I am waiting for my Ambien to kick in while Todd and Robert finish getting ready for bed. All of our gear is packed and race number stickers have been applied. All that’s left to do is wake up and go to the race.

Today consisted of getting our bikes inspected, picking up our race numbers, checking in the bikes and then going for a swim. It looks like the swim tomorrow will be rough, based on the choppiness today. The check-in/Expo consisted of the usual stuff. None of us bought anything as we already came fully prepared.

Todd right now is talking on the phone with his wife expressing how he is having moment of nervousness because he knows there will be moments of intense pain. I am looking forward to those moments. Physical pain is much more real and lets me know I am alive. I find it infinitely preferable to mental pain, which I experienced a bit earlier.

When I spoke to my son he started to sound sad and asked when I was coming home. I knew if I was there, I would be playing stoop ball with him outside. I know my wife is preoccupied helping my daughter with an overdo school project and that Luke is sitting around bored and wishing he has someone to play with. It makes me feel selfish to pursue my own activities. I told him I bought him a toy he would like and he seemed to sound happier after. I guess I am bribing my own guilt away, but it is the only method I know of to assuage it.

This is Todd in my car on the way to the Eagleman Triathlon. Unseen to the right is Robert, who has volunteered to drive. I am sitting in the back acting as the navigator. I am hoping to take a nap, but I fear that Todd will keep me awake as he constantly frets about his bike on the back of the car. I think the bikes will be fine. They are attached to the car with a Saris Bones rack which is as sturdy as can be.

I am sitting in front of my coach’s apartment building on the Upper East Side waiting for him to come by and check the positioning of my cleats on my new pair of Shimano TR-02 cycling shoes. Fortunately, while I am waiting I have Internet access courtesy of another dweller in his building. I love it when people leave their Internet connections open for the world to use.

While I am waiting, I figured I would post an interesting photo and random musing.

This is a picture of the Strike Rat. You see him come out every so often in front of a place of business that some union believes is treating their workers unfairly. In this case, the offending employer was Fendi. Can you really blame Fendi for treating its employees unfairly? That Madison Avenue Rent is expensive!

My musing occurred to me while I was exiting the subway this morning. I thought to myself, which would be preferable of these two options: Having sex with a fantastically beautiful woman (in all ways) one time and then never having sex again or only be able to have sex with a fat ugly slob, but you can do so for as many times as you would like for the rest of your life. It is the ultimate question as to whether you prefer quality over quantity.

After taking it easy for most of the day yesterday, I finally got out for a run around 6pm. I went with my kids who rode along side me on their bikes. I was wondering how this run would turn out, because I envisioned difficulty in getting them both up the hill in Prospect Park. During the ride I saw that my son is starting to come into his own competitive spirit. I told my children to ride in front of me so I could see them and my son refused to let my daughter get in front of him. I could see a smirk on his face every time she tried to do so.

We pretty much rode like this up until the hill, with my daughter complaining that Lucas wouldn’t let her get in front of him. Once we got to the hill though, my daughter was able to pull ahead as my son slowed down as he started to struggle with the hill. The last time we ran/rode together, I had to help him climb it. On this day though, he was able to tough it out and make it over the top completely on his own without ever stopping. I cheered him on the entire way and so did a couple of spectators sitting by the side of the rode. I think he liked the thought of doing it on his own and has started to learn that the little bit of suffering he had to endure, was well worth the satisfaction of climbing the hill. I often wondered when this time would come for him and now I know the answer.

Speaking of competitive spirits, this weekend is the Eagleman Triathlon. I am heading down with Todd and Robert and it promises to be an exciting weekend. Todd has been anticipating the kicking of my ass in this race and the question as to whether he will be able to do so will soon be answered. I am not making any predictions. I think it can go either way. The three of us are rooming together and Robert is already envisioning the bullshit that will go on between us.

My one regret for the weekend is that I will have to miss coaching two of my son’s soccer games. I was very preoccupied with this, because I feared that no one would be available to coach his team. However, I was able to speak to the co-coach (he has only appeared for one game) and he told me he would be able to attend both games. Hopefully they will still play like a team and have a great time.

I returned home to find the same weather as when I left. I am purposely being vague as to whether I am referring to left NY for LA of left LA to NY, since the weather has been the same everywhere I’ve been – overcast and rainy/misty. The weather didn’t put a damper on my trip; I merely point it out since it appears to be the same throughout the country.

