Jim: Congrats on cracking 200 for the month! Wow! I'm still working on 100...
Kate: Wow! You are so speedy, girl! And thanks for the tip on the Flashflo. I've been looking at replacing my belt (the type with one big bottle at the small of your back) and hadn't seen the Camelbak bladder type belt. I would order one right now, but I'm still stuck on the idea of needing different bottles so I can carry Gatorade and water.... not sure why, yet.
Tracy: Glad you had a great vacation! Your Epcot Facebook updates were a bit cruel, though, don't you think?
Jen: I really do recommend the prong collar to help with controlling the big guys. Choke chains can do trachea damage (especially with the younger pups, who are still growing their neck muscles) if the dog continues to pull while wearing it, which is not good. The one thing with the prong collar is to be sure to use quick "snaps" with it, instead of continuous pressure, and give a command a second before the "snap". I use "Jack, slow down!", but anything you want to use is good. Very quickly, the dog should stop pulling with just the command and then you can start transitioning off the collar, just using the command. Some dogs just take a few days on the collar, others can take years to grow out of the "but I need to go everywhere NOW" stage, so don't get discouraged! Good luck with Luke! Dog training can be a challenge, but it's so rewarding to end up with the dog you want, eventually!
Carrie: How did your tri go? You rock, girl!
As for me, I finished week one of Goofy training today. 5 miles in 1:02 yesterday and 6.62 miles in 1:23 today. It's been uncomfortably warm here in Seattle (but nothing compared to you folks in most other parts of the country!) this week, so I'm quite a bit slower than usual. I thought I gave the dog heat stroke this morning, but it was nothing 20 minutes in a cool tub of water couldn't fix. I sort of felt like joining him, to be honest.

I've been using the heart rate alerts on my Garmin to make sure I'm not pushing too hard in the heat, and they've been good at keeping me on a slow but healthy pace. I never ever thought I'd ever say that I can't wait for summer to be over and the cool, rainy weather to hit again. There are also too many people on my paths who need to finish their summer vacations and go home; the pitfalls of living in a tourist area. I'm sure
Jeff knows nothing about that....
Hope all you Warriors are having a great weekend!