I did the Herbal Life 24 L.A. Triathlon this morning. Matched my time from earlier this year at Discovery Bay but the course was tougher. I got a good night’s sleep and only woke up a couple of times the last being 2:15, the wake-up call at 4 O’clock was a little jarring. I flew in yesterday and appropriately for June 1^st L.A. was covered in fog, June gloom. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before that I am not a morning person so early this morning the inner gremlins were talking smack in my head “what the heck are you doing?” “I bet you’re going to be cold in this sleeveless wetsuit”. Luckily, I was able to ignore the negative talk and just embraced gratitude for the ability to do what I was about to do. The water temp didn’t bother me at all. The reported temp was 66 degrees but according to the race director it was 62, it felt like 66. The swim was fun and like bike was cool. There were a couple small hills but when do you get to ride your bike on the likes of Venice Blvd., La Brea Blvd, Olympic Blvd. by USC, Figueroa and Wilshire with no traffic whatsoever? I’m not a big fan of the loop courses which this one the run leg is 2 laps. Of course, my gremlins were back telling me to bail out on the Olympic 10K distance and just quit at the sprint 5K. Again, I ignored the gremlins and did the full course. I bought the V.I.P. upgrade for $99 and that included a post-race meal at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant (that looks funny spelled out “Wolfgang Puck”) It also included a post-race leg massage (by a male masseuse) and then I took the shuttle back to the start at Venice Beach. The race was well organized, and I would recommend it and will probably do it again, did I mention it is the USAT Western Regional? The room I am in at the LAX South Travelodge serves its purpose, bed, shower, T.V., I would not recommend it for the family. The rest of the day is about car racing and the Basketball finals game later. The best thing about the room is the free shuttle to nearby LAX which I will utilize in the morning and fly home.