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AlphaCharis

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#idpa match

 

2/17/18    1st Place ESP  |  5th overall out of 54

 

Wasn't going to be able to shoot the USPSA match on Sunday, so headed 1 1/2 hours to Renton for an IDPA match.  I've only shot one match this last year and another one a few years ago, so not super familiar with the rule set... I guess no one is with the constant rule changes.  However - I do like the new changes.  They had three field courses and the new abbreviated 5x5 classifier, which I was happy about because I hadn't been classified, yet.  My times were decent for the classifier, but wish I had made sure to get all down zero.  Shot my XDm in ESP.

 

There was one target at 10 yards, five shots, except 10 shots on stage three (total 25):

Stage 1 (freestyle):  3.14 + D0= 3.14 seconds

Stage 2 (SHO):  3.81 + D1 = 4.81 seconds

Stage 3 (5 R 5):  7.62 + D2 = 9.62 seconds

Stage 4 (4body, 1 head) = 3.48 + D0 = 3.48 seconds

TOTAL TIME:  21.05

Time needed for Master:  20.00.  SOOOOO CLOSE. 

 

Oh well, next time.  At least I'll be classified now - Expert.

Edited by AlphaCharis
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Match looks so slow... 

 

#dryfire

 

2/21/18

Sunday night I could feel myself coming down with something.  Been in bed ever since then - might have developed bronchitis.  Was sitting up in my chaise tonight for unloaded "table" starts and reloads from the "table".   My 30 yard poppers are in front of me from where I'm sitting.  Kinda hard to grip well tonight, but figured something is better than nothing. 

Edited by AlphaCharis
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2/22/18

 

#dryfire    25 minutes

Still didn't have all my energy back from being sick all week, so did mostly stationary stuff.  4 aces, started with 3.5 sec x5 cause wasn't sure on what the time was supposed to be.  Dripped it to 3.0 for another x5, then to 2.7 sec, which was a lot better time.  Was a little sloppy at first, then started getting good sight pictures.  x35.  Then did 4 minutes of just reloads - pausing each time at the magwell to get me looking at the magwell, then continuing with reload.  Ended with a bit of 90 and 180 degree transitions, exits, shooting on the move. 

 

#fitness    20 minutes

Downloaded two few fitness apps that has daily exercises to do.  Did Day One on each of them, added a few for some of the ones that I had already been doing at more reps.  It's supposed to work up to more reps each day.  Starting slow is good so I don't have to be sore at all lol.  Rested about 23-30 seconds between each set.

squats x20, donkey kicks left x12 and right x12, Plie squats x20, side lying leg lift left x20 and right x20, butt bridge, x12, heel touch x12; trunk rotation x30 sec, mountain climber x30, crunches x20, swimmer and superman x16, butt bridge x12, flutter kicks x20 sec, plank 25 sec.  Wow my planks were rough, my whole body was shaking around 15 seconds lol  I used to do yoga before the accident and there are a lot of positions and planking that I can't hold like I used to.  Working back up to that again. 

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#match day!

 

2/24/18   Production 3rd Place  |  High Lady Overall

 

OREGON MATCH & NO SLEEP

Had a match in Oregon on Saturday!  Friday was busy, so didn't get in bed until 10:30 PM.  I had to be up at 2:30 AM, so it wasn't exactly early-to-bed.  Ended up laying in bed for three hours not being able to sleep.  Finally at 1:30, got up, ready, and left early to meet up at the carpool with three other friends.  Thought I'd get sleep on the way down.  Nope.  My brain was ready to shoot.  I was dreading the day because I knew I probably wouldn't shoot as well without a full night's (any) sleep.  Ended up being up for around 32 hours before my three hour nap on the way home.  I found I am not as young as I once was as it took two days to catch up on the lack of sleep.  Won't be doing that again.

