Again with the traveling

Nice. The underlining turned out to appear bold in the blog. Much easier to read. It's like I did it on purpose.

I also forgot to wish Cindy Hales a happy birthday, which is the same day as mine. Some of you may remember that 2 years ago I visited her academy in Seattle, where she proceeded to spank me up and down the mat for about a half hour and then kindly explain how she did it. She may make it down to LA at some point, in which case she has promised to come to New Breed and do it some more. (She watched Johnny compete at the PacSub tournament in Hawaii recently and was understandably impressed, and he invited her to come train.) Happy belated birthday to Cindy!

I am writing up a response to the question about CrossFit: what it is and why I do it. In the meantime, I suggest you check out http://www.crossfit.com, http://www.petranekfitness.com, and http://beccalosangeles.com/. The first website is the home page for CrossFit. The second is the home page for my CrossFit affiliate school, which is run by Andy Petranek and Becca Borawski. The third is Becca's page. Becca is my friend and one of my CrossFit coaches, and she knows far more about it than I do, both how to teach it and how to do it. And I owe so much of my progress to her, Andy, and all the instructors at PF. So I will (eventually) explain my experiences with CrossFit, but for more comprehensive information about it, check out those sites. And Becca, if you want to comment, especially if I mischaracterize anything, I would welcome it!

I've also been thinking about what goes through my mind when I compete, which is another meaty topic; Elyse asked me about it. Again, I will write about my own experiences, but would also be interested in what others have to say. There is a lot of "ohshitoshitohshitoshitohshit," but there is more than that too. So that's in the works.

In the meantime, I'm on the road again! Well, hitting the sky again. I had been feeling the traveling itch a bit, and I'll be getting lots of chances to scratch it this summer and fall. Right now I'm in LAX waiting for my flight to Houston, where I'll be visiting some civilian college friends. Over and above the obvious coolness of getting to spend time with these people, who know me so well and have come along for the wild ride of my past two years, there are a couple things that are sure to make this trip notable.

In chronological order:

1. Because of work and baby obligations, no one will be available to pick me up at the airport when I arrive this afternoon. So they are sending the company limo service. I have been in limos before, and I know how to behave in them, but I haven't ridden in one since I started dressing like a homeless person, believing that a duffel bag decorated with giant red fists is "luggage," AND packing said duffel bag with board shorts, rash guards, gis, and power bars. So I hope I don't scare the driver too much. He will be waiting for me with a big sign bearing my name. (I will give him a $100 tip if he also has a sign saying Spinal Pap.)

2. I am planning to visit CrossFit Katy (TX). They do a workout in the park (as does Becca--check out the PF website for details), so I have put in a call to the instructor to see if I can drop by for the 5:30am class tomorrow. The baby will apparently be up anyway. It will be 3:30 in the morning according to my body clock, but no matter. We'll get to nap when the baby naps.

3. I am planning to visit Elite MMA in Houston on Sat to train with Hai Nguyen and Eric Williams. I received several very good suggestions for places to train while I'm in town (thanks to everyone for those), and Elite turns out to be closest to where I'll be staying. I have been in touch with Hai already and am REALLY excited to train there. It will be just like the old days.

4. It's probably going to be hot as an oven in Houston. An oven with a steam mechanism. I HATE heat, especially wet heat, so I will be miserable outdoors. That part I'm not looking forward to too much.

But I am WAY excited for the limo!! Oh, and to see my friends (good save, Val).

More later.