Ten Random Things For Tuesday

Sometimes I have serious issues I want to tackle, and when I do, I cover them in my Tuesday blog. As you can probably guess by the headline, though, I’m not doing that today. I’m going with 10 random things for Tuesday. These are fun to write, as long as I can come up with 10 things. Lucky for me, I did today!

Real quick, just in case this is your first time here, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I’m trying to make a difference in his honor and create a legacy for him, so I’m trying to run 60 marathons this year. I named the endeavor Operation Jack and so far, so good. I’m through 23 marathons since January 1.

OK, now 10 random things.

1. I went to McDonald’s on Saturday to get Jack two things from the dollar menu — a 4-piece Chicken McNuggets and a small order of fries. I was shocked when they wanted $2.49 for the chicken when they charge $4.99 for 20. I asked how much a 4-piece chicken happy meal was, and it was going to be something like $4.68. Do they rip off parents for the meals for kids? They have a bunch of those $2.99 meals now, but it costs more than that for four nuggets (worst chicken ever) and fries. We’ve been over the fact that I’m cheap, so we relocated to Burger King.

2. I got to spend a lot of time in Jack’s therapy sessions this weekend. Normally, that doesn’t happen. I get home from work as he’s wrapping up during the week, and I’m gone on the weekend. When I’m home on the weekends, I observe and the therapist explains what he’s doing while he’s doing it. But this weekend, he put me in the driver’s seat and I got to conduct the session. On Saturday, Jack figured it out pretty quickly that I was the one doing the session, and he got a big ol’ kick out of that, giggling hysterically for a little bit. The therapist was happy with how I did and was very happy with some of the things I did to creatively pull language out of Jack. It was a lot of fun, something I don’t normally get to do.

3. Jack was was due on September 12, 2003, the day Johnny Cash died. When I found out that morning that Johnny Cash had died, I told Tiff that if Jack was born that day, we had to name him Cash. Yeah, um, that’s not a good thing to suggest to a woman who’s nine months pregnant. It didn’t matter, because he wasn’t evicted until September 16. And as one of my Operation Jack followers pointed out, it’s a good thing we stuck with Jack as the name. “Operation Cash” probably would have sounded like a scam.

4. One thing I love about music is that it brings you back in time. “Right Here, Right Now” reminds me of the first summer I had a car. “Baby Got Back” reminds me of a ridiculous night in New Orleans. I’m thinking that this “Carry Out” song by Timbaland will always bring me back to the beginning of Operation Jack.

5. This is borderline inappropriate, but what the heck. I have a supporter in Colorado named Erin Fortin who will be running the Cleveland Marathon as part of Operation Jack. I’m going to finish ahead of her, but I want to wait to see her finish. There’s a flight I could probably catch, but I’d have to rush and I’d miss her at the end. I found a schedule that worked, but it was a touch more expensive. I went with it, because I want to be there at the end of her race.

I told her, “I’m sure you’ve never been told this, but you’re worth $49 and a red-eye flight.” It was totally appropriate in this circumstance, and I’m sure I’ll never have an opportunity to use that sentence again. So when I booked my ticket, that’s what I told her.

6. My bride Tiffany stopped in the middle of her 5K on Sunday to take a picture with some firefighters. Typical chick.

7. If you don’t have an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt, please check them out on our Sponsors page! These are one of our big fundraisers and (I think) the prices are pretty reasonable. If you dig what I’m doing, please consider picking one of these up and showing your support!

8. I’m considering adding a 61st race this year, Memphis on December 4. Lance Haney, a grad student at Auburn University, wants me to run that race with him. He created a fundraising page and if he reaches his goal, I’ll be there.

9. I saw this as my friend Susan Hill’s Facebook status last week and I couldn’t resist using it as my own: TICK WARNING! I hate it when people post bogus warnings, but this one is real. Please repost this as your status! If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT! THIS IS A SCAM! They only want to see you naked. I wish I’d gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

10. I started a new training plan today, the Pfitz 12/55. Not the highest-mileage plan, but now that I’m through my doubles that I had in April, I want to start working on my speed. The strength and endurance is there, but the speed isn’t. We’ll see how it goes. Today called for 8 miles with 10x100m strides. I went 8 on some pretty nice hills with 11x100m hill sprints. So far, so good.

That’s all for today. Have a great Tuesday, everybody. See you tomorrow!