 

FIRST STAGE JAM & RIDING THUMB ON SLIDE 

Had a jam on this stage.  Wasn't smooth at all.  Found out later in the day, I had been resting my support hand thumb on top of my take down lever - and the slide was sliding across my thumb.  I couldn't figure out why my thumb looked all tore up and was hurting.  Probably also why I had the jam. Went to the safety table after I figured it out and drew with it on the release and it felt odd.  I must've started placing it higher in dryfire without realizing it - now I will have to fix that in dryfire. 

 

LONG PLATES - 30+ YARD PLATE RACKS

There was two REALLY tough stages at the match.  On the Long Plates stage, 35 of us made it through with no mikes.  Out of the 44 other shooters there were a combined total of 210 mikes!  That's a lot of plates left standing.  If your score was under 60 seconds, you were doing pretty good.  17 of the 79 scores made it under the minute mark with no mikes, I barely squeaked in there at 59.67 seconds.  It was a Production Stage Win, and I was 8th out of the iron sight shooters on this stage.  My second plate rack went a lot smoother, I fired two misses, then went one-for-one on the six plates.  When I shot the first rack, I was surprised on how good of a trigger press I needed, surprised how hard it was and spent 12 shots finishing the rack.  Not used to longer distances!  lol   

 

CLASSIFIER 99-65: Bang & Clang

I had alphas on paper, but a pickup shot on steel; would have been a Master class score without the extra shot.  (Soon!)  Total time was 3.28.  However.... my hit - almost smack dab in the center of the calibration zone - didn't knock the plate down (and I'm at 130-132 PF).  The popper was rocking, so I didn't shoot it, then it rested forward and stayed.  Lost the challenge, of course.  I re-shot the classifier at the end of the match, my second time was 3.1 sec with two charlies and my third, and final time, I messed up a bit, and was 3.30; I felt it was about average of what I shoot, so paid my $3 and submitted that one; it'll be 78.4% and will raise my percentage 1%.  I was happy with how consistent I was shooting this the three times.  They were all fairly close to one another.

 

CAN'T WAIT TO GET BACK TO DRYFIRE

This was not my best match.  I did beat one of the three Masters in Production, and ended up 3rd place.  I'm just excited to get back to my training schedule this week.  I was in bed basically all day Sunday and Monday as well, my long Saturday set me back a few days recuperation time.  I think I'm well enough now.... I can't wait to get back on my dryfire schedule! 

 

 

 

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On 12/21/2017 at 9:06 PM, MemphisMechanic said:

Congratulations!

 

B is rough. It took me a long time to get out of B too. I feel your pain! The main advantage once you DO get up into A?

 

GM classifiers count, when you get things right.

 

The C-class ones that come from messing up just a little, that currently slaughter your percentage? They’re too low to matter.

 

 

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On 12/29/2017 at 11:51 AM, AlphaCharis said:

Thanks!  And yes! that's one of the reasons I just want to be A class right now, even though I'm barely ready for it.  I'm so sick of messing up badly, but still having it be a 58%!  I try and ignore my class and just tell myself to wait and it'll come when I'm ready... but then I see that B by my name and my percentage edging within 1-3% and I don't wanna be a scrub anymore (at least not a B class one).  

 

Just saw that you made it out of B a bit back!

 

Congratulations. I know exactly how good that feels - and as quoted above, you and I were just discussing it.

 

To be competitive in A at matches, focus on your movement. Entries, exits, and reloads. As and above look like they’re sprinting, B and below shuffle from place to place. 

 

You’ve also really gotta figure out how to not hold a conversation with the targets, like @CHA-LEE said a while back. If there’s anything flowing through your mind at all it is going to hold you back.

 

To push toward M classifiers your gunhandling needs to speed up - pretty much in line with GM-level draws and mag changes.

 

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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5 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

 

Just saw that you made it out of B a bit back!

 

Congratulations. I know exactly how good that feels - and as quoted above, you and I were just discussing it.

 

To be competitive in A at matches, focus on your movement. Entries, exits, and reloads. As and above look like they’re sprinting, B and below shuffle from place to place. 

 

You’ve also really gotta figure out how to not hold a conversation with the targets, like @CHA-LEE said a while back. If there’s anything flowing through your mind at all it is going to hold you back.

