The Thrill of the Chase

Wow!!  What a fun weekend we had.  Friday was dedicated to Blake's Christmas present (sorry Blake, can't have you find out here either!)  Saturday, the Golden kids, Tiffy (Blake's chihuahua), and I packed for the weekend and headed to Harrah, OK for a running contact seminar by my friend Kelsey Kirkpatrick.  We had a blast at the seminar.  Kelsey did a wonderful job teaching all morning and then letting us work during the afternoon.  Jade is really getting to experience the thrill of the chase with our running contact reps.  Running and chasing are some of his favorite activities, so he cannot be more happy that this is part of his new job in agility!  He progressed from running on carpet to his current set up: 2 dogwalk boards against an 8 inch table.  I still have his carpet over the boards to remind him of his job- running!  Jade did fantastic.  He really amazed me.  He hits close to 100% as long as I don't throw like a girl!  His reaches are beautiful, and he hits with top speed.

After the seminar concluded, we hit the road again for Wichita Falls, TX.  It was cold and windy, but none of that seemed to bother Layla on Sunday.  She rocked the agility trial.  Layla got her 10th QQ and earned 30 points that day, including her smoking 14-point JWW run!!  I ran the jumpers run with all blinds to cue speed and extension in areas that called for it.  Layla just keeps getting faster and faster.  We are having so much fun, and we are a much more confident team then this we were this summer and before then.

Today, Jade and I worked running contacts.  We are enrolled in Silvia Trkman's December Running Contacts class, so we were working on some homework.  He is just an awesome boy.  I am so proud of him.  I used the same set up as I was using on Saturday (8 inch table, two dw boards, and carpet).  At first I was a little frustrated because Jade would jump off the table and run to the side of the boards to get the ball.  I figured that I had to point to the boards and delay throwing the ball so he would think more about his job.  I'm hoping to throw the ball sooner for our next session so I can get even more speed out of him.  Jade's hit were nice and deep and mostly rear feet hits (preferable).  The hits that I could not see as well turned out to be front foot hits when I slowed down the videos later.  Silvia Trkman says that rear foot hits are better because they are easier to see, but she still wants us to reward FF hits because the dog needs to be able to hit in many different ways.  The environment will not always favor one type of hit.  Jade did have a few misses when he jumped, but I found out that I should have just quit with him earlier.  When Jade gets tired, he tends to jump because his stride is off.  I adjusted his start point, and he hit again.  Jade and I will practice again on Thursday, and I cannot wait. We are having so much fun!!  All of Jade's exuberance for working got the better of him when he nailed me right in the lip as I was setting him up before one of his reps.  I guess I get what I asked for when I said I wanted a high drive dog!!

The Golden Kids and Tiffy at our hotel in Wichita Falls.  I was watching Tiffy for Blake's mom over the weekend, so she got to join in on the fun!

Sessions 1 and 2 from today

It's a Masters Kind of Year

All of my time off from the regular craziness of classes has made me slack off with posting on the blog. It has been nearly a month since I last posted, and since then I have attended a blind cross seminar by Rob Bardenett, completed finals, traveled back home to Tulsa, celebrated Thanksgiving, and ran at TDTC's agility trial right here in Tulsa.  Break has been relaxing, but I have been doing enough not to get too bored.

The weekend after the Longmont trial, I attended a blind cross seminar taught by Rob Bardenett.  The seminar was conveniently located at the same dog club where I take classes.  Rob had so much insight concerning blinds.  When performed correctly, blinds are extremely effective at allowing the handler to move around the course quickly, but efficiently.  When blinds are put in the right places and timed correctly, you actually wait on your dog to catch up to you.  So despite common opinion, you do not have to be young or extremely quick to use them;  you just have to be efficient.  We went back to the basics and warmed up with blinds on the flat.  Then, we ran specific sequences to learn how to use blinds in several different ways: blinds on the flat (most obvious), blinds in serpentines, blinds on 180º turns, and blind cross wraps.  At the end of the seminar, we ran the same course that we ran at the beginning of the seminar, but this time Rob wanted us to incorporate as many different kinds of blinds as we could.  I used all four that we learned!  Blinds feel so natural to me, so I am always looking for ways to include them in my runs.  The seminar was so helpful and gave me a lot of good ideas (and things that I need to practice!)

