What a Weekend

I haven't been to an agility trial since Nationals which was early November. I've barely been working my dogs - well, not to the extent that I had prior to Nats. I went to an indoor trial held in a dirt floor horse barn with minimal heat. Dressed in layers - Under Armour is the best stuff EVER!

Saturday was fun but no great runs to report except that Gusto got one of his required Snooker qualifying legs towards his ADCH - Agility Dog Champion. He ran well on Saturday but we had some bobbles. I didn't feel like I could run well in the loose dirt and I didn't wear my knee brace so by the end of the day, my IT Band was sore. I ran the little cute deaf dog, Ivy, in Performance and had alot of fun.

Here is a video that Rosanne took with her new camcorder of his Snooker run from Saturday - I look like a dork running in the dirt but you will get the idea:

Hey Rosanne - thanks for taping us.

Got up early on Sunday to pick up a friend, student and junior handler (she is 16 in a few days). Katie came along on Sunday to run Ivy. I forgot to include the fact that the temps were 28 - 35 degrees most of the time this weekend. It warmed up a bit on Sunday but was still damp, cold and smelly in the barn.

On Sunday, I was down to 3 legs for his title. I had a chance to get them all on Sunday. Sadly, we were a train wreck in Snooker but he ran Standard and Jumpers beautifully. It was the most amazing feeling. We were in synch and I could run because I had my super duper stabilizing knee brace on all day. He won all 3 of the classes that he qualified in but the best one by far was our Jumpers run - smoked it at a blistering 25 and some odd seconds. The next fastest dog was 2 seconds behind our time - this is a dog that wins stuff at Nationals so I felt really good about that time.

The best part was that I stayed relaxed for almost every run (except the second Snooker run). I enjoyed watching Katie run Ivy. Ivy is the most adorable dog ever and she loves to do agility so it is great that Katie can run her for me. People can't believe that she can run agility so well considering her loss of hearing. Katie took 2nd place in Performance 16 Jumpers too - nice way to end the weekend for all of us.

Mama's Little Helper

Very Strange Universe

I'm on facebooks which has allowed me to keep up with my friends that live all over the place. I recently connected with some high school friends. Sadly, one of them just lost her Mother and I put out a condolence message on her facebook account.

Yesterday, while I was in the pool, I had flashback memories of high school swim practice and rides on the team bus to our meets. I even saw myself "off the blocks" and doing my flip turns and goofing off with some of my friends.

When I put out the condolence message on the account, I saw a friend on her list so I clicked on his picture. It was one of my best friend's brother; I clicked on his list of friends and sure enough, Suzanne was on there. It was so strange because she was one of my closest friends and I was thinking of her when I was in the pool yesterday and here I was able to reconnect with her on the same day.

Everybody Into the Pool

Back to swimming for me while my IT Band settles down. I refuse to sit on the couch and get all depressed - been there, done that. I already bought my Mustang last year during my IT Band stint. Unless my darling Husband feels generous enough to let me trade mine in for the Shelby, won't be replacing cycling and running with a car this time.

So I went to the pool and did laps today. It was a great workout, my legs are still feeling the affects but my IT Band seems OK. I had to share a lane - haven't had to do that since swim practice in high school. I wasn't good at it then and I am not good at it now. I tend to over swim the person in my lane.

The lady in the lane next to me asked me how I could swim so fast. She felt like she was going backwards when I was next to her. I told her it was a curse of mine, not being able to slow down and pace myself. Tends to be a trend in my life and I told she was doing fine and would go the distance while I would be done due to the inability to slow down and pace myself. She laughed but sure enough she was still in the pool while I was done by 1/2 mile or so :) BUT I WAS FAST.

And Here is the Competition

This is the 6.1 liter SRT Hemi that produces 425 HP at a price that is under $45k. Much more affordable than the Shelby Mustang. I still wouldn't buy it but they are sure nice to watch in action.

Yes, I was a closet motorhead. Give me good old American muscle. I know there are nicer, more refined cars out there from Germany (mainly) and some other countries but I'm a sucker for the American muscle cars that I grew up admiring. I never owned one - I opted for the gas efficient 4 cylinder, front wheel drive cars. I even owned a Honda once (hated it) and an old Nissan back in college.

My favorite car is my current Mustang. I also owned a WRX but I didn't like the turbo lag and the premium gas required to run it.

My favorite car to drive EVER was Corvette ZR1. It was the fastest American production car back in the 90s and it was amazing.

OK - enough about cars. I just had to take a trip down memory lane.

The Fastest Pony Ever Made

This is the 2009 Shelby GT500KR. At 540 HP and a mere $80k, it's out of my reach. But one has to have dreams :)

The Little Beauty