 

To push toward M classifiers your gunhandling needs to speed up - pretty much in line with GM-level draws and mag changes.

 

Thanks!  Yes!  It feels good to be in A class!  I was kinda depressed about it for bit, though, because I still felt like such a B class scrub.  I'm embracing it now and excited to work myself up to the top of the class.  And..... as you mentioned earlier--I'm loving that everything below 70% drops off!

 

Yes!  Need to sprint through the stage.  I'm still doing the B class shuffle.  At least it's not as bad as I used to be; I'm moving a little faster and starting to take targets on the move.  In dryfire, I'll continue to focus on exits, shooting while entering a position, and hitting lots of reloads.  Those things need so much improvement.  Reloads are feeling better, but still not consistent enough for them to go smoothly for most of the match.  More practice!  One thing that is slightly frustrating for me is that I have a really hard time fitting in ANY livefire practice.  The only time I shoot is during a match.  So sometimes after heavy dryfire, it takes my next match to remember how it feels to shoot and even some things back out.  More of a problem in the winter, I think, with shooting fewer matches.  I'm trying to pay attention in dryfire more with gripping and handling my gun exactly as I do in shooting.  

 

Yeah..... I talk a lot....  But! the more adequately prepared I am for a stage with walk-through and visualization, the less the mistakes end up distracting me - and that is happening more often.  There are still a lot of times, like Cha-Lee said, that I am judging my shooting while shooting.  I keep worrying about things that I don't need to be thinking about--such as my my time or how slow I feel I am being.  I need to cut that out.  More mental game focus this year.  Need to be prepared enough that my subconscious takes over.  I think if I focus on preparing for my stage, my reactions and thinking and worrying--all that stuff that pulls me into consciousness---will naturally be less and less.  I'm hoping :P   

 

Thanks for your comments!  I'll be working on my movement and gun handling speed - I'm looking forward to pushing toward the Master class level :)      

 

 

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2 minutes ago, AlphaCharis said:

 More mental game focus this year.  Need to be prepared enough that my subconscious takes over.  I think if I focus on preparing for my stage, my reactions and thinking and worrying--all that stuff that pulls me into consciousness---will naturally be less and less. 

 

I think this will be as helpful for you as anything else. Definitely a good mindset.

 

Good shooters make a mistake (dropped magazine, see a hole in the noshoot after they’ve committed to leaving, etc) and put it out of their mind. They just shoot the rest of the stage as perfectly as they can.

 

I’ve noticed that usually people who talk to themselves or curse are the ones who make the mistake of pushing harder to “make up for lost time” - and that’s when they begin hemmoraging points.

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2/27/18

 

#dryfire    25 minutes          

An abbreviated practice tonight.  Concentrated on thumb placement of support hand, making sure it's not above my take-down lever.  90 degree transitions x20 @ 1.7 sec, Bill Drill x20 @ 1.6 sec.  Draws; reloads, one step reload, exits.  Had to constantly remind myself to put my thumb in the right spot, not unconscious, yet.  Support hand is canted forward slightly more with my thumb in the correct spot.   

 

#fitness  20 minutes    Did the next exercises in my little app.  30 second rests in between sets.  lunges x24, butt bridge x12, mountain climbers x12, flutter kicks x20 sec, squats x14, adductor stretch x12, trunk rotation x30 sec, reverse crunches x14, bent leg twist x16, bicycle crunches x16, Russian twist x16, crunches x20, plank 25 seconds.  Still not feeling 100% from being sick, congested and coughing a bunch.  Four kids in school bring home all the cold bugs in the county! 

 

 

2/28/108 

 

#dryfire    30 minutes

Reloads and more reloads.  Indexing on leans and multiple angles, 90 degree transitions, long plates.  Still having to pay attention to thumb position on support hand.  Feeling like I need to spend a lot more time dryfiring, or spending longer on each drill.  Haven't really set dryfire goals and haven't been timing stuff enough to even see whether I've improved on speed.  Need to pull out my timer more often and push speed.

