I blinked twice, which means it’s Thursday all of a sudden and time for my weekend preview.
Real quick, just in case this is your first time stopping by, I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I wanted to do something to try to make a difference in the autism world, because that is my cause. So I decided to try to run 60 marathons this year to raise money for a charity called Train 4 Autism. So far, so good. I’m through 29 marathons and I’m reaching people.
Every week, I have a contest where you guys guess my time and win a prize. I’m going to get into that in just a minute, though. There’s a contest Operation Jack is participating in and we need your help!
Chase Community Giving Contest
I’m probably going to blog about this every day until the contest is over. 200 small charities are going to win at least $20,000 from the Chase Community Giving Contest. You can vote one time only with your Facebook account. I’m trying to get this to go viral and all I need is two simple things from everybody.
One, please vote! If you haven’t voted yet, click here now … PLEASE! Also, once you vote, or if you have voted, please post it on your Facebook wall. Super simple, and it will help a ton! Right now, vote totals are low because the contest just started. But we’re #32. Help us keep it up!
My Weekly “Pick Sam’s Time” Contest
So I have a contest every week. You try to guess my time by making a small donation as your guess and the winner gets Operation Jack gear. So, if you think I’m going to run a 3:12, you donate $3.12. Whoever comes the closest without underbidding wins their choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt. To participate, you just click on the “Donate Now!” link at the top of any page on this site, or you can click here.
Last week, I had a variation of the contest. Since I was pacing the 3:40 group, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I was going to run a 3:39. So the contest was $3 plus the number of seconds past 3:39 I was going to run. So, if you thought I was going to run a 3:39:30, you would have donated $3.30 to enter. Well, I went 3:40:00 Garmin, 3:39:58 chip. The winner was Sarah Reade of St. Joseph, Mo., a fellow graduate of KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY! Us Wildcats are s-m-a-r-t, smart!
This week, we’ll be back to guessing my time, because I’m going all-out. I’ll have some analysis in just a minute.
San Francisco Runners Out There?
My friend Heather Hawkins is having a party at a place called Stray Bar. She has all the information here. It’s going to be a fun time with BBQ and beer, plus a raffle with a bunch of goodies she’s lined up.
Check it out and stop by if you can!
Heather lined up all this stuff. That’s because she’s awesome.
This Week’s Race
It’s Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. I was actually looking forward to this one as a potential fast, fast race. They draw a good field, which always helps me push myself. The course itself looks fairly fast. I haven’t looked at the profile in about a month, but I remember some moderate rollers and a downhill net. I saw it, and I thought it would be a pretty fast race.
My IT band in my right leg, which has been bothering me, felt good all week. But it flared up a little bit last night. And my quads are still a little sore from the pounding they took on last Saturday’s downhill course. And I land in Minneapolis at about 8:!5 p.m. Friday and then have to drive 2 1/2 hours to Superior, Wisc. (where I’m staying) and the race is on Saturday morning. So I’m not too optimistic that I’m going to have a great race at this point.
But I’m going to go out there and try. I have a funny feeling I’ll be running well early, but then I’ll be in a lot of pain in my right leg and it will all come down to how well I fight through pain.
So, I guess, if I was betting on this race, I’d probably go with a 3:15. Let me know what you think I’ll do. Just $3 and a dime and a nickel … simple stuff and it’s going to a great cause! And you might even win something!
OK, That’s All
Have a great Father’s Day Weekend, everbody! I don’t know if I mentioned it, but the reason I picked this race on Saturday is that it’ll get me home in time to spend Sunday with my family. Looking forward to seeing my dad and my grandpa and celebrating my brother’s birthday with him. I’m also looking forward to “Donuts With Daddy” at my daughter’s preschool tomorrow morning. I planned my airfare around it — yeah, that’s why I’m getting into Minneapolis late!
Anyways, I’ll have a race report posted Saturday and a weekend recap on Monday! See you later!
Run well at Grandma’s. That’s a great race, an absolute classic with great history. One of these days I’d love to run it. Run a good one!
Good luck @ Grandma’s!! We used to live in Duluth, when Asia and Meg were babies. If you get a chance to eat at the restaurant Grandma’s, order a Dante’s Inferno!!! Hope it doesn’t snow :>)