Jiu-Jitsu, One Year Later

One year to the day (at the time of writing) I walked into Gracie Barra University for the very first time. And what a journey it's been since. I still remember that first day too. I was nervous and had no idea what to expect. I also couldn't find the place and had to call for directions (I drove by the building twice without realizing it). Donning an oversized rental gi and clueless about what to do I hit the mats for my first lesson. A Brazilian guy with a black belt, shaved head, and thick accent came out. Professor Caveirinha taught us a hip-throw, sit-up sweep, and kimura.

It was awesome to learn a submission. Something I'd seen in UFC and MMA fights. I was stoked. And the technique flowed smoothly. Just that one technique and I began to understand how movement and leverage could overcome size and strength. I was hooked. After training, Gamba pulled me into an office to talk. He asked if I could come back the next day for another class: absolutely!

That first day I went in nervous about the possibility of getting hurt, the closeness at which we'd train, not performing well, not knowing what to do, the type of people that would be there, the list goes on and on. I was immediately struck by how friendly and helpful everybody was. I didn't feel like I was being judged at all. It didn't take long at all to feel comfortable at GB. The training was physical and bruises came easily and often but I quickly learned that injuries are few. I can tap out at any time and my partner will stop whatever they're doing. Even if I'm not fully caught in a submission, if I know it's coming or just feel really uncomfortable I can tap and end the discomfort without enduring any pain. I can stay in control of what's going on to a pretty good degree. And the closeness thing, I got over it quickly...really no choice about that.

I've entered two competitions since joining. Didn't win a single match. All good though. My instructors supported me the whole way and focused more on gaining from the experience than winning or losing. Not sure if I'll enter another competition anytime soon. I'm finding that competition isn't as important to me as learning and understanding jiu-jitsu. I don't feel I need to compete to do that when there are plenty of skilled training partners at GB already.

Gracie Barra has done quite a bit for me in the past year. More than I can write here so I'll just glance over the highlights. First, and most obvious, I learned some jiu-jitsu. Triangle, armbar, kimura, and a few other submissions. I know how they work and every now and then I can catch somebody in one. I watch MMA and UFC fights on a different level than before. I can recognize submission set ups and understand ground game techniques and positioning, which is pretty cool.

One of the reasons I joined jiu-jitsu was for fitness. And let me say, it will get you fit. Only Bikram Yoga had me sweating more than jiu-jitsu and that's only because Bikram takes place in a room heated to 111 degrees. Rolling (the hip way to refer to jiu-jitsu) leaves me more drained from the workout though. Here's a more practical way to put it: I use a belt to keep my pants up, I tightened it to the 3^rd hole for a snug fit when I first began jiu-jitsu. After two weeks of rolling 3-4 times each week I had to tighten the belt to the 4^th hole. Within two months I trimmed down enough to use the 5^th hole on the belt. Yeah, rolling will up your fitness.

The people I've met at Gracie Barra are great and I made some new friends over the past year. Some of those outside of jiu-jitsu and martial arts often have a preconceived notion that if you're training jiu-jitsu or muay thai you must be training to be a fighter, and if you're a fighter you're of a certain, rough around the edges, personality type. Troubled youth, tattooed, surrounded by chaos. Ya know, that type of thing. Not the case at Gracie Barra. The people I train with are pretty laid back, pleasantly casual people doing their own thing. Most of the time you wouldn't even know they trained a martial art just looking at them.

The blend of personalities make for great training and diversity on the mats. I'm even starting to see how some personalities translate through their own jiu-jitsu style (that might make a good blog, more on it later).

What else has jiu-jitsu done for me? Reminders of humility, a dash of discipline, and a nice dose of stress relief. But by far the most important thing I've gotten out of it is a boost of confidence. I walk a little taller, can look people in the eye, I feel a little better about myself, I speak a little more clearly, and some of those butterflies that have made a home in my gut for so long have flown away. By nature I'm a quiet, timid, shy person. I got a thick shell as they would say. I've been working for years to break that shell, or at least thin it down, by trying to go outside of my comfort zones and force myself to work through difficult situations. Jiu-jitsu has done the most to crack that shell.

That boost of confidence has resonated through every aspect of my life. At work I've taken on new roles and volunteered for things that I would have avidly avoided a year ago like giving a presentation to an audience of over a hundred people. I'm more apt to initiate conversations with new people when in the past I would remain quiet unless spoken to. It's even affected my writing. I share my writing, my blogs, and I don't mind letting it be known that my ambition is to publish a novel, which I am currently working on.

I promote jiu-jitsu and the Gracie Barra University often. I always encourage those who are interested to give it a try. Most people are apprehensive about it because of the closeness and the thought of getting hurt. But I let them know it's safe, the instructors are very understanding, and the people who train there are friendly and helpful. I say is if you're even slightly interested in trying jiu-jitsu, come down to Gracie Barra and try out a class. Just try it. There's nothing to lose and so much to gain. It's worth a shot.

