13th Copa Pacifica

Returning to the blog to write about my experience in the 13th Copa Pacifica. Perhaps this will be the new purpose for this blog...perhaps not. Perhaps I'll just make this blog about all the physical activities that I do and how far I push my body. We'll see where this takes us. On to the Copa...

I'm not sure what time it was...must have been between 3 and 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 20th, because I was watching the black belt super fight with The Boss Lady (TBL) and J, one of our brown belts. TBL asks me, "Are you competing?" Me: No. TBL: Yes you are.

TBL asks someone to bring the women's brackets over, discovers that there's a registered purple belt girl with no one in her division to fight. So, despite the fact that I'm tired from working the tournament all day, that she has some weight on me and that I haven't trained for this tournament, I say, "Alright, fine."

Waited for my gi and undergarments to arrive...and about an hour later...I lose.

But I'm happy with my performance, and I'm going to tell you why.

1. I attempted a throw, an ippon seoi nage. Although I was unsuccessful, I think people could at least tell I was going for that throw.
2. I was sooo close to getting a kimura on this girl!
3. She couldn't pass my guard until the last 10 seconds of sudden death, when she finally passed my guard and won the match (I would have won if I could have kept her in my guard until the end, due to me technically having an advantage).
4. I wasn't winded, so my running has been helping.
5. I've fought her before, and pretty much ran away from her the whole time, figuratively speaking. So when I was able to pull off a couple submission attempts and keep her on her toes, I was really happy.

Thank you to all my coaches and friends who were cheering me on. Thank you to all the people who afterwards congratulated me or sent me messages telling me how well they think I did. Thank you to my opponent who is incredibly tough and a great competitor!