My agility club just hosted our final USDAA show of our season...we do three USDAA shows in 4 months...not an easy feat!! This show was the biggest with 270 dogs and 3 rings. I did the show secretary work like I always do. This is actually a part-time job as there are a LOT of tasks to complete beforehand, not to mention all the tasks you need to complete DURING and then after the trial.
This show also featured a DAM tournament. Essentially, there are 3 dogs on a team and you all compete in 5 classes throughout the weekend. The goal is to qualify, which means the top 25% of the teams that fall within the average of the top 3 teams (make sense??) qualify. You need one DAM team qualifier to show your dog at the Nationals. My team at our first trial fell short and did not qualify. Soooo, I was pretty stressed out at this trial since I didn't have any plans to go to any other trials that offered the DAM team event. My teamies consisted of one very consistent dog and one young pup like Jammie. We each had our ups and downs, but in the end we not only qualified, but we placed 2nd!!!! There were 24 teams, so that was a pretty big thing for us!
So, combined with the stress of qualifying for Team and the Show Secretary job, I was pooped. I came home last night, played with the kids a bit, then hit the jacuzzi for my sore muscles, put the kids to bed and crawled into mine. I was soooo tired.
Funny thing is I think Jam had had enough of my stress too. The last class of the day was Masters Standard. After the 4th obstacle, she took off out of the ring and went looking for something. She'd never done this before so I was yelling..."Jam!! Whaddya doing????" She finally found what she wanted (her ball) and brought it back into the ring with her! :) Everyone busted out laughing. Even I had to admit that it was pretty darn cute! :)
I'm glad it's over though. I'm tired.
5 comments:
Congrats on your DAM Q. I am always SO relieved when I get that Q for the year. It's bad enough when I stress about my own runs when I want something badly enough, but it's even worse when I stress about other people's runs--and they're usually my friends and I do want them to just have fun and do the right thing with their dogs, but I also want to Q; what conflicting emotions! That's a draining thing right there.
Hope your new work works out well and that you enjoy yourself more (and of course have plenty of $$ for all that agility. And the new puppy :-) ).
Funny about the tech writing thing that you posted as a comment on my blog. I read it, thinking, gosh, you never know what all these people do in real life, how interesting,, then about 2 days later I was reading through an old issue of Agility Spotlight (remember?) and there was an article by you, I think, with a blurb at the end about being a Tech Writer in real life. Funny coincidences.
-ellen
Yeah...all weekend all I could say was how much I hated Team! Once I'm at Nationals, I have no expectations so I'm not nearly as stressed. BUT, trying to Q for Nationals is a whole 'nother story!
I remember the Agility Spotlight! I think I wrote a book review column, right? I think there were only 3 issues of that magazine before it folded. Perhaps it paved the way for Clean Run...?
My next job will mostly be in the training realm, so I'm looking forward to it. My first love has always been teaching, so I think it'll be a great adventure for me!
Huh, I went back to try to find the column, and instead I found one by Karen *Canaday* who is (was) a tech writer. Now I can't find yours--so either my cranial wires got crossed (possible) or I just didn't read very carefully. :-)
Yeah, right after AS folded, CR seemed to pick up all the pieces and go on from there.
-ellen
:-) Karen Canaday was my married name (to my first husband)! When I changed back to my maiden name, it confused the heck out of everyone in the agility community! When I re-married, I figured I better keep my maiden name so I don't have to go through all the confusion yet again! :)
Got it. How funny. Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember hearing that in the dark past, when the agility community was somewhat smaller. My subconscious must have remembered it, because it was certainly an image of you that popped into my head when I read it.
No accounting for how the brain works.
-ellen
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