Sunday, September 22, 2013

The good, the bad and the ?????

Well, another 10 K in the books.  It was a super small race, maybe 9 people total in the 10 k.  Four women total so I guess I came in fourth:)  Lucky for me, one of the ladies I work out with at the gym was a the race because my BRF couldn't come.  Even better, we both run the same pace so we stayed together the whole race!!!!  She left me at the very end but that is okay.  Honestly, I ran out of gas.  This was a two loop race with the first loop being the 5 K people and the second loop being of course for us crazies.  The course was tough.  The first mile was up 8th street and up a very steep hill that levels out and then goes straight back up.  So basically no rest for the weary, especially on the second loop.  I officially don't like two loop 10 Ks.  It's boring and its tough when you have hills to do them all over again. The bonus of it all was there was a super cute, super cool cop directing traffic so we got to talk to him four times.  The other bonus was it was city wide garage sale so we got to see the yard sales.  OF course by the time we did the awards and the door prizes, all the good stuff was gone but WOW, the door prizes were super cool!  I got a 20 dollar coupon for Dick's which is the only place Tony can get clothes since he is kind of big.  I ended up second in my age group and fourth overall woman.  Will be sending my medal to my I Run For buddy Brady. He will get a kick out of having a medal and all this little guy will do is sit on my dresser.  

Post race.  She beat me but I ran out of gas at mile 5.5.  Didn't carb up like I normally do the night before so maybe that is why?



Tony took this pic on the course.  We had fun running together.  I can't believe with the hills and the pace we kept that we were able to keep up conversation.  

This little guy and his daddy met me at several spots on the course and cheered me on.  Love this little guy!  He makes me want to run and get healthy and be there for him!  

So that is the good.  Here is the bad and the ???   My job is in jeopardy again.  We haven't built up the clientele that we hoped for to be a service center.  We need to make money to stay in business.  The company who we are a service center before is not sending us the business either.  We are hoping to stay in business till at least december.  I have been told to start searching so here I go again.  Sigh.  Tony is also off work right now.  There is a ton of work going on, just not for his contractor.  So we wait.  And plan.  Big plans.  Maybe Coleman Electric???  Going to take alot of praying, scraping by, budgeting, and hoping.  I know he can do it, just not sure we are ready to head into this right at this second.  Was kind of hoping in the next 5 years but situations beyond our control may make us rush a little quicker into this than we would have liked.  We are rushing to get a business plan together presently.  Fun times.  Head office manager of coleman electric?  Can I dig that?  May have to.  

On another note, did a 10 mile run today.  My first 10 miler.  No pics, ran with my BRF and we talked the whole way.  We needed a change in scenery and we got in, complete with some killer hills!  We did it, with an average pace of 10:48 which is booking for us on long runs!  I don't know what lit a fire under our asses but we were quite speedy today, especially after running yesterday.  Ended with some chocolate milk and some powdered doughnuts.  CARBS!  Will also have some liquid carbs tonight;)

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

When is money going to grow on trees please?

Had my first 9 mile run this weekend.  Seems once you get over that 10 K hump, the rest just comes easy.  I didn't even look at my watch till around mile 7.  Ran with my BRF.  We talked the entire time and it just made it fly by.  I remember saying I have no clue how I am ever going to run that long, yet here I am, plodding along at a snail's pace but getting it done.  Took us about an hour and forty minutes.  AND on top of running on sunday, I got to teach two classes and take an online agility class.  It was stoked and my legs survived.  I can tell how much better shape I am in even though I seem to be gaining weight,not loosing.  I will focus on the positive, my legs look awesome and I almost bought a pic at the last agility trial because it was of deuce and my muscled legs LOL.  Yep, a little vain when it comes to my legs.  Anyway it's good to be knocking out these long runs and it is good to be back teaching.  I really do love beginners.  There are my favorite to teach.  I love to see the light bulb turn on and i love getting back to my computer at home and already having emails asking questions on their homework.  I treated my second class more as an informal get together and less like a class.  We only had 4 other dogs signed up so I ran deuce on a few of the sequences.  Then afterwards, ran my sequences for class and got those on video for analysis.  Except i numbered the course wrong both times so didn't exactly run the correct sequence but that is neither here nor there. The teachers knows I will be behind in this class since I can only work on it once a week and we are actually going to start meeting as a small group (those of us taking locally) so we can work together to get things set up and video taped.


