Aya's Archery News

Since relocating to a new training range just a block away, my archery has seen major improvements! Training almost daily has allowed me to start rebuilding my form and confidence with 4 weeks to go before the German Target Championships. Though I am not often able to practice at 70 meters, I manage 45 and use a smaller target placed higher on the bail in order to simulate 70 meters. The most important thing is just being able to shoot again. Nearly two years have past since I was able to train full time. There is so little time left but I will do my best and hope I have improved enough to help my teammates to victory.

In 8 weeks time is the Berlin Marathon and I am well ahead of schedule preparing for the 42.195 km run. Last Saturday night I ran with my running club, LG Mauerweg, along the former trail of the Berlin Wall. We started at 22:30 and ran until 08:10 for a total of 68.0 km! It was my first ultra over the marathon distance! It was actually quite good until 61.0 km and then started real battle as I fought fatique on various levels. When I finished there was an amazing euphoria that washed over me that this tiny blog could never ever express. Just suffice to know that the human body is amazing!

Finally, after the disappointment of not being able to shoot in the 2010 German Championships despite qualifying, I am now eligible now that I have resided here over a year. I qualified in both Field and Target with Olympic recurve. However, I made a difficult decision and opted to only shoot at the Target Championships.

Living in Berlin, there is no opportunity for me to get the proper Field training as Berlin and Brandenburg are too flat... perhaps why I was the only one from this area to qualify. All the strong field shooters are in other parts of Germany. So, after qualifying with my team in Target, we will travel to Bayern the end of August. It is the first time in many years our club, the oldest in Berlin, has fielded a woman's team at the German Championships.

At the moment I am still struggling with a place to practice because my club is so far away but may have a solution after discovering "Visible Wall" around the block from me. They are an atelier that handles, among other things, full sections of the Berlin Wall.

With the help of famous Mauer Künstlers (Wall Artists) such as Thierry Noir, my favorite artist, the Berlin Wall segments are given a new life and sold to various institutions around the world. They have graciously offered to allow me to set a target up on their property and train daily.

Still trying to acquire an archery target & stand and hope I don't exhaust too much time.

Well, they say... "If you leave without a reason, don't come back with an excuse." So I have no excuse for not writing or updating my news because I simply forgot and had no reason not to write. OK, I didn't have internet for 5 months but my lack of updates are over a year ago. I do apologize for the folks that actually read my blog.

The last year-and-then-some has been rather tumultuous on various fronts. My archery was cut short last season due to restrictions about me residing in Germany for a full year before being permitted to shoot at the national level. Rather disgruntled by missing the deadline by six days, I decided to focus my energy on my cross-training: running. Berlin is a runner's paradise because of the green trail remaining around Western Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. I took to the trails and then on a whim signed up for the Berlin Marathon. You can read up on my running endeavors on my new "Aya on the Run! " page on my website. I will also try to post updates here as well.

As for archery, my indoor season was cut short after the death of a friend and now I am gearing up for the start of the outdoor season next month. I will switch back to recurve in preparation for the IFAA World Indoor in South Afrika in October.