TWO WEEKS!!

Holy buckets! In just two weeks time, we will be running at NADAC Championships 2011! The good news is that I'm feeling really, really excited -- Not really, really nervous or really, really worried. In 2009 I was dealing with some off & on lameness issues with Luke, so this is a nice feeling. Cross your fingers that it stays that way. Time to start wrapping the crew in bubble wrap and doing more running than playing (since that seems to be when we get hurt!).

Since the big event is a mere two weeks away, I figured It was time to suck it up and set another practice course to prepare us for the challenges we will encounter. Due to the location of the dog walk after the latest mowing, Round 2 from 2010 won the draw! And look, it's not even a cruddy hand-drawn replica of the course. Nope, this one was scored off someone's blog a while ago. It's a little off by NADAC standards, but it set well by flow, which is what I went by. I opened with a curved line of hoops and ended with a hoop, but otherwise set the course as pictured.

I am super-duper pleased with Secret's session last night. In watching the videos, my biggest concern was always that line leading away from the weave poles. It appears much further/more drastic in video than it does on paper, which is what led me to focus on handling the weaves while layering the two jumps to the side. I figured if Secret could handle that then we were gravy.

And she did! She totally did! And her weaves were speedy, even!

I also worked to handle the a-frame from behind the number 15 jump, as I know we will be forced to handle our contacts from a distance at some point or another at Champs. Secret did really well and I'm very happy with the overall distance she was giving me in this session.

That is not to say we didn't have a few hiccups. Too much lateral distance at the start caused her to want to turn in to jump 14 after the second hoop if I was behind her. I will have to use lead-outs at Champs if we encounter such a set-up. Hopefully the more "private" setting of the huge arena will allow her to stress less about that, because I really don't see getting through many of the courses without a lead-out there.

We also struggled with layering the ending, as she defaulted to wanting to come into me after the tunnel. Getting the hoop after the tunnel wasn't too difficult, but the number 6 jump was just too tempting to her and I never actually did get the 18 jump without being above number 6.

Secret's contacts were lovely last night, but I really need to watch myself with this early release business. She isn't missing any contacts, but she isn't stopping, either. I know I'm not going to ask for a single stop at Champs, so do I keep letting it slide? Or is now the time to put money in the bank for a stop, to ensure that leaping doesn't start when we get to Springfield? I think I know the answer to that.... I can be such a speed junkie.