After finals, my dad drove from Tulsa to Denver to help me pack up because I simply cannot fit everything I need for about 5ish weeks into my Mini Cooper, especially when the Golden kids take up the entire back seat.  The day before Thanksgiving, I followed him home and completed the longest drive I have ever done by myself- about 12 hours including stops for the kids.  I think I would have had a different opinion about the trip if we would have taken the route we normally take, but because my dad wanted to get home as quickly as possible, we took I-70 through Kansas- about the most boring drive you can imagine.  And to think that I get to do it all again three weeks from today!

This past weekend, we went to TDTC's agility trial.  This trial is only a few miles away from my house at the Tulsa State Fairgrounds.  Layla did very well all three days.  She couldn't seem to get both the aframe and dogwalk in standard.  She was certainly having an off weekend in standard compared to her performances this fall.  Her jumpers runs were fast and beautiful.  Layla picked up her last three legs for her MJB title- Master Jumpers Bronze.  This is one of AKC's new lifetime agility titles.  The bronze title is awarded to dogs who have earned 25 qualifying scores in the Master class (there is an equivalent bronze title for standard).  I am so proud of Layla because she just earned her MXJ at the end of August!!

Other than trialing, I have been spending a lot of time training the Goldens.  I'm getting Jade ready for his first rally trial Martin Luther King's day.  We are spending a lot of time training for agility.  He does all sorts of recalls to heel- I worked serpentine recalls yesterday.  We also worked lateral and forward sends yesterday.  Jade learned the chute yesterday and loved it.  I also opened up the channel weaves as far as they go and had him run through.  I'm not doing anything else with the weaves until he is more physically mature, but I did want him to get a visual of seeing poles on both sides of him body.  He is getting really good at fast automatic downs on a low table.  We have been running a bit on carpet in preparation for Silvia Trkman's running contacts class, which starts Monday.  I am so impressed with what this boy can do.  Never before have I met a dog that makes me smile and laugh so much.  I don't know what I was doing before he came into my life.

This weekend is going to be a busy one full of traveling.  Saturday, the kids and I go to Oklahoma City for a running contacts seminar taught by Kelsey Kirkpatrick.  Kelsey has phenomenal running contacts with her young Border Collie, Legit, so I am excited to see what knowledge she has to share. After the seminar is over, we drive from Oklahoma City to Wichita Falls, TX because Layla and I run in their agility trial on Sunday.  I only entered Sunday because we have the seminar on Saturday.  Oklahoma City is much closer to Wichita Falls than Tulsa, so I thought I might as well pick up one day that weekend.

After I get back from Wichita Falls, I will have less than two weeks until Blake comes home.  And Allison comes home a few days after I get back from the agility trial.  It seems like I have been waiting forever for Blake to come home that now it hardly seems real that I am about 2 weeks away from seeing him.  Nearly four months without him has been very difficult.  We miss each other terribly.  However, I am doing much better than I was at the beginning of the quarter especially considering he has no computer.  But if it was in my power, I would have him home in an instant.  Maybe it is all of the sweet love notes that help. Or mornings like this morning where I woke up to a surprise: a Blake original of him singing a song to the Jademan.  I haven't laughed that hard all week, but I always seem to be laughing when Blake and I are together... he and Jade are alike in more ways than one!  I love that boy so much.  Blake is most definitely my other sweet and silly half.  A couple of days after Christmas, Blake and I will return to Denver because I have a four-day agility trial New Years weekend in Colorado.  It seems like I don't sit still very long, but that is just the way I like it!

And Just Like That...

It's November!  How has it been nearly three months since I started school?  How has it been close to five months since my best little man and I met?  Regardless of how I measure the time I have been here this fall (in midterms, lab reports, agility trials, inches Jade has grown, etc.), the time is flying by.  In two weeks and a few days, I will be ready to pack up to go to Tulsa for Thanksgiving with my family.  Thanksgiving is at my house this year, and that makes me really happy.  My mom always outdoes herself when we host the holiday.  And what's even better is that I always have several delicious vegetarian options to eat.  I am two weeks of class, two lab reports, one prelab, nine days of class, five days of agility class, one agility seminar, two weekends, and four finals away from completing my fall quarter.

