Guns: My First GLOCK Sport Shooting Foundation Match

The GSSF is GLOCK's inhouse shooting sports organization, and if you own a GLOCK or are thinking of buying one, it's well worth joining.  Members get one coupon a year that allows purchase of almost any GLOCK pistol at discounted pricing (often saving a hundred bucks or so), and members can shoot at GSSF matches nationwide.  These matches are a fun way to test your skills with the "Drastic Plastic," with the chance to win some cool prizes (up to and including free GLOCK pistols).

I attended my first GSSF match recently, and all in all, it was a good experience, though there are some problems and issues which I'll discuss below.

Match Format

GSSF matches have the same three stages every time - "Five to GLOCK," "GLOCK 'M," and "Plate Rack." You get three runs through each stage, and the total of your times, along with penalties for misses, are added up for your score.  Competitors are separated into divisions based on whether they are amateur or professional, what kind of gun they have, etc.

The stages themselves involve zero movement, zero reloads, and zero tactics, so they are quite accessible for beginners, people with physical challenges, etc. Each stage is a pure test of accuracy and speed:

• Five to GLOCK - Two shots each on five paper targets, which are placed at increasing distances.
• GLOCK 'M - Two shots each on four paper targets, and a single shot on a steel target in the middle.
• Plate Rack - Shoot six steel plates; the plates must fall in order to clear the stage.

There will be an RO to keep things safe, time your runs, and score your targets. There's a big emphasis on range safety and safe gunhandling at these matches, which I appreciated.

The paper targets themselves are actually really good for defensive training - just cardboard sheets with thin, almost invisible scoring zones. Like in a real gunfight, you sometimes won't be able to see where you are hitting, and so must rely on your sights to tell you where the shots are going.

My (Lack of) Equipment

I shot two guns - my brand new G44 and my old G26 Gen 4 carry gun (reviews for both forthcoming - eventually). Aside from a set of Trijicon night sights on the G26, both guns were bone stock. Plenty of people were running pistols with red dots, compensators, and other stuff, but be careful - depending on the division, the rules can limit what mods are permissible on your gun.

One upside of the limited nature of the GSSF stages is that you don't have to bring much stuff to shoot - there's no need for holsters, mag pouches, or other paraphernalia. Heck, I only brought one magazine for each gun, which is okay if you can load mags fast.

Issues and Final Thoughts

Because of the low cost and low barrier to entry, most GSSF matches are crowded. Theoretically, you could shoot the three stages in 20 minutes; realistically, though, you will be at the range for many hours waiting to shoot. Bring a good book, a folding chair and umbrella, and be prepared to sit awhile.

While I had a good experience (and managed to win a couple guns), the stages themselves weren't terribly exciting, and I could see getting tired of them after awhile. That said, the GSSF must be doing its job, since other gunmakers like SIG have copied the format.

Miscellany: Mulliga Runs a Marathon, Part 4 - The Inspiration

While there are plenty of books written about how to run long distances, this post features memoirs about why people run long distances. The value of these personal stories wasn't immediately obvious to me when I first started training, but when the miles on the road get tedious, or when life or injury interrupts a training plan, the experiences of others can push you over the hump:

Looks Like We're Running: An Amateur's Companion to Becoming a Marathoner

Dustin Riedesel is a fellow who has been through a lot - leukemia, alcohol addiction, and marriage and kids.  One day he decides to take up running, and commits to entering the Disney Marathon with his wife.  Looks Like We're Running is the humorous, conversational, and sometimes heartfelt story of Riedesel's marathon training.

This book is one of the most relatable accounts of marathon training I've ever read. While Riedesel was a former minor college basketball player, he is otherwise a total amateur in pursuit of an amateur's goal - run a sub 4-hour marathon.  He takes it seriously, though, giving the story some real stakes and a nailbiting finish - you feel like you are with him through every grueling mile.

How to Lose a Marathon: A Starter's Guide to Finishing in 26.2 Chapters

Joel Cohen's marathon memoir, How to Lose a Marathon, is a lot more flippant than most.  Cohen is a longtime writer for The Simpsons, and he brings the irreverent tone of that series (and rudimentary line drawings reminiscent of the Tracey Ullman years of the show) to the book.

It's not all jokes though.  There are some real training tips and motivational nuggets here, and Cohen certainly respects the thousands of runners who put themselves through the marathon grind. The book ends in suitably climactic fashion: Cohen races the New York City Marathon, and yes, he does lose - but he did finish.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese author known for two things: surreal literary fiction and running.  What I Talk About When I Talk About Running compares the two pursuits, both solitary endeavors where sometimes there is no end in sight, and how one feeds into the other.  The title (a reference to Raymond Carver's story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love) hints at the philosophical, introspective nature of the book.

Murakami is by far the most accomplished runner in this blog post (his marathon PR is 3:27, a great time for an amateur, and he's run ultramarathons), but the book is pretty silent about the nuts and bolts of his training and nutrition, and there's definitely no braggadocio here. It's more about what running long distances feels like to him, delivered in an engrossing monologue.