My New Toy

I'm not sure when I first started wanting a compound bow, but over the last year, I've found myself in the archery section of Bass Pro Shops more than a few times. I've talked Yvette into going to dinner at their attached restaurant on more than one occasion so that I could drop in over at the bow hunting section of the store.

I have never shot a bow, don't really have a great reason to own one other than the fact that they look really cool. But that hasn't stopped me from coming up with a list of excuses to get one. So a few weeks ago I picked up a new PSE Stinger Compound bow, along with a Jim Fletcher Release, a dozen carbon fiber arrows, and four straw bales to shoot into. 

Below is a video of me shooting it. The audio is horrible on this, sorry about that.

Here are my impressions of it after having owned it and shot it for a couple of weeks. First, it is way harder to pull a bow back then they make it look on TV. Mine is set to a draw weight of 60 pounds, so it does take some work to pull it back. Second, you can get pretty accurate, pretty quickly with a compound bow. I grew up shooting everything that I could get my hands on and got to do a lot of shooting in my time in the Marine Corps, so I have some of the fundamentals already in place, but I still expected it be a lot more difficult than it is to shoot tight groups. Modern compound bows have great sighting systems that make hitting what you are shooting at a breeze. Third, if the bowstring hits your lead arm, you will experience a whole new level of pain. Holy crap that hurts when that happens and it leaves an immediate and nasty looking bruise where it attempted to rip off your skin as it passes by. It first happened to me (yep, it's happened more than once) about a week after owning it and I still need to make a trip to the confessional at church in order to be forgiven for some of the words and thoughts that flew out of my mouth. Fourth, shooting with a triggered release is pretty cool while at the same time a trust building process. It all lies on the small teeth of the release and it doesn't seem like there is a whole lot there to hold it all together when you are pulling it back, but it works, and works well. Next, these things shoot fast and with a lot of power.  The feed store where I buy my straw was out of straw so I picked up one bale of hay thinking that it would be enough. Not even close. I'd say that close to 75% of the arrows that I shot went clean through that bale and I ended up destroying 3 arrows because of that fact. Straw bales are more dense so they stop the arrows, but I still have 2 rows behind it, just in case. My last impression is that compound bows are not only awesome looking but a lot of fun to shoot. I'll typically come home from work and shoot a couple dozen arrows to improve my accuracy, work on my drawing muscles, and just have some fun. Often times, my kids will join me and shoot the bow that they have. That is one of the "reasons" that I had used to justify my purchase- increased family time and bonding. It seems to have worked out.

Win the Day

I look for inspiration everywhere that I can. I've had people tell me that they don't need motivation or inspiration, that they are self motivated. I used to argue with them to try to convince them that there is no such thing, but I gave up trying to convince a "man against his will" a while back ( at least on this subject).
So last night I was watching TV late at night. I turned on Bow Hunting TV on my DVR to look for tips on an item that I have on my bucket list. There is a segment on bow hunting fitness. Last night's tip wasn't something particularly spectacular, in fact it was rather simplistic. But tied up in its simplicity was its power. Last night's fitness tip was on just being consistent and fighting to get in your workouts. They commented that even if it is a quick workout that is at less than 100% of your effort, it is better that you get one in on a regular basis ( whatever that means and is scheduled to mean for you). I whole-heartedly agree with them on this and have realized it to be an utter truth in my life. In fact I read a sentence, as part of a mission statement to myself daily, that says, "I am a master of discipline. Small things done regularly make a huge difference." By reading that mantra daily, I hope to convince myself that it is who I am- and it is certainly who I strive to become every day.
The commentator made a statement in the piece that I loved and have heard in my head  all day long. He said, "You need to do whatever you need to in order to WIN THE DAY". I think that too many times we try to win the life, instead of winning life by winning one day at a time, and in fact, actually just winning more days than we lose.
So, ask yourself, did you Win the Day today? as a father, as a spouse, as a business owner or employee? as an someone dedicated to a healthy lifestyle. I know that I can answer yes to some of these with certainty and some with less, but I know that tomorrow, I can wake up, look at the roles that I hold in my life and try to win the day in each one of them. Hopefully you can do the same. If you can, I tip my hat to you.

TNF Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc

Add this race to the bucket list:

>>>TNF Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc>>pre-race_dispatch from camp4 collective on Vimeo.