San Francisco-Day 1

I'm back in business!! My amazing husband hooked my laptop up to a separate flat screen so I can use my laptop!

So away we go!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I hate to fly. When the flight is at 6:10 in the a of m, I hate it even more. My alarm went off at 3:55 and I started getting ready. We picked up two other Angels are Shawn dropped us off at 4:55. There weren't any Southwest workers at the desk when we got there! There was quite a line also. We just got in line and waited until they decided to open. Glad we didn't get there two hours early like you're supposed to! As I was going through security I started putting my stuff in the tubs. My purse in one with my baggie of liquids, my laptop in another, my carry on in a third, my shoe and boot in a fourth. Good grief. As I started through the metal detector the person behind me pointed out my cell phone in my back pocket. I tossed it in with my purse and walked through. The alarm went off. The lady pointed to my Tiffany bracelet and I removed it and put it in a separate bowl. As I walked through again the alarm went off.

Then she saw my foot.

Under my boot I have to wear a support sock. Basically an Ace wrap that's like a tube that I put on in a double thickness. She asked what that was. When I told her I had a broken foot and that's what I wore under my boot she asked where the boot was. Well hello, it was going through the x-ray machine. She told me I had to be pat down and sent me to Thelma. Thelma came over and whispered in my ear. "It's your earrings. She's just not doing her job right. But if I say that to her I'll get slapped."

I like Thelma. It's a good thing because in the next 5 minutes she felt just about every part of me. I looked at it as a free massage. After all of that she noticed my foot. Good grief. I explained to her what it was and she told me she had to do a chemical test on it. On a support sock. Really? She got out something that looked like gauze, poured some kind of liquid on it, and rubbed it all over the sock. What in the world do they think could be on there? Anybody know? By then I was just ready to get out of there and didn't stick around to ask questions.

Finally I was able to join my friends and board the plane.

Even though I hate to fly, I have to admit, this was beautiful.

These two sweet ladies were my roommates. Karreen, in the center, started running for the first time in February and remained faithful to me through all my injuries. If I was able to run she was standing on the corner waiting. I thank God for her all the time. I have no drive at all and knowing she was there kept me going. It devastated me to get injured this last time and not be able to train with her. You'll hear more about how amazing she is when I tell you about race day. MaryJean on the end has been a good friend for many years. She has a sense of humor that will crack anyone up. Meet her and 5 minutes later you're in love with her. She was a blast to travel with.Do you see the big earrings I'm sporting?? They're cute, but they cause problems!

When we got to our hotel it was located on a one way street. With the door side of the bus being in traffic. Basically we shut down the street getting off and getting our luggage. I've always wanted to stop traffic:c)At this point most of us hadn't eaten and it was close to noon. Since we'd been up since before 4 this was a problem. Most of the hotel rooms weren't cleaned and ready yet so we consolidated luggage where we could and headed across the street to a mall for lunch. MaryJean had forgotten her sunglasses so we made a quick stop in Forever 21 so she could get some. It was located in a historic building near Union Square. Look at that ceiling!! I don't think I looked at any of the clothes. As I was walking in the alarms by the door went off. I saw two workers standing nearby and went over to explain that the same thing had happened to me at the airport that morning and I had been told it was probably my earrings. I then explained that when I left I wanted to make sure someone knew that I wasn't stealing anything. The girl of the two assured me it would be okay. As I was getting ready to leave I went over and found her to let her know the alarms were about to go off. She again told me not to worry, she knew I hadn't stolen anything. Several employees were standing around at this point and I wanted to make sure everyone knew. So as I walked out the door with about 5 people watching my every move, the alarms didn't make a sound. How does that make sense??After my $14.15 Fettuccine, Garlic Bread, and Diet Dr Pepper (hello California pricing) we headed to the expo tent to pick up our race packets.After getting our bibs and the cute pink backpack they came in we walked over to this. I'd never seen it. You picked your pace and got the bracelet that corresponded with it. That way on race morning you knew what color corral to go to. Sadly because of the broken foot I had to pick a much higher time than I would have like to. Karreen picked the same one:)We left the expo area and headed across the street to Niketown. This was on their roof. Isn't that amazing? $105 million. Many of you my faithful readers were a part of this years fundraising. I can't thank you enough.One of the many neat things about the Nike race is that all the entrants names are written on the wall outside Niketown. It's a big deal to go find your name. I assumed that the names would be in columns up and down and that I'd find mine right away. Oh no! The names are written one right after the other from left to right starting about 10 feet off the ground and stretching about 20 feet. It took us way too long to figure that out. Then it took FOREVER to find our names! Karreen's last name starts with an M so she was near the bottom. MaryJean and I have early in the alphabet names and ours were so high up there's no way we could get anywhere near them. I had to put on my telephoto lens to get a good shot!

Trust me, it's up there!TNT had posters for people to make and I loved when I found a guy making this one for his wife. I asked him if I could take a picture of it. Sadly I didn't get it before he started the Canadian flag. Oh well:)As if walking through 3 airports and all over downtown wasn't enough, we walked about half a mile to go to dinner as a group. Almost 30 of us. I of course couldn't have what was served because of all my food allergies so as Prime Rib, Duck Con fee, Roast Chicken, 6 different pizzas, salad, and lots of veggies passed me by I dined on my $6 roasted broccoli.

Tracy thanked each and everyone of us for the money we'd raised so that more families didn't have to lose someone like they had. She is such an amazing person. I count myself blessed to do the small part that I did. Isn't she beautiful? It's inside and out.After walking back to our hotel (up, all the way I might add) we all collapsed into bed. What a wonderful day the first one had been. I couldn't wait to start the next.