Measuring Success

Last weekend was a success, even if it didn't reflect in how many Q's we came away with.

I'm taking stock of where we are as a team. Bolt is an incredible teammate and I constantly see us improving and working better together. He won his first class, master jumpers, with a 6.2YPS run despite a minor miscommunication.

We came close in our other runs, but had some small mistakes. The mistakes we had in those classes were mostly my fault & a result of us just not entirely working in-sync with one another. Training to run 5Ks has helped tremendously, but my timing is off now that I'm able to get places more quickly.

It also doesn't help that one ankle keeps randomly swelling and causing terrible pain. I was lucky to have good friends who were willing to spare pain relievers, ice & good advice.

We're still figuring things out, but I was really proud of a number of things we put together. Start lines have been an issue in the past couple months, but not last weekend! He was solid on his starts, on his contacts, was a phenomenal jumper, hit all pole entries (and stayed in all poles), took direction well & listened. At two, listening is one of the things I'm most impressed about with him. He's more mature in a lot of ways than I expected, but I don't expect him to be all the time.

The best part of the weekend was being able to spend some time just relaxing with my boy. Not driving, not stressing, not planning for anything-- just getting the chance to hang out & explore.

We walked around the Yale campus, which might sound lame, but I've always wanted to see it. I think most of the time agility brings us to these new places & we don't take the time to enjoy them or explore at all.

Plus, we got to find dinosaurs, so how could you go wrong there?

So two QQ's down, 400 points and 15 single Q's for Nationals.

We'll get there & I'll be sure we take the time to enjoy this awesome journey we're on along the way.

Connecticut

After nearly a month off, Bolt & I are back at it this weekend! We're showing in Hamden, CT for two days (and again in two weeks). It's a drive that is a hell of a lot further than I originally thought and at a facility I haven't been to. Planning on being up by 4AM tomorrow and on the road by 4:30. Luckily for us, we're fortunate enough to have the best "village" who is offering us a place to stay for the night. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We've been training a lot in this time off, both on the field and off & I'm hoping it's reflected in our performance this weekend. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a few nerves going into it.

Don't be fooled, he's ready.

I'm really looking forward to a weekend of agility with just me and my boy & especially an afternoon and night to spend some time with him. I've scoped out an awesome looking park in the area and am planning on taking a nice long hike & finding some caches on the way, plus taking far too many pictures. I'll start overloading the blog with pics, rather than Facebook ;)

We're still chasing some elusive Q's & points for Nationals, but I'm confident we'll get it done this year.

Let's make it happen!

New Blog!

I have never blogged before, but I figured now would be as good a time to start!

I'll use it as a place to explore, vent, talk (probably too much), share pictures & as a way to chronicle this awesome journey with the best teammate I could have hoped for.

Can't wait to see where this life takes us...