8 Years Gone By

I really do not like taking trips down memory lane. Life is happening in the beauty of the Great Now. Yesterday is often a distortion of truth, an amalgamation of fact and desire.

I saw a picture of a training from 8 years ago and decided to go against the grain and at least peek into 8 long years ago and one of the greatest training I had the good fortune of participating in.

It was not a good time then for a multitude of reasons the least of which a herniated disc in my neck and a partially torn rotator cuff made showing painful. The thought of a physical training was rather daunting but I new this was something I could not pass up. My instincts, in retrospect, were spot on.

I thought pacing myself would be the way to go once Day 1 came. “Pacing” turned out to be underperforming so once Day 2 came about, max effort was end result. I figured it was going to hurt whether I put forth 50% or 100% so why not go for it.

The next couple of days felt like they melted into one long, tough, enjoyable time frame. The training was hard and exceptional. It is one thing to train. It is quite another to train under pressure.

The lessons learned from this experience have stayed with me even to today. I suspect, the rest of my life. They were powerful, heart-driven, and with deep meaning. The physical part of excellent. The other-than-physical lesson were indescribably.

You know the sweet because you have tasted the sour. My dear friend and fellow participant Neal Hamner passed away a couple of years after this training. I still tear up a bit as I write this but one of the gifts that will last a lifetime is sharing this experience, including our talks on the way to and fro.

Shockingly, another participant Dennis passed away as well.

During a 4 day period, 6 people trained as 1. Death cannot steal a life but cannot touch this memory from any of us.

Much has changed since this time. Distance and misunderstanding were characters that decided to join the play called Life. One of the 6, Bill Clark and yours truly have grown closer and still train (albeit it in something different [Krabi Krabong]). But despite the ups and downs, for one long, bruising, 4-day weekend, one of my greatest experience in nearly 40 years of martial arts occurred.

For this and most, I am externally grateful.

NOTE: A special thanks goes out to Eddie and Jake Quinn, Bill, Neal and Dennis. It was an honor.