Friday was a day to practice 3D. My next tournament, on January 4th, is a 3D shoot followed by three indoor matches, one of which is an indoor 3D competition. Practicing outside on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, during the winter, is undoubtedly nicer that shooting outside in Buffalo, NY. Still, 40 degrees and windy is cold to me.
When I am in Maryland, I am always checking the weather in North Carolina and Georgia. On this day, at our home in NC it was 14 degrees warmer and in Georgia it was 22 degrees warmer. I’ll bet someone is reading this thinking, 40 degrees, that’s not cold, what a wimp!
I know some folks think this because they’ve poked fun at me for not embracing the cold. I don’t relish the cold, but neither do the lower temperatures keep me inside. On the other hand during July and August when the mercury rises to 98 degree, the relative humidity is 95% and I am appreciating summer my winter loving friends are often melting or walled in near an air conditioner.
A few years back I raced in the Tokyo Marathon, in February, in freezing cold rain. The winner of the race said, “I was hoping for a personal best, by mile 18 I was hoping to get through it.”
More than once I’ve ended up running the marathon portion of an Ironman in 90 degrees or hotter. Cold temperatures hurt me more than does the heat. But, if you’re going to play outside, you must deal with the weather. Once a good friend of mine was with me in Savannah, GA in August. Walking outside and soaked with sweat he the turned to me and said, “This is Africa hot!” It felt great to me.
With a major 3D tournament on the horizon there was nothing to do but suck it up and be cold. My practice plan was to shoot each target twice (30 targets), once at the bow hunter stake (35 yard max) and once at the open class stake (50 yards max).
Fifteen yards doesn’t seem like a lot until you see the difference from the stakes. At the 35 yard maximum distance stakes I shot pretty good for 30 targets: 310. At the 50-yard max stake my score dropped to 268. (IBO scoring rules – center shot equals 11 points not 12).
This doesn’t worry me. Less than a year ago, my 35-yard shots were between 241 and 281 for the most part. I could shoot another year at the 35 max yardages but I won’t. Even though I began placing higher and scoring better in tournaments after August of 2014 my goal for 2015 means putting it on the line at the longer distance. I imagine this may lead to a few embarrassing moments, but I’ll do my best and not let that bother me.
I do look forward to the warmer weather even if that brings out the ticks and chiggers.