Anthony Costales is a Junior High PE teacher and Ultra-Trail runner from Salt Lake City, UT where he lives with his wife Katie, 16-month-old daughter Piper, and their cattle dog Brighton. Born and raised in Northern California he started running in 6th grade after his Jr High PE teacher suggested he go out for the cross-country team, having no idea what that was, he showed up and the rest is history. He ran XC/Track at his local high school and continued on competing for American River Junior College and Chico State University. After obtaining his bachelor's in Kinesiology and teaching credential, Anthony moved to Utah and spent a few years road racing in distances from 10K to marathon, he then started the transition to trails. In 2018 he ran his first Ultra at the Moab Red Hot 55K and has now competed in distances from 50 miles, 100K, and 100 miles.
Anthony was so much fun to chat with. He is a very focused and disciplined runner who juggles family and career responsibilities and manages to excel in the ultra-world. We talk about his experience qualifying for the 2018 US long distance mountain running team and winning the Canyons 100k which earned him a Western States Golden ticket. We also discuss balancing teaching and running and share a few laughs about it. I loved hearing Anthony talk about the impact his High School coach has had on the trajectory of his life. This is a good one! Enjoy!
IG- @acostales54