Lucky Peak Weekend

This Thursday night I flew back to Boise for a Friday cardiology appointment/second opinion. The appointment went well on Friday and confirmed everything that I've been told so far- so no changes there. No running marathons anymore!

Friday night I went out to dinner at Mai Tai in downtown Boise with Kyle. It was a nice relaxing evening staying in and catching up.

Saturday morning I had breakfast with Javier at our old favorite, Raedean's restaurant. While we were eating Chuck and Emily stopped by to say Hi.

That afternoon I went up to Lucky Peak with Clint and Skyler. Clint filmed the video of me and Skyler cliff jumping into the water. I've never done that at the lake, and it was an absolute blast! I'm glad Clint caught the fun on camera. It was a great afternoon of boating and hanging out with my friends.

After getting home and cleaning up from the lake, I met up with Skyler and we went out to catch the night lite air balloon event. We had just enough time to watch them light up before Skyler had to be at the Balcony for work. It was a fun Saturday night out; joined up with Emily and Chuck for drinks. Chuck was good stepping in at one point to keep the peace for me and a friend, thanks! :)

Sunday I met Andrej for breakfast and then played cards with the family that afternoon. Sunday evening Chuck, Emily and me went over to Casey and Kari's place for some card games. Chuck, Casey and a few other guys played magic while me, Emily and Kari played "The Family Business". We had pizza, brownies and wine. It was a fun night!

Monday I went back up to Lucky Peak with Matt, Jim and Keaton. We took the boat around the lake and Matt and Keaton jumped in from the cliffs. Another great relaxing day up at the lake! I'm so blessed we have a boat docked right on the water and when I visit I can just take the boat out on the lake. I don't take this for granted at all and love every minute!

After boating at the lake I headed over to my Aunt Erni's house for a family BBQ. It was nice seeing the family while visiting Boise. I even got a chance to play hearts with Artesia and my parents. Chuck and Emily were outside sitting on the bench so I popped out and took some pictures of them in the backyard. So cute!

Chancellor's Office Visit

This Tuesday I flew down to Long Beach for a meeting at the California State University's Chancellor's Office on Wednesday.  I was placed on a committee that is reviewing our current enterprise application system (PeopleSoft/Oracle) and determining it's current potential.  The CSU recently completed a multi-year upgrade of 22 campuses from version 8.9 to 9.0.  The new 9.0 has many new features, some of which are not fully developed or necessarily ready for campuses to use.  The committee is reviewing these items and making recommendations up to the student system steering committee on what next steps should occur with these expansions.  It was very exciting for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with such great people from across the CSU.

But enough of the work talk- when I go to Los Angles one of my top priorities is to seek out a vegan restaurant.  Last time Amanda and I tried out Zephyr, which had been delicious.  Unfortunately when I arrived late Tuesday night, it was already closed!  I quickly googled and found Cafe Ambrosia and headed over there.  I wasn't too sure about this place at first. I asked the server what he recommended and he said his favorite was the vegan burrito.  So I gave it a try- I'm so glad I did!!!  It was phenomenal and I ate the whole thing!

The Santa Rosa Marathon!

The marathon was finally here, but I am only running the half.  Due to some medical issues that cropped up over the summer I will never be medically cleared to run more than a half, and at an easy pace.  So with that in mind my friend Amanda and I planned to do the half together.  After we finished the 13.1 mile run, we went and grabbed a bite to eat at Dierk's Parkside Cafe.  I've never been and was really impressed with the food.  It was such a great idea of Amanda's to do that, because after our brunch we still made it back to the race end to see the rest of our friends complete the full marathon.

The full marathon is just the half done twice.  You can view the race route and my timings and pictures on my Runkeeper post.  My training partners Jeff, Trisha and Maureen all finished the full 26.2 miles- Congratulations street team!  Jeff finished his first marathon at an astonishing pace- under 4 hours!  I was blown away.

Japanese Tea Garden

This morning I picked up my Santa Rosa marathon (half marathon) race packet.  Once I had sorted out with them that I was running the HALF marathon instead of the full, I was good to go.  I met up with Calvin and we headed to the city.

We walked around Golden Gate park and then toured through the Japanese Tea Garden.  It was a small park, but built very well so you always felt like you were kind of on your own.  The grounds were immaculate and it was a sight of beauty.

After walking around and enjoying the garden we went into Castro.  Cal had a Mexican restaurant he liked to eat at just off the main intersection so we tried that out.  They had pretty good burritos!  After dinner we walked up and down the Castro then settled on a wine tasting at one of the local shops.  We had both of their featured tastings; one white one red.

