vincint qui patitur

The title of this blog translates from Latin as "he conquers who endures."

In my years of fighting at brazilian jiu jitsu tournaments I never took gold in a division. Silver or bronze often but never gold. I am particularly proud of my silver at blue belt in the Pan American championships but it still is not gold. Almost all of my medals from brazilian jiu jitsu sit in a dresser drawer now.

For a while there mountain bike racing was my thing. And in it sometimes I did win a race overall. Especially in the Super-D category. One year I was second overall in a series for my class and won outright another. Heck, I even received sponsorship offers and was looking to get into it at an even greater level. But once series dropped that racing style and another changed their race schedule to days I could not make.

I have a nail in the wall of my garage where all my bike racing medals hang. The plaque for ending a season in 2nd overall is my favorite and means the most to me.

High school tennis I was #1 junior varsity singles and played varsity doubles. Eh, not that impressive.

BMX bike racing I never made the main event.

Cross country and trail running I place well in my divisions, often in the top 10% of a class of hundreds, but I'm far from outright winning them.

Motorcycle racing never happened.

I've visited it with multiple sports psychologists for multiple sessions. I've read a few books on winning mental performance. I love drilling and exercising and training. My diet is never a true athletes diet though....

Anyways, you can see I've rarely been more than a single match, race or game winner. Never an overall "yep, I beat everyone" kind of winner.

Vincint Qui Patitur. Until yesterday. You can see for yourself here. Across all gun divisions and skill classes I was first overall yesterday against 24 shooters.

It's just a small local thing, but I work hard and train and give up time and lots of money to be good at this. It is my sole competitive outlet, one of my favorite hobbies and important to me.

First Place. Winner. Through so many different sports, so many years of training in them to finally have found something where I've supplemented any small amount of talent to persevere and come out on top.........

It means something and I'm still basking in the glow I feel at the accomplishment. I just need to be humble, confident and continue to work hard so that it will happen again.