Why I Run

According to many recent studies, autism affects 1 out of every 110 children born today, and affects roughly 1 out of every 70 males born.

My name is Aaron and I have a son who has been diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism is a pervasive development disorder of which there seems to be no known cure for, though through some treatments the signs and symptoms can be greatly decreased, but this is not the norm. In addition to being a father of an autistic child I am a runner. Within the last 365 days I have trained for and run in three half marathons (13.1 miles each), two 10k’s (6.2 miles each), and one 5k race. The races alone come to over 50 miles traveled on my feet, but that does not include the training. Each of the half marathon training cycles consisted of at least 120 miles, and the 10k and 5k races were incorporated into those cycles as well. In all, roughly calculated over the past year, I have traveled somewhere in the area of 550 miles - all by my own feet.

All of this started because a friend suggested I run the Flying Pig half marathon last year. It seemed like a good idea. I had spent five years in the U.S. Marines and did plenty of training back then, but that had been over 10 years in the past. I slowly got myself back into running and last May I finished my first half marathon in 2 hours, 12 minutes, 12 seconds. I completed another half marathon and two 10 races before the end of 2009. Having made a decision with two friends to run a distance race each fall I decided to look into team running and fund raising. Many of the organizations require thousands of dollars in funds raised, some only ask for a few hundred. And while many have excellent causes, only a small number of them hit close to home. Having recently lost a grandmother to leukemia I thought about joining a team that supports cancer research, but in the end I chose something very close to home. My youngest son is autistic and I now have an even better reason to run than merely for my health or the medals I may win.

This work will be devoted to my running life and my support for raising funds for the Organization for Autism Research (OAR). In October 2010 (my birthday, Oct. 10th to be precise) I will be participating in the Chicago Marathon. While I only need to raise $250 for the organization I have chosen to bump that number up to $500 with an expectation of raising over $1,000 for OAR. Throughout the next several months I will be posting here, Facebook and Twitter about fundraising events for this cause. In addition to that I will randomly post facts, figures, statistics and recent studies on autism spectrum disorders. Likewise I will keep those who might read this up to date with my training and any other races I may run between now and October and beyond. Some posts may be short (as I am a father of 4, full time worker, and college student), while others may be more in depth. My goal for this is to keep tabs on myself, keep myself honest about my training, and to further understand the condition my son will live with throughout his entire life.

For those who do end up reading this I will be adding new things from time to time, such as links to my fund raising page for OAR and Walk Now for Autism Speaks. I thank you in advance for helping me in my support to find more information about this condition that nearly 2 million people in the U.S. live with. I will allow comments on most posts up to 2 months old and look forward to hearing about your training, you family members with autism, and about you yourself. I especially look forward to getting to know people with autism that are athletes - I want to know what motivates you, keeps you moving forward, and what makes you want to strive towards excellence in your particular sport. Thanks for stopping by and book mark this page for future reference!