After our wine tasting I purchased one of their featured ice wines before we headed out to wander around some more on the Castro.  We couldn't stay out late because of my race the next morning.  I enjoyed the day and evening- it was a fun excursion to the city!

End of Summer Pool Party

This afternoon Amanda and Rich McGowan threw an end of summer pool party at their home. It was perfectly timed since I just got back from Europe on Thursday night and Chuck is leaving for Idaho on Monday.  I car-pooled over with Evan, Chuck and Emily. Emily had made some delicious brownies and cut up some watermelon. I brought along some spicy hummus dip with wheat lavash chips. Amanda's sister Constance was there along with a few other friends of the McGowan's and Peter and Michelle.

We all splashed about in the pool, snacked on food, sipped beverages and enjoyed the warm afternoon.    Rich grilled up some veggie dogs, turkey dogs and regular dogs. There was plenty of variety for any taste!

It was a great afternoon with friends and a wonderful way to wrap up the Summer.

Split, Croatia

The second leg of my European trip with Andrej was to Split, Croatia. Croatia is a small nation east of Italy. We flew directly from Barcelona to Split early Sunday morning. It was interesting that the flight directions were conveyed in Spanish, Croatian and English. Yes, it took a long time to get through it! Here is a picture with a red indicator of where Croatia is on the globe.

This was my first view of the Croatian coastline as I flew in from Barcelona, Spain. There are thousands of large and small islands off the coast of Croatia.

The time difference was still terribly hard on both Andrej and me. Also, it didn't help that we'd been out at the closing circuit party in Barcelona the night before. I think we only had about 2 hours of sleep! The first thing Andrej did when we checked into our room was take a nap. Here is a shot of our room with the bed, two pull out bed/couches and gigantic balcony. Behind and next to me (not pictured) is a dinning area, small kitchenette and bathroom. We were both very pleased with the apartment and would stay here again!

Every morning there was a huge market made up mostly of fresh produce. It was right below our balcony and directly outside the entrance to our building. We certainly made good use of it and purchased grapes, peaches and berries to eat during our stay.

At night we had a view that looked west towards Diocletian's palace.

Diocletian's Palace was one of the most integrated pieces of history I've ever seen. The entire palace was still structurally very much intact. However, it was being used as a modern day center of the city. There were bars, restaurants, stores all inside stone/walled structures. There were several huge open air areas such as this one section where people would gather, especially at night and see performers or enjoy beverages late into the evening. Directly below this area were vast catacombs some of which were sealed off. The ones Andrej and I walked through contained mostly street vendors selling their wares. It was nearly impossible to navigate around the palace using google maps. By the end of our stay, we were better acquainted with how to navigate the palace and it's many twists, turns and yes even dead ends!

Sunday Andrej and I spent time exploring the palace as well as the local area. The bay and boardwalk were directly in front of and slightly attached to Diocletian's Palace and less than a five minute walk from our apartment so it was easy to get to and enjoy. Farther out in the bay cruise ships would dock and ferry tourists to the boardwalk area.

The boardwalk was lined with shops, stores and restaurants of all kinds. Between the businesses and the water was a canopy for people to sit and eat as far as the eye can see. At night, there were street performers out in the area. Despite being in Europe, this small section of Split reminded me a lot of Las Vegas!

On Monday we went on a tourist boat trip of the islands that included a stop at Trogir. It's an ancient city on an island between a large island and the coast of Croatia. Here is a view from Trogir across the small channel between it and the larger island.

There were many old structures and buildings on the island that today are all protected as historic locations. It was fun walking though the area (it reminded me a lot of Diocletian's Palace) as we ate gelato from one of the hundreds of stands seemingly everywhere in the tourist and historic parts of Croatia.

This is the Trogir Cathedral.

Kamerlengo Castle was built in the 15th century on the island of Trogir.

After touring the island of Trogir we were taken to a small island and had a barbecued lunch. I had the vegetarian option which was grilled vegetables and it was very good! After our lunch, we had some free time to explore around and swim if we wanted. It was slightly overcast and a bit cool, so we mostly enjoyed laying and relaxing on the shore. The beaches here were made of hand-sized rocks, so it certainly was no white sandy beaches like Mexico or the Caribbean. More beautiful to look at for sure, than lay on!

