Season start 2014

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

Mark Twain

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Season start! It's a exciting thought, word, beginning for me. I always spend time considering how the winter-break will affect my mental preparations for competitions.

- Will Leija follow my movements?
- Have I trained myself good enough?
- Do I have the strength, speed and endurance to follow through with everything I want to do?

I sincerely hope so. I've spent most of the winter training myself, making sure that it will not be my own personal shape that will stop us from accomplishing our goals this year.

Our first official competition of the year will be this weekend in Kristiansand, the Norwegian Kennel Club competition, with judge Helge Himle. Leija will run both agility and jump, but will not run for teams this competition.

I hope I can go out on the course with a open mind and make the choices that are good for Leija and myself. I've certainly had time to think about everything since our last competition.

One of the most important things that came from my season evaluation, was the fact that the closer to season-end we came, the more I reverted back to my old self and "pushed" defeat down Leija's throat! We ended the season on a negative only due to my own lack of will-power, and my main focus for the entire season of 2014 will be to always have fun.

I know that when Leija and me are having fun and enjoying ourselves, we excel in what we do. We manage to only focus on what we need. Or more importanly; I manage to not think "What if?"!!

So, I deeply hope that I can muster the courage to keep my mind on the positive side of what I spend most of my spare time on, and go back to the fast paced, cool runnings agility that Leija and me had in the 2013-season start.

Or as a good friend of mine told me after a "bad" run:

- "If you can't keep your mind focused on the dog and give her proper directions and have fun, then get the F*** off the course. Because you are ruining the fun for your dog!".

I look forward to managing that challenge and to see loads of good agilityfriends again. If I can't say it to you face-to-face, then:

And always remember:

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. - Mark Twain

Tommy, Leija & Niili