I barely had time to catch my breath this weekend.  It all started Friday afternoon as I was finishing up two o chem lab reports while running to the grocery store for veggies and roasting them all afternoon.  My lab reports were due at 4:30 pm on Friday, and I had a "Thanksgiving" dinner with friends later that evening, thus the roasting of the vegetables.  Between all of the peeling, chopping, and roasting, I printed my lab reports at 4:27 and ran out the door.  Thankfully, I live a couple of streets from the science buildings on campus.  In a car, that takes about 20 seconds.  I pulled my car into the first parking spot I found on the street and sprinted across a parking lot, into the building, and up the stairs to the chemistry office.  I made it, but immediately had to tend to my next task.  As soon as I walked through the back door, the timer went off for the veggies.  My friends and I had a fabulous time celebrating an early Thanksgiving that night before any of us were stressed for finals.  We had quite a night celebrating Halloween at a friend's birthday party a bit later.

I hardly make time for myself to shut my eyes anymore, so as a typical weekend morning lately, my alarm went off at 6:00 am on Saturday.  I am so used to the early morning dog show routine, so I zombie-walked from room to room getting everything and everyone ready so we could get on the road as soon as possible.  We arrived in Longmont with just enough time to set up before I walked my first course.  Layla NQ'd in standard on Saturday (I pulled her into the wrong end of the tunnel), but she had a fabulous jumpers run!  Sunday was a great day.  We earned our 9th QQ with a blazing fast jumpers run.  On both jumpers runs last weekend, I got in two blind crosses on serpentines.  We had so much fun.  I get so excited taking Layla to the start line now.  We have made such big improvements in the last few months, so that has given both of us the confidence that we desperately needed.  Just this fall, we have earned all nine of our QQ's.  We are 1/3 of the way to our MACH as far as points go, so I'm hoping for a reason to celebrate before next summer!  I am including a video of my favorite run of the weekend- our Sunday jumpers run.

We are taking a break from agility trials for the next three weekends so that I can focus on finals.  My next trial is in Tulsa since I will be home for four weeks starting at Thanksgiving.  I return to Denver after Christmas with Blake.  He comes home a couple of days before Christmas, which is the best gift I could imagine.

Jade helping me with my O Chem lab reports

Layla gets her MX!!

Today, the Golden kids and I drove to Fort Collins for the Longs Peak Dog Training Club trial.  Despite it being 27º when we left, we were quite comfortable inside the equestrian barn.  This says a lot for the quality of the facility because I am uncomfortable in the low 50s!!  The barn was well-heated.  It was a very nice facility.  Layla did very well today.  She finished her MX in the morning and Q'd in JWW for her 8th QQ in the afternoon!  I really like the judges this weekend.  Lisa Selthofer congratulated me outside of the ring after our class for my standard run.  Dan Selthofer made a really nice flowing jumpers course.  I am glad to hear that these judges are the same judges who will judge a show that I am entering New Years weekend.  I can't wait to get back to Fort Collins and run again tomorrow.  Because I have such a busy schedule with several difficult classes, I do not stay out of town for dog shows during the academic year.  I am lucky that Colorado has enough trials within an hour or so from my house so that traveling is not an issue.  I have been spoiled with close trials.  The 1.5 hour drive to Fort Collins today was the farthest I have driven for a trial since classes started this fall!

I measured Jade at the trial today because I wanted to see if he had passed up Layla in height.  I confirmed that Layla is now the smallest dog in the house!  Jade is about half an inch taller than Layla.  He measured 21.75" today!!  Last week, Jade weighed 47.5 pounds!  I am so excited about my big red boy!  Looks like I am going to get my 24" jumper that I wanted!  Jade has been just soaking everything in that I am teaching him.  It took him 2 ten minute sessions to learn how to pivot to the left (and keep his bottom close to me when I turn into him) and walk backwards in heel position.  We started baby sequences of jumps (bars on the floor) in class this past week.  Jade is sending extremely well.  I am very proud because Layla never had the foundation to work as independently has Jade will be able to.  Jade gets soo excited to work for me.  I was practicing with him Thursday night before Layla's class.  I told him "left, jump" and Jade WHIPPED his whole body to the left as hard as he could and took the jump.  I was laughing so hard because he is so dramatic in every aspect of his life- training included!!  This boy makes me smile so much.  Is it a problem that I feel the need to shower him with kisses every time I come home and see him?  I am having an unbelievable amount of fun with him.  In addition to agility, we are also taking field privates about every other week in Fort Collins with Sandy Whicker.  Jade thinks field training is the best thing ever.  It is so exciting for me to watch him light up when we take him into the field for marks.  Our future together is so exciting.  I am treasuring every little moment right now.  I am so blessed to have such a handsome, confident, and brilliant young man.  As far as I'm concerned, I am living the dream.  I really do have the best dogs in the world.

