THE END ??

Before leaving for Ark, my 21 yr old son Trevor slipped a sealed envelope marked " to be opened in a moment of weakness... " in my stuff.. Before heading out on Lap 8 I decided to read it... Not because I felt weak, I just wanted to know what he wrote...Here goes...

So I guess you think youre

some kind of awesome now

Huh? think youre pretty cool?

Some sort of big deal?

Well check it out... You are

Your competitors.. Theyre scared of you

Youre vicious.. an animal

While they were out partying, sleeping, being idiots, etc..

You were training, drinking protein shakes, and Hammer gels

You deserve this more than them...

SO GO GET IT

THIS IS WAR

Thank you Trev.. I reserve the right to keep this letter forever and read it whenever necessary...

Having a great pit crew kept me on top of my lighting situation... Jim also made sure my bottles were topped off and I had gels and lifesavers... The life savers were exactly that... Hammer puts out a great product, Sustained Energy, however, Mr Holtman and I both agreed that it was not our choice to do 24 hrs with... Will have to investigate that... It tastes like nothing and after a hard effort I needed something that had a taste but did not need to be chewed or swallowed... Anyone with an opinion please share...

Coming in from Lap 8 I felt amazingly good.. I actually bunnyhopped my way through camp that left Jim a little shocked.. I normally do not do such things... Who was this girl??? I refueled, lubed the chain, lubed myself and set out for Lap 9, hoping it was my last night lap... I know my helmet light must weigh next to nothing, but by now it felt huge... As I was walking up the hill I passed another racer in his granny gear... I asked him why he was riding this hill instead of walking... He really did not have an answer... I informed him he might actually go faster if he walked it.. He looked puzzled but kept riding anyway... After I walked the last steep part I looked behind to see him off the bike... Later he told me that was good advice...

Lap 9 is a little of a blur to me.. About 5 miles in my borrowed beacon shut off... I was devastated... My Blackburn light is ok, I am not knocking it... However, there is a few very technical spots in the last 2 miles that I was dreading riding without the Niterider light...

I did ride a bit slower now... As I crossed the last road to the last 2 miles out I was scared and had decide to walk the tech spots .. I stopped to drink and said a prayer and asked God to give the battery about 5 minutes of juice.. Thats all I needed.. I pushed the button and the light came ON.. No shit.. It really did.. I was able to ride all the tech spots and into the campground when the light finally went dead... Now I had rode a dirty century!!! Yahooo.. I needed to take a break NOW... When I got off my bike my body started to spasm.. Never experienced this before.. I shook and twitched like a junkie.. WTF was going on.. Mentally my mind was saying" you are a member of Team Seagal, You do not quit, You need to keep going, you can do this". My body was giving me the finger.. Jim saw my struggle and eventually saved me from myself.. Deep down I knew that I would hurt myself if I did not rest... Besides, everyone had taken long breaks and had even slept... I had not done either yet.. I curled up on the ground, was covered and left to die...

Now do you really think I quit???? Hell no ... All of a sudden I sat straight up and looked around.. Once I realized where I was I decided to do MY victory lap.. #10 was going to be done... Jim got special permission from Steve to ride with me.. It was great to school him on a trail since its usually the other way around.. Jim can tell you himself, but he was shocked by how my riding skills had developed, pretty much overnight... I did not hurt as much as I thought I would and that I would have plenty of time to decide do another lap when we got back to camp...

During the ride through the campground I told myself that if Karen was there waiting for me I WAS GOING.. Noone was going to stop me... She wasnt there.. The promoter said he " doubted if I could catch her" I guess he didnt realize that I wasnt here to beat Karen.. I was only trying to beat me.. See what I was made of.. I hopped off my bike and decided that I was done.. A very bittersweet decision... After completing 10 laps, 115 miles , I enjoyed a delicious Pabst and stumbled to the shower...Amazing are the effects of one beer after such an epic effort..

After Karen completed Lap 11 she got off her bike and said " you are such a bitch!!!" I said "me" She said " yes you, you really pushed me ".. That was a great compliment coming from that one.. She is a Machine.. She had guessed that if she had waited I would have went out again... She was correct.. The season has only begun.. And what a beginning..

Winning is about struggle, effort, and attitude--- and never ,ever,ever giving up...

I may not have gotten a trophy but consider myself the winner.. I learned so much and cant wait to do this again...

There are many people to thank, you know who you are.. Pat yourself on the back and know that you have helped me tremendously and I appreciate it... I will thank you in person when I see you..

I am very fortunate to have a fantastic husband.. A lot of couples could not have endured the 6.5 hour drive there and the 8 hr drive home, we were talking and forgot to switch highways... I am very lucky to have you in my corner baby and with your encouragement and support I will be very successful this year.. Thank you baby...

I hope to have some pics up soon...

One final note: I know there is no crying in a Seagal jersey, they were tears of joy fellas.. Get over it!!