Holiday weekend, so open mat on Friday and Saturday.

Friday, we had 7 people. Round robin, self paired, and a bunch of unfamilar people. A big blue belt (police, I think) took it easy on me. Hei-Jay was my rest round. Jesse and Cheng. Good low key sweat all around.

Saturday, still a small group, but closer to typical I suppose. Tom, Nick, Mick, Aaron, He-Jay, Cheng, and a couple of breaks.

Speaking of breaks….I apparently broke my big toe on Saturday. Persistant pain that didn’t diminish, so I popped into Urgent Care yesterday (Thursday). So now I’m in a boot for the near term future. Yay.

Light crew this saturday, so we ran the chipper, rotating for every point scored.

About half the class was black/brown, so It quickly became apparent that it was mostly the lower belts just rotating through one after another. Good sweat all around I guess.

We had a pretty small group on Saturday.    But another special guest.   Burger Wade, in the house, with a freshly minted black belt.     He was one of my best Alliance training partners.   Similar size and ability, so it’s great to see him recognized.  

Typical warm up, then 4 minute rounds with an minute break.    I warmed up with Brie, then had Wade.   It’s been a while, and we’ve rolled a ton of times in the past.   I also had Monique, Jose, Mike, Brian, and others.

Bob the Monster is in town for a bit, and decided to visit us. Not much has changed, 66 and still kicking everyone’s ass.

We warmed, up, and I had the “honor” of being the first to visit Bob-town. He was nice, I’ll put it that way. Then I had Tom, Gimli, a break, then Jose, Cheng, Monique, Marcus and Popsicle.

I hit a nice sweep with Gimli to be on top for a bit, threatening a kimura assisted backtake, but ran out of time. Cheng, I somehow countered his bolo into a quasi-pressure pass. And I avoided Chris’s sweep and escaped his counter omoplata. A pretty decent day for me.

A couple of weeks off due to family stuff and whatnot.   The usual I guess.

Typical warm up, though I’ve started skipping the last couple of exercises and doing some stretching off to the side.    First round was with Nick, and we went slowly and warmed up even more.

Dove into the fire with Popsicle, which went okay.   Also had Karen, Mike (twice), Monique, Nick again, and others.   I did better than I would have expected.    And not very sore the next day either.

Typical Saturday. Warmed up. 6 minute rounds, self paired.

I had Popsicle to start with (I made it 3 without tapping, might be a new record), then Morgan and Nick….and paid for it for the rest of the time. Gassed to hell and back. I kept moving as much as I could, took a couple off, etc.

And I had a full day of chores and stuff awaiting me afterwards. And today, I had a hard time walking. Whole body ached. I did a 20 minute stretching routing which got me through the rest of the day, but man, I still low key feel like I got hit by a truck.

Lots going on, kid stuff mostly.

Light day. Nick, Vee, and a bunch of whitebelts. Rotating into top of DLR. Lots of movement and a good sweat.

Light crowd for a Saturday. Perhaps everyone is busy with life, as I have been for the past month or so.

No warm up, just a light round to start with. And Aria was standing next to me when it was announced, so away we went. Then Morgan and Nick, and then…a break.

I did one more hard round and then worked with some lower belts and took a break now and then. Had one round with (new) Tall Josh and was pretty surprised at how well he did. It’s not like I’m 100%, or razor sharp, but he was a handful never the less. And it wasn’t just me, he went with a larger blue belt that I don’t know and did well with him too.

Nice open mat this weekend. Warmed up, felt okay. Groups of 3 with Nick and Bri.

8 minutes in, 4 out, starting wherever you wanted and resetting at each point scored. Did okay with Nick. Bri is frustrating, but by doing the same thing over and over, I could correct my mistakes.

Rounded the day off with a round each with Bald Josh, Marcus and Dom. Dom and I had a good one, and I got a lucky triangle off of a pass mistake Dom made.

Saturday. Solo this time, without my daughter.

We had a small group, so an unusual warm up. Pick a partner, then do 5 minutes of takedowns, either full or just setups. I landed with Popsicle, and did the arm drag double. He gave some nice feedback. At the buzzer, we switched and I ended up with a newer guy, Jose, who was doing a basic chop ‘n shoot single. I gave him some feedback too.

Rounds were 3 minutes with a 90 second break, self paired. Started with Nick, which was a stalemate. Next was Brian, who I was happy to stymie for the round. Then, Popsicle again….who tapped me 3 times in the 3 minutes. He did tell me I should play with lapels. Mixed feelings about that. It’s indisputable that my technique needs work, but I’m not sure that learning new things is the low hanging fruit.

I took 4.5 minutes to gasp and rest, then had Brie, Mike, Jose, Max, Jo, and others. I didn’t die, but I didn’t get much going on any of them.

Fatigue makes cowards of us all.