This N That

I've completed two regional agility events with Gusto. Both results are very similar, great, fast runs but one mistake keeping him from getting a lot of IFCS (international) points. This year is a try out year for the international competition held in England in 2010. I was not sure I was ready to compete for the points race but decided to go ahead and give it a shot. I did not sign the intent to compete form though as I wanted to see how we did at the 3 scheduled events.

He handled really well (except for both Round 1 Grand Prix runs). His times were right there with the top dogs - sometimes he had the fastest time. BUT one bar, one missed up contact kept us from doing well. I'm thrilled with where he is right now but we were soooooo close to getting a lot of the IFCS points in the 26 inch height class. He is sitting in 10th place but many folks have only done 2 events, Gusto has done 3. Tenth out of 70+ dogs that have earned points isn't horrible all things considered. It sets me up pretty well for the next competition year which is 2011-2012. He will be a little more seasoned and will hopefully handle his excitement level better or I will or we both will as a team.

I feel great about how I handled the pressure. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone but my ground speed or rushing him has caused some errors. I put him on a fitness program at the suggestion of several folks in an attempt to see if he can do better with the bars. I didn't start soon enough though but maybe it will set us up to have a fantastic National experience this year.

On a workout note, I have been running 2 miles early in the AM before Greg leaves for work so that Robbie can be watched (trying to protect his injured shoulder from his crazy self). I have been tracking my workouts including my warm ups. I only tracked my run today and my pace is 9.25 average over the 2 miles. Much better than I had thought as most of my tracking showed 12+. I'm going to keep plugging away as I seriously hope to someday give a 5k race a try. I have much work to do before I enter a race though.