The Real Embudito Trail

Five days off work and a week with Chris and all the dogs back together. Some final decisions were made and I'm looking forward to the new year bringing better things-{like paying all the bills :)} Got some good hiking in the last few days, Stig did his first 3 hikes ever and I think he did great.

Tundra hiking up the trail.

Brink's a happy hiker.

I love hiking!

The view.

Wordless Wednesday for Happy Memories

The Total Canine

Check out my new banner! Sorry the picture's so small. Trying some new advertising for the business, so that hopefully I'm a little more visible at trials. I'm excited about the new logo-I had some car magnets and a t-shirt made also.
My last class-Canine Sports Medicine-for my Canine Rehab Therapist Certificate is this weekend and next weekend Rival gets to run in an ASCA trial. He is only entered in 3 runs, but I'm sure we will have a blast.

It's been awhile since my last post. Things have changed. Chris is living in Erie, CO going to school for Speech and Language Pathology. Brink got his second Open Standard Q. I am half way down with my Canine Rehabilitation Certification. I did another triathlon that didn't go well. Harry Potter has ended.

Brink's video:


Upcoming goals:
Last rehab class will be done Aug. 21 and then will have to schedule my internship.
Patriot tri in September, same course as Spring Fling, so main goal will be to go faster, but also to be 10 pounds lighter by the race.
Brink and Rival are getting to trial a bit here and there. Brink's goal is to get that last Open Standard Q to move into Excellent. I would like to finish Rival's ATCH in the next year-he needs 6 more gamble Q's.

Friends

My heart still aches at the loss of a friend
But life goes on and so must I
We used to help each other through the ups and downs,
But now the world just goes round
I wish I knew what went wrong


Big changes are coming. Chris found a house in Erie, CO and starts school August 1. I still don't know what I'm doing, but I should have my rehab certification done by the fall.
Another year has passed-my birthday is this Thursday. It's been one year since my world changed-good and bad. Here's to hoping the next year brings more good.

"Desire urges me on, as fear bridles me."

Book review Number 2:

'A Discovery of Witches' by Deborah Harkness - Book 1 in the All Souls Trilogy

I picked up this book, looking for a good read and thinking this would be a book mainly about witches. I had recently finished another book about witches and was ready for another. I love my fantasy books, but anything about witches seems a bit more realistic and Harry Potter has instilled a love of magic in my heart. Boy was I surprised when within the first chapter a vampire was introduced. Great I thought another book capitalizing on the vampire craze going on. Don't get me wrong, I love Twilight, Sookie, and The Vampire Diaries, but I didn't want the cheese or a bad story that entices people to buy just because of the subject.

I kept reading with reluctance and a chip on my shoulder, waiting to be brought into the story and convinced this was a book worth reading. It didn't take long, 2.5 days later I'm finished with the book and counting the days until 2012 when the jacket says to look for Book 2. The book is fantasy, romance, adventure, and history all rolled into one. Yes, it is a love story between a vampire and a witch, but it is like nothing I've read before. Matthew and Diana will sweep you into their world by the first 100 pages, just give them a chance.

Book Review

Just finished a great book: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Any one in the medical or biologic fields should read this book! This book not only taught me about the amazing field of culturing cells, but also providing thought provoking discussion about medical/research ethics and informed consent. Legally, once tissues or cells leave our body, we no longer have any say over what can be done with them. Your blood may be used to cure cancer fifty years from now. Anyway, check out this book and let me know what you think.

Transitions

Life is full of transitions right now. The biggest being the pending move to Colorado. I'm excited about moving and things to come, but at the same time it's nice being comfortable in New Mexico. Even the job is hard to leave. I may not be making enough except to make it month to month, but the stress of job hunting is weighing me down. My goal is to at least send out two resumes this weekend. I really want to focus on rehab, but I have a feeling I'll be doing some general practice as well.

