Extra-Sensory

First, my apologies folks for not posting in a while.  I thought I had a new gig going but so far the editor has not set up my profile.  Two lessons there.  One I remember.  Don't pester editors or they will go away.  One I forgot.  Don't wait for editors.  Keep yourself in the public eye via other avenues.  Same thing when you are job hunting.  Don't quit until you have the offer.

Second, my blog for the day.  As you know, I have been training my son Aaron for his first OCR race.  We are two months into it.  The first month he just followed along with me as I was in strict training for a race.  The second month, I introduced him to my OCR training for beginners program - M80.  For the most part, he has done exceptionally well, with one exception.  He has Aspberger's Syndrome.  That means he is autistic.

He is on the spectrum slice of highly functional.  Most of his issues are social.  I have also discovered his extra-sensory issue since starting with the OCR training.  Those of us in OCR are very familiar with our "war wounds" that we wear as badges of honor after a race.  Cuts, scrapes, bruises, and other minor wounds are part of the game.  We don't give or get any sympathy for them.

But for Aaron, he is hyper-sensitive to these things.  One scrape and he is done and out of the game.  I try everything I know to help get him back on the course.  So far nothing has worked.  He just shuts down.  Typical Aspy behavior.  Very frustrating to me.

This morning we were supposed to do a 5-mile playground run.  We were doing fine until we got to the third playground.  Surrounded by a split rail fence, we were supposed to weave in and out of the rails.  He got scraped on the first one.  Game over.  I decided not to push it or talk him out of it.  Perhaps if we just ran.  No more obstacles.  He said he would give it a try.

But a quarter mile later the issues intensified.  For Aaron, that means he thinks he cannot breath.  The problem I have as a parent and a trainer is I cannot tell if it is real or just a display of Aspberger's.  I know he feels it and something is going on.  So it is real in one sense.  But in another, it is difficult to tell if it is amplified by his hypersensitivity or he really has something physically going on.

I have seen the symptoms often enough to raise the alarm to my wife.  We agree we need to get him checked out.  Thus ended my training for this morning.  I wonder if I should still sign up Aaron for an OCR volunteer job the first week of October.  I don't want to take anything away from him.  But at the same time I don't want to see him hurt.

Unless you are the parent, family member, or care-giver to someone with autism, you may not understand much of this.  But this is part of the OCRMudmaster's life on a daily basis.  It is a very tough, sometimes frightening obstacle.  It defies every technique I know for OCR.  And I can't burpee out of it.

I know there are a few other parents of autistic children who follow me on FB.  There are a few OCR athletes out there who are autistic.  Your insights and stories are appreciated.  I am feeling defeated.