 

#fitness    20 minutes

Weights, lunges, reverse lunges and then trying to burst up from the position.  13 pushups - couldn't finish my second set of pushups so did 5 pushups and 30 second plank.  Practiced leaving position quickly and walking low.  Still tracking my calories.  Been eating 1,200-1,700 calories a day the past few weeks.  My goal is 1,200, but it adds up so fast when I'm not careful what I eat.  I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich the other day and it was like 600 calories :(  

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#match    1st Production, 10th Overall of 30

Don't know what I was doing at this match.  Whole thing was horrible.  Totally messed up every stage, except first stage was okay.  Somehow shot an entire array in the wrong order on stage 2 without realizing until half way through it.  Shot at a target not knowing if I forgot it, and was half expecting four hits on it after.  Messed up the position before that one because I meant to shoot one more target before leaving, but forgot about it and dropped my mag and then shot the target once because my brain wanted to stick to the plan.  Was going to start on that target I shot at once, somehow looked at it coming into the position and must have thought I shot it, and instead, shot the other one I hadn't shot ONCE when I entered, ONCE when I left.   I don't know what was wrong with me.  I did spend all day at Emerald City Comicon and got home late the night before, so maybe just wasn't fully rested from that and having been sick forever.  Haven't dry fired since last Wednesday and it feels like it's been FOREVER.  Ready to feel normal again.  I'm excited for the match this weekend!  Need more shooting.

 

 

 

Edited by AlphaCharis
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On 3/6/2018 at 10:50 PM, ddc said:

Shelton aside, way to go, you are an inspiration. One match does not define. It is the total body of work.

 

Awwww thanks :)  I'll put this one behind me and practice more ;)  I have the whole season ahead of me for some good matches and improvement, right?!  I'm excited for the sun to be out this weekend for the Paul Bunyan match!  Can't wait!

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#dryfire

 

3/6/18    25 minutes

  • Draw 0.6 seconds x20, focus on reacting on beep, support hand thumb placement - almost back to the habit of correct placement
  • 4 Aces 2.7 x5, then no timer for 5 minutes
  • Exiting to the right and left with/without reloading

 

3/7/18    25 minutes & 15 minutes

Did an earlier session while the kids were at AWANA and about fifteen more before bed.

  • 4 Aces 2.7 seconds x5, 2.6 x 10
  • Indexing on various targets at different angles.  Index is getting good for freestyle and strong hand, I can point at targets and it will be lined up.  Weak hand only, I'm still having to aim with my front sight.  Also on hard leans it's not always lined up, but is definitely better than it was a few months ago--in January it felt like I was shooting Open, hunting for the dot.
  • Draw, 0.6 seconds x 20, and draws off the timer with perfect grip and thumb placement.
  • 5 minutes - Burkett reloads--good grip on mag before pulling it from pouch, calling all shots, pausing at magwell, getting into better habit of looking where I need.
  • Reloads and leaving a position.  Felt tired and heavy during first session, later on in the night I felt lighter on my feet and exits seemed much faster.
  • Anderson's Drill #5, Can't you Count 5R5.
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  • 2 weeks later...

3/8/18    Dryfire     45 minutes

5 minutes draws and reloads; continued with lots of reloads, aiming at multiple targets.

6r6r6, 6.2 sec x5, 6.0 sec x 15, reloads with dummy rounds.

#6 Starts and Stops in Anderson's book, 5 minutes. 

Target array:  Steel 1, T1-T3 / R / T1-T3, Steel 2; 10 yards with dummy rounds

Another 8 minutes, but could tell I was getting tired.

I had whacked my hand REALLY hard on the corner of my TV stand right before I was going to practice.  Took about an hour to be able to grip and start dryfire, started hurting again toward end of practice. 

 

3/10/18    CPR Class

Spent this Saturday getting First Aid/CPR renewed. Not really related to practice, just reminding myself why I didn't dryfire lol  

 

3/11/18    Match at Paul Bunyan

I did get to shoot a match, but haven't finished my match video, yet, and haven't really analyzed it.  I was super bummed at my placement of 6th.  I totally bombed the Texas star stage.  Had I shot it well I would have won Production.  Also had a really funny time trying to shoot weak hand unsupported while PRONE.  I've never laughed (uncontrollably) on a stage, my sights were already all over the place and that made it so much worse.  At least it was a low hit factor, low point stage, and a lot of people didn't do great on it.  

