"Cal Triathlon" meets "Lord Of The Dance" meets "Look At That Doorframe!"

Mom and Dad came down this weekend to run and watch, respectively, the Silicon Valley Marathon. What a fun race! The marathon is run in San Jose, an hour South of Berkely. The course is basically pancake flat, with just enough mild rises and descents to keep your legs fresh.

Mom continues to prove that she is, in fact, a robot. She ran a 3:46, which is absolutely BLAZING. A 35-year-old woman would get to go to Boston with that time. (Well, technically, the 35-year-old needs to be one second under 3:46, but let's not split hairs here.) Mom had already qualified for Boston earlier this year, and I was gonna use the race to try and qualify myself so I could join her in Boston 2008.

It was going to be tough; my training results had suggested I'd come in around 3:20, but I need a 3:10 to qualify. I didn't mind going for broke; who cares about blowing up if it was for a good cause, right?

There was a 3:10 pacer at the race start, holding a bright neon sign labeled with the time. About twenty-five runners joined the pack. The pacer guy was a freaking metronome; he would get to every mile marker within five seconds of the right time. However, it was a brutal pace, and by the half marathon, I was starting to get pretty tired. My HR for the first half was high, around 170, but after the half, climbed up to 175. The pace was just too fast. I hung on for a few more miles, but at mile 16, I had to let the group go. They stayed in sight for another mile and a half, and then I just blew up completely. But I have no regrets about it; I knew it was going to be a big risk to hold that pace, and I'm happy I tried.

But damn, I was spent. It was hard to keep running at all, much less hammer out ten more miles. So I walked at the next rest stop, took in some calories, and tried again. By the following rest stop, I had to stop and walk again. Yet there were still a good nine miles left in the race; it was looking bleak. Just then, a girl came up from behind and grabbed my arm. "Let's go," she said, and just like that, I was running again. It wasn't the 7:10 pace from the first half, but at least it wasn't walking.

Brien, Brian, Nate, and Megan came out to watch too; how cool is that? They appeared at mile 22, mile 24, and were there at the finishing chute. A runner next to me noted that I have very loud friends. They were awersome. They definitely helped me limit my losses from the blow-up, and in the end, I finished at 3:23, a PR by almost ten minutes. Not bad for nearly quitting the race, eh? And the finisher's medal is really cool; it has a computer chip on it!

Since I didn't take my phone with me during the race, I don't have any pictures from the course. I do have some stuff from afterwards, however. Mom and Dad wanted to see more of the Berkeley campus, so they got the 10-cent tour.


Mom & Dad play nice by the clocktower. If Mom looks tired here, it's because she just ran like a woman possessed.


Apparently Dad was kissing Mom funny in this picture, and she was trying not to laugh.


That evening, we all went to Venezia for dinner, and enjoyed some fantastic Italian cuisine. Unfortunately, this picture came out blurry. But it's all I took.



Someone on the triteam had brand new cycling kit that they couldn't use. It was still sealed with the tags on it! I got a sweet deal, and had to snatch it up. What a cool design, huh? This will be motivational apparel for those long winter rides.

Ok, enough blathering for now. Mom, Dad, and Berkeley friends: thanks for comin out. The race was great; I love you all.

It's been a long time since the last post, and plenty of stuff has been going on, but the biggest hitter was the all-consuming OCIP process, in which 2L's across the country scrape for jobs. The journey left little time for doing even our required schoolwork, much less frivolous blogging. Anyway, I managed to snap a few pictures during my travels, and am pleased to be able to finally present another episode of ... The Verdict.

Los Angeles is awesome. What it lacks in mountains it makes up for in music, and the opportunity to practice some amazing types of law. Getting courted by law firms out here is a very nice experience; they fly you out, put you in amazing hotels, and basically try to sell you on the job. Well, congratulations law firms, it worked.


The view out of the Hyatt


The view out of the Beverly Hilton. It was a very swank location. I mean, not just any hotel has...


...a flatscreen plasma TV on the wall...


...a flatscreen TV in the ***BATHROOM***...


...an aquarium at the elevators...


...a $1.5 million Ferrari parked out front...


...or charges $21 for a salad that wouldn't fill up my three-year-old nephew. The good news is that of the cush treatment by the firms is that they pay for all your travel expenses, like $21 salads and $7 bowls of Corn Flakes. No wonder the pay out here is so good -- prices are outrageous! I'll have to start importing my Cheerios from Colorado or something.


I even got a chance to see Adam Bloom, a 1L from Arizona who transferred to UCLA. Adam wants to build trains. Anyway, he took me out to the local ice cream joint, whose specialty is home-made cookies built into ice cream sandwiches. He had his made with snickerdoodles.


But the BEST part about fly-back interviews? Coming home, of course! Monica took me to the CU game. We left after the first quarter, and CU was ahead! Don't ask how the rest of the game went.


Monica wanted to be partying, but was a great sport about remaining high and dry with the no-fun marathoner next to her.


And while we were in Boulder, we bumped into a ton of old friends! This is Cassie Roeca, triathlete extrordinaire, out for the game. She knows what an action pose is.


Nina and Lincoln didn't do the "action," but they've got the "pose" down pat. Look at those smiles!


"Owen, show me your sandwich!"


Lincoln is such a ham. I think he gets that from me.


Cute brothers, huh?


Owen makes a face for me...


Decides it's hiliarious...


And then decides it's time for a run!


He's gonna be fast, fast, fast!

Some friends I wasn't able to see in Boulder with Monica were kind enough to drive down to Littleton the next night. It was so good just to relax, shoot some pool, and watch the Wedding Crashers.


Jarret, my long-lost roommate. This is one of the coolest guys on the planet.


And good ole Matty J. His action pose is somewhere between Michael Johnson and Superman.


Jeff Swetnam; what a great guy. Jeff and I started on the triathlon team together, and we were roughly the same speed at the time. Then Jeff started training like a machine, and is really fast now. I'm still slow.


And what meeting of old friends would be complete without Patrick? Patrick and I basically lived in each other's apartments at Creekside. Amy, Patrick's new flame, certainly knows what an action pose is.

It was so great to be home. I miss Colorado, and ultimately have some big decision-making to do regarding my summer employment. Boalt has opened ALL the doors, and it turns out it's tough to pick which one to walk through. I love you all.