Well, on the good news front it looks like I'll be able to do a race this year. I've signed up for an off-road tri at the end of August as part of a relay. I'll do the swim portion and it's only 1/2 a mile so should be a piece of cake. I did the race last year and had the worst panic attack I've ever had during a race on that swim but I made it through and it was a wonderful swim in the end. The race is in a beatiful state park in Fort Collins and the swim in particular is in a bay surrounded by red cliffs on two sides, very scenic. I remember noticing the cliffs last time every time I lifted my head to breathe or sight. We're called Team 3 Non-Jocks so as you can imagine we're not expecting any hardware but it should be fun.
I also signed up for an agility trial the week before the tri and will probably sign up for another a week before that. I took Lola out to the practice field on Tuesday since it was a lovely cool & cloudy day and had a bit of a hard time. I only ran the full course twice and repeated a few sections of the course I had trouble with but was limping by the time I got home. I was also really late with all my cues and Lola's so fast I can't really afford to do that. Poor girl was so frustrated with me and she sure let me know it by barking non-stop. Not a happy hey ho let's go type bark but a frustrated get your freakin' act together dumbass type bark. But I went back tonight with both dogs to practice on a jumpers course which requires more running than a normal standard course and I did fine, no limping when I got home and I actually managed to get my timing down a bit better. Funny what a difference it makes when the dogs have some clue where they're meant to go before they get there. I went to the field just before dusk to avoid the heat and take advantage of the dogs heightened prey drive at that time. The only trouble with that is the reason their prey drive goes up at dusk is because the prey comes out at dusk. Lola nearly took me out when a bunny ran right in front of us and Cody had to join in with a barking/lunging fit. The area is infested with rabbits and other critters (we even had a rattlesnake out at the field once but thankfully I wasn't there) and they're used to humans & dogs which makes cooling the dogs down somewhat of a challenge. I'm surprised I can even get them to do agility with the wildlife and livestock parade that goes on around the field, considering Lola's current obsessions with anything small, furry and moving. Anyway, I felt much better running and was hardly sore at all afterwards so I think in a few weeks I'll be able to handle a trial. And maybe with a few more practices I'll actually remember what I'm supposed to be doing.
So I'm going to see some bands tomorrow (Alkaline Trio from Chicago and some others I've never heard of) for the first time in several years and was pretty excited about it until I finally downloaded a copy of Alkaline Trio's latest album and it blows. I mean it is truly awful. Well, maybe one sort of good song and a few tolerable ones mixed in with the godawful. I really need to pay more attention as it seems the album I like is several years old. I also didn't realize just how popular this band is. They're playing 2 shows, one in Boulder & one in Denver, and both sold out fairly quickly. It turns out their last lp was in the top 40 and they've been on Leno, etc. Usually by the time a band gets to this point they really suck and had I known I would have thought twice. But I'm going to go anyway, you never know. Some bands are terrible on record but great live so maybe I'll get lucky. I suspect I'll be the oldest person there, even older than the sound guy and promoter so it should be amusing. I'll make sure to sigh, shake my head and say 'those kids today' a lot.
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