BAREFOOT RUNNING Is Good for you Sole. TRY IT!.

I have bore my Soles 7 times now and love it. I do feel little awkward running past people barefoot. I don't know if it's in my head or not, but some seem to look at me a little cockeyed. But, here in Santa Cruz there are weirdos everywhere. I'm just keeping Santa Cruz weird I guess. It has been fun trying something new. Usually when I start running on a regular basis, I am injured two weeks later due to shin pain, knee pain and/or hip pain. I have no pain now.

"Doesn't that hurt?"

When I tell people that I'm going to run barefoot in my next triathlon they look at me cockeyed and by their facial expression I know their internal dialogue is something like 'that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.' Then they force an awkward smile and ask, "doesn't that hurt?". My answer is, "No, not really it actually feels good." If you run 10 miles the first day then, yes it will hurt.

You are using muscles that you have never used before. As you transition to barefoot running, you should start slowly. Ease into your mileage and listen to you feet. Most runner’s require 3-4 weeks before achieving ~80% of their regular mileage. Over the last three weeks I have worked up to 1.5 miles (yesterday) and everything feels great. I listen to my feet. As soon as they begin to ache (the arches usually), I stop.

I was introduced to barefoot running by my friend Sam Jones who was raving about a book called BORN TO RUN. This New York best seller seeks to dispel the myth that you need an overly supportive, cushioned, orthopedic shoe-boot in order to push the limits of human potential in running and exploring the world joyfully. I Highly recommend this book. I read it in a day and it helped me understand why I kept getting injured.

Barefoot running may not be for everyone (Eric Hanson who is a Pansy). But don't knock it, till you rock it! Let go of the stigma and set your feet free. You'll instantly run softer and your biomechanics will automatically change, by running more on your forefoot instead of heel striking (which cause more stress

and torque on your knees and hips). Besides.....its fun to be a hippie! Try it!

Top to Bottom on my Bottom

Justin and I went to Tahoe last week to do some skiing. Upon arriving at Sugarbowl, I was stoked to learn that they were giving free lessons which I took full advantage. It was only my second time skiing. Justin is a great teacher, but he always wants to push me past my limits.

After day one and two Justin was so impressed by my new ski skills that on day 3 he decided to ski with me. He took me all around the mountain. I was feeling so confident and having such a good time. But, then Justin seemed to forget that I was on day 3 and took me up to the top of the mountain. When the chairlift went over some cliffs I began to think to myself, "Great! Justin is trying to push me past my limits again. When will he learn what is fun for him is terrifying for me."

When I got off the chair and saw how high I was, I started to freak out. I felt my legs starting to shake and feel like jello. I felt like I was about to go number 2 in my pants.

I tried to think positively in my head "I can do this! I can go down. Everything will be fine." Despite my incantation, I couldn't stop thinking about how steep it was and all the possibilities of breaking my neck.

So Justin went half way down the ski run and signaled me to follow. I felt paralyzed and tried to slide down side ways. After 5 feet I started to beg Justin to let me go down on my bum. He would look at me saying "no! you can do it! Come down side ways." At this point I was so mad at Justin for making me do this that all I wanted to do was punch him in the gut.

Since going down sideways was not working, Justin had wrap my arms around his waste, guiding me down slowly, but that only worked for 30 seconds before we fell on top each other.

After 30 minutes we were only half way down. I got past the steepest and bumpiest part of the hill. The 2nd half of the hill didn't seem as bad which gave me more confidence. I started my incantation again, "I can do this, I am in control." 20 crashes later, I made it all the way down. Even though I hated going through that experience, I was proud that I was able to ski from top to bottom on my third day.

Feliz Natal

I was at work one day and left to get some lunch. When I came back I saw a piece of paper inside my laptop that read, "Merry Christmas, Love Lots Justin." I kept reading and realized that it was a ticket to Brazil. Justin surprised me with a ticket to Brazil to see my family over Christmas. Yahooooooo!
I was to arrive on Christmas Eve and wanted it to be a surprise for my Mom, but unfortunately, while my sister was picking me up at the airport a friend had called the house asking my mom if I had arrived yet. Here I am with my family and friends; Jorge, Bete, Mom(Maria), me, Rosa, Ana, Camila, Dani, Rosa, Yasmine ... Christmas dinner.


I went out to lunch with olds friends to catch up with new gossip. Love you girls ... Starting to the left is Aline, me Hannah and Mayra. I had an awesome day with them.


