Rainbows and Puppies

It’s been 3 weeks since Ironman Arizona. It feels like a million years ago right now! I still get a little tingle thinking about the joy of that finish line though. I suppose like (I’m told) childbirth you start forgetting the hard parts of the day and just remember the good ones.

It’s been a nice recovery period. I’ve done most of my Christmas shopping and even gotten a start on holiday cards (with any luck they will actually get mailed on time). I’ve done a lot of sleeping, consumed a decent amount of alcohol, spent a week sick with a cold (like just about everyone else did 2 weeks post-race), and haven’t done a bit of swimming, biking, or running.

All that changes tomorrow.

well at least the no training part (I can’t commit to no alcohol at this point)

Tomorrow I slowly begin to get my body used to training again. My next couple weeks look nice and light – very easy swims, bikes, and runs with focus on form, drills and technique. Perfect. Just the things I want to work on! (And I’m not even being sarcastic) I’m sure the first time back in the pool will hurt though :-) Amazingly I haven't gained any weight since the race...I guess my healthy-ish eating the last couple weeks has helped.

The beardies and I spent Saturday at an agility trial in Santa Rosa. I guess just like getting back to training, getting back to trialing will take an adjustment period too. We’ve had better days, that’s for certain. And if we’ve had worse, I have blocked them out of my memory! I’m sure my feelings were amplified by the fact that I had not one but two crazy boys to run in every event. It was cold and pouring rain (perfect for drivey insane dogs), I was COVERED in mud from head to toe, and I think I just wore down mentally by the end. On the positive side, I know my dogs had a lot of fun and really I suppose that’s the whole point of this.

After the trial, we went to Beth’s house so the boys could run like crazy with their sisters Maude and Beatrix. Beth also has a 3-month-old brown puppy named Bean right now – totally adorable little boy! I had dinner with Beth and her husband and amazingly you didn’t even notice there were 5 beardies in the house, other than the endless swish of hair and supply of warm bodies planted on your feet.

Sweet Bean zonking out close enough to keep an eye on the action

None of them exactly show-ready but 5 wet happy dogs nonetheless!

I did not go back to the trial today – when I woke up in my hotel room after 10 hours of sleep, I felt awful and just couldn’t imagine another day out in the cold. And then I had major car issues. So yes, I wimped and went home. Boo me.

After our visit with Bean, I found myself looking back on videos from when Stanley was little. I made up this compilation of his puppy antics. It’s amazing how fast a dog goes from a little tiny creature wobbling around to a big hairy beast! He was SUCH an easy little guy. Ah the good old days! (Sorry for the parts where uploading to Youtube seems to diminish the quality)