The quarter is actually coming to an end rather quickly, which I am quite happy about.  This quarter has been difficult, but thank goodness I have my Goldens here to keep me sane.  I miss Blake like crazy.  We do talk regularly on Skype, but it is just not the same.  We are so fortunate that our relationship is so well-developed that we are not having to build it over the internet.   Blake is, without a doubt, my very best friend.  We know each other like the backs of our hands after almost three years of dating.  I can finish his sentences, and he always starts laughing when I begin to say something funny because he knows how I will end my story.  Blake is one of the silliest people that I know.  I cannot think of very many conversations that I have with him where I do not end up laughing.  That has been so good for me because I have learned how to laugh at myself and how to take life less seriously.  I have always been an extremely sensitive person, so being able to laugh at myself has not come so easily.  Blake reminds me that in certain situations in life, all you can do is laugh and move on.   Excluding my parents, I cannot name someone more supportive of me than him. I am so ready for Blake to be back in the States and home.  I am counting down the days.  8 weeks from today, I will pick him up from the airport.  That day cannot get here faster. A part of me is missing when he isn't here.  Luckily, my little man channels Blake extremely well- he is handsome, as sweet as can be, brilliant, and beyond silly!  However, he sometimes sees wrestling with Miles more important than cuddling with me, he cannot cook dinner with me, and he is lacking in the English language skills department ;)

Brighton, my Baby Dog, and Bad Dogs

This past weekend was action-packed.  We had a trial in Brighton Saturday and Sunday.  This facility wasn't nearly as nice as the others I have been to so far in Colorado, but I have been very spoiled so far!  It was really dusty and the surface wasn't fantastic.  Saturday we got no love in either ring.  Layla started off the day popping pole 10, not once, but twice.  I do not know where that came from because she never does that!  The rest of the run was fabulous.  Lay let me get in a blind and FOUR front crosses in a row.  In standard, she had a really nice run except she got called on her aframe.  I wasn't watching her as well as I should have been.  Sunday morning, she NQ'd again in Jumpers.  Lay dropped 2 bars and I was shocked.  This dog rarely drops bars.  She has probably dropped a single digit number of bars during her entire agility trial career.  I watched the video a couple of times and found that the first bar was my fault.  I gave Layla a really late cue for a push, so she dropped her feet while looking at me to tell her where to go next.  The second one was her.  We were racing to the tunnel and she flattened out on the jump before the tunnel- way too soon.  We Q'd in standard.  Whew!  We both needed that.  This was Layla's 9th MX leg, so one more to go.  Maybe we can finish her MX in Fort Collins.

Regardless of our not-so-great as far as Q's go weekend, I am very proud of Layla.  She is so much more confident on the courses- so much so that I did lead outs with her on every course.  This was the first time I have done so in about a year.  She has shown me the past couple of weeks that she is ready for lead outs in practice, so I was ready to give it a shot in a trial.  I got excellent results!  I also found out recently that Layla's qualified for AKC agility nationals just since the end of August as far as QQ's go!  She is up to 7 right now.  We are short on points, but we are really going to try to qualify for 2014 Nationals.  That is my dream: to compete at a National competition with Layla, and I think she deserves to do so if she qualifies.

I am so excited about my baby dog.  Words cannot express how much I love my Jademan.  He is always making me laugh.  He really makes my day every day.  Jade is so funny, but he is also very lucky that he has a mom with a good sense of humor.  He amazes me how far he has come in the short time I have known him.  I am really getting a feel for him, and I continue to learn more and more about him the more that I work with him.  He is a fantastic learner.  Unlike Layla who has to be shown a new skill, Jade offers all sorts of behaviors until I mark the one I want and reward him.  He is obsessed with working.  I have to remember he is a baby dog and that he needs constant breaks.  He would go, go go all day long if I let him.  Jade is making progress by leaps and bounds in his foundations agility class.  We have a great lead out, he does rears by direction on the flat, front cross and post turns on jumps with out bars.  He knows hand signals, has beautiful recalls, and has such a nice natural retrieve.  We are now taking field lessons with Sandy Whicker.  She is really impressed with him.  I am equally impressed with him.  I feel so lucky to have such a phenomenal boy.  I think we are going to do great things together and I am so excited about our future.

