092107

Workout:
53 pound Clean and Jerk, 30 reps
7:30

135 pounds was RX’d, but I used 53 ’cause I’m a wussy girl.

Judo last night. Sensei asked who was going to the tournament in October, we all raised our hands except Linda. When asked why she wasn’t going, she said she just wasn’t competitive. A lecture followed on how winning and losing wasn’t the point and testing yourself and, by the way, you need four tournaments to become a black belt. A non-committal shrug was received.

Then we did some breakfalls, all the throws and the last half hour of class we worked on ground technique. Two people would sit back to back, one would count to three, then they turned around and tried to pin each other. Well, surprise, the non-competitive woman turned out to be very competitive. She got a pin on Anya that left her whole arm completely numb. She rolled me over and somehow got her arm in my mouth (I strongly resisted the urge to pull a Mike Tyson.) Another time she mashed my head into the mat with her body. I don’t even remember what she did to Neils. Not that she was doing anything wrong or fighting “dirty”, that’s just judo. Very competitive judo.

I was telling a friend about judo last weekend. I was describing what it was like for me, 5′2″, to be ipponed up over the shoulder of Joey, 6′5″. What it was like on the way down and how hard I hit the mat. She asked me “Do you ever think about why you are doing that to yourself?” I must admit, that I used to think about that when I first started. Usually the split-second before someone sent me airborne. But I don’t anymore. I just like it — it doesn’t seem like it would be possible if you’ve never done it before, but it is fun.

I also did the Kyuki-Do class before Judo. We had to do tournament forms (everyone sits against the wall as “judges” and one person bows in, talks to the judges, and does their form.) I absolutely hate tournament forms. I love forms — really, really love forms. But I hate tournament forms. Getting up in front of other people all by myself is the hardest thing in the world for me. The only way it could possibly be worse is if it somehow involved big hairy spiders. Then I would leave a Tami shaped hole in the wall and never come back. I was so shy when I was a kid that I don’t think I even spoke until I was a junior in college. Sparring or judo isn’t as bad because you have the other person to work against and think about. But to be up there all by yourself with everybody looking at you? Yuck! I feel like I need to have a little brown paper bag to breath into in case I start hyperventilating. I bet I would get docked for stopping in the middle of Koryo, pulling a bag out of my shirt and taking a couple of breaths.