 

Here it is with the freestyle portion of String 2 of this standards stage.

 

3/12/18    Dryfire    20 minutes

Did some focus on trigger pull and long distance shots.  Had a busy rest of the week leading up to my class on the weekend and am behind on dryfire!  Only 8 weeks until Area 1!

 

3/17 - 3/18/18    CRO class

This weekend I traveled with a friend to Bend, OR for the USPSA CRO class that was at the COSSA range.  I left sunny Washington for snow on Saturday!  We decided to set up stages the next day as the weather was supposed to be better, and finished all our book work on Saturday.  There was still snow on the ground the next day, but it was sunny and clear and warmed up around the time we got to shoot the stages.  We shot a three stage mini-match that we set up from submitted stages from the participants.  Had a lot of fun!  And...  there are 15 new CROs in USPSA now :)  

 

Edited by AlphaCharis
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#pewpewing

 

Went to a falling plate match on Wednesday night.  Wasn't calling my shots at all, horrible trigger press.   I really need to get to the range lol.

 

THIS WEEK:  positive thoughts!! good isolated trigger press, and making sure I'm not standing too straight in dryfire.

 

This run was so horrible in the beginning, I saw how far behind I was and went for it. My heart was pumping on this one! lol. Fun little match,  was final 3 in the open division with my prod gun. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

#pewpewing

 

4-15-18  USPSA @ Marysville - 2nd Production

Still not feeling very confident, but had a fun time.  Had several mental errors, and crappy reloads.... but finally feeling like I can shoot and aim a little better again.

 

 

4-17-18  USPSA at Mt. Rainier Shadow - 2nd Production

Tuesday nights are a little rough....

 

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4/26/18

 

#Berry's Steel Open

So, little behind on match videos.  I went to Berry's Steel Open for my third year in a row (love that match!) and shot two divisions this time.  I shot Production and also PCC for my first match :)  I shot a classifier match with the same borrowed PCC last summer, so the unload and show clear and all that stuff wasn't as bad as my first time.  Need some practice running with the rifle because it's not subconscious with what to do with it.  

 

They have three different types of stages pro-am (par time), time plus (field courses) and fixed steel (steel challenge) type courses.  For PCC, I was 60.18% overall with the combined stages of Max.  That broke down in each category to 52.85% (of Max) in Time Plus; 62.08% (of Brian) in Pro-Am; and 75.28% (of Max) in Steel Challenge.  I thought I did okay for not really having shot a real match with PCC.  And it ended up being a lot of fun. :)  Dryfiring the night before, I thought I wouldn't be able to finish the match because of my neck problems, but I think it ended up helping stretch it out more.

 

#dryfire

So.... I kinda went about a month without dryfiring, the few weeks before and after Berry's was a bit busy.  Been dryfiring the past couple weeks, though.  I think just three times last week and four times out of the last five days.  Basics and trigger pull.  

 

#pewpewing

My last match I finally felt like I was able to aim again.  Before is felt like "uncontrollable" alpha/charlies - not calling that second shot, and totally what Steve Anderson talks about when he says:  "rush/try/hurry/fail."  Also yanking my trigger like crazy and/or too much pressure with my strong hand or something because I was shooting right of center.  I just need some more livefire to keep my dryfire honest.  

 

#Master Class soon?

Totally not competitive in A class, yet, but.... two more classifiers around 88% and I'll move up to Master.  I'm at 79.3209.  Kinda want to just get it out of the way and move up, even if it's just Paper M.  We'll see.  Finally starting to shoot more matches, so feeling more confident, again!

