Clean Run - November 2020 - 25

One Through Ten
By Laura Hartwick, illustrations by author

There used to be a stack of medallions in faux gold and
silver with red, yellow, and blue ribbons hanging on a
rabbit-head-shaped hook in our guest room; inconveniently
located near a light switch where the brush of my hand
frequently knocked them off the bunny ears into a loud,
jangly pile. The last time they fell down, I piled them into a
shoebox and kicked it under the bed, where all the mysterious old shoeboxes containing memories of meaning and
purpose go to die. What were those even for? There was a
lot of red ribbon. Was blue the good color? Mmmm. Blue.
Blue as in, my current favorite reading material started with
line, "This giant blueberry scone..."
Blue as the great, wide sea? Blue state? I'm feeling blue?
Or blue as in, blue. The old very best color on my old
color-coded agility trial calendar.
The colors used to be:
Blue font - A trial not to miss. Favorite judge, favorite site,
bright blue, bold font weekends were the best.
Red font - A national, a regional, in a state that is reasonably close to California and probably involves a roadtrip, a
motel stay, and some advance planning.
Pink font - An event with likely fun courses, maybe doesn't
even involve Qs, something that just sounds cool.
Black font - Undecided if I shall attend. Probably is a little
far, or hot, or cold, weird footing, not a favorite judge, not a
weekend worth taking off work in advance.
Brown font - It's over, and I attended, so I can count up
what trials I went to, and if I got a bye or some kind of
qualifier I need to remember for a future event.
November 20 | Clean Run

Green font - A fun match or special seminar I'm hosting at
the field where I train.
I kept careful track, opening the file and carefully changing
color coding as needed. I loved opening that thing, changing
a color, making a note, adding a Grand Prix bye, seeing a favorite judge's name, adding a new trial, browning an old one.
There's a new color now. Gray.
Gray font - Cancelled.
Gray, gray, gray, gray. Gray is the new black, for every agility season. Beginning in March 2020, the gray block started
to emerge. Enveloped all things pink, for spring. A massive,
moist cloud, it spread all over my calendar slowly at first,
then consumed it all, and now I don't even visit my calendar anymore-too much gray. Just thinking about that task
makes me weary. And hungry for scones.
Did I really drive across the state for a Blue event just to
run agility with the hope of a Q or an E? Did I really set my
alarm that early and jet out of bed for a Pink run where
nothing at all counted and I just wanted to do my best?
How did I fit all those Greens into my schedule? Colorcoded fonts are so last year. Maybe some of you are brave
enough to compete with germs in the air, my friends and I
are just training and waiting. We bring a bottle of wine to
class. We hang out on the grass in the shade. This month,
the color of agility competition is the color of a leftover
burrito sitting in the fridge. Training is always a blast, but
the thrill of competition and the agony of defeat is stale
and possibly growing a fringe of mold around the edges.
On the days I wear my instructor hat, we've tried out the
new video agility. Set a course, video the run, video the run
as many times as you need to get that Q, send it in to be
25

Clean Run - November 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - November 2020