Running with Reds: Living on Tulsa TIME!

Thursday, January 8, 2026

Living on Tulsa TIME!

Let's get the boring stuff out of the way first. I only got two work outs, one upper body workout and one lower body workout done before we headed out to Tulsa to watch the Shootout. We had an Airbnb, but the neighborhood was notorious for not being the safest, so no running for me. A week off has never killed anyone and it certainly didn't kill me.

Oh, and I cut my hair off and died it brown. It was my birthday present from Tony and Andrew, and I wanted it short and the same color all over. I got my wish. Now to figure out how to style it like she did. I LOVED how cute it was when she worked her magic and used about 1000 products, a hair straightener to not only straighten it but also curl it, and some sort of finishing spray. She's magical and I'm not and I need to learn her magical ways.

Wednesday early we headed out to Tulsa for four days of watching dirt racing. It's hard to explain how much fun it is to sit in a building listening to cars screaming, breathing in dust and fumes, and having your eyes burn all at the same time. We decided this year to get an Airbnb versus a hotel, and it was SUPER cute, and I will never stay in a hotel again LOL!

It was a garage behind someone's house turned into a little apartment that was just perfect for the three of us. I had experienced the beauty of staying in an Airbnb during my work trips to Wisconsin, but the boys had never experienced it. Even though it's just someone's house, it was like a whole new world to them and watching them getting excited about silly things was super cute.

It's so nice to have a washer and dryer and a whole house to just sprawl out in. We cooked, we showered, we watched Stranger Things, and yes, we cried happy tears. We had hoped to spend more time with friends, but we all had our own houses, and we were all so tired every night that we chose to go home and spend time in our family units. I strangely enough was wide awake every night till 1 or later, go figure.

The Shoot Out is basically days and days of watching racing in a dusty stinky environment with vendors to take you money and amazing concession stand food. We use the trip to get gear that Andrew needs where he can try things on and make sure everything fits correctly. It's weird to call sitting in a dusty arena fun, but we've had friends who have raced for the last few years that we love to come and cheer on. There are heat races, lower mains, last chance qualifiers, and A mains. It's all very thrilling to watch and basically you have 12-year-old kids racing against grown ass NASCAR champions which adds a whole new level to things. I loved every minute of it and am sad we are going to miss it in 2026 due to Disney trip with the band.

We cheered on Hank and Bo and watched our favorite NASCAR drivers race with their kids or watch their kid's races. Heck Kyle Larsen even sat beside me at one point to watch his kid race junior sprints.

It's crazy to me that Andrew will be doing this in 2026. I think quarter midgets laid the foundation and now we have fun with the rest of his racing career on dirt. This is a sport he can do for the rest of his life and if he doesn't, I know my hubby is itching to race as well. It's good family fun and I am excited to start this new chapter together.

We also tried to do a couple of extra things outside of racing. We took a trip to the aquarium first and boy was it amazing! It may be a small aquarium compared to the others I have been to (think Scripps Howard in San Deigo), but the exhibits are nicely done, and the experiences were cheap or free, so everyone gets to do them if they wanted. My favorite experiences were feeding the turtles and petting the sting rays.

They had a sting ray named Goof who loved to be petted and even though I jumped a few times when he rubbed on my hands, I learned he was jumping out of the water to look at me better and that made me so happy that he wanted to see me. She said that they were like cats, sometimes they loved being petted and some days they just didn't. The shark tunnel was amazing, and I could have sat at the octopus exhibit all day. They are such fascinating creatures that I could just sit and observe and never move. The sea turtle was also super people friendly and posed for pictures with everyone. The boys had an amazing time, and we all learned something about a lot of the animals.

We also hit up a place called Slick City on the day we drove back. It was something that had popped up on my Facebook and Andrew saw it and was dying to go. It is an indoor park that has slides that you slide down on your stomach on a mat. I didn't think Andrew would love it as it seemed geared towards smaller kids, but he did, sliding so much he was drenched in sweat. We got there right as it opened so avoided big crowds and he slid for the full 90 minutes till we had to leave. I highly recommend this place for big and little kids alike because adults can slide as well!

All in all, it was a great weekend. All of our drivers had some sort of success and met goals they made for themselves. Cheering Hank on in the Last Chance Qualifier was the most fun and even though he didn't make it out to the A, we are super proud to support him!