The last few weeks in training have been going well. I'm only able to swim once a week, but I am coming to the realization that even swimming every day won't effect my swim time that much. Swimming makes me feel good, it's a great workout without all the pain. I'm running about 3 times a week and biking about 3 times a week. I have calculated to reach my goal time at Milk Man, my bike has to be at 20mph and my run will have to be 8:50 miles. Both these paces will be very difficult, since my training paces are much slower. I have been able to do a couple 9min miles, but can't hold the pace. I wish I could get a TT bike, it won't get me to 20mph, but would help put a little more speed to my pace.

Today I worked on transitions. I worked on mounting and dismounting my bike, which I've never done with speed before. I'm leaving my shoes already clipped in, but I'm not going to try the 'flying squirrel' mount yet, but I am doing the flying dismount. I'd like my transitions to be around 1 minute each. Next week I should try to get out to Cochiti Lake for an open water swim practice. I'm also no where near my race wait. I'm really struggling to lose weight, even with all the exercise. It's very frustrating and demotivating.

Today, I'm posting a picture of my younger, skinnier, stronger self with the girl that started all this crazy triathlon obsession.

The Devil is in the Details

Last weekend I did my first triathlon of the season. I had been considering doing a race, but didn't register due to the fact that I hadn't been in the pool since October and I really wasn't consistently running or biking yet. Well, to make a long story short I did race and it was a slap in the face. I really need to train! The swim wasn't bad, luckily I have 15 years of highly competitive swimming in my back pocket to get me through a 400yd swim. I was happy with the bike, felt good and the course did have a couple tough hills. I didn't have my aerobars and I do think that made a difference. Then we get to the run, which I thought I would breeze through since I have been doing the most running, boy was I wrong! I had such bad abdominal cramps that I walked the first mile. I was able to get it going again and ran/jogged the last 2 miles. I ended up 26th overall and 6th in my age group and no where near ready to meet my goal of placing at Milk Man in June.
So this week, my training has been stepped up a notch, to say the least. So far a 20 mile bike ride, a 4 mile run, a Brick, and a swim workout. I also registered for a 10K run on Sunday with the goal of breaking an hour (which will be very tough for me). I have approximately one month left to get ready for the next sprint triathlon.
I'm still looking for someone to travel to Ireland with me :) My plan is to be there a little more than a week, August 28th to September 5th, with the triathlon on September 4th.
On the veterinary side, I have paid for all my rehab classes, which is a huge step for me right now. I am learning a lot working with two special dogs. I hope I'm lucky enough to find a rehab job in Colorado. I am doing a lot of the exercises I have learned with Brink, mainly for strengthening and remembering he has back legs.
Today I did a great agility work out with Brink. It consisted of 3 jumps in a pinwheel and the dog walk. I was super impressed with how things went. I believe he only knocked two bars and I think both were due to hitting the stantion not the bar.
Some of the exercises we are doing include cavaletti's, front leg waves, back leg kicks, and core work. He's still going on runs with me also, so he should be the fittest dog ever!

P.S. I'm selling a triathlon full sleeve wet suit on ebay. It's new, never been worn, and comes with a travel case. Please pass this on if you know anyone needing a wet suit!

Decisions

So Chris has decided to attend the University of Colorado, Boulder for his Masters in Speech Hearing Pathology. The program starts August 1st, yes this August as in less than 3.5 months from now. So, the question is how to we get ourselves up there? At this point I think my best plan is to start looking for work with hopefully a starting date in mid September. This hopefully would give me the break needed to do my Ironman 70.3 in Galway and hopefully get to spend at least a week in Ireland. I also will be done with my rehab course by then, so again hopefully I would be able to get a job just doing canine rehab and pain management. My biggest decision is do I somehow make it work that I can come back to Albuquerque once a month to work? I didn't want to get attached to my job, but now I feel like I do have an attachment to some clients and I also have been building my massage business. I'll have to look at all the logistics for this and see what can be done...