Was suppose to do the color run this weekend but didn't get to go.  Kind of glad as my van broke down that afternoon.  That would have totally sucked if I would have broken down on the highway with a screaming toddler by myself.  I think God had a little hand in making sure I had no desire to go.  BRF had to back out and I didn't know the other ladies from our area going and then tony had to work so couldn't even go with me either.  Van broke down in a parking lot as she always seems to do but managed to limp her to the car mechanic.  Many things were wrong and the total bill was over 1 K.  YIKES.  Still in that struggle of which is  cheaper, a car payment or fixing this stupid van.  So in essence, there goes my dog show money, probably for the rest of the year.  What little I made on teaching is going straight to insurance, online class and maybe one show.  I am okay with this, we have work to do.  He still has a bar issue that seems to be a timing issue.  He was pretty good the other day when I was videoing, but he had a few warm up runs where he did knock a bar each time.  I am hoping now that we will have at least one day a week dedicated to a "class type setting" that we will get some good work in.  I am hoping to get two sessions of classes in, to introduce this full beginner class to a handler class so that would mean a little more income coming in for maybe some winter shows.  I think the break will do us good.  I think it will help me come back with a more clear mind and hopefully a better conditioned, more practiced dog.  And for once, I am not sweating the small stuff.  Money is just money and we have always managed.  I have a roof over my head, a car that is working at the moment and a little bit of credit card debt. Too many good things that out weigh the bad.

Have a race this coming weekend and am totally stoked to try a PR on a 10 K.  Then a have a couple of fun runs and then the big one!  I am actually very excited to see what I can do!  I feel like my fueling strategy and hydration strategy is in place and my nutrition is on par so excited to do this!  So crazy, never ever thought I would be saying that I am excited to run a half marathon yet here I am.  AND announced just last week, a marathon is happening next year in my own backyard.  Tempting:))))))

Sunday, September 8, 2013

toddlers, 8 mile long runs and dog shows, oh my

I will start about my lovely toddler who seems to have hit his terrible twos very early.  Like at 14 months early.  Wow.  If this is anything near what is to come, heaven help me!!!!!  Everything is a huge drama, everything involves a huge melt down and everything seems to be off.  His sleeping is off, his eating is off and that is not good for any of us.  I know he won't starve to death but he just hasn't been eating much of anything we offer him, veggies, meat or fruit. Even his favorite standbyes like apple sauce pouches.  He has also had some pretty spectacular falls lately.  He had a face first fall that really broke my heart.  He had a goose egg and a nice bruise to show.  Then this weekend, while I was gone to the dog show, he fell sideways into a antique trunk that has some decorative metal work on it and now has a huge bruise on the side of his head.  My heart can't handle it.  The wail that happens right after the falls breaks my heart into two pieces.  I have been trying not to show emotion but it's hard not to.  On a good note, I think most of his premolars are in now so maybe we will have a break before the next few come in.

Had my 8 miler this weekend.  Ran along adams dairy parkway which was super hilly.  Had decided if it got too tough, I would walk up the hills.  Then I saw all the runners out there, plodding along up those hills and I felt good so i just trudged right up them.  Overall was at a 11:24 pace which is a little slower than I like but the hills were massive.  My right quad today is really telling me how massive they were.  I did eat a little something prior to running and took water with me.  I did four chomps around 40 minutes in and that seemed to do the trick.  No GI issues and I was able to finish, despite the hills, very strongly.  There were several groups that went out and I saw them pass by me as I was coming back in and I missed my BRF:(

The show was eh.  Just eh.  I either had a bar every run or he ran past something which was just weird.  One day, he ran past the triple in JWW and then in standard he decimated it.  Then I was scared.  Today he was fine on the spreads so who knows.  Thought we had licked this issue, guess not.  I am excited because my trainer is going to do an online class and I am going to sign up.  Maybe this is the fire I needed to light under my ass to get motivated again.  I have one more show this fall  that i am entered in and will probably sign up for one, maybe two more.  Depends on the finances.  Will have my first beginner class after a long time next weekend and a competition type class too.  Then right after, will work my online courses and video tape them.  I am excited.  Both of the bars today looked like lack of conditioning again.  Weird, he seemed better conditioning wise but the heat wave has been back so no running and not a ton of ball playing.  Maybe that is the issue.  Sigh.  It's always something:)  Off to sub for a local trainer's puppy class.  She has a puppy agility night that she always has me come in for and I love getting these people and their puppies hooked on trying the sport of agility.  We do foundations and trick training and some tiny jump bumps and a tunnel.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Triune recap and my first 7 miler!

