Monday, June 28, 2010

If at first you don’t succeed, Tri again

About 5 minutes into Dharmaspoon Gal’s swim in the Iron Goddess Triathlon, I heard thunder. That’s not a sound you want to hear around open water.  Moments later, hundreds of women were headed to shore.

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As the competitors waited out the weather, the race director had to decide how to proceed.  After some discussion, the decision was made to allow competitors to either swim half of the original distance or to swim the entire distance they had signed up for.

About two thirds of the field opted for the shorter distance, but, I’m happy to say, not Dharmaspoon Gal. She had trained for the full distance, and this was her test; nothing more, nothing less. She got back into the water when the weather cleared, and proceeded to do her best, and with results to be proud of.

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I witnessed all of this as a spectator. For obvious reasons, I did not meet the criteria of “Goddess” and thus was barred from competition.  In this way, I found myself in the role of spectator for the second time this year. As an avid competitor, it has been interesting to see what it’s like from the spectator's point of view. This particular race made it even more so.

First, the swim course was quite…um…festive. Normally you have buoys. Sometimes, a mini-blimp. Well, this course was a little more tacky adventurous. There were balloon rainbows, giant inflatable sharks and ducks, and a large floating turtle as well.

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I got to overhear the lifeguard briefing, where there was serious discussion around the importance of telling the swimmers to “turn right at the turtle” and to “keep the ducks to their left.”

The start of the race was hilarious. The race director used a siren to start the race, which the boisterous participants in the first wave (mostly newbies) thought was some kind of party sound and started waving their arms in the air like they just didn’t care.

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There was the cancellation of this first swim attempt and then the restart with two different distances. Here’s where it became clear that there were people there to test themselves and people who were there just to get through it with the minimal amount of effort.

At the transition area, I saw Dharmaspoon Gal make a swift 30 second transition from swim to bike while some of the other gals took the time to change outfits in tents and reapply makeup.

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During the bike portion, I saw $100 department store bikes that didn’t look like they were going to make it out of the transition area and $7,000 triathlon bikes that looked fast just on the racks. One gal finished her ride very slowly, explaining to the crowd that she lost her glasses along the way and was “riding blind.” I barely saw Dharmaspon Gal on her bike she was so fast.

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At the run, I saw women running like they meant it and women walking like it was a day at the park. I saw old timers and new timers; Women who were giving it all they got and women who didn’t even break a sweat. I had the joy of being able to run along side Dhharmaspoon Gal for the final few hundred yards of the race. Not that she needed the encouragement. During the run she had befriended another competitor and they pushed each other to the finish, each running personal bests.

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I pondered the idea of a women’s only event. Was is empowering? Was it patronizing? Was it just another race? In the end, I think it was what each individual competitor made of it. And maybe that was the point.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Landmarks on the way back home

On our final day of travel, we got on the road early, as usual. Our trip was wonderful, but we were excited to get home…

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And while she never complained, 2,400 miles is a lot of driving for one person to do (remember, she drives and I back up).

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Within a few hours we entered Kentucky…

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And a few hours later, crossed into Ohio and through Cincinnati.

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Until a few days ago, you’d pass half a Jesus between Cincinnati and Dayton…

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This is what it looks like now. It was ironically struck by lightening.

Almost home now, just go west at the Pioneer sugar tower at Findlay…

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And west again at the super huge mosque outside of Toledo…

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Drive north a bit, and then, Home!

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Was in incredible trip. Looking forward to the next one, but for now, happy to be back in Michigan.

The Great Smoky Mountains

Over the next day, we traveled north, through the mountains between Cherokee, NC and Townsend, TN.

We started out on the Oconaluftee River Trail, one of two trails in the whole park that are open to dogs. They even get their own sign.

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On the way to the trail, we passed by a restored settlement.

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Near the beginning of the tail, we passed under the Blue Ridge Parkway, connecting the Great Smoky Mountains to Shenandoah Park some 469 miles away.P1020131

And of course, there was a river…

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And a bridge over the river…

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And as far as we could tell, no ticks!

Angela learned how to use the low gears…

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As we made our way through the mountains.

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In the afternoon, we arrived at our campground…

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which, to Noodle’s delight, had a river running through it…

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It was a good day and we hope to return when we have more time.

From the Mickey to Cherokee

The day after the trials ended, we were ready to begin our return trip to Michigan, via the Great Smoky Mountains.

We got up at the crack of dawn, packed up the trailer, and headed north…

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We drove for hours through Florida, Georgia, and finally, North Carolina…

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After a bit of a delay due to my unwarranted faith in GPS technology, we arrived at our campground in Cherokee, just outside of Great Smoky Mountains National park.

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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Main Event: CPE Nationals

Over the next three days, Dharmaspoon Guy and Gal participated in the three day Canine Performance Events National Event. There were about 300 dogs and each dog had three runs a day. The event was held in an air conditioned sand floored arena. Arena comes from the latin word for sand. Sand was used during the time of gladiators to absorb the blood from the various fights, as the show promoters wouldn't want anyone to slip as they fought each other to the death. Eventually the places in which these events were staged were known as arenas.  Anyhow, there was no bloodletting at this show. There were a few slips and falls, and many many stairs to climb, as the crating was on the upper level and the rings were below:


During the event, we competed in a variety of different types of agility, including standard, jumpers, wildcard, colors, full house, snooker, and jackpot.  Here's a link to the rulebook if you're not familiar or are really curious:
http://www.k9cpe.com/forms/2010rb.pdf

Maebe and Django competed in all of the available agility runs while Cadence learned to be in the hectic environment. Also, out of necessity, he learned how to negotiate more stairs than he had ever seen in his life. We live in a ranch with no basement and here we was, having to climb hundreds of them a day. With some patience (on mom's part) and lots of cheese, Cadence ended up a champion stair climber.

The dogs did well on the first day:


On the first night of our trip, we hung out with some relatives. We went to a dive of a Chinese restaurant down the street. The wait was long, the people friendly, and food good.


Day 2 was another great day. Everyone did well and had fun.

In the evenings we would walk the dogs and relax with nice cold beer:

The third and final day went well to, with Django finishing with a very nice snooker run. We ended up with a lot of ribbons over the course of the long weekend. Maebe got 4 firsts, 2 seconds and a fourth.  She recieved the distinction of reserve high in standard for her jump height, which was quite an honor, especially since the year prior, she couldn't even quality to go to the event.  Django had four qualifying runs and was awarded fourth at his jump height in the Veteran's Game classification. We were both very proud of his years of consistent performance. Here's what all of the weekend's winnings look like in one place:




We had a wonderful time, got to know some of our fellow competitors better, got to see family we hadn't seen in awhile, and most importantly, got to spend some quality time with each other and the dogs.



Monday, June 14, 2010

From the Buffer State to the Sunshine State

Georgia's role as a Colony was to buffer the rest of the Colonies from what the British saw as the no-man's land of Florida. And not just because of the oppressive heat and the alligators. Florida was controlled by Spain, who they apparently didn't get along with. And of course, there were the original inhabitants...the elderly the Native Americans, who already didn't appreciate the Spanish conquest of their lands, let alone the British incursion. So, a couple hundred years later, we found ourselves driving through the former buffer colony to our main destination, Kissimmee, FL and a three day agility event.  Today, I wouldn't say that Georgia serves as much as buffer as more of an end-point of the South on the East Coast. When you enter Florida, it's as if no one is actually from there. The only other place I have really observed that is Washington, DC. And of course by that, I mean the only the places that the Metro goes.


We started out early, intent on making it there in time to set up for the agility trials that would follow over the next three days.


















The drive was uneventful, with the roadside business offerings repeating themselves, exit after exit. In Georgia, this consisted of the following:


1. Gas
2. Food
3. "Adult" superstores
4. Pecans


In Florida, it was:
1. Gas
2. Food
3. "Adult" superstores
4. Citrus Fruit
5. Discount Tickets to various theme parks


It was about 1 when we crossed the border:


















We arrived @ our destination, an air conditioned arena around 3, and set up our crating area:


















By 4, we were pretty exhausted...































Some of us were more tired than others... 





























We got to bed early, ready to begin 3 days of agility heaven.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Caves to Cold Beer

At the county level, Kentucky has some Talibanesque laws around one's ability to purchase alcohol. This in a state that produces 97% of the world's bourbon.  The practical result of these laws are that the problem drinkers, rather than drunk walk to party store down the street, are drunk driving across the county to get to a place where they can buy their hooch.  There's actually research to support the idea that county specific prohibition reduces highway safety














Now, the Dharmaspoon Guy is not a heavy drinker by any means. But when he's on vacation, he wants to have a nice cold one at the end of the day. At this point in the trip, he was unable to do so...and after all of the ticks he removed from EVERYONE and EVERYTHING, he really needed one. 

Luckily, on the third day of our trip, we were leaving the place of no beer and plenty of ticks and caves and ponies and dinosaurs behind us as we headed to Georgia.














With Dharmaspoon Gal at the wheel, we took off in earnest to Cordele. She always drives. I always park. That's the division of labor we agreed to. Driving keeps her awake (and safer, for those who have driven with me) and the backing up the trailer is this inborn skill that I discovered I had when we got the thing.

The day was a long one. And not just because of mileage. We had to drive through Nashville at rush-hour, 
make a detour around a sinkhole that devoured a section of the Interstate, sit in construction at the Tennessee/Georgia border, and drive around Atlanta just to get at our destination, a former Pecan plantation next to an abandoned truck stop (which I assure you was much more peaceful and scenic than it sounds.)




We were ecstatic to discover that the campground store carried some very well-deserved ice cold beers, which we thoroughly enjoyed:



We settled down early in the evening, in preparation for the push into Florida the next day...






















Wednesday, June 9, 2010

To the swamp and back: Mammoth Caves and Ticks

During our only full day in Kentucky...














... we dodged a dinousar...













... and went to Mammoth Caves National Park...

















... and took the Historic cave tour...














... in which we learned about how slaves turned bat poop into gunpowder, sort of ...














...and rich people paid lots of money to deface the inside of the cave ...














...and the generously proportioned people were challenged.


















We learned that a cavern and a cave are the same thing...


















...and got to take the same exact picture everyone takes upon leaving the historic entrance, though I had an actual camera and not an iphone.














We went back for the dogs and then spend the afternoon hiking some of the surface trails....














... and saw where a river enters the caves...














... and passed by the entrance to a smaller cave...














... but didn't go in.

Over the course of the hike, the dogs became infested with ticks.















... and no, that that one ...















... but these. Dozens of them. 















We spent hours removing them....














... before retiring to the campground for a nice quiet evening.