Old Photos

So, recently I've taken up a project of scanning some of my dad's old photos that he has kept from over the years. I figured they would be much easier to share and preserve if we had an electronic copy of them. Most of them have been from the 60's although there were some from the 50's and some from the 70's. I just came upon some that date back even farther than that to the 20's and 30's. I found an old photo of my grandparents. I really like this photo. My grandfather died before I was born and my grandmother died when I was really young. I never really knew them. I think of my grandparents as old people, but you know what? they were young once too. Who would have thought! Anyway, here is the photo.

It is interesting to me to see them so young. I barely even recognize my grandmother. My grandfather was in the Navy back in the early 20's and served on the USS Arizona. I think it is really interesting.

Here is a photo of just my grandmother. This photo is really interesting because on the front is written Aug 1923 but on the back it is written May 4, 1924. They were married on May 5, 1924. I don't know which date to believe. I guess it really doesn't matter does it?

I thought it would be interesting to see how a quick job in photoshop would treat an old photo like this. Since I don't really know how to use Photoshop, I turned to my expert wife who turned that crummy old photo into this:

It is amazing what five minutes with a photo editing program can do. If you have old photos that need touching up, my wife would love to help you out. For a small fee your old photos could look like new ones.

Okay, enough of the advertising. If you want to see some more of my old photos then take a look at them on my facebook page. You can also just click here, here, or here.

My Daughter Ella

Every once in a while I have trouble sleeping at night. It is usually because I took a nap in the afternoon as is the case here. Well, I got out of bed and this is what I did. I love my daughter Ella. Yes I still love her even though it's two a.m. and she just peed her bed. There is one photo from every month of her life. I feel like it is a pretty good video for having thought it up and finished it in the last hour and a half.

What have I been doing for the last couple of months?

Yeah, I know. I've only posted one blog post on here in the last two and a half months. I've been moving and trying to get settled in up here at our new home in the Northwest. I have some photos to share of me running. I also have some pieces of news. I'll start with the fun photos. While I was in Utah in August and September, I ran quite a bit up in the Mountains. This first photo is on my first mountain run up to an 11,000 foot peak up Little Cottonwood Canyon. I think the name of this lake is Cecret Lake. Yeah, it's spelled really funny.


It was tough running up here because I had been living down at sea level. It was lots of fun though, I saw a couple deer and even a moose.

This next one was from a couple days later on a run up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It is a self portrait.


Great shot right?

While in Utah I also ran up Mount Timpanogus with Thayne. It was a really great run except for the fact that I sprained my ankle pretty bad on the way down. It popped really loud. I thought for a minute that I had broken it. I had to take a couple weeks off. but it's doing better now. Here I am at the top of Timp.


We had to be down from the top to block the wind. It was cold up there. We left at five something in the morning and made it to the top at seven something. It took just less than two hours to get to the top. Here's another one:


And here is a photo I have of Thayne.


If it weren't for him I probably wouldn't have made this run. Thanks for your blog. This photo was taken at the saddle, still a mile or so from the top.



Well, we had fun in Utah, then we made our way up here to the northwest. I started school and on campus I saw signs up that they were wanting runners for their new cross country team. I thought that sounded like fun and I've been running with them now for three weeks. I've already had two races. I took it easy at first because of my ankle, but I think my ankle is pretty much completely healed. It is still slightly swollen, but it doesn't hurt anymore.

Here are a couple photos from my first race. This was on October 4th.


My team is in the middle wearing the black uniforms. I'm the second from the right, in the second row.


And here I am running really fast right after the race started. I'm in front, my teammate following close behind me. He ended up finishing about 30 seconds faster than me. We run 8 Kilometer races. It's a lot different than running a marathon or a 50 miler, but it's still fun. I'm definitely not one of the faster ones.

Other than running, I've been doing a lot. My classes are all pretty easy. I already know most of the information and they are all online right now. Amanda is still doing her scoping work. It's been about a month now that we've been here. We still have a couple of boxes laying around that need unpacking. It will eventually get done. Probably about the time that we are ready to move again.

My parents live about two hours away from here if there is no wait for the ferry. I love going up to visit them. We have been up now three or four times. My dad is dieing of lung and brain cancer and I've been trying to get up to see him as much as I can before he goes. It is nice to sit and talk with him and help him out around the house. I think my mom needs just as much support as he does right now though too.


This is a nice three generation photo of my son, me and my dad. We all love my dad very much and can't stand the thought of loosing him. I hope you enjoyed the video I put together of him in my last post. It is a work in progress.

Well that's about it for now. I'll keep you posted on how my running is going. I only have three more races in this season. I'm not sure what I will do after the last race of the season, probably find a marathon somewhere to run.

A video of my dad

I'll try the video here on my blog and see if it does any better than that other web site. For some reason it was going really slow there.

Bartlett Park Ultra 2008

Well, I did it. It took me almost 12 hours but I did it. 50 miles. Wow that was tough. I feel pretty good about it but it was slower than I had hoped, but the heat kinda killed us all.

The race started at 6:30. I showed up about 6:15. I got my stuff the previous night, so I already had my number pinned on my hat and everything was ready to go. I had prepared a bag of stuff so that I could change my socks and shoes and shirt and shorts because I knew that I would be soaked through with sweat. It was a loop course that took us six times around an eight mile course. the last two miles were an out and back.

Anyway, it started at 6:30. I found myself in the probably about ten people back from the start. I knew I had to really focus on holding back for the first two or three laps. I felt like I did a pretty good job, although I probably still could have gone slower and had more at the end. It went about as expected for the first lap. The first eight miles were done in about 1:30. That is about an 11 minute mile. That is the pace that I wanted to be able to finish in. I was doing pretty good. Even though the day started out at 82 degrees It didn't seem that bad. I knew it would get worse though. Amanda and the kids were there to watch the start. They also went out to the aide station that was at mile four. It was probably less than half a mile to walk out there. The course was kinda shaped like a lopsided three leaf clover. The first little loop was four miles, then two then another two. There was one aide station that was accessible from mile four and mile six and another at the start/finish area. The family were there to cheer me on. I was glad to see them. It was still early in the race though and I was still feeling pretty good. I finished out the first lap and said bye to the family. They were leaving for the rest of the day to go see a children's museum. I can't blame them for not wanting to wait around there all day. First loop 1:28 total time 1:28.

The second loop was a little bit slower, in fact each loop was progressively slower than the previous one. I was still feeling great on this loop. I was just treating it as another one of my long runs. Slow and easy. I stopped each time at the aide station to fill my bottle with ice and water. I grabbed a few pretzels and cookies to eat each time too. I also put ice in my hat each time I saw the aide stations. That was key to keeping me cool. The ice in my bottle would keep my hands cool and the ice in my hat would keep my head cool. It was nice. Second loop 1:34 total time 3:02.

The third lap was probably my best. Not for time, but I just felt great. I knew I was still trying to hold myself back but I was into it and feeling just great. After this lap I changed shoes and socks and shorts and shirt. Everything was soaked through with sweat. I purposely put my race number on my had so that I could change shirts easily and not have to worry about switching the number around. Third loop 1:43 total time 4:45.

The fourth lap, what can I say about the fourth lap. It was on this lap that I was really beginning to be tested. I was still feeling pretty good, still taking some crackers, pretzels and such for salt, and cookies and PB&J's for more energy. This was when I really noticed the temperature. I later looked it up online and the temp for Bartlett for that day was 106 with a heat index temp of 125 or something. If I'd have heard that I might have dropped out. But in actuality, it was probably no more than about 95 in the forest. The race was 99 percent shaded. It was really good. I was actually contemplating only doing the 50k race (32 miles). Since it was a loop course you could choose to run four loops (32 miles/a long 50k), five loops (40 miles), or six loops with an additional two mile out and back (50 miles). You could choose while you were running. I'm sure there were a lot of people who started out planning on doing the 50 miles but dropping to the 40 mile or 50k. for a very short while I thought about stopping at the 50k. That quickly passed though, mainly because Amanda wouldn't have been there to see me finish. At that point I was telling myself (and others) that I was definitely doing at least 40 miles. This loop was the longest one. I saw no one for the first four miles. Then after the aide station I came across some people, but I passed them. It was lonely. I changed socks for the second time. I was now on my third pair of socks. Fourth loop 2:11 total time 6:57.

When I left the aide station for my fifth lap there was another young man right behind me. I though he might want to pass me, but he didn't. We walked with each other for the first mile. He then jogged passed me and I realized that I needed to stay with him or else I might not finish the full fifty miles. I had just called Amanda and told her that I was thinking about dropping at forty. Well I stayed with him. This guy, his name was Lee, was a life saver. We helped each other out. we actually "ran" the rest of the race together, 18 miles. At the aide station I told him how much he has been helping me. He told me that I had been helping him too. I noticed it when I took the lead for a bit. It was motivation knowing that someone was right there behind you and that you can't go too slow. When I was following him it was harder to go faster, but easier too because I just had to make sure that he didn't get out of my sight. Well, after doing this four miles with him I realized that there was no stopping me. I was going to make the full fifty miles. I had fourteen to go and I knew I was going to finish. It was tough going the rest of the loop, but we I stuck with Lee and we managed to make it. One lap to go. I changed my shoes again back to the ones I started with. I figured they'd had a few hours to dry. I also changed socks again. I knew my feet had blisters on them and I really did not want to look at them otherwise it might hurt worse. fifth loop 2:16 total time 9:13

Well, we didn't stay too long at the aide station and we were off on our sixth and final lap. After the first mile I called Amanda (like I had done on every other loop) and she had actually just arrived at the start/finish area. It would have been nice to see them as I came through the aide station, but I also was kinda glad that she wasn't there. You see, I wanted here to see me finish the race and if she had been there, she would have seen me finish the 40 mile and that would have been good enough. On my fifth lap I was thinking that, only for a short little bit, and I probably really would have kept going because of Lee, but the thought did cross my mind that if she were there I might just stop. Anyway, I wasn't a bit concerned about time for the race until about half way through the last lap. I realized that at the pace we were going, we might be able to finish in 12 hours. When we got to the aide station it was about 10.5 hours into the race. That would give us an hour and a half to finish the last six miles. Now on any given day, six miles could easily be accomplished in less than an hour, in fact on a good day I could do it in less than 45 minutes. But after running 44 miles, 6 miles seems like a really long way. We were walking most of the time anyway. We would walk then jog some, then walk then jog some. That's just how you have to move when you've gone for so long. I was actually surprised that I noticed it cool down. Then I realized how hot it was. Sure it "cooled down" but you can hardly call it cooled down when it is still 95 degrees out. Well, we had passed the aide station the second time and we had about a mile to go before the start/finish area (three miles left) when all of a sudden, another runner comes plodding along from behind and passes us. We took that as a sign and used him for some motivation. We picked up our pace a little bit and I'm convinced that if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have made the twelve hour mark. Well we didn't keep up with him completely but we did speed up. sixth loop 2:21 total time 11:35

We made a short stop at the aide station and left for the final two miles out and back. There was a sign on a tree that said Bartlett Park Ultra 1 Mile. When I was leaving the aide station I was told that I had 25 minutes if I wanted to get under 12 hours. Well, I ran 95 percent of that mile. I ran it pretty hard too. I'm pretty sure it was my fastest mile of the whole thing. It was a nine minute mile. Then I turned around and headed back and ran the final mile in 9:30. Wow, who knew that I had it in me. I really didn't think I had that kind of speed in me at that point. Lee took off in front of me from the aide station. I was trying to just catch up to him, but I couldn't do it. I came in about ten seconds behind him. And the other guy that passed us, we were both within fifteen seconds or so of him. mile 49 9:04, mile 50 9:30, total time 11:54:08.

After the race I sat in a chair for just a few minutes before walking over to the car. I changed into some cry clothes and took my shoes and socks off. I had some flip-flops to wear to let my fee dry out. My calves felt like they might cramp up at any moment, so I had to keep my legs stretched out and relaxed. My feet had blisters on them too. I knew it from about mile forty. From that point on every time I stepped down I could feel the sharp tingling of the blisters. It kinda went numb after a while, but I could still feel it. I would feel it again when I started running, but then my heart would start racing and my body would tell me I couldn't run, so I would walk. It's the same loop I was talking about earlier.

Anyway, now, a day later, I feel fine. We went and saw Graceland here in Memphis today, then we went down to Beale Street, ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, then went on a bus tour. It was really hot. Hotter than I remembered it being yesterday. My blisters are bothering me and I am limping around because of that, but it's not too bad. My legs are just a little bit sore and I really only notice the soreness when going up or down stairs.

I know that whatever my next 50 mile race is, it will be faster than this one. The heat really killed me. I feel good about finishing my first Ultra marathon. I'm hooked. When is the next one? Where will I run? Who Knows? Right now I'm on vacation. I'll think about it later when I can think a little more clearly. Maybe I'll look it up tomorrow night when the kids are sleeping.

And now for the photos: Here is the start of the race. I'm somewhere in there, I promise.


Here I am just a few seconds after the start. I look great.

