A weekend catch up!

Is it already tuesday?  Wow.  This week is already flying by.  So big confession. I only ran three times last week.  I did get a 12 miler in but I was due to do another 4 and I started feeling sick yet again.  This time sore throat and lots of congestion but so far nothing more than that.  This time I am really listening to my body and not letting it get out of control.  I have to run all three half races to get my series medal and I am getting that medal one way or another.  I opted to not run saturday because I had gotten up at 4 am to drive up to wichita and i was just plain exhausted.  The sicklies came on sunday morning so decided to take it easy sunday too and then of course it was raining and cold yesterday and i can do one or the other but not both.
So much to talk about because of a very busy weekend so here goes!



First the weekend started actually on friday.  My plan was to long run, then drive down to wichita but we won tickets to see the royals play on friday afternoon so I decided to drive down to wichita early saturday morning.  I actually am enjoying more just doing two days as long as I have at least three runs.  Two runs is not worth it but three makes it a little better.  It was a nice morning to run and I felt great.  Had planned on checking in at 10 but felt good at the 5 mile turn around so did one more mile and got my 12.  I finished in 2:03 so if you add an extra mile, I will be below my 2:20. If i can't PR, it won't be the end of the world but i would like to push hard and try.  After Stella and I finished, I hurriedly went and picked up andrew from preschool and waited for the hubby to get home so we could head out.  The problem was it had become very overcast and gray outside and the wind was whipping.  My gut instinct said it was a bad idea to go to KC and that it was too cold for andrew but I hated to give up on free, awesome seat tickets.  We literally walked into the stadium right as the game started.  Here are our seats.

They were amazing and the two innings we suffered through were awesome. However, it was just too cold for andrew and he didn't get the fact that he needed to sit still.  He wanted to run around and the amount of drunk people who had been tail gaiting since early that day prevented that.  The crowd was super thick and they had sold standing room tickets as well so people were up and down the steps and all behind us.  We decided it was worth heading over to cabelas while we were in KC.  You never know what you might need there and Andrew could run around and look at the fish and the stuffed creatures.  It was fun but he was still high on life and hungry and they don't have that much food choices there so we found a chick fil a.  He had his first chicken nuggets.  Awe.  I am so proud.  He devoured them which is cool because he HATES mcdonald's chicken nuggets.  Still didn't like the fries.  What kid doesn't like french fries?  Guess I should be happy.  After eating we headed over to the Legend's mall to check out the old navy outlet and SCORE, they had a carter's outlet.  For those of you whom are reading my blog that don't have kids or buy for relatives that are kiddos, carter's is a kick ass kids brand of clothing that is true to size and actually fits my kid.  I may or may not have spent way to much money there:)  We headed back just in time for andrew to basically take a two hour nap and then be wide awake till almost 11.  Of course I had to get up at 4 am to head out so why not be exhausted while driving down the interstate in the dark, right?

I had entered this show because stella's sister's owner was coming up from Texas.  Last year I got to meet 7 at this show and 7's mom but she didn't do any agility with her so i didn't get to see her run.  I really do adore this picture so much.  I love red aussies and I can not lie.  This is always my favorite show because there is so much to do.  All breed conformation is going on next to obedience and rally with us in agility and herding and lure coursing as well.  This year they had barn hunt too which was interesting to watch.  My main goal was to have a good time and I sure did meet that goal.  Stella did the instinct herding test on saturday and got her two scores for her title.  She worked the first time so smoothly and so efficiently that I was shocked.  The judge even marked her down as a medium eye dog.  She fetched and drove and didn't chase and separate much like deuce did the first time. I had no clue what I was doing but tried to listen to the judge.  The second time wasn't as fun because the judge insisted that she wear a collar and a drag line which she didn't have to do with the first judge.  She is always in a harness so stupid me didn't even have a collar.  I borrowed one from someone in the crowd and then she was freaked out the whole time about it so didn't work as well.  She passed after doing more what i would call chasing and separating.  I am suppose to get a video emailed to me of her "runs" but haven't received anything yet.  

My runs with Deuce weren't really great or  really bad, just okay.  His T2B runs were weird.  It was like he needed time for his brain to wake up every morning.  He had weird mistakes in both, one day it was bars and the second day it was running past obstacles.  Who knows.  His standard and JWW runs were nice on saturday, just bars in both.  I think each had two.  His JWW run on sunday was smoking and I crossed too close to the jump, didn't get the collection I was asking for and somehow sent him to the back side of the next jump in the 180.  Whoops.  My bad.  His standard run was okay, he knocked the bar before the weaves even though I was saying nothing and then got the entry but popped out.  When I put him back in, he had some issues and started to stress so I just went on.  The rest of the run was smoking. He did leave the table early, for what reason I do not know but I put his little fuzzy but back on it so i guess I got some good training in.  All in all, I felt like the weekend was a huge improvement over the last.  He did break one start line stay, which lead to a bar when I corrected him verbally, but that happens once in a blue moon. I was fully prepared to pull him for any other busted stays but he must have gotten the memo.  His dog walks were good but his a-frame, well let's just say he had a running a-frame all weekend, pretty much.  I am so going to hate myself next show.  I drove home happy, both from the purchases I made (got new seat covers for the van that have sheep on them) and the fun I had with friends and new friends.  It was so nice to hang out with someone who exclusively runs aussies (like my friend ami) and just trouble shoot issues and get some good training advice.  The surface was nice, a bit dusty saturday morning but fine sunday.  Crating was ample and miss stella was for the most part a little angel. I got to camp and drink beer with my bestie and catch up with everyone returning from nationals.  I will take that. It's the little things these days that make me happy and should make me happy.

 Like this little guy.  Love him so much,even if his train obsession is driving everyone nuts:)