Remember how much fun I said Tae Kwon Do was? Well I was telling the truth, it is.

However.   I also mentioned that the class was mostly kids.  As in most days there was only one other adult and some of the kids were as young as maybe 9.  That didn’t make the class any less fun, but it did make it perhaps a bit less challenging after a while.  So the kids (mine, not the ones in the class) and I decided to look for a different dojo that  maybe had a few more adults and that didn’t want us to belt test as often.  The dojo we went to was good and the teacher was great but it often felt like we were just teaching to the test, meaning learning just what we had to know to get the next belt and not really learning as much as I’d like.

We found one!  Just one small thing… we couldn’t find a single Tae Kwon Do place with adult classes that both had classes as many nights as we want to go AND weren’t so expensive I’d have to get another mortgage on the house for the three of us to go. So we’re trying out an MMA place.  A little bit intimidating?  Gosh, I don’t know, let me just tell you about the place.

You pull into the parking lot and you just see the bar and a liquor store.  Two of my favorite places, awesome!  But where is the place I’m looking for?  Oh, look up. It’s over the bar.  There is a little not too lit door between the two places that leads up a dark, steep set of stairs and you can’t actually see what’s at the top till you get there.

Once you get in the gym though, the place is awesome.  I’m sure the bar is awesome too, I just haven’t had a chance to find out yet. But you know I will. Oh wait, we were talking about intimidating.  Did I mention that actual professional and amateur fighters are training with you in some of the classes? Ya…

We went with this place because it has 2 classes a night, 5 nights a week.  That means if I want to go out one night, no worries I can easy make it up another night. They offer MMA, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Karate/Judo, and cardio kickboxing classes.  Pretty cool, even I won’t get bored with all that to choose from. Everyone is crazy nice and I’ve tried the MMA class twice without even getting injured.  Score!  I’m so looking forward to trying the other classes, I’ll let you know how they go.

So what happened was…

I’ve been wanting to to sign up for a Spartan Sprint for ages.  I’ve read Joe De Sena’s book Spartan UP! (it’s great, go read it), I’ve done giveaways on the blog, and I’ve stalked their web site trying to figure out how the heck those people do all that.  But I haven’t signed up.  Why? Because of that thing where I am not bad ass.  Good reason if you ask me.

I haven’t been running until about a week ago and really the only workouts I’ve done in ages are Tae Kwon Do three days a week. So I signed up for the next Spartan Sprint in Tampa – in 2 weeks.  What? What changed? Absolutely nothing. And nothing was going to change.  Go big or go home, right?

Wish me luck. I am so going to need it.  And also a bit of motivation to get moving and ready.  And I found a great source, Spartan Up! The podcast.  Why is this so great?  A couple of reasons actually.

First of all, since it’s a podcast I can listen to it on Stitcher while I’m running.  If you have an Apple phone you can subscribe on iTunes. It’s hard not to run a little bit faster and a little bit longer while listening to people talking about how it’s done.

Second of all, each episode involves interviewing different people in different fields about different subjects. In other words, it’s not all about the same subject or even about racing in particular. So far I’ve listened to two episodes – Allen Lim Says It’s Ok to Eat Cookies and Angela Duckworth What is Grit and How Do You Learn It? Of course I started with the cookie episode.

Both episodes were really fun and motivating to listen to.  I like running and all but sometimes it’s nice to let your mind go other places while you are running. I found them especially cool because Joe De Sena (founder and CEO of Spartan Race) doesn’t necessarily agree with everything the people being interviewed are saying, and his mystification of how someone who is obviously well disciplined and in excellent shape would consider a croissant and coffee an acceptable breakfast was great. I love hearing two people who are both obviously doing things right talk about how they are taking different paths.

So go listen to the podcast, go get  motivated, and go sign up for something that you are totally not ready for.  Then get ready!  🙂

I haven’t been writing much (at all) lately, and I haven’t been running much (at all) lately but I have been doing lots of cool stuff I can’t wait to write about. Everything from indoor rock climbing to the beach at night to just exploring new places. You know what I haven’t been doing? I mean besides what I already said?  I haven’t been taking any pictures of all the cool!  Lame, I know.  So I’m on a mission to find some good pictures that other people took of some of the cool places around Tampa I’ve been exploring.

And also to stop being so amused with what I’m doing that I forget that I’ll want to write about it later and so forget to take pictures.  In my defense, Bert would be proud.  (Don’t tell him but I always liked Ernie better. And Grover. Also, I have no idea who that guy singing is. Don’t tell that guy either.)