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June 2010 Summer is here and I'm loving it! How can you not with your own pool, a beautiful flower garden (Tantrums), and puppies! Everyone has hit financial issues, stress, trauma & drama. But this summer I'm leaving it all behind. I'm incredibly organized and pay attention to details. Last season detail were all about medical bills and the black hole we were in because of the trauma.......and some drama. Things have gotten better medical bills are dwindling, but lets be honest there can never be enough money. Regardless this season will be about the team. We did incredible with very minimal training last year. If this means cancel the cable, Internet, even electric, so be it. Traveling for training/racing, new & different races, gear, it will all happen. I'm alive and have gotten back to being Becki just recently ( watch out ~lol) time to excel and put my passion first. |
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| March 2010 Race season is complete and we had a great one! February 2010 Race season is here, w'eve completed our first 2 races of the season and ROCKED! The team is amazing. Fast, together, focused and strong! I'am and always have been proud but this is an incredible year! 3 years ago was my first year with an atv. It was then that I knew things would be different. Last year was my issue year. Head trauma, equilibrium, no strength and a team full of yearlings with barely any miles on...........Well look at us now! And to think I was annoyed our training was not where I wanted it! We are a force to be reckon with ( some already knew that~lol) Now to jump from the 30 milers to getting ready for the Can-Am 60! January 2010 100 mile races aren't happening this year. I could pin it on the weather. It was oddly warm & humid from September - November. But in its own way maybe the weather was helping me? Sometimes things happen for a reason. While weather was odd, heading north was not an option. Financially things have been tight and to consider hitting the road earlier in the season was not an option. I think back & remember how bummed I was the cabin in NH fell through. Now realizing its a good thing! Between fuel, cabin fee, and all the extra gear we would have needed...........it was not an option and could have been a nightmare! So here we are its January the team is doing great. Mileage is triple where we were last year and we have a month before races. Not running the 100's is no major loss. We'll be there soon, just not this year! November 09 Weather has been warm and is finally considering being below 40. October was barely a training option with weather. Its a bummer for training, yet we are certainly ahead in miles compared to last year. Mileage is not where I'd like but,,...we are ahead. It dose mean I may need to reconsider the 100 mile races, but I'm not there yet. Training has gone well and there is a lot the team is picking up & handling great. Asylum is the most composed & patient, no mater if your lining out, stopping or back to the truck he will even lay down and wait. His brothers are not that calm for lining out but are handling stopping well. Everyone is drinking before & during runs (huge issue last year w/yearlings) Shimmer is great in lead, her and Envi have made a nice pair. Spyder & Stanchion also show great promise. Ikon, Lyken & Shimmer are not interested in eatting/drink once were back to the truck and there still on the line. Rage & Quoia are cranking out being in wheel! The entire team is doing great & adjusting well. October 09 Finally had a few training runs, FEW! Training will be very different in many ways. Between learning to stop & wait on the run ( MAJOR issue for Quoia & Havok). Every dog in every position regardless, and "check point" lay over. In the 100 mile races there is a mandatory check point of a few hours. It's crucial to train the team so they get accustom to this. This will be Major for us since its completely new. September 09 Waiting to start training. Seems were lucky to have low enough temps at night but humidity is sky rocketing to 90%. That makes 50 degrees feel more like a 100 and thats not an option! August 2009 Started a new job( Westerly Animal Hospital, RI). This position worked out awesome in so many ways. Absolutely incredible people are now my boss. Their caring, compassionate, considerate nature is greatly needed. Their more a family then just an employer. I hear several times how lucky they are to have found me and I constantly tell them how I feel like I'm the luckiest. The perks of this job besides working with such great people... -My friend Trisha Ross is the vet they hired. Weve worked together for 4 years and we both need this positive energy. Great to be together! - NO MORE HOLIDAYS! NO MORE NIGHTS! Kevin is thrilled to pieces of all of that! About time he says! - They are aware of my race/training plans and support me 110% Dr. Mike Conway and Debra Psimer are beyond great people and I appreciate being a new member of this family! March 2009 Races season is complete