Last Thursday, I was at a company holiday breakfast and there was an extra plate of pancakes on the table. Some of my co-workers were daring me to eat them even though I’d already finished a big omelette and a couple of pancakes. So, I did what you would expect me to do: I texted my wife and asked her if I could run a marathon that Saturday. She gave me the green light and I began my carb load. Hello pancakes! Actually, goodbye pancakes!

The race on Saturday was a small race and the main reason I wanted to run it was to run it with a friend of mine who was running it to celebrate her birthday. I also wanted to check out the course, because the race was being put on my a man named Charlie Alewine, a really nice guy I’m working with to put on three races as part of Operation Jack next year. I wanted to check out the course because it’s a possibility for one of my races.

There was no race-day registration, and it was already Thursday, so I dropped Charlie a line and asked him if I could run the race. He told me I could and that he was looking forward to seeing me. He also told me some of the entrants, and they included a running friend of mine named Sally, who I haven’t seen in a while, plus another running friend named Joe, who’s a real treat to talk to.

Unfortunately, I was still batting bronchitis, but I wasn’t too worried about that. On Friday, though, my friend who was running the race to celebrate her birthday told me she might be a no-go. She had some things going on and there were very legitimate reasons for her decision. I was in contact with her Friday evening and it really sounded like she wasn’t going to run the race. I told her to email or text me if she was going to run it, and I’d make my decision when I got up on Saturday morning.

Well, when I woke up, there was no email or text. I figured she wasn’t running the race. I still had a pretty sweet cough. But I told Charlie I’d be there. I didn’t tell my wife about the Charlie factor in the equation, but she knew my friend wasn’t going to run the race. Unable to make a decision, I asked Tiff at 4:20 in the morning what I should do. She suggested I shouldn’t run the race, and I thought she was probably right. I was just bummed about being a no-show. Of course, Charlie has so much to worry about on race day, I figured he wouldn’t think twice.

So, I caught up on my sleep and crawled out of bed at about the point I would have been 20 miles into the race. I sent a note to my friend to wish her a happy birthday and carried on with my day. Later on, though, I found out she actually ran the race. BUMMER! All those pancakes for nothing and they should have been for something!

I planned to go out on Sunday morning for a run to at least get some exercise for the weekend. I had a nice bowl of spaghetti or dinner on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Benjamin (my 8-year-old) was up for three hours in the middle of the night with an ear infection. He felt terrible. No way was I going to go out for 20ish miles on three hours of sleep. I’ve run a marathon on one hour of sleep, but I had to. I didn’t have to do that run and ruin my day by being fall-asleep tired afterwards. So, I skipped it. Two big carb meals wasted!

When I woke up on Sunday, I checked my email and found BUMMER #2 from my friend Sally. Charlie was waiting for me on Saturday morning. He held the race for 20 minutes thinking I’d show. I just wanted to crawl under a rock. I need to contact Charlie and apologize. I feel terrible. But there’s no going back to Saturday, I guess.

This morning, I guess third time was the charm. I went out for 20.1 miles. Kind of a blah run. I couldn’t make up my mind about going slow or fast, and by the time it was done, it was just kind of a lousy run. But it’s done. At least I got some exercise.

That’s all I have for today … hope your weekend went a little more according to plans than mine did!

For a good six months or so, Tiff (my wife) had one wish for her birthday (December 16) — to take the kids to Disneyland for the first time. It’s been a difficult six days for us, as all three of our kids have been sick, Tiff broke her finger slamming it in a door and both of us have bronchitis now. But Disneyland is what we planned on, so Disneyland is what we did. And it was the best day we’ve had in a long time!

We knew Ben (8) and Ava (4) would have a blast, but we weren’t sure how Jack would handle it. If you’ve never been here before, Jack is our 6-year-old son who is severely autistic. I’m running 60 marathons (well, trying to) next year in his honor to try to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism (hence the name of the endeavor, “Operation Jack”). Anyways, we didn’t know how he’d do. Maybe he’d freak out, or maybe he’d be in sensory heaven.

We knew heading in that Disneyland is very accommodating to families with autistic children. The first thing we did was go to Guest Relations because we knew they’d give us a special line access pass. He had a little bit of a meltdown during those five minutes we waited for that pass, which clearly indicated to the staff there that it was something we needed. I’d much rather have three typical children and stand in line, but it did come in handy and help him quite a bit.

Our first ride (the moment of truth!) was Pinocchio in Fantasyland. It was the perfect way to start the day — he loves watching that movie, plus Pinocchio symbolizes Jack to us. Right now, he’s the marionette. He’s still not truly talking. But someday, he will. He’s going to become Pinocchio the boy. I keep a little statuette of Pinocchio (the boy) on my desk and look at it all day, every day, and it makes me think of him.

Anyways, he had a BLAST! We were so excited that he enjoyed the rides. Benjamin and Ava enjoyed themselves, too. We knew we were in store for a great day. It’s been a tough year, two years, three years, whatever. The Felsenfeld Five, as I like to call us, was long overdue for a great day. We went on all the kid rides in Fantasyland. Jack loved them all.

He loved the dips on Pirates of the Caribbean, he enjoyed Tarzan’s Treehouse, and even had a good time in the Haunted Mansion. He LOVED Star Tours. In fact, he went on it twice and was laughing hysterically the second time. We probably went on about 12-15 rides yesterday and he was happy the entire time. And of course, Benjamin and Ava had a blast.