There is nothing liking hanging out with friends that you grew up with. They're like your roots, giving you the foundation to grow and be strong. I love them. Starting from the left me, Pri Bahia, Joyce, Vanessa and Camila. I had such a great day.


I love Brazil, but really its because Brazil has the people I love so much. Hope to see you guys soon. Beijos XOXO

I'm in Time out For 31 minutes

The follow is a dialogue between my Nephew, Mckay who is 3 years old and me.

Justin: That movie was so stupid!
McKay: Hey you said stupid! When I say stupid I have to go to time out.
Justin: Well, I was trying to say stupendous.
McKay: But you said stupid.
Justin: You're right. I shouldn't have said that, do I need to go to time out?
McKay: Yes. I have to go to time out for 3 minutes because I'm 3. Ethan has to go to time out for 5 minutes cause he's 5. How old are you?
Justin: 31
Mckay: So you have to go in time out for 31 minutes.

I ended up going to my room for 31 minutes for time out. Thank Goodness for wireless internet.


This is McKay walking his bike back up our single track in our backyard. There is a mountain bike movie we watched where all the pro bikers walked their bikes' back up the jump course.

Have you ever peed your pants while talking to someone?

Well, I have. Last week we had a big swell. I did a double surf session on Friday and Saturday. On the Saturday afternoon session I suited up with my buddy Mark and went to indicators (by the Lane) with out checking it. It was all mixed up and so we left to check some other spots. We spent the next 2.5 hours checking spots with our wetsuits on. We finally said we were going to go out at Rio Del Mar no matter what. As we were walking on the beach, I realized that I had forgotten something in my car.

As I was walking back, a lady asked me if I had a cell phone. Her car had died. I was thinking 'Oh man! We have 30 minutes of light left because we have been driving around so much and now I have to help this lady.' I also had to go pee really bad. I had been holding it in for the last hour and half. I needed to jump in the water so I could go to the bathroom. As the lady was talking to AAA, I decided to just go pee in my wetsuit. So as we are standing there talking, I'm peeing in my wetsuit. About a minute later this yellow stream starts slowly dripping out of both of my booties. I shift over and position myself strategically so the yellow stream goes behind me. It was pretty noticeable so I told the lady, "I think there is better reception over here," as I walked her away for the the now yellow puddle. Mark came back because I was taking so long.

"Don't you have jumper cables?" he asked.
"Ummmm oh yeah," I replied. I had to get in my car with pee filled booties and drive over to her car. We set it up and she asked if I would start her car. So obviously she didn't see that I had peed myself and I wasn't about to say, 'No I better not because I'm soaked with pee right.' So I got in and started it right up. As I got out I could see two wet footprints in her car. Nasty!
To make matters worse we both decided that the break was closing out and we wanted to go back to pleasure point. Unfortunately, Mark has peed in his wetsuit too while waiting for me. We put towels on the seats and floor mats and drove another 10 mins back in our pee saturated wetsuits only to get about 20 minutes of day light.

Pinicles National Monument

This weekend We took some of the young men from church to Pinnacles National Monument to do some rock climbing. We had a super fun time.Here I am tying Mckay in for his first time climbing 

My brother-in-law Mike and my two nephews Ethan, McKay tagged along with us on our adventure

There were some fun caves that we explored.

Here is Mike and Ethan climbing.  Ethan did pretty good.

Some of the boy found this tarantula.  Apparently, the males are out cruising  looking for some females, but the females haven't come out yet.

NEW MEXICO & BYU's FIGHT CLUB

On Nov 6, 2009 in the playoffs #15, Lambert, the unfriendly lion goes Crazy on BYU's Carly Payne. I worked with Carly's Dad in his Chiropractic Office. Talk about a cool family. Carly, way to represent Foothill High, and Pleasanton 1st Ward. Good luck in the conference championship. Go Cougs

Happy Halloween from the Land of OZ

"Puttum Uuuuup......Puttum Uuuuup"

Picking a costume for Halloween is so hard. You want to be something ordinal and funny, and at the same time doesn't cost a lot of money and time. At first Sil was going to be Micheal Jackson and I was going to be a zombie from Thriller. If your going to do Mike, you got to do it right. We were scared it wasn't going to come out right so we then thought about being Dora the Explorer and her cousin Diego. Then all of a sudden a tornado came through Santa Cruz and we got blown into the Brazilian version of Oz.

