I enter the strangest competitions sometimes. But that’s my personal brand, trying all the sports I can. I have sport FOMO, clearly.

So here’s little more than a short, goofy photo reel of me at the Estes Park ScotFest athletics meet — aka, my first Highland Games competition.

It’s a fascinating sport: throw odd-shaped stuff as high or as far or as accurately as possible. It’s a big person sport, but not in a dismissive way. You have to be wildly athletic to throw heavy stuff with precise rhythm and timing, have impressive endurance for 27+ throws across an 8-hour day, and know how to dial in arousal/aggression for each implement…yet nothing replaces long levers and raw power.

On top of that, there’s a certain touch to every implement. Preparing for this Games reminded me how technical throwing really is. It takes thousands and thousands of throws to be ready to just turn the intensity up…I took maybe 100 practice throws on a hammer and stone coming into the Games. I took exactly 1 weight for distance throw, maybe 10 weight for height because I mistakenly believed we were not doing those events.

So I didn’t exactly impress with my performance. But I did successfully turn both novice cabers and toss the standard caber! I had never touched – and likely will never again touch – a caber, much less attempted to shoulder it, and far less attempted to turn it end-over-end.

Here’s the full ist of events:

• Weight over bar, 56lb ring weight (scored like high jump)
• Braemar stone put, 22lb standing throw
• Open stone put, 15lb rock with any technique
• Heavy hammer, 16lb standing
• Light hammer, 12lb standing
• Heavy weight for distance, 56lb ring weight (like a discus)
• Light weight for distance, 22lb? (I forget)
• Caber (flip a tree trunk end-over-end)
• Sheaf toss, 22lb (throw a bale of hay over a bar with a pitch fork)

The real point is that I appreciate throws in a new way. I see the odd way leg drive and arm blocking resemble tackling — and how severe the loading to your obliques can be. I see how lots of reps can create wild structural imbalance. I see a sport where the Olympic lifts would be considered specific preparation, rather than general power training or specialized strength sport training.

I understand the role – and the risks – of throwing overweight implements better when your sport has a light implement.

And, more than anything, I understand myself better.

That’s a rich reward for 1 day of competition.

With my spoils all counted, though, I’m going back to my dusty garage gym and the local track. I’m not a big enough person to try to be the best in a big person sport – and when I threw up to 20 feet less than my competitors in some events, all I could think was, “yeah, but can you hurdle fast or snatch deep?”

Suppose I know where my heart is!