All I want for Christmas

(I'll refrain from busting out the remaining parts of the song, but, just know, I'm singing it internally)

You know, this year, money is tight for us, as it is for many people. My husband bought me a fabulous new bag for my birthday / marathon completion present and for us, it was a pretty penny. I'm so grateful for his thoughtfulness. That said, I'm not really sure what to ask for this holiday season as it seems that we have everything we really "need" and most of my "wants" are running related (new clothes--it's snowing here kids, I don't have running in snow clothes), house related (anything to make it pretty) or something just as silly.

But, upon further reflection, there is something that I really, really want (like want even more than a pony and y'all know how much I want a pony). I want to help make OperationJack successful.

This is where you come in.

As many of you know, I recently completed a full marathon (that’s 26.2 miles of running) and did it for me—to cross it off my list by my birthday. I can happily say that I completed that goal and am so grateful for all the support I had from you all as I embarked on this journey.


Even after logging months of 100+ miles, I’m not ready to retire my running shoes. Just the opposite in fact. I’m running another marathon. Yes, you read that correctly. In less than 16 weeks, I will be embarking on another 26.2 mile journey—but this time, I’m not running for me. I’m running for someone else. In fact, for a lot of someone’s.

I will be running The Catalina Marathon on March 13, 2010 for OperationJack—an effort by a father to run 60 marathons in 2010 to raise money and awareness for Train4Autism (you can read more about Sam and his inspiring journey here).

As someone who has been blessed to spend considerable time with Autistic children, this effort spoke to my heart and although I hadn’t even finished one marathon, I knew I had to sign up to run one for Jack—and all the other people impacted by Autism around the world.

I feel very blessed to be able to participate in this cause, and even more grateful for those who I know that are living with Autism now—they have taught me so much about life, about love and about what it takes to really give. And I want to give back to them.

But, I can’t do this alone—we need help to raise money and awareness. To that end, I have set a goal to raise $850.00 by the time I lace up my shoes for Catalina—that’s exactly 14 weeks and 3 days away. ;)

I know that things are tight right now, especially as we are gearing up for holiday shopping, but, please, consider making a donation. Think of it as a gift-- a gift to me (cause you know you want t0) and a gift to all those families who are affected by Autism every single day. I know we can do this!

Great things can be done with research and therapy, but, none of that can happen without help. Please visit my fundraising pages for more information: http://operationjack.kintera.org/texasrunner

If a monetary donation seems too much, please consider participating in one of the 60 races that are affiliated with OperationJack. You don’t have to run a marathon to help—many of the races have varying distances, including 5ks associated with them. Here’s the schedule. I'll be running in at least 3 and would love to see you there (Catalina Marathon, Big D Texas Marathon, Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon).

Or, if you aren't ready to lace up your running shoes, please log onto Facebook and become a fan of Chase Giving and vote for OperationJack. More information found here. It's really simple and doesn't take more than a minute--your vote could mean huge things for OperationJack.

So, tell your friends, tell your families, tell your dogs--just please, spread the word--and please, donate if you can.

That's all I want for Christmas.

(well, a treadmill would be nice too since it's snowing here and all, but, I'd rather have the donations for Jack)

Thank you :)

Merry Christmas!

(gosh, think I used enough links? You have no excuses--I made it so simple)