitive and pretty hard on myself, so more often than not, I won’t be pleased with my performance. That was the case today. 3:21 isn’t a terrible time, but I expect more out of myself than that. And the way I see it, you guys are jumping on the bandwagon because I’m racing 60 marathons this year, not because I’m running the distance 60 times in training. I feel like I’m bringing home times to everybody following along and I don’t want to bring home bad times. I have some things I need to work on with my marathon pacing, because I’m failing miserably.

The weather today was a little challenging today. As I mentioned, temps were a little bit warmer, but it was still cold. And there was a wind in my face about 1/3 of the time that was ridiculously cold. Overall, though, I’d say the weather was a tiny bit better today.

One great thing about the race is that it’s a major fundraiser for an organization called L’Arche Mobile, which basically provides group living homes for adults with mental disabilities. Someday, Jack could be living with an organization like that, so it hits close to home. I wanted to do some things for them as part of this, but it didn’t pan out and I’m not solid enough with my fundraising yet. I’m hoping to do some things by the end of the year, but we’ll see.

I knew that residents would be presenting us with hand-made medals, and I got mine from a sweet woman named Sara (after she gave me a kiss on each cheek and a hug). I insisted on getting one that she made herself, and she obliged. I took a picture with her a little later.


Me and Sara after the race!

Also, I finished in second place in my age group, and my prize was a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 canvas that was painted by one of the residents. I’ve won age-group awards in about 10 marathons that I can think of off the top of my head, and this one is totally my favorite. It’s a sentimental treasure I’ll hang on to.

All-in-all, I liked the race a lot. I just wasn’t pleased with my performance individually. But due to the uniqueness of what I’m doing, I’ll be able to go give it another crack next weekend in Phoenix.

Race Report: Mississippi Blues Marathon

by 6 Comments

One thing I know about running 60 marathons is that I’m going to have a little bit of everything. Good races, bad races, fun races, boring races, slow races, fast races, perfect races, hot races … and, on days like today, cold races!

I spent all week looking at the weather forecast and I knew it was going to be cold. At first, it was looking like a high of 36 and a low of 23. It moved down to 28/18, but back up a touch. When I got to Jackson the day before the race, it was extremely cold. I spent four years in Kansas, but I’ve been back in California for a decade and I’ve re-acclimated. The coldest I had ever run in was 34 degrees a few weeks ago, and it was so cold, it hurt to breathe. I don’t have the option of not running, so I knew I had to suck it up and run.

On my way to the race, I drove by a bank with a thermometer that said 18 degrees. Well, I think it said 18 degrees, but I couldn’t tell because I was peering through iced windows. When I de-iced at a gas station, I could see snow flurries in the light. Bad sign?

I got to the start in plenty of time and did whatever I could to stay warm. I succeeded and didn’t go over to the start until about five minutes before gun time. We did a dual run with soldiers in Iraq, which was cool. I complain about the cold, but I’m sure they’d love to be shivering in Mississippi. They simulcast the start on a big screen and they seemed pretty excited to be a doing a satellite version of the race.

Anyways, we got rolling, and instantly, I was COLD. I capitalized that for emphasis! From what I’ve been told, it was 19 degrees. I was bundled up in running pants, a warm long-sleeve technical shirt, an Operation Jack shirt over that, gloves, a headband that covered up my ears, and over that I wore a contraption that covered everything from my neck up aside from my eyes and the top of my cheeks.

Still, my hands were completely numb in 3/4 of a mile and my toes were gone in 1.5 miles. I was getting a little bit concerned that I might get frostbite because they started hurting, but every four miles or so they rotated from fine to numb to painful and I figured they’d be OK.

I was running OK, averaging about a 7:05 at my target marathon heart rate for the first 6 or 7 miles. But all I can remember is how cold everything was. I had occasional breathing problems with the whatever-you-call-it that was covering my mouth and nose, so I’d pull it down and freeze. I could feel sweat on my eyelashes freezing. I could feel sweat on my forehead freezing.

The water and Gatorade at the aid stations were slush and very cold going down. By about 10 miles in, I had to keep my mouth and nose uncovered to make sure I could breathe. I take three gel packs during a race and a couple of times, I struggled to open them because my fingers were so numb. There’s a theme here — it was cold!

Moving along, my paced started slowing a little bit. I lost some speed over the summer with my layoff with the sprained ankle and I haven’t gotten it all back. I also don’t think I can remain effective at marathon effort for 26.2 miles right now. I have a lot of opportunities to keep working at that, though, so I’m sure I’ll get there.

I kept rolling, hit the half a little past 1:37 and started fading a little bit. The 7:25s I was turning became 7:35s and 7:45s. The course was nice, cutting through several different neighborhoods. One thing I kept thinking was how fortunate I am to be able to run these marathons, because I’m going to get to see lots of America. I love America, and it’s great to see so many parts.

I saw a lot of Jackson and a lot of people from Jackson. They were wonderful, consistently thanking us for running. I had to remind them all that they were the ones who needed to be thanked, braving 19-degree temps to volunteer to help. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “Thank you for choosing to run in Mississippi!” and they didn’t even know I’m from California. I was glad I ran the race — I enjoyed the sights and I really enjoyed the people.


Does it look warm? Because it wasn’t!

I kept gradually slowing and by the time I started trying to figure out what my time would be by 17 or 18, it was looking like a 3:18 or so. I hoped for a BQ (3:15:59), but knew it wasn’t going to happen. I developed a side stitch (really painful abdominal cramp) at 23 that stuck with me to the end. That mile was an 8:25 and I started hoping to hang on to a sub-3:20.

At mile 25, I was really slowing and a guy came up on me. I was prepared to let him go and tell him “nice run,” but he told me to step it up because there was only one more mile. So I took off, side stitch and all, and powered the rest of the way. Mile 26 was 7:05, which was nice, but tells me I fold too often. No way should I be doing that in that condition and only turning 7:25s earlier in the race. The guy couldn’t catch me and I couldn’t see him in the finisher’s area to thank him for the push.

I ended up 3:18:44, surprisingly good enough for second place in my age group, 33rd overall. I had no idea I age-grouped until I received a congratulatory email while I was at dinner in Alabama. I guess I could say the conditions made it tough, but that’s an excuse. Individually, I’m not pleased with the race. But overall, I know it’s great to be able to not be pleased with a 3:18 in these conditions, and it’s even better to continue along with Operation Jack.

Two down, 58 to go. Next up, Mobile, Alabama tomorrow!