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The Need For Speed!

We've discovered something new here on the island.....

Speed.

There's a Podium Raceway over in Kapolei. On a very small island, with rather short roads, there are not many places where you can drive over 35 mph. It's actually exhilarating to get to the highway and go 55. We'll probably freak out when we get to the mainland and get on one of the stretches of highway where people drive 70 mph.

We definitely aren't going anywhere near that fast here, but because you are low to the ground, it feels like the Indie 500.

Katie is rather intimidated by the speed. She hunches down like a turtle and drives slower than the rest of us. I will be grateful for this when she is sixteen, I know. We all yell encouraging statements as we pass her. "You're doing great, Katie!" "You can go faster, Katie!" "Eat my dust, Katie!"

She has reason to be a tad nervous. The first time we went, she drove headfirst into a wall and got stuck. She couldn't remember how to back up, so they had to cut power to all of our cars while someone ran out on the track and pried her free.

This last time we went, I was trying to pass her, we bumped into each other, she spun sideways, drove headfirst into a wall and got stuck. She did remember how to back up, but still couldn't get free, so they had to cut power to all of our cars while someone ran on the track and pried her free. It's a learning experience.

Like a field trip.

I pretty much just pressed the gas pedal to the floor and only eased up on it when going around a sharp curve. I bumped into a few walls (and a Katie). The flag guy kept holding up a sign that said, "USE BRAKES". So I started using them. It's difficult to get used to using a left foot brake, when that is totally opposite of how a car works. My feet don't seem to work in tandem any more. However, I did discover that when going around a sharp curve, rather than letting up on the gas pedal (it's probably called a battery pedal, but que sera sera) I could step on the brake and do and awesome fishtail that didn't cut into my time.

They post your race times at the end, so you can see who won. It was me. Ben said, "How did you do that? I didn't think you were faster than me! It's because you knock the competition into the walls! Take out the little kid, MOM!"

Like I said, it's a learning experience.

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