Boulderactive 2010

Yesterday I was so tired I went to my boss to re-sign a form that I thought i had lost. Turns out I had already submitted the form to the secretary on Thursday, but apparently I had totally wiped Thursday out of my mind. That's because it came after Wednesday and Tuesday, and before Friday, Sat, and Sunday which were the actual days of the competition. During Boulderactive 2010 the amount of dust, chalk and grime that my face was subjected to, together with the lack of water, resulted in eight (EIGHT) pimples on my face. I will call them Snow white, Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy. You do not want to know how one of them earned its "Snow White" name, to say nothing about Sneezy.

Again I did not take part, mostly because I am weak, but also because I wanted to help out more than previous times. As usual, many things to be inspired about, many things to be scared of. The high walls (5m) led to a lot of injuries (at least 19), with at least two ankle sprains and one knee ligament tear. So sad that one of the sprains and the knee injury came to our girls, right after they had qualified for the finals.

This year I was inspired by the little people, Doris and Jansen. Doris got THIRD for open women!!! Short and skinny (even by asian standards, which makes one really short and really skinny) does have its advantages. Not going to talk about how strong Doris is (there is a reason we call her Boris), but will talk about how after a disappointing qualifying round one can regroup, rethink, sleep, and do a very good job in the finals. Good job Dodo, I am so proud of you!!

Jansen (another short and skinny person) inspired me with his composure and control plus very smooth footwork during the last route of open men. Like everybody and I do mean the entire mall was watching him climb and cheering and hooting and all that. This would have sent me squirming for a mattress to hide under but he was cool as a cucumber and finished the route to a raging audience. No typewriter effect, no hesitation, no nothing. I can't become skinny (ha!) nor short, but on footwork, control, and composure I can work.

Because San and i didn't climb at all last week (except when we set the Boulderactive routes), we went climbing at CA last night. Met with Charlene and Daniel and had three and a half hours of non-stop, all-out bouldering until our fingers and various joints were sore. Hopefully the whole week will be like this because next week I will be at MIT - they do have a climbing gym but who knows when they are open?