Florida - check!

This past weekend I accomplished two things:

First, I checked the state of Florida off my states I've raced list. I'm now at 19 of 51 (including Washington, DC)! Second, I marked a race off my race bucket list! And that race would be the Daytona Beach Half Marathon! You can read the Team Rabbit rap about it, here!



Bonus for going to Florida was I got to fit in a short visit with my high school friends Traci and Jeff! They were amazing and drove up well before the crack from Vero Beach to see me race and finish. And after we got to relax a bit over breakfast.

Background, nearly three years ago we (me, STUR, and P-Diddles) went to Indianapolis to race the Indy Mini Marathon. During that middle portion of that race you get to run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Here I am, standing on the Yard of Bricks:

The Start/Finish Line at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

You can read the Team Rabbit rap about it, here! Anyway, I thought that was such a cool thing that when I realized Daytona Beach had something similar I knew I wanted to do it. Well, I finally did it!

The Daytona Beach Half is a little different as you start on the Daytona International Speedway, and do a loop around the track, then go out to the street and head to the beach, run a short bit on the sand, and return back to finish on the track. There had been a lot of rain the day before so we did not actually run on the beach! The organizers were able to adjust the course that morning to avoid the  beach. And  the race finish is next to the finish line of track:

The track at the finish line has an 18 degree incline!
Photo credit: Traci

The weather on race morning was chilly and a little damp. That was perfect running weather in my opinion! We had some sprinkles part way through, but it wasn't too bad. The sun came out later that day.

Jeff was able to take pictures of a couple of vintage race cars around the track:

And something I'd like to do one day, the Richard Petty Driving Experience!

Thanks for sharing the car photos, Jeff!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Next Up: Hopefully a shamrock themed 5k!