It's going to be a big weekend.

[Alan H]

I wouldn't normally do this, but this upcoming weekend is kind of a big one for the crew down in the Athletics forum. Look, it's a kilt post because all of us will be wearing kilts while we do the following.

1. GGGP is going to be throwing at the Costa Mesa Games this Saturday. I know how she's been practicing. I even sent her a lightweight practice weight so she could work on quick footwork. I know that she's been working on her hammers. I also know that her practice group has been bounced around from practice field to practice field, and it's been tough to get in time with the team. So she's been working a lot on her own. I gave her a caber at Bakersfield a few weeks ago, and I know that she's been working on that, too.

Can we at X Marks show GGGP a little love and encouragement for this weekends adventures?

Tear it up, GGGP!!! Show us some PR-mageddon!

2. Yours Truly is going to the Masters World Championships in Greenville, SC. I fly into Charlotte on Thursday, drive down to Columbia for dinner with some friends and then up to Greenville on Friday. I will be cannon fodder for the Big Lads in my age class, but I hope to score some personal records. I'm not going to win, but I'm gonna be on the field, and to me that's a big deal. I will be meeting up with several lads from back East that I've communicated with for years about training and so on. It's a Big Freaking Deal to me to go to the Worlds. I am SO overdue for some personal records, especially in the 28 pound weight throw and the 16 pound hammer. Practice has been going well. I am as strong as I have ever been. It's in the tank....I just have to get my head out of my own way, and leave it all on the field.

So spare a thought, eh?

3. And finally, after many months of scheming, practicing and plotting .... Kineticat is going to throw in her very first Highland Games.

Big whoop, you all think...so she's going to throw at the Games. No...WAIT a minute. Just hold your horses, here. In the USA and Canada, seeing women on the Highland Games field is commonplace. That barrier fell a LONG time ago, and womens athletics is growing. In Scotland that is *Emphatically* not the case. Women don't do the Heavy Events....as Jock Scot would put it..."it's just not done, old son".

Humph. I have *thoughts* about THAT.

That is changing, though. It's changing very slowly. Incredibly, in terms of womens heavy athletics, Scotland is WAY behind the USA, even way behind places like Germany, France and Iceland. I think that the number of women in the UK who have actually thrown at a Highland Games numbers about a dozen, I'm sure it's less than 20 in the entire country. In comparison, in 2011, 261 women recorded scores on the North American database, and there were probably another 30-40 that threw in Games that didn't report scores in the USA and Canada.

There's a significant tradition that says that women "just don't do that" in Scotland.

Kineticat is really taking the proverbial bull by the horns, here. Not only that, but she's not some 20-something gym rat, either, who's lifted weights all of her short life. No, she just got this crazy idea that ....why CAN'T a 47-year old woman dare to try the Heavy Athletics?

I, for one, say....I sure can't think of a good reason why you can't. Why the H311, not? --> Go tear it up, Kineticat.

She's been practicing, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah....she's not going to outdo the men. She's not going to throw the mens 28 pound, 90 feet. She's not going to turn a big mens caber. She's not going to set a world record. But she's going to be OUT THERE... She's going to be on the "DO IT" side of the rope barrier, not the "watch it' side. She'll be out there on the field, putting her skills, strength and abilities out where everybody can see what she's got, opening up a long-held tradition and paving the way for women next year, and the year after that and the year after that to try....and...

.......and if you don't think that's just a little bit scary....

Her last blog entry is about fear. It's about how fear can sap you of resolve, and how to deal with it. I think we all know about fear, and its cousin, doubt.... the words in your head, or the words of others that say "you can't!" and what were you thinking? .. and Better to give up now before you embarrass yourself! ...Act your age!. I know that I've felt it. I'm sure you all have, too.

So let's gather together and drop a rock on the little yapping and obnoxious toy dogs of fear, and send our own Kineticat out into her very first Highland Games with a big cheer.

You go, girl!

..........and to all of the athletes this coming weekend...YOU KNOW THE RULEZ.

Pics, or it didn't happen! :LOL: