the race, the lottery and the fires... the good, the bad, and the ugly...

whew... what a spectrum of events going on... flying back home last night we flew over LA and I saw a bird's eye view of what was going on down below. Bright orange flames licking the mountain ridges. A lot of them and in like 10 different spots. I land and Tony picks me up and I ask... "is that smoky smell coming all the way from LA?" Well... it was immediately obvious that I didn't see the news all day (as we were busy with the race, details later) and that San Diego was once again on fire. It has been said that this set of fires (there are many "sets" of fires all around...) is worse than the Cedar Fires that happened a mere 4 years ago. The winds are high right now which is causing the fires to "jump" around. The embers from one fire float up into the air, and are blown into another area and start a whole new set of fires. What's scary is that is happens so quickly and really no one is safe, because of the winds and the floating embers. VERY SCARY! I am due to leave for Michigan tomorrow morning and right I am thinking... do I pack up the stuff I would want saved, just in case my neighbor has to grab the box for me? Do I fall into the trap of "oh, it won't happen to us?" Tony's making fun of me for wanting to be prepared. He's making me so mad because of it. Like WHAT WILL WE BE ABLE TO SAVE WHEN WE'RE IN MICHIGAN? Ugh. I'm putting stuff aside and my neighbor promised to grab it in the case our area is evacuated while we're away. I'm not too worried about my safety... hell, I'll paddle out into he ocean and camp out there until stuff chills out. It's my STUFF I WORRY about. AAAGGHHHH!

OK, I'll stop... people at this very moment are having to pack up and evacuate... those are the people to worry about right now. Prayers for Southern California would be greatly appreciated right now.

The lottery... for CE... my application is "still pending" at this moment... UGH.

The race.
tres cool as usual. I love going to San Fran. That is one crowded city sister! Anyway... the hotel we (my mom and I) stayed at was cute. Old, but cute. That is until the keeper was a jackass and wouldn't let us stash our lugagge for a while so as to allow us to grab a bite to eat before we left for the airport. So here we are lugging our luggage through the city and trying to eat some pizza, in the crowded eatery.
The race course didn't change much from last year. It was a perfect race day. The weather was just perfect. The morning was not cold at all... so there was no need to be all bundled up in trash bags, etc. The views are spectacular, as usual, and although that mile 6 hill is horrible, it didn't seem so bad this year. The time flew by!!! Joyce, Mabelle and I ended up doing the race together... my mom hung a little behind, but still made great time and completed the route like a champ.
The necklace this year is AWESOME! I wasn't too happy with the design the last two years, so this was a very pleasant surprise. Everything else was pretty status quo... great ending, good organization... whew! 23000 women (well, maybe a few men mixed in there) rasing a TON of money for a great cause! We kicked some cancer ass!