Happy Tuesday everybody! I wrote my blog, then went back to write an intro, but I don’t have time and need to get this posted. So I have stuff in here about a great race in Memphis, Jack, football, prescription costs and a killer cheeseburger. Keep reading!
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 and I’m trying to run 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a great charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m on target, through 43 with a couple of ultramarathons. 18 to go!
I Need Your Help!
OK, so I added Memphis St. Jude’s onto the schedule as my 61st race and I was really looking forward to running this race. It benefits such a great cause — the St. Jude Chidren’s Research Hospital, which does an amazing job with pediatric cancer research and treatment.
Well, last week I got a text from Operation Jack supporter Laura Sullivan letting me know that registration was full. And I hadn’t registered! I was so bummed. I contacted the race and explained to them what I was doing and asked if they had any extra entries allocated for exceptions that they’d sell me — I’ve lucked out that way a couple of times.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have any. But, they have a program called Heroes and if I participated in that and guaranteed to raise $500, then I could purchase an entry. I thought about it for about 60 seconds and decided to do it. I registered for the race and personally guaranteed that I’d raise the $500. In a way, I feel like it’s meant to be.
Autism is my cause. It still is, and it always will be. But now I take a tiny hiatus and use this base I’ve built to raise some money for pediatric cancer research and treatment. There are a lot of terrible things in this world that harm innocent kids. I’m really excited to be able to help this cause.
So, I’m going to push a little bit towards this until I reach my goal. I have a fundraising page that you can reach at operationjack.org/stjude. The sooner we hit this, the sooner I’ll stop begging you with every blog! Let’s get this done!
Quick Jack Update
Tiff is taking Jack to the DAN doctor today. Poor little guy has no idea what’s in store for him. He has to get blood drawn for testing, which I’m pretty angry about, because we went through this ordeal in June and it was miserable for him. For whatever reason, though, the lab couldn’t use the sample and we need to have blood drawn again. We had to restrain him and he was withdrawn the rest of the day. I’m pretty sure he’ll be that way again today, which kills me, because this was so avoidable. How does a lab ruin a sample?
On a side note, one of his prescriptions was ready yesterday. The co-pay through our insurance was $122. But if we just paid out of pocket for it (which we did), it was $109. I don’t talk about politics here, and I’m not going to say anything about either party, but I think that’s a pretty good indictment of the health care system. I don’t know what the solution is, but with those numbers, there’s certainly something wrong.
Maybe I Should Stick To Running, Not Football
We have an NFL pick-em pool for Operation Jack and of the people who have made their picks both weeks, I’m in last place. It’s terrible. I’m going to rewind 11 years with a quick anecdote.
I have a Super Bowl bet every year with my grandma and she dictates the terms. In 1999, when Denver beat Atlanta, she won the bet. At the time, I was working for The Associated Press and I had to get her a custom-made shirt that said, “I proved I know more about football than my grandson, and he’s a professional sportswriter!” I might need to get a shirt made for my 4 1/2-year-old daughter Ava, too.
I only picked five winners through Sunday’s games. I wanted to see how I would have done if I would have let her pick for me. So, I went down the list of games, reading the visiting team and then the home team, telling her to pick one. Sure enough, she picked seven. I tried it again, going with the home team first and then the visiting team, and she picked nine right. I said the winning team first the third time through, and she picked six. Then I went with the losers first and she picked 11.
Four different attempts, four times she beat me. Oh well.
Great Call Gaye Beckman!
I wanted to meet up with Operation Jack supporter Gaye Beckman on Sunday, so I threw out Five Guys as a suggestion. It’s good stuff and there’s no In-N-Out in Denver. She recommended a place called Smashburger instead, though. I trusted her judgment, plus I like trying places I can’t get to anywhere else.
This was dinner:
I should have taken a picture of my empty plate afterwards.
This was some kind of barbecue bacon cheeseburger with onion strings, plus an order of fried pickles. I was looking down the options for fries and saw fried pickles and it was a no-brainer. Good stuff. Good call.
For the record, I know it seems like I live on cheeseburgers, but last night for dinner, I had baked salmon, cous cous and squash. For lunch I had a turkey sandwich, banana, apple and some soy energy blend trail mix stuff that Tiff picked up at Costco.
That’s All For Today
Have a great Tuesday, everybody. See you back here tomorrow!
Poor Jack! Getting blood drawn sucks no matter what–and even worse for a little guy like him. I’ll be thinking of you guys today!
Can I just say how happy I am about the St. Jude fundraiser? My cousin was diagnosed with cancer when I was a freshman in college–he was 11 at the time and I remember there were nights when we had me on standby to get on a flight to come home because we thought he wouldn’t make it. It was awful. But, we were so blessed and he’s been in remission for several years and he’s a healthy teenager who’s going off to college now. He wasn’t trested at St. Jude, but, I am so grateful for hospitals like St. Jude.
Also, Smash Burger rocks! We have those here. Oh, and, Fort Worth is getting an In N Out next spring. DFW will have TWO. Austin and KC have zero. I’m just sayin’.
A lot of times when people hear you have kids with autism they instantly pity you. I always tell them it’s not like they have a terminal illness. But there are many kids who do, so I’m glad you’re able to help out at St. Jude’s, even if it happened in a roundabout way. Good luck to Jack at his appointment today. I’ve had all of mine strapped down at the hospital for one reason or another and it was never fun.