But we got there in plenty of time. One (two if you count the honorary one) of my teammates drove in just as my family drove in, so we got to walk in together. My other teammate arrived a few minutes later, and we wandered around upstairs (campusing and hangboards to warm up) then bouldered on really easy problems. I saw some familiar faces in the bouldering area, so I got to say hi to some other people =)
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| That's a LOT of competitors. |
We started climbing at exactly 10:10. I started on an easy green-holds climb that was worth five hundred points. All good holds, mostly vertical, a little confusing when I had to get around the corner, but I didn't fall, despite the nerves that attacked me when I was climbing around the corner. =) I'm getting butterflies in my stomach just writing about it...
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| Ropes and rocks |
After that, I lined up for a 1000-pointer with white holds. The way you line up for something is you put your scorecard on the top of the pile. The cards are drawn from the bottom of the pile, and after the people whose scorecards are below yours have climbed, it's your turn. Yay! The wait wasn't too long for the 1000 (which, FYI, I finished). However, on the next climb (green holds, 1200 points), I was not so lucky. Near the top, there was this huge--and I mean HUGE--semi-positive sloper that apparently, I was supposed to stand on. I tried again, but I didn't even make it that far (I think I messed up the sequence), and my coach told me to just skip it and try something else.
I fell again on a mainly-slopers red climb, worth 1300 points, but the next route I lined up for was a 1100-pointer with white holds again. I watched the people in front of me struggle to reach the finishing hold, which worried me quite a bit, but when I got up there, it turned out all I had to do was mantle (push down) on another big sloper, and BAM, climb completed!
I think I took a break and tried to eat lunch after that. (Tried because 1, I wasn't exactly hungry, and 2, my stomach wasn't feeling great. Nothing to do with the quality of my delicious "macaroni"--it was just pasta--and cheese and pomegranate lemonade.)
I got in line for yet another green climb, this one worth 1400 points. As I climbed it, I realized that the holds were good (except for two boxy ones near the top), but it was still a difficult climb because it was technical and balance-y--look those terms up, I can't exactly explain them. Sorry =(
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| Me finishing the 1400! (Kathy is on the white climb) |
Sorry this post is so long--just a few more things. The first one: I tried a 1500 with orange holds that finished on an empty space. No holds or anything, you just had to get your hands in that space and keep them there. But you had good footholds, and it looked doable. I fell trying to get over the overhang--I should have smeared! Why didn't I smear?--so I lined up again. But the next person in line took SO LONG, and the belayer just didn't keep track of time. The climber must have been up there for ten minutes! (Two minutes longer than the limit.)
Two, I placed eighth with a score of 3500 (they add up the points from your top three climbs; mine were the 1000, the 1100, and the 1400). I got a teal "competitor" ribbon. (I guess if you judge by how I placed, my top-roping is not better than my bouldering.) Before yesterday, I'd had mixed feelings about the "everyone gets a prize" thing, but now I'm fine with it. But the really agonizing part? My coach said that if I had gotten another chance to climb that orange one--and if I'd finished it--I could have placed seventh! Auggggggggghhhhhhhh!
Three, Mommy, Daddy, my coach, Kathy, and I went to an ice cream place (ice cream after competing is a tradition), and met up with one of our teammates. Two, if you count the honorary one again.
Next comp is in a little over a month. Wish me luck!
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