I've done the Urban Axes: Baltimore New Year's Day marathon twice, now. Yesterday (actually, today. I'm writing this after getting home), and a year and a day ago (again, a year ago. I want honesty in axe-throwing journalism).
Now, I didn't do so well last year. I didn't win very much at all, I didn't have a very high average, and I kinda, well...by the end of it I was very over the whole thing. I wrote a blog post about it, I'm sure - how my little feeties hurt. How my thighs rubbed together enough to create a small survival fire. How much I hated that I was put in the Premier league rather than the standard league - that sort of thing.
But I'm happy and surprised to report that, in almost all cases, the 2025 NYD marathon was very different (I still have feeeeeelings about being placed in the Premier league, but honestly I guess it worked out alright).
NYD Marathon revelation: I really have gotten better. Honest.
Now, I'll show you everything (awww yiss, you dirty berd), but I quantifiably did so much better this time around than last year. And I felt like I was doing better, too. Sure, things kinda fell apart for me the last 2 weeks, but the first three were amazing. And the proof is in that sweet, sweet puddin':
It's important to note that the 2024 marathon was 7 weeks, not 5 weeks (like the 2025 marathon was). BUT it was pretty darned clear I had improved. I was reborn. Not a little badger cub scratching around for any loose tuber-points I could find. No, I am now a more grizzled, experience-wise badger that seeks out those delicious point-tatoes and gobbles em' up.
So what the hell changed?
Well, for one thing I've been using the same axes since...June-ish? I don't think I considered how much of an impact finding the right axe for me - and sticking with it - impacted my overall performance.
I also think I've become more aware of what works for me, what's repeatable in my successful throws, and working like hell to refine and lock in what works. A marathon league is a really great way to figure out what one has, in fact, "locked in," and what starts to fall apart when your body wants to stop doing the throwing. You know, when it's like "hey. Watching Love, Actually would be a much better way to spend our time right now. Get some ice cream. Stop moving around so much."
And in 2024 I made it a point to go places and throw with people I've never thrown with before. Not to show my skills, of course, but to learn and grow as a player. Tourneys are like mélange for axe throwers. And much like that fine Arrakis export, once you get hooked, you gotta keep doing it or, you know, you die. And dear reader, I'm hooked. The spice must flow.
Why am I making a big deal about this?
I'm not a very proud thrower. Like, I like doing it, and I do it okay. But nobody really looks at my throwing at any tourney/marathon and goes "that little, round fellow is a phenom!"
But.
This tourney - one that was a marathon and was Premier - I found myself becoming very proud. A rare and wonderful feeling for me, honestly.
I look at the people I won matches against and six of them have numbers behind their names in AxeScores. They are people I look up to and admire, and somehow I did well enough to get the W.
So it feels, I dunno. Empowering? Re-assuring? I went into that tourney with the goals of:
Not making an ass of myself
Not eating too much breakfast
Getting one surprise win/not finish in the bottom of the league
And I did all of that and then some. I undersold myself to myself.
Why do I think it's worth telling all y'all about.
Here's the lesson part of our story, dear reader. What I think is actually important to tell you:
It is very difficult to recognize when we, as throwers, have developed. Like, It's not hard to look at all those delicious stats in AxeScores and see the rise and fall of our averages and wins and Collins rankings and all that shit - but it is hard to actually experience the realization in real time and know you're experiencing it.
I got lucky. Otter Guy pointed it out to me. Rob A. from Baltimore made it a point to tell me (twice) that I was unrecognizable compared to my last NYD tourney.
Ultimately, I finished in 5th place. I kinda fell apart in the last two weeks. But I don't see finishing 5th in the company of such esteemed throwers as anything short of a huge success.
So I guess what I hope to have you (dear reader) come away with is this: whenever you throw, whether that's at a marathon or a tourney, or even just in your own, regular league night, take a second to step away from yourself and recognize how you're growing in your ability and skill. Really reflect on it.
Because I stumbled into doing that today, and it made this marathon one of the most meaningful axe-throwing experiences I've had.
[[cue inspirational music, kitten on a branch, etc. etc.]]
Comments