Agility Weekend. Like a Sugar Overload to My System.

We are home from the North Central USDAA Regional. 

We are tired. 

We are coming off of the biggest Agility "sugar high" crash we've had in a VERY long time.

And we are happy.

This was the first Regional event that I have ever competed in. 

My expectations were simple.

 Run the boys like they deserve to be run. 

Blade was his usual brilliant self and continues to get better with age. We had a lot of really good runs this past weekend although I continue to see small things that we need to fine tune to turn those "good" runs into "great" ones. Nothing major mind you but they are things that could shave off 1/2 a second here and there that could make us more competitive at larger events. 

Some of those good runs just happened to be in DAM team where Blade's team "Blade's Hot Dates" with buddies Rio and Shiver, ended up in third place at the end of the day. 

Such a handsome fellow in yellow.

I did get almost all of our runs videotaped over the course of the Regional and will try to upload them all later this week. I honestly just don't have the patience for it right now. 

For those wondering about Da Vipe, well to put it mildly he continues to blow me away, some of the time. And some of the time I just have to scratch my head and wonder what is going through his...

It's been a while since Da Vipe has completely lost his brain at a trial and Friday the arena was just charged enough that it pushed him VERY VERY close to completely loosing it. I tried and failed miserably to get his focus while we were waiting our turn outside the ring. There were too many dogs to look at, too many things to smell and too many things to bark at. So after that failed miserably, I just let him and slowly he brought himself back down. I'll admit I hadn't a clue in the world what he was going to do once we got in the ring...

Surprise, surprise Da Vipe ran and he ran well. 

He ran so well in fact, that it's becoming easier for me to run Viper than it is to run Blade. We had a few bobbles here and there and a couple off courses in individual events but it all came down to feeling each other out. Da Vipe is still very green but slowly he is gaining an understanding of what it is I want and in turn he is getting more confident and also much faster. I am totally enjoying this learning "phase" we are going through right now.

Neither of the boys managed to snag a Grand Prix or Steeplechase Bye which means we are officially committed to going to the Central Regional in August (Kansas City or BUST!) Needless to say, I'm already looking forward to it.

I'm not looking forward to this "post hangover/sugar high" like feeling I am having the day after though...

We (Shenna the master mind behind Project Go Dog and myself) potentially had too much fun this weekend. 

Is that even possible? I think not! Although we were just maniac enough to drive the 11 hours home all in one night. It wasn't a bad drive but when one gets home at 3:30 in the morning, one generally does not want to be woken up by a Border Collie to go for our morning run at 7:00am. Especially if it was raining out.

Although one may also hold their ground and deny said Border Collie(s) their run being as they just had three days of Agility. In this instance I lost the battle of the wills against the Bee's Knees and got up.

 Although run we did not.

 We walked. 

In the rain.

And took cute pics of muddy Border Collies. 

And embraced a very sweet weekend of Agility.

Wander.

Goofball.

Shine Bright Like a Diamond

"Where much is expected from an individual, he may rise to the level of events and make the dream come true." ~Elbert Hubbard

It's been a week since Blade and I participated at the AKC International Team Tryouts and I am just now beginning to put into writing the feelings this past weekend evoked in me. 

I cannot honestly remember when I consciously made the decision to enter Blade at Tryouts. Some time last year? Six months ago? Three months ago? 

Again, I am not sure. 

I only know that I am glad that I did. 

It has been but an illusion of mine for quite some time, to one day enter Tryouts. An illusion that was so completely vague that I had never seriously considered the "who" part of the equation. It had remained a fleeting idea for such a long time that I simply looked at Tryouts as a far off ideal and not a tangible goal for myself and one of my dogs, let alone Blade.

Although the when will be shrouded in mystery, I do recall that after actually reading through the qualifications for this year's tryouts and realizing that Blade COULD compete, the idea shifted from an intangible ideal to something just a bit more attainable. Late last summer I started to actively teach Blade the mechanics of jumping 26" and after USDAA Nationals we began to compete at that height. 

Then winter set in and we rested.

 We let Agility take the back seat for the first time in a very long time...

and we lived.

And somewhere along the line I realized that I had fallen a bit out of love with Agility.

Actually, much more than a "bit."

 Agility had become much like Louis Lowry's world in the novel "The Giver." A place that upheld the laws of "sameness" and "routine" and the lives of those in it remained in the depths of a never ending winter.

Somehow, I had allowed a very mundane routine of "train, trial, redo" to set in. My goals had become foggy. Training had become humdrum. Trialing became simply ordinary. And the mundaneness of it all had extinguished the "color" from my Agility world. 

Then, some truly amazing people persuaded me to send in the "intent to compete" form for IT Tryouts. 

And something shifted, something changed. 

Somehow, my love for Agility was ignited again. It was a very gradual process, instead of simply "having" to train I began feeling the "urge" to train. I began to focus on HOW and WHAT to make better instead of simply putting the dogs through their paces. I began to feel the small thrill of excitement again, as I stepped to the line with both of my boys. I began running each and every run with so much joy, I'm sure some people couldn't stand it.

And like a flame, the "color" began to seep back in to my Agility world. That flame began burning brighter and brighter as Tryouts became closer and closer. 

And as I stepped to to the line with Blade during the first Round of Tryouts, it hit me with staggering clarity that the "color" was burning brightly enough to make Blade shine like the star he truly is. I simply didn't allow myself to worry about the footing, the challenges, Blade's training. None of it. 

We ran. 

We made mistakes. 

We didn't make mistakes. 

We ran, for the joy of running.

And at the end of it all, I made a daunting realization.

 I realized, that although I thought that Blade and I were far from ready to compete at such an event, against such competitors, we were not only ready, we not only belonged, we WILL be back to compete next year. And with everything in me we will run with just as much joy then as we did a week ago.

Until then, we will rest. 

We will live.

We will train with joy.

We will keep the color shining brightly in our very own Agility world.

And we will anxiously await next year's Tryouts.

Focus.

Be Exhilarated.