Four-Day Agility Extravadogaganza

SUMMARY: Hopes and fears for the coming weekend.

It's time for the annual four-day insanity of agility. Why anyone wants to schedule multiple-day trials when there isn't a weekend or holiday is beyond me. And yet, I go.

In this case, because I really want to get Tika's last DAM Team Q for her (Performance) Platinum Tournament title, and this time, Team's five events are run across two days--Thursday and Friday.

In several past years, I entered only three of the days, but this time (a) I want to get as many Qs as I can with Tika before we really can't do agility any more and (b) there are additional Jumpers and Snookers on Sunday, and of course I'm hoping against hope that I can pick up Boost's Jumpers Qs and SuperQs.

So, there it is, need to stay all four days.

The weather looks like it'll be good. That's very, very, good, because it was at this 4-day trial in 2006 when it poured for several days before, leaving us walking through ankle-deep mud and ponds on the fields, and my knee swelled up like a grapefruit, and later that year I ended up with knee surgery. We're hoping to avoid a repeat.

Note to self: Need to take lots of ice and ice the knee regularly.

My hopes are:

• Tika's increasing deafness won't be as much of a handicap outdoors.
• Boost and I will somehow click and get Jumpers Qs and Snooker SuperQs. 
• Tika and I and our teammates will all click and get that last Team Q so I can stop fretting about it.
• Tika's body will hold up through 4 days and 22 runs. She's been looking good in the yard here, did some really fast table-downs yesterday that I haven't seen in a while. On the other hand, in class last week, she started out super fast and ended up obviously slower.
• Boost's body will hold up through 4 days and 22 runs. She's been coming up stiff lately after workouts. I can't figure it out myself and I probably ought to have her looked at. But she looks like me: Stiff when she first stands up and for several steps, and then loosens up and is perfectly normal walking and running.
• My knee and energy level will hold up.

I'm now kind of regretting entering everyone in everything. It's too late to scratch and get my money back, but I always have the option of scratching runs while we're there if it looks like it needs to be done. Hate to toss the entry fees like that, though.

Although--I've kinda been tossing entry fees for years trying to get Qs with Boost, so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with the concept.

Team:

• Tika is teamed with oft-mentioned Chaps this time--also, we're doing both Pairs runs together. So it seemed appropriate to have a team name of "Use Chapstik Every Day".  Are you just so jealous of our creativity?
• Boost is teamed with Jersey (who lives just a few blocks from us and I think we've teamed before) and another dog/person whom I don't know who are coming in from out of state--thus our "Western Alliance" team name.

I'll be sleeping in MUTT MVR for all three nights. So I really do hope the weather holds up. In fact, it might get to be almost too warm on Sunday. Well... 72F, which seems warm compared to, say, winter. If it's bright and sunny, could feel very hot running.

Ennyhoo-- not sure whether I'll post again before I go, and I don't think there's wifi there on site, so this might be it until Sunday night or Monday.