Speed Racin Dreams!

Wow, What a freaking dream come true! June 22, 2008 @ apprx, 130pm, I got to race a real Nascar Nextel Cup 10 laps around Texas Motor Speedway. I am not even sure where to start, but I will go ahead and tell you all about it!
We got there and drove out thru the tunnel to pit road. What a spectacle seeing the speedway from that side. I can't believe how ginormous it is! They had all the cars set up inside the garage and seats so you could sit down and listen to the 30 minute shpeel about what to do and the lines and where to drive. Then we get to go up to the track and ride in vans 2 or 3 laps around the speedway so they could go through it again and show you on the track. I was one of the first ones in line for that. I walked fast up to the van and asked if I could ride in the front. The answer was, "sure!" With that, I jumped and squealed like a little girl and got in the van. (Squeal number one.) Of course, I listened like very intently, I wanted to make sure I took it all in and didn't forget anything. Can't drive like a racer if I don't listen to how to do it right!
After that, we stood in a line and they picked out the groups. I was in group 4. They sent us over to pick out our firesuits and then we wait.
During all the van rides, they had moved the cars up under a tent where folks would get to ride. We were told that all these cars were actual cars that the Nascar Cup drivers had used and retired (since they are in new cars this year.) As the first cars rumble up and move out, it was so freakin awesome! Have I already said that? Adrenaline starts pumping because I know that soon, I too, will be rumbling out from underneath the tent onto the track for my drive.
Oh, did I tell you that it was HOT outside??? Did you know that those firesuits are hot too and I was in group number 4. Thank goodness my dad got me some water. He kept telling me to drink and I didn't want to because I was afraid that I would have to go the bathroom during my drive. He told me not to worry about that...nope, didn't need to worry about that...
Anyway, my turn came up and we are standing under a little red tent, just the 10 folks in my group. The guy comes over and tells us about how this is going to work and then starts telling us what car we are going to be in. We can't pick cars because each car is set up for a certain size. When he is going around I started saying under my breath, "number 20, Home Depot, number 20, Home Depot." He gets to me and says, "You are going to be in Number 20!" I jumped and squealed like a little girl again! (Squeal number 2) Dudes I can't even begin to tell you how freaking awesome it was! Have I already said that...
Just talking about it gets my blood pumping again!
After that, we go pick our helmets and wait for the last group to finish getting out of the cars. Then, it is our turn.
Off we go. I jumped the pit road fence and head for my orange number 20 Home Depot car, just hoping that I do my family proud and don't let down them or the Home Depot. There is a reputation to up hold you know. Also, the weirdest part, I wasn't nervous. I was elated and floating on cloud nine. They told me how to get into the car and when I scooted into the seat, it fit perfect. My instructer Pat scooted in his side and I told him that I will do whatever he tells me to do, my goal is to go as fast as possible and not come in last. He said that is what he wanted to hear.
Now during the drive, you can't hear each other so they use hand signals. Thumbs up to speed up, thumbs down to slow down and flat hand to keep it even and side to side to change lanes. If you don't do what they ask for with speed up or slow down, they tap your right knee or push your knee down to go or grab your leg and pull it up to take the foot off the gas.
When the drive started and we popped the clutch to start the car, it was like thunder rumbling under my booty! (Squeal number 3!) I think I went perma grin and didn't stop. I went ten laps, but it didn't feel like it. It felt like 10 seconds. I passed 6 cars and went 145 miles per hour! I was not passed by anyone and I didn't come in last. During the drive, the G force was so powerful that I got light headed at one time, but because of where I was, I did not lose it. I have bruise on the back of my right arm that I am so proud of because I was getting pushed so hard to that side that it couldn't help but form. I will have to take pictures of that for ya! It is the best bruise ever!!
Whenever I got done and got out, I asked Pat how I did and he said great! He said that I couldn't have done any better because I got everything out of the car it had to offer. He was smiling really big too! That was great. I had to do good if I made the instructer smile that big!
What else?? Oh, I got a video too. My dad paid for me to have an in car video. You can hear the rumble of the engine and see out the front window. I think we are going to time some of the laps too, so eventually, I will have to put that on here.
Anyway, it was SOOOOO AWESOME! Praise God that I got to do it safely and Thank You to James for making a dream come true! Can't ask for much more than that! The adrenaline rush I had, carried me for about 2 hours and after then I tanked! I see why they call them adrenaline junkies! What a high! I would do it all the time if I could! That would be an awesome part time job!
I have to give the big boys credit, it is harder than it looks and I am positive they earn every penny they make! May God be with them when they drive every week! Those are adrenaline junkies! You don't realize how quickly you have to make decisions when you are driving that fast. You have to be one step ahead of the next guys and trust the guys driving around you. Now I understand why they get so mad at each other when they wreck. So here's to you Racecar Drivers everywhere!
So with that being said, I will load up some pictures for you. I hope you enjoy!
Until we read again!

Me in the hot suit! It was even hotter in the car, but the wind helped!
You see me driving by. My uncle was trying to catch me under the checkered flag and I was going too fast ... :-)
This last one is me waving with my instructer after we were done! If you could find a way to zoom in, all you can see of me are my teeth!

Go TONY!!!

Political tyrade, my opinions only

I have been watching all this crap, I mean stuff on the news lately about global warming. I don't believe most of it. Truly, I believe that it is a facade to help take away our freedoms so the government can gain more control, but whatever. I think the ideas of keeping trash picked up and recycling and planting trees is all good. I have no problem with that. But the idea of buying carbon credits is the silliest thing I have ever heard of. In other words, it's another way for us to pay more taxes to the government and they are calling them carbon credits. What a joke!

We live in the good ole USA. We have improved our climate around here. When I was a kid and we used to drive to LA to see my grandparents, you could see the smog sitting in the city like a thick fog that won't go away. Where is it now? We are obviously doing something right. Now I hear people in Washington state thinking about not having fires on the beach anymore. What next!?

What about China being 60 miles off the Florida coast and stealing our oil/gas, oops, I mean drilling in international waters. Who cares that our gas could be almost 10 dollars a gallon and we are giving ours away because the environmentalists are so worried about the planet. God gave us this planet. No, I don't think we should abuse it, but we also are starting to be the joke of the world. The rest of the planet doesn't care. Even if we did what the scientists want us to do, it won't change much. China and India aren't changing anything. C'mon folks! If we were really all that worried, we would be trying to get them to do something, but guess what, t'ain't happening.

Now I have that out of the way, I am sure I did not make any new friends saying all this stuff, but I had to get it off my chest. Yes, I will do my part, but stop brainwashing my children in school and on TV. The planet has been going warm and cold for billions of years, that is what it does. God planned it that way.

Which brings me to my next rant - Watch out whoever takes the presidency, because we are a divided nation right now and it is not going to get any better. What a great way for an enemy to take advantage of a country. You want to know a person, look at who he hangs out with and who endorses him, whether he accepts it or not. Obama scares me. You can't tell me that he went to church for 20 years and never heard any of the things that have been brought up recently. Have you heard some of the left wing radicals that are excited about Obama possibly becoming president? Folks from Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Drug dealers in South America, leaders of countries who probably shouldn't be excited about our new president. We don't want to be friends with them. If you are curious, do some investigations on your own. He can denounce them all he wants to, but it doesn't change the fact they like him.

So there is my 10 cents. I promise not to go on anymore tyrades. I know some of you actually like what is going on in the world. I will choose to know that God sees this and this is all part of the plan. A weakend America will allow His plan to unfold the way He needs it to. It sure would be difficult to have us United when the anti christ comes. Divide and conquer. I may be totally off base here. I don't think I am though. If you look at the world and all that is happening, it seems to be the beginning. I am not saying it is going to end anytime soon, but I think it is the beginning. Just some thoughts to ponder.

Until we read again - if you will read me again! :-)

The big weigh down!

Well folks, I know that I haven't talked much about it lately, but I have been getting healthy. I am so excited because today was my weigh in morning and I hit the 20 lb mark today. It has taken me 6 months and I am officially at a loss of 21.5 lbs! The past 4 months or so were the movers and I had one funk during it of about 2 weeks long, but I finally did it! I am looking forward to my continued downward trend!

I would like to give God all the glory! He has given me the strength, the courage and the will power to do it. When I run, I always praise Him for giving me the energy to just do it!
I would also like to thank my Sisters In Sweat. If it wasn't for their encouragement and prayers and continued support, I don't know that I would have kept going. Thank you Sisters for lifting me up and keeping me going. It has been a wild roller coaster! I look forward to riding it some more with you! The ups and downs may be different for all of us because of where we are on the ride, but at least we are all on it together!
I, of course, would also like to thank my husband. He has been getting in shape too and it sure makes it easier for me to do this, as I watch him. We can show united front of being healthy for our girls and that makes us that much more stronger together, as a team!

I have some good news. I fought through a fear last night. A year or so ago, I took my girls to Bartlett park with me to ride their bikes around the jogging track. I brought my roller blades since I don't have bike, so I could keep up. Now imagine remember, I was 20 lbs heavier and I was on roller blades. I usually don't do that in public for fear of being made fun of. Little did I know that shortly after I started, it would come true. There was a car load of boys driving by and I heard them yelling at me out the window. I don't remember exactly what was said, but I acted like I didn't hear them. I was crushed inside. I don't know if the girls even knew what happened. If they did, they didn't say anything. I kept going. We did one lap and they were ready to go and so was I. That was the last time I did that. The last couple of months, I was running in the mornings there. I figured most of the crude boys would not be driving around at 8 in the morning. Since the girls have gotten out of school, I have not been able to run. Catie had All-Stars practice last night at the same park, so I thought that James would keep the little ones while Catie was practicing, I would go run. I figured that it would just be Catie's team there and as awkward as that would be I would put one foot in front of the other and just go. I kept looking for a way out and I so insecure that I asked Catie if it would embarass her if I ran. She was like, "No, go ahead!" Ok, now I can't back out. When we get there, the park was PACKED full of boys playing games! My heart started to choke me. Here I am all dressed and ready to run and the park is full of the young teenage boys. I would look silly if I didn't. All dressed up and too scared to go. You think God had anything to do with that? I would like to say though that I did it. I swallowed my pride and got out and did 3 miles. I didn't get to run the whole thing because I had eaten dinner before running and wanted to throw up, but I fast walked and pumped my arms, in spite of all the people who were "looking" at me. Were they really looking at me? I don't know, but I was so excited. I don't think that it is something that is going to go away overnight, but I had the courage to do it once and I believe, with God's help, I can do it again!

Here's to looking at getting and staying healthy, in spite of everyone "looking" at me. Praise to God!

Until we read again...