On the training side, I did 5 massages at the ASCA trial on Sunday. I try to use the massages to get my hands on as many dogs as possible. Every dog teaches me something new and adds to my skill set and usually makes the dog feel good as well :) I spent about an hour or so working with my horse, Quid. I was very proud of her. We did only ground work, but I was able to start putting my weight in the stirrup of the English saddle. She's only ever been worked with a Western Saddle before, so the goal is to be riding her English by the summer. I don't know much about horse training, but Quid is a great teacher. Monday was a day off from any training(very bad allergies). Today, I got in a 3 mile run with brink and a 20 minute conditioning session. Tomorrow I need to get in a long bike ride. Thursday will be another hike with the dogs.

Happiness is found within. The search begins and ends with yourself.

Things are looking up. Due to my lack of motivation, I have to set goals for what to do each day. It feels so good to get things done. I'm basically setting a mental To Do List. So far this week, I wanted to take Brink to the park every morning to work on his jumping. Check. We worked on jump shoots, serpentines, and single box so far this week. He's still dropping bars, but I think he is starting to understand he only gets to play with the squirrel when he keeps the bars up.

Today my plan was to take Brink to the park, go to lunch with Leila, take Tundra for a hike. Now Brink is sleeping under my legs and Tundra is passed out on the couch next to me. Happy dogs, make happy people. I would still like to get out for a bike ride today. The stitches came out on Tuesday, so I'm ready to get active again.
I don't know when my next agility trial will be, but I'm hopeful I can save up for the Rocky Mountain Regional.
I've been very good about sticking to my goals of no Starbucks coffee and cutting down on my trips to Einsteins for breakfast-only one time this week :) Every penny counts!
The rest of the day will be getting my business more organized for Sunday. I already have 5 patients lined up - very stoked about that. Maybe I'll sell some tugs too!

Crisis of Faith

It's time to get this out there. I'm having a lot of doubts lately. When I went to college, I planned on being in the medical field-specifically a emergency doctor. Freshman year was difficult and things changed and suddenly I was major in Economics and European Studies. What would one do with that kind of degree? My thought was international business, specifically museum management. Then graduation neared and I didn't know what to do. Swimming ended in March and within a week I had a puppy. Someone said you should be a veterinarian and I thought okay-why not. I turned down a Master's program at Columbia to continue taking classes at UNM and try to get into vet school. When I think about this, I wonder what would have happened...
What if I had gone to New York. I realize I'm not as good at agility as I thought and I spend a lot of money on it. If I hadn't decided to go to vet school, would I have ever started competing or would I be traveling the world.
Right now, not much makes me happy. I ran in DAM team today with Rival and Brink-Brink had no good moments, Rival was off his head in Gamblers, did a great Snooker and Standard, and then didn't want to run in either Jumpers or Relay. Overall, I almost left crying...again. Luckily Rival's team still managed to Q and my friends joy over it helped me. I'm glad I'm taking a break from agility, but that leaves work and home and lots of time for thinking. Did I make the right decision? I guess I'll never know...

Nobody Said It Was Easy

What a difference a day makes. The past two weeks, my work schedule has not given me two days off in a row. By some chance, I ended up with Saturday and Sunday off this week. Just knowing I have tomorrow free made it so much easier to do things today.

I did start the day very anxious, knowing I was going to a local agility trial to do canine massages and knowing I would get all the questions about why aren't you showing this weekend? I actually ended up having a really good time. I did 6 dog massages and talked to lots of people about what I was doing with my career. It's always nice to just take the time and relax and really connect with the dogs.

When I got home I was actually energized enough to work both Rival and Brink outside. I haven't worked both dogs at home in probably months. Both dogs were great. I'm also working on teaching the boys to wave. Bosque and the girls all can wave great, so now the boys have to learn. Plus it's great shoulder and biceps exercise. Tomorrow, I need to exercise myself :) I'm thinking a short run with Brink would be good.

St. Patrick's Day

It's been awhile since I posted last. St. Patrick's Day is my favorite holiday, not because I'm Irish, but probably because green is my favorite color, I love Ireland, and luckily I'm with someone who is very Irish. Luckily I have the day off and I've been thinking about posting for awhile, but kept putting it off.

