Breaking the hiatus..

Hoo-Wee! So its been a hot minute, and for that I apologize. Lemme give a quick rundown on what has been going on in the past month. I should start with what HASN'T been going down and that is any sort of training. The gloves are underway and I'm not in 'em. First weigh-ins were on the 26th of March, and I didnt even come close to the 178 mark. Well, I came close enough to know that if i did make weight, I wouldnt have been able to hold it for 5 weeks or whatever my participation in the tournament would have been.

I kept thinking about the reasons I wasnt able to cut the weight, since its never been a problem before. I mean, towards the end there I was a cardio machine. I never had been in better running shape, even at the 200 pounds my bouncing weight would average out to be around. Then it hit me. This is the first time I ever tried to cut weight without, um, chemical assistance. I'm a long time away from the stuff you can only get from your favorite mexican pharmacia, but I was still always a big fan of ephedra. I was eating ECA stacks (ephedrine-caffiene-asprin) since the high-school wrestling days and never gave it a second thought. Then the FDA decided to make it illegal just cuz a couple-two-tree people up and died on it. It looks like there might be a change in that scene, but its a little too late for me.

Not that I have any regrets. I learned a lot from the experience. My next training regimine will be a lot more refined because of it. If I need to cut, I'll focus a lot less on weights early on and so-on-so-forth. If nothing else, I'm in a lot better shape than I was 6 months ago, and its not like I am going to completely hang up training or even competing. Martial arts are something that I would want to take an active part in for the instruction of my sons if they decide they want to learn them... And judging from the energy level Max is already at, I'm gonna need to stay in shape just to keep up with them let alone try and instruct them.

In other news, my new job is great. Depending on how the red line is running, my travel time is around 35 minutes doorstep to office chair. This leaves me with 3 extra hours a day that I am not used to having yet. Yesterday, I got home and went grocery shopping at 2 seperate stores (taking 2 hours) and still made it home around the time I would have 2 months ago. The people are cool and the work I'm doing doesnt leave me feeling underutilized. And then there's the city. I love the city. I never realized it until I was gone but Chicago has a great feel to it that I cant explain. Apart from that, we're just trying to get ready for Alex. Now that I am more settled in to my work, I will update more frequently. I am also toying around with the idea of posting pictures. We'll see how it goes. Peaceindahood.