What’s another 3.1 miles when you’ve just finished a marathon. Join Team JFK for our second year of participation in this great event. It starts and ends at Southborough’s Town Hall. Strollers, pets, and iPods welcome – a terrific family event with plenty of music and food at the finish.

It’s been a week since we both finished the 2008 Boston Marathon. Here are a few highlights from the big day:

Pre-race
Mike was stopped at the Hopkinton road closure on his way to my house and I had to drive down to the end of my street and pick him up. Otherwise the time before the race passed uneventfully. About an hour and a half before the start Dianne drove us as close as she could and we walked the last half-mile to the Athlete’s Village at Hopkinton Middle School. There we met the rest of the NECC team, hung out, stretched, waited in line for the facilities, and drank more water. The weather was absolutely perfect. No mud bath this year.

The Start
We made our way down Grove St. to Corral 22 on Main. By the time we got there, the 10:30 wave had just started, but it was another 10 minutes before we crossed the line. Mike took off immediately as I was running a slower pace.

Mile 8
Dianne, her mom, and the kids were camped out with chairs and snacks just after the 8-mile mark in West Natick. Dianne had scouted the area the day before so I knew just where to look for them. The kids were a bit dazed from watching the steady stream of runners, but I think they were excited to see me. I stopped for a bit for high-fives and to put on some sun screen. I’m so glad they were there. It was a perfect spot, not too crowded and early in the race. You’re the best Dianne!

The Crowds
Because of the great weather spectators turned out in huge numbers. Wellesley College lived up to it’s reputation as the tunnel of screaming at mile 12, but they were outdone by the folks around Boston College. By the time I reached BC at mile 21, the lead runners had been done for some time. Still the noise was deafening and folks were spilling into the streets narrowing the passage. It reminded me of the crowds I’ve watched on some of the stages of the Tour de France. Unbelievable. The NECC folks were out in cheerful groups wearing their green shirts which were thankfully easy to spot. My friend Karen, who lives near the route, was at mile 22 with encouragement and Gatorade. It really helped to see the folks I knew toward the end.

The Finish
Our mom and her friends Patsy and Rocky were waiting on the corner of Bolyston and Hereford, but I wasn’t able to see them until we met up after the race. Finishing this time around was more of a challenge than in previous years. Around the halfway point it started getting tough for me which meant over 13 miles and 2 hours of mind games to keep the feet moving. Still, I couldn’t have asked for a better day. Thank you once again to all the friends and family who supported us through 4 months of training and for helping us raise over $15,500 combined for John’s school!

Dear Michael and Julie:

Congratulations on John on receiving the Student of the Month award! He has worked hard over the past few months and really deserves this recognition.

The enclosed student write up has been posted on the Student of the Month board at school. Please feel free to stop by and look at the entire Student of the month write-ups. The award presentation will be taking place on Thursday, April 3rd at 2:10pm in the NECC library.
We look forward to seeing you!

Student write up:

John is an active 5-year-old boy who has been a student in the Intensive Instruction since March 2007. John is very engaging and very eager to please his teachers. John is great with his PECS. He requests a variety of different edibles and activities. John will make a sentence with PECS, request attention, and approximate the sentence and hand it to the teacher for all requests throughout the day.

John has recently been introduced to a vertical schedule at school. John picked his schedule up very quickly. He has done a great job and will independently manipulate his schedule.

John is a whiz at video modeling! He has learned to play with a lot of different toys. He can construct animals with K’nex, cars with bristle blocks, robots, and potato heads. He has done a great job learning new activities quickly and generalizing them across different teachers and enviroments. John has also learned a lot of imitation skills. He can imitate 2 and 3 step gross motor sequences and is beginning to work on 2 step object imitation. John has been able to demonstrate his excellent imitation skills when his friends come to visit during reverse integration.

The preschool is very proud of John and his accomplishments, and looks forward to even more progress in the future. Great job John!

CNN programming will focus on Autism today.

The much anticipated Celtics drawing was held last night in front of a studio audience under the watchful eyes of accountants from our esteemed audit firm. The lucky winner? Danielle Ullrich! Her name was chosen randomly among all who have donated so far. Congratulations Danielle! Upon learning of her good fortune she exclaimed, “I never win anything!”, which may be true, but the real winner in all of this is John. To date Rob and I have raised an incredible $13,922.20 for NECC’s Annual Fund!

I believe that the most targetted and direct way to help a child with Autism is by providing the best learning environment possible, which is exactly what the Annual Fund is for. Yes, Autism research and awareness are important, but nothing will impact John’s immediate and long-term future more than pouring resources into what he needs the most to reach his fullest potential.

So, the next time you see John and he meets your eyes with a wave or a “bye, bye” please know that your donation has made this type of progress possible.

And, as Danielle and her husband Paul will attest after attending the Celts game this Friday, membership in the Marathon for John club has other rewards as well!