For the ride home, I got to spend it between a couple that took the aisle and window seats, hoping that the center seat would remain empty. Unfortunately for all of us, this was not to be as I got the privilege of seating between them. I flew home on United Airlines and I have to say they give new meaning to the term Cattle Class. As you walk onto the plane, the coach class passengers are forced to walk through their extended First and Business class areas. They made up for a lack of seats in the front of the plane by cramming them all into the back. When the person in front of me reclined their seat, I had about a hands length of space to stretch out.

I am so glad to be home. Only a few more blocks to ride in the cab.

On my final day in California I managed one more swim in La Jolla Cove early in the morning. I knew the lifeguards wouldn’t be around, but I was pleasantly surprised to see several other swimmers heading down to the beach. It was barely 7am and it seemed as though everyone was coming out for a swim. I got in a final 2.5 miles in the Pacific, before heading back to my hotel to get ready for my final day of meetings. I will miss swimming amongst the giant seaweeds and the interesting and beautiful bottom. I’ll also miss the water temperature which was a balmy 67 degrees (so says a convenient thermometer attached to a buoy.

I finished with all work related commitments around 1:30pm, which left me free for the rest of the day. I had hoped to go to Venice Beach for a run with my childhood friend that lives in LA. However, by the time we were both ready to go, it was getting a bit late in the day, which made a run down in Venice impractical. Instead we headed to a dirt running track for a session of no-frills running. I did 26 loops on a track that was 3.2 loops per mile. For the math challenged this is just over 8 miles. I ran the loops at a strong steady pace in order to make it interesting and to get it done in a reasonable amount of time.

After the run, I headed back to my friends house for a quick shower and then we headed out for dinner. It was much too short a visit, but I was grateful for the time we had. I was able to meet his little girl for the first time and see his son for the first time in 5 years. It was just as well I was leaving in just a couple of hours as I was really starting to miss my own kids.

I finally managed to get in the swim I’ve been promising myself to do. I was able to leave right after the conference and head to Cove Beach. A couple of years ago, another business trip took me to this area and I strongly regretted not having my wetsuit with me. I vowed that if I ever return I would pack it so I can do what turned out to be a marvelous swim.

The water is very clear and you can see to a depth of at least 15-20 feet. There were many bright orange fish swimming around that looked like the Carp you see in ponds. The seaweed formations are also spectacular. There are these giant tendrils reaching up from the bottom like some crazy leafy cables. I swam into several large ones unexpectedly. It could almost feel like they were trying to grab you and pull you under. I swam directly away from the lifeguard station which is roughly parallel to the shore on the right. In the distance were a line of buoy markers that I swam towards. The water was relatively calm, but it did have the occasional swell that pushed towards shore. The air was very tranquil and the swimming seemed incredibly easy.

When I reached the furthest and final buoy marker, I stopped to rest and take a look around. A lifeguard on a large surfboard was paddling about doing his days training. We talked for a few minutes and remarked what a kick it was to be out in the middle of the water. It was exceptionally warm, around 67 degrees, and you were just filled with a sense of wellbeing. I decided to head back to shore instead of swimming out past the buoys. If I still felt like swimming after I reached the shore, I could always turn around and go back out. I had a work appointment around 4pm, so I didn’t have all the time in the world, but I made the most of my time. When I reached the shore, I turned around and headed back to the first buoy marker which was .25 miles away.

All totaled I swam for 49 minutes and about 2 miles. I was afraid I would be tired for the swim today, because I swam hard yesterday. That turned out not to be the case and I lamented that I had to head back. Perhaps I will get another chance to swim tomorrow morning.

I also got it a hilly 6.4 mile run. I ran from my hotel with a business associate to the beach 3 miles away. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera as it would have been nice to get a picture of us together by the beach.

As evening time fell, I started to get lonely and wished I had my family with me. I headed to a local sports bar that had the Yankee/Red Sox game playing and passed the time eating dinner and watching the Yankees take another from the Bosox. After, I head to the village of La Jolla to look for souvenirs for my kids. There was really nothing to be found that my son would consider cool. I finally found some loose head/bobble head turtles that I thought my kids would like.

I survived my flight to California. I took an Ambien soon after takeoff and I fell asleep for about an hour. I suppose it’s really impossible to sleep well on a plane. My first stop on this trip is Beverly Hills, where I am staying at the Beverly Hilton, the location of day 1 of conferences. I didn’t have much time to enjoy the place since I checked in well after midnight and had to check out later in the day.

I was able to get a 6 mile run in along the streets of Beverly Hills in the morning. It was a bit of a stop and go, since I didn’t have much of a contiguous place to run. There was sort of a trail along Santa Monica Blvd, which ended near Sunset Blvd. I then followed that road to some place called Gray Stone Park. However, at many of the intersections I had to wait for the pedestrian crossing sign to turn green. I didn’t want to risk “jay-walking” as the California Police are quite adamant about enforcing this regulation. As a New Yorker, I feel it is my god given right to jaywalk. Heck it’s a sport. In Los Angeles though, I didn’t want to take a chance. I once got a ticket for jaywalking while I was here many years ago which I never paid. Technically I am a fugitive from the law. I didn’t feel like spending a day in jail.

While running through Beverly Hills I saw many of the famous Down and Out. I guess the weather is more conducive to just live among the rich and famous. I would have snapped a picture of a few of them, but I felt it tacky to stop and do something like that right in their faces. I did stop and get a picture of me near a Beverly Hills sign.

My plan for later in the day was to arrive at my second destination, La Jolla, by mid afternoon. I wanted to get in an ocean swim at Cove Beach. I didn’t arrive until after 5pm and by then the lifeguards had left for the day. I questioned the wisdom of swimming out into the Pacific at dusk on a beach I was unfamiliar when no one was present, so I elected to swim in the hotel pool instead. It was a lovely 25 meters and I swam a total of 4000. Tomorrow I must make sure I get to the beach.

Note: Written while waiting for plane to take off…

I am suddenly overcome with a fear of flying. I am not afraid of dying in a crash; it’s the effect the loss of their father on my children that give me the chills. I suppose flying in an airplane is a lot safer than bombing down a hill on my bike going 50 mph, with nothing but a few inches separating me from the road, but at least I am in control while on my bike. I never understood this fear of flying until now. I guess I have something that I don’t want to lose. Oh yeah, I am at the airport waiting to board a plane to Califonia.

My depressed state on leaving my children was clearly visible on my face as I got ready. Perhaps my son sensed this, because he came up behind me unexpectedly while I was leaning over to pack a bag and gave me such a warm and big hug from behind. I was in shock at first because I thought it was my wife. I told her how I was feeling earlier and I thought she had come over to offer me some comfort.

At least before I left on my trip today I got to spend some time with my kids. They were having the Kenny Dolan Memorial Run in Prospect Park which always includes Pee Wee races. I had just returned from my run (11 miles out of 18 – I was pooped) and asked if my children if they wanted to do it. My son was an emphatic yes and my daughter said she would like to race as well. I think they are getting into the competitive spirit. Both of them were eager to race and ran the hardest I’ve ever seen. My son liked it so much this time that he wanted to go back and race again.

Hopefully I can keep myself occupied when I get to the left coast. I’ll be spending a couple of days in La Jolla and I am looking forward to trying to get a swim at the beach.

I rode a strong 84 miles today, all of them in Prospect Park. I can think of many other places I preferred to ride today, but I didn’t feel like going to them alone. Todd once again bailed out on me because of the threat of a little inclement weather and I couldn’t find anyone else to take me up on my offer of a drive to HSP for a ride.

The ride began around 8:30am. Soccer was cancelled because of the rain so I had all morning to ride. It was pretty lousy outside, so I knew there was not much I could have done with my kids outdoors. It didn’t rain all that much while I was out. It was mostly misty with just one rain shower. At one point during the ride I wished it would just begin to rain. The sky and weatherman had promised rain showers and I was tired of waiting. If I was going to tough out a ride in bad weather, I wanted it to be very bad.

Eventually I got my wish. The rain started coming down and I promptly got a chill. Oddly enough, it seemed to only be raining over the top portion of the park. The rain didn’t last very long and it soon just went back to high humidity. The wetness in the air caused my Rudy Project glasses to be fogged throughout my ride. It was very annoying. I had to stop a couple of time to wipe them down as the visibility through them was becoming zero. I really need to find a new pair of prescription race glasses.

Towards my final few laps I saw my friend Larry running in the park. I slowed down to talk to him for a few minutes and he suggested I ride with him over my last lap since I only had two to go. After I finished my laps I stopped for a minute to check in on the family. They were eating lunch and keeping themselves occupied. I figured I could spend a few more minutes out in the park to go hang with Larry. I must have been tired though as I screwed up when I clipped into my pedals and promptly fell over to the side. I smashed my elbow on the ground, but other than a bit of fresh road rash and a little soreness it appears ok. I still went back to find Larry, if only because I said I would. After chatting for a few more minutes, I headed home to shower and eat. I had enough for one day.