Now that I have bragged about my two precious Golden kids, let me fill you all in on our little excitement for the afternoon.  Today was an absolutely gorgeous fall day.  Temps were in the mid 70s, the trees are on fire with brilliant colors, and there was not a cloud in the sky.  I love this weather.  All I want to do when it is gorgeous out like this is to stay outside.  This afternoon, I took the Golden kids on  our daily walk.  We always walk several blocks to a park, walk the loop around the entire park, and then walk home.  I was about the enter the park when we saw a dog sitting in a beat up car on the street next to the park.  I didn't see the owner at first, but then noticed her in the driver's seat.  Her dog was in the passenger's seat with the window rolled completely down.  As we were passing the car, the dog leaps out of the window and runs straight for me and the Goldens growling really aggressively.  I knew things were going to get bad fast.  I was doing everything I could not to get dragged towards this dog because Layla's hair went up on her withers the minute that the dog exited the car window.  I have never seen Layla and Jade be so protective of me.  Layla looked mean.  She was growling and baring her teeth.  She did not want this strange gray dog to touch me.  Layla scared the dog away, and he ran back to his owner's car.  Let me add that the owner watched all of this go on from inside of her car.  She didn't get out to help or call her dog off of us.  Luckily, no one was hurt.  I said to the woman, "You really need to watch your dog.  That could have been very bad."  She replied, "Oh hun, don't worry about it," and then she sped off.  WHAT??  People are idiots.  I am just so thankful I have two awesome Golden kids who are willing to do anything to protect me:)

Pictures next time- I promise!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

It seems as though I only wrote one blog post for the entire month of September.  The one blog post does not nearly reflect my September at all.  I will try to catch up because BRRRR it's cold outside and there's nothing much to do but stay bundled up!

I left off after a perfect weekend in Castle Rock.  The next weekend, Layla and I played agility in Golden, CO- outdoors too!!  Running on grass is just my favorite.  The weather was so gorgeous with plentiful sunshine all weekend.  Layla rocked it on Saturday.  She earned her 7th QQ.  Sunday, we NQ'd in standard.  Lay dropped a bar and that really worried me because she NEVER drops bars.  I would safely bet that Layla has dropped single digit number of bars in trials during her entire agility career.  The opening was chute, hard 90º right turn and then I had to front cross to another jump.  The bar came down on that first jump out of the chute.  I couldn't believe it.  I was so bummed that I didn't watch her contacts at all for the rest of the run.  Unsurprisingly, she blew them.  My friend and I watched the video over and over again and we could find nothing wrong with what I was doing.  I though, maybe I was cuing my front cross too soon, but that definitely was not the case.  It seemed to us that Layla just didn't get enough speed off of the start and didn't have enough time to think about picking her feet up once she turned toward me to find the jump.  That's the neat thing about agility- our dogs really do keep us humble.  We ended the day with a nice jumpers run.  To add to the excitement of the weekend, Jade earned his CGC with flying colors!!  I am so proud of my little man.  He was just 6 months and 1 day!

Last weekend, I worked at USDAA Nationals just on Saturday.  I worked the Grand Prix Semi Finals ring, which was really exciting.  Even more exciting was seeing all of the fantastic handlers (some familiar faces) from all around the country and the world!  I learned a lot helping out and I am so motivated to run USDAA with Jade.  I don't know about Layla quite yet.  We are working so hard on this MACH, so maybe after that.

On Wednesday, the University of Denver hosted the first 2012 Presidential Debate. There was definitely a lot of commotion going on just a few blocks away from my house.  Megan, Toby (her boyfriend), and I walked the three dogs through campus, but much was blocked off. We sure saw a lot of crazy people though.  It is very cool that my school could host such an important event.

Friday morning I woke up to SNOW on the ground.  WHAT??  I am not ready for this yet.  It is only the beginning of October and the temperatures have not gotten to 40º in the past two days.  I am bundled up and usually under covers unless I am moving.  I am so not a winter person and I feel like our beautiful fall was just ripped out from under me.  I was wearing shorts on Wednesday.  All three of the dogs, on the other hand, LOVE the snow.  This was Jade's first time to see snow and he was beside himself with excitement.  He refused to come inside when I called him.  I looked out to find him tearing across the backyard doing all sorts of crazy spins and circles.  He makes me laugh!

