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Thank you to those considering supporting Dougie's Team!
Why I run - I started running while traveling for work. I used to travel up to 60% of my time, so running became my default exercise; I could throw shoes and shorts in any bag and most every hotel had access to a running trail or treadmill. Originally, I hated running, and decided I needed a goal. So I signed up for my first marathon. No 10K, no half. Just jumped right in. Now I actually enjoy running. It clears my head and gives me a chance to listen to a lot of audiobooks.
Since my first marathon in 2015, five of our six children have been diagnosed on the spectrum. Having a chance to work with Dougie's Team for Autism carries a ton of importance for me personally. Raising Autistic children brings a lot of joy and frustrations. We have been incredibly blessed with the support we have for our children, and I am glad to have the chance to raise money for those that need additional support and to raise awareness for what it means to be a child with Autism or the parent of an Autistic child. Though I heard it from a different source, my favorite quote about Autism is attributed to Dr. Steven Shore: “When you meet one person with Autism, you’ve met one person with Autism.” There really is no one-size-fits-all conception for who an Autistic person is, and I hope to bring a little more awareness to what Autism is to those around me.
FAQs:
Family
- Six kids! Yes, we have six kids. My older three I adopted in 2013. They are my wife's children from a previous marriage. We went on to have three children together, being blessed with twins on our last round.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder. Each of our kids have a different diagnosis, and are very different kids (that's why they call it a spectrum). Originally we had diagnoses of Asperger’s and PDD-NOS for our older kids. After publication of the DSM-S, Asperger's and PDD-NOS fell under the Autism Spectrum Diagnosis and are all now known as Autisms Spectrum Disorder [ASD]. In addition to ASD, we mix in diagnoses of Anxiety, ADHD, Dysgraphia, etc. Our kids are all very verbal, active in sports and activities, and generally doing well in school. They excel in math, science, art and music, and in general they struggle with social cues, fine motor skills, hygiene (especially stinky teenagers, but that might be normal), fixating on certain topics, and each have their own separate challenges as well.
- We live in Idaho where my family settled in 1882, but as a family unit we have also moved for work a few times. We were based in Connecticut for a while and just outside of Orlando, Florida (easy Disney World access was great), and moved back to Idaho in 2017.
- Our twins are boy/girl, so not identical. And they have different birthdays. Our son was born six minutes before midnight and our daughter eight minutes after. So while only being born fourteen minutes apart, they each get their own birthday.
- Disney trips without the kids? Yes, my wife and I enjoy Disney as adults with and without our kids. I often have work trips in either Orlando or Anaheim. If it doesn’t work to make it a family trip my wife usually meets me for a long weekend where we get to enjoy our time together (we also go other places). Thank you to grandma for being willing to watch our kids!
Running
- I have run three marathons, and ten runDisney challenges where you run a 10K one morning and a half marathon the next. And yes, that means I voluntarily get up at 3:30am multiple times while on vacation.
- I'm currently signed up for another runDisney Marathon in January and another challenge at the end of January. I'm running four days a week and my official training schedule will be sixteen weeks long starting in September. I will be running four times a week, starting with a weekly total of 15 miles and building up to a total of 38 miles.
- My longest training run will be 20 miles, and given it will be in winter in North Idaho, most if not all of my training at the end will be on the treadmill (ugh). Unfortunately, I have multiple experiences with up to 20 mile runs on a treadmill.
- In total I plan to run over 400 training miles getting ready for the races.
- I have done roughly 60 runDisney races since my first marathon in 2015, mostly in person with some virtual. It is a great way for me to have the challenge of a run and my family to get a trip after all of my hours training.
- I have in the back of my mind I might try running all of the runDisney events in one year. This includes four run weekends in Florida (each with three or four runs), two run weekends in Anaheim (three runs each), if it comes back one run weekend in Paris (three runs), one run in the Bahamas (one run) and three sets of virtual runs. In total, that will be almost 200 miles of racing, needing over 1000 miles of training. More to come.
Crazy Disney and travel facts about Doug:
- As a life-long Disney fan, I love the movies and I love the parks. To this point I have been to 10 of the 12 Disney parks in the world: Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea, Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studio Park Paris.
- In total I have been to the parks at Disneyland 51 separate times and to the parks at Walt Disney World 27 times, not counting when we lived in Orlando.
- I also go other places. Three days before my 27th birthday I finished my goal of visiting all 50 US states and have been to 23 countries on 5 continents so far.
- Hard Rock Cafes are a must if there is one where I travel. So far I have been to 74 Hard Rock Cafes worldwide.
