What's Up With OJ Wednesday

I’ve fallen into a weekly routine with my blogs and for the Wednesday version, I’m piecing together updates about Operation Jack for y’all. I decided to call it “What’s Up With OJ Wednesday” because alliteration works and I can re-use the headline. So, on that note, it’s Wednesday — here’s what’s up with OJ!

SF Showin’ Love For SF!
OK really, it’s SF showin’ love for OJ, but the SF-SF thing worked there for the headline. The first SF I’m referring to is the San Francisco Marathon. The second SF is me (Sam Felsenfeld), although really, it’s Operation Jack in this case. The marathon featured me yesterday in its monthly newsletter as the “Runner Highlight” of the month, although at the core of it all, it’s an Operation Jack highlight.

This newsletter is posted on the marathon’s website, but it also went out in an email to everybody in its database. A lot of people found out about Operation Jack yesterday because of this, which could be a big help as the year goes on. I joked with a lot of friends yesterday that I did a fine job of sneaking my way into their inbox. Things like this are fun, but above that, they’re a big help.

Also, the marathon gave me pretty nice billing on its Official Charities page. So as I said, SF gave SF (and OJ) some love yesterday! I met the race director and some other staff members up in Napa over the weekend and they were super-nice people. I’m really looking forward to running in their race in July. I hope a lot of you join me and support a race that is working hard to support Operation Jack! If nothing else, you get to run across the Golden Gate Bridge — how rad is that?

Congrats To Molly Rearick For Predicting My Blow-Up In Napa!
I had a contest last week, and I’ll keep having it (I think). Basically, guess my time in my race for that weekend with a small donation (for instance, if you think I’m going to run a 3:12, donate $3.12) and whoever gets closest without bidding under my finishing time wins their choice of an Operation Jack tech shirt or sweatshirt.

Coming off of my 3:09 in Tampa, based on the course and my condition, I really thought I was going to be quicker in Napa. I was chasing sub-3, and I really thought I’d be good for a 3:06 or so. But I went 3:11, so Molly won with her guess of a 3:18.

Five Ways To Help
A lot of people jump follow along and ask me what they can do to help. Like with everything else, I know from every person I hear that from, there are probably a dozen more silently thinking the same thing. So, I’m going to throw out five different ideas. In a way, I guess I’m the team leader, since I’m visible and running the 60 marathons. But if I was doing this alone, it would be a colossal failure. I know this is a team effort and we’re all hoping for the same goal — growing Train 4 Autism to help countless children and families for years to come.

So, I’m asking that each of you try just one of these five ways to help during March. If you do, Operation Jack will have HUGE momentum heading into the second quarter! These five ideas get a little more difficult as you scroll down the list, but the first one is really easy!

1. Spread the word
Everybody knows somebody who is impacted by autism somehow or is a runner or who might find what I’m doing to be interesting. Please send one person to the site, invite them to become a fan on Facebook, join the Facebook group, follow me on Twitter, etc. I always say that I’m throwing a bunch of darts and some of them will hit the board. The more people you tell, the more darts we can throw!

2. Commit to run a race
I still have 48 left on the schedule and I love meeting supporters at all of the events. If you’re going to be in town at one of the races I’m doing, I’d love to meet you, and I’d love to have you run it in an Operation Jack shirt. I’m running marathons (26.2 miles), but most races also offer events as short as a 5K. Those work too!

3. Sport the gear
If you take a look at the Sponsors page, you can see the levels to get shirts, tech shirts, hooded sweatshirts, etc. They all turned out pretty nicely and the sweatshirts are really comfortable. I know, just in time for spring. But they’re comfortable! We use these as a fundraiser and you’re advertising the cause you when you wear the clothing.

4. 10×10
I’m not a fundraising expert, but I know I’ve gotten a bunch of requests over the years to contribute to support somebody who’s running a race. I go to a web page, donate $20 and move on with my day. I know it’s tough to do this, so I created a plan called 10×10. My hope is that $10 is a pretty easy donation to get. That’s about what lunch costs. I also hope that you’ll give it a shot. If you get 10 people to contribute $10, we’ll send you an Operation Jack tech shirt and t-shirt for free.

5. Start a Train 4 Autism chapter
This one probably take the most work out of any of these, but it’s not as hard as you think and we have people who will help you as much as you need. It doesn’t take a ton of work, and this is really what’s going to make Train 4 Autism grow. It’s also the one that you’ll notice the direct results from the most. If you have any questions, e-mail me and I’ll discuss it a little more.

That’s All For Today!
Like that wasn’t enough though, huh? Have a great Wednesday! I’ll be back tomorrow with my weekend forecast. This one’s going to be tough. Big, big hills!