Last night as I bathed the human feces off of Pat's big beautiful rough, I thought about our weekend; about the trial, about our runs....
Not really...I thought about reason number 2 why I do NOT love the Boise foothills trails. Humans and their shit. Patagonia needs to market a people poop bag and make it seems hipster enough so that everyone wants to shit in a bag and not a bush. Really. Polypro Poop Pockets.
People complain about dogs crapping on the trails, owners not picking up after their pets... and yet....I cannot count the number of times I've seen the all-natural-dyed-yak-wool-from-India-hat-woven-by-certified-all-natural-fiber-buddhists top of some hunched over cyclist or runner grunting out his Cliff bar and skinny latte, with no foam, room for cream, into a sage brush not 20 feet off the trail. Pick that shit up, Johnny Free Tibet Fitness!
Pat says, "Thank You!"
I say, "Fuck Tibet!"
(Not really. I love the Dali Lama. He would never crap so close to a trail and if he did...it would be holy crap.)
Anyway. End of Rant.
The trial:
Jai and Pat were both consistent. Pat scored a 64 on both runs. I had not worked Pat in a very long time and it showed. I tried to run him like I run Jai; keeping things moving and no stopping unless absolutely necessary. It cost us. Pat cannot flank on the fly, as DD reminded me. Pat is also slowing down and can't hear or see as well. Still, I used him for setout and he saved my ass a number of times. I cannot look at Pat and not want to kiss his big goofy head. (Recent brief exception noted above)
Jai was really good. Mistakes were almost entirely mine. We missed the fetch panels, but made most everything else. I flanked her too soon on the first drive panels because I ALWAYS DO and so...we missed that one, but it felt really good and she just keeps getting better and more confident. We came in second on our second run.
I am considering bumping up to open for the next trial, mostly because it will give us more options.
Also, what Pat is drawn to literally, I am drawn to metaphorically.
