Where I Come From

For a distance runner, I’m in decent shape. I’m not elite, and I never will be, and some days are better than others. But all in all, I’ve gotten fairly decent at this. However, it hasn’t always been this way. I was never fast as a kid (I had to push just to be slow) and I spent the first 12 years of my adult life doing nothing but abusing my body. As a runner, that’s where I come from, and I’ll talk about that right after I squeeze in a few words about my run and my son.

Today’s Workout
I loved going to amusement parks when I was a kid, but I could do just fine without roller coasters right now. After going through some miserable lows for a couple of months, I finally got great news on Monday that my right knee is in good shape. I had been suffering with some pains since early May. I was pretty certain I was just suffering from tendinitis, but with Operation Jack looming, I was nervous that it was something more than that.

Well, in case you didn’t read the blog yesterday, it’s just tendinitis and I got the green light to run. Not only that, the doctor knows what I’m doing next year and he didn’t raise any red flags. Phew! So yesterday, I ran 16.1 miles! Yeah! Back on track! And then at lunch, I went and picked up about 14,000 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 flyers that were printed free for Operation Jack! Yeah — we’re rolling!

And then I stepped on a rough patch in the parking lot after lunch. Miserably twisted my ankle. I think I’m going to be fearing every step I take until I complete Operation Jack. How long until 2011?

I was nervous to wake up this morning, because I didn’t know how bad my ankle would be. It’s still pretty sore, but it’s not discolored or swollen, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I was on the fence, but I went for it, thinking it was probably stupid. I just hate not running, though. So I went out and I could tell that I was keeping my left foot a little more stiff than normal. When I’d shake it around, it hurt. So I didn’t do that! Within the first mile, I started to feel it in my quads more than I normally do. I knew I was favoring something, and that’s how I injured my knee.

But you know me — I like to do stupid things and I don’t always practice what I preach. So, I went on with the run. It wasn’t particularly comfortable at any point, but for the first 12 or so miles, my speed was fine. I ran the exact same distance as yesterday, 16.1, although I slowed down a bit at the end and wound up about 10 seconds per mile slower. Not worried about anything, though. I’ll just keep ice on it all day.

Talkin’ Jack
In case this is your first time here, or if you’ve never been to the rest of the site, I’m planning on running 60 marathons next year to raise awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. My son, Jack, is severely autistic and I want to do something to make a difference in his honor. In this spot in each blog, I’ll talk about Jack a little bit.

Jack had a good day yesterday. He had fun swimming out in the kiddie pool in the backyard and interacted well chasing Benjamin and Ava in the playroom in the evening. During the day, when Tiff went shopping with the kids, he was actually the best behaved out of the three. Later, his therapist played a game with him where Ben and Ava would dance to music and we would stop it and start to control the game. He realized the cause and effect of what he was doing and had a blast. Of course the greatest part of his day yesterday is that he slept in!

Where I Came From
On Monday, the following comment was posted beneath my blog: I am so inspired by your story! How did you go from where you were then to where you are now? I guess what I’m really asking is: is it really possible for me to go from my rocker to running by next June?

First of all, of course it’s possible to go from your rocker to running by next June … as long as you don’t tell yourself you can’t do it. You can. Here’s my story, the reason I think it’s possible to achieve anything you want as long as you work for it.

Some of you know the story, some of you don’t. I was never athletic growing up. I loved to play sports, but I wasn’t any good. And I certainly wasn’t very fast. I was small, but played on the line in football, because I was too slow to play anywhere it else. It was fun getting my butt kicked in practice. I was always the last guy done with sprints and I was dead last in any kind of race. I cheated on the mile in PE, and never ran a single mile faster than 8:30 before my 31st birthday. My parents have a tortoise, which is totally fitting, because that’s how fast I was.

So that’s my pedigree. For my history, I’ll start with November 7, 1991. For everybody other than me, that’s the day Magic Johnson announced he had HIV. For me, that’s the day I broke my neck. You know those rules they have about pushing people in the shallow end of the pool? Yeah, those rules exist for a reason. The first time they let me out of bed in the hospital, it took me about 10 minutes to walk 50 feet, and I then proceeded to vomit and pass out from the strenuous activity. So, my ability to move with my legs, which was already lousy, was even worse. I saw my x-rays, and I know how blessed I am not to be paralyzed. At this point, I feel like my legs were spared for a reason.

