NASCAR RACE - PHOENIX March 18, 2017

Dave and I arrived in Phoenix on Friday night and we went to Dave's cousin's house for dinner.  Mike and Jamie served us steak and veggies and Jamie and I had margaritas.  It was great to be together as Jamie and I along with my sister-in-law Kathy are in a support group via Facebook to encourage one another on our weight loss journeys.

Saturday morning we got up early (but not early enough for breakfast at the hotel.)  Dave wanted to drive through McDonalds and get going.  I said, Okay, but my mind was literally freaking out.  One of the best parts of this trip was how I was able to get my mind under control.  I texted a friend and said, "Tell me that one breakfast at McDonalds will not UNDO 15 months of work."  She reassured me that it would not.  I kept repeating that to myself and went with the egg white delight and an oatmeal.  (I took the top english muffin piece off.)  This may not seem like much to you all, but I literally have NOT allowed myself to cheat for 15 months - so McDonalds kind of flipped me out for a minute.

We proceeded on to pick up the Marcolini children.  Bill and Melody were very sick with the flu and could not join us so Anthony and Katie came with us to the race.  They hold a special place in my heart as their mama, Cheryl was a great friend of mine.  We then headed to Mike and Jamie's.  Jamie had bought me one of those water bottle fans and she had loaned me a nice floppy hat.  I had sunscreen on and I was ready to go.

Me with Katie and Anthony Marcolini

We had a great parking spot at the Phoenix International Raceway and we proceeded into the racetrack area.  There were merchandise and food booths everywhere.  I loved the atmosphere.  We decided to check out our seats first.  We were in row 29 of the bleacher seats.  I climbed up to row 29 (without stopping) and I said to myself - WOW, I couldn't do that a year ago.  Nor would I have wanted to do that a year ago.  I would have just said, No.  I don't want to go to NASCAR.

Katie and I waiting for the rented seatback cushions 

I started to realize how much stamina I had and I began to realize how much my life had changed in one year and how bright my future looked.  Basically for 15-18 years I had turned down any camping trip, hiking trip, outdoor trip, European vacation, etc.  I did not have the stamina or the desire to do any of those things.  I ""WISHED" I could, but I knew I didn't want to.  But today I began to actually believe that my whole life had changed.  I weathered that 95 degrees in the bleachers watching the race without a hitch.  I went up and down those bleachers and felt great.  I walked to our car at the end and could have run a mile or two in addition.  It's hard to explain except to say a "shift" in attitude was happening.

The race was great.  My husband loves NASCAR so to be able to be there with him and watch him enjoy the heck out of his day was so worth it.  Unfortunately I do not know the drivers and their numbers and I was just catching on to the new rules.  But I can say, I would 100% do it again and look forward to doing it again.  I think maybe we would rent a headset so we could hear the commentator while we watched.  

Kind of a fun panoramic

Super smart Marketing idea.  Free photos and they e-mail them to
you immediately.  Then they encourage you to post it on Facebook or other social media.
Gets them lots of exposure.  Smart idea!!  This is me and Dave and Anthony and
Kaite Marcolini.

Got me a Joey Lagano shirt (I liked the colors.)
Had ourselves a beer.

It was a wild finish from what I was told.  I know there was a caution at the end and some cars pitted and some didn't.  The ones who did not ended up winning - so there is a definite strategy involved.  Hope I said that all correctly.

That evening we went out to eat with Mike and Jamie (Dave's cousins).  Again I was in so much better control of my mind than I ever had been.  I didn't eat perfectly, but I didn't eat horribly.  But even greater than that, I didn't stress about it.  That was the huge victory for me.

Dave and I have always wanted to see the Grand Canyon so we decided that we were going to do that.  We got up early on Monday and headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon -- just because we could.