Kasha and Kiwi Attend Speedweeks at Daytona

"Hey there, pretty lady. You here for the races?"
"Yeah. I'm in one of them."

-In the hotel, Saturday.



So when we left off, I was finishing up the race. After playing around on the track for a while, we wandered over to the finishers' area where the race officials had quite a spread out for us. Water, beer, bananas, bagels, donuts, chicken, bbq, pizza, and more. I watched Nicole's friend get his age group award then headed for the hotel. I had under 10 minutes to shower and check out, but they comped me a late departure. I packed up and planned to head for Savannah. Time trials didn't start for 2 hours.

...but I found myself navigating back onto Williamson, back toward Gate 40...

Re-entering the speedway, the two gentlemen checking tickets exclaimed, "Oh! You're one of the runners! Let me tell you what your ticket includes!"

Yes, I was one of the runners. And Daytona Half made sure we were included! I headed back down the tunnel...

Again, infield parking and a 3 minute walk to the Sprint fan zone where I watched crew and drivers lineup for inspections.




















Then I headed back to Gatorade Victory Lane for more photos.

 And decided to head out toward the grand stands that you see in the back of the next photo.

I caught the tram out and found a great seat in time to watch Danica Patrick win the pole. The fans spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for someone to beat her. I spent the afternoon watching each car pull out of pit road, make two laps and head back in. I could see everything!

I lasted until about 2:30, seeing 36 drivers attempt qualifying times. There were about 10 more to go, but it was time to head home. Kiwi and I were both exhausted. We stopped for barbecue and a milk shake somewhere just over the Georgia/Florida line.

Did we run fast? No... 2:25:10

Did we have fun? YES!

This race was the first of its kind for us. Running and enjoying the history, the photo ops, and meeting other runners.

We loved it!

Yeah. Now she wants to go run in Charlotte, North Carolina on that race track and Churchill Downs so she can say she raced there too. 

Yes, Kiwi. Yes I do. Because we need more pictures like this.