A Plan

Dylan and I are in Grade 6 now, and I think it is unlikely that we will reach Grade 7. This is not simply a comment on Dylan or my physical abilities, but also our mental game. We compete once a month or less, so we have perhaps 3-4 classes – chances – of getting one of the required wins per month. Even assuming that the courses are within our trained capabilities, it’s safe to assume that of those 4 classes, at least one will have environmental factors that I cannot control which will affect Dylan’s mental game in some way or another (queuing too long, too many dogs too close, no room to warm up, no room at the startline, etc). And currently, I can guarentee for at least one other class, often more, I will not be on top of my game either. This has been my big problem for the past 6 months!

So, we maybe have 1 chance a month to win a class, and considering we need 4 wins for G7, those aren’t very good odds.

Dylan and I have five runs at UKA this weekend. Our classes are very, very tiny, so if we go clear we will come either 1st or 2nd, depending on how the other dog does. This makes me want to be lazy! But I have been inspired recently, by Tori and her journey over the past few years, and by Tammy and her quest for improvement. So I am going to try and be assertive, and focused, and give Dylan as much as he deserves regardless of whether I think we can win the class.

I may regret saying all that come the weekend, obviously, especially if it’s raining. And it’s very likely that I’m still going to train some of my runs, but those that I do, I’m going to train them to get 100%. Not training Steeplechase again though, I want to be in Champ Steeplechase by the end of the year which is looking nigh on impossible considering we need 30 more points and potentially only 4 classes to run. (We have no chance in Performance, we have only 6 pts so far.) Come on Northern folks, start hosting some UKA shows!