Weekend Preview: Race #15, Knoxville Marathon

These weeks are flying by way too fast. I feel like I just got back from Virginia and it’s already time to carb load. That means it’s time for another weekend forecast, plus a few new things about Operation Jack I have for you.

Weekly “Guess Sam’s Time” Contest
I’m having a weekly contest now where you can guess my time in my race and win your choice of a free Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt. Here’s how you do it: Try to guess my time (a little lower in this blog, I’ll give my analysis of the course and make my own prediction) and to enter, make a donation corresponding to your guess. So for instance, if you think I’m going to run a 3:15, donate $3.15. The winner is the person who guesses the closest without going under. In the case of a tie, I’ll draw a random winner.

It’s an easy contest, and costs about the same as an ice cream cone, which is fitting, because I’m now up to 52 consecutive days eating ice cream or frozen yogurt. And of course, this helps us nickel-and-dime our way to our goals!

To enter, click here or click the “Donate Now!” link at the top of any page on this site.

Quick Announcement About A Race Add
I’m about 98 percent sure I’m going to add the Olathe Marathon to my schedule on April 10. I’ll actually probably have that finalized by the time you read this, but I’m posting that here because the race is coming up in two weeks. I’m not expecting a lot of you to add the marathon with just two weeks’ notice (that’s something I would do, but I’m not exactly normal), but for the record, there’s also a 5K and a half-marathon. I know I have a chunk of you in the Kansas City area and I’d love to see you at the race or at least while I’m out there.

This race will actually make my April pretty challenging. I already have Dallas on the 11th, Charlottesville, Va. on the 17th, Boston on the 19th, Nashville on the 24th and Oklahoma City on the 25th (plus my Train 4 Autism race here on the 3rd). That’s seven for the month, but six in six states over a 16-day span. Forget the running … that’s a lot of race reports to write!

Oh, by the way, this isn’t going to boost the total to 61. I have another race that’s part of a double I’m planning on dropping.

Hyperbaric Chamber Update
Jenn Fellrath, a loyal supporter of Operation Jack, has asked me a few times recently about how Jack is doing at the hyperbaric chamber, so I figured I’d give an update in here for everybody. Last night, we went to Advanced Hyperbarics for another session and he did pretty well. When we first started going, it was a chore to handle him in there. He squirmed, he resisted holding the oxygen mask up to his face and it was really challenging to spend an hour in there with him.

He’s gotten a lot better with it, though. He knows the routine and hops right in. Last night, he held the mask to his face by himself for a good 80 percent of the session. For the majority of the remaining 20 percent, he didn’t resist me holding it. There’s a hood you can wear instead of holding the mask, which makes it easier and more effective, but he’s refusing that right now. We’re working on it, though, and I’m really looking forward to the day when he wears that. Part of it is a plastic collar that holds on the clear, plastic hood, and last night he was willing to at least try the collar on. That’s progress in my book.

All of that isn’t what Jenn is really asking about, though. She wants to know how he’s improving as a result of the treatment. Well, it’s really tough to say. We’ve been going for about five months now, and he’s shown incredible progress in that time. This isn’t a controlled scientific experiment, so numerous factors could be contributing to his improvements. But I really believe that the oxygen is helping. The speech is really starting to come out better in bits in pieces. He’s much more attentive and alert. It’s kind of like we’re buffing out a car and we’re seeing some shiny parts now.

He’s a different child than he was when I first launched this site and I suspect he’ll be vastly improved by the time the year is over. Exactly what is causing that, I can’t say. But we like the routine we’re in right now.

Jenn, let me know if that’s sufficient.

Race Forecast
OK, this is not a PR course. I’m sure it’s a beautiful course, since it runs through Knoxville, Tenn. But it looks incredibly hilly on the course profile. The first nice climb starts at about mile 2, there are about five solid climbs total, including a long, gradual uphill from 22 to 25 and what looks like a hill at about 25.5. This contest is going to cost you an extra dime, because I just don’t see it being a fast day.

One cool thing about the course is that it ends up on the 50-yard line in Neyland Stadium, the 107,000-seat facility where the University of Tennessee plays football. I like to kick for the last mile in a marathon, but a good friend of mine suggested I kick at the 10-yard line so I can get a 40 time in there. I’ll probably go with the last mile, but not if I’m out of gas, which I suspect is possible.

Physically, I feel a lot better than I did at this point last week. I’ve been running a little bit harder this week to mix it up and I’ve been enjoying that. I think I’ll feel fine on race day. I have a personal score to settle with the 26.2-mile distance, because it kicked my butt last week in Virginia Beach. I expect to be fired up and ready to go. But I’ll be limited by the course and my body.

I want to set a personal best for the year, which would be 3:07:20. I wouldn’t call that likely, but that’s what I want to do. If I was making a donation for the contest, I’d probably go with about $3.13 in this one. I’m not making a donation, though. I already have my t-shirt, tech shirt and sweatshirt. Plus, how wrong would that be if I won my own contest?

Catch Me At Dailymile.com
OK, so I’ve seen dailymile, and I think I had an account, but I never really did anything with it because I was using runningahead.com. But for what I’m doing, which is tracking my running and trying to meet runners, it’s become pretty obvious to me that I needed to get on dailymile. So, I did. I think some folks told me that word for there is “stalk” as opposed to “follow” (Twitter) or “friend” (Facebook), so come stalk me! How weird to say that! But you can find me here.

For my next step in social media correctness, I’m going to integrate WordPress into here, but not yet. I’m getting there and there are only 24 hours in a day.

That’s All For This Week!
Please, please, please — participate in the contest! It makes my day when I see your entries come across! It lets me know that I’m not alone and running myself into the ground for nothing. Beyond that, be well, eat your ice cream and pull for my Kansas State Wildcats against Xavier tonight!