Down the Rabbit Hole We Go...: Wanted: Adrenaline Junkies and Thrill Seekers

Some of you may know that I am a very anxious, uptight, cautious person. In fact, that may be an understatement. I avoid anything dangerous, including, but not limited to: anything relating to ice, sliding, high speeds, potentially dangerous animals, heights or falling from them, depths, small spaces, sports where balls could hit you in the face, anything that could cause sickness or injury. I have a very healthy sense of self-preservation (and yet strangely enough, a complete lack of fear when it comes to actual death.)

That's why it may surprise you to hear that I participated in something waaay outside of my comfort zone.

A stock car ride-a-long at the Medicine Hat Speedway oval track.

I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I said yes to this. I must have had temporary amnesia where I forgot that I was such a fearful person.

I don't think it hit me what I had gotten myself into until I realized that I was going to have to crawl through a window to get into the seat.

Donning the appropriate safety gear and getting buckled in should also have been a give-away. I told the driver, Bob, that I didn't care about winning and that I had two young daughters waiting for me at home. I felt a bit better after he told me that he had been driving stock cars since 1967 - tens year before I was even born.

Then we headed out onto the track.

Oh. my. goodness.

It was terrifying, and thrilling, and terrifying. You speed up on the straightaways and as you approach the corner you think, "Okay, we're going to slow down to go around this corner."

But you don't.

There may have been some screaming and I can tell you that it wasn't the driver.

I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my body and was sure that everyone could see me shaking when the flag waved and we pulled to a stop and crawled out of our vehicles. I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest.

Apparently I was the only one of the three bloggers that felt that way, in fact, Ricky Forbes got back in for a no-holds barred trip around the track after we finished.

I went home and told Mike about it and he told me that it was completely wasted on me. He would have loved it.

I would highly recommend this experience for those of you who love the thrills of high speed, the unknown, and new experiences. I think this Medicine Hat Speedway package would be the perfect gift for someone who doesn't need another tie or pair of socks, but loves auto racing or being able to brag to friends about having done something that not many people have the chance to try.

Many thanks to Stay in Medicine Hat for giving me the opportunity to try something new in my own hometown!

Here's a video of our experience: