Time flies when I skip a day on the blog, as I did yesterday. It’s Thursday (except in Australia, where it’s already Friday), which means it’s time for my weekend preview and contest. Since I skipped my What’s Up With Operation Jack Wednesday this week, I have a few things I want to mention.
First, the standard intro, in case you’ve never been here before. I’m a father of three and a marathon runner. My middle child, 6 1/2-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. Super long story short, I’m trying to run 60 full marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m through 28 of the 60.
Moving right along, every week I have a weekly contest where you guys try to guess my time based on feedback I give you. You make a small donation ($3.09 if you think I’m going to run a 3:09) and whoever comes closest without bidding under is the winner and gets their choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt.
Last week’s winner was Emily Yantis of San Antonio. I thought I would go 3:07 or so I think and I went 3:25. She was smart enough to know how stupid I am. Well, she still thought I’d do fairly well, but I never pass up an opportunity to put myself down.
This week’s contest will be a little different. I’ll explain why in a bit.
My Job Is Easier Than My Wife’s
My wife Tiffany stays home and takes care of the kids. Really, there’s no other way we could do it, especially with Jack’s demands. But just because she doesn’t have an employer doesn’t mean she doesn’t work. Quite the contrary, she works WAY harder than I do. If you’ve been following along with my blog, you know we just saw a DAN doctor last week and we have a new routine for Jack.
Aside from everything else she does, here’s Jack’s supplement board:
I don’t know how she does it.
Yeah, I’d much rather write code.
Chase Community Giving Contest
Last fall, there was a contest sponsored by Chase Community Giving on Facebook and I think something like 100 charities won $25,000 or something like that. It was a voting contest. Well, they’re doing it again, starting June 15. That’s next Monday. 195 charities will earn $20,000, four will get $100,000 and one will get $250,000.
I still have work to do on the Operation Jack Autism Foundation page at Chase Community Giving on Facebook, but it will be ready and I’m going to beg you guys over and over again for a month. You can only vote once, but you can be sure I’ll remind you!
Anyways, I’m going to beg you to help and spread it through your Facebook and Twitter. I created a page on this site, operationjack.org/chase that is easy to remember and will redirect you there. Starting Monday, post it on your wall, encourage your friends and send it out on Twitter. Some charities are going to get a very nice bonus from Chase for sending this viral. Why not us?
OJ Gear!
I don’t push it as often as I should, but we have Operation Jack clothing available for sale as one of our key fundraisers. Our donation levels are $26.20 for a t-shirt, $60 for a t-shirt and a tech shirt and $100 for a t-shirt, tech shirt and hooded sweatshirt. We’ll also list you on our Sponsors page.
Those are our standard donation rates. But we’ll also just sell them to you. We won’t list you as a sponsor, but we’ll send you out the gear. T-shirts are $15, tech shirts are $25 and sweatshirts are $30. You need to tack on $5 for shipping for those.
Everybody really seems to love these things, especially the sweatshirts. I’d love to put you in these for a couple of reasons. One, obviously, they’re a fundraiser for us. But also, when you wear the clothing, you’re spreading the word.
So click on the Donate Now! link on any page on the site and order up some gear!
This Week’s Race & Contest
This weekend, I’m running the Utah Valley Marathon in the Provo, Utah area. There’s really not a lot to say about this one. It’s going to be a beautiful, scenic run. It’s on a big downhill course that’s very, very fast. And I’m the 3:40 pacer. Guessing my time shouldn’t be too tricky. 3:40 is the Boston qualifying time for women between 18 and 34. So, I guess for one time in my life, I can get away with telling my wife I have to get on a plane and go take a bunch of women to Boston.
Now, while I’m not worried about running a 3:40, I am a human being, not a robot. Nothing is guaranteed. Heck, I ran a 3:57 two weeks ago. Of course, there was pretty severe heat (87 degrees) and it was humid. But really, I’m not concerned about Saturday. And I take my pacing pretty serious. If I mess up my own race, that’s one thing. But if I ruin somebody else’s, that’s a different story.
I’ve paced twice, both times the 3:30 group at the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, Calif. In my book, 3:29:59 would be a perfect job pacing. I absolutely don’t want to come in any slower than the goal time, and one second fast means we hit the sub-3:30 goal without truly going too fast. I aim to keep consistent miles … it’s not like I’m going to run a 3:10 pace for the first 25 miles and the crawl on my knees to the finish to slow it up. I like to stay within about a 15-second range unless elevation changes dictate otherwise.
Anyways, in 2009, I paced 3:30 on only one hour of sleep, because I had a work emergency the night before. I always thought I could run a 3:30 in my sleep and I went 3:29:54. Five seconds off! This year, I ran a marathon the day before I paced 3:30, which freaked out my group when they found that out before the race, but I ran consistent miles and went 3:29:39 — less than one second per mile off.
So, that brings us to …
This Week’s Contest
Marathons aren’t easy, even if I’m running them more than 30 minutes slower than I’m capable of. But I would be truly surprised if I didn’t run a 3:39 on Saturday. I’d also be extremely disappointed in myself. So the contest is to guess the number of seconds past 3:39 I’m going to go and attach that as the cents to the typical $3. So, if you think I’m going to run a 3:39:42, you’ll donate $3.42. If you think I’m going 3:39:50, it’s $3.50. If I was betting, I’d probably say 3:39:46. But I’m not betting. I already have my gear. Plus, I’d be one heck of a jerk to win my own contest!
To participate, just click on the Donate Now! link on any page. Come on, it’s three bucks … less than a coffee at Starbucks!
Video Of The Day
I saw this online yesterday and thought it was hilarious. Check out the drummer. Please don’t watch this while you’re drinking your coffee. You might spit it out.
That’s All For Today
Have a great weekend, everybody! I’ll post a recap on Saturday. I have a vision of a 3:39!
Re: the Chase Community Giving, can we vote more than once if it’s from diff. computers or email addresses? Best Buddies was part of that in the spring and we could vote once a day. I voted from home from my email and at work using Asia’s email addy.
Let me guess… your excuse for not winning the race this weekend is that you are the pacer… I am going to offer once again, but I have no plans on Sunday so if you and Tiff want to come up with a to do list let me know…
Josh, did I gain sympathy points from you because you saw Jack’s board? J/K Yes, I could always use your help. Thanks! Oh, and don’t give me any credit yet, I haven’t started Jack on anything…still waiting to send in stool and urine samples before I start giving him supplements. And, not to go too into detail, but let’s just say that it all rests in Jack’s hands (or should I say tummy)? 😉 Now, I have a quick question, is that drummer really gifted? Or is he just being a goof ball? Oh, and when you were talking about pacing in the past, you failed to mention that you literally were running off of one hour of sleep that time you paced the 3:30 group. I still can’t get over that one! Great blog!