2pointober Glory!

I'm stupid pleased with myself this year, guys.

Last year I did ok; with a baseline of 47 seconds, my final time was 5:12 and I was really sweating it to get that out. I started the month off with a better general fitness but sucked hard at my riding goals by the end of the month and did not cover myself in glory at the finish line.

In my defense, according to all my Facebook memories it had started snowing by the third week in October last year, and this year I have a tomato plant trying real hard to bud out right now.

SO. This year, my baseline was worse, at 0:25. That stung. I thought I'd been doing ok with my overall riding fitness, but nope.

I attacked that goal with a vengeance. I committed to practicing every day, every ride. I practiced in my jump saddle. I practiced in my dressage saddle. I rode it in the walk and trot and canter, inside and outside, uphill and down, in all three rings at the farm.

In the last 10 days, I have had to really knuckle down to get my times in, because that early practice faded when I ran into several very long days at work and lost the will to do pretty much anything.

But this story has a happy ending!

Week 1: 0:25
Week 2: 3:32
Week 3: 5:35
Week 4: 8:12

Aaaaaand...

I am stupid pleased with my progress and really proud of sticking to it. I actually wrote most of this post before finding out that I won. I was just that happy to have improved so much. Getting Reserve Champion was the icing on the cake.

And now?

No-Stirrup November, my favorite! (Yes, really!)