One last weekend recap, finally! I took my last trip of Operation Jack this weekend. It was a tough weekend for me, because I had so much going on behind the scenes, but it’s over and done with, and I can move on now.
Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here before, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 7-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to make a difference, and I want Jack to have an impact on the world, so I’ve been attempting to run 61 full marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism.
I named the endeavor Operation Jack, after him. If not for his autism, I wouldn’t have attempted this. So I know that anything I do through all this running to help Train 4 Autism, or really, anybody, wouldn’t have happened if not for him. So, I know that through his struggles, he’s making the world a better place, even though he doesn’t know it and he probably never will.
Yesterday, I ran marathon No. 60 of the year, and to put it mildly, I was THRILLED with how it went! I ran a Boston qualifier in Jacksonville. My time, 3:14, wasn’t the greatest time I’ve ever run, but I really wanted to find a way to dig deep enough to pull out a BQ in my 60th marathon of the year, and I did just that. Click here to read my recap.
Misc. Pictures From The Weekend
There’s a few pictures from this weekend I really liked and I’m going to share.
I saw this on Facebook while I was switching planes on my way to Jacksonville on Saturday. Tiff and Jack, both really happy for a picture. If it makes you smile, just imagine how much it makes me smile.
Jack woke up super-early Saturday morning, while I was leaving for the airport. Then he decided to kick Tiff out of her bed, take her laptop and start playing with his Easter eggs. Y’all need to know it’s Jack’s world and we’re just living in it!
I saw this and thought, yeah, this needs to make it into the blog.
Jack loves Curious George so I brought a small one along this weekend.
I’ve got another picture a little farther down in the blog.
I have a video, too. Last Friday was Jack’s holiday presentation at school. This video is a perfect example of why I love my wife. She doesn’t care about anything other than what’s best for Jack. In this case, she saw that he wasn’t dancing the way he should have during the presentation.
She didn’t care what anybody thought about her jumping up on stage to get him going. Last year didn’t go too well, and that wasn’t going to be the case this year — she made certain of that. She’s one tough, proud mama, and nothing will get in the way of her and what’s best for Jack. Period.
Down To The Wire
OK, it’s THIS WEEKEND, y’all! Operation Jack Marathon and Operation Jack Satellite Run — who’s not in? If you’re going to be in Southern California, come on out and join us! If not, we could use more people everywhere for the satellite runs.
Either way, you’re going to get the race shirt and the medal! So register … NOW! The list of satellite participants is missing a few. I don’t think I’ve updated it since Saturday. I’ll get to it later today.
Get yourself one of these!
No More Travel!
As my flight was touching down and landing last night, I was thinking about there would be no more travel. I felt like a kid getting out of school on the last day when I checked out my hotel yesterday, my last hotel of the year. Like a geek, I tweeted, “Cue Annie Lennox: ‘No More Hotel Rooms.'” I don’t think anybody got it.
I had a few hours to kill and I got to hang out at a sports bar and watch some football with two people I featured in my race report. That was about the first time I’ve gotten to chill after a race all year. I felt like it was a nice, little reward after a long, long year. And the Chiefs won!
When I checked in my rental car, it was my last time going through that routine, too. That was kind of weird, too. No more of that, either. It sounds kind of dumb, but I’ve checked in more than 50 rental cars this year. I have everything down to a routine and that’s one routine I won’t have any more.
And then finally, the flying. I used to be afraid of flying. Nothing fazes me now. I think taking propellor planes through thunderstorms this summer sealed the deal on that one. I got an upgrade to first class on the first flight, from Jacksonville to Atlanta. That was cool. The benefits of frequent flyer status!
This was my second plane on Saturday, only one seat on the left side of the aisle! I would have never flown on this thing in the past!
I’m pretty superstitious, and for the last flight, I chose seat 13A. I would have never done that in the past because of the number 13, but when I picked the seat, it was in a preferred row (the benefits of frequent flyer status!), the aisle was taken and the middle was open. I knew that if I took the window, it was pretty likely that nobody would be in the middle. Sure enough, that seat stayed empty, I put my backpack under the seat in front of the middle and had plenty of legroom. I figured out the routine, I got over the worries, and now I don’t have to do it any more.
When we touched down, I was thinking about how it was my last flight of this whole thing. But there was no real sadness or excitement. It just was. But I had a ton of obstacles getting home. First, we had to wait on the tarmac for a gate to open up. At this point, it’s 10:30 Pacific time and I had been up, without a nap, since 1:45 a.m. Pacific time. I’d spent 6 1/2 hours on two flights, plus I’d run a marathon. I was tired and wanted to get home!
But, my phone had died. So when we got into the terminal, at about 10:45, I had to charge it for about five minutes. I needed to call Tiff, because I knew she’d be worrying about whether or not I’d landed safely. Wives are funny like that. So I waited. And called her. When I fly out of Orange County, I park for free at my brother’s work, which is about 1/2 mile from the airport. Lucky for me last night, when I finally got outside for the walk, it was pouring. Then, I got to my car and changed my windshield wipers. I bought new ones on Friday night, but didn’t change them outside my house in the rain. I knew the right place to be would be inside the covered parking garage Sunday night. I just didn’t know how tired I’d be.
Finally I got on the road and drove cautiously through the rain, walking through the door about 11:40 — 22 hours after I woke up in Jacksonville. Tiff asked me if it had sunk in yet that there was no more travel, but it hadn’t. It’s still the same as normal right now — I just traveled home from a marathon and I have a race this weekend.
But I’m getting close. And I’m definitely tired today!
That’s All For Today
I need to get to the office. Y’all have a great day. I’ll be back tomorrow to finish up those Q&As.
Jen Small says
lovely pics 🙂
I am super psyched to get my OJ medal 🙂 and working on one last fundraising push this week!!
Ally Phillips says
Love that video of Jack and Tiff!! And that picture of the two of them as well. So sweet.
I’m wildly excited for my Operation Jack run this weekend. I wish we could make it down to your neck of the woods for the OJ Marathon, but, we’re there in spirit! This 6.1 mile run will be the best run of the year for me, I know it. I can’t wait.
I’m super thrilled that you had a great race in Jacksonville over the weekend and super honored that I’ve gotten to know you and your family over the last year. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have run some amazing marathons or have made some great friends. Merry Christmas!
Jen Morgan says
I can’t believe it! The end is finally here, no more travel, no more being away from your family… That is so awesome Sam. So proud of you and all you’ve done this year! You are one of the most inspirational and dedicated people I’ve had the honor and privilege of meeting this year and I want to thank you, your family and Train 4 Autism for letting me be a part of Operation Jack. I am so excited to run 6.1 M “with” you on Sunday!
Junko Matthews says
Ok it’s official. I now love your wife, too. Awesome. #girlcrush