Thursday's Photos

Stanley and Nan
Poor Harmony is saddled with sharing the car space with the youngsters
Max knows how to relax
What is that on the roof of Coombs Old Country Market?
Yes, it IS goats on the roof. And though I have no photos of the inside of the market, this place was amazing! Lots of good stuff to look at and buy.

OK, a few dog pictures

Yvonne took these upon our arrival yesterday. As you can see, we are drowning in beardies.

Royston, British Columbia!

We arrived yesterday and have settled into our home for the next week or so. They let us in the country (suckers!), despite my apparent inability to properly navigate border crossing booths. The boys were positively overjoyed to see the three beardie girls and I promise many pictures of five bouncing wild dogs. Yvonne and Gary have been great and made us feel right at home.
In the meantime, a few photos from our visit to Anacortes, where the boys had a wonderful time with Penelope Hardy, and the ferry ride to Vancouver Island.


Ferry lines
And we're off.

I went for a nice 40-minute tempo run this morning before the rain started. The weather was cool and perfect! I'm hoping to squeeze in a long ride tomorrow in between all of our prep for the dog shows that start Saturday.

And please everyone think happy thoughts for Jeff this weekend as he'll be riding the Shasta Summit Century! I don't want to come home to a broken husband.

Vancouver, Washington

Our latest stop on the journey north! We wrapped up the agility trial with three double-Qs (for the non-agility folk, a double-Q means you were perfect on both of your courses run each day). I think that's a first for Max! We're spending the night in Vancouver before heading to stay with Rhonda in Anacortes and then finally getting to Yvonne on Vancouver Island. After we checked into the hotel, I took the boys for a drive and we found Salmon Creek park to take a long hot walk. Here they are looking dorky on the trail.

Crashed out in the hotel room after a hard night of drinking.

It was a bad idea to screw with the sleeping bathtub puppy. A very BAD idea.

I'm thinking about doing this ride later this week after we get to Yvonne's place (I don't know if the link will work, gmaps has been messing with my head lately). Someone told me it was a beautiful ride up to Mt Washington. Um, did she realize it's 4000 feet of elevation gain over 10 miles? That's like a double Henry Coe! We will see...weather will also be a factor, as I'm not willing to come screaming down a mountain on wet roads.

Can I do it again?

It's been 6 days since Vineman and even though I know my body is not fully recovered, is still slow and tired...*sniff* I want to do it again!

Yes, I'm in the midst of a 2,000-mile roadtrip. Yes, I'm still exercising here. I'm just already feeling like I want to do another race! Maybe I need to look at my training plan and see where I can squeeze in races as training runs and such...

In other news, poor Max is not in a good way today. On his walk this morning, he yelped every time the leash touched his ear. When I went to check it out, I found it was very oozy and bloody and stinky - a major ear infection. He was in quite a lot of pain so we blew off our morning FAST run at the trial and high-tailed it over to the emergency vet. It appears to be bacterial in nature, no yeast, and deeper in the ear canal is clear. They gave him his first treatment and I've got drops for the next few days, as well as ear cleaner once the pain is diminished enough to attempt it.

And with all that, screaming any time his ear was touched, he still managed another double-Q at the trial today - that's 2 days in a row!

Medford

That's where I'm at right now - Medford, Oregon! It may have seemed like I've been quiet this week but life has been anything but. I barely had time to get home from Vineman before it was time to start packing up and leave again for my road trip with the dogs. For the moment, we're at an agility trial in Medford - 4 days of fun with Max!

On Monday afternoon, we'll head north with the goal of making it to Yvonne's house on Vancouver Island by Wednesday. I rode my bike around Medford today after the trial - it was OK but hot and the endless red lights got to me - I didn't find someplace I could really cruise at pace. This evening I hit the Harry and David store/factory/headquarters - woohoo!

Now on to other business...LadyPatsFan was kind enough to nominate my blog for an award!

RULES:Here are the rules for the Brillante Weblog Premio 2008 Award:1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.2. Link the person you received your award from.3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.4. Put links of those blogs on yours.5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you've nominated.

And so with that...the 7 blogs I nominate, in no particular order!

1. 21st Century Mom. She's smart, she's funny, she rocked her first half-Ironman! And she is a gnome like me :)

2. Days of Speed and Slowtime Mondays. Elayne is another dog agility AND triathlon addict! Hopefully she is not toxic from contact with the Chicago River.

3. Little Miss Runner Pants. Because she cracks me up regularly and has such a positive and humorous attitude.

4. Running Jayhawk. Who - woohoo! - also rocked the 70.3 distance recently and in adverse weather conditions too.

5. Geekgirl. For being my #1 inspiration to attempt an Ironman - she's done so many things I want to do!

6. Three Woofs and a Woo. Easily summarized as: Best Dog Picture Stories Ever.

7. Tinywater Photography. I'm lucky to be friends with such a brilliant photographer. Everything she does is art!

One Day

One Day. That's how long I lasted without exercising.

Usually after a half-marathon or a marathon or another big race...I don't want to even THINK about working out for at least a week. I assumed with Vineman being my big race of the summer that I'd enjoy taking the following month off as the dogs and I would be gallivanting around the North American continent. I assumed wrong.

I got through Monday but that's my usual rest day. On Tuesday the itch started. I ran 3 miles and swam 1000 yards. Today Jeff and I went for a bike ride. He's got the Shasta Summit century in a week and a half and needs hill training, I just wanted to stretch my legs. While he took off to speed-climb Hicks Road from the Shannon side, I pedaled along the same road at a slower pace as my legs felt sluggish to start. But as I went along I realized I felt great! It turns out that I only did about 1/2 mile less than Jeff up the hill. We're going for a swim tonight too.

So...I give in. I admit it. I'm hooked. Call it endorphin addiction or whatever. This is my life now! The bike and the running shoes are going to Canada with me. I'm not sure how safe it is to swim in the open water off Vancouver Island so maybe the wetsuit will stay home.