Competitive

This week I made it to fencing twice! It must have been a couple of years at least since the last time that happened. Typically, this is the last week of real training before Nationals and a summer break for most people. So now that I am on this roll, there aren't too many people to fence at the club.

In any case, I have been a lot more excited about fencing again after a few years of not caring much about it. I had never taken more than a few months off completely, but I also haven't felt like going more than once a week or more like once a month in forever. Lately I have also been thinking a lot about competing again. Just the other day, I was out for a run in the park and found my mind wondering freely. Usually, when this happens, I start thinking about where the running is taking me, about the training (for whatever I am training for at the moment) about races, and usually this takes me to an emotional place where I imagine being in a marathon and people cheering and crossing the finish line. The other day though, I started thinking about being at a fencing competition and imagined fencing a really tough bout, arguing, screaming, fighting. I never like to think about the end of the bout, there being a very real chance of losing.

On Tuesday, I didn't have such a good day, couldn't get myself to really focus and my footwork was totally off and the distance and everything. Then, yesterday, even though most people had already left for Nationals in Texas, I was determined to go and try again. I started by fencing a girl some years younger than me, but at least, she's already in college (as opposed to the average age of about 14 at the club) and decided to fence 15 touches. It's the length of a direct elimination bout at regular national/international tournaments (college fencing in the US only uses 5-touch bouts). Normally, you get 3x3 minutes, with 1 minute breaks between each 3 minutes. At practice, we usually fence straight through. We were joking around about taking a break after 8 touches (which is what happens in saber, which is a much faster bout and they never even reach 3 minutes, so they get to take a break at about half-way through). The whole time we went touch by touch, I was up by one, then she was up by one, up until she was up 14-12. At that point, my super competitive side kicked in. Adrenaline rushing, nerves tensing with every movement of the blade. It was awesome! I came back 14-14, and then won!

I miss that feeling; somehow it's different with running. There is this great sense of accomplishment, but at my level, there is no real competitiveness, and apparently, I miss that now. Time to upgrade my equipment, get a coach, some lessons, and start looking into competitions.

This is from the Beijing Olympics, Women's foil team, USA (Smart) vs. Hungary (Varga), USA won 35-33: one eye smiling and one eye crying - something we say in Hungarian.