We had a belts and stripes promotion this morning. I thought there was a decent chance I'd get another stripe, and a fair chance that I wouldn't. On the one hand, I won first place at the Pacific Northwest Jiu Jitsu championship. On the other hand, I've been out with injuries for half of the time since, and haven't exactly looked like a wonder on the mat ...
So what do I get? Two stripes. I'm now a four stripe white belt.
The significance of that, of course, is that the next promotion for me is to blue belt.
I was stunned when Rodrigo and Mamazinho called me up. They had the class do the "king of the guard" drill for quite a while, then the promotions, then the picture. It really makes me all the more motivated to have a good month and perform well at the Copa at the end of the month. I don't want to put a lot of pressure on myself. But I know that I've got the positioning skills to win. Now I need to add finishing skills in order to take things to the next level.
And we now know that the next level is blue.
Lindsey also got four stripes--he's only started a few months ago, but he's progressed really quickly. Jeff (Helicopter Jeff) got his blue belt, which I think was a surprise to him. Jesse the Blue is now Jesse the Purple, which is also very cool. Angela got her blue belt today also. Very good for her.
Oh, and Eric Dahlberg from Demon Jiu Jitsu got his black belt. I know it had been a point of some contention because Dahlberg has spent a LOT of time away from the gi training MMA fighters (including Ivan Salaverry, I suspect, who was there taking pictures and running around with his very pregnant wife ...) But Mamazinho decided that the time had come. It isn't as if Dahlberg doesn't have the skills--nobody doubts that. The issue has been his commitment to the gi and to Gracie Barra Seattle. I guess Mamazinho and Rodrigo were satisfied. Good for him.
I did "The Widow" cardio workout this morning before heading over ...
2.28 miles / 9.1 laps
36:21 minutes
349 cal / 109 fat cal
1 lap silent 3.5 at 3.5 incline
4 laps 3.8 at 3.5 incline
3.5 laps 3.8 at 8 incline
0.5 laps 4.0 flat
Pretty nice grind. It felt like broken field running after about the third or fourth lap. I've gone back and forth about whether or not I should do cardio in the mornings, and I still haven't decided which.
But the four stripe white thing has me more than a little motivated to consider putting an AM Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday routine together of alternating "The Widow" and DB complex workouts. We'll see what I come up with. The tournament is three weeks from today.
