So today, with the house to myself; I decided to do something I have not done in a long time. I went to the closet and got out the bow my father gave me when he upgraded his. It is a PSC Infinity SR-1000, which means basically nothing to me. I pulled out the arrows I had set up for it at a local shop grabbed the keys to the shed, and went out to get the target I bought when I was given the bow.

Remembering that I was told not to shoot at the same spot repeatedly (there are five different targets printed on the thing) as that would wear out one part of the target prematurely I planned to start with the center target, and go around the outer four in a clockwise fashion.

As I stood there at 15 yards from the target, aware of the memories of my father shooting in preparation for deer season; (he would shoot from 90 yards with a 90 pound draw) I felt his shadow looming over me.

I told myself the same thing I've said time and time again to my martial arts students. "You aren't competing with anyone else, you are only competing with yourself." "Practice all the steps to the best of your ability." "Aim toward improvement and don't worry about perfection." I let go of the comparisons and expectations I was imagining and raised the bow.

thiiip-whack

thiiip-whack

thiiip-whack

What do you know? All three shots hit the bag, randomly, but at least they hit the bag.

Looking at the arrangement of my three arrows I decided that I would keep aiming at the center target. I didn't want to lose any arrows; and besides aiming at the same target doesn't wear out one part of the bag, that would require hitting it.

After a few more tries at 15 yards I decided to swallow a little more ego and halve my distance to the target. thiiip-whack, thiiip-whack, thiiip-whack.

My plan worked, by allowing myself an easier goal, I was able to start making small adjustments without the frustration of arrows landing randomly around the target. The feedback I was getting from my groupings was now making sense. After some work I moved back out to 15 yards.

That's when I realized. . . somewhere around 15 yards from the target is where I dropped the keys to the shed. . . I wish I had mowed the lawn first. . . where are those keys. . .

Oh well, thiiip-whack much better shot within an inch of my target, thiiip-whack, thiiip-whack. Nice grouping, now I'm getting somewhere.

As the muscles that go into shooting a bow fatigued my aim deteriorated. Becoming more distracted by the missing keys, the sweat running into my eyes, the mosquitoes buzzing didn't help either. I decided to wrap up with one last round.

thiiip-

No whack? I guess if the arrow doesn't hit the target you don't get a whack. Why did the arrows have to be camouflage?

thiiip-whack-ziiip

What was that? It turned out the arrow head came off after the arrow penetrated the bag.

Come on Steven, focus. Check your stance. Raise the bow. Pull. Breathe. Hold. Squeeze don't pull. . .

thiiip-whack

Bullseye.

Now I have to go back out there and look for those keys.