First Comp

The first time I ever ran the 400 meter dash in a competition was my sophomore year of track. Our best 400m runner gave me some really awesome advice. I listened, ran over the information in my head, and climbed into the blocks. As soon as the gun went off, I tore out of there like a bat out of hell. I cranked out in front of everyone. I was running the 200m. Soon, the sound of footsteps faded behind me and that last turn came up and I realized… I still had 200 very long meters to go. My legs began to lock up, my lungs began to burn and by the end of that race it was taking everything I had just to keep from face planting on the finish line.

This is pretty much the exact same thing that happened during my first indoor bouldering competition. If you missed me, talking about it here… I went up to Tacoma for Edgework’s annual Blacklight comp. It was 3 hours of pulling down the hardest routes you can for points. Kyle tried to coach me, giving great advice like “slow down, take it easy, keep a relaxed warm up.” But I was there when the kids competed. I had been staring at these beautiful and creative routes all day and all I could hear was “blah, blah, blah… GET IT!”

Kyle had to talk me down from trying to tackle a relatively easy problem that had a cool jump start. “Is that what you would normally do? Or would you warm up on easy problems and get to the harder stuff.” So, I tackled the easiest problem I found close by… and then immediately hopped on the jump start. And then tackled the next one. And the next one and by the end of the first hour I was pumped out, cramping, breathing heavy and oh yeah… toast.

I didn’t stop though. It would be another 30 minutes before Kyle convinced me to take a 30 minute break and try to recover before pushing through the rest of the comp. I came up with some really interesting beta to work around my quickly diminishing arm strength… finding dyno’s where they weren’t intended. Bear hugging and hyperextending my arms occasionally instead of using crimps I didn’t like. You know… the usual.

And probably the biggest thing I failed to realize was… I was projecting at or near my max for most of the day. Instead of pulling several problems that I could flash I began getting so hungry for the fun routes that I forgot I was supposed to be getting points. Not falling a lot and trying again before I had fully recovered.

The one thing I did, with no issue at all, was have an amazing time. That was my whole goal. Try something I haven’t done before and focus completely on just enjoying the atmosphere. The volunteer judges and spotters were awesome to talk to and quite entertaining. They seemed to really love being there helping out. And that really added to the atmosphere. Several friends asked me if I was nervous before going in, and I simply told them no. I was there to have fun. And the volunteers all helped make sure that happened.

The setting was amazing. I don’t know if I’m one who really takes the time to appreciate the aesthetic of the movement in climbing. It’s something I feel I’m only now beginning to grasp. But something about these routes, about the beta that was forced in a lot of places, just made for some really beautiful moves. And when they linked together it really just inspired me in a way this sport hadn’t before.

The time aspect, and only having five attempts at a route really made me pay attention to a route before I stepped onto it. I can’t see well in the dark (lol… awesome.) and so I was struggling a bit on figuring out what a hold would be like before I actually got to it. But I really felt myself relaxing. Even when I was on the wall, I didn’t feel panicked, or nervous because my beta wasn’t working how I wanted. I held on and pushed through. And I’m proud of that.

I saw some familiar faces from the Circuit, my home gym. And met some awesome new people. Johnny Goicoechea was there. He’s like a lion. I say that because of his hair. But there was a power and control there I haven’t ever seen in person. And when I talked to him, he was really chill and humble. Very laid back and ready to celebrate the competition with the fellow climbers.

And speaking of which, as soon as the comp ended, a couple of kegs were tapped and prizes were thrown out to the audience. Prizes were also given to the winners in a few of the categories and the energy was high all night. Even at the after, after party… where I got to actually talk with the volunteers and several of Kyle’s climbing friends from the gym. It was really was an awesome end to amazing night.

I guess the last thing I’ll leave you with tonight is a funny story about Kyle during prize throwing. He REALLY wanted some chalk. I’m not going to say what made him think he really needed this chalk, but he was going to be loud enough to make sure the throwers knew he was needy. When the chalk finally came his way, he swats it down and scrambles on the ground for it, creating a scene. A very loud and entertaining scene. As he stands up to show off his prize, he holds in the air with a look of “behold!” as a Petzl chalk bag hits his raised hand and sticks to it. The look of shock and excitement reached high pitch levels a man of Kyle’s size normally wouldn’t reach.

I won nothing. I got lots of stickers and a T-shirt. But that’s cool. I had an amazing time regardless. I didn’t need to win anything. And I learned a ton about the sport and how I can improve and change my strategy for next time. Which is December 3^rd at The Circuit. :) have a goodnight guys. I’m passing out.