Xterra Trail Run

The day began at 5am. My phone alarm blared in my ear and I fumbled around with my TV remote thinking it was my phone. Took a couple minutes to figure things out. But something was off. It was still dark. I'm not used to waking up when the sun hasn't risen yet which meant there was something important going on today. I got out of bed, ate a light breakfast, drank some water, gathered my things, drank some more water, and headed out to Kualoa Ranch. Today was my first trail run.

Sunrise at Kualoa Ranch looking at Chinaman's Hat

I signed up for the 5k event at the Xterra Trail Run Series. A little background about the event: Xterra hosts a series of trail running events, mostly half-marathon distances, across the globe and the event held in Hawaii's Kualoa Ranch is the final Championship event. In addition to the half-marathon final, there's also 10k and 5k events. I did the 5k, which is just a little over 3 miles.

I got out to Kualoa as the sun rose. I parked and looked to meet up with some friends. The first thing I saw when I stepped out of my car was a solid pile of cow turd. Those things were all over the parking area, the staging area, even the course. Mind your step, don't want to slip in one of those things.

Before the races began there were some military guys skydiving onto the field. I think they were Rangers because one of their parachutes said “Rangers” on it. They jumped from 14,000 feet and all of them landed exactly on target. In fact, one of them did a loop with his parachute starting about 300 feet above us and swooped down perfectly, gliding about 15 feet above the ground to the landing spot. I didn't know you could do a loop with a parachute. It was pretty sweet.

Race time came. I wanted to push the run and see how good of a time I could get. I knew my conditioning would be okay for a 5k but I've only been running once a week for the past two months so I wasn't sure how well my legs would handle a difficult run. Not to mention I didn't train on any trails and not too many hills. Regardless, I was going to push myself on the run. I got to the front of the starting line with my buddy Waimea, who's a seasoned distance runner and triathlete. My strategy was to pace with him.

The start gun fired with an echoing bang and we took off. Waimea was right in front of me at the start but within five seconds he was a good 50 feet in front of me. I got swallowed in the crowd. Everybody near the front shot off fast. There went my plan to pace with Waimea. I had two choices: keep steady and pace myself, which risks being dropped from the front-runners, or push the pace and try to catch up to Waimea and the rest of the front-runners. I decided to push, that was the point after all.

I spent the first ¾ mile catching up to Waimea. It was brutal, in fact the entire first mile was brutal because it was pretty much all uphill – got me thinking I should have trained on a few hills. Those hills got my legs burning and feeling heavy. At one point I wondered if I'd be able to make it the whole way running, my legs felt so heavy. But quitting was not an option. The challenge was to push and I was not about to fail in the first mile. No way. I pumped my arms and kept moving. My lungs burned, my legs grew heavier but step-by-step I made it up the hills.

Waimea was struggling when I finally caught up to him. He shot out too quickly at the very beginning and his legs were shot. I wanted to pace with him but he told me to run ahead. Dude must have been hurting. I pushed on.

The first mile was done. Next came a long downhill. It was probably about a quarter mile of downhill over uneven ground littered with holes and cow patties. The safe thing do would be to take my time and choose my steps carefully. But I was too tired to slow down. It was way easier to let the legs go and have gravity do the work. I was leaping over holes and cow turds gaining more and more speed. It was the fastest part of the course.

Kualoa Valley

The rest of the race course didn't offer anymore challenging terrain (thank god). It was a steady trail with slight inclines and declines but nothing that could be called a hill. I settled into a steady stride, found a good pace, and went a little faster. Hey, pushing a run doesn't mean stay comfortable. I run just outside of my comfort zone. But I was able to take in the scenery. Kualoa Valley is beautiful. Lush mountains reached skyward with the sun's rays shining through a light layer of clouds. Sunny but not hot, scattered showers but no downpours. Good stuff!

Throughout the course there were a lot of turns and intersections. You have to keep a lookout for where the signs point in order to stay on the race course. A few volunteers hang out by the signs to make sure you go the right way. Thankfully there was somebody at the last turn because I didn't see the sign at all. The volunteer saw me going the wrong way and yelled for me to turn left. I quickly turned left, followed the path through some trees, hopped over some rocks and came out onto a grassy field. Just ahead of me was a lane of orange cones. I a bit further and saw the finish line about 150 yards away. I opened my stride and kicked for the finish. The crowd at the finish line was great. They cheered and clapped as I did my best to sprint across the finish line.

After the race my friends tailgated in the parking field. We had a grill for steak, chicken, and hot dogs plus several coolers of beer and Gatorade. There was also salsa, chips, salad, pumpkin crunch and I brought Ginger Ale spiked with whiskey along with a melon flavored whiskey cocktail. The tailgate was fun. Good food, good people, good times. A few of us even played a little soccer while being careful to avoid the cow patties.

My results for the 5k run: I finished in 25:46, an 8:35 per mile pace. I was 15^th overall out of 427 and 3^rd in my age group. Not too bad, I think.

I enjoyed the run. It felt good to push for time. And it was great having a group of friends there to support each other and hang out afterward. Up next is the Great Aloha Run. I'll be running that one for time too. I'll definitely have to run more than once a week to be ready. Training begins next week.

Back: Charlie, George, Norman, Ernest
Middle: Sheri, Jen (J-Badger), Greer (me), Jen
Front: Kalani, David (Waimea