the only way is up
Jul. 6th, 2013 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonDespite my misgivings, I actually rocked at Nationals. As in, alarmingly so.
I think the drive out helped. I'd not been on a proper (over 4 hour) road trip in years, and though I hit the road as a bundle of tension I was coming back down to normal by the time I arrived in Columbus. I was tired and cramped from 6 hours in the car, but I'll take mental over bodily flexibility anytime.
I like Columbus, or at least the bit where we were staying: a historic/artsy part of town with boutiques and restaurants. VERY walkable, if very crowded, because a lot was going on last weekend: a street festival in the neighborhood and two other events at the convention center itself (a children's beauty pageant and a quilt festival).
Early dinner + early rise + magic(??) seemed to loosen my joints dramatically: at 5 am on a Saturday I was getting the palm of my hand around the sole of my foot(!) I've never been able to do that, not even as a kid, but I wasn't about to complain.
And when I got to the venue it all seemed to go strangely uphill. I'd been a teeth-grinding wreck for weeks, but my head was clear, and thanks to coffee (and a proper shot of proper espresso) I was awake. Warm up went smoothly, no egregious aches or pains.
It also helped that several of my teammates not fencing that day were there to cheer me on, joined later in the day by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shemhazai, E., and J. visiting from nearby. It happens so seldom that I have so much moral support on the strip, I forget how nice it can be to have a "cheering section"!
I had warned Shem that the first time she saw me fence it was going to be while I was getting slaughtered, but that's not what happened.
I won 3 out of 6 pool bouts. That may not sound like much, but I've never won more than 2 out of 6 at a national event, ever. Performance in pools affects seeding for the direct elimination round, so that one win more can make the difference between being matched with someone dramatically scary vs. someone only somewhat scary.
I won my somewhat scary first DE, after bringing it back from 7-11 down to 15-14 win in the second period (aside: never thought I'd be reciting sports scores, especially my own!). I could see what my opponent was doing, kept good distance and even got in a couple of good lunges (of which I am proud - it was painful hard work to get them as good as they are!)
I lost my second DE to someone tiny and fast with no tell I could discern, but frankly it was icing. Given my survival to a second direct elimination combined with 3 pool wins meant I finished in the top half rather than my usual last third - in a field of over 120 competitors this is not trivial.
After fencing Shem, E., J. and I got lunch and wandered through the many delightful little boutiques where one could find oddments such as mummified bats, antique furniture, cowboy boots and 1940s mink stoles (the latter of which I decided against - don't accessorize a suit before you have it) and every cooking knife you can think of, and absinthe spoons besides. Shem and I had much good conversation and catching up and chocolate.
Dinner was also fun with good conversation and keeping up with the vet men's foil team (my club got gold!). By 9 pm I was crashing very, very hard, and had an early night because I had to be driving back home the next morning.
I DID get to stay long enough Sunday morning to wish my clubmates going into the veteran women's foil events well before I hit the road. The drive back was uneventful, which was exactly what I needed to decompress.
All in all a good end to the season and several months of banging my head against the wall :)
I think the drive out helped. I'd not been on a proper (over 4 hour) road trip in years, and though I hit the road as a bundle of tension I was coming back down to normal by the time I arrived in Columbus. I was tired and cramped from 6 hours in the car, but I'll take mental over bodily flexibility anytime.
I like Columbus, or at least the bit where we were staying: a historic/artsy part of town with boutiques and restaurants. VERY walkable, if very crowded, because a lot was going on last weekend: a street festival in the neighborhood and two other events at the convention center itself (a children's beauty pageant and a quilt festival).
Early dinner + early rise + magic(??) seemed to loosen my joints dramatically: at 5 am on a Saturday I was getting the palm of my hand around the sole of my foot(!) I've never been able to do that, not even as a kid, but I wasn't about to complain.
And when I got to the venue it all seemed to go strangely uphill. I'd been a teeth-grinding wreck for weeks, but my head was clear, and thanks to coffee (and a proper shot of proper espresso) I was awake. Warm up went smoothly, no egregious aches or pains.
It also helped that several of my teammates not fencing that day were there to cheer me on, joined later in the day by
shemhazai, E., and J. visiting from nearby. It happens so seldom that I have so much moral support on the strip, I forget how nice it can be to have a "cheering section"! I had warned Shem that the first time she saw me fence it was going to be while I was getting slaughtered, but that's not what happened.
I won 3 out of 6 pool bouts. That may not sound like much, but I've never won more than 2 out of 6 at a national event, ever. Performance in pools affects seeding for the direct elimination round, so that one win more can make the difference between being matched with someone dramatically scary vs. someone only somewhat scary.
I won my somewhat scary first DE, after bringing it back from 7-11 down to 15-14 win in the second period (aside: never thought I'd be reciting sports scores, especially my own!). I could see what my opponent was doing, kept good distance and even got in a couple of good lunges (of which I am proud - it was painful hard work to get them as good as they are!)
I lost my second DE to someone tiny and fast with no tell I could discern, but frankly it was icing. Given my survival to a second direct elimination combined with 3 pool wins meant I finished in the top half rather than my usual last third - in a field of over 120 competitors this is not trivial.
After fencing Shem, E., J. and I got lunch and wandered through the many delightful little boutiques where one could find oddments such as mummified bats, antique furniture, cowboy boots and 1940s mink stoles (the latter of which I decided against - don't accessorize a suit before you have it) and every cooking knife you can think of, and absinthe spoons besides. Shem and I had much good conversation and catching up and chocolate.
Dinner was also fun with good conversation and keeping up with the vet men's foil team (my club got gold!). By 9 pm I was crashing very, very hard, and had an early night because I had to be driving back home the next morning.
I DID get to stay long enough Sunday morning to wish my clubmates going into the veteran women's foil events well before I hit the road. The drive back was uneventful, which was exactly what I needed to decompress.
All in all a good end to the season and several months of banging my head against the wall :)
