Arizona Recap

Well after nearly 3 days, Rosanne and I are finally home. The long boring drive did give me plenty of time to think and to talk to Rosanne and several other good friends willing to listen to me vent.

I really appreciated the calls, the emails and all the well wishers helping to pick me up after a disastrous start. I must also thank my teammates- Tracy and Claudia- for their help and for not giving up on me throughout the week. You were great teammates and made the week so much more special.

Here is my recap:
Gusto blistered his pads in Austin, Texas on the way out. I've already provided that detail in a previous post so will not go on about how he did it but will say the pads were very sore the entire week and it also affected his back. His back is still sensitive in several spots and his pads are on the mend.

The week started off with us running Team Jumpers. It was a nice course but a very tough tunnel approach after a broad jump requiring special handling to prevent an off course. This is an area that I am not very strong in so didn't feel particularly confident. I did walk to the line reminding myself how to handle that section but unfortunately, we went off course anyway. This was after my other 2 teammates had also gotten eliminated in the same section. Three eliminations in a big team events basically means your team competition is over as far as trying to be competitive. You can salvage your runs but you will not be making the cut off for the relay finals.

The next run was Team Snooker and I notoriously do not run Snooker well in a team event. I was determined to do better than I had at previous events so I picked a course that would limit the turns and the possible impact to Gusto's sore feet. It was not an aggressive plan but would get us some decent points. He ran it really well so I felt much better about how Gusto and I could do for the rest of the week. He ended up placing around 53rd or so out of 200+ dogs. Nothing to jump up and down over but at least it was a good run.

We barely got around Steeplechase Quarterfinals. I did managed to scream him off several off courses and his time was decent so he made it to the Semis. His time was about 28th out over 200 dogs so I felt good about it even though he was wide and wild the entire course.

Day Two included Team Gamblers and Steeplechase Semifinals. Gusto ran really nicely in Gamblers but he had a nasty fall off the teeter in the opening. I had to walk him around to ensure that he wasn't injured. We ended up with 65 points and had he not fallen off the teeter, would have had at least 73 points because we would have had time for more obstacles in the opening. He ended up placing 35th(ish). Unfortunately, Gusto found an off course option in the Steeplechase Semis that I never even considered. I was very upset because he is a fantastic Steeplechase dog and I really wanted a chance to try to make it to the finals. It was not to be and I had to get over the disappointment.

Day Three was Team Standard and Grand Prix Semifinals. Standard was a very nice course and I felt that I could do well enough to maybe place in that event. Unfortunately, he got called for his UP contact on the dogwalk and he also did not turn tightly in the closing line of jumps and added alot of strides which made his time not so great. But at least we got around without going off course. Grand Prix Semifinals was also a very nice course and I felt good about my handling choices. But once again, it didn't go as planned. I pushed too early to a tunnel and Gusto popped out of his poles. Oh well - another disappointing run to deal with.

No finals for Gusto and for me. He got to run European Jumpers on Sunday and he ran that nicely but dropped 2 bars and then had explosive diarrhea immediately following his run. I had to laugh at the fitting end to a disappointing week at his first Nationals. I had such high hopes and expectations, none of which were fulfilled. He did some wonderful things though and I felt pretty good about dealing with the pressure and disappointments. It did take some time to get over it though and I had to keep my spirits up so that I wouldn't affect my friends and other competitors. Since there were so many chances to pull myself up out of the gutter, I got better at it as the week went on.

I really enjoyed watching all of the finals and seeing my friends give it their all. The finals were really exciting to watch in person. I'm certainly glad I got to see it live. I would prefer to be running them though. There is always next year and according to my teammate for 2009, there is a podium spot for me next year. Thanks, Denise, for the vote of confidence.