Last night was my first class as a 50-year old. It was a big class for a pre-holiday weekday. Sempai Matt, Sempai Cort and Oz 'The Wizard' joining some of the usual crowd. We started with a nice long uphill round through a quiet suburban neighborhood. We drew quite a few surprised looks as our gnarly crew ran past dozens of fine homes with manicured lawns and children playing in the driveway. Some folks stopped and stared as the largely black-clad jujitsu fighters stomped past their residence.
On our return, Sensei paired us up and assigned me to work with Oz. The primary focus was on throws with some transitions into newaza. We spent the most time on Harai Goshi and Uchi Mata which suited me as these are weaker throws of mine. At the young age of 23, Oz is an undefeated MMA fighter, a black belt in karate and a high-level BJJ competitor. He works at a quick space and my major concern is not doing something stupid to injury him and to not be a lame partner. Overall, I did okay. Oz's forehead did bang my nose on one throw and I saw stars for a few seconds. Otherwise, we picked up a few new entrances from Sensei's instruction and lots of work on some of my lesser techniques.
At the end of class, I had a chance to roll with Big Dave, Joelbow and Sempai Cort. I fared fairly well on this night. Being a little more aggressive and having lots of sweat to slip out of things helped. Mega Chris has been challenging me to be more offensive-minded and I gave it a shot. I'm wary of being too aggressive and have been trying to guard against a foolish injury. This approach doesn't really guarantee anything and most often puts me in a defensive posture to start.
A big thunderstorm passed through as we rolled and it was cool to be fighting as the skies lit up, the rain poured off the dojo roof and the ground shuddered (from something other than Big Dave taking a fall).
One more class this week with the holiday shutting down classes on Saturday. Tuesday's class was about perfect. A fitness run, lots of good practice and fighting in the midst of a summer storm. I'd take than any day. And especially as a way to start my next 50 years.
