Weekend Gathering

I had the chance to go to a Martial Arts seminar in Campbell California this past weekend. I went with Professor Barber who has been my instructor since I was a kid. The seminar was very well organized and I learned a lot attending the individual sessions. We taught one on the sessions and had quite a crowd. We stayed with the guy who was hosting the event and got to help with setup and teardown. This was a very small price to pay for getting to meet some very wonderful people. The thing that struck me about this community was how everyone was willing to share. I went to a few sessions and was struggling because what we were practicing was totally different then what we practice. People were willing to help if you ask for and accept help. I learned lots of fine details by just asking and watching what others were doing. I tried to work out with as many different people as possible, and as such I meet and was able to share a bit of what we practice and also learn a bit from others. Sharing like this is a truly special thing. 

While in Campbell I got a chance to go for a run. I got to run along a portion of the Los Gatos Trail This was a wonderful trail. It was a few minutes from Hans' house. They dropped me off while they went to run some errands. I told them I wanted to run for an hour. I got about 5 mins into the run and it started to rain. I didn't care it was a light rain and it helped cool me off. I got in a 6 mile run. I ran past 3 spillways and the scenery was nice. There were mountains in the background the rain didn't bother me too much. I was surprised to see the number of people using the trail durning the week and on a rainy/misty day. I wore my garmin so I could track my run. I was wishing we had a system of trails like this in Jacksonville. This was right in the heart of town and I was told lots of these trails link up so you can get places or get in plenty of miles if your training. While I am happy to be home with the kids It was a nice trip.

Weekend training

Got lots of training in on this long weekend. Started Friday evening teaching Kodenkan Jiu-Jitsu. I taught the kids class and I had 12 kids which was a handful. It is fun being with the kids and some of the questions they ask. Usually they ask how old I am, if  I'm married. One of the kids wanted to know what my religion was. I have never been asked that. Apparently I gave him the right answer because he was satisfied. The adult class was smaller with only 3 people there. So that meant I got to work out with them. We grappled the last 20 minutes of class. This is always very physical, all out for 5 minutes each round.

Saturday morning was the Galloway group run. We just started a new session and this was the "Magic Mile". Everyone runs a mile fast as they can. These times are then used to sort people into their pace groups for the rest of the training. We started with a 1.5 mile warmup then the magic mile and finally a 1.5 mile cool down. After running I went to the gym with Loanna and we lifted some weights.

Sunday morning was the 26.2 mile bike ride with Donna to benefit Breast cancer research. I did the ride with a group of friends(Scott, Deb, Carolyn & Wally). It started out kind of cool and then warmed up nicely. We averaged about 17 mph on the ride. We weren't pushing it too hard. After we finished I rode back out on the course to look for Wally who was a bit late. I found her a few miles from the finish and rode in with her. There was a cookout after the ride and it was nice hanging out and talking to people.

Monday was Veterans Day. I actually ended up going for a solo run. It is rare that I train alone. I was thinking about how many people I am lucky enough to train with. Between Jiu-Jitsu, Running and Biking I probably trained with 50 people. This is truly a gift to have all these people in my life. I feel enriched in some way by each person I am able to share some of my life with.