This is coming in to the aide station at mile four. Only 46 more to go.

I'm enjoying some snacks here.

Here I am coming into the start/finish area at mile 8. Still feeling great.

I'm getting a quick snack before I hit the trail again.

Here are my kids in front of the sign showing the map of the trails we were running on. We did most of the trails shown here.

Okay, here I am finally coming into the start/finish area at mile 48. On the left side of the picture is Lee. He was trying to get out of the way so he wouldn't be in my photo. He's the one that kept me going. Thanks Lee.


Alex is running faster than I am right here. I just think it is cute that we are both looking back.


Coming into the finish at mile 50. I'm finally done!


I like this one because you can see Alex start running after me.

The aftermath: this is my right foot about twenty minutes after the finish. You will notice how wrinkly it is.

Here is my right foot a day later. It's not wrinkly anymore, but you can now see the blisters on my foot. I think there are five. The ones that hurt most are towards my toes. They are long and skinny, you can't really see them in the photo here.


Here on my left foot you can see the long skinny one really well. There are two just like this on the other foot.



Wow, that was one long post. Sorry if that bored you too much. I hope you enjoyed my little report. If you didn't then you shouldn't have read the whole thing.

Just to finish off I'd like to thank the race staff and all the volunteers for being out there all day in the heat and for putting on a great race. They really did a great job. I think everything about this race was great except for the heat.

Runners Funk

Sometimes I just don't feel like running very much. Don't get me wrong, I love to run. But sometimes it is just hard to gather the motivation to go for a run. Maybe the 99 degrees today is what held me back. I think I'll get up early and run tomorrow. In that case maybe I should go to bed right now.

I think it is because I am pretty stressed out about moving and all that needs done before I go. It also probably has something to do that I am now going to be jobless. Oh, well. I just need to go running to clear my mind. If it wasn't so blasted hot I might go for a run right now. It is still like 85 degrees and it is ten o'clock. No, I'll go in the morning.

Moving and Running

I am finally getting separated from the military. They told me this would happen almost a year ago, they are just really slow about doing it. In two weeks we will leave here and head up to the Pacific Northwest. It is just in time too. Our first stop on our trip will be Memphis Tennessee to run the Bartlet Park Ultra. After the 50 mile race, I'm not sure what I'll feel like but I plan on spending a couple days after that touring Memphis. We will then stop in Louisiana for a few days. The next stop will be Utah but we might make a fun road trip out of it. We will be there for two or three weeks before we continue our journey up to the great state of Washington. I'm going to have a lot of places to run over the next month. This will be fun. I'm really looking forward to the Utah mountains and also the Washington Mountains. It has been way too long since I have seen any mountains, let alone run in them. Oak Mountain in Alabama is still just a hill in my book.

I wonder how difficult it will be run run while traveling around the country like this. I'll just have to see.

I am so looking forward to my race. My only concern is the heat, but then I remember that the longest I will go without an aid station (ice is what I will really want) is four miles. That is not bad. I'll just run and see how my body feels. I hope I will be able to finish. I really think I will be able to, I've been feeling great. I did 28 miles on trails last Saturday and I did 30 miles a few weeks ago. I'm ready to run 50 and get it over with.

Running and Meditation

I am not the kind of person that would normally go and meditate. It seems like something a monk would do, not a runner. But over the last couple of weeks I've been turning more to cleaning my inner self. I don't know, that sounds weird, "cleaning my inner self?!" Come on Anton, what are you thinking? Well I grew up pretty religious, always going to church. I even devoted two years of my life serving a full time mission for my church. But over the last year or so, I've been struggling to keep up my spirituality. I've started reading scriptures everyday. I'm not perfect, and nobody is, but that is the first step I guess in becoming more religious again.

A week or so ago I found out about a race that is 3100 miles long. It is called the Self Transcendence 3100. It is in honor of Sri Chinmoy. He started it seven or eight years ago and he just died last year. He was a spiritual leader that was also very athletic. He taught that running was an excellent form of meditation. I started thinking about it and it is so true. When I run I am able to either clear my mind and think about nothing, or I am able to ponder a question or problem that I have.

I think of scriptural prophets who fast and pray to know the truth of something and I am able to liken that to me just a little bit. I don't fast very often or very faithfully, but I run a lot and I am able to ponder life's problems while I run. Two of the few times in my life that I have been overwhelmed with emotion were at the end of both of my previous marathons. I can't really explain it, but when your body is so exhausted and broken down, it is just hard to hold in any emotions. It is an experience like none other to cross the finish line of your first marathon. I hope it will be a similar experience when I cross the finish line of my first 50.

