I can die happy. At 1:30 I was on the strip in DEs and I was fit to be tied. My opponent was a girl I had beaten before, but not easily, and my mind was in a turmoil about being late for an appointment. Was I gonna throw the bout to get on with my day? No way. I just got down to business and beat her 15-2. Very satisfying, even though I had to scratch the next DE. Do you suppose some people need pressure like that to fence well?
A week's gone by since the last tournament, and the bruises are finally starting to fade, but the experience and satisfaction hasn't.
My husband grunts in disgust when he sees the dozen or so off target touches on my lunging leg, but he really wigged when he saw the bruise on the bicep. Strangely, I'm ok with it. I was marked by the guy who took first, an A fencer; I am just thankful the touch wasn't low enough to re-injure my supinators.
I kind of sucked in foil, but I faced a lot of fencers who were better than myself, and I made a respectable showing in epee, even though I had no business fencing that weapon. In fact several people fenced outside their comfort weapons and said they had fun!
Regretfully the fencing comeptitive season is closing for the summer, and I won't be going to Nationals. But I think I'll spend the summer practicing-- the lunge, the start slow, finish quick thing, maybe target practice...definitely some upper body strengthening.
06-22-2008 07:40 PM 