📷: @sarahrunsla (featuring @movethejohn)

The idea for Letterfolk first came to us when we were trying to think of a creative way to mark the milestones of our first child. We see so many of our customers doing the same with their babies, and we loved this fun take on the idea that Sarah posted for her dad’s birthday.

To start off, tell us the story behind this photo.

About a year ago, my dad (John) said that he wanted to run the Big Sur Marathon for his 60th birthday. The marathon just happened to fall the day after his birthday (April 29 is his birthday, April 30 was the marathon). Registration for Big Sur is done through a lottery system, but luckily myself, my husband and my father were able to secure spots.

The first like we see on his board is trains. Tell us more about his interest of trains.

The thing my dad loves as much as running (maybe more?) is trains. While most people are happy when they don't get stuck while a long, slow train rolls by, my dad would turn the car around to watch the train. My god father is a man that my dad met through a group of "train nuts". Now that all but one of his children has moved out of the house, my dad has slowly started working on converting one of the bedrooms into a "train room" where he has model trains that will eventually run through a model town.

What is your favorite activity to do with your dad?

Running is my favorite thing to do with my dad. So much so that at my wedding my dad and I changed into our running shoes and danced to the music from the running movie, Chariots of Fire. My dad has been running for as long as I can remember and ran a few marathons (including the Big Sur Marathon) before I was born and when I was very young. As a kid, I never took much interest in running and mostly associated my dad's running habit as something slightly embarrassing as friend's parents would mention they saw my dad running in the neighborhood in his "red shorts." When I was about 20, one of my older sisters began doing a couch to 5k program so I started running as well and never really stopped. Over time, running became my dad and I's "thing," with my husband (boyfriend at the time) joining us on weekend runs. We trained for a half marathon and then a full marathon where my dad, husband (boyfriend), and I all crossed the finish line together. The Big Sur Marathon was the second marathon the three of us ran together. For the majority of the race, my husband was up ahead and my dad and I stuck together, but miraculously we all came together at the end and were able to cross the finish line together once again.

Reading through the comments on your post, it seems like your dad caught some flak from some of your friends for his stance on hating breakfast burritos. Do you defend your dad’s position?

My dad's hatred for breakfast burritos has sort of become an inside joke. He maybe said it a few times and we all couldn't get over it because he loves every component of a breakfast burrito. I think he just had a bad experience once and needs to be treated to a really good breakfast burrito.

What is something you love about your dad that didn’t make it onto the board?

Something I love about my dad that didn't make it up on to the board would be his love of his family. My dad has four daughters, one son, five sisters, two brothers, three son-in-laws, two granddaughters and I don't even know how many nieces and nephews. He is always willing to help out any member of his family and his friends, who he treats like family. He has a weird sense of humor that has led to some super memorable moments, including writing a theme song for a made-up theme park where all you do is stand in line to dancing to the Monster Mash for his father-daughter dance with my younger sister.

Lastly, we always like to ask: what is currently up on your letter board?

Currently on my letter board it says "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" with two big O's with periods in the middle to look like eyes. My husband put it up as I was away for a week across country for a business trip.