Back on the horse

     It's all Mike's fault.  That's something we said a lot 5-7 years ago.  Normally, we just called him Todd, but it meant the same thing; he'd done something dumb or was at least the easy scapegoat.  
     Here I was content with my running.  I'd run 25-40 miles a week, do one race a month and finish somewhere in the middle of the pack.  I was content, happy you could say.  I've been leading a small running "team" for nearly a year and we have grown in numbers and skill.  Content I say.
     Then I went on a road trip to Orlando.  On the way back we spent the night in Pensacola and spent time with Mike, my old martial arts buddy.  While standing on the beach ankle deep in the ocean, we caught up.  It's been four years since we've seen each other and while the Air Force and Facebook have somewhat kept us in touch, there were still many stories to tell and good times to remember.  Many of those stories centered around what brought us together as friends in the first place - the martial arts.  Those four years apart had changed Mike physically.  He was no longer the scrawny teenager that I once knew but now a 200 pound knot of muscle.  (It's ok, I can still beat him on a PT test.)  His "new" martial art of choice had become Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  It's an art that I have flirted with from time to time but have never stuck around long enough to develop any skill or even get a little piece of electrical tape on my belt.  Mike suggested that I take a serious look at getting back into it and reminded me of our times traveling around the midwest to compete in tournaments.  Why not try to recreate that in the South?  "We would be in different divisions now since I outweigh you and you'll be in the old man division soon" he told me.
    Fast forward about five weeks and I was walking through the door of a Rodrigro Pinheiro Brazilian Jiu Jitsu satellite school.  The instructor Daniel welcomed me warmly, I signed the waiver, changed into my lightly used gi, and we started.  I won't bore you with all of the details, but I signed a two year contract. 
     During the last two weeks, there have been many things about this specific school that I enjoy.  First is the sense of community.  Everyone is there to learn and have fun.  I think part of this is that it is a new school.  There hasn't been enough time for anyone to grow an ego. Even the instructor, a 3rd degree black belt, is humble.  Anything that anyone learns is passed on to their training partners.  The classes are challenging, not degrading or demoralizing.  There are smiles and hi-5s passed around and everyone is made to feel welcome.  As you can see, I'm very happy with this school.  I'm nowhere near entering those tournaments with Mike (got triangled by a kid half my age and half my size last week), but I'll get there and I'll keep updating this periodically.