Weekend Preview: Missoula Marathon

I normally post my weekend previews on Thursday, but I didn’t get done with everything I was doing until close to midnight on Wednesday, so there was no time to write anything. Better late than never, right? I’ve got my weekend preview, contest information plus my take on LeBron James (as if my opinion on this matters).

Just in case this your first time here, I’m a father of there and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. I’m trying to make a difference, to make a purpose out of what he goes through and have him make an impact on the world. So, I’m running 60 marathons to try to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism.

So far, I’m through 32 of the marathons. It’s a little tough physically, but very tough mentally. There’s a lot of work and a lot of struggling. Sometimes, I’m high as a kite and totally encouraged. Sometimes, I feel like I’m banging my head into a wall for no good reason.

But there’s no quit in me with this. I’ll keep on keeping on, following the path I’ve been led down, keeping my faith that everything will be okay.

Chase Contest: Down To The Wire!
We’re in the middle of this Chase Community Giving contest. Voting has been going on for close to a month and it ends on MONDAY! We’re in the top 200 right now, but voting is tight and we’ve been bouncing between the 150s and 200 all week.

I know you’re probably tired of me plugging it, but if we stay in the top 200, we’ll win $20,000, which would be HUGE! So, you’re here, and I’m begging. Three quick things that will take zero dollars and about one minute from you.

1. Think of three friends you can tell about this and CLICK HERE to enter their first name and e-mail address to send them an automated email. Easy stuff and we’re NOT storing any data.

2. Vote in the contest! If you’ve already voted, you can’t vote again. If you haven’t, this is critical and it’s a simple, one-time thing!

3. Share this through your social media outlets with these simple links: Facebook | Twitter

That’s it! Easy, right? That will make a difference. I know how many visitors we get here — if you each do step #1 once, we’re probably going to win this. If y’all do it twice and submit send to six people, I’d be pretty shocked if we don’t.

T-Shirts And Stuff
We just got a new shipment in, so we’re going to get stuff in the mail for a bunch of you that we owe. I’m so sorry that we’ve been slow on this.

Weekend Preview
I normally have a contest every week where you guys guess my time in the form of a small donation essentially equal to my time. This weekend, though, I want the focus to be on the Chase Contest.

That being said, I’m running the Missoula Marathon on Sunday. I’m going to be pacing the 3:10 group for the first half, then running my own race the rest of the way. The goal is going to be to hit 13.1 at about 1:34:30 and then run my own race from there. There’s a hill in the second half and my legs have been fairly sore this week. So, I’m guessing I’ll go 3:14 or so. I really want to get a BQ. I’ve only gotten one since Fargo on May 22, and that annoys me.

I don’t know what else to say about the race, other than I’m looking forward to seeing Montana. I just need to book a motel room, get a rental car and check my flight schedule. Details …

My Expert Insight Into The LeBron James Saga
I don’t know the first thing about basketball, and I’m really not a big fan of the NBA, but I really wanted to see him stay in Cleveland. Like just about everybody else in this country, I think the whole “The Decision” show was such a ridiculous ego thing. I don’t know who outside of Miami can possibly cheer for the guy after he went on TV and stabbed Cleveland in the back like that. Just my opinion.

Last night, I went to cleveland.com, the online home of Cleveland’s newspaper, to see the local take on everything. The lead story was an article about bedbugs. I have no idea why it was listed as the top story, but if they made an editorial decision to place bedbugs above James out of spite … well, that’s just awesome in my book.

And That’s It For Today
Tiff was going to write some things about what Jack likes to do, but she’s going to be a guest blogger on Monday so we’ll save it for then. Plus, as I write this, she’s relaxing and laughing at a TV show and I’d rather let her stay relaxed. Poor thing needs a break!

Please, please help us out in this Chase contest. It WILL make a difference. You’ll see when the votes are final that whether or not week make it, we’re only going to be a few votes away from spot #200! I’ll be back with a race report on Sunday. Have a great weekend!