Tomorrow Jade and I are off to Fort Collins for a field lesson before my next crazy week begins!

Catching Up

Wow.  It has been far too long since I posted.  It seems as if the excitement of the past several weeks has gotten the best of me.  I will try to fill in as much as I can.

The end of August came too soon.  I knew as those last few days approached that I only had a limited number of days to spend with Blake before he left to study abroad in Germany.  I was very upset as we crammed all that we could into my Mini for our drive from Denver to Tulsa at the end of August.  We planned to drive home to Tulsa so that Blake could spend a few days at home before he flew out of the country, and so that I would have a much shorter drive to the Golden National (in Gray Summit, MO) by myself.  Blake went to Freiburg   for Environmental Science studies.  He left at the very beginning of September and he will not return to the States until December 22.  This will be the longest we have ever been apart since we started dating over 2 1/2 years ago.  It was the most difficult goodbye I have ever had to say to Blake, and even though I know the time apart will fly by and we will be so happy when he comes home, I'm still having a difficult time.  Luckily, I have a fabulous roommate to help me out, but I will get to that.

After a teary-eyed goodbye to Blake, I left with the Goldens for the Golden National at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, MO.  What an experience!!  This was my second National and just like the first, I had so much fun- this time even more than the first!  I crated with the Gaylan's group.  What a fantastic, kind, and hilarious bunch they are!  I got to meet so many who I had only been in contact with online.  The event center was freezing in contrast to the tropical storm outdoors from Hurricane Isaac, but at least the dogs were happy!  Layla had a wonderful weekend of agility!!  She picked up 3 QQ's, 3 MX legs, and had 2 completely clean days (we ran T2B in addition to standard and JWW each day).  I was so proud that she had a perfect clean day on the day of the National.  Watching all of my other friends compete was wonderful as well.  Everyone was so supportive of each other.  On the Tuesday night of the National week, I presented Layla in the Parade of Titleholders for her accomplishments in agility.  She got a beautiful personalized rosette, which she proudly carried on stage!  Jade had a blast playing with his littermate sister Kindle.  We could not get the two of them to quit!  They were a hoot!!  Thursday evening, I attended a field seminar with Jade.  I walked up to where chairs were set up and a couple of vans were parked.  I noticed a chair with "Happydaugh" embroidered on the back of it.  I knew at once that this was Jade's sire's kennel.  The next thing I saw was a gorgeous red Golden laying next to the van.  I asked a man who looked like he may be in charge, "What is the call name of that dog?"  He said he didn't know but he would ask Ann.  Ann told me, "This is Striker."  I replied, "This is Striker's son!" pointing to Jade.  She could not believe that her boy's son was attending the seminar!  We got a picture of the two of them.  It is quite obvious that Jade is his dad's son.  They had the same expression when we got their ears up for the picture.  Jade had tons of fun retrieving a duck at the seminar.  I was told by the instructors that I have a very talented boy on my hands.  I am so proud of my boy and cannot wait to continue work in the field with him.  What an unforgettable National experience!!

I returned to Denver the Saturday night before classes started.  I was greeted by my roommate Megan and her sister who was visiting.  Megan is a wonderful roommate.  We get along so perfectly and I am having lots of fun getting to know her.  I am so lucky things worked out so well.  To make matters even better, Megan brought her Border Collie mix, Miles to live with us.  Both Goldens love Miles, but Jade will not stop playing and wrestling with Miles.  Layla is very happy because this gives her a much-needed break!

I celebrated the end of my first week of classes with an agility trial this weekend.  Our trial was in Castle Rock- such a beautiful town- and the weather was sunny and perfect- so typical for Denver fall days.  I cannot believe how well Layla is running for me.  Layla had a completely perfect weekend.  We earned 2 QQ's and 2 more T2B Q's!!! This brings our total QQ's up to 6 and we have only just started back competing in both B classes for 3 weekends.  I think the biggest change I have made is channeling all of my adrenaline in the right direction instead of letting it get to me and make me a nervous wreck before every run.  Now, I feel so comfortable running Layla.  Nothing tops that feeling. I have another trial this coming weekend in Golden and I am looking forward to it!