And for any possible confusion, I'm the Cowardly Lion. I'm not from "Cats"

Attack of the the Giant Toads in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

After Montezuma we headed to the Southern most point on the Nicoya Peninsula on the Pacific where the waves are large and in charge. We arrived in the middle of a large southern swell where we were dropping in on 9-16 foot faces.

Rob found us this awesome house nestled in the hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean, It's a 55 acre private reserve with an infinity-edge pool.

At night we would go swimming and while floating on our backs we would stare up at the stars. Sil and I saw the coolest shooting star ever.

The property is a tropical Garden of Eden, with mangoes, grapefruits, papayas, oranges, bananas, star fruit, and pineapples, as well as lush flowering shrubs and trees growing throughout the property. It is surrounded by deep jungle ravines on all sides.


There was a lot of wild life there. At night there was a little too much. Despite the radness of the house during the day at night it turned into a war zone. The house had an open venting system in the ceilings and floor so that air could flow through it. Unfortunately, so could bugs and giant toads. Each night we would come home and find giant toads in the kitchen and living room. As we ushered them out with a broom they would pee all over the tile floor. (See the Video at the end). Then as we would read our books by the light, giant moths the size of humming birds would buzz our heads as they went for the lamps. I let out some serious girly screams. Silvia had a hard time sleeping there. Finding Tiny cockroaches in our bed before we went to sleep didn't help. (All of these are pictures Sil took just out side of the house)We would wake up with the sun rising and the Howler Monkeys doing there hooting and Hollering. Our stay was amazing and extremely entertaining. It was a very memorable three nights all for only 150. That's 75 per couple. Which is only 25 a night. I think we scored. Sil might think otherwise.


This is a short Vid of us chasing Mr. Toad and my funny Bathroom walk.

Montezuma, Costa Rica

After a long flight, a 3 hour drive, and an hour long ferry ride our friends, Rob and Megan, and Silvia and I made it to Montezuma, Costa Rica. Montezuma is located on the tip of the Nicoya Pennisula. It is a small bohemian beach town full of artists, backpackers, and rastafarians. It was late when we got in so we crashed in our cute bungalow.

The next day we walked 20 minutes south of town to the Montezuma Waterfalls. We couldn't find the trail so we just made our own hopscotching across the rocks following the river till we hit the first waterfall.

The 2nd and 3rd waterfalls are just above the first, but they aren't easy to get to . You have to climb up the side of the mountain holding on to tree roots.

The trails aren't marked so you have to kind of guess on where to go to get there. Silvia was a little sketched out and wanted to turn back so I had to act like I knew where I was going. It wasn't until I almost lead everyone off a cliff that I said "Fine we'll go back." But as we were going back we stumbled on the trail down to the 2nd and 3rd waterfall.

Here is Video of me jumping off the 2nd waterfall. There's nothing like being surrounded by the jungle and jumping off a 50 foot cliff.

Yosemite Bear Attack

Sil's one wish in going to Yosemite was to see a bear. We pulled into Yosemite Valley at 1:00 A.M. Friday night and Sil had to go to the bathroom super bad. We were walking through Curry Village with our head lamps on when Sil stopped suddenly and let out a yelp. Pointing to the gift shop she whispered, "Look there is bear inside the store."
"Ummmm that is a wood carving of a bear," I replied.
"Ohhhhh I don't have my glasses on. I can't really see."

Saturday we went climbing out in Tuolumne. We top roped at a place called the Western Front and climbed "Green Eggs and Ham" and "March or Dimes"

Here is Christian, Damaris and Enzo Palmer who we tagged along with. I can't believe at eight month prego Damaris went camping for 5 days. She was trying to convience us to let her do one of the rock climbs. (You can see the back side of Halfdome to the left of the Palmers)

On Sunday they had an LDS church services in this cute little church with Sentinal Rock behind it and Yoesmite Falls infront of it. It was a really good service about keeping the Sabath day Holy. One of the speakers, Brother Hill use to live in Pleasanton and coach my city league basketball team when I was 12.After church we broke the Sabbath by jumping off this bridge and swimming in the Mered river. Why does it feel so good to be so bad

Sil Goes Undeafeated at the Harbor

Sil and her Partner, Delavane took 1st place this weekend down at the Harbor Beach Open Womens Single A. They went undefeated the whole day!!! Here are some pics of this high flying duo.
Watch out! They will smash it in your face. One girl had "Sparling" tattooed across her forehead from a hard spike.
The Champs! Sil plays in another tournament next Saturday at Main Beach's CBVA. Look out Missy May we are coming for ya.