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5/1/18

 

So glad I'm shooting more now, I think I can keep my dryfire in line better.  I was super frustrated the first part of the year.  I've dryfired every day the past week except for my two match days.  I'm feeling more hopeful now, but I'm also going to dryfire despite how I feel.  I loved one of Steve Anderson's podcast last month where he basically is saying it doesn't matter how you feel - get to work.  Make a goal, make a plan to achieve it, stick to it. 

 

I shot 95% of points on Sunday, but my splits seemed really slow.  I did get 4/7 stage wins, and one of them was the PRONE stage.  I was surprised about that.  There were 14 in Production on Sunday and I won by less than a TENTH of a match point.  So close!  Too close!  Still kinda feel like I'm high B class, but starting to feel like I'm shooting closer to A class now.  

 

 

Fun squaddies as always..... I think I had that on me for about 7 minutes and didn't know it.  Shot an entire stage and it didn't fall off!  haha  Found the pics on my phone later.

 

ALMOST Master Class!

3.25% away.  If I don't nail my classifier tonight, I'll probably fluctuate between 79-82% for awhile, because I have a hundo dropping off.  But I've been shooting better classifiers, making less errors.  It'll get there! :)  MOAR PRACTICE!!

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On 5/1/2018 at 5:53 PM, ngodwetrust21 said:

Had fun reading through this. Glad all this hard work is paying off. Your shooting is really looking good.

Thanks!!  It's been a  fun ride. :)   Going to keep working at it, I need way more consistency.

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5/1/18

 

#heroORzero

 

So.... zeroed my first classifier on Tuesday (It's Not Brain Surgery 09-07).  My time was really good, though hahaha ;)  I thought the ones on the black were touching the perf but they were a millimeter too far, ended up being okay classifier-wise because they needed to be alphas anyway.  I aimed... and then totally wasn't watching my sights when I fired the gun.  Sundays classifier wasn't even that great I didn't think, but I got 81.6002% on Mini Mart.  If my next two are 81% or better, I'll make Master.  I really need to stop worrying about it (obsessing?), though.... I'm barely A class field course so, no need to rush.

 

Mini Mart 99-21

12 A, 6.58 seconds, 9.1185 HF

I was 7th/74 people Overall and 1st in Production

 

I look like a toddler next to this table.

 

 

 

 

 

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5/5/18    HawkTech Arms 1911 Match @ Parma, ID

Went to the 2018 HawkTech Arms 1911 Match in Parma, Idaho.  Had A LOT of fun with my first big match with a 1911 (my first match with it was last week at IDPA).  Haven't quite gotten used to seating the mag on the reload, yet.  Had several mag drops.  Placed 27th of 70 shooters.  My first shot of the match with the .45 caught me off guard LOL... definitely not my 9 mm.  

 

5/6/18    USPSA @ Nampa, ID

Since we were in Idaho, we planned on going to the local USPSA match at Nampa the next day.  NickBlasta ended up geting Open division win (and HOA), another friend got 3rd Open and 6th overall, and I got the Production win and 11th overall out of 63.  It was a pretty good day of shooting and I had two stages that were pretty good - finally felt like I shot some stages closer to an A class shooter!  I am feeling much more confident and ready for Area 1.

 

This was our second stage of the day and felt really good about it except for a few minor messups and a few pickup shots.  I got the Production stage win by 15% and was 8th overall (74.38%).  30 A, 3 C, 25.30 seconds.

  

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5 hours ago, DukeEB said:

Yay!  Time for a big girl gun :) Glad you had fun out there.  Looked like a whole lot of running.

 

It was a lot of fun!  There was one stage in particular that was 150 yards uphill and it took me 96 seconds and I thought I was gonna die.  I haven't made the video for it, yet... but you can hear me say, "I'm going to die," twice in the video.  And afterward, "I'm going to pass out now."  I was trying to go faster than walking at the end and yet was sooooo slow, somehow managed to still aim and got the spinner over.  My pickups on the baby popper set me back quite a few seconds.  Definitely need to add some short sprints and some running to my dryfire haha I was 36th of 70 on the biathlon stage, so wasn't last at least.  For the match I placed 27th.

Edited by AlphaCharis
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