Biathalon: Yes, the Gun saga continues.

It all began with that fateful fishing trip when Tyler asked me to get his pistol and shoot the halibut Josef was pulling up on the long-line skate. The idea that I might need to use a gun and not have any clue how to do it safely scared the heck out of me. Insert another friend who mentioned an Alaska Day Biathalon that I could do with a group of our friends: run three miles, every mile shoot a .22 rifle.... who could say no? So, we went out to the shooting range and I got a lesson in how to shoot a .22 rifle, a .243 rifle and a pistol. I wasn't too bad of a shot, either, hitting within the size of a walnut on the .22 at 50 yards, for example. I only yelped when I shot the pistol for the first time- because it has a shorter barrel and had bigger ammunition, the kick back was bigger than the rifles' kick back.

So, clearly I was ready for a Biathalon. Sunday morning after lunch, Andrew and I biked over to the Good Sportsman League, registered and got our numbers, proclaiming we were number 68 and 69 in a "summer biathalon." Considering that we had to peel of two layers, gloves and hats to get into our running gear, it didn't feel too summer-y to us! Later I realized that it was a summer biathalon because the distance component is running, as compared to the winter cross country skiing biathalon.

First we had to be safety trained, which meant they sent you into the shooting range (back behind us in the pic. note the boxes of ammunition on the display case...) with goggles and ear plugs, watched you pick up a gun, load it with ammunition, and shoot at the targets on their go ahead... They had us practice shooting the way we would in the race, first standing, and then shooting prone (on your tummy, legs in a v, elbows resting as securely as possible on the ground, rifle up to your face peering through the scope).

The run went pretty well. It was beautiful weather, no rain the entire run! Each mile was a loop out .6ish miles to "old Sitka" and back to the Good Sportsman League shooting range. (I shot a picture of the road we ran on from the perspective of Mosquito Cove, an ironically mosquitoless hiking train we walked the weekend before.) Everyone left spaced out in heats, so I had a lot of fun cheering on people as we passed eachother going in the opposite direction. I got a cramp type feeling in my stomach after about 5 steps, so I was so glad to have something to think about. I knew about half of the runners, so that kept me fairly occuppied the whole race. I also tried to imagine my old high school cross country and track coach's lanky frame biking along side me, calmly reminding me, "find your own pace, Eileen." Good advice, Coach Jantzen.

Enough about the running, I bet you are all curious about the shooting part...
I managed to hit 1 out of 5 each time, so 2 total. That meant 45 seconds off my time, (which was a little over 38 minutes: the time includes walking to the shooting range and then shooting and walking back to the road).

Note, I'm not quite sure I'm ready to go hunting yet-- even just the explosions at the shooting range left me a little shell shocked, let alone seeing a creature crumple before your eyes. We'll see how long I hold out. I bet curiosity will win out sooner or later. And Stephen is coming to visit me at the best time to go hunting for deer....