the whale's vagina?

German Pancake - 300mm+  of sugary goodness

San Diego - discovered by the Germans in 1904 named after a whales vagina...Given the wet weather I'm sure there is a joke in there somewhere...

Having had a brutal packed flight from London to Phoenix where my neighbour tried to share my seat with me I arrived in San Diego at the Lafayette hotel surprisingly awake. I was up at 6am the next day and seemed to have dodged the jet lag thanks to my NYE partying. I picked this hotel based on its `full sized' swimming pool, now either the Christmas diet has worked wonders or this pool was a touch short as my pace picked up significantly. I managed a 6 hours walk round San Diego, Balboa park has some awesome trails and I've been kicking myself that I didn't go for a proper run round them when I had the chance. On the Sunday I managed a trip up to La Jolla cove before the conference started on the Monday and my free time dissipated completely.

For the conference week I was sharing an Air B&B place nearer the venue. My hopes of some glorious Californian weather, weren't to be realised as some much needed El Nino rain was pouring in.  The conference was a success from a work perspective. However, being on expenses meant we were eating out for most meals, which although tasty certainly took its toll. I'd hoped to get a few runs in during the evening but in the end it just wasn't possible. I managed to get a 1 hour run in at the end of the week jogging round the waterfront, but the boozing/over eating/lack of vegetables really has taken its toll and I need to get back into the routine of regular runs soon.

For the last couple of days of my trip I've been at the 500 West Hotel San Diego. It was the old YMCA place, so I've had to refrain from bursting into song. I think its better days may have been behind it and although I've stayed in some pretty grim hostels over the years this one has been pretty terrible. Shabby rooms are pretty much a given, but they could at least keep the bathrooms half clean. Though the pissed up guests probably aren't doing them any favours.

Still, with the weather somewhat improved I've hired a bike to explore around the city. I managed a four hour bike although I think I was probably going in circles for the most part. I found it really hard to follow the bike routes mainly because the signage would just stop. But also because I wasn't really sure where I was going. Still random exploring works wonders. The bike I got was an aluminium Giant Defy 105 with disk brakes. Its the first time I've ridden disks on a road bike and I was a bit worried about the juddering sensation under breaking. I've been reliably informed that this is normal, but to be honest I didn't get any sense of improvement over my rim brakes on my bike at home. Anyway, hopefully a quick blast tomorrow morning before I spend the best part of a day trapped on a plane back to London. Bristol is getting snow this week? Not looking forward to the cold.... But hopefully time to get back into training.

West 500 - At least there is space for a bike!