S = Shooting

As I live in America and guns are, to a British person, strangely legal and as I've never even held one let alone shot one, it seemed a no brainer to do S = shooting.

Handily there's a shooting range in my neighbourhood just a few doors down from a lovely family friendly Farmers Market. Westside Rifle and Pistol Range www.westsidepistolrange.com is a good little place, you go down the stairs and immediately you can hear the shots, not in a muffled way more in a jump-out-of-your-skin-these really-aren't-toys-are-they sort of way. As I jumped back and let out a little girly squeal I was introduced to our instructor - a tiny man who looked like he'd seen the better part of 50 with tattoos covering his entire body including a big old snake going all the way up the back of his wrinkly neck. Apparently the NYPD were in that day training with their handguns. They encourage them to come in and train, our instructor tells us, because (in a hushed tone) many of them aren't that good with a gun. Hmm that's reassuring as I walk past police with guns at my subway stop most days of the week.

After many conversations with girlfriends I'd planned to stay away from a rifle as apparently it hurts. I'd always fancied myself as Jack Bauer's sidekick so a nifty little handgun sounded good to me. That all went out the window when we went for a quick 5 minute training sesh and learned that handguns are only for those with a licence so I was given a big old automatic rifle, no backing out now.

We learned how to load, reload, hold the gun etc and then we were off, loading our 50 rounds of ammo into our magazines and then with ear mufflers and plastic glasses (nothing sexy about the rifle range) we were free to shoot the place up. First try was a little scary but the kick-back wasn't too bad and my fear of being blasted off backwards and ending up with a very sore shoulder was put aside and after 3 hits I was loving it! So much so that I even got a little competitive with Si and on our last go I actually won! Read it and weep baby!

I left pumped with adrenaline and a wee bit proud of myself for going through with something that seemed, in my mind, much scarier than it actually was. I suppose it's like everything in life until you try it and I for one can't get enough of the trying.

S = Soooo much fun!

Next week: T = Tai Chi