I took Ben on Thunder Mountain, which was the best roller coaster he’d ever been on. He loved it. But later, when I took in on the Matterhorn, that moved to the top of his list. We didn’t get a chance to hit Indiana Jones before we left, and I was kind of bummed. The kids have school today and we needed to get back at a reasonable hour. Ben was bummed, and I told him I was, too. But he still said it was his best day ever. And I could tell it was the same for Ava and for Jack.

I’ve never been a big fan of Disney. I think they’re overpriced and they over-market everything. But yesterday, it really was the happiest place on Earth for us. Our life is very challenging and it was a great escape that we needed. Tiff’s birthday wasn’t the greatest last year, but I know without even asking her that this was one of the best birthdays she’s ever had.

It’s back to reality today, which means grinding it out, finishing some projects at work, working on another project after work and hoping my body keeps fighting off this bronchitis as the start of Operation Jack is just 15 days away.

But yesterday … yesterday is a day I’ll always remember and always look back on with a smile, because I know Tiff and the kids will, too!

I went into Sunday’s Tucson Marathon having no idea what to expect. I was optimistic that I could set a personal best, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if I was 30 minutes slower than that. I’ve had a rough year with marathons, with just one (arguably two) good races. I knew Tucson would either salvage my 2009 or finish the year in fitting fashion. 26.2 miles after I crossed the start line, I wrapped up my year with a whimper.

Tucson has a big downhill net and has a fast reputation. But I always compare it to the Golden Goose. Take from it gently, and you’ll be happy. If you kill it, though, you’ll be sorry! This was my fourth time running this race and in two of my three previous attempts, I’ve killed the goose. But my personal-best, a 3:00:05, was in Tucson in 2007.

I’ve struggled through the second half of 2009, battling through a severely sprained ankle, a full plate (ahhh, life!) and a lack of motivation. About two months ago, I decided to stop having a pity party for myself and I started pushing during my training. I’ve improved quite a bit since October and based on recent training results, I wouldn’t have been surprised with anything between a 2:58 and a 3:30 on Sunday. My A goal was 2:59:59, the elusive sub-3! My B goal was a 3:09:59 and my C goal was a 3:15:59, my new Boston qualifying standard since I’m 35 now.

I ran Sunday with a pretty bad chest cold. What started as a sore throat last Monday turned into burning lungs and a painful cough by race day. My legs felt great, but I knew I was a little sick. That’s not a legitimate excuse, though. I’ve run 3:16 in the wind and rain with bronchitis. I think that’s what I have right now, but I’m not totally sure.

Anyways, they changed the course changed a little bit this year. I knew that there would be rollers for the first 8 or so miles, and then by about 10, it would be a gradual downhill the whole way. I kept myself in check early, running well on the downhills and staying conservative on the uphills. The average elevation for those first eight miles was about 4,500 feet, about 3,500 feet higher than I’m used to. The 8th mile was a long, continuous uphill with probably a 150-200 foot gain. When I came out of that, I wasn’t totally cooked, but I was definitely starting to get beat up.

The downhill started by about 9 or 10 and I started cruising. I stayed at my target heart rate and was running in the 6:40/mile – 6:45/mile range and pulling closer to where I needed to be (sub-3 requires a 6:52 pace). But that only lasted for about 3 miles. By 12 or so, I started feeling a little faint and lightheaded and I was coughing pretty nicely. And really, I’m not in shape right now.

I think I hit the half at about 1:34 flat, but my legs were really starting to get stiff and I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I thought I had a chance at a 3:08 since I was cruising down the hill. Between 12 and maybe 15 or 16, I was turning miles consistently in the 7:05-7:10 range and I didn’t feel like I was slowing. I thought I’d found a groove.

But by about 16, I really started to fade. I also encountered a pretty strong headwind. I started getting those “why in the heck do I put myself through this” and “why did I decide to do this 60 times next year” thoughts. The last 10 miles were really miserable. I was getting pretty stiff in my legs and my back started to hurt pretty nicely.

As I got closer to the finish, the pain got worse, the legs turned slower and my goals started slipping away. I started thinking I might be lucky to break 3:20. I found a little tiny bit of a second wind with about a mile to go and I passed a few people, but it was way too little and way too late.

One funny story about somebody I passed: There was a guy dressed in a Superman costume that I jostled for position with all day. At one point, he was running with me and told me, “nice run”. I told him I needed some of his super powers and he laughed. I was wearing green and joking around, I told him I was going to be his kryptonite at the end. Sure enough, I passed him for good at about 25.5 and in the finish area, he joked with me that I was right.

I crossed the finish line 3:17:02 after I crossed the start line. It was my 14th fastest marathon out of 28. Basically, right in the middle. Blah. A fitting way to cap a lousy year. I ran 9 marathons this year, and only two of them were faster than this race. Boston was great, but that was it.

I had a great year in 2008 and got complacent. I took it all for granted and really struggled this year. 2010 will probably be a bit of a struggle early on since I have 7 marathons in January, but I suspect that 183.4 miles at marathon effort before February will help me get my speed back. My goal for the year will be to average 3:09:59 or better, and of course, I want to get this sub-3 monkey off my back.

So, that’s pretty much it. Not my day, not my year. But finally, I can look past everything and just focus on starting Operation Jack on January 1. It’s almost go time!