Big weekend for me!  First time going over 10 K and first dog show back after a long break.  Honestly was kind of dreading the dog show more than the run.  Just haven't gotten the practice in that i had hoped for.  Had good intentions just never acted on them.  The heat wave that had mysteriously been gone most of the summer some how made it's way back last weekend.  That zapped my desire to be out working my heavy coated dog.  I had made a pact with myself, it this weekend and the next weekend were bad with regards to bars, I would pull from the third show and not waste my money anymore till i had dedicated time to figure out this issue.  Who knew when that would be but I was tired of wasting money run after run.  Plus mentally it was wearing on me.  I was deep down hoping that lori was right, that this was a timing issue on his and my part and that we could easily resolve it.  His weight was good, his energy level and conditioning was better so I had a few things going for me.  My mom is here visiting from TN with the sole purpose of helping me take care of andrew at the show.  I also knew this would be a challenge because he is newly mobile and not loving being contained.  It isn't fair to him or to any of the dogs at the trial to be put in situations where a dog is uncomfortable or andrew is potentially harmed.  So this weekend was very important.  I hate leaving him at home to do dog shows yet I don't want him in harms way and don't want to feel exhausted at the show either.  Alot riding on many variables.

Got up early saturday morning (was not entered friday) and headed out for my first 7 miler.  Tony decided to go with on his bike which i am eternally grateful for.  Especially cause he took his iphone and took some really cool shots of me dying a slow painful death running.  Like this one:
Pretty sure this was early on in our run.  I look way to happy.  This was the first time I had attempted to fuel.  Had bought several products to try and decided on the GU chomps for my first attempt.  What I failed to do was eat prior to running.  I usually don't but I think for this distance and future further distances, I need something other than just the GU in my belly.  This was also the first time I tried taking my own water source.  Needless to say, I am again very grateful that my hubby came along as he had to take my water bottle from me as it was digging a hole to my spine via my back.  I had bought a small bottle that fits in the small of your back and holds maybe 100 mls of water.  I had put in the fridge pre-run so it would be nice and cold. I think the fact that it made my back numb for several mile helped ease the pain, but once the numbness wore off, that stupid thing had to GO.  Will be exploring other options this week FO SHO.  

Love this pic.  Sun was just beginning to come up.  Luckily the clouds came out too about this time so we were spared her warming rays.  I always seem to hit this mental block about 4 miles in.  Not sure why.  I was running at a pretty slow pace and talking to tony but my legs just weren't as happy as I would like for them to be.  I had run three the day before so nothing too hard.  I think it is all mental.  Need to get over this!!!!

This was after a pretty big hill,  yet short and I felt really good after it.  I shocked myself.  Running back to town was hard but it felt good to finish.  It had finally gotten hot and very sticky and I was sweating pretty good.  I never felt like the GU chomps did anything but more important was what they didn't do.  They didn't bother my tummy.  I am going to try and double the amount I take next time.  I had one before the run, one 30 minutes in and one and hour in.  I think my total running time was 1 hour, 18 minutes with an 11:08 minute pace.  I tried running hard the last mile but my pace was pretty even the whole time, hovering around 11 minutes and some change.  
This was my attempt at my first collage.  Am so jealous of all the people who post cool pic collages in the IRUN 4 program FB site.  Well, let's just say I am not the most creative and I tried so A for effort.  After my run, I not so quickly showered and then loaded mom's van.  We headed out and of course got stuck in bad labor day traffic.  I missed two of my runs that day but go there in plenty of time to run standard.  Standard had one of those tricky spots where decel was cruicial to cue the turn to the weaves and of course over a panel jump.  I watched several dogs that run like deuce miss the panel due to decel so I was worried about the spot.  In looking the video, I think if I would have taken one more step or kept my hand up one more second, he would have taken it but instead, he put on the breaks as I did my decel and went  on to the weaves as my body was indicating.  GOOD dog.  Got him over the panel and then he missed another jump after the table.  Again, handler error, my arm and hand were not indicating take the jump and my body was preparing for a front to run like hell down a tricky line so he just came with.  GOOD dog again, bad handler.   
I was feeling elated though, NO BARS!  He doesn't always run so well on this turf so i knew this would be a crap shoot.  Day 2 started with T2B.  Finally a fast flowing course like T2B should be.  I love T2B as it is a great warm up for the day.  Well, we had another no bar run.  He missed the weave pole entry as I was crowding him on a jump out of a tunnel and i honestly don't think he even saw the weaves.  No biggie, got him back but then he flicked off of me later and took and off course.  Even the judge said under her breath, but loud enough for me to hear, "hadn't thought of that one".  Well, leave it to deuce to think of that one:)  No video but was told over and over, that nothing about my body said turn left away from me and take this jump way over there.  Next up was JWW and a very fun course with lots of options.  Not a fan of pulls and need to work on them more so had a section that probably needed a pull but I forced a front.  Well, guess what, when I opened up my cross, I was on top of the jump and he tried to jump it but just couldn't.  Finished the course well and was happy that the bar was on me and not on him.  That was three runs in a row with NO BARS that were totally his fault!!!!!!  Standard was last and a nice fun course.  There were two tricky parts that in my mind were places were deuce and I could screw up.   One was weaves to table.  I knew I had to stay out of his way and let him find them on his own and not try and shape it in any form or fashion.  Once we got through that part, i felt so much better.  The next part was coming from the dog walk, going over a jump straight ahead and then coming back to take the double with a dummy jump to the other side of the double. I watched several of the big dogs take the jump after the dog walk, swing out way wide and take the dummy jump.  I decided to leave deuce on the dog walk a second or two and run to the jump, ask for collection and then go.  Got great collection but once again I think I was too close to the double when I opened up my cross.  The agility gods threw me a bone and the bar went straight up and straight back into the jump cups.  YIPEEEEE!   It felt to so good to have a well handled run and a Q.  Other than leaving him on the dog walk to be still for collection cue, the run was not run safely at all, it was balls to the wall.  OF course holding the dog walk and a-frame cost me placements but he still was 21 seconds under course time!  