Here are two excerpts from Sri Chinmoy's website. "Sri Chinmoy believed that a balanced lifestyle fosters harmony and inner peace. His integral approach to life encourages physical fitness and sports as a vehicle for personal transformation."

"There are countless people on earth who do not believe in the inner strength or inner life. They feel that the outer life is everything. I do not agree with them," he says. "There is an inner life; there is spirit."

Sri Chinmoy is not of my faith and he has probably taught many things that I would disagree with, but I agree with him on this. We can draw upon the strength of our inner selves. I, being christian, believe this power to be the Holy Ghost helping us out when we need it.

Now, I don't mean for this post to be a religious sermon or anything. I've just been thinking a lot when I run. It a way I feel like I am wasting time when I run. I could be spending time with my wife and kids, or reading and studying, or cleaning the house, or whatever else. But then I realize that I wouldn't be doing anything else anyway. I've been pretty lazy lately. If you take out running from my life I really have done absolutely nothing for the last few months. Well, anyway, I have started to listen to talks and books as opposed to music. I'll still listen to music, but I'll be listening a lot more to books and religious talks and stuff.

This morning I listened to half of Hamlet. I'm pretty sure I've seen it before, I may have even read it. This morning though it was different. I was able to mostly pay attention to it and enjoy it. It really struck me this morning when Lord Polonius was giving this speech to his son Laertes giving him words of counsel. Among other things he said:

"This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."

I know this is one of the famous lines from Hamlet, but I like it. I also like the other line, even more famous. I've heard it thousands of times before, but now I realize that there is more meaning behind just the words "to be, or not to be." Hamlet starts his speech with this:

"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;"

I think we all go through different stages in life. We struggle from day to day. It is hard for us to imagine any good coming into our lives in the next day, week, month or even year. But "to be" is much better than "not to be." For, if we seek for God and the truth in our lives, then there is always something better to look forward to. There are other times in our lives when nothing can stop us and we feel like life is great. It is during those times that we can not turn our backs on God, or he just might turn his back on us.

Well, I think this post is long enough. Maybe next time I'll tell you all to repent or your going to go to hell. Probably not though, that's not like me. Enjoy!

Bartlett Park Ultra

Well, I have made a decission. It was easy and difficult at the same time. I have decided not to run the White River 50 on July 26 and instead to run the Bartlett Park Ultras 50 miler on August 2. It was difficult because I really wanted to run up in Washington in the Cascades. It was easy because I am not up there and I decided that I would rather not spend the money on a plane ticket to go up there right now. The downfall is that this run will be in the south in the hot, humid summer. It shouldn't be too bad though because this is the weather I've been training in. Maybe my hat will get some good use.

The Bartlett Park Ultra is located just outside Memphis Tennessee. It is about an eight hour drive from here. I'm going to take leave and spend some time with my family up there visiting all the sites.

Bartlett Park looks like a pretty nice place to have this race. There are some trails and this race will run several eight mile loops. Durring the race you can choose which distance to run 50k(really 32 miles), 40mile and 50 miles. I of course will strive to do the 50 miles. If it is extraordiarily hot and humid that day, and I'm am literally dieing, then I might consider stopping at the 40 mile, or if is really really bad, the 32 mile mark. so, I will do six, eight mile laps and then one mile out and one mile back to finish the fifty miles. It is a mostly flat course. The website says that the highest point is about 75 feet higher than the lowest point.

I guess I don't have much else to say about it. I'm really looking forward to actually doing an Ultramarathon. It is just four and a half weeks away. Until then I have a couple birthdays and a holiday. I hope I can resist the cakes. I need need a fruit and veggie cake.

A new running hat

I bought a new running hat a few days ago. It came last night in the mail. My wife thought I was wierd because I wore it around the house for like an hour. This is a sun hat designed to keep the sun off head and neck. Here it is:

Isn't that awesome! I can't wait to go running in the hot sun and try it out. I've been running with just a regular ball cap, but this one is designed for running. It is really light weight. It is called the Outdoor Research Sun Runner Cap. For days that are not so hot or that have more cloud cover, I can remove the "sun skirt." I can also pull back it back so that it is just covering my ears and the back of my neck. I think that is how I will mostly use it. This will be a perfect hat for my 50 mile race that I am planning. Oh, yeah, I'll write another post about that.