Death

Death leaves a mess. I'll tell you that much. Over a month and a half later and we're still sorting through my dad's estate, trying to figure out what's what, who's owed what, what's left, etc. A couple weeks ago we were surprised to find out the life insurance policy he had taken out on his vehicle expired upon the last day of the month in which his 70th birthday occurred. He turned 70 March 26th, died April 14th. No life insurance on the car. . . no inheritance. . . instead we now have a $15,000 car loan to pay off (or surrender the car).

The house is listed,

Follow this link to see the page:

http://public.mlswis.com/link.html?ordk9c8xbba,,1

(This link will no longer be available after 6/27/2009.)

So if you know of anyone looking to score a home in Hartford WAY below assessed value to "flip", let me know. It will be a short sale. . . . hopefully the bank will be able to work with us.

My house is still FULL of his things, there is no organization nor time to organize (or so it seems). Now that the 12 hour race is over. . . perhaps I can find some balance to start getting things back in order and put myself fully into my real estate again. That and I'd sure love to find the time to start training again. . . . .if this stupid COLD would ever go away, and the weather would cooperate. One day at a time I guess. What else is a person to do?

Photos

I'm new at this. . . . and I have now upgraded so I can post the larger file size. So if you see a picture here and you want the larger file, just e-mail me at Brittany@BrittanyNigh.com and I'll send it to you.

Enjoy!

12 Hours of Northern Kettles Pictures

Thanks also to Ric Damm, who has some additional photos to enjoy.

DONE

With the 12 hours of Northern Kettles finally behind us, I hope to begin to return to a "Normal" life somewhat soon. The weekend, while fun, was LONG. Bill and I began our "long ours" Thursday as we made the trek up to Greenbush to drop the first load off at the camp ground. Most people don't see all the behind the scenes work. . .although many realize what it takes to put an event like this on and I've been personally thanked by a number of people. The truth is it wouldn't be a successful event without all the volunteer help from our wonderful team members (and friends and family of our team members), nor would it be a success without all the awesome participants that came to race!

Despite the fact we DID indeed see a short burst of showers (maybe an hour, two tops), the trail held up well. In fact, despite one or two quite slippery laps, the course actually improved over it's original state by the end of the race. Loop 3 is already quite a bit smoother than it was Friday. The loose corners tightened up and the trail is ready to rock and roll once again.

Thanks to everyone for joining us for the 12 hours of Northern Kettles. I made an attempt (with my new camera) to catch some action shots of our racers throughout the day. While I'm still learning, so some are blurry (sorry), I hope to be able to continue to post BETTER pictures as I learn more. Of course I'm trying to post theses pictures to Flickr when I'm about to fall asleep, and of course I've exceeded the file limit. . . .so I guess I'll upgrade my account tomorrow. Stay tuned for some good, and not so good pictures.

How does that happen

I don't know how it happens. I left Iola listed as 10th overall, today I am 11th. Strange. Only 30 sport women. Seemed like more.

Oh well. The first race is under my belt. . . . .and my life has hopefully eased a bit in stress & busyness (at least after this weekend it will have), which means hopefully we can get back to some serious training in the very near future. :-) We'll see.

THAT was hard

That was hard. I knew it was going to be hard. . . . .but WORS race #1 was very hard. My goals going into this race were 1) to finish. 2) to NOT finish last. 3) to not have to get off my bike. 4) to hopefully not get lapped by TOO many sport boys.

I achieved all those goals. I finished 10th overall (3rd in age), as for stats, I'm not sure. . . .I only took the time to look briefly at my finish. I did touch a foot down twice (once so as to avoid face planting, once because too many sport girls tried to ride through the sand at the same time). I got lapped by 2 sport boys - the first probably a good 20 minutes before the second. And I dragged my butt across the finish line in one piece.

From what I can tell by peeking at my watch each lap, I was relatively consistent with my lap times. And every SECOND out there hurt like hell. It's funny. I often surprise myself with the amount of pain I can actually tolerate. It's not that I'm really much faster than any of the girls who finished around me. . . . I can just put myself into the hurt locker better, that's all. Anyone riding (or standing for that matter) anywhere NEAR me could CLEARLY hear me gasping for breath. A few times I literally saw spots I was working so hard. But the whole time I kept telling myself, I have to give it everything I've got. No matter how much it hurts I have to push on and keep trying becuase I CAN. I'm alive, I'm able and I owe myself at least that much. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to give it 110%. That's my new motto. And at THIS race, it worked for me. It hurt. . . . .A LOT. . . . . but I'm still here to tell about it.

Now it's time to focus on our OWN 12 hour race at Greenbush. Time to give back to the cycling community and bring them (you guys) a race you'll thoroughly enjoy.

Biggest Loser

Honestly? I do not think Helen looks healthy. It's awesome to see such dedication (even though the woman sent her own child home so SHE could stay for her OWN benefit), but I have doubts she'll remain nearly as thin as she is. I've been there. Unless you're chronically thing. . . . . never having had to deal with weight issues, you just don't stay looking like Helen unless you starve yourself and work out like crazy.

Now my OWN dedication on the other hand. . . . .it's focused in an area definitely different than cycling. With our team 12 hour just around the corner, my dad's house still not completely cleaned out, and more real estate business than I've had for a while. . . . .there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get in the amount of training it will take me to "shine" this season.

And I guess having undergone the life's events I've gone through recently, I can honestly say it doesn't matter. I'll ride my bike when I can and hope for the best. Mountain biking is awesome, but some things in life are just more important.

See you at Iola. I'll be the one gasping for breath out there. But I'll be there giving it my all, because I know that's what my dad would have expected from me, what he would have wanted me to be doing.

Motivation

Well, I had planned to MAKE time today for a ride, even if it's a short one. But looking outside, and listening to the weather for the day, I'm finding it difficult to want to get my butt out to exercise.

Where is the sunshine? Sunshine and warm temps make it SOOOO much easier to WANT to be outside exercising.

I guess we'll see how the day goes. At least I know I'm golden on Sunday. . . .I have a date to ride. Sweet.