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Pondering another half marathon… January 4, 2008

Posted by kimayars Ramblings Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 3comments

But first, if you are into horses and want to read some really funny but spot-on commentary regarding back-yard-horse breeding, check out Fugly Horse of the Day.  It’s amazing how much material she has to work with.

Sooooo… Kirkland Half Marathon.  Tempting, except for a few things:

  1. It’s on Mother’s Day.  I’m not sure that’s how I really want to spend “my” day.  I usually equate Mother’s Day with pampering.
  2. Jeff pointed out two big hills on the course.
  3. The average pace of last year’s half marathon was 2:12.  I ran the LVHM in 2:16 and that was a FLAT course.
  4. I’m not sure I could get Beth to commit.  Maybe Sherene?  Surely one of them could be suckered into it…

Yet I still think about it.  I must be insane.

I’m off to bed EARLY for once.  I don’t think I’ve been in bed before 1am all week, and now I have a raving sinus infection to show for it.  On the whole I feel fine, but it’s hard to breathe and I sneeze a lot.  I did the netti (neti?) pot about an hour ago, and it made it feel better for about 20 minutes.

Still pondering names for Rasyn.  Mr. Hardwick’s suggestions, while well-intended, are currently at the bottom of the list.  So far, the “Spanish Hot Chocolate” suggestion is my favorite.  The word chocolate probably originated from the Mayan word xocolātl.  Could you imagine if you were a ring steward at a show and saw that name on the day sheet?  “And now, riding…. um… Zoc… Zoc… um… Now entering the ring, number 12!”

And the foot is still not sore!  Back to the gym! Tomorrow! With Kleenex! Whoopee!

Lunging, er, chasing away my horse… January 3, 2008

Posted by kimayars Arena Work (Horse) Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 2comments

North Bend is known for it’s wind. We get a lot of it being in the foothills of the Cascades.  It’s not a constant wind, but can be rather gusty.  About 5 miles out of town on I-90 there’s a road sign that says “severe side wind possible”.  They should replace “possible” with “inevitable”.  On gusty days I’m not really sure how the semi trucks make it over the pass.

Anyway, it makes for an interesting challenge working your horse.  Most horses are pretty auditory, and noise is what distracts them the most (old tires in the corner of the arena and coats hung on fence posts closely follow).  So with wind, you get noise: the creaking of structures, tree debris hitting things, bushes rustling, and the occasional piece of stuff blowing across your path (I think North Bend is pretty clean because all our trash blows into Snoqualmie).

Rasyn (or whoever he is) is an “in your pocket” type of horse.  It sounds cute, but really it’s not.  On days when nothing is scary, it is pretty cool to have him follow you around and nuzzle you while he begs for treats.  On days where everything is scary, he tends to jump in your lap.  I’m 5′3″ and weigh about 150lbs.  He’s 5′1″ at the *shoulder* and weighs 1000lbs.  You do the math.

So today’s lesson with Ray was “how to stay out of my space”.  Also known as “get the hell away from me”.  This is harder than it looks because he’s not brimming with confidence, and I’m a sucker for needy things.  Rather than making it hard on both of us, we did some simple ground work, defining my aids and making sure he stayed in them, even when he was sure that something was going to eat him.  It worked well for the both of us: I got to establish some easy rules for him to follow that were familiar, and he got to stay close (but not too close).  By the end of our short session, he was focused on me, and not so much the weather.  Success!

Ramping back up… January 3, 2008

Posted by kimayars Run Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 3comments

Today was my first run since acquiring peroneal tendonitis after the LVHM.  The plan was to run 30 minutes, with intervals of 4 minutes of walking alternated with 1 minute of running.  I alternated 3.5 mph and 5.5 mph on the treadmill.  There were a few good points about today:

  1. Sherene was there. That’s always a plus.
  2. My foot didn’t hurt one iota.
  3. It was easy and dissatisfying (which means I haven’t lost EVERYTHING I gained from my previous training).
  4. Samantha was still excited to go to the KidZone at the gym.

Next we’ll alternate 3min/2min, then 2min/3min and finally 1min/4min.  After that I’ll start increasing time, distance and speed.  I was also sure to start my ITB exercises again.  I don’t want to exchange the foot for a knee! 

 It’s also time to start my body metrics again. I’m a bit afraid as I didn’t really watch what I ate this holiday, and it was particularly stressful. My diet consisted of a lot of icecream and foil-wrapped holiday goodies.

I’ve been looking for a local 5k or 8k race to help me get back into the swing of things, but this is obviously the slow season for fun runs.

One of my goals for 2008 is to take Scout/Rasyn/Gorbag/Hochnarr to a schooling show. The first one is January 20th.  I’ll have to think about that one.  February might be a more realistic goal.

And yes, I’m still obsessing about his name…

I’m looking for ideas, if anyone has any.  His name when I bought him was Scout.  If I believe the previous owner (and he does look the part) he’s an Azteca horse (Andalusian x QH).  I’m kind of leaning toward Spanish names at the moment.  Any suggestions are welcome.

Scout

Workout: