Ten Years Ago Today…

Ten years ago today, before the first plane hit the first tower, I was getting ready to put my shooting gear in the Racaza family mini-van to head to practice with JJ and his dad, Tito JoRacz (Tito is Filipino for Uncle and JoRacz is his Filipino nickname). Nationals was in a week or so and we were trying to get our last few practice sessions in beforehand.

We pulled in a gas station to fill up and saw this lady in a car beside us crying hysterically and kept repeating over and over “It’s so sad”. Unbeknownst to us, this was a few minutes after the first plane hit. We looked at each other and Tito Joe turned the car radio on to find what’s happening. I remember having a cell phone back then but texting was still new in the US and smart phones were still a few years away. We were able to piece together that the one of the World Trade Center towers got hit but nobody knew it was a terrorist attack. We were thinking how terrible of an accident it was as we got our gas and drove towards the NJ turnpike to head to the range.

The image from across the river will forever be branded in my mind. I could see the thick, black smoke from the first tower stretching for miles. I felt overwhelmed as we stared at the building in disbelief. We reached the range and practice went on as usual. We were able to get bits of information as the day went on that the second tower got hit and then there was a plane that hit the Pentagon. The drive back home was surreal. Where hours before, we saw the two towers still stood…Now, it was just a massive trail of smoke and the towers were no more.

I sat in horrified disbelief as I saw the images on the news. All the tunnels were closed as were the airports. I was starting to panic because I couldn’t reach my friends in New York City. Cellphones didn’t work. I desperately wanted to know if they were alright. At that moment, I just wanted to be back home in the Philippines holding my family and be grateful that everyone was fine. I was so thankful that the Racazas, who are like family, were alright. JJ’s mom and dad both had the day off that day and we were all just extremely relieved that everyone was home. I was lucky and very, very grateful to be among friends and family. The people who lost loved ones that day aren’t as fortunate.

That day will forever be branded in my memory as well as the overwhelming sadness I felt…and still feel when I go back to that day. I know everyone else feels the same way too.

Where were you ten years ago when it happened?

The Lost Double Tap of Atlantis

June 3-5, 2011

Trying to keep my balance! Thank you, Alvin, for this picture!

Robert Porter and gang at The Double Tap Ranch have done it again. The DTC (Double Tap Championship) this year was a great match with the theme, Atlantis. 12 stages designed with this theme in mind ranged from sea serpents half buried on the ground to “Atlantian Guards” (cut out of styrofoam) guarding the hallway and you plowing through them to shoot targets and so much more! At first glance, it seems like a hoser match with short-range, wide-open targets but as luck (well, MY luck) would have it, it turned out to be accuracy match for me.

I wasn’t supposed to win this match. The shooting gods were feeling very mischievous (more like REALLY MEAN) at this match. We shot our first 3 stages on Saturday morning and proceeded to chrono where my bullets failed to make Major. W…T…H…???!!!?? I couldn’t believe it. I was more or less 30fps off my usual reading. All I needed was 10fps more to pass. UGH. It made me feel a little bit relieved when I found out later that it wasn’t just me. My friends from California, Valerie Levanza and Roy Malunda (among others) were more or less 30fps off as well but they both made major. The match used an Oehler Chronograph. I had chronographed my ammunition a few weeks before and they made major comfortably. But then again, I was using a different brand chronograph.

That put a gigantic wrench in my game plan. I composed myself thinking my first 3 stages were competitive enough. I just had to focus just a tad more to make sure I get those A’s. You’re probably thinking, “But isn’t that what you MUST do in the first place?”. Well…yes and no. With high speed stages like what they had at the Double Tap, time is a big factor as well as accuracy. You can afford to drop some points shooting C’s but up to a certain extent. There is a mind-blowing, mathematical equation out there somewhere that I cannot explain that says, “As long as your are doing it at X time, you can afford to get X number of C’s or even a D.” But as we all know, the only thing you can control in your shooting is your hits. NOT your time.

I love shooting with friends!

Valerie, my friend and former teammate from back in our Philippine Team days, is a very strong shooter and competitor. Like I said, my first 3 stages (pre-chrono stages) were strong enough to be competitive so I had to just make sure I won’t miss or shoot D’s. Shooting minor REALLY hurts your points. A’s are still 5 points but everything else is 1 point less i.e. B’s and C’s are now 3 points instead of 4 and a D is 1 point instead of 2. I LOVE pseudo-hosing stages like what they had at the match and having me go minor is like telling me to not have fun and go to work by emphasizing more on the hits. Poop. I picked up 2 misses at our next two stages, bad hits on the next and another miss on the one after. Even bigger poop.

At that point, I KNEW it was over for me because Valerie shot a consistent match and she didn’t have a single penalty. On Saturday night, I computed that she had about a 47-50-point lead and I had to shoot all 4 stages the next day super fast and ALL ALPHAS. Yeah, right. BUT, like I stated earlier, the shooting gods apparently changed their mind the last minute because she had a horrific jam on the second to the last stage. I didn’t think much of it but little did I know that it was the game changer. And it was. The scores came out and alas, I was 0.9725 ahead of her. And I re-iterate…. Shooting Gods = MEAN. Oh and then I won a chronograph from the raffle…Shooting Gods = SICK sense of humor.

Last year, we shot this match in March…32°F but with windchill more like 12°F and snowing sideways. This year, temperatures hit over 100°F on both days. It was REALLY hot. But despite extreme temperatures, the dedicated staff at the match worked tirelessly to make it an incredible experience. From the MD who you could see all over the range on his 4-wheeler making sure everything was running smoothly to the range officers running people in the heat with smiles on their faces, it still doesn’t cease to amaze me what an awesome community we have in the shooting sport. A big thank you to Robert Porter and his super-awesome group of people who braved the heat because they love the sport. I will definitely shoot this match again next year and I can’t wait to see what the theme is going to be next!

Click here for the final results of the match.

And here’s the video that I compiled showing the colorful stages of the match. Enjoy!

Adventure in California (Food Blog)

And so my “eating clean” plan kinda went out of the window as I set foot in Burbank.

First stop the day after we shot Norco was Porto’s Bakery. I went there not once but TWICE in this trip. They have a location not far from the Burbank Airport if anyone is flying in through there for the Steel Challenge this year. On a side note, I am sad to say that I will NOT be attending the Steel Challenge this year (sad face for emphasis). I believe this is the last year it will be held at the Piru location. And I also believe that this year marks the 30th year anniversary of the sport! Steel was the first type of shooting competition that I shot back in the day. There is nothing like the pressure or the rush of shooting a stage five times (or four in the case of Outer Limits). Nerves are rattled, hands shake, knees quake! But I digress yet again. Back to food!

Porto’s is this amazing Cuban Bakery with the prettiest desserts that I have ever seen. Another plus side (at least for me) is that their coffee is always lava hot. They also make these amazing, mouth-watering Cuban sandwiches that packs a punch. My favorites from there (to name a few) are their mini fruit tart and the guava cheese roll. I so love Valerie for bringing me some every time we meet up in the west coast to shoot. I am glad we don’t have this in Texas because I know I won’t be able to stop myself from going there everyday!

As if that wasn’t enough, for dinner, we headed to another Cuban place called Versailles. We went to the Encino location. What prompted us to make that day Cuban day? Coincidence. Actually, more like we were inspired by Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. There was a restaurant featured that served oxtail and of course that started a conversation that went like:

Me: “Man, that looks good. I miss kare-kare (Filipino delicacy. Oxtail cooked in peanut sauce served with a side of shrimp paste).

Valerie: “I know this one place that serves really good oxtail…”

And so off we went. I, like many other people, appreciate good food. I, unlike many other people, am passionate about food. Ask my friends. Every time I go out of town to shoot, I will research the location of nearby hole in the wall restaurants before I research the course of fire. My 2007 Australasian Inter-Continental shooting competition in Thailand was motivated by food. I had discovered Thai cuisine, promptly fell in love with it and when I found out that there was a big shooting match in Thailand, I was booked for that trip before you could even utter Thom Kha!!

A visit to the L.A. area would not be complete without a visit to a chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Hop Li was the restaurant of choice. Dinner was a fun event with a bunch of my friends. Everything that was salt and peppered was ordered from squid to shrimp to pork chops and crabs. We had steamed and fried fish, shrimp and sizzling rice soup, ONE thing of steamed chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and a bunch of other stuff that I don’t know how we manage to eat.  There is nothing like a big round table surrounded by friends and delicious food set on a lazy susan to bring  a smile to my face. I was already trying to calculate how many extra workouts I was going to do when I go back to Texas!

And last but not the least, I just HAD to go to a Filipino place for my Filipino food fix. Toto’s was the perfect fix for that. Crispy Pata (deep fried pork thigh with just the right amount of fat and the PERFECT amount of delicious crispy skin!), Sinigang na Baboy (tamarind soup with pork), Crispy Dilis (Deep fried anchovy but not the cured type. I had to google “Dilis” for an English translation) and Daing na bangus (Fried milkfish). Mind you, I have not eaten authentic and delicious Filipino food in a while because: 1) It makes you eat TONS of rice (which I have banished from my diet) and 2) I have not found a good Filipino place in Houston that was up to my standards.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip. I can’t wait to go back!

 

Up next, The Double Tap match in Wichita Falls, TX!!!

Adventure in California

Ok, so maybe more like, food vacation in California with a side of shooting.

I flew into Burbank last Friday to work on some paperwork for Greece. I figured, why not throw in a little shooting a lot of food-ing??

Valerie Levanza was my hostess with the mostest. I shot the Norco Running Gun Match in Chino with her, CrossFit HQ Director of Training, Dave Castro and a bunch of really good friends. We figured that if we kept the squad small, we’d get done quick. That wasn’t happening. The Norco weekly match attracts at least one hundred shooters from neighboring areas every Saturday. Not surprising because Jojo Vidanes and crew always deliver a superb match and this Saturday was not an exception. There were 5 challenging long courses and one classifier set up this past week. Gorgeous, sunny California weather, Uncle Mike’s delicious Filipino-style pork barbecue and shooting with friends… that combination was pretty hard to beat!

On a side note, there was that one minor blip about the world ending on May 21st. I already had my In ‘N Out Burger the day before so I said bring it on. May 21st arrived…Nothing apocalyptic happened. Just an absurdly sunshine-y California day of shooting (I don’t even know what that means…)

The results of the match can also be found on the link above. Up next, where they took me to eat…

 

Because of CrossFit…

1. I can now pull myself up in case I ever get in a situation where I am hanging on to something for dear life. I won’t be that person in the movie that loses her grip and plunges to her death.

2. I can now load cases and cases of Montana Gold Bullets into my vehicle…provided that there are no men around to boss, er, nicely ask help from.

115# Clean and Jerk on July 2010

3. I can now lift my father from ground to overhead if he: a) says that I am fat;  and b) tells me to quit lifting heavy weights because I will get “ugly”, “big” muscles;

4. My glorious quads are getting the attention that they deserve;

5. I can almost back squat my boyfriend…

But seriously, though, this is the only workout that I’ve stuck with for more than 4 months and I have been doing it in the last two years! I am so thankful to have found Darin Deaton and his CrossFit Fort Worth back in 2009. I wish I could’ve started earlier but if I did, I would never have found this community that I have been in since they opened in 2009. I do have to say not all CF boxes (aka CrossFit gyms) are created equal. The very first box I enrolled in made me want to quit after two weeks. I just didn’t seem to see a method to their madness (borderline hero WODs everyday) and after almost throwing in the towel, I saw that Darin’s opened his 5 minutes away from my office! I went there the first day and the rest was history!

Since then, I’ve attended and attained a Level 1 Certification allowing me to teach. I am currently one of the interning coaches at his gym. I still have so many things to learn but I am learning each time I go teach.

CrossFit has become my other passion aside from shooting. I enjoy going to the box and working out with the other members. We’ve encouraged, supported and watched each other grow as an athlete and get stronger with every class that we attend. I liken the workouts to IPSC-style exercises. You either have a time limit or your workout is timed. Just like shooting! And I also like that I don’t have to spend hours and hours at the gym. Instead, the workouts range from 5 to sometimes 20 minutes. The longest I’ve ever done was 50 something minutes but that was just insanity!

But the reason I keep coming back for more aside from the community, is the fact that it has complemented my shooting. It has strengthened my back (which is my weakest part, second only to my then-upper body strength) and now I don’t have to worry about pulling my back (which I did TWICE back in 2008), I can do unassisted pull-ups both dead hang and kipping. And my PR (personal record) for shoulder press is 85#. Not bad for someone who could not even bench a 45# bar!

Affiliate boxes are EVERYWHERE. Check out one out near you and I guarantee it will change your life!

Special “Thank You”

I’d like to dedicate this post to two companies and an individual who were generous enough to give the US Women’s Team support for the upcoming world shoot. First off, MONTANA GOLD BULLETS, owners Norm and Jolene, THANKS SO MUCH for supplying us bullets to practice with and to shoot the World Shoot with.

My Honolua Bay in Burgundy/Maui Rose

And Rebecca T. Jones, teammate and current USPSA Women’s Open National Champion for facilitating Maui Jim to help make the Women’s team look stylish with their awesome sunglasses. I’ve worn Maui Jims for years and was so excited to have them help us. I drive a lot and there’s nothing like Maui Jim’s polarized lenses to help protect my eyes against extremely bright days! Their rose-colored lenses are my favorite when I shoot because it sharply contrasts the targets from the background.

THANK YOU again Montana Gold and Maui Jim!

What? Me? Ride Horses??

Quiet Time with TS2 Dad Eric Anderson

I had the pleasure of visiting Eric Anderson and his family in Webster, Florida a day after I shot the FL Open match in Frostproof. I’ve never ridden a horse before in my life so when Eric told me that he had a spot in his Xtreme Horsemanship clinic, I was all over it.

The class that I was in covered many things including but not limited to riding over obstacles and just forming that trust-bond thing with your horse. Of course I was the only one in the class without my own horse and the Anderson Family was nice enough to let me ride RimRock, Sharyl’s (Eric’s lovely wife) trusted steed (Did I even say that right??). The whole family compete in mounted shooting and Eric was telling me that before the day was done, he was going to have me shoot off a horse. Oh boy….

We started the day bright and early in the morning. They had me sitting on RimRock and about half an hour later, Kiera Fiveash, a wonderful lady who took all these amazing photos and a good friend of the Anderson family, lent me a helmet. I think she got the cue after I asked for the third time if the saddle came with a seatbelt.

Since bubble wrap wasn't available, I had to settle with a helmet instead.

It was an amazing learning experience. First thing we did was to ride around the perimeter of the property. There were lots of trees, tall brushes and it all made sense to me why you don’t see cowboys wearing shorts. My jeans protected my legs from sharp, thorny and pointy bushes along the way. I learned to dodge trees and I think I got better at it when one of Eric’s friends told a story about someone whose head got decapitated when that someone lost control of his horse. That someone was a really experienced rider too! I practiced ducking as well as matrix style lying back on the horse…just in case…

We went back into the middle of the property where they had various obstacles set up. Riding on something that has a mind of its own is a total alien experience for me. Now I know what spurs are for. My Saucony rubber soles didn’t do squat as I just sat on top of a non-moving horse more than once or twice, trying to “gently” kick him to go forward. Despite a few frustrating moments (I was a lot to blame because I wasn’t showing the horse who was boss so I got bossed around), it was such a cool experience walking over some obstacles, going up and down steps, going through a “tunnel” that they constructed and finally, at the end of the day, Eric had me ride the horse in a full run which did the following to me: 1) scream my face off in terror, 2) made my life flash before my eyes, 3) for real out of the body experience and 4) full panic. All of which I don’t experience often because I’m a self-proclaimed control freak. It was quickly decided that there was no way in hell that I was going to shoot off the horse while in a full run. No thanks. Eric was just expecting way too much from me. But I did get to shoot while on top of a horse…but it was SLOOOOOOWWW and I was fine with that and that is another story for another time <don’t really want to talk about it and I hope the video evidence spontaneously combusts somewhere>…

I am certified!!

At the end of the day, I actually sort of like horses now. They are fun to ride but a bond definitely needs to be formed between owner and animal to do amazing things like stand on its back or GO IN A FULL RUN! I was fortunate enough to ride on one that is trained very well. No, I will not be buying a horse anytime soon because I doubt that the HOA in my subdivision would approve. I got a certificate for my efforts and was actually not too sore after riding for 7+ hours!

I would really like to thank the Anderson Family for their incredible hospitality and friendship. I am honored to have been taught by them and I hope to ride again sometime!

Anderson Family

2011 Area 6 Championship

April 15-17, 2011

Thank you, Eva M. for the pic!

I go back to Frostproof, Florida at Frank Garcia’s Universal Shooting Academy range for the Area 6. My new and improved Bumblebee Razorcat (formerly a Phantera model) was going to make its debut and boy, did it not disappoint! The gun ran flawlessly, although my loads were a bit hot (178 PF due to my old loads plus my new longer barrel!), and I couldn’t be happier!

More of a mustard yellow than a DeWalt yellow...

Almost all of the top lady shooters showed up for this match. Looking at the list of shooters registered, I knew that it was going to be a great match and we all had to be on top of our game in order to win this. Unfortunately, I wasn’t squadded with Megan Francisco because she opted to shoot all day Saturday. Megan is my teammate both in the US Women’s Team and Team Limcat.

I was squadded with Kay Miculek, another teammate of mine in the US Women’s Team, Lena, her daughter who shot revolver, Lisa Munson, a former teammate of mine as well from the 2008 Women’s Team who shot Limited, Jessie Abbate and Kaci Cochran to round up the impressive names in our squad. Unfortunately, Kay got disqualified after her gun malfunctioned on the first stage. It was a pretty tight race between Jessie, Kaci and myself on the first day. I was focused on just accomplishing my goal of not having a miss on this match and after the first day, I was pretty successful. I managed to hang on to my goal on the second day as well and just finished consistently. I could say that I shot more conservatively than I usually did but I was borderline obsessed with not missing! It did pay off in the end because I finished in third place, 13-ish points behind Jessie who won ladies and 3 points behind Megan. I was pretty satisfied with that finish but I knew I still had to work on a lot of things in preparation for the World Shoot.

The match ran without a hitch. But then again, you would expect nothing less from Area 6 Director, Linda Chico. I’ve shot in several matches that she spearheads and it is always excellent! Many thanks to the hardworking organizers, staff and range officers who worked tirelessly to make this tournament a well-organized and enjoyable one!

Time to go back to the shooting range and practice!

Here’s a video of me shooting some of the stages of the match.

2011 Texas Open Championships

March 11-13, 2011

My brand new, obnoxiously red, inov-8 mudclaws were making their debut at the Texas Open Championship. I stumbled upon these shoes as I was looking up inov-8 for a potentially new pair of running shoes. inov-8 is a shoe company based in the UK specializing in all sorts of different running shoes. They are very popular in CrossFit and I already own a pair that I use for running. I love them because they are lightweight and have more padding on the forefoot rather than the heel As I was going through their different pairs of shoes, I saw this and immediately fell in love. I ordered them online (Zappos has free shipping both ways!!) and tried them and they were FANTASTIC. My feet didn’t hurt at the end of the day. It was so comfortable and just so grippy! Even when we shot a stage with a plywood ramp, it held on and I was able to shoot on the move and stop with no problem at all!

My new shoes!!

Again, I digress…Back to the match. I was feeling PUMPED! I had a promising practice session a weekend before the match where I found out that the C-More on my main gun was not functioning like it should. I could not group at 15 yards to save my life! Luckily, I had my back-up gun and shot it and eliminated the possibility that it was operator error. I switched out the C-More and was happy to see that I started grouping with the gun. I was sighted in! I had a gun that grouped and brand new shoes for Texas Open. It was SHOWTIME!

(Insert the sound of loud screeching tires here)

I threw a miss on our first stage. It hit the barrel prop beside the target. I saw it and I didn’t re-engage. Kay saw that I knew this and scolded me on why I didn’t shoot at it again. I knew I had a problem with wanting to go faster and that just reinforced it. And there went my goal of not having a miss at this match.

Rockin' my new shoes at the TX Open -Thanks Roy Steadman for the pic!

The next couple of stages went ok. I shot decently and by the time we shot the stage before our lunch break, my gun stove-piped twice. NOOOO!!!! I thought it may be just dirty so I figured I’d clean it right after lunch. But no, the shooting gods had a more dastardly plan for me.

I took the top end apart and started to clean it and when I put it back, it felt weird racking the slide. Lo and behold, I had a gigantic crack on the left side of my slide by the ejection port. NOOOOOOO!!!!!! Jerry Miculek told me in his wise Jerry-like way that if I continued to shoot it, it could potentially fall apart and hit my face. Um, no thanks. Unfortunately, I had sent my back-up gun to Johnny a few weeks ago to have him re-do the top end so I had no back-up. Kay was nice enough to lend me her gun so I could finish the match but unfortunately, with her barrel being so brand new, some of my range brass refused to eject thereby making me zero a stage. On the upside, at least my disastrous equipment failure happened when the match was 30 minutes away from my house instead of halfway across the country!

2011 Florida Open

February 18-20, 2011

I began my shooting season a tad earlier this year by shooting the Florida Open. I usually don’t start shooting ‘till March or April but this year is a World Shoot year so I figured I was going to try to get more matches in between now and October.

GAME FACE ON!!!!

I decided to shoot this match all in one day. Suffice to say, I will NEVER shoot this match all in one day ever again. The match was comprised of 10 fun-filled field courses. I had to re-shoot one thirty-something stage TWICE due to a couple of well-meaning but overzealous tapers who taped ahead of the RO scoring so it ended up being a one-day 12-stage match for me! My feet were screaming at me at the end of the day no thanks to the $30 kid’s-size cleats that I was wearing.

Frank Garcia and the gang at Universal Shooting Academy ALWAYS deliver a top-notch, world class match and this year, they did not disappoint. The courses were challenging and gave the shooters several options to execute each stage. I was squadded with my friends from California, Valerie Levanza et al., and the Miculek family from Louisiana, Kay, Jerry and Lena. This was Lena’s first major match shooting revolver and it sure was very impressive to watch this young lady shoot! 

My priorities were a bit skewed at this match. I wanted to shoot fast, I wanted to shoot accurate, I wanted to be awesome. With hardly any practice. Right…. It was more of a fantasy on my part, really. I was getting really frustrated because the harder I tied to hit A’s, the farther my shots were from it! My goal of not having a miss was not happening at this match as I collected 2 misses on one stage that had an option of shooting a 6-inch plate at about 30-35 yards. As that blue plate stared at me from the starting line, flashbacks of the billiard ball challenge from the first episode of Top Shot assaulted me. I glared back at the plate and swore I would hit it no matter what. Time to exorcise some Top Shot demons! The timer went off and I nailed the plate after three or four rounds. As I ran to the next shooting position, all I could think of was, ‘I beat the plate!!!’ as I hosed the wide-open targets in front of me. I ended up having 2 misses on wide open targets by the time I was done shooting that stage. I could feel that evil plate laughing at me as I signed my score sheet and hung my head in shame. The other miss that I had was on a prior stage on a hardcover. I technically hit the target but just not on the right spot. (Stage 1, DENIAL!!) 

I wasn’t expecting much after we finished shooting. I knew that there were a couple of really good female shooters shooting the next day so I didn’t even get my hopes up. Sure enough, I finished second to Kaci Cochran, fellow Limcat team member, who shot the match very well.

The Texas Open Championship was a few weeks away and I knew that I had to work on my accuracy and definitely rethink my priorities!

Many thanks to Stefan Wendland for the awesome pictures!