Monday, June 2, 2008

Key Penisula Trial

I was at a three day trial (May 24-26) at George and Sue MacDonalds. I arrived on Friday, the day before the trial. George and Sue let me stay at their house so I didn't have to drive to a hotel. I knew at the end of the day, my brain would hurt and driving would put me over the edge. Thanks Goodness there are kind people like Sue and George.

They kept an eagle eye on me and made sure that I was ok all the weekend. I just LOVE them. In fact, nine years ago, Sue and George took me under their wing and got me to take a lesson with Scott Glen and let me enter the trial and was super nice. They have been my trial parents ever since.

We went out to dinner at the local restaurant in Home and I got a T-bone steak which I manage to eat about a third of it. It was two weeks since the accident and I really hadn't eaten much so my stomach had shrunk but I wanted to eat red meat and was darn tired of pudding and rice that I had been eating. At dinner, I was having a hard time speaking in complete sentences and it was frustrating. A few years ago, George had a brain tumor removed and had some of the same symptoms that I had and he said it took a bit for him to talk normally etc. It sure was nice talking to them since they had experience with brain injuries and how long to expect for stuff to clear up and so forth. It made me feel much better.

Saturday, I ran Nan first...let's say, "running Nan while brain is slow and injured is not a good idea." My jaw still really hurt and I was able to only blow about 10 whistles then had to switch to voice. The run sucked. Tess was much better and she laid down the best run of her life...91 points. Needless to say, her daughter, Kate did even a better run with 106 out of 110 and Pete, her son got a 98. Tess was in 8th place. Lucy ran very well and got 3rd in PN...I have not run her in 8 months and was very happy with her.

We had a delicious potluck and great company....it was a small trial and everyone just had a blast. The MacDonald's are famous for their potlucks. It was good seeing everyone. Alistair MacLean was the judge and he is very nice.

Sunday, I woke to a killer migraine and told George that I was hurting so he let me run later when I got better. I took some meds and later about mid morning ran Nan and Tess. That was very kind of George to let me do that. I was hurting bad all day and had the killer migraine from Hell. I could hardly use my whistle and my "brain to mouth function was not working" ....words would be in my brain but they would get stuck or I would stutter them. Tess and Nan got 9th and 10th place but they ran well. I then helped scribe which helped me relax. After the trial we went to Mexican and finally my headache went away. I was so tempted to get a drink but have to wait for a few weeks.

Monday, I only ran Lucy and she was slow to cover on the fetch and the sheep drifted so we place mid pack. regardless, I was happy with Lucy as it has been a while since I ran her. I had a great time at the trial and really appreciated George and Sue taking care of me.

All in all, I had a blast and the dogs did well in spite of their handicapped handler!!

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