The next day we tried out the main beach directly east of the Split harbor. It was everything you'd expect of a standard tourist beach area. There were lounge chairs and shade umbrellas covering the beach. There were thousands of people there and splashing in the shallow waters. You could order drinks and surf the internet. There was even an authentic friendly life guard patrolling the area, waving hi as he passed. It was nice relaxing there in the Sun for a few hours. Public Beach.

While we were at the public beach we met a guy who was going to a private lesser known beach off the beaten path and he offered to take us along with him. We were up for adventure so off we went! We had to walk back past the other side of Diocletian's palace and hop aboard a completely packed city bus. A twenty minute ride into Marjan park had us at a hiking trail then went down to large cliff-like rocks jetting up out of the water. There were people laying out on the rocks, swimming around and diving into the water. This is where I finally got in and swam around in the Croatian Mediterranean and it was absolutely wonderful!

Wednesday was our last day in Split. We decided to hike around Marjan Park. We took some water and snacks and off we went. Here's a view of the Park map.

At the very top of the mountain was an old stone structure that may have been a small fort at some time. It held the Croatian flag overlooking the park and city of Split far below.

The view of the city and harbor in Split was really beautiful. I caught a picture of this cruise ship just as it was leaving port.

The trip to Croatia was phenomenal and I'm so glad I went. I had so many experiences and created memories that I will keep with me the rest of my life.

Barcelona, Spain

Before I knew it- Andrej was flying into San Francisco International Airport and we were boarding our 7:45pm red-eye to London, Great Britain. We left San Francisco at 7:45pm on Tuesday August 7th, and arrived in London Wednesday at 2:00pm. We had a small layover in London until 4:20pm arriving in Barcelona, Spain at 7:30 that night. We checked into our room we were renting from a Spaniard named Alex in the "El Raval" area of Barcelona. It was conveniently placed in the middle of the city, near many of the major attractions and definitely close to the coastline!!

After checking in, we set out to explore around the apartment and Raval area and have some dinner. We didn't get far from our apartment before we found a lovely outdoor restaurant. It was late in the evening by this point, but people were just now getting out for their dinner and it was very busy.

There was a very expansive drink menu, so I ordered a "Caprisima" which was absolutely the best drink of my entire vacation! I'm not sure what was in it, but it tasted like fresh grapes. Not that fake grape taste you get from a grape cola, but real grapes. Delish!

The first day was one of our busiest! We took the city sightseeing tour through the "red line" bus that allowed you to get off at any stop you liked and tour around and then get back on when you were ready to continue. The buses came equipped with English audio translation so you knew where you were and what you were looking at along the route. To see pictures of the various places in Barcelona we visited you can checkout my photobucket album. (All Europe pictures are in here)

That night we had pre-purchased tickets to the Rapido party for the worldwide gay circuit party event in Barcelona. It was completely off the hook. Unbelievable. Lots and lots of great looking guys having drinks and dancing to some great music. We had a lot of fun dancing the night away and even met some fun people from Austria.

The main dance floor, before it got too busy. The club had three levels, and I was up in the balcony area taking this picture:

On our way home from the party I was shocked at how well lit the streets were and how many people were out and about well into the early morning! I felt just fine and safe walking back to the apartment.

Friday was BEACH DAY! We slept in way past what we should've... I think 3pm! So we had to get a move on down to the beach before we lost all the great sun. While Andrej was splashing in the ocean I picked us up some refreshments; Mojito and Sangria drinks. Yum.

After our sun bathing and splashing a bit, we had dinner on the boardwalk. Here's a picture up the boardwalk from our seats on the patio.

Saturday I got up bright and early (well, not too early, 7am) for a jog along the Barcelona boardwalk and beach. You can see my jog and the pictures en route at my runkeeper post. I took some nice pictures along the way too. My favorite was of the Columbus statue, pointing west.

Once Andrej was up, we did some shopping for swimsuits for the quickly approaching pool party. Andrej had forgotten his trunks, so he wanted to buy something nice for the party. Fortunately he found some that he liked and we headed out for the afternoon circuit pool party. This pictures is before the event got going.

This picture is from when the event was in full swing.

We left a little early and went to grab some dinner on the way home. We found a nice Italian style restaurant along the way. Andrej had a pizza/calzone thing and I had grilled asparagus and some pasta. We changed at home and then headed back for the main event that night. It was a center the size of the Idaho center with a main DJ stage up front filled to the brim with guys dancing and having a blast!

We didn't stay too late since we had a 9:00am flight to Split, Croatia the next morning. I think we got a couple of hours of sleep before we had to be up for the flight- but Spain was a complete blast and we enjoyed every minute!

Jami's Visit!

I've been looking forward to Jami's visit all summer long! Finally the day was here! I picked her up from the airport Friday morning and we headed straight over to fisherman's wharf. We picked up some hot chocolate to go with our crab chowder bowls and enjoyed them right there on the pier.

After our brunch we walked over to the Ghirardelli where Jami bought some chocolates to share with her family when she got home. I always enjoy seeing the walls of chocolate in here- delicious stuff!

That evening we went to Francis Ford Coppola's winery in Geyserville, CA. Since I'm a member there we had wine tasting on the house.

After that, we headed out to watch the Sonoma "Romeo and Juliet" performance at the Winery. Jami and I enjoyed the wine tasting for members (yes, again!) before the play started. Then we grabbed our sandwiches and sat down with our wine to enjoy the play. It was well done, and we enjoyed it.

Saturday we met up with Jami's friend Robbie and his family for lunch at Guigni's- Jami's favorite sandwich shop. I let Jami place my order, and I'm soooo glad I did! It was a delicious ham sandwich on sweet roll with Guigni juice. Robbie's little boy (Rutherford) was so cute and was definitely a handful!

We drove around Jami's old stomping grounds this afternoon and took pictures here and there. These massive jacks were near Jami's Aunt and Uncle's place.

That evening Chuck and Emily came over and we played some cards with them. Emily brought the last of our chocolates which we paired with the wines and WOWZA was that stuff good! I had a bit much I think as Jami called me out when I got a bit aggressive with the game- what're good friends for!? THANKS Jami! :) Sunday was the day I was supposed to run 20 miles in preparation for the marathon. But since I'm no longer able to do that (Dr's orders) I slept in and then Jami and I headed out on our adventures across Sonoma county. We started off in Bodega bay where we bought sandwhich lunches to take with us to the woods. Jami bought kites for her boys there along the bay at one of the local kite stores. Armstrong woods were beautiful as always, and it was so nice sitting beneath the trees having lunch with Jami. Then we hiked around a bit and took some pictures.

All the way back we stopped off at small wineries and along the road to get pictures for Jami's collage. She got me in the spirit and I even took a few pictures of the vinyards and grapes along the way. Perhaps I'll make something of the pictures too...

As we were passing by Old World Winery, I thought we'd stop just on a whim in case my futures were ready. Much to my happiness they were in fact ready for me to pick them up! I bought these wines during barel tasting weekend in March and they were finally bottled and ready for me to take home. The wine maker was so nice, he offered us a free tasting while there. Jami got to sample the wines I was picking up.

After all the fun of the weekend, it was coming to a close and time to take Jami home. We had the last of our leftover foods and headed out- only to get stuck in terrible traffic! There'd been an accident north of Novato and the little two lane freeway was a standstill. Jami and I were certainly freaked out, and unsure if she'd make her flight. In the end, we got past the accident and down to the airport in time for Jami to make her flight. It was a great weekend, fun times, and I'm so glad Jami made it down to see my life here in Sonoma.

A Change of Plans...

Today I found out that my running plans are no longer mine to control. In June I experienced some heart palpitations (the sensation of my heart racing while in fact it was beating normally). Throughout July I had several appointments starting with an EKG, then a Echocardiogram and finally was scheduled for an MRI. The EKG came back normal. The ECHO showed some abnormal thickness in the heart and the MRI revealed everything.

This morning my Kaiser cardiologist contacted me over the phone at work and discussed the results of the MRI. Unfortunately my heart formed abnormally at birth and as a result the heart fibres in my left ventricle run perpendicular to the flow of blood instead of with it and the muscle is "soft" or spongy. Diagnosis- Noncompaction cardiomyopathy.

The reality of this hit me when he made me promise not to run the Santa Rosa marathon August 26th which I'd been planning for all year long. The tears came down. It was a very sad day for me. I've been recommended to not run more than 5 miles at a time. I have a second opinion scheduled with our family friend and cardiologist in Boise, ID at the end of August. I hope to find out more about this and what kind of exercising I can do. For now, the marathon is off.

Hard pill to swallow. Very disappointing.

Update from my Dr 8/20/2012. The American Heart Association published a general risk assessment and exercise recommendation plan for people with similar heart disorders. Jogging is considered moderate... Marathon training, running and sprinting is high risk.