July 4th weekend 2008

July 4th: 5K race in Rochester
July 5th: Karate in Albany
July 6th: National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown

I had another full and enjoyable weekend. I celebrated Independence Day with a 5K, which I won fairly easily. It was enjoyable and there was good post race food, though I don't understand why we were lead by a police officer on a motorcycle. I was sucking on fumes the whole way and there is no reason a cyclist couldn't have paced us through the flat 5K. Sigh...

On Saturday I woke up early for a long run with Mike Geary and Max Pinto. They showed me a little-known trail on the East side of Rochester just off Old Browncroft Rd. It's a single-track trail that easily lasts for 50 minutes on its outer loop alone. There are many side trails as well. I'm just glad I didn't get lost after I split off from Mike and Max.

I ran 90 minutes and beat the crap out of my shoes. The trails are phenomenal. They climb, dip, switchback. The ground was mostly dry. There were few large stones. Running a narrow track over logs and on the edge of drop offs is thrilling. It feels fast regardless of the actual speed.

After the run, I rushed back to the house and got ready to head to Albany. I arrived in the hotel parking lot in Albany just as Kate and members of her Chicago Dojo were leaving the hotel. Kate Roin is a retired karate world champion who I met in college. Long story short: the universe keeps us within two to four hours of each other at least a few times per year. (Williams->Amherst: 2 hours. Culver,IN->Chicago: 2 1/4 hours. Rochester,NY->Albany: 3 3/4 hours.)

So I arrived at the hotel, jumped out of my car, jumped into another car and we popped across the street for the National Karate Championship.

The tournament was awesome. It opened with a demonstration. A master Sensei and assistant demonstrated fighting moves in "real-time" and then, for the benefit of spectators, in slow motion, which truly reminded me of some scenes in The Matrix.

Next was Kata, which is to Karate what the floor routine is to Gymnastics. Kata is a solo demonstration of skill. It's fascinating to watch even for someone as naive about karate as I am, because skill is demonstrated by making very slow and precise movements or very fast precise movements. It's easy for any viewer to appreciate the athleticism.

Kumite (coo-mi-tay), or sparring, was last. Kumite is jaw dropping even though it was very hard for me to determine who had scored when the fists and feet started flying. I enjoyed watching the different styles of fighting and reading the fighters attitudes even though I never got the hang of determining who had struck whom successfully. Some fighters were aggressive, some defensive, some became impatient, eager to end a match with a kick, which counts for more points than a punch if successfully executed.

Members of Kate's Dojo, who I was sitting with, pointed out the best competitors to me and fielded my questions, though I didn't want to pester them every ten seconds with my biggest curiosity, "Ok, who scored that time? And that time?" ad nauseum. One of the best fighters, George something? (oops), was pointed out to me. This guy moved with speed like nothing I'd ever seen before. His opponent finally lost the match by stepping out of bounds too many times trying to avoid George's furious attacks. It looked like George would have tunneled through his opponent if the guy hadn't been backpedaling so quickly.

After Karate, we had a Cheesecake Factory dinner, then played catchphrase until well past my bedtime, but it was one of the funniest games I ever played. Especially when people started to get too nervous/excited to think before speaking. Who did the Union fight in the civil war? Nazis! The Redcoats!

I slept well after a long day, even on a pull out couch. On Sunday, Kate and I caught up on the drive to the Baseball hall of fame. It was a good time, talking about anything, mostly life-stuff, it's on the mind of most everyone our age.

The hall of fame is great for baseball fans. I just don't get in to these things, though I like the random historical anecdotes. Watching the Who's on First? sketch by Abbott and Costello and scenes from The Sandlot also completely made up for my general disinterest. That sketch is genius of the first order. It hasn't aged at all.

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