I spent the next dozen years wrecking my body. I rarely exercised, I drank a ton, I smoked for four years and I ate very unhealthy food (and lots of it). I was in horrible condition. I’d lose weight occasionally, but I’d put it all back on and more. I was the poster child of what not to do.

In May 2003, my wife was concerned about my health. I was extremely overweight (261 pounds), I was still drinking too much and eating poorly and I didn’t exercise at all. My brother had a blood test that revealed high cholesterol and my wife was worried about me. So, she sent me in for a physical. When I went to the doctor, I felt like I was going to school without my homework. I knew I was in trouble. I got lectured by the doctor and sent for blood work. The results were terrible. My cholesterol was at 307. My mother-in-law called me a walking heart attack. My liver was the worst of my concerns. Years of drinking had caught up with me. I was instructed not to drink alcohol for 24 hours before my bloodwork, and I stretched that to 72 just to be safe.

But the numbers were so bad, the doctor asked me, in complete seriousness, if I had been drinking hard alcohol on the way to the test. He told me he wanted to put me on prescription medication for my cholesterol, but he was afraid he’d blow up my liver. So he told me I’d have to work it down through diet and exercise. I was afraid I’d drop dead, and I wasn’t yet even 29. “Well, you’re OK to walk around the block,” he told me, “but don’t go out and run a marathon!” I kid you not, that’s exactly what he told me. Of course, there was no way I was going to exercise. Did he know who he was talking to?

On November 20, 2004, two days before my 30th birthday, my wife gave me an iPod as a gift, suggesting that maybe I’d want to start walking. I just shook my head, because that was such a waste of a gift. No way was I going to start walking. Get up early in the morning and exercise? No way, not even if she couldn’t touch her fingertips when she gave me a hug! The iPod sat on top of the TV for close to a week. It was a $300 discman and I didn’t need that. What a waste. I told Tiff to take it back, but she begged me to keep and enjoy it, even if I wasn’t going to exercise (she gave up that fight!).

Finally, on November 25, I opened it up. It was pretty cool. I loaded some music on it and started flipping through the songs. The only problem was I had no idea when I’d ever use it. When would I use an iPod? At the dinner table? When I was sleeping? So, I started walking so I could listen to the music. I covered 3.5 miles around my neighborhood in about an hour four times a week.

Tomorrow, I’ll explain how I qualified for the Boston Marathon less than three years later.

What’s Your Story?
I’d love to know your story — let me know where you came from, why you’re participating and who your special star is. I want to start featuring your stories on the site. I might be leading the way, but it’s not all about me. It’s about all of us stepping and making a difference to help those affected by autism. So, drop me a line. Let me know why you’re here. If you want don’t want to post as a comment, hit the Contact Us form (it’s really the Contact Me form)!

Here’s Proof That I Used To Be A Tad Bit Larger Than I Am Now
We took this video because we thought we would look back and laugh at my hair. I’m superstitious, and right before the start of football season, I cut my hair. My two favorite teams — my alma mater (Kansas State) and the Kansas City Chiefs started winning, so I didn’t cut my hair all season. K-State won its first conference championship since 1934 that year, beating a heavily-favored Oklahoma team by four touchdowns in the Big XII Championship Game. Kansas City had the best regular-season record in the AFC, 13-3. So despite my wife’s nagging, I didn’t cut my hair. This video was taken the day I returned from my trip to the Fiesta Bowl. Tiff insisted I cut my hair, even though the NFL playoffs hadn’t started. Enough was enough. So I did, later that day. And the Chiefs promptly lost their first game in the postseason to Indianapolis. It had to be the hair.

Enjoy Your Wednesday!
Thank you so much for reading today and for believing in this cause. Keep sending folks to the site and we’ll keep growing. Remember, this is all about participation, not finding the golden ticket. By bringing people here, and increasing the size of our club, we’re going to have a bigger base to build from when we really start to attack 2010. Thank you to everybody who is helping and offering help, and to everybody else just for showing up and supporting Operation Jack! Have a great Wednesday and I’ll see you back here tomorrow!