The year hasn't been great so far. While I do have a job again, I've still been forced to make a lot of changes. First, I gave up Starbucks, which really wasn't that hard. Now, I'm giving up agility. This is extremely hard. I think I knew this was coming, but I tried to be hopeful that things would turn around. For the past 10 years my life has revolved around agility. I really became a veterinarian because of agility. I hope to return to the great sport someday. I still plan on getting my canine rehabilitation certification and possibly pursuing board certification. I hope that it will get me out of the state of New Mexico. I really wish I was writing about how great agility was going. How Brink is just taking the agility world by storm, but it just wasn't meant to be. Needless to say, I won't be trying out for world team this year.

Today is Rival's birthday. He got a birthday bagel and we practiced some running dogwalks. I'm very happy with his dogwalk and we were able to progress to tight turning into a tunnel. He has one more trial to show it off. Maybe he will finally get that last Standard leg for his AAD.

In more positive news, I have registered for an Ironman 70.3, so I need to get my a$$ in gear and start training. I'm planning on at least 3 triathlons before the Ironman as well. I did finish my first half-marathon in February-it was exhilarating. I hope to do the same one again next year, but my goal would be to finish around the 2 hour mark. I just have to get motivated to start training again.

I promise to post more often and stay positive!

New Products

This is Brink modeling his new leash. I have been wanting to add leashes to the Twisted Tug repertoire for awhile but never could figure out the pattern I wanted. I finally found one that I like, except I still haven't perfected the handle. I picked this leash to show off Brink's Irish ancestry that I have decided he has (Rival is Irish, too, because he has red hair). Brink's leash has a clip to connect to a martingale type collar, but I think I will start making them as an all in one martingale leash.
In other news, my dad is in the hospital for the second time this week after having a heart procedure on Tuesday. It doesn't sound serious, but it is always on my mind. My half-marathon is a little over a month away and I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and having my dad cheer me on from the side lines. He did the Houston marathon a couple times and we would cheer him on through the race.
I did actually get a 4.5 mile run in today, although I coughed for a couple hours after. I do feel more energized. I have been watching the USDAA 4-star event all day and I just love it! I wish I knew a little more about who was running, but it's still very fun to watch. I hope everything works out so I can continue to do agility. I would miss it so much if I had to stop.

Portrait from the first snow of the year, hiking 3 Guns Canyon.

Certificates in the Mail

Today I received three certificates in the mail. One for Rival's advanced pairs title, one for Brink's advanced pairs title and one for Brink's advanced Gamblers title. None of these came as a surprise. I knew all these titles had been achieved at our local SWAT USDAA. It's just nice to get something in the mail, now if people will only start sending me money in the mail! Ever since college I have been obsessed with checking the mail. I hated those federal holidays when the mail didn't come, but you still had to go to school or work.

Anyway, here's a video from our weekend in Arizona. There's only one, because it really was our only good run, although you can see none of the contacts actually meet my criteria of two on, two off. So, basically, the video is getting published because it is our first master gamblers Q. Enjoy.



P.S. I haven't wanted to run this week, so the picture is to motivate me to get off my butt-the half marathon is only a little over a month away!

Re-Evaluating

I hate when I say I'm going to do something and then I can't do it. If I say I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. Unfortunately, life has this way of making sure you can't actually do it. This is my biggest pet peave and it eats and eats at me. So what does this have to do with my blog? First, I officially gave up on a running A-frame with Brink today. This bothers me because I know I could train him to do it, except I have no way of getting an A-frame and probably won't be able to get one for years, so I have to go to a 2 on, 2 off, because I can train that behavior in my back yard. So, that was an easy solution and I should let it go, right? I'll be happier in the long run that I decided to do this.
Now for all the other things planned in 2011. Trying out for world team-I still want to do this, even though I have no expectation of making the team at this point. The problem is that I don't know if I will actually be able to go to any of the regionals I have planned. This also affects the goal of doing my Half-Ironman in Ireland in September. I really liked when my only worry was whether or not I could get the time off to go do the stuff I wanted to do or said I was going to do.
Unfortunately, I need to get my business off the ground to be able to do all the things I said I was going to do. And now I'm playing the waiting game...