May the odds be ever in your favor

A month or two ago, my boyfriend's sister Tracy, invited me to join her and some friends for an archery lesson. Some of the regular attendees had dropped out last minute and they needed to fill the slots.  I was in the middle of a project that couldn't wait and as much as I desperately wanted to go, I had to pass.  I did tell her, however, to please let me know if she ever went again.  I always thought that archery would be a lot of fun, ever since my days in girls scouts when we got to try it at one of many activity stations at camp.  The Hunger Games only managed to fan the flames of my desire to learn archery.  I even looked into lessons at a nearby park at one point, but unfortunately they were only offered on Saturdays and I work.....sadness....

Imagine then, my insane level of excitement when a few weeks ago, she mentioned that were going again and asked if I would like to go. Um....YES!!! I anxiously counted down the days! Tuesday evening she picked me up and we headed down to Fullerton to meet the rest of the girls at the archery range.  I won't lie, I was tempted to braid my hair and throw on my leather jacket and boots....but I don't own a leather jacket....so I went in standard issue Janelle clothes instead. :(

Upon arrival of our group, the instructor sat us down for a short video that went over the basics of archery and taught us the safety rules for our shooting session.  Following the video, we were each given an arm guard (basically a thick piece of leather that is strapped to your forearm to protect it from the bowstring) and a leather finger guard. We were then fitted for our arrows and given a bow. (yes, who knew you needed to be fitted for arrows??) Then, we got to actually shoot!!

 

SO MUCH FUN!!! My first shot was actually in the center area of the target!

 

 

Not exactly a bulls eye or anything, but I was pretty impressed with myself. Of  course, I then totally jinxed myself (or as my boyfriend would say I started thinking too much LOL) and spent the next several rounds of shots shooting into the outer rings and off my target all together. HaHaHa. But check out this amazing shot!

 



Do you know how much skill it takes to put two arrows into the exact same spot?!? (yeah, yeah I'm aware they are completely off the target, but still....SKILL I tell ya!)

I was feeling kind of weird about halfway through our session as our instructor was going up and down the line giving everyone tips and adjusting their sights, but he never would say anything to me.  At first I thought "OK cool, apparently I know what I'm doing" swelling with pride at my apparent kindred spirit connection to Katniss Everdeen.  "Clearly, I was born to do this!" Then.....as we continued and I got more and more arrows missing my target altogether, and the instructor STILL would pass me by, my thoughts changed. I thought "Perhaps I am just so obviously terrible at this that he thinks its just a total waste of his time to even help me.....I am too far gone!"  However, I was still somehow having a blast, so I decided to carry on anyways.

In the past few years, shooting firearms at the range has been an activity that I thoroughly enjoy! There is something so much more primal and awesome feeling about shooting a bow and arrow. Don't get me wrong, it will never replace firearms shooting, but I REALLY enjoy shooting with a bow! When you let go of the bowstring and feel the power of the arrow flying towards your target (or in my case....directly outside of it) Its just frankly....awesome!

So, we gatherer our arrows for whats was to be our last round of shooting.  The instructor walked right behind me as I shot the first of my last three arrows.  I shot and again, I missed my target by a few inches.  I decided not to let the instructor off the hook so I turned to him and said "OK, what can I do to make this better?" He somewhat sheepishly looked at me and said "Well....I'm trying to figure out how to say this to you without sounding improper.....because you are a woman....well...." It was then that it came to me, that what I had suspected in the back of my head  was the problem, might indeed have been just that.....so I came to his rescue. "My boobs are too big?" I offered...LOL  The poor guy looked so relieved that he didn't have to say it out loud! "well...yeah.....they are getting in your way and you are pulling the string around them and its messing you up." He then proceeded to tell me a trick to fix the problem and changed my stance a bit and I tried again.

Clearly not yet used to my new stance, my next shot missed the target by quite a bit and went slamming into the wood post between the targets! The sound it made when it hit the post was pretty darn impressive though!  haha Tracy and I were quiet impressed with the sound. (Clearly accuracy took a back seat to "coolness") The instructor helped me adjust my sight and then I sent my very last arrow sailing through the air and it landed.....in the YELLOW!!! Yay!!

I felt quite good that I had at least bookended the session with some fairly good shots that certainly would have gotten my point across in a real battle. HaHa. Once I got my *cough cough* "obstacles quite literally out of my was (thank you Mom's side of the family for those genes) things seemed good.  I even ended up with a lovely "battle wound"!

My very last shot, the bowstring snapped just right and hit me just on the other side of the arm guard LOL go figure! I can't wait to go back again! I am seriously considering taking it up as a regular hobby. I had a total blast, despite the hick-ups and I am so glad I got to do it! Thanks again for the invite Tracy!

And May the odds be ever in your favor.