My portrait

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Thanks Kevin!

Mom's post: Wk 1 of 5K plan

Today was my first day running outside in a while. It's allergy season here and those insidious and evil white blooming trees are everywhere. I think they should all be cut down and replaced with nice Douglas firs, but whatever.

So, I was very nervous about my outside (non-treadmill) run. I planned out a nice loop through the neighborhood that is 3.43 miles door-to-door. I didn't take Splash since it's Sunday, it's nice out, and there will lots of stupid people doing yard work with their "he-always-comes-when-I-call-he's-never-done-that-before" dogs and I didn't want Splashy to have a bad day.

I wore my new running shirt that is one of those special wicky-ones, it's actually better than a t-shirt, I have to admit it. I listened to Podrunner. I overdressed and didn't need my sweatshirt. I found a nickel.

I wasn't able to run the whole thing, the wind and the fresh air did bother me a bit so I ended up walking maybe 1/4 of it, spread throughout. It was my lungs though that stopped me, my legs could have kept going. And maybe some self-doubt also slowed me down.

Time for 3.43 miles: about 40 minutes, which is a 5.2 mph pace.

I plan to spend through the summer getting faster, but I have not set a pace goal yet.

Goal for next few months: run this loop at least once a week. Try to bring Splash or Ki or both with, conditions permitting.

Do a shorter run once a night with both Splash and Ki so that Ki will have a reason to "join up" with Splash, as their relationship can be tense at times. All Ki's fault, really, he is a lotta dog.

Dear Apple:

In six months, my book pile will run out.

I'm not buying any more physical books. When that pile runs out, I'm buying a book reader. I'd really like an iPad. I'd like an iPad/iPhone combo. I promise to buy both from you, but only if you get your act together and make the deal with Verizon. I actually leave the city on occasion, and when I do, I want cell phone coverage in case my car breaks down. So, ATT is not an option I will consider.

It's your choice Apple. I'm perfectly fine buying a Kindle. Really. I can go either way. So don't rush yourself on my account.

Unless you want a sale.

PS: I'm not the only one who feels this way. So more than one sale is at stake.

The problem with blogs

is that it entitles everyone to publish their opinion, even when they are not grown up enough to handle dissent.

Tuesday January 5, training Ki-Ki

Tonight it was really cold outside. Splash and I went for a run. He wore his cool new light up coat. A bunch of folks stopped their cars to take a look. Funny! And visible! This was day 1 of Week 3 of the Couch to 5K program. We both did well. I am actually a bit amazed.

Therefore, since I was cold and sweaty, I was unwilling to take Ki outside for practice. And, there's plenty to do inside. We worked on going around the cone. He's got it, at least here where there are no distractions. It got boring pretty fast, so I worked back to about 6 feet away, sending him around the cone. And AGAIN, in the "away to me" direction, one time he went way out around the coffee table! Totally surprised me and also Ki -- he stopped dead and looked around, like "dude, how did I end up over here?"

We worked on stays a bit, lining up on the right (he is much better about it here at home), and that's it for tonight. We are too tired to do more. Well, I am.

Ki's training for 1/4

Okay. I need to start logging what I've been doing with not-so-little-anymore Ki-Ki. So here goes.

Tonight we went to the agility practice facility. Before we went though, we had a bit of a drama. It turns out (this is my theory mind you but I'm pretty confident in it) that Ki has been growling at Splash when Splash gets in the car. Ki is always very eager to go and jumps in the car first. Their crates are side by side in the back of the van. So Ki's been warning Splash not to join in the fun,and since Splash is the opposite of confrontational, Splash decided he would NOT get in the car. At all. Forever.

The plan: take out one of the seats from the middle row and put the spare Kennel-Aire there. Cover it with a blanket so Splash and Ki won't see each other. Splash stays in his crate, Jewel gets her back-of-the-bus crate back, and Ki gets the smaller crate in the middle of the car where I can keep an eye on him. Feed Splash all dinners in the crate for one week, then add Jewel in her crate for dinnertime. Third week, we add Ki.

The training time itself was pretty uneventful. We worked on 180s with two jumps. When working the "come-by" direction, all is well, and he takes the return jump. In the away-to-me direction though, which is very strongly Ki's preference, he is waaaaay out on an outrun around the jump. I tried almost no shoulder turn but still got that. I need some shoulder turn right now or he looks for a jump going forward. Basically, I've gone from a manual transmission (Splash) to power steering, and it's going to take me some adjustments.

The pinwheel work is fine, he's doing two of the jumps without any problem.

We did phase 1 of Nancy Gyes' alphabet "t" drill also and he's looking at me like "is that IT?". I want to read up more on that one before I go further.

We also worked on line up drills. Need to work so much more on the right. He gets so freakin' excited, he won't line up.

Also worked on the dog walk, it was at the middle level. He fell off one time, which was good, he wasn't paying much attention up until then. He's a big dog, he won't be as fast over it as his sister, but he'll make up for it in the air and over the ground.

After Splash's dinner adventure in the garage, I'll play cone drills with him. Yay, I got two cones last weekend finally!