So the Highland Games season officially ended for me on Saturday. Overall I was happy with my results -afte.r an abysmal no height in Weight Above Bar (Came in at 9' and missed, should have come in 8') I went on to get three Personal Records: Braemar Stone (20'7"), Heavy Weight for Distance (18'4"), and Light Hammer (51' 5.5"). Out of seven total events, that is not too bad.
I ended the year by exceeding all nine event Personal Records that I started with in 2014 - in some cases, more than once. Just for fun I looked back at 2011: For example, in 2011 at my first games my Heavy Weight for Distance was 9'5", my Light Hammer was 41' 10", and my Weight Above Bar was 8' (I hit 10' this year). That reaches one of my goals for the year and makes me feel like - overall - I am making progress in this sport.
It also makes me feel surprisingly good about myself in the sense that I can legitimately claim the title of "Athlete". This is not something that I had anticipated happening at my age - at all, actually. But here I am, actually doing a sport and even making progress in it. I am realistic in the assessment that I will probably never be truly competitive in the sport, but since this has never been a barrier for me to do anything else, there is not reason that I should start no.
I have had a lot of side benefits as well: meeting a lot of really great people whom I now count as my friends, getting to go all over the State to compete (goal for next year is to try one game outside of this State), and overall improving my health: what's not to like about that?
What next? Off season, of course.
Which means training for next season starts today.
Sounds like fun events. Where do you usually go to find them in your neck of the woods?
ReplyDeleteGratz on the improvements too.
Thanks Preppy! Easiest way is go to Nasgaweb.com (North American Scottish Games Association). They have a listing of all the Games in the US and Canada (and in some cases, the world). I know, for example, that at least of the World Events (maybe Masters) is next year in St. Louis.
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