SeaWorld and Memorial Day Weekend in the Desert

On Friday, we raced off to SeaWorld so I could watch cute animals. I was pissed that I couldn't ride Shamu!

An amazing dolphin leap...

Why don't they let audience members do this?

Evan's family tree..... (because if he was an animal, he would be a ferret.) I would be a koala.

Riding in the desert in Borrego Springs.

Unloading the trailer full of dirtbikes.

A late dinner after our disastrous ride through deep sand where Nikki almost died! (OK, so I exaggerate....)

Icing my hematomas/bruises after many spectacular falls.

Brunch on the patio at Borrego Springs Resort.

Golfing in the midday sun!

Cooling off in the pool!

Evan's Athletic Hall of Fame Induction

On Wednesday, we flew down to San Diego for Evan's induction into the brand-new West Hills High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He was one of the first five inductees (and the youngest of the five!). It was a very nice dinner/ceremony and Evan's coaches, peers, and teachers had nothing but wonderful things to say about his athletic accomplishments and personal qualities. He's not writing this post so I can brag about him! Before the ceremony, we (Darcy, Evan, and I) had lunch at The Wave House where we got to watch all the surfers on the fake waves. We also rode an old skool wooden rollercoaster at Belmont Park and toured the USS Midway aircraft carrier (which was actually fascinating!)

Evan and Darcy watching the big fake wave. See the sponger!

Cheesin' it after lunch.

Darcy says, "Wooden rollercoasters make you feel as if your ribs are broken."

Listening to the audio tour remarks right before we got attacked by an old man who served on the USS Midway when he was much younger. He was very cute and very excited about sharing his story.

Climbing up into the "island" superstructure.

All gussied up for the ceremony....

Evan's coach talking about his accomplishments....

Look at the picture of Evan in the background! He looks like he's 8!

Evan thanking his coaches and family....

Evan and his high school x-country coaches.

Bay to Breakers!

So, today was the big run! My (Evan's) mom, dad, and sister came up from San Diego to run the Bay the Breakers race with me and Nikki in San Francisco. For those who haven't heard of it, the race goes 12 k from the bay side of the San Francisco peninsula to ocean beach, partially through Golden Gate Park. The race has an elite section, but many participants dress up in all kinds of crazy costumes (or sometimes nothing at all). My mom broke her foot playing soccer, so we had to devise a scheme to get her through the race without running. The solution was to build a big cart, which we decided to decorate as a pirate ship. We spent approximately 3 hours making the ship and about equal time putting together costumes. The result: a huge success!! We got many compliments and people took lots of pictures/videos of our pirate crew. Our friends David Vidal and Nahid Yakuby ran with us and dressed up as Borat and Pamela Anderson, which was also great success and even got some TV time (though we don't know what channel). There were so many great costumes today - everything from bowling pins, to stormtroopers, salmon (which ran the race backwards, or upstream), and even some birders (see the picture below). There were a few other pirates and we even got in a huge water balloon battle about halfway through the race. It definitely helped that the weather was really nice. Overall, a really great time! Enjoy some pictures below:




Building the ship...








A nice walk along the embarcadero before our pre-race meal.

My sister Darcy putting on the final touches before the race (yes, the treasure chest is actually a cooler filled with special rehydration beverages and water balloons)

Arrrghhhh! The pirate crew all ready to go!










A "rehydration" break.




Made it to the ocean! Just a few hundred feet to the finish!









Woooo! Made it to the end! The ship engineers (mostly my Dad) were highly skeptical of her seaworthiness before we left.



Personally, my favorite costumes of the day. These guys were constantly mobbed with fans. Vidal (aka Borat) was invited to breakdance, play taiko drums, and constantly called out by DJs all through the race - all in character, of course.

Oh birders, they really are everywhere...

Yarrrgggghhh! Wow, it might be a while before I say that again!

Boston, running, and a beach day

Well, it looks like Nikki and I will be moving to Boston at the end of the summer. We're both really excited, though a bit worried that we're going to freeze! Nikki is going to start a two year masters in law and diplomacy at the Fletcher school and I'm going to try and get an environmental policy job. Nikki was fortunate enough to get the Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship (wow!), which means that we'll be in Boston for two years, then DC for one year, then some far-flung corner of the world. Now we just have to start getting ready for the big move and getting rid of some of our junk!

When we haven't been working and getting ready for the move, Nikki and I have both been doing some running. We're getting ready to do the Bay to Breakers run (12k) in San Francisco next weekend with my family and Nikki is whipping herself into shape. Last weekend, I decided to run the Big Sur Marathon as a little warm up with my buddy Andreas Baer. We did the run a week after the official race, but did the same route (it's important to realize that neither Andreas nor I are in shape to run anything!) Here's a few pictures:

Post-race with me and Andreas- note the colorful clothing that prevented us from being hit by cars on route 1.

Nikki relaxing after a particularly grueling workout session....

....and joined by a sympathetic neighbor, Keedy Cat.

All that running and working would wear anybody out, so we made time for some good meals and relaxation:

After the Big Sur run at "Nepenthe" for lunch looking over the Big Sur cliffs

Taking a break from watching the PAC-10 Track and Field Championships at Stanford to get some healthy "fry bread" at Stanford Powwow.

During Pac-10's, I got to present the top 3 800m finishers with their awards, which was pretty fun.

Since we're moving to the east coast, Nikki and I are trying to get as much beach time as possible before we leave. Last week we had a couple of really warm days, so we went to Half Moon Bay to enjoy the weather. Nikki relaxed on the beach and took these pictures of me and Dave Emme trying to skimboard:

Me having a relatively successful run.

Dave, a natural on the skimboard.

One of my more spectacular falls.

Hope everyone is doing well!

-Evan