Mommie's Carrot Bread Recipe

Hah!  I found it in an old scrapbook!  This is a family tradition that Mommie (Pronounced "Mummy"), my great-grandmother Gladys Fults, always brought to family functions:

2 eggs
1C. White Sugar
3/4 C Mazola
1 1/2 C Carrots grated
1 1/2 C. Sifted flour
1 t Soda
1 t Cinnamon
1/4 t Salt
1/4 C Chopped Nuts
1/2 t Vanilla

That's it.  No mention of a temperature or time on the sheet.  I'm going to go with 400 degrees for 20 minutes and see where it gets me.

Most of the time, I believe she used black walnuts that she gathered from the two trees in the front yard and spent HOURS picking the meats out of.  She baked it in little loaves.  We spread margarine on it, since back in that day people in my family hadn't decided they could afford butter.

Don't know that anyone in the family has made carrot bread since Mommie died back in 1971.  Time to restart the tradition, I think.

Gladys (Dean) Fults -- Ilene (Fults) Cramer -- Julaine (Cramer) Kern -- Me.

I Love Living in 2012!

Life is way convenient in this day and age.  A couple weeks ago, while waiting at a busy intersection to turn the corner, a lady had a slight lapse in something and hit the back of my van.  No whiplash or anything, but a nice dent in my back hatch door.  I whipped out my iPhone, took pictures of the damage, her license & proof of insurance and license plate, the street sign on the corner, and got phone numbers, etc.
On my way to my next appointment, I called Rod Smith, my agent, and told him what happened.  I pulled over, sent him all the pictures and a quick email.  About a week later, I stopped by Hansen Collision for an estimate. (The location that's just down the street from the Hideout Brewery) and they sent it to Rod.

Today I dropped off the van, Enterprise picked me up (just like they say on TV).  They don't have a car in yet, so they dropped me at Biggby Coffee for an hour or so where I'm drinking coffee and getting a bit of work done.  All this stuff and no lost time to speak of.  Pretty cool. I was planning to drink coffee and get some work done anyway.  

Running Marathons

This is from my newsletter back in October:

16 years ago I ran my first marathon in Chicago.  It was a day that changed my life.  Drank my first Sam Adams Cherry Wheat at the expo.  Bought the race photo ahead of time.  Ran the first 16 miles with Aziz Uras, a fellow Dead Runner from Chicago.  Ran the last 5 miles with Nancy, who was my best friend for an hour and a half and who I've never seen since.  My long run had been 22 miles.  Hers had been 20.  At 23 miles her sister and one of my best friends, Mike Schwartz met us and ran the last 3 miles with us.  I could see the FINISH LINE in my head long before I got there.  I knew I was going to finish, and I knew my life would never be the same.

 

And it wasn't.  Now I could run 26.2 miles.  Limits were no longer something that got in my way.  Since then, I've seen the world, met hundreds of new friends, learned more and more about myself and what I can do.  

 

I'm a "normal" guy--not a "gifted athlete."  But being a marathon runner has opened up the world to me.  

 

If you're running your first marathon, or your first half (you can bump up to 26.2 next year) you'll discover things about yourself too!  You'll find out that your limits are gone!  Your attitude will change.  Someone might tell you that you can't do something, and you'll respond, "Right.  Stand the f**** back and watch this!"  Awesome people run marathons, and you're one of those people!

Videos from Seven Continents Trip

Video Links
Michigan Runner magazine gave me a few bucks and a video camera for the trip, and I managed to get a little footage together here and there.  There's a video of every one of the races, plus a few others by other people I'll post here:

Introduction
Soweto, South Africa
Ticino, Switzerland
Curitiba, Brazil
Fukuchiyama, Japan
Bethels Beach, New Zealand
Cocoa, Florida
Antarctic Ice Marathon
Antarctic Ice Marathon - Extended edition

Video from Antarctic Ice Marathon

Press Info

World Record for Marathons on Seven Continents!

In a third attempt to break the world record for running marathons on all seven continents in the least amount of time, Don Kern, of Grand Rapids Michigan has successfully run marathons on each of the seven continents, finishing on Thursday, 1 December 2011.

During the time from 6 November to 1 December, the following marathons were completed in a span of 25 days, 18 hours, and 10 minutes.  The previous world record was set by Richard Takata in 2007 and was 29 days, 16 hours, and 17 minutes.  

The marathons run in the course of this record were these:

6 November - Soweto Marathon, South Africa

13 November - Maratona Ticino, Switzerland

20 November - Maratona CAIXA de Curitiba Curitiba, Brazil

23 November - Fukuchiyama Marathon , Japan

26 November - Speight's West Coaster, Bethel's Beach, New Zealand

27 November - Space Coast Marathon, Cocoa, Florida, USA

1 December - Antarctic Ice Marathon, Union Glacier Camp, Antarctica

"In my freshman College Prep English class, I ordered a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records.  I always thought I'd be in there someday.  That was over 40 years ago."  

Planning to break this record began in 2006, while already signed up for the 2007 edition of the Antarctica Marathon held on King George Island.  At that time, the world record was a mere 99 days.  The plan was put together to run all seven in 35 days, which Kern successfully ran in February-March 2007, only to find out afterward that Takata had run all seven in just under 30 days.  Later that year, in another attempt to run in 25 days, the Antarctic Ice Marathon trip was delayed by weather for eight days, so while bettering his personal record to just under 33 days, the world record still belonged to Takata.  Still,  2007 it is believed that this was the only time anyone has run marathons on all seven continents twice in the same year.

Background information on Guinness World Record criteria:

Fastest time to complete a marathon on each continent (male).

The current record (current as at the date of this letter) is:
The shortest overall time to complete a marathon on each of the seven continents is 29 days 16 hours 17 minutes by Richard Takata (Canada) from 4 February - 6 March 2007. 

Here's a sample of what Guinness needs:

1. All marathons must be officially organised and well publicised, in other words
must not be organised specifically for the purpose of this attempt.
2. Guinness World Records should be informed of the planned marathons prior to
the attempt.
3. The official race results from each marathon and one independent witness
statement from each race, stating that the participant completed each race,
must be provided. A hyperlink to the official marathon website’s race results will
be accepted as evidence of the official race results. If the official website does
not publish the race results then a letter from the race organisers stating the
participant’s official time is required.
4. The dates, times and location of each marathon must be included in the
documentation submitted for verification.
5. The time begins from the start of the first marathon and the clock does not stop
until the completion of the final one.
6. For the purposes of this record, the continents on which a marathon must be
completed are: North America (the border is at the Panama Canal); South
America; Europe (includes mainland Britain, i.e. England, Scotland and Wales);
Africa; Asia; Australasia and Antarctica.