Winter is Upon Us

This past weekend might have been the most miserable agility trial experience I have ever had. On Saturday, I was at the trial competing for a grand total of 14 hours. 14 hours! The temperature never crept above 40 degrees, and was in fact down into the 20s for the start and end of the day, and we were outdoors for all of it. I don't think I've possibly been at a slower-running trial in our nearly 5 years of doing this. Let's just say that Openly Hostile Molly might have put in an appearance. I ended the night wearing 3 layers of sweats in bed blasting the heat in my hotel room and shivering for 2 hours.

That said, I was quite pleased with how the boys did. Stanley, in his very first USDAA trial, ran P1 Jumpers (and qualified with a 4th place) and P1 Gamblers (and had a nice opening and got the gamble (!) but knocked the last bar). Max ran in the Performance Versatility Pairs team tournament on Saturday (part of what made for a long day) and ended up 1 spot out of qualifying range (our teammate was eliminated on the relay course and that did us in). He also was 2nd place in Team Snooker. On Sunday it was in the 30s again - and then began to rain just for good measure - so an unusually-hyper Max had a speedy (border-collie-beating) qualifying run in Performance Speed Jumping (Steeplechase).

This has been my week to slowly meander back to some level of activity again. Not in a hurry, by any means. There is more than enough time in the next year for that. Burrowing inside in the warmth feels much better with the cold, freezing rain, and snow (in the mountains above) that we are having. But I started off Monday with an easy spin on the bike (in the garage, as it was pouring out), which helped loosen up my sore/frozen legs from the weekend.

Today, I was in the pool for masters swim at 6am, outdoors in rain with an air temp of 35 degrees. I have lived in the Midwest and on the East Coast, so I know what true winter can be like. I also know what weather wimps us Californians can be. That said, I don't think anyone can argue that 35 degrees and rain is a pleasant way to dash in and out of the pool when you are swimming outdoors. I tried to make the most of it and psyche myself up with the Canada Splish, to help remind me of the weather conditions enjoyed by those less fortunate :)

The good news from today is that I am finally getting intervals! Very slow intervals compared to most of you, but my own intervals to begin with nonetheless.

The bad news is there is only one more day of masters and then the pool shuts down for 2 weeks for the holiday break.

But wait! There is still more good news. The pool shutting down doesn't matter because on Friday Jeff and I leave for the happy place - Arizona - for 2 weeks. I can't wait to get down there, finally set up the Christmas tree, and settle my brain in full vacation mode. It'll also make my next 2 weeks of workouts more fun, being able to do them within sight of next year's race course.

Finally, a brief update on work. Through divine intervention or perhaps just sheer nagging on my part, my procedural revision - the last of my goals for the year that had not been accomplished, the one that was considered unlikely to be finished because of the sheer amount of work and negotiation involved - was signed off by the last approver in Ireland overnight. I have sent off the whole mess of redlined documents and change order and signatures to Document Control, who has an entire week before shutdown to release it. I still want to make sure that officially happens before celebrating, but it does look like...I'm done!