Solitude in hell.

As we were leaving the track tonight, Fred Hardy asked me “you have a good day?”. I replied with “I did…” then got a weird smile on my face. Before Fred could ask what my smirk was about, I added in “… I mean… it’s Sebring, and not during the Twelve Hours, so… all else considered, yeah, it was a good day”. He acknowledged that with an agreeable laugh.

I started writing a post on the flight in yesterday trying to sum up the feelings I had heading into this race weekend, but found myself putting more thought into it than I expected and ran out of airtime. I was going to finish and post it last night, but I passed out way earlier than expected, exhausted from my travels. I’ll finish it and post it retrospectively next week.

In the mean time, the best way I can explain my mindset is with this:

I hiked from the media center below the pit terrace all the way over to Turn 11 in 90deg heat to capture one of my favorite shots under the tree…. Only to find that two advertising banners were placed in the way. Rather than getting all pissy about it as I probably would have in years prior, I just made it work. One of the results is this photo.

I’ve made it no secret that Sebring is one of my least favorite tracks for both personal and photographic reasons. Yet, heading into this race weekend, I have felt the most at peace with myself than any other point this season. For the first time since I stated working in the SRO, I felt no anxiety leading up to my departure nor in getting settled into the weekend. Perhaps it’s because this is the first track I’ve been to on the SRO calendar that I’ve shot multiple times before, or perhaps there something greater at play here. Regardless, I’m liking it.

And I’m really hoping it’s foreshadowing things to come; both for this weekend, and beyond.

Hell hath no fury unless you let it.