Race Results

So I got the results from the 3k I ran on July 4th. I got first place in the 25-29 year-old mens division! (That was out of seven, but still!) To my shame, one girl beat me in that age bracket so I got second overall in that division which meant a medal instead of a bottle of wine. And I got 66th out of 430, so not quite top 10%, but close. The good news is that since I was in the top 75, I'm qualified for the Boston Marathon!

Redwoods in the Morning, Napa in the Evening

On Friday I had an early morning. I had to leave my place at 4:45AM to drive to Fort Bragg, a small coastal town 2 hrs north of Santa Rosa. To get to the town, you have to drive 33 miles through the thick of the Redwoods, which ends at the Ocean where the town is. It's about a 45 minute drive through the Redwoods. In the morning, the coastal fog sets in the forest and it's a pretty neat drive.

Then that evening I had to drive to St. Helena, the nicest town in Napa Valley, to check a patient. It was dusk and once again, a beautiful drive. So even though it was about an 18 hr work day, I enjoyed some beautiful scenery. Hippie, grungy Redwoods in the morning; ritzy wine country in the evening!

At the end of this forest is the Pacific!

If you look close, in the middle of the picture is a glimpse of the hwy

A private Napa winery

My first post high school organized race!

On the 4th of July I did my first organized race! I was pretty excited...I had been training for a good couple weeks, so I knew I was prepared. It was called the Kenwood Foot Race and it's in the small town of Kenwood just outside Santa Rosa (you may have heard of Kenwood wines) nestled amongst the vineyards. There were over 2,000 runners, so I was a bit intimidated to say the least...but I got in the top 75 averaging just over 7 minute miles! So I hit my goal, a total time of 13 minutes 57 seconds (my goal was to be under 14 minutes)...the race was a 3k :) I almost caught a 10 year old girl in front of me, but I just couldn't do it! (But karma was on my side because she puked afterwards, haha). Maybe I'll tackle a 10k next. After the race, there was a pancake breakfast at a nearby church that we hit up...some of the best pancakes I've had!

Steven on the left and Gary in the middle, my coworkers, also ran. (Steven did the 10k).

A Voice of Reason in a reasonless world :)

So there was an article today in the Santa Rosa newspaper breaking down the financial support of residents of Sonoma county to the presidential candidates. Not surprisingly, Obama was by far the most supported ($500,000...wow). I found the following excerpt from the article interesting...

"Graves, who described herself as a conservative on interpreting the Constitution and a liberal on social issues, said she likes the fact that Obama is black, saying she believes it's time that a minority led the nation.

'It represents that we're not a prejudiced country anymore,' she said. 'I'm sorry that we were. This sort of helps cure that.'"

So let's reword this statement in the negative (because it's saying the same exact thing)...

"Graves, who described herself as a conservative on interpreting the Constitution and a liberal on social issues, said she doesn't like the fact that McCain isn't black, saying she believes it's time that a minority led the nation."

Now that sounds kind of racist! Or can you imagine this printed...?

"Graves, who described herself as a conservative on interpreting the Constitution and a conservative on social issues, said she likes the fact that McCain is white, saying she believes it's important to have someone leading the nation who racially represents the majority of the people."

Interesting how one point of view is considered to be so acceeeepting and progreeeeeesive. And the opposite view point with the SAME reasoning is racist and close-minded. Just some food for thought from A Voice of Reason!

And I'm proud to be an American...!

Just when I thought the Supreme Court couldn't be any more in step with the communist liberal agenda....they go and totally redeem themselves! That is, it was only yesterday they ruled in favor of child rapists, and last week they ruled in favor of the terrorists that attacked our country who are being held at Guantanamo Bay, but not today. Today they upheld my freedom as an American to bear arms! The first Supreme Court ruling on the 2nd Amendment in the history of its existance (until now common sense kept them from having to rule on it) and it flies in the face of the liberal agenda (sorry Barry O)!

If you don't understand how big of a deal this is, let me paint a picture. Imagine a country where only the state militia, police, etc are allowed to have guns...if you pictured Nazi Germany, you're correct! The first thing Hitler did as a dictator was take away the rights of the people to bear arms, that way, when his Gestapo went through the country to eradicate the Jews, none of the citizens could stop him. Not in America baby! I can shoot down the Gestapo with my Glock. Maybe Barry is right, we should have the audacity to hope! Now go crank up "God Bless the USA" (or your patriotic song of choice) and echo Michelle O's sentiment of finally being "proud of [your] country!"

California is burning...so is my stand-up career

So I've been exposed to a new natural disaster. No, not earthquakes...yet...but wild fires! There are over 800 first burning in California! In the county just to the north of me there are 117 fires and only 20 of them are contained! There was a huge lightning storm this weekend that started the ones in northern Cali. It's crazy...there has been a haze over Santa Rosa for the last two days. I drove north yesterday morning and thought it was fog, but then after the campfire smell didn't go away in the 75 miles of driving, I realized it was smoke from fire...my clothes and car reaked. People are being told not to spend much time outside because of the hazards of the smoke. I just hope I don't get the black lung!

On another note, I crashed and burned in my first stand-up comic try this weekend! I was in a wedding this weekend was asked to give an announcement that the bouquet toss was going to happen and to have the single girls come forward. Well, this was a Seventh Day Adventist wedding reception...no alcohol, meat, or dancing, and it was on a Sunday evening, so it's a tough crowd. But when I got in front of the microphone I couldn't help myself! I said, "Can I have all the single ladies come forward please...I need a date for a wedding I'm going to next weekend!" Ya, silence and stares! So then I was like, "Um...please come forward for the bouquet toss." Whew...crash and burn! But I'm holding onto the hope that I didn't speak loudly enough into the microphone and no one heard my joke :)

The answer to the previous blog question is the musical Westside Story.