Day 3 just had JWW and Standard.  Jumpers was again a very fast fun course.  I ran it with confidence, left him in the weaves to get down a line and trusted him to find the line and collect and change leads appropriately and he did like a big boy.  Another Q and another very fun run!  No shouting and no safe handling.  Why can't I do this every run????  He didn't place again but I was super excited because several aussies were in the top 10 with an aussie winning the class over some screaming fast BCs!  I think deuce was 8th, nestled between some BCs I NEVER thought I would ever be in the same company as:)

Standard was last and I was super tired.  As I had suspected, andrew had been a handful the past few days.  Mom and I tried to keep him busy and occupied but his desire to be down was great and his frustration/ temper level was also great.  I really, really want to thank all of those people who brought super nice, kid friendly dogs over to let andrew smack pet.  Just like any other toddler, we are working on the finer points of being gentle and while he is getting it, it is slow going.  Our dogs don't care what he does to them, well other than stella so while we do police it, i think sometimes he gets mixed signals as to what he can and can't do with dogs in general.  Deuce is the best and worse because he has the heart of a saint and will let andrew pretty much do anything to him.  Andrew also is learning to not go up to crates.  This is something I am also policing quite heavily but he is lighting fast sometimes and I just don't want him getting bit due to a crate protective dog.  He did have one dog lunge at him through a soft crate even though we were not anywhere near the crate.  I swear the crate moved 6 feet towards us but I don't think it scared andrew or taught him anything.  For all of these reasons I do not think I will take andrew to any dog shows in the future.  Plus the fact that he won't nap anymore at the shows so mom had to take him back to the room to get good naps out of him and I can't do that if I am showing.  It is going to be tough to leave him at home but I just can't deal with him at shows and my mom refuses to move here and I can't keep her tied up in the guest room.

Anyway, back to standard.  Two jump push to the weaves first three obstacles.  Not my strong point. I don't like standing still but I was fearing any movement would send him straight to the off course jump straight ahead.  Rear crossing was an option but a safer option.  Thought about a lead out pivot.  Mixed success with those so opted for a push and it worked surprisingly well.  I swear we were so in sync this weekend, so much more than any other show lately and I have no clue why.  I trusted him so much this weekend and I so wish I could call up that trust every single run.  The run was lovely, yet we had one little bar.  Not sure why but i suspect it was because he was coming out of the chute, turning over a wingless jump and rushing to get to me who was rushing to get a cross in.  I probably should have taken one more step towards that jump, one more second with my hand up.  I ended up pulling him into a tunnel nestled under the a-frame without the cross which is really good for him but why was i rushing?   Probably the ever popular oh crap, I am going to get a double Q.  Oh well, the rest of the run was perfection with him even getting a pull to the correct end of the tunnel when he was lined up to go to the wrong end (due to course design, not me) and also getting a push to the teeter after a double and not even ticking the double.      I was so proud of him and didn't even care about the bar.  If I had video, it was probably yet again my fault.  

Overall, I was very pleased with the weekend.  I will have to say that the course were all big fairly flowing run your ass off type of courses.  I think it gave deuce plenty of opportunity to run and extend which he likes.  Call it course design, the smiling of the agility gods or luck but it was super nice to get at least two good runs rewarded with a Q.  I know it is never about the Q but damn it, sometimes you need some sort of reward other than hey, good run.  I will run again this weekend, both dog show and running.  I have an 8 miler planned for saturday so will have to get up SUPER early to go run and make it back to the dog show.  I think am praying that the route I have chosen is safe and lighted.  I hope that i have legs left to run him afterwards.  I have already warned my friends that they need to be ready if I have spaghetti for legs.  I know one thing,I am already salivating over the strawberry smoothies at panera that i discovered this weekend.  Why hasn't anyone told me about them before?  Between those and peanut butter fudge millkshakes, I am destined to put on 5 or more lbs this weekend!!!!