The 500 Arrow Challenge

Originally Coach Rob had set it as a 400 arrow challenge, but someone had shot 500 arrows on the dot last week. I didn't know about it in time to do it that Thursday but vowed to take a day to see how far I could get before either parts started falling off or before *other* things kicked in. I shot all of 520 arrows. I could've safely gone to 600 with good form judging from how my upper back, my limiting reagent, felt, but unfortunately I made the mistake of answering the phone and *someone* wanted to spend quality time with him (which unfortunately doesn't involve testing physical limits thanks to his torn meniscus and general lack of interest in high-intensity challenges) because I spent the weekend severely out of commission... so I got stopped prematurely... just to be nice.

My last un-interrupted endurance run had me running out of fuel somewhere around 300 arrows, which was sometime in April, shortly before my original nemesis at the gym left for his next adventures in medical school. I haven't really had too many opportunities to do these because it's hard to get to the range with a clean conscience on a weekday morning and weekends tend to involve a significant other who thinks 100 arrows is pretty significant and has trouble understanding why someone would voluntarily want to challenge themselves that aggressively. I had an attempted endurance run in August as well, which unfortunately got interrupted and I could tell that 350 arrows would be pushing my limits again. I think there's a lot to be said about my current nemesis at the gym, who has pushed me to my limits and beyond with what can be described as a mixture of CrossFit and Army training... mostly because I know I haven't been shooting as much as I like or should... and the only significant change to my training has been my new nemesis, who has inspired me big-time.

This was my final end, which isn't too shabby for 500+ arrows! As of now, I hold the record at Newberry for most arrows shot in a day, at least as of when Coach Rob posted the 400+ arrow challenge. I may have to defend that title soon though and I'll make sure that my phone is turned off the next time I do it!

Note to self: train the other half to NOT keep interrupting me while I'm actually trying to do something exciting... and train myself to just ditch the phone when I don't want to be interrupted!