Blog

San Diego Burns

Not that it’s news to anyone with a television or internet connection, but there are fires currently raging across much of southern California. The satellite picture at the top of this entry is from a few hours ago. I’m following them the best I can via the internet and phone calls with my parents. Thankfully, my parents are pretty far out of harm’s way. A friend from Brown was evacuated yesterday, but the fire doesn’t seem to be very close to his house at this point. The numbers are staggering – in San Diego county alone there are three major fires, over 1,000 destroyed homes, 250,000+ burned acres and over 500,000 people have been evacuated. There are other fires north in Malibu and near Santa Barbara and north-east near Lake Arrowhead. Terrifying stuff.

Three years ago this coming weekend, I was visiting San Diego for a family friend’s wedding. When we woke up on Sunday (the morning after the wedding), the air smelled smokey, the sky was grey and there was already some ash building up on the cars. At the post-wedding brunch, we were all glued to the television and internet, worried about friends who lived in the area of the fire and about when those of us who were flying out of San Diego that day were actually going to make it out. We’re headed back to San Diego this weekend and it’s happening again, but this time it’s expected to be much worse.

In the middle of all my thoughts about the fires is our trip to San Diego this weekend for the San Diego Triathlon Challenge. We are still going to make the trip west, but I’m not that confident that there is going to be a race. While the most recent headline from signonsandiego.com notes “Rays of hope amid the flames and smoke”, the fires are still entirely out of control and the current forecast says that the winds fueling the fire are not going to subside until Thursday. Even if the fires are out by Sunday, who knows what the air quality will be like or if putting on the race will be logistically possible for a city trying to dig out from under all the ash. The CAF website says that they’re still planning on racing. I’ll be there just in case!

My thoughts go out to everyone affected by the fires. I’m thinking about you San Diego.

Yoga – October 22

Bike – October 23
Time: 47 minutes
Average heart rate: 118
Indoor ride

Run – October 23
Distance: 3.1 miles
Time: 25 minutes
Average heart rate: 132
Course: West Village
Conditions: Too warm, evening run