An odd thing happened during tonight's dry fire exercise -- I... had a... reaction... to the imaginary enemy. I wouldn't call it a panic, but it was definitely... I guess I would call it an "arousal of concern".
So the shot timer went beep, and I did the same exercise I'd been doing all night -- One Chicago, pull the outer shirt up. Two Chicago, grasp the firearm. Three Chicago, draw to my chest. And four, start pushing the gun toward the target, which I am imagining is one of the guys from one of John's videos coming right at me with impending violence in his eyes.
As a side note, the line between Three Chicago and Four is a bit fuzzy because I actually start moving forward as soon as the... I dunno how to describe it. Gonna' steal a pilot term: Grip and sight picture? look right.
Except this time, I'm already at Three Chicago and I'm still fumbling around trying to get the gun out, and in my head the distance is closing and Violence Guy is closing rapidly and I am RUNNING OUT OF TIME.
And then I stepped back as I FINALLY felt the barrel clear the holster and somewhat hurriedly come up to chest and push out, desperately trying to focus on getting that stupid red dot ONTO THE STUPID TARGET ALEADY.
And in the resulting imaginary collapse of tactical space, I apparently also draw the pistol back to my body in a close retention defense posture, still moving that red dot to the target, and FINALLY saw red on target.
By the time I pull the trigger, I've taken three steps back, tucked the gun almost to a cheek weld, and was blindly feeling about behind me for obstacles with my rear foot before committing to that fourth step because I'M KIND OF IN TROUBLE HERE.
And I hear the scorekeeper report that I only got a 6 on that shot and my muscles start to relax, I flick the safety on and lower the gun to the usual pre-holster ready position, strong side elbow locked into my gut.
And that's when I realized what had happened -- I'd just role-played an imminent attack, replete with a mild adrenaline rush and possibly the consequent cortisol dump.
What the ever-loving what did I just do? It wasn't part of the script; I hadn't consciously gamed out what to do when I fumble the draw. I just sort of... reacted.
Does anyone else experience anything similar during dry fire drills?
P.S. My sense of slowness wasn't wrong; the shot timer reported 2.10 seconds DTFS on that round, when most of the night I'd been hitting 1.30-1.50. It feels like my internal klaxxon went off when my look-ahead engine started seeing events consistent with busting the 2.0 line. I can't quantify that sense, but that is what it feels like.