and training is back to square one Our last race was Sandwich Notch and it was awesome! We came in 5th place out of 10, we lost 4th place by 4 minutes. Amazing considering the mileage/training this team has had this year. These yearling have thrown alot at me to deal with, new things. Yet on the other hand, they've been great, the entire team was great. So while the season is over for many, its just kicking off for us. Training will now go back to the normal with the details, focus, and attention to what I always watch for. And it will be me and the team. The quiet, need time to recover is over for me and while mileage was low for the team I myself was at a much lower strength, stamina and endurance. The next 2 months will be like October for us and its time to get back to basics and work on a few things........ get stronger, and get excited for next season February 2009 Race season is here we've changed what we wanted to do.......but still doing it Completed our first 30 mile race with the yearlings! Between my needing time off to recuperate, help training ( per the Dr. ) and ice we had here since December- our training is far behind. The mileage barely hits 200! Some have a hard time understanding why I wont take the year, others are wondering why I would continue racing with such low training mileage. Answer: Its about being out there with the dogs. They always impress me & make me proud. Often when I think we haven't trained enough......they shock me more. Race season is to get the yearling's out, expose them to several things we dont have in training, be happy we didn't loose this in our life, and just be happy to be there. The team has done well. At Greenville 30 we beat 3 teams. And we lost easily 20 - 30 minutes. I change leaders that day & gave everyone a chance, we had a major stop in the first mile where there was a huge tangled and I was lucky to have a photographer come help. Stratford was 40 miles on day 1 and then we switched to 30 on day 2. The team finished great, not tired in the least, all in all a great run minus the fact I fell, slammed my entire left side into the ground and was being dragged. Major thanks to Jaye for stopping her team, jumping into help, and knowing even that wouldn't make me stop and end the race. So while some think the year off is where I should be I have to say......If you were on deaths door, were expected to die, how do you NOT continue to do what you love, be grateful to still be able to continue your passion? The dogs and I are not where we normally are, it dose not mean we wont be able to handle it, it'll just be different for us, but still doable! November 2008 Massive Head Trauma With Major Brain Issues Changes Things For Us.......But I lived! On October 12 I fell from an atv. I was just getting to the house going 5m.p.h and some how fell off and flat in the road. I was flat down, unresponsive and barely breathing. The ambulance was called and I was brought to the hospital. I spent 4 days under anesthia/ ventilator to support me. There was a concern of me not making it and IF I did there was a major chance my brain would be ruined and I would never be normal. There was bleeding in my skull, one laceration on the outside, my brain had been pushed forward, and a fracture to my right clavical bone. Well here I am. I'm walking normal, my memory is back and the minor pain issues I have are getting better daily. The Dr's are impressed on how well I'm doing and surprised that I lived and am normal. I'm far ahead of where they thought I'd be and all thats left is giving my body time to adjust and deal with the major trauma and the 4 days on anesthia. I am beyond lucky. I not only lived but am rapidly heading back to normal! By December it should all be back to my world. I'll go back to work, and can begin training the dogs. Unfortunately it means this is not the year for the team and I to try 100 mile races. No Eagle Lake for this year but we'll be sure to be there in 2010! As for Brownville, cant run the 100 miler they offer, but apparently there offering a 30 this year.........hmmm could try that! And I will certainly still head to the Can-Am. It's our first 60 mile race! And even tho our training has been paused I have no doubt we'll be ready. One last note- I had a massive amount of people come to see me in the hospital, send cards, flowers, and e-mails. I had some that were smart enough to offer help to Kev and be there for what ever we may need, and I had an amazing amount of people help us and donate. I'm floored with all the visitors, for everyone so concerned for me that they came and were there for me. There will be some changes in me and one will be how absolutely impressed I am with all of you. The other is how totally grateful and relieved I am that I lived and am normal. Thank you all for every thing you did and for caring so much about me. I was blessed to have so many caring individuals and absolutely happy and amazed that everything you all did was for me. Thank you a ton! Click for more Monthly Madness Columns August 2007 to September 2008 |
