Daytona 5K

Greg, Amy and Debbie at the race start

When we were planning this cross-country trip, we contacted friends and family to visit along the way. This weekend, we planned to visit Greg's Aunt Sandi and cousin Debbie in central Florida. However, Debbie said that they were unavailable because they were going to Daytona Beach for Debbie to run the half marathon. She said that this is a great race that starts on the track of Daytona International Speedway, and she added that they have a 5K fun run that just takes a lap of the racetrack. The next morning, Greg did an 8-mile training run in San Antonio, then let Debbie know that he would join her for the half marathon and that Amy would do the 5K fun run. Later, Greg ran a 12-mile training run in Baton Rouge, then a 9-mile training run at home last weekend. Then disaster struck: Greg tripped and fell in a parking lot, bruising his ribs. Greg has yet to run since, and based on past experience, it will take weeks until he can run again. But since Amy planned to walk the 5K, Greg decided that he would walk with Amy instead of running with his cousin Debbie.

On Friday, we took a long walk around Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground, then we drove to the RV park in Daytona Beach. The campground in Daytona is fine but nothing can compare to Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground. We're now spoiled! We met Sandi and Debbie for dinner. Following running tradition, we went to an Italian restaurant for pasta. It had been about a year since we last saw them, so it was good to catch up.

Greg, Amy, "Louigi" (the mascot of the restaurant), Debbie, Benji (the dog!) and Sandi

First thing this morning, we drove to the race at the speedway. We saw Debbie briefly before she started the half marathon, then we started the 5K. The grandstand is huge; it seems larger than stadiums we have visited. We walked onto the track, then we approached the first turn. The track is steeply banked at the turn, so Amy quickly realized that it would be better to walk near the center. We had plenty of time to quote lines from Pixar's Cars movie: "Race cars don't need headlights because the track is lit. So's my brother!" The running finish was outside the racetrack, so we exited the track via the tram tunnel and walked to the finish. We finished the 5K a few minutes before the half marathon winners.

Afterwards, we did some shopping at Buc-ee's (of course!), Costco (ditto!) and Trader Joe